Year Twenty-Five: Requiem
Author's Note: If you're not reading the Superman/Wonder Woman comic, then you are seriously missing out on Pure Awesome. #6 was so fricking awesome...
See below for additional notes...
Bruce Wayne to Celebrate 50th with Moon Trip?
This is a rush transcript from 'Gotham by Night,' August 15, 2037. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MAXINE GIBSON, WGN HOST: Thank you for joining Gotham by Night. We have a very special guest tonight, Lucius Fox, the former chief executive officer for WayneTech and close personal friend of Bruce Wayne himself. Lucius, thank you for joining us.
LUCIUS FOX: It's my pleasure Maxine.
MAXINE GIBSON, WGN HOST: The hot topic that's causing so much buzz in Gotham right now is the rumor that Mister Wayne is planning on being aboard next year's inaugural flight of the Slingshot service to the moon. What can you tell us about that?
LUCIUS FOX: That it's true? Look, Maxine, the Slingshot program is using some really solid technology and Bruce fully supports the space program.
MAXINE GIBSON, WGN HOST: But isn't it dangerous for him to go up there? IASA's moon base has only been operational for six months…
LUCIUS FOX: Is it any more dangerous than walking down a Gotham street at night?
MAXINE GIBSON, WGN HOST: (laughs) Well, you've got me there. Any comment on the other rumors, that Mister Wayne is considering a run for governor?
LUCIUS FOX: (smiling) No. No comment, Maxine.
MAXINE GIBSON, WGN HOST: (smiling) And, on that note, we'll be right back.
/-\
Even before the oil tanker blew up around her, it had been a pretty lousy day.
The unexpected explosion threw her back – she struck the ocean surface, bounced a dozen times but finally righted herself just in time for a secondary detonation to smash into her. Oil was everywhere, with so much of it on fire, and Kara barely bit back the scream of rage that was lodged in her throat. She narrowed her eyes as she tried to reacquire her target and pushed against Earth's gravity once more.
"I need containment backup at my location now!" she shouted, hoping that her integrated commlink hadn't been damaged in the fight.
There was no sign of the strange-looking Acurian responsible for the explosion – a careful scan of her surroundings revealed no life forms that should not be there out to the twenty mile point – and Kara bit back the urge to growl a very dark curse as she went to work trying to save as many lives as possible. Why such a rare alien was even on Earth remained a mystery for now, though if the last couple of years was any indication, she had a feeling it would come up again. For such an isolated planet in a fairly uninteresting part of this galaxy, Earth sure seemed to draw a lot of attention.
Her chest still ached from where the creature had struck her with its fiery TK blast and she paused in her rescue attempts long enough to rearrange her cape to better conceal the rather large gash in the uniform itself. Another two centimeters higher and she would be ready for Mardi Gras. The League was already dealing with low favorability numbers right now – a string of metahuman rumbles that hadn't been shut down quickly enough had caused the dip along with a few off the cuff comments made by the less polished members of the team – and the moral crusader hypocrites would just love the chance to add public indecency on top of the usual accusations of immorality.
The new Lantern arrived a couple of minutes after she made her transmission and, to his credit, did not bother asking what had happened. Instead, he went straight to work, using that Oan power ring of his to sift out the oil and debris from the ocean. Firestorm was, unsurprisingly, right there with him; they'd been working together a lot of late, which had ignited a media frenzy about the nature of their relationship. As far as Kara knew, Rivka and Simon weren't sleeping together, but from their body language (and the other nonverbal clues someone with Kryptonian senses could easily pick up), it almost seemed like it was only a matter of time before they were. And when that happened, there were enough fanatical lunatics on both sides of their respective religious cultures – she was a Jew from Israel, he was a Muslim from Michigan – to turn what should have been a beautiful thing into a bloodbath. Kara's head was already starting to pound from the headache that would cause.
"I read Firestorm and Lantern at your location," Victor said, his voice crackling out of her comm-array. "Do you need additional assets?" Kara frowned – Mister Stone was sounding especially cyborg-like today – as she paused briefly and did another scan.
"Negative," she replied quickly. "What's the nearest port we can secure this ship in?"
"From your current location … Port Louis in Mauritius is the closest." Kara grunted.
"Did you get that, Lantern?" she called out.
"Bounce me the coordinates, Vic," Earth's current Green Lantern instructed. He hovered in the sky, emerald constructs wrapped around the broken hull of the tanker. The survivors were crawling around the shattered ship, several pointing and talking at the swirls of green light. "I've got it from here," he said, his head facing Kara. A moment later, he and the ship started westward.
"And I'll keep an eye on him," Rivka said before flashing away to fly alongside Lantern. Kara shook her head momentarily and then pushed hard against Earth's gravitational pull. She shot upward, accelerating to escape velocity in seconds.
/-\
She reached the Watchtower quickly enough and, thanks to her admin access, entered via a normally shut down section of the orbital facility. It hadn't been used since Kal-El first cracked open her stasis pod and she stripped out of her filthy uniform before stepping into the decon shower. The temperature of the water was a degree or two shy of gold's melting point, but even then, it wasn't hot enough to wash away the soreness of her muscles. Rao, but she was exhausted.
Kara stepped out of the scalding shower long minutes later and floated to where she kept her spare uniforms. For a long moment, she simply stared at the familiar-looking red and white before shaking her head once more. Even now, nearly an hour after the fact, her chest still hurt. It was long past the time to make a change, especially with her newly discovered condition. She pushed the uniform locker shut, drifted closer to another one and slowly donned the hostile environment hard-suit she'd modified for her purposes. It was still mostly white, with scarlet high boots and a cape. The House of El symbol was present upon her chest for the first time since part of her had been called Supergirl, and, as she studied the stranger looking back at her in the mirror, Kara wondered what her cousin would think.
Her new appearance caused more than a couple of second looks as she made her way to the Watchtower command center, but for the most part, Kara ignored them. The whispers were the hardest to ignore, though somehow, she managed. As she touched down next to the monitor womb, the machine that had once been a man barely moved.
"What's our status?" she asked calmly. Her eyes automatically darted to the icon on the viewscreen that represented Bill. He was still listed as Temporarily Unavailable … but then, all of the magic-based members of the League were marked the same way and had been for the last three months, ever since Fate gathered them together and led them through some sort of energy vortex to stop a group of entities he called the Lords of Chaos. His explanation had been utterly nonsensical, but Bill had appeared worried so she'd not contested the decision, even if it meant she was sleeping alone these days.
"Nominal," Victor replied emotionlessly. "I have already logged the tanker incident with the United Nations and they have requested additional briefings as soon as possible." Kara grimaced.
"Put it off as long as possible," she instructed. "Is there anything on the board that I'm needed for?"
"No, ma'am." Victor finally turned to face her and she could see the momentarily flicker of human curiosity that appeared in his eyes. It was gone almost instantly and Kara grieved anew for the loss. In the years since his father passed away, Victor had stopped resisting his cybernetic side and had, instead, embraced it wholeheartedly. He was more machine now than man. "I will contact you if assistance is required, Superwoman." Again, Kara winced.
Superwoman. Rao, but she hated that name.
She made a discreet exit from the Watchtower and then darted closer to the sun, stopping just over Venus as she let Sol's energy revitalize her. The warmth caused her exhaustion to seep away, though she knew it was only a temporary measure, especially in the wake of what she had to do next. Already, her head was beginning to pound.
"Kelor," she said into her solar visor. The soft chirp of the communication line going active buzzed against her ear. "Status of our guest?"
"Mister Alexander is still working, Mistress," came the smooth reply several seconds later. "Per instructions, I have been monitoring his progress and noted no anomalous attempts to access restricted data." Kara opened her eyes and slowly pivoted in place so she was once more oriented toward Earth. The instant she had her bearings, she was accelerating back toward the planet.
"Status on Madeline?" she didn't want to hear this, didn't want to know how little time was remaining for a woman who deserved so much more.
"Unchanged." Kelor's calm tone belied the grim tidings the servitor was relaying. "Based on a predictive model of humans in similar conditions, it is unlikely she will continue to function for longer than thirty solar days." Kara wanted to scream.
Over four years had elapsed since Luthor first reached out to Bruce, three since Madeline passed the original deadline of six months to a year, and everyone who saw her could tell how close she was to the end. The whole of the United States was already grieving for the loss of a much beloved First Lady, even though the Alexanders had not been in office for almost six years, but none of that mattered to Kara. Her primary concerns had to be with Luthor and what he would do when his wife, the woman he seemed to genuinely love and adore, was gone. Would he fall back onto his old habits? Would his anger and grief warp the man he'd become into something dark and horrible? She, better than anyone alive, knew how terrible his madness could be. Sometimes, she still woke screaming.
"Acknowledged," Kara replied. "I am on approach – I will check in with Mister Alexander personally."
By the time she reached the specialized cancer lab just inside the Gotham City limits (where he could be monitored by the Bats who evidently didn't already have enough to do), it was halfway to dawn. As she descended toward the concealed tunnel entrance, Kara could see that Luthor was still at work. His work ethic was admirable, she had to admit, but the desperation on his face didn't exactly inspire her with confidence.
"What do you want?" he snapped as she entered the lab. From the smell, he hadn't bathed in some time and Kara paused as she gave the monitor a quick look. Her expertise was not in human medicine, though she knew enough about biology to recognize that his experiments here were so far beyond anyone else on the planet that it was revolutionary. Once again, she gave him a calculating look. "I don't have time for this," Luthor growled. He started to turn and, in his unsteadiness, in his exhaustion and emotional state, he knocked over an array of test tubes.
Kara blurred.
Luthor had just enough time to register the damage he'd nearly caused when she righted the samples, placed them back on the large desk and then pushed him away from it with one finger. He stumbled back a handful of steps, eyes blinking blearily. By the look of it, he was trying to determine if he should be thankful or furious.
"There's a couch over there," Kara said, pointing to the sectional in question. "Go get some sleep."
"I don't have time to sleep!" Luthor's eyes were feverish. "Maddie doesn't have time for me to sleep!"
"You'll think better when you've rested," Kara replied. She floated closer, wincing at his smell, and pushed against his chest. "I will carry you if I must." Luthor's face contorted briefly into a snarl.
"You don't get to tell me what to do, Kryptonian," he hissed. He took a step closer.
So Kara hit him.
It was barely a flick of her middle finger, with less than a fraction of her innate strength behind it, but still, it knocked Luthor back. He stumbled, slipped, and collapsed onto the floor. If the situation were not so bleak for Madeline, if Kara wasn't fighting the urge to kick him into next week just to make herself feel better, the confused expression on his face might have made her laugh. Instead, it did something far, far worse: it made her feel sorry for him.
"Get up," she snapped angrily. How dare this piece of crap make her empathize with him! It was his damned fault that she was in the condition she was! "Get onto that couch and go to sleep! You're not doing Madeline any good like this!" Luthor blinked – whether it was at her fierce tone, her unmistakable body language or her use of his wife's name, Kara didn't know – and finally forced himself up. It was obvious that he wasn't thinking straight as he limped to the couch without further argument, collapsed onto it. He was asleep in seconds.
Kara spent a few more minutes cleaning up – she made a mental note to reprogram the servitors assigned to this lab to do a better job of housekeeping – and then, after using her enhanced senses to ensure that Luthor wasn't playacting, made a quiet exit. She took to the air as soon as possible, enjoying the cool North American air to revive her sense of smell.
"Is there a reason you're in Gotham?" The raspy, almost inhuman voice that crackled through her communicator instantly caused her to glower and she cast around for the inevitable Bat-drone tracking her. She found it almost instantly and, for a moment, seriously considered frying it with her heat vision. It would serve him right.
"I was checking up on the package," she retorted coldly. For reasons that she still did not quite understand, she and Timothy Drake could not seem to get along even a little bit. Oh, they'd tried, especially given the nature of the close friendship between their respective predecessors, but dealing with the Bat-jerk without losing her temper was something Kara could barely do on the best of days. Helena thought it was alternately baffling and hilarious, but then, she had nothing but great things to say about Drake. Even Bill got along tremendously with Drake, but as far as Kara was concerned, the current Batman was a dick, and his girlfriend-wife-partner-whatever the hell her official title might be was even worse. At least the new Robin didn't treat her like she was one step away from turning into a murderous alien intent on world subjugation and he was the creepiest little bastard she'd ever met. "Your precious city is safe for another day," she added before killing the transmission and pushing against gravity once more. She rocketed up, into the clouds, faster than any human eye could see.
/-\
"Is everything okay?" Helena asked her the following day when they met for their weekly coffee catch-up session. "Babs told me that you nearly bit Tim's head off last night."
"I'm fine," Kara replied, though even she could hear the lie in her words. She looked away, wondering how to explain what had been preying on her mind for the last several months. As much as she loved Helena, her friend was still just a human and … and…
No, dammit. That wasn't right. Helena had fought monsters and aliens and gods. She could handle a little existential crisis easily enough.
"Bill's sister, Mary, has started asking me if he and I are going to have children," she said after a few moments of silence.
"Oh, boy."
"Exactly." Kara carefully pushed her coffee cup away. In the mood she was in, she didn't want to crush it in frustration. "I've tried to explain it to her – Kryptonians and humans can't interbreed, and even though he's …"
"Marvelous?" Helena offered with a wry smile.
"Sure. I can go with that." She blew out another frustrated breath. "He's still human." She grimaced. "This led to another discussion, about how we reproduced on Krypton …" Kara looked away then, struggling to find the correct words for what she had just recently learned. At her expression, Helena frowned and gave her a questioning look. "I discovered a recording at the Fortress a while back," Kara said after a few moments of silence. "It was just a fragment of something longer but …" Helena nodded her understanding. "When my uncle sent Kal-El to Earth, he sent a … a copy of his neural patterns, I guess you would call it. An electronic ghost, if you will."
"Okay." Helena sounded about as skeptical as Kara expected, but then, she didn't have the same frame of references. Rao, she still had trouble changing the ringtone on her stupid phone!
"Kal-El asked why Jor-El and Lara did not come with him." Kara exhaled. "And my uncle stated clearly that he and Lara were … a product of the failures of Krypton." She grimaced. "That means I'm a product of those failures as well." Helena reached out and placed her hand on top of Kara's. "I didn't think that really mattered," Kara continued slowly, "but now, I can't help but to wonder if he was right, if I am part of what was wrong with Krypton…"
"Stop." Helena's grip on her hand was tight for a human, but Kara barely felt it. "I don't know where this came from, but you are not a failure." She tilted her head and frowned. "That's not what's bothering you, is it? There's something else." Kara looked away. "Is it Bill?"
"No, it's not him," Kara replied softly. She shook her head. "Kelor detected some anomalies with my bio-scan when I was researching Jor-El's recording and …" Unsure how to phrase this, she trailed off.
"Are you sick?" Helena's expression was horrified, worried, confused with even a touch of anger in there that Kara hoped wasn't aimed at her.
"Not exactly," she said. "How old are you now, Helena?" It was a rhetorical question – they were the same age, after all – and her friend frowned at the reminder of her mortality. At forty-one, there wasn't much time remaining for Helena in the cape and cowl. She might have a good five years left before injury and a body that could no longer continue operating at the level necessary would force her to permanently retire. When Helena did not reply, Kara exhaled bitterly. "I discovered that I am aging like a human being," she said bitterly. There was no comprehension on her friend's face and Kara glowered. "On average, Kryptonians lived well into their three or four hundreds," she said. "And that was on our own planet, underneath our sun. Here? Under a yellow star? I should live for eight or nine centuries without a problem. I should be aging at an unbelievably slow pace."
"But you're not." Helena was silent for a moment. "Because of the merge?" she offered, her body language betraying her discomfort. They had not talked much about Kara's merge or the difficulties that she'd faced getting used to two sets of memories, and for the most part, Kara was fine with that. It was in the past and she'd integrated everything – normally, she didn't even think about it anymore.
"That's my best guess," Kara admitted. "Genetically, I'm still a hundred percent Kryptonian … I'm just not aging like one." She saw another flash of confusion cross her friend's face and sighed. "Humans live, on average, into their seventies or eighties," she said. "Now imagine dying at twenty-five or thirty … but looking like you're eighty when you die." Kara glowered. "That's roughly what I'm looking at."
"Is there a cure?" Helena asked. She glanced around, noting the arrival of the early morning rush, and visibly winced – they would not be able to finish this conversation here, not with so many people now within earshot.
"Working on it," Kara said as she stood. "Look," she said quickly, "I've got to head out. I'll give you a call later." The urge to find something large and strong to use as a punching bag was intense, but sadly, she had to meet with Starrware Labs' development team and try to keep them on track.
"You better," Helena said.
A minute and twenty-three seconds later, Kara was airborne once more.
/-\
The month blurred by, almost as if the universe was aware of her sudden sense of mortality and accelerated the pace of time to mock her. Bill and his supernatural squad returned a week into it, but then promptly had to vanish again as the situation they'd just contained almost instantly began unraveling. Kara hadn't had time to tell him what was wrong – they had a few hours at best before he returned to this magical fight, and they spent most of that time in bed – so she buried her fear and rage underneath a layer of icy control.
Madeline Alexander's condition took a sharp turn for the worse and then, on the day that Luthor's research actually began paying dividends, she died. At the time, Kara was on the Watchtower, dealing with a League matter involving several new members, including another extraterrestrial who called himself Mister Majestic. He was an arrogant jerk who was more proactive in his activities than he had any right to be and it was principally his actions of late that had caused the League to suffer such a precipitous nose dive in approval.
"If you continue in this behavior," Kara had told him coldly, "not only will the League terminate any association with you, but we will turn you over to the proper authorities for imprisonment and trial."
"Because I choose to act before the monsters unleash their carnage?" Majestic's expression had been dark, which wasn't a surprise really. For someone who wore as much white as he did, his actions and general mindset was astoundingly gray.
"Because you have acted outside the bounds of our authority," Kara replied. "You have violated the sovereignty of at least five nations to apprehend individuals that you claim were these Daemonites in disguise while offering no proof whatsoever." She met his angry glare with one of her own and was suddenly aware of every Leaguer present orienting toward Majestic. As a Kherubim with senses nearly rivaling her own, he had to be aware of the sheer amount of hostility aimed at him, but Kara didn't care. She just wanted this smug, sanctimonious asshole off her Watchtower. "This is your only warning," she'd said flatly. "If you want to remain here, on my planet, then you will follow the fucking rules or the League will put you down so hard and so fast that you'll regret ever hearing about Earth." The heat and pressure behind her eyes intensified, and she just barely held it back. "Now get the hell out of my sight," she added through clenched teeth, "before I decide to forget all of the good you've done in the last two years."
Majestic left, visibly furious, and Kara could hear the whispers begin almost at once. Most were positive – Majestic had not done an especially good job at making friends and his innate arrogance was more than a little off-putting – but a handful of the newer recruits were concerned about her state of mind. Bill's extended absence was naturally brought up, along with theories (from the less mature members of the League) about her lack of sexual activity being the reason for her foul temper. She tried to tune it out, tried to focus on the surprising amount of paperwork related to her job as acting chairman of the League, but the whispers wouldn't stop. And then, of course, Drake had to speak up and make things worse.
"Your planet," he asked from where he stood near the exit, a shadow with human form that stared at her with judging eyes from beneath that faceless mask of his. "Did I miss a memo?"
"Go blow yourself out of the airlock," Kara snapped. She was about to make another biting remark when she heard the announcement about Madeline's death on a news broadcast three rooms away. Biting back a curse, she pushed the desk away and blurred toward the wide viewport, trusting Kryptonian tech to allow her passage without de-pressurizing the room. And hey, if it did, the only person in that room at the moment was the Batjerk. Surely he had some sort of trick on that stupid utility belt of his.
She reached the cancer hospice twenty-nine seconds later and slowed to a hover just atop a nearby building so she could scan the perimeter. Locating Luthor was not difficult – he was sitting in one of the waiting rooms, the two Alexander children (though really, they couldn't exactly be called that anymore, not with both attending college now) flanking him. All three were crying and Luthor himself looked … lost or broken or …
Kara suddenly wanted to hit something. Hard. He was Lex freaking Luthor, the monster from her nightmares. She wasn't supposed to feel sorry for him.
"She passed almost an hour ago," Agent Smith said as he approached. Kara slowly dropped to the roof of the building and half turned to face the approaching lead of Luthor's Secret Service detail. The agent's expression appeared to be torn between rage and sadness. "The press wasn't supposed to be informed yet," he said tightly which certainly explained the anger. "When I find out who leaked this," he added, "I'm going to crucify them."
"I'll bring the nails," Kara replied. She glanced around, locating the rest of the security detail with relative ease. To a man, they appeared saddened, but that was no surprise – Madeline Alexander had been a lovely woman. Still, she could not help but to notice how many of them were paying more attention to her than their surroundings, almost as if they considered her a threat… "Is there something I'm missing here, Agent Smith?" she asked, tensing very slightly in preparation for any potential attack.
"That remains to be seen, Ms. Starr," the Secret Service agent replied. His use of her assumed name was not especially surprising – if Luthor had deduced who Kal-El was as Bruce once said, then piercing her cover identity would be child's play – but it still caused her to frown. "I hand-picked this detail," Smith continued. "Every member of it knows about the president, Ms. Starr." Kara's frown deepened. "We're not the only ones who know, either," Smith added. "ARGUS knows. The CIA knows. Homeland Security. Even the idiots at the DoJ must have some idea. People know who he was before." He narrowed his eyes. "And we don't care." Kara's surprise must have shown on her face because Smith smiled slightly – it was the most emotion she'd ever seen on his face and his white teeth were bright against his dark skin. "As long as he doesn't break the law or act against the interests of the United States, we're going to continue doing our jobs to the best of our ability. Who he was doesn't matter. All that matters is who he is now."
"You'd take a bullet for him?" Kara asked softly.
"I would." Smith flashed that smile of his again. "I'd take a bullet for you as well, ma'am. It would be stupid of me, of course, given that bullets bounce off you anyway, but it's the thought that counts, right?" He turned his attention back to the hospital. There was no way he could see Luthor, not without some very specific gene-mods or cybernetic enhancements, neither of which he possessed, so Kara suspected he was simply looking away from her. "Our biggest concern at the moment," Smith said, "is containment." He sighed. "We don't know what happens next. I'd like to say that life goes on and he doesn't fall back onto bad habits but …"
"I don't know either," Kara said. "Disseminate my contact information among your team," she instructed softly. "Day or night. If you need me, I'm here." She pushed against gravity and began climbing. "Remember, Agent Smith," she said. "Day or night."
At ten thousand feet, she stopped and let herself float. The noise of humanity was a little muted up here which gave her a chance to think. If Smith and his team were unsure about how Luthor would react, could she really take the chance and not just preemptively throw him into the Phantom Zone? He could be a ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off. The blood of thousands was already on his hands, even if his later actions had been as a peacemaker and had resulted in millions of lives saved. Was it really that simple? Human lives, boiled down to simple numbers? This many killed versus this many saved? She could act now, move against Alexander before he recovered, but how would that make her any better than militant aggressors like Majestic or Dru-Zod and his merry band of psychopaths? If she acted that way, how could she look at the House of El sigil she now wore upon her chest again and not agree with Jor-El that she was a failure, just like every Kryptonian who didn't make it off their world? How could she face Kal-El or the princess should they ever return and not feel like she'd failed them and dishonored their memories?
Kara grimaced. Rao, she was tired.
/-\
Metropolis was always beautiful at night.
Oh, Kara would never say that it was even close to Kandor, especially during the Autumn Equinox when the float-lamps were swimming around the city like living things and the sky turned azure as the sun sank below the horizon, but this Earth city had its own attractions. The great statue in the bay that greeted the tired, huddled masses to American shores always drew her eye, and all of the new buildings that seemed intent on racing one another to see which one could touch space first. There were the smells and the sounds and the sheer energy of the city that never seemed to sleep. As much as she loved Fawcett City and its retro-constructions, there was something that always drew her back to Metropolis. Perhaps it was because this was once Kal-El's city, and then later, when he was first gone, the princess had watched over it, and now that they were both gone, it fell to her. Or perhaps it was because so many of her friends were here. Mary Batson had moved here once the red skies stripped her of her abilities and now headed the Metropolis-based Starrware Labs subsidiaries, and both Courtney and Jesse lived here these days, the former relocating recently and the latter having never moved.
Or, and this was sadly the mostly likely, it was due to a tiny pastry shop buried deep in the heart of the city that made the best damned cheesecake on the planet.
The sun had already disappeared behind the horizon, vanishing below the artificial canyon of building that was the city, when Kara touched down inside the alley next to the shop. As expected, no one appeared to notice her arrival, so she activated the hard-light hologram integrated in her suit. Her cape quivered slightly and then retracted, securing itself to her back in an almost solid square as the tiny holo-emitters activated. With a flicker of light, she suddenly looked like every other professional in the city, admittedly taller and more buxom than most, but these things could not be helped.
"I thought you might have stood me up," Lois said by way of greeting as Kara joined her at the small table.
"Busy day," Kara replied. She smiled tightly at the presence of a second cup of steaming coffee already waiting – Mrs. White might claim to be a cynic, but over the years, as Kara go to know her better, Kal-El's former girlfriend had displayed a steady faith in those of the House of El that never wavered.
"And a new suit," Lois said, nodding to one of the television monitors secured against the wall. There, Kara saw herself standing on a rooftop, speaking with Agent Smith. She almost frowned – why hadn't she noticed the cameraman? – before realizing that Smith had probably leaked this himself for reasons that made sense only to him. The graphic on the right of the picture was a tiny bit misleading: Superwoman Offers Condolences to Grieving Alexanders. How exactly had she offered condolences since she'd never even spoken to them? "I like the new look," Lois added when the moment of silence stretched out. "It's especially nice to see that crest again." This was said with more than a hint of sadness and Kara nodded her agreement of what was left unspoken.
They chatted for a short time, comparing notes about the League's PR problem while avoiding certain subjects – Lois' health after last year's heart scare; 'Richard' and his own health issues; Kara's own recent (and distressingly public) spats with Bill over the usual kinds of things couples argued over. Unofficially, Lois was still the executive editor for the Planet, but she'd turned over most of the day-to-day operations to others, mostly at the urging of her doctors who were convinced she was working herself to death. Even still, this unofficial meeting could potentially be perceived to be unethical by Lois' more aggressive detractors, which was why she made sure not to offer any suggestions or recommendations. Instead, she simply let herself be a sounding board for Kara's complaints … and Kara simply listened to the older woman's heartbeat in order to gauge what she thought.
The soft chirp of her suit's comm-device nearly an hour later caused Kara to break off in mid-sentence and glance away. Outside of another Kryptonian, there were few people on this planet who could even detect the low range utilized for Kelor's pulse beacon and even fewer who could hear the servitor's communication.
"Alert," Kelor announced. "Unknown energy signature detected. Unable to quantify signature origin."
"You've got to go," Lois guessed with a knowing smile. She jerked her head. "Get out of here," she ordered. "I'll check in with you later."
"Thank you." Kara paused at the register on her way out. "Put it all on my bill," she said to the matronly woman behind the counter.
"Of course, Ms. Starr," the pastry genius said with a grin. Her register beeped, automatically deducting the price of the food from Kara's account. Yet another wonderful WayneTech invention, Kara reflected almost bitterly as she exited the shop and headed for the convenient alleyway.
She reached the Fortress within minutes, noting at once the shimmering distortion just outside the main entrance. It resolved into a humanoid form as she came to a hovering halt two meters away, though the outline was fuzzy and indistinct, as if it was a poor transmission. The form appeared to be wearing some kind of armor and face enclosing helmet that hid everything but the startling blue eyes that looked out.
"I seek the master of this Fortress," the figure stated, a very slight accent flavoring his words.
"This is my Fortress," Kara replied as she crossed her arms. She studied the flickering almost hologram, noting how it appeared to originate from something in the snow. A perfectly-shaped diamond, it appeared, though it was barely a centimeter in total diameter.
"And Kal-El?" the vision asked. "Did he depart from this world? With a woman and two others?" Kara tensed.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"My name is Gabriel," the blue-eyed figure announced. "I have spent the last four centuries scouring realities to find this world."
"You'll find it's defended," Kara said tersely, focusing on the heat behind her eyes.
"You misunderstand, Kara Zor-El," the stranger said. He saluted her in the old way – left arm, crossed against his chest with his clenched fist almost touching his right shoulder – and the armored bracer he wore began to glow. An instant later, a semi-transparent shield materialized.
It was the crest of her House. The House of El.
"My time dwindles," the blue-eyed stranger said. Already, his voice was growing weaker and the image was beginning to fade. "Please secure the transmission construct in a safe location. It will be necessary for…" His voice dwindled to nothing, though Kara suspected he was still talking. In the last instant before the image vanished completely, the armored man pushed the visor of his helmet up, granting her the briefest of glimpses at his face. She recognized Kal-El's smile and much of her cousin's facial structure, but the nose and coloring? They were Diana's. Kara realized she was grinning. He was alive. Kal-El was alive!
"Kelor!" she called out as she knelt in the snow to scoop up the pulsing diamond. Even through the thickness of her hard-suit, she could feel how warm it was. "I need a containment unit prepped now!"
Her cousin was alive!
All of the dark thoughts, and fear, and worry that had been hounding her for years fell away before that single, beautiful realization and she almost laughed giddily.
She was half a step away when the blue-eyed stranger's words fully sank in.
"I have spent the last four centuries scouring realities to find this world," he'd said. But how could that be? Kal-El and the princess had only been gone for five years!
/-\
Five days later, America laid to rest one of its most beloved First Ladies.
All of the surviving presidents attended, along with an international delegation rivaling that of many heads of state. It was to be expected given Mrs. Alexander's unmistakable contribution to youth education across the world. Kara led the League delegation which included the two publicly known surviving founding members of the team, King Arthur of Atlantis and Hal Jordan. She'd meant for her presence to be a sign of the genuine respect she'd harbored for Madeline, but if she'd known just how many publicity whores would be here, she seriously would have reconsidered. Did these creatures not understand the point of a grieving ceremony? On Krypton, it was a solemn time for even the most prominent members of society, not a media circus.
The ceremony lasted a short eternity, dragging on as various individuals stepped up to eulogize or, as was sadly all too frequent with many of the politicians and VIPs present, to be seen eulogizing the late Mrs. Alexander. By hour number two, the mood of those genuinely present to say their last goodbye to a beloved figure had grown restless and the attending priest, recognizing the shift, hurried through his sermon. Kara barely heard him speak as she was eavesdropping on the security patrols and keeping an eye on the cloudless sky, just in case someone tried to do something stupid.
No one did, though, and she took to the sky the moment it was no longer impolite for her to do so. In mid-air, she adjusted the hard-light hologram on her suit, changing it from the appearance of a formal Kryptonian gown to the now more comfortable white and red, before heading back to Fawcett City where she intended to get some long overdue work done at the office.
"Alert," Kelor informed her softly some two hours later. "Breach detected at secure lab alpha." Kara was airborne and streaking into the darkening sky even before the servitor finished the report. She reached Gotham less than a minute later, heat from her harsh re-entry rolling off her hard-suit. Her feet barely touched the concrete before she was blurring forward, darting through the doors cycling open upon her arrival. Muscles tensed, she flashed to a stop just inside the lab, fully expecting a half dozen possible threats.
Instead, she found Luthor.
He was still dressed in the suit she'd seen him in earlier, though his tie was undone and his thinning hair looked unkempt, as if he'd run his fingers through it a dozen times. His eyes were red, though it was almost impossible to tell if that was due to tears or simple fatigue. At her sudden arrival, he visibly jumped, but made no furtive moves that might hint at a darker plan. Instead, he simply looked at her with a frown and then turned back to his work.
Kara blinked.
"What are you doing here?" she asked after assuring herself that there was no one else present. There wasn't even a killbot lurking in the shadows.
"Finishing what I started," Luthor replied. "I promised Maddie I would." His voice was dull and flat, devoid of any discernible human emotion, but Kara could hear his heartbeat alter slightly at the pronouncement of his late wife's name. "I'm going to obliterate this damned disease once and for all," he said. Finally, Luthor looked up. "And after I'm done," he said tonelessly, "you can throw me into the Phantom Zone for all I care." Their eyes met.
Kara looked away first.
She retreated from the lab once she was sure that Luthor was working on his cancer cure as he claimed and fled to space where she instantly oriented toward the sun. Within minutes, she reached Mercury's orbit and she matched its velocity. Hanging there, suspended in the void before the brilliant life-giving star named Sol, she tried very, very hard to understand humans. With her senses, she would have been able to tell if Luthor was lying … and he hadn't been. He truly did not care if she threw him into the Zone. Was this how humans grieved? Was this why Bruce and the members of his bizarre family were so maladjusted? Perhaps the Mystics of ancient Krypton had chosen the correct path when they urged Rao's children to cast aside emotion and embrace pure logic and mathematics. Should she do the same? Should she push aside those who cared for her, those who loved her? Long buried memories of her mother, now dead for so very long, surfaced. Faith, Alura In-Ze would have urged. Rao would give her the sign she needed if she simply had faith.
"Incoming message," Kelor's voice announced through her solar visor. "Cyborg reports Captain Marvel is on-station. Requesting your presence."
Kara smiled. As signs went, she could not ask for one better.
"Advise Cyborg that I am en route," Kara stated as she slowly rotated in place, using her enhanced senses to locate Earth.
She was going home.
A/N #2:
Thank you for the continuing feedback. It was not until several people pointed it out, that I realized I hadn't actually explained why Asgard did not counter-attack against Apokalips. This is a pretty big oversight on my part - I'm fairly certain a reference to it was in one of my earlier Asgard chapters but ended up getting cut for some reason - so I will be addressing that in the next chapter.
Also, regarding Bruce and his advancing age: there are no plans for him to sudden de-age or become immortal or anything. His time in the cape and cowl is over. It is my opinion that, the moment you give Bruce Wayne any kind of super-power, you strip him of the one thing that makes him so special: he's a regular man who walked and fought alongside gods. He still has a role to play, but there will not be a last-minute reprieve for him (or for anyone else.) I chose the name of this fic quite deliberately. That said, I'm not sure why people would feel sorry or bad for him - his life has turned out a lot better than the animated version's did. He's married to a woman he genuinely loves, he has kids, he's made a difference...
As to this chapter, the new Robin referenced is Damian, though I don't think I'll be dealing much with him as I haven't actually picked up a Bat comic in a long time (not since they decided that my favorite Robin never actually was a Robin and my favorite Batgirl simply vanished) so I know next to nothing about the character.
The Acurian and Mister Majestic are obviously from the WildStorm integration into the DCU. This Lantern is also taken from current stuff, but I haven't read more than that intro issue with him (this being a crappy economy and all; have to be judicious in my spending and all.)
Finally, regarding Luthor: I had absolutely no idea that his arc was going to play the way it has. Original outline had him dying (permanently) in the Merge chapter way back when. But the Muse clearly has some other things in mind for him...