Chapter Six: Bonding.
Kara Danvers tried to put herself into full Supergirl mode when she flew to the DEO. She would not even mention what she saw, what she heard from across town. Not to mention the fact she really was not supposed to be using her powers to do that. She heard her sister moaning from all the way across town and curiosity got the better of the young woman.
She saw something which would not leave her mind. And it wasn't for horrible reasons, if it was for horrible reasons, Kara would actually beat at ease.
'Okay, just calm down,' Kara thought. 'You're going to have to face him at the DEO….don't try and imagine him in his underwear though whatever you do.'
Kara never quite figured out why people said to imagine people in their underwear. There were some people who she would never want to imagine in their underwear and others where other, seedier thoughs entered Kara's mind.
Supergirl dropped down in front of the DEO entrance. People moved around in the DEO corridors and some of them were muttering. She noticed Alex walking there, with a business like expression on her face.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked.
"Me?" Kara asked. Her voice hit a higher pitch. "Oh, yeah, I'm good, I'm really good, I'm fine, I've never been better, I've had a really good morning."
Alex blinked and stared into Kara's eyes for a few seconds. She frowned.
"How about you?" Kara asked, hoping to divert Alex's attention away from you.
"Me?" Alex asked. "Oh, I'm fine…you got to work on time, didn't you?"
Kara nodded in response. It had been several hours for Supergirl to get it mentally together and it took her a while to figure out where she stood. The heart of the Girl of Steel thumped against her ribs when taking a deep breath.
"So, the test results have finished," Harry said. "And they're inconclusive."
Kara looked from Alex to Harry for a moment, wondering what was going on.
"We better explain because you weren't here when he came in, Supergirl," Harry said. Supergirl responded with a nod and followed him, becoming all business after taking a moment to recover her thoughts.
"The DEO came across a man who was screaming in an incoherent way," Alex said.
"So, are you sure this isn't a job for the local police?" Supergirl asked.
"We thought so too at first if it wasn't for the miniature explosion on the docks before this man started to scream," Alex said. The trio passed down the hallway. They walked forward and moved around the corner. "He's….well, I'm sure you can hear him for yourself.
"No, you can't stop him, you can't stop him….HE'S COMING!"
The shrill sound of these screams caused Supergirl to be taken aback, clutching her ear. This man had a pretty good vocal range, to the point where he assaulted the ear drums of anyone who opened their ears far enough to listen in.
"Wait, what's on his chest?" Supergirl asked.
She frowned and moved in as close as the cell could allow her.
"It's a parasite….." Harry said.
Supergirl, forgetting about her tension around the young man, raised a hand up. She knew right away this was something bad. She recalled something her aunt told her, a story of an ancient race, about as old as time and space itself.
"Astra, she told me something, back on Krypton," Supergirl said. Harry raised an eyebrow. "My aunt she's….well we have a pretty difficult relationship."
Alex thought this was the understatement of the century, given what happened the last time Astra and Kara butted heads. Harry had been brought up to speed with the escaped prisoners.
"What did she tell you?" Alex asked, remaining as calm and diplomatic as possible.
Kara took a breath. It had been a while since the story had been told to her. Upon reflection, she remembered every single word of this griping and particularly twisted tale like it was yesterday.
"She told me of a primitive race which was around since the dawn of time," Supergirl said. "They call themselves the Star Conquerors, for they rose up out of the creation. They came out of nothing, and they reduce the planets they take into nothing, when consuming everything."
Harry frowned, he had a pretty bad idea where this was going. Kara waited for the nod to continue and so she did, pressing forward.
"Over time, they have been hunted down," Supergirl said. "Demolished, and their population had been thinned down, often by the survivors of the planets which they decimated over time. One of their most fearsome remains."
Supergirl worked open the lock and entered the room. Alex and Harry followed behind her. They took a good look at the man and he looked worst, decayed and malnourished. He attempted to struggle against the grip of the starfish hooked to his chest. The creature dug itself into the man's chest and an agonizing scream followed.
"No, it's over, you can't stop him, it's over!" the man said, eyes rolling into the back of his head. "He will come, he knows I'm here. He will come, they are many, but he rules all, you can't stop him."
"As I was saying, the most feared of the Star Conquerors remain," Supergirl said said. "They called him STARRO, he was the ultimate warrior of them all."
"And this is one of his drones," Harry said. "This is bigger than we all thought."
"How did this happen?" Alex asked. "How did they even find Earth?"
"One of STARRO's followers must have been imprisoned in Fort Rozz," Kara said. "He sends his heralds from planet to planet, to collect…at least according to Astra..."
Supergirl leaned down and touched the squish Starfish on the man's chest. One demonic little eye opened up and peered at the three flesh bags before him.
"He comes," the starfish drone said, using the mouth of his meat puppet "He will arrive, you cannot stop him, the siege of STARRO will be at hand."
Supergirl looked down at the man in question. She could only hear a faint heart beat and knew the Starfish only kept him alive.
"So, it's only one drone," Alex said. "It shouldn't be too hard to stop…."
"His children are arriving," the man in question said.
This statement caused Harry, Alex, and Supergirl to look at the man. The man's flesh started to decay and they noticed several purple eggs manifesting in the chest cavity of this man.
"Oh my God, he….she…laid her eggs in him," Alex said.
"We're going to need intense heat, now, to destroy the eggs before they hatch," Harry said. "Do you think you can blast them with your heat vision?"
Supergirl turned her attention towards the man. His vital signs spiked before they flatlined. The eggs started to rock in the man's chest which caused the Girl of Steel's heart to beat even faster with a couple of steady motions.
"Yeah, I think….I think I can do it," Supergirl said, turning her attention to the man in question. Those eggs started to crack inside the man's chest.
Supergirl blasted the eggs with a concentrated burst of heat. The man's body incinerated underneath her and the eggs followed. Harry rested his hand on the small of her back and guided her heat vision, making sure the eggs crumpled out from underneath her.
The final blast reduced the eggs into nothing. Supergirl let out a clutching breath. Her heart never had beat so fast in her life, to the point where she thought, perhaps assumed, it would have beat her last beat. The Girl of Steel turned her attention around, frowning when looking upon Harry.
The drone started to slither towards the nearest exit and moved pretty fast. Harry stepped on it, squishing it underneath his foot. Harry flipped the drone into the air and made it stick the landing in the middle of a containment unit. Without a second of effort, Harry waved his hand and sealed the containment unit shut.
"They're called the Star Conquerors?"
Henshaw knew now what they had to deal with and now new where the starfish had come from. He racked his brain for the longest time.
"Yes, they're….they're dangerous," Supergirl said. "And let's hope there's only one of them because if there is more than one….."
Supergirl's sentence had cut off. No need for her to finish the sentence because everyone knew how it was going to end. The Girl of Steel turned her attention off to one side and brought her breath out one more time.
"Check for anything, check for the slightest cause of odd activity," Supergirl said. Hank raised his eyebrow. "Look, I know I shouldn't be giving the orders around here, but this is really serious."
"She's right," Harry said. "I received some signals off of him….he may have broadcasted elsewhere….this STARRO or at least some of his kin is elsewhere on Earth."
Hank stepped back as if receiving a huge gut punch right where it hurt. He turned his attention towards Supergirl.
"Please tell me you destroyed all of the eggs," Hank said.
"Yes, she did," Harry said. "I'm just worried about whether or not the military picked up something. You said there was an explosion nearby."
"Star conqueror drones do not travel alone," Supergirl said. "They're the type who travel in packs and they're not going to let up."
She refused to allow her adoptive home world be in danger. One look towards the seemingly harmless object in the tank pretty much told her all she needed to know. The heroine realized there would be some problems from the onset with this entire mess.
"Is it going to do anything?" Alex asked. "Is it going to call for home?"
"We have it under an inhibitor, it should do the trick in preventing the others from finding our exact location," Hank said.
Harry hoped for their sake, he was right. Regardless, he turned his attention to the creature in the tank, realizing there was an interesting story to tell regarding him.
'I know you can hear my thoughts, creature,' the drone thought to him. 'And you cannot hold me forever. My brothers and my sisters will be coming….some of them might be already here.'
Harry frowned and he tried to push himself as much as he could. He experienced the attempts of the creature to try and break through his mind.
'You'd like nothing better than to possess me, but you should know as long as you're sealed in this tank, it's futile,' Harry thought.
'We'll see,' the drone thought. 'You destroyed my children….and soon, my master will arrive, and STARRO will live once again.'
Harry thought for a simple drone, he sounded pretty assured of himself. Something about the creature made Harry think they missed something.
"That will hold, for now," Harry said. "As long as the inhibitor device holds as well, he shouldn't have any problems. He seems to think his master will arrive."
"I'm pretty sure there's a good reason why he thinks it," Alex said. "How do we stop it?"
Supergirl's mouth hung open for a second. She tried to think of any way to stop an invasion from STARRO and his drones. Her hands hung off to one side and breath came from her body.
"Sorry, you can't," Supergirl said. "Well, I'm sure there's a way, there has to be, but it's pretty impossible to do so….."
"Impossible, good, I see that word as a challenge," Harry said. "I've been spending my entire life trying to figure out how to do things which are impossible, and I've succeeded most of the time."
Supergirl had been taken aback by the confidence. And she knew this was not bravado, he truly and completely believed it.
"And….I'm not sure why, but I think….well if you think we can find a way, then we're going to find a way," Supergirl said. "Countless civilizations have failed though."
"Well, someone has counted somewhere," Harry said. She nodded and Harry pushed forward. "We're not going to be defined by other people's failures."
Harry Potter lived his entire life destroying the expectations of other people. It was something he thrived on and something he was certain annoyed other people when it had been done.
"No, we're not going to, we won't," Supergirl said. She leaned closer towards Harry, a smile shifting over her face. "Do you think I can take a look at your research? What you've….what you've done so far, and maybe we can figure it out together….I wouldn't want to step on your toes, or Alex's….I mean this is your mission."
"Hey, no, we would be glad for you to join us," Alex said, with a smile. "Your help is valued."
"Thanks, I just….well…"
"You don't want anyone to get hurt, we all understand," Hank said. "If you excuse me, I'm going to get in touch with some of my contacts. See if they noticed anything abnormal."
Harry, Alex, and Supergirl all nodded. They knew there was a lot of work to do. Deep down, all of them hoped there was not more of these STARRO drones. The trio also knew there would be some trouble if there were and knew there would not be good chances.
"If I can amplify my heat vision enough, there's a chance I could take out fully formed drones like I did the eggs," Supergirl said.
Supergirl could not think of a better idea to be honest. She looked at the scanning and frowned. Alex looked over towards her.
"I suppose in theory it could work," Alex said.
"Yes," Harry said. "In theory, it could work, but if you get burned out….there could be a problem."
The Girl of Steel frowned. She wondered what Harry referred to. He took a second to look towards her.
"Amplifying your powers sounds like a good idea on paper, and believe me, it can work out pretty well," Harry said. He reached over and took some notes. "Of course, your limits are your limits for a good reason."
"Well, maybe I can find a way to push those limits a little further," Supergirl said. "Unless you have another idea where we might be able to take care of these things?"
Harry's lips curled into a knowing smile. He leaned down and continued to look over the scanning of the eggs which had been cracked.
"I just might have an idea," Harry said. "We're going to need to find the master and if we find the master, the slaves are going to follow."
"Oh, I get…." Supergirl said, trailing off. She wished she could sound a bit more excited than she did before. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea."
"Is it because you think this STARRO is dangerous?" Alex asked.
"Well, for one, no one knows where he is," Supergirl said. She tugged away a lock of hair from her face before bringing about a sigh.
"We're going to have to locate him, then," Harry said. "You said he was a giant star fish, much bigger than the little drone had sent to Earth."
Drone, hopefully not drones, otherwise, there would be a huge problem. Supergirl responded with a nod.
"He's also avoided capture from some of the most skilled hunters in the universe," Supergirl said. "He's a highly sought after creature. There's a price on his head….well, the currency would be the Earth equivalent of a billion dollar bounty."
Harry wondered why this creature had not been captured yet. He came to the obvious conclusion there was a pretty good reason, the fact the creature could not have been captured.
"I'm going to check out something," Harry said. "I'll leave the two of you to talk."
Alex raised her eyebrow. Before she had a chance to say anything, Harry leaned down and gave her a light kiss to distract her. He disappeared a second later.
"So, the two of you are together," Supergirl said in a conversational tone.
"Yes," Alex said. "And we need to talk about that."
"There's nothing to really talk about," Supergirl said.
"Kara," Alex said, looking at her. "You know about Harry's nature, don't you?"
Kara wondered if this was really the time or the place to have this type of conversation with Alex. Given the fact they were on the cusp of an alien invasion.
"Are you really….."
"You didn't answer my question, Kara," Alex said, placing her hand down on Kara's hand and wrapping it around it. "You knew Harry's nature, didn't you?"
"Yes, he's….well he has the ability to get in the minds of women and make them feel things," Kara said. "You said he was a fae, an Incubus….."
"Harry prefers us not to use that term, because it's not completely true," Alex said, drawing her sister closer towards her. "Although it's true, almost….but he doesn't drain us through sex….."
At least not without recycling the sexual energy back into them.
"Well, I know that, otherwise you wouldn't be here," Supergirl said.
"And how would you know….oooh, I see," Alex said. "I never thought my little sister could be so naughty."
The Girl of Steel shifted in her seat, with Alex's accusing look latched into her. Kara took a deep breath and allowed it out of her body.
"Um, it was an accident," Kara said. "I heard you moaning, and I thought….well I thought you could be in trouble, but it was obvious you weren't….."
Alex smiled and placed her hands on either side of the table, pinning her younger sister there.
"How long have you watched me?" Alex asked. "I wonder if you're keeping a closer eye on me through other private moments as well…..and here I thought I was the one who was supposed to keep a closer look on you."
Kara shifted in nervousness. She could see Alex up against her. She could not believe how soft her sister's lips looked.
'Why did I think that?' Kara thought. 'Oh, god, I'm working too hard.'
"I bet you wondered what it would be like if you were there," Alex said. "You know, Harry and I had a discussion….and we'd be happy to have you there….if you really want this….."
Kara thought about this. Her luck with relationships, or rather non-starter relationships, had left her missed. She thought for a minute her luck had been about the long lines of her luck.
"You can't say you're bound by conventional human standards," Alex said. "You're different, and Harry's different…and there's more than enough of Harry to go around. I think there are times where….well, I didn't learn to share with you when we were younger."
"I'm not sure that's what….."
Alex placed a finger down on Kara's lips and stopped her from talking. Both of them wondered if anyone would walk in.
"You want this about as much as I do, don't you?" Alex asked. "Even Supergirl has her urges, her itches, which needs to be scratched. You're not going to find anyone better than Harry, and as your older sister, I'm going to insist you go for it."
The Girl of Steel fought aliens, evil robots, and just general misfits of society.
A ding could be heard and Alex pulled away from her. For one wild second, Kara thought Alex would kiss her and it wouldn't be done in the sisterly way. She had a few dreams which started like this, which left her red in the face.
Alex smiled, it turned out she could dominate her sister without even Kryptonite. As if she didn't hear Kara moaning Alex's name in her sleep. Kara always swore up and down it was because of nightmares of Alex being in trouble, but Alex always saw past that.
"So, any luck?" Alex asked, seeing Harry show up without missing a beat.
Harry looked at Supergirl's face, who looked a bit flustered about something.
"Is everything okay?" Harry asked.
Supergirl never had been more grateful to hear a distress signal. The sound of an engine nearby exploding and a plane going down caused her to turn around.
"Got to go, bye!"
Supergirl kicked up into the sky, flying faster than a speeding bullet. Alex turned around and fixed herself a cup of coffee.
"So, did your lead pan out?" Alex asked.
"Nothing, although I won't give up," Harry said. "I think it's best to talk to the STARRO Drone."
"Not sure if he would say much to you," Alex said.
"He almost slipped up last time, I'm sure with the proper incentive, he'll say something," Harry said. "So, about your sister….she tore out of here in a hurry?"
"She was listening in to our…..morning," Alex said.
Harry wrapped an arm around her.
"And you had the talk with her, didn't you?" Harry asked.
"Well, I invited her to join us, and I think she was thinking about it," Alex said. "She needs only one small push."
Alex gave Harry a nudge when the two turned their way around. Harry sensed something in the air.
"Supergirl flew off to save a plane?" Harry asked. Alex nodded. He concentrated on the plane. "I better go!"
Harry teleported off in pursuit for Supergirl leaving Alex with questions.
"Agent Danvers, we may have had a breakthrough."
"What is it?" Alex asked.
"We have the location of where the ship which crashed on the docks have been taken," the DEO agent said. "We're sending a team there to extract it."
Alex had a very bad feeling about this, but she couldn't put her finger on why. Her boyfriend teleporting off after Kara left her with more unease.
'Nothing about my life makes sense these days….which actually makes too much sense.'
To Be Continued.