Kim Possible and all related characters and indicia are owned by the Disney Corporation. Supergirl and all related characters and indicia are owned by DC Comics/Warner Bros. Adam is the creation of Triaxx2. This work of fan fiction is written for pleasure, not profit.
Triaxx2: Nope, that wasn't Adam. He'll show up in this chapter.
Gargoylesama: Glad you're enjoying it.
Thanks to everyone who submitted a review.
Twenty-nine Palms
Kim and Kara strolled toward the waiting Javelin with Ron trailing a few steps behind. He was unable to decide whether he should stare at the ultra-cool space plane or Kara's backside. He finally compromised by alternating back and forth. 'Thank goodness she went for a short cape when she designed her costume,' Ron said to himself. A long cape would have spoiled the view. The miniskirt had been a good idea too, he reasoned. Kara had very nice legs and it would have been a shame to hide them. Even better, the short hem allowed the occasional glimpse of her panties. Ron didn't consider himself a peeping tom, nor was he like the guys he had heard of who went to elaborate measures to peek up skirts or down blouses. He just figured that if a girl went out in public dressed a certain way it was because she wanted guys to look. It wasn't a hard and fast rule, of course. Ron had run across plenty of exceptions. Kara wasn't one of them though. She'd flat out admitted that she'd designed her costume the way she had because she enjoyed knowing guys were checking her out. Ron grinned as he remembered the time he'd asked Kara if she ever thought about 'going commando'. The question had revealed the limits of Kara's exhibitionism.
"I don't mind giving guys an eyeful," she'd said with a coy smile. "But you always want to leave them wanting more."
Ron was jerked out of his reverie by Kim's voice asking a question.
"Who is that guy anyway?" Ron looked up to see Kim pointing at the man in the flight suit, who was waiting for them at the boarding ramp.
"That's Major Thomas Hampstead. He's on loan to the League from the Air Force as commander of our Javelin squadron," Kara explained. There was a slight hitch in her voice as she spoke, and Kim wondered what the cause was.
"Well," Kim commented, "He needs some remedial instruction if that landing is any indication."
Kara turned bright red. "Ah, Kim, that, ah, that was me." Kim's eyebrows rose.
"You?"
"Yeah. I'm learning to fly these because, well, it might come in handy some day."
Kim couldn't bring to mind any reason Kara would need to know how to fly an airplane, but she said nothing.
"Well," Ron put in, "Like they say 'Any landing you can walk away from...'"
"...is not necessarily a good one," the major interjected, giving Kara a stern look. Kara seemed to wilt as the major went on, "I attribute it to her being nervous about her assignment. Of course, that just means that she needs to learn to focus." The major's expression softened a bit, and a ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Still, if Supergirl isn't a natural pilot, she is an attentive and diligent student (which is more than I can say about some of her colleagues) who might just make a fair throttle jockey...someday." Kara perked up as he spoke, and actually grinned at the last.
"That's very kind of you, Major Hampstead," she said, smiling winsomely at him. He returned a tolerant smile. Kara turned to Kim and Ron and said, "Kim, Ron, why don't you and the major go aboard? I have to do my preflight walk around, but that'll only take a few minutes." Major Hampstead handed Kara a checklist and she went to work.
"Miss Possible, Mr. Stoppable, if you'll follow me please?" the major invited, gesturing up the ramp.
It was a little odd, Kim thought, to see Supergirl wearing a pilot's radio headset, and even stranger to listen in as she started the Javelin's engines and talked with the airfield's control tower.
"Tower, this is Javelin six-one-niner, request clearance for departure and a max effort take-off," Kara said, her voice crisp and professional.
Kim glanced at Ron. He was watching Kara with a dreamy expression on his face, and Kim grinned. Ron loved to watch pros work, occasionally deriving an almost sexual pleasure from the experience. Add in the fact that the pro in question was a favorite girlfriend of his and, well, Kim was sure there was a turgid fantasy unfolding in his brain.
"Six-one-niner, you are cleared to depart on runway three-zero. Max-effort approved. Have a safe flight."
Max-effort turned out to mean 'firewall the throttle, go tearing down the runway, retract the landing gear the second it was off the ground, keep skimming the runway until you reached the end, then haul back on the stick and head straight up, riding the brute power of your engines'. It was quite a ride, even if the view was less than spectacular. Still, seeing the sky turn from bright blue to pitch black in a few minutes was something Kim found she enjoyed, from the two previous trips she and Ron had made into orbit.
Despite Kara's claim that she 'hadn't quite mastered landing' they docked at the Watchtower without incident. Major Hampstead went so far as to say "Not bad," which, given the pleased blush that colored Kara's cheeks, must have been high praise.
The major excused himself and Kim, Ron and Kara got right to work. The first order of business was to say hello to the tall, green skinned humanoid waiting for them on the other side of the hanger airlock.
"Ron, Kim, this is J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter," Kara said, favoring the martian with a bright smile. The Manhunter didn't exactly smile back, but his face became considerably less impassive. To her surprise Kim felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and she found herself wondering if he could smile.
"J'onn, these are my friends Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible, better known as Team Possible."
The martian gave a very formal nod that was almost a bow. "Welcome aboard the Watchtower. I've followed your exploits for some time." His voice was dry and cool, with a strange, hard to define inflection that sent a shiver down Kim's spine. The martian held out his hand and Kim took it. His skin was as dry and cool as his voice, with a strange texture that reminded Kim of a snake. She felt her skin crawl and had to suppress an urge to jerk her hand back. If Ron felt any such unease he didn't show it. He took J'onzz's hand and pumped it enthusiastically.
"I've already entered your biometric information into the security system," J'onzz told them. "You'll have access to most of the station. The only areas you won't be able to enter unescorted are the armory, the reactor and environmental control rooms, and compartments designated as personal quarters for League members."
"Understood," Kim said with a nod of her own.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you on your tour," J'onzz went on. "We have four teams out, and I need to keep an eye on things. Excuse me." With that, he turned and walked away.
"Wow." Kim turned to Kara and gestured at the retreating back. "Is he always like that?"
"You mean cool and dispassionate?" Kim nodded. "Pretty much," Kara continued. "He isn't really that uptight, though," Kara added defensively. "You just have to know him a while before you learn to read his expressions. The martians were a very reserved people by human or argoan standards, and their anatomy is considerably different from yours or mine, so he doesn't have the same range of facial expressions we do, even when he's in this form."
"This form?" Kim repeated, a little uneasily.
"Yeah, he's a shape-shifter of sorts. He's limited to humanoid forms of basically the same height and weight, but his natural form is a lot more, well...alien looking."
Kim decided not to pursue the matter. Whatever it was about J'onzz that gave her the creeps, she was just going to have to learn to deal with it.
The tour was quite pleasant. Only a relative handful of the League's members were aboard the station, which Kara explained wasn't unusual. "Most of us have secret identities. You know, regular lives, friends, family, jobs, that sort of thing. We all have quarters assigned to us, but hardly anyone lives here full time. Usually people only come aboard for meetings, or if they have monitor duty, or to form a team and get their briefing before they head out on a mission."
Kim and Ron were a bit disappointed by that, as they had been looking forward to meeting Kara's colleagues. As it turned out though, in an organization as large as the Justice League 'only a handful' meant ten or fifteen people. One was Vixen, a dark skinned woman in a tight fitting, very low cut body suit that Kim and Ron immediately recognized as fashion supermodel Mari Macabe. To his credit Ron managed to hardly drool at all at the sight of Vixen's cleavage, and even managed to talk her out of an autographed eight by ten color glossy.
There was also Ralph Dibney, the famous Elongated Man. Kim had heard that Dibney was something of a clown, but while he was polite enough, he was clearly distracted and not much interested in conversation. As they walked away Kara explained that Dibney had been recently widowed, and was still coming to terms with his wife's death.
"How did she die?" Kim asked quietly.
"She was murdered," Kara replied in an equally hushed voice.
"Was it some bad guy out for revenge?" Ron inquired.
Kara shook her head. "It was the Atom's ex-wife. Apparently she was trying to...well, it doesn't make a lot of sense, frankly, but I gather she thought the whole thing would lead to her and the Atom getting back together."
Kim and Ron exchanged horrified looks.
Kim started to ask another question but Kara gut her off with a raised hand and a grim look. "It's a long, depressing story, Kim. I'll tell it to you someday, but not now, okay?"
"Okay," Kim agreed, and they went on their way.
What gloom had settled over them was lifted when they ran into the Flash. The Fastest Man Alive lived up to his reputation by hitting on Kim as soon as Kara introduced them, and when that didn't bear any fruit the scarlet speedster sent a few lines Kara's way. She at least smiled, which the Flash seemed to take as encouragement, then he was paged and zipped off in a red blur.
"I never met anybody who talked that much," Ron commented afterwards. "The guy never shut up, and he talked a mile a minute."
"That's the Flash for you," Kara grinned. "I think the only time he's ever still is when he's asleep."
"He seemed interested in you though, Supergirl," Kim said with a sly smile.
Kara rolled her eyes. "Flash is pretty much interested in anything young, female and humanoid, Kim."
They took a turn through the training facilities, most of which were devoted to physical conditioning. In one chamber, separated from the corridor by a wall of glass, they saw a statuesque blonde in a white gi doing warm-up exercises with a bamboo staff while a similarly armed robot stood impassively nearby. Ron peered at the woman intently, then turned to Kara and said, "Black Canary, right?"
"That's right. I think you two will like her. She's very down to earth."
A bit further on was a room equipped as a gymnasium. A brunette in gray shorts and a sweat soaked tee shirt was putting herself through a grueling workout. She was quite muscular, with very little body fat. She wasn't 'cut' like a body builder, but near enough that Kim decided the brunette's ample bosom was the result of surgical enhancement. The only odd thing about her was that she was wearing a mask, a purple thing that covered the upper half of her face and swept up into two points, like horns or ears.
"Who's that?" Ron wondered aloud.
"She goes by Huntress," Kara supplied. "Works mainly on the East Coast. She and the Canary team up once in a while." Kara frowned. "I don't know her real well. She hasn't been a member very long, and she doesn't talk much. Batman vouched for her, though, and that was good enough to get her voted in."
The next area had thicker walls and less glass. The windows of one chamber flickered with flashes of light, and muted explosions made the floor vibrate. Three people were inside. One of them was Zatanna Zatarra, the famous stage magician. The second was a casually dressed young man, perhaps in his late teens. Zatanna, wearing her trademark top hat, tuxedo jacket, white ruffled shirt, fishnet stockings and stiletto heels, was conjuring things out of thin air and hurtling them at the young man, who was (frantically, Kim thought) trying to fend off the barrage. Zatanna was mainly throwing what looked like balls of fire, in various colors, though she added a few mundane solid objects to the mix. Kim about jumped out of her skin when Zatanna pitched a bowling ball at the young man's head and he swatted it aside, right into the window Kim and Ron were looking through. The glass didn't so much as chip, but the bowling ball cracked in two. Floating cross-legged above it all was the blue and gold clad form of Doctor Fate, who was watching the young man intently.
"I recognize Zatanna and Fate," Ron murmured as he watched the spectacle on the other side of the glass, "But who's that?"
"He's a brand new member. His name's Adam, and he's some sort of wizard, or magician, or something like that. 'Mage' is the term he prefers if I remember right."
"What's the difference?" Ron asked, glancing at Kara. She shrugged. "Beats me. It has something to do with the kind of magic he practices. Zee tried to explain it to me, but," Kara passed a hand above her head, "Pfft."
Kim studied the youth. "He's kind of cute," she observed. Kara snorted. "You haven't talked to him yet."
Kim gave Kara a questioning look. Kara grimaced. "Take one part 'know it all' and one part 'I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread', throw in a hefty dose of 'No matter where you've been or what you've done, I was there first and did it better', mix well, and you'll have him," she said, pointing at Adam. As she did so one of Zatanna's energy balls got through Adam's defenses and sent him sprawling. Kara shook her head.
"He seemed to be doing all right," Kim observed as Adam dragged himself to his feet and prepared to resume the exercise. Kara sighed.
"I guess I'm being a little unfair," she confessed. "As irritating as his personality is, he's good in a fight, and he means well. Doctor Fate seems impressed with him; says he has 'potential'. And it's not as if he's the only person in the League with a colossal ego." She was about to say something else when Ron cried out and collapsed, curling into a ball on the floor.
"Ron!" Kim and Kara exclaimed as one. As Kara cradled Ron's head in her arms Kim took his hand and felt his pulse.
"He's so cold!" she exclaimed. Kara's eyes lit up as she bathed Ron in low intensity heat vision. A much brighter light flared in the corridor. Kim looked up to see a huge, glowing ankh shimmer into existence. When it faded, Doctor Fate stood over them.
"The chill he feels is not a result of the absence of heat, Supergirl," Fate said, kneeling beside a trembling Ron. The golden helmed sorcerer spoke a few words and passed his hand over Ron's face. Almost at once Ron's tremors ceased, and a healthy glow replaced the deathlike pallor that had tainted his features. He relaxed and gave Kim and Kara a reassuring smile.
A commotion ensued as Zatanna and Adam barged into the corridor.
"What the hell happened?" Adam demanded.
"Patience, young one," Fate admonished him. Returning his attention to Ron Fate asked, "How do you feel?"
"Like someone stepped on my grave," Ron said softly. Fate turned to Adam and Zatanna. "Did either of you feel anything a moment ago?"
"Like what?" Adam asked.
"Anything unusual, out of the ordinary."
Adam pondered for a bit, then shrugged. "Not that I can recall."
"Zatanna?" The raven haired magician nodded. "It was like thunder, or maybe a bell pealing once, really far away."
Noting the four blank looks being directed at him Fate spoke again. "There was a small but powerful disturbance in the field of mystical energy that infuses the Earth. I am well attuned to the field, so I sensed it clearly, even at this distance. But why it should affect you so strongly is a mystery to me," he added, addressing Ron directly.
"Is he going to be all right?" Kim asked anxiously.
"Do not be frightened," Fate assured her. "He was never in danger, and would have recovered on his own." Fate stood. "Whatever caused the disturbance reeks of necromancy," he proclaimed. "I fear something terrible has happened. I must investigate at once." The ankh flared again, and Doctor Fate was gone.