Thanks for the reviews and sorry for not following the schedule (if you even noticed I had one) My goal is to try and post every Wednesday and Saturday and I was keeping up until recently. Anyway, onto the chapter.

Chapter Twenty-One

Somewhere Over the Pacific

Between 02:00 – 04:00

August 20, 2007

The Kryptonian clone hovered there up high in the sky staring across the endless ocean. Her mind was in disarray. Memories from two different people filled her head making her feel lost, confused.

She tried to focus on Kara's memories, but she found them to be hollow as though they were mere snapshots, echoes of actual memories. Galatea's memories, on the other hand, seemed to have more substance.

Who was she?

The thought had hit her hard when she was at Barbara's place. She was in the clone body, but she had assumed that she was Kara, that their minds had been swapped.

That was what J'onn had believed when he had spoken to her out in the desert.

If that was the case, then why did all of her memories as Kara feel so fake, whereas her coming memories as Galatea seemed so real? Her mind was a mess and she had no idea how to fix it.

Her original intention had been to head to the Metro Tower, but she hadn't. The reason why was obvious but she didn't want to accept it.

Her frustration built up and she screamed out into the abyss, her voice echoing across the sky. It didn't help.

She thought of Clark and felt nothing. If anything she felt anger. She thought of Emil Hamilton and felt a sense of great loss.

What did that mean? Who was she? Again, the answer was obvious but she didn't want to accept it.

Jealousy. She felt it when she thought of Kara. Emptiness was what she felt when she thought of Galatea.

Was she both or was she neither? The answer that she kept coming to, she didn't want to accept.

She needed to talk to someone, but there was no one left that she could talk to.

Emil was dead.

This both infuriated and made her feel empty. There was no reason for them to do what they had done.

The worst part was that she knew it was her fault. She was the reason he was dead.

"Why?" she asked the void.

No answer came, nor was she expecting one. Perhaps the acceptance that she was not Kara, but Galatea was an answer in its self.

She so wished that she was. That their minds truly had been swapped, but it was clear they hadn't. Like a thick fog lifting, the world began to gain clarity.

She hated Kara for what she had. Galatea had nothing and she had everything. Friends, people who saw her as family, security. All Galatea had now was the clothes on her back.

And of course her powers.

Even with those she knew she couldn't take her revenge on Rick Flag and Cadmus, or Project Ultima or whatever they called themselves now. She would need help even if it meant making a deal.

The question was who did she make a deal with? There were powerful people out there such as Sinestro or Star Sapphire, but they were also unreliable. She needed someone that needed her, even if they didn't know it yet. Someone that could also get things done.

She had an idea, but that would require her crossing the US. Still, if it didn't work out, nothing would be lost.

Clenching her fists she turned around and began her journey to the mainland.

Watchtower II

Earth Orbit

07:31 – Station Time

Shayera Hol stepped into the Founder's conference room where John Stewart was waiting for her. He wanted to talk to her about something and while she would rather not, she knew she had to maintain an air of professionalism even when it came to her.

"You wanted to see me?" she said as the doors slid shut behind her.

"It's about Zari."

"What about her?" Shayera questioned folding her arms.

"I'm considering training her as a Green Lantern."

"Why are you telling me? You don't need my permission."

"I know," he said. "I spoke to her last night I told her that she was going to have to make a decision about who trains her, me or you."

"Trains her?" Shayera questioned. "That assumes she wants to join the Justice League or the Green Lanterns? But go on."

"I know that. It's just that she said something."

"What was that?"

"Why not both of us? I dismissed it at the time, but thinking on it, it might not be such a bad idea."

"It's her decision," Shayera said. "I'll be more than happy to show her what I know."

"I know it's her ring chose her, so I have to give her a chance to prove herself."

"So, how do you want to do this?" Shayera asked him. "In turns or actually together?" She was hoping he said turns.

He did. "I say that we alternate. I'll be able to have Hirunan and Kyle take most of the slack in the training while I'm busy at my tower in Brazil. How are you going to go about it?"

"We have a training room in all the towers. I can train her easy enough."

"It's a plan," John agreed. "You want to start today?"

"I can start tomorrow," she told him. "I need at least some prep time."

"Then we start this tomorrow," he agreed.

"If she agrees," Shayera amended.

"Of course."

"Let's go tell her."

07:42 – Station Time

Zari Tarin hadn't slept well. She didn't really know why. Maybe it was the thought of her father's axe being in the hands of aliens. Maybe it was the thrum of the station that was constantly there, never going away or maybe it was the thought of her being alone.

She stood there staring out of the window down at the Earth below. It was a rather beautiful world, she had to admit. Though, she honestly hadn't seen that many planets from orbit.

Her door chime sounded. She knew it was probably Shayera so she headed straight for the door and opened it.

Stood on the other side was Shayera as expected. What wasn't expected was that John was with her.

Shayera spoke first. "Let's go for a walk."

"Sure," Zari agreed as she stepped out into the corridor to join them.

As the three of them set off, John spoke. "Both Shayera and I have been talking. If you want to be trained by both of us, then I believe we can make it work."

Zari thought for a moment. This was actually a better outcome than she had dared hope. "When do we start?" she asked enthusiastically.

Shayera answered. "Tomorrow. I'll come and get you and bring you down to the tower in Lagos. Then Wednesday John and the other Lanterns will be teaching you things."

"What about today?" Zari asked. "Why can't we start today?"

John answered. "We both need at least a little time to prepare our training programmes."

The three of them stepped into the cafeteria. Shayera grabbed a table while both John and Zari got a tray. After getting themselves some breakfast, the two sat down with her.

Zari looked at Shayera. "Aren't you having anything?"

"I had my breakfast a few hours ago."

John regarded her. "Isn't it lunch time in Lagos?"

"Yeah, but I tend to have it late," Shayera said as she stood up. "Speaking of which, I should be getting back down there."

"Bye," Zari offered.

"Later," John said.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Shayera said to Zari as she headed out of the cafeteria.

For a few minutes both Zari and John sat there in silence while they ate their breakfasts.

Once they were finished John also stood up. "I need to be heading down to Rio."

"Okay, bye," Zari said.

He left and Zari found herself sitting glanced around the room to see a few others sat eating, but they were all in the midst of their own conversations.

She stood up and took her tray and stacked it with the other dirty trays before taking a walk.

Daily Planet

Metropolis

United States

09:58 – EDT

There were days when Clark wished he was elsewhere, that he didn't have to sit through eight or so hours at work.

Today was definitely one of those days.

He was glad that he was writing a feel-good story for the Planet website. It was about people rescuing a dog that had gotten stuck in a drain.

Still, his mind kept wandering to Kara making it difficult to concentrate. He wondered if he should even be here or if he should have called in sick or something.

A shadow fell over him as Lois sat on the edge of his desk. She eyed his screen. "Seriously?" she questioned. "Isn't your paygrade a little above this kind of article?"

Clark explained not really feeling up to the task of dealing with her. "I thought it would be a good diversion from the usual news and people need to read something positive every once in a while. It can't be all doom and gloom."

"Your loss then I guess," Lois said with a shrug. "While you're wasting your time with that, I'm writing about MercyTech."

"MercyTech?" he questioned.

She smirked. "You haven't heard of it?"

Clark couldn't really say he had. He had been quite busy as of late with the Justice League, not that he could exactly tell her that.

Lois explained. "Mercy Graves has been setting up a new company. I did a little diggingover the weekend and it all seems to be above board. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it, It hasn't officially begun operating yet."

Clark was instantly suspicious. He would have to do some investigating himself, not as Clark though, as Superman. Perhaps he could coax Batman into looking into it, or even the Question, though the latter was more of a last resort.

While she did seem to be taking the company into a more legal and honest direction, Lex himself had always held the appearance of being a law abiding citizen, at least at the start,but that certainly hadn't been true.

Lois moved over to her desk and sat down, leaving Clark feeling more ill at ease than he had before. His thoughts were already dwelling on Kara and now this?

He put Mercy and Kara out of his head and tried to focus on the story he was writing. He finished up the draft quickly before deciding to go grab a coffee.

Before he got the chance, though, Perry White called him into his office.

Before Clark had even closed the door behind him, Perry began to talk. "Your article on the Justice League. Not great." Clark stood there in silence. "Too one sided," Perry continued. "We don't run propaganda."

Clark really didn't need to be chewed out today. "It was still published, though," he said, hoping to make a point. "So it can't have been that bad right?"

"I had the editor make a few changes," Perry told him. "I would almost think you had a personal stake in them."Perry leant back in his chair. "Now get Lois in here, I want to talk to her too."

"Yes, sir," Clark said moving back to the door. He pulled it open and called out. "Lois, the boss wants to talk to you."

"You too, Kent," Perry amended. "So don't go wandering off."

Lois moved over and the two of them sat down in front of their boss. Perry steepled his fingers.

"Lois, I'm moving you back onto hero watch. You seem to have a better head on it than Kent."

She nodded with a smile. "Sure, I can certainly do that."

"This means you're off the MercyTech story."

Lois frowned. "But I just started."

"You found nothing of real importance. Keep whatever you're writing up short. We'll run it tomorrow in the business section." Perry looked at Clark. "Kent, MercyTech is now your thing. I want you to do some digging. By next Monday I want some dirt. I don't care if you have to rummage through her garbage. We all know she's up to something and the people deserve to know what it is."

"Understood," Clark agreed.

"Also find out what it means for LexCorp. Is she planning on moving assets to her own company so she can start running LexCorp into the ground, or is there some other motive?"

"I'll get on it."

"Good," Perry said. "Now get going. Both of you."

Both Clark and Lois stood up and left the office. The moment the door was closed Lois turned to him. "I guess you won't be finishing that article on the dog rescue."

"Maybe not, but Mercy is up to something. She has to be."

"We both know that much," Lois agreed. "I don't see why he thinks you can get something on her though, when I couldn't."

"Maybe I'll think of something you didn't." Clark said.

"At least I'm back on hero watch. A lot more exciting then snooping at whatever it is Graves is up to." She waved. "I'm off to finish my article.

"Sure," Clark said as he made his way back to his desk and saved his draft

It was time to do some real journalism. The first phase of his MercyTech investigation was to do some online sleuthing on what exactly MercyTech was and where it was located.

The second would of course be asking real people real questions at both LexCorp and MercyTech headquarters, the third would be trying to get a comment or even better an interview from Graves herself.

Perhaps this was what he needed to take his mind off of things.

Or maybe not.

Flying Grayson's Athletics Club

Gateway City

United States

07:14 – PDT

The treadmill was usually how Dick finished his workout. Today was no exception.

Today's run was cut a little short when Starfire stepped into the large room and leant against the wall staring at him.

He stopped the treadmill and climbed off, wiping his face with the towel.

"Is this about last night?" he asked as he threw the towel over his shoulder.

"If you are talking about the dream, then yes," she confirmed. "I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how you'd react."

"How long have you been having them?" he asked her.

"I honestly don't know. It was sometime after I was given the augments by the Psions. I thought that maybe they were part of the abilities."

"What abilities exactly did they give you? The flight and the energy bolts?"

"Just the bolts. Tamaraneans have the ability to absorb sunlight and convert it to energy in the form of strength and flight."

"Like Superman," Dick commented. "So they gave you the ability to project this energy outwards?"

"Yes, but they weren't kind about it. They experimented on me, tortured me. I don't know what their end goal was."

"I'm sorry," he offered.

"The dreams helped when I had them. But they began to deteriorate. The world in the dreams fell apart."

"Do you know what happened in the dreams? Why we were fighting those creatures?"

She shook her head. "No."

"You said the dreams deteriorated. What did you mean by that?"

"They started off happy. We were in a team."

"Do you know who else was on the team?"

She looked up towards the ceiling. "There was an archer at the start. I think he was up on the Watchtower during the fight with the Gordanians. There was also a robot, or half robot and a woman in a hooded cloak and a green guy."

"Was that it?"

"I'm not sure. I don't always remember everything that happens in the dreams."

Dick looked up at the clock. "We'll talk more tonight. I need to take a shower before Vic arrives and we open up."

As he stepped over to the door, she gripped him by the shoulder and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for understanding," she said.

"I'm not sure I do understand, but we'll figure it out together."

He headed back upstairs to his apartment and took a shower. While he was washing his hair he tried to remember the names in the dream. He could remember Batman in the dream mentioning a Barry and a Michael.

Six minutes later he was out of the shower and drying himself off. He knew he was going to have to make a call, one that he particularly didn't want to make.

After getting dressed he made his way into the living room and picked up the phone. He paused before dialling the number.

He waited until the phone picked up, a familiar and warm British voice. "Good morning, Wayne Residence, Alfred speaking."

"Hey Alfred, it's Dick."

"Master Dick. What a pleasant surprise. It is good to hear from you."

"You too, Alfred. Listen, I know this is going to sound odd, but has Bruce been having strange dreams recently?"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I wouldn't know. You know how he keeps such things to himself. Is there a reason you are asking?"

"It's not something that's easy to explain. Give him the names Barry, Michael and Victor Fries, the last one you know of course. If he's having the same dream then he'll know what it means."

"You are having peculiar dreams?"

"I'd rather not get into it over the phone. Just tell him that both me and Kori are having the same dreams. It's like an apocalypse, but not in the future, it's in the past."

"Most peculiar."

"Yes, it is. Listen, I need to open up, I'll talk to you later."

"Keep in touch, Master Dick. Goodbye."

"Bye."

He put the phone down and stepped out into the hallway where he saw Starfire stepping out of her room as she put on her glamour charm necklace which hid her true skin-tone.

They both headed downstairs just as they heard the bell ring. Dick opened the door and let Victor in.

"On time as always," Dick said to the tall near seven-foot African American.

"How was your weekend?" Vic asked as he stepped inside.

"The usual," Dick replied as the two made their way to the staffroom where Kori was waiting.

Vic put his backpack down in the corner while Kori made some coffee in the machine.

Dick had started drinking coffee again. He had completely cut it out of his life at one point, but he found that he couldn't do without it.

As the three sat there at the table with mugs in front of them, Dick decided to tell Vic about their new employee.

"This afternoon I've got someone new coming in," he told Vic. "Her name's Cassie."

"You want me to show her how things work around here?" Vic asked.

"Yeah. She's worked in a diner before, so she knows customer service. Show her the ropes and ease her in."

"I can do that," Vic accepted

"Don't worry," Kori reassured him. "I'm going to be here too."

"I'm not worried," Vic said with a shrug.

"Good," Dick said. "This afternoon I'm going to finally try and get that dent out of the rear arch of my car."

"How did you even do that?" Vic asked.

Both Starfire and Dick's eyes met. It had been her that had put the dent in his car when she had stepped out in front of him and he had swerved. The rear of the car had connected with her, putting the nasty mar on the reconditioned car.

He finally answered. "Hit something on an icy road."

"Right," Vic said clearly unconvinced as he checked the clock. He began to speed up the drinking of his coffee as did everyone else.

As the clock hit eight, the club opened to its first patrons.

Lexcorp Headquarters

Metropolis

United States

12:12 – EDT

The computer monitors displayed various CCTV feeds that Mercy Graves watched with a smirk.

Clark Kent had gone to the new MercyTech building and had begun asking around until security had escorted him off of the premises. Then, he had begun asking those entering and exiting questions before finally coming to LexCorp itself.

There she had sat watching him continue his sleuthing until she decided to simply invite him up to talk face to face.

As the doors opened and the inquisitive reporter stepped into her office, she turned off the monitors and leant back in her chair, a satisfied smirk on her face.

"You could have called instead of creeping around," she joked. "What do I owe this pleasure Mr Kent?"

Clark stood in front of her oversized desk and got right to the point. "MercyTech. Why start a new business when LexCorp already deals with the development of future and advanced technologies? Won't you be competing with yourself?"

"Only if LexCorp remains in that field," she said obtusely.

Clark frowned at that response. "But isn't that LexCorp's primary function? It's like the Daily Planet deciding they're dropping newspapers."

"LexCorp does a lot of things. I've decided that technology is no longer in the company image."

"Do you think Lex would approve?" he asked her.

Her smile vanished and she glared. "If you haven't noticed Lex isn't here." She leant forward, resting her arms on the desktop. "And before you ask, no I am not really allowed to make this decision without Lex's approval."

"Even when he's considered deceased?"

"Even then."

"Then how are you doing it?"

"Simple. I'm not accepting any new contracts under LexCorp."

"That could end up damaging the net worth of this company," Clark pointed out.

Mercy's smile returned. "Your point?"

"So your goal is to hurt this company?"

"Of course not, don't be silly."

She was lying. It was obvious to Clark that she fully intended on hurting the company's net worth. For what reason he didn't know yet and that was something he intended to find out.

"And how did you get the funds to start up this new company?" he asked.

"I have my means," she said, again being rather obtuse. "Now, I think I've given away enough for you to make your little article. You can get out now."

Clark didn't object. He turned and left the office and she watched on the monitors as he left the building.

Mercy wondered if she had made a mistake in telling him what she had even if it had been very little. As she watched him drive away in his car she knew it was too late to do anything about it.

Feeling the urge to get some coffee, she stood up out of her chair only to have the phone ring.

She picked it up. "Yes?"

Her secretary responded. "Miss Graves, I have the head of security at the MercyTech building on the phone."

"More reporters?" Mercy questioned.

"No ma'am. He says there is some woman in your office that wants to talk to you in person."

Mercy considered simply having them call the police. Instead, she decided against it. "Put him on the line."

"Yes, ma'am."

A moment later she was talking to the head of security at the MercyTech building. "What exactly is going on?"

"A woman showed up dressed in black. She forced her way into your office and won't budge. I was going to call the cops but decided to call you first."

"Leave them out of this," she commanded. "Do you have a name?"

"We've got nothing. She wants to talk only to you."

"Put her on the line."

"Sure, I'll put you through to the office."

A few seconds later a feminine voice answered. "Not on the phone."

The call then ended. Quickly, Mercy dialled back to get the security goon back on the phone.

"It's Mercy," she told him. "She hung up on me."

"Should I call the cops?" he questioned.

"No, I told you before to leave them out of this. Tell her that I'm on my way, but MercyTech is at least an hour away in Metropolis traffic, probably three. Make sure she understands this."

"I'll tell her."

"Good." She put the phone down and left her office.

She didn't know who it was that had decided to plant themselves in her office, but she fully planned on finding out the reason.