Time for "Fearful Symmetry"! This also happens to be the start of the Cadmus Arc, which I think to be one of the greatest arcs for one of the greatest shows, go figure.
After this chapter we'll get to the end of the Hex storyline, which will replace the episode "The Greatest Story Never Told". Then it'll mainly be canon chapters for JLU, but there's gonna be one more flashback chapter and an original chapter then season one of JLU (And by extension, Triumphant) will come to an end!
Y'know, it can be a pain writing three stories and balancing life. I mean, I have other stories with a few chapters written, but I really want to focus on one right now. I'm gonna spend some time finishing the overhaul to A Sinister Past, once that's done, I'll focus on The Vitruvian Man's next arc then come back to this.
Now, to reply to some reviews!
DrWhoFan113: Travis was a hero from the get-go. He actually first appeared in the first flashback chapter—he's Sandra's son. Nova will be explained soon, like, this chapter soon. Morrigan's back story will also be explained this chapter. Eric has just about most of them. I look them up to see which ones I want in the story and which ones I don't implement. The entity at the beginning is canon, that's all I'm saying.
Beast Mode92: The Judas Contract will be an arc in the Esmeralda-focused spin-off that'll come along after this one. After all, that's not exactly a story for Eric now, is it?
Raidentensho: Oh, the Anam's gonna be addressed soon. Real soon. Yeah, flashback chapters are meant to show Eric's history in this universe, and to also introduce his rogue's gallery. Hell, the next one has a villain from the original show. I'll say it now, the armored forms aren't appearing. Other than Shock Rock, there isn't much about the reboot I like, in fact, I've never even watched it. Hope that doesn't hurt your enjoyment of the story.
JLU Fun Fact 5: The Batman Beyond episode "The Call, Part I" aired on the day I was born.
Well, that's all from me up here, on with the story!
Fearful Symmetry
Gilbert Halstrom, a man currently terrified, runs through the streets of Metropolis, though this is all for naught. After all, his hunter is unstoppable, nothing can stop them in this moment.
He tries to open a door but finds it to be locked, he tries to force it open, but two red beams strike the knob, melting it into a puddle and nearly burning Halstrom's hand. He slowly turns around, shaking the entire time to see his hunter.
"What's with the running, doc?" Supergirl sadistically asks. "We both know how this is gonna turn out."
"I didn't tell anyone!" Halstrom shouts, panicking. "I swear!"
Supergirl smirks. "Good, then you're the only loose end."
Thanks to her super hearing, Supergirl's able to hear multiple guns cocking a few blocks away. She turns to the source of the sound, but one of the ambushers fires a shot, and because the weapons are kryptonite based, it manages to leave a mark as it grazes her arm.
She clutches at the wound and glares at her new enemies as Halstrom takes this moment to run. Supergirl disappears in a blur and appears in front of one of the gunmen—the one who shot at her—she grabs his rifle and smashes it cross his head. Another tries to get a shot in, she throws the body of the near dead man into him.
Several shots hit the ground around her feet. Supergirl looks up to see more attackers using jetpacks as they fire down on her. Supergirl flies into the air, easily dodging the shots, she then uses her heat vision to slice off a chunk of a building, the new debris then slams into one of the gunmen, taking him out of the fight.
She then flies down street-level and tries to use the traffic as cover, it doesn't work. So, she tries something else, she flies behind a massive billboard, tears it off the building, and swings it into her remaining two pursuers.
While she dusts off her hands, she hears the panicked breathing of her original prey. She flies to his location and quickly catches up, finding him at a laboratory. She smashes open the doors and marches inside to finish what she started; she pauses momentarily to brush some hair back before continuing her hunt.
A set of doors open as she moves to the back, revealing a robot that looks similar to a Mars Rover, though this one looks a little more battle ready than a typical rover. Instead of solar panels, it has torture-style clamps and a massive syringe-like probe in the center.
Before she can react, the robot grabs her arm, a panel then opens up, revealing a sawblade. She uses her free arm to prevent the blade from reaching her throat, her super strength lets her rip it off and toss it aside, just in time to stop a syringe from piercing her throat. She notices the tip of the syringe glows green, and the familiar feeling of her energy being sapped helps her realize it was laced with kryptonite.
Drawing up as much strength as she can muster, she rips off the clamp and sends the robot flying across the room. It shatters to pieces as it slams into the opposite wall. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she walks into the room the robot had come from, here she finds Halstrom cowering in a corner.
"You can scream now if you want," Supergirl says with a sick smile on her face as her eyes glow red.
"AAAAH!"
Smallville, Kansas
"AAAAH!"
Kara rips the covers off her bead, she then sits up and trembles as she sweats profusely. She looks around to find herself in the Kent house. 'I'm in Smallville, not Metropolis,' she thinks while taking deep breaths. 'It's just another dream, that's all.'
Even with these thoughts, she wonders, why these dreams? Why are they so vivid?
She brings her legs up to her chest and rests her chin on her knees as her arms wrap around her legs. She tilts her head up and feels her heart skip a beat.
In the ceiling she finds two holes made by heat vision. Still smoking.
Watchtower
Supergirl sits in a private conference room with Martian Manhunter, hoping to find some answers to her vivid dreams. He had spent some time examining her mind, trying to find the meaning behind her nightmares.
"I've never fully understood the mechanics of dreams," he says after a while. "I don't have them myself."
"Well, this one's doing a number on my ceiling," Kara replies. "And Pa Kent's getting tired of patching it."
"I will say this," J'onn states as he stands up from his chair. "What I saw was far more linear than ordinary dream-logic, but it didn't seem like a memory, either. It was inconclusive."
Kara looks at him in apprehension. "You mean I may have actually done those things?" She was terrified at the idea that she may have actually killed someone. Hell, not just someone, multiple people. She feels herself break out in a cold sweat.
"I'm sorry," J'onn replies sadly. "I just don't know."
A nearby communication screen lights up. "J'onn, President Cho Chep is on line one."
J'onn turns to look at Kara. "I'm going to put you on the Inactive Roster for a few says. Let me know what you find."
Kara nods, finding his actions perfectly reasonable. While on the Inactive Roster she won't be sent on missions unless she's absolutely needed, which gives her plenty time to find answers to her nightmares.
She just hopes she'll like the answers.
Oh, it went to shit all right.
Morrigan had left Earth a week after Dad was born, leaving him, Grandpa Carter, and Uncle Alexander behind. Apparently Vilgax was attacking the Anodite home world, Anodyne, in full force, so all Anodites were called back to defend their home.
During a strike, she had been a little too close to an explosion, and because of it, she lost her memories (though I don't know how that's possible considering she's made out of pure mana), and for the next few years she had stayed on Anodyne as her memories slowly came back.
By the time they fully returned, Dad would've been around ten years old, but instead of coming back, she traveled the universe. After all, Anodites are a fun-loving species, they don't tend to see the consequences to their actions.
Apparently, she visited once when Dad was a little older than Esmeralda, upon seeing that he was taking care of himself she just left, continuing her galivanting across the universe.
As soon as word of my actions against Vilgax became known across the universe she had created and sent Nova to Earth, as a way to keep an eye on me, and Esmeralda as well, since she was the only person with The Spark on Earth for fifteen years.
After hearing her story, we looked at Dad, wondering what his reaction would be. It turned out Zatanna was right, Dad just walked out silently, he then got in his car and just drove home.
Apparently, Morrigan isn't like most Anodites, she understood his anger and said her farewells, though she promised to be visit occasionally and keep contact with her family this time.
Once she left, I drove Mom, Esmeralda, and Nova home, I had decided to stay with them over the night, to keep an eye on Dad. The entire night he didn't sleep, instead he was in his gym, beating the crap out of his punching bag. Morning came, and he acted like it had never happened, returning to his happy go lucky self.
That was almost a month ago.
Now, I'm sitting at one of the cafeteria tables in the Watchtower with Ollie and Kara as she explains her nightmares, which then reminds me of Galatea, and the beginning of our war with Cadmus.
"So what's the big deal?" Ollie asks as she finishes her story. "You had some nightmares."
"You'd be surprised at how crippling nightmares can be, Arrow," I mutter.
"These weren't just dreams," Supergirl says. "They felt like they really happened."
"I don't know, I've had some dreams that felt mighty real," Ollie says as he turns to look at Black Canary typing on a laptop across the room. "There was this one the other night-"
"We don't need to know that," I interrupt. "Kara has enough nightmares as is."
"You act like I'm the only one with a thing for ladies in fishnets," Ollie counters. Even with his mask I can tell he's wiggling his eyebrows. "You know they're best friends, right? Maybe we can have a double date?"
Right, that.
Almost immediately, everyone and their dead ancestors knew Zatanna and I were back together. I'd honestly prefer if we kept us on the down-low, but life had other plans. Due to everyone knowing, I've had talks with Vixen, Fire and Ice, and Black Canary, who've all appointed themselves as Zatanna's girlfriends on the League. I'd occasionally notice one of them watching me carefully as well.
Damn, am I like that with Jon? No, I'm in the right, they're just being needlessly aggressive.
"You'd have to actually talk to Canary first then," I counter as I fold my arms.
Ollie smirks and holds a hand over his heart. "Ow! You wound me, Triumph!"
"Ahem," we both look to see Supergirl glaring at us.
"Sorry," we both say.
"The point is that I couldn't live with myself if I really did what I saw," she then looks at each of us. "Now, are you two gonna help me or not?"
I nod. "Of course."
"So will I," Ollie says with a nod. "But vague memories like one of those alien abductions? Maybe you've been hanging out in Kansas for too long."
"I wouldn't be so sure. Especially since two of our friends here have alien heritage."
We turn to see The Question sitting down with us, wearing his blue overcoat, pants, and fedora with an orange shirt. His featureless face looks at each of us as he sits down.
I wonder, does he only eat in private, or does his mouth appear? Question for another time. Heh "Question".
"You've got all the signs of repressed memories," Question says to Kara. "People dream what their minds don't want to remember; easier to convince themselves it's all bunk."
"What would Supergirl need to repress?" I ask.
"You were treated for injuries at S.T.A.R. Labs, correct?" He interrogates, ignoring me completely. Honestly, I'm okay with it, dude freaks me out sometimes.
"Yeah," Kara nods. "A few years ago, when Superman was brainwashed by Darkseid and attacked the Earth. I got hurt and he took me to S.T.A.R. Labs for help; I was in a coma for part of it."
"Meaning there's a gap in time you can't account for," Question deduces. "That's where we need to investigate."
"Okay, enough!" Ollie interrupts before turning to look at us. "Don't listen to this guy, everything's conspiracies with him."
I hum. "As much as I agree with you, Question's got a point, there's a gap in time we need to check out," I notice the hurt look Kara gives me. "You didn't do anything, of that I'm sure, but Question does have the only lead regarding your nightmares, we should check it out."
"And it's not conspiracies, it's conspiracy; singular. Follow me," Question gets up and motions for us to follow him.
The three of us share a quick glance before getting up and following The Question out of the cafeteria.
As we walk, Kara leans to me. "You really don't think I did it?" She whispers.
"On the spectrum of heroes and villains, I find Kryptonians to be at the extreme end of heroics," I whisper back.
Kara smiles. "Thanks. But if we're the purest of heroes then we'd be allowed to date, right? Say, a certain energetic mage?"
I look at her with a blank stare before sighing. "If Jon wants to date Esme, then he can go for it. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna hound his ass."
Kara chuckles. "I'll be sure to tell him the good news."
We arrive a Question's room. The League made sure we'd each get our own rooms to stay in should the need arise, though some Leaguers have decided to stay on the Watchtower full-time, like J'onn, for example. I'm pretty sure The Question's another Leaguer who does this.
Inside the room, we see it's rather messy, the only clean thing being the bed, really. The walls are covered in magazine covers and newspaper articles, he even has a conspiracy board at the back of the room, pins, and strings of yarn all over the walls. Man, what does Huntress see in him?
Question turns to the mass of articles and covers on his back wall. "Now, to the matter at hand. Going back as far as ancient Egypt there've been a cabal of powerful individuals directing the course of human history. However, the common man prefers to believe they don't exist, and that aids their success."
The three of us get closer looks at his wall. "Global warming," Kara reads. "Military upheavals in the third world and actors elected to public office?"
"The spread of coffee bars, germs, outpacing antibiotics and boy-bands?" Ollie reads incredulously. "Come on, who would gain from all of this?"
"Who indeed?" The Question asks ominously.
"I feel as though I made some kind of mistake," I whisper as I look around to find a picture of me in my Gravattack form. "Gravity, nature, or the government's way of keeping us down?" I read.
"What does any of this have to do with my dreams?" Kara questions.
"If I'm right, you're part of it; you're going to need my help. I'm going with you," The Question then walks out of the room, the three of us hurry to follow after him.
"Hold your horses," Ollie says as we catch up. "No one asked for more help. This whole trip might just prove that the kid shouldn't eat nachos before bed."
"Peanut butter sandwiches," The Question corrects.
Ollie and I freeze as Kara reels back. "How did you… What, do you go through my trash!?"
"Please," Question scoffs, sounding a little offended. "I go through everyone's trash," he points at me. "Dr. Pepper and hot buffalo wings," he then points at Green Arrow. "Big Belly Burger with his own special chili. Extremely spicy, possibly capable of burning even a Kryptonian's taste buds."
The three of us are silent and share a quick, concerned glance before looking back at The Question.
"…I wonder if Pepe Silvia's here too," I whisper after a moment of silence. "Okay! Let's just get this over with, yeah?"
S.T.A.R. Labs, Metropolis
We reach the labs and are greeted by a middle-aged man with brown hair wearing thick-rimmed glasses, this is Professor Emil Hamilton, and for some reason, my gut tells me not to trust him.
After bringing him up to speed, he takes us to a room in the medical wing of the facility.
"This is where we treated you when you were in your coma," Hamilton explains, gesturing to an operating table. "You were on life-support the whole time; I promise, you weren't running around on violent missions."
"Well then, Professor Hamilton," Question says in a dubious tone. "Maybe you can tell us why her memories led her here."
"I think I can explain that," the Professor answers, not at all insulted at The Question's skepticism. He then turns to Supergirl. "You mentioned some sort of torture device."
"Yes," Supergirl confirms with a nod.
"With robotic arms, and a long probe in the center?" The Professor continues to describe.
Green Arrow sighs in annoyance. "Cut to the chase. You say you've seen something like it?"
Hamilton nods. "In fact, I have," he then walks across the room.
Hamilton pushes a button on a wall, which then opens a door. Supergirl gasps in recognition as a robot matching the description rolls out, though it looks smaller than expected. Then again, size doesn't mean everything, look at Nanomech or Grey Matter.
"It's not a torture device," Hamilton explains as the robot moves forward. "It's a surgical robot. It has a kryptonite-tipped lance; it was the only way to operate on you, Supergirl. That robot saved your life."
He then looks at The Question. "As for the rest of her dream; we humans are used to being vulnerable. But to Supergirl, surgery must have seemed terribly invasive," he tilts his head down to look at Supergirl. "You were powerless to defend yourself; it's possible that your mind created a scenario of fighting back."
I hum quietly and fold my arms. I call bull, but for some reason I can't figure out why I don't trust him. It'll come to me, I know it will, if not now, later.
Supergirl looks down for a moment before looking back up at the Professor. "Thank you," she says before walking out. We follow her out.
"Uh, Triumph!" I turn around to see Professor Hamilton walking up to me. "If possible, could you return to this lab? Many of us—myself included—would love to study your watch!"
I rub the back of my head. "Yeeeah, no. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I feel safest if I'm the only one who knows how this thing works entirely. I hope you understand."
The Professor's excited look dies down, but he nods in understanding before reaching in a pocket and giving me a card. "Should you change your mind. Good night."
I nod before jogging over to catch up with the others. Green Arrow looks at the card in my hand. "What's that about?"
I look at the card before pocketing it. "An offer I can absolutely refuse," I'll throw it away when I'm far from here, don't want him to find it in the trash now, do I?
The four of us stand outside the lab and begin to deliberate.
"Well, I think that answered everything," Green Arrow says as he leans on the wall next to me.
"A little too well, don't you think?" Question asks.
I chuckle and shake my head. "Well, you live up to your name, that's for sure."
"Of course I do, someone has to look below the gilded world we live in," The Question replies.
"Uh, guys?" Supergirl points ahead. It takes a minute, but eventually I see three attack-helicopters flying towards us. The lead chopper drops a silver robot at us that manages to tackle Supergirl to the ground. Before we can attempt to help, twenty armed men open fire at us.
The Question and Green Arrow take cover as I dial through the Omnitrix quickly and slam down the core, becoming my Oryctini form, Eatle.
I become a ten-foot-tall robotic, humanoid-insect alien with some shark-like teeth that go from my chest and up to the bottom half of my head. Most of my body is dark blue, but my waist, bottoms of my feet, wrists, and teeth are gold. I have two horns sticking up, out of my head, the back one is small, while the larger one is up front, an orange line going along it, there are two blade-like protrusions sticking out of my forearms, also gold. The Omnitrix crest is on my chest, just below my jaws.
I raise an arm to block some bullets as I notice some arrows shoot past me. "What's this guy do!?" The Emerald Archer shouts.
"Watch!" I shout back.
I run forward and stand among a few of the men, I swing my arms out and grab their guns, my mouth then opens, revealing an orange inside, and I eat all the guns. After I swallow, the line along my top horn glows brightly before a beam of orange energy shoots out and sweeps through them.
I grab one of the soldiers by the front of his vest and lift him up. "I'm gonna ask you this once, if I don't like the answer…" My horn lights up. "Who's your leader?"
The solider manages to get a pistol out and shoots me in the jaw. The bullets just bounce off. I narrow my eyes before eating the pistol, once that's done, I hit him point blank with a blast, sending him flying into the building behind him.
I look around to see most of the soldiers are knocked out. Green Arrow shoots an explosive arrow at the rotors of a landed helicopter, disabling it. I then run with them and eat the tail of another helicopter; I then fire a blast of energy at a few more of the soldiers. After the attack, the soldiers still up grab as many of their comrades as they can, and escape on the last helicopter.
The three of us then look up to see Supergirl finishing her fight by uppercutting the robot's horseshoe-shaped head off, causing it to land just in front of us.
"Oooh," I reach down and eat it. Mmm, that's no normal metal, not sure what type it is exactly, but it's delicious. I rub my stomach. But I can't eat much more, helicopters really fill you up. I slap the dial and transform back to normal.
Green Arrow looks at me with an arched brow before looking around. "What was that about?"
"Isn't it obvious?" The Question asks as he walks away. "We're asking questions someone doesn't want answered."
Green Arrow groans. "Oh, learn a new tune already!"
"I don't know, I feel like he's got a point," I whisper as I rest an arm on Green Arrow's shoulder. I shrug when he gives me a blank look.
"Same here," Supergirl agrees as she looks down in worry. "That robot came after me; the rest of this was just a distraction. I mean, they attacked us just after we started to follow this lead?"
Green Arrow grumbles before folding his arms and looking away.
As this happens, The Question goes over to the robot's remains. "Standard Z-8 Combat Trainer," he mutters. "I would show you the head, the model number tends to be on its neck, which would allow us to trace its origin point. But it seems to be…misplaced."
Even without a visible face, I can tell he's looking at me. I blush in embarrassment and look away. "I'm not sorry," I mutter.
"Well, doesn't matter," Green Arrow says. "We use the same type, the League buys 'em in bulk."
"So?" Supergirl asks, not seeing where they're going.
"So who do we buy them from?" The Question asks.
"The army, I think…" Her expression becomes skeptical. "Oh, wait a minute…"
Question nods. "Another fun fact: the man who commissioned the Z-8 Project? He's the same man who put you in the hospital."
"General Hardcastle?" Supergirl asks. "He's retired now, isn't he?"
"Gone," The Question says. "And hoping to be forgotten."
It doesn't take long for us to reach Hardcastle's cabin in the woods; somehow The Question knew the exact coordinates, so it was a quick teleport to the location. Wonder what other places he knows about. I should set up some defenses for my house, don't wanna wake up one day to find Question's featureless face being the first thing to see.
We walk up to the porch and I go to open the door, which happens to already be unlocked, not a good sign. The door opens, inside is completely dark, the only light being the one from the fireplace, which is dimly-lit.
"Figured someone'd come for me someday," a lamp turns on to reveal an aging man sitting down in an armchair, he has a unusual pistol aimed at Supergirl. "Only I thought they'd be from the other side. This weapon fires a projectile of kryptonite pellets, suspended in a liquid-silicon core. Causes maximum scatter on impact; only gets one shot, but trust me, alien, it'll do the job."
Supergirl raises her hands in a placating gesture. "We're not here to hurt you; we just have some questions."
Hardcastle raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. "Sorry if I don't take your word for it; as I recall, your kind can be fickle."
While he's focused on her, I shoot forward, faster than he can react, and take the gun from him. "Okay, let's try this again."
Green Arrow walks next to me with a smirk. "Come on, be a good host and tell us a story."
Hardcastle scowls at us before motioning for us to sit down.
Once we're comfortable, Supergirl begins to explain the situation, after that's done, Hardcastle sighs deeply before speaking.
"The army shut me out after Superman invaded," he pokes at the fireplace. "The feeling upstairs was that I failed when it counted most, so how could I lead again? I got the message and took early retirement," he sits down in his chair. "The problem is I know too much. One of these days they'll decide to shut me up."
"Who will? What do you know?" Supergirl asks.
Hardcastle looks her in the eye. "The military and big business have been in cahoots for decades. Top-secret stuff, experiments on metahumans, mutants, and aliens; searching for new technologies, both for natural security and profit. That Volcana woman?" I've fought her once, wasn't fun. "She was one of ours. Same as those freaks the Joker dressed up as playing cards when he attacked Las Vegas."
"What does this have to do with Supergirl?" I ask, tired with all of the tangents he's going on.
"It has to do with all of you," he glares at me before looking at the others with narrowed eyes. "Your little club up in that spaceship? There's a file on every single one of you," his eyes narrow on me. "Especially you," he then looks back at Supergirl. "But I don't know anything about these dreams of yours. If it is connected to these people, I've been kept out of the loop too long to know."
I sigh. "This is a waste of time."
"And how do we find "these people"?" Question asks.
"You don't," Hardcastle says in a warning tone. "They find you."
Oooh, ominous.
He just falls silent, his way of telling us that this conversation is over. The four of us get up and exit the cabin. Once we're outside I turn around and look at the cabin before shaking my head. "Sorry, kid, looks like we're out of leads," I apologize.
"Not necessarily," Question says. "I just need some time to process this," he activates his communicator. "Martian, pick us up."
We then disappear in a flash of light.
A few minutes later, a shadow falls over Hardcastle's porch.
Inside, Hardcastle pours himself a glass of whiskey; he always needed it after spending some time in his thoughts, and the arrival of the heroes warrants a lot of drinking tonight. He gets irritated once he hears the door open.
"What? I told you everything I…" He trails off once he sees a familiar, yet different, person. "Supergirl?"
The woman standing in the doorway wears a white, long-sleeved one-piece suit that shows off her legs with a golden belt. She has on white gloves and boots, and there is a cut-out in the center of her suit, showing off her cleavage. Her blonde hair is also cut short. She looks like Supergirl in her twenties.
She does a so-so motion with her hand. "Yes and no. My friends call me Galatea. Are you a friend, General?"
Thanks to his life as a soldier, Hardcastle knows when a potential threat arises, and this threat is far more dangerous than anything he's faced in the past. He rushes for his kryptonite gun, but Galatea blasts it with her heat-vision, scorching Hardcastle's hand in the proves. He falls into a chair with a shout of pain.
Galatea approaches him slowly, then leans forward. "Guess that's a no."
Watchtower
For the next few hours, the four of us spend our time in The Question's room. Supergirl's currently asleep at his cluttered desk. Green Arrow leans on the wall next to The Question's bed and I sit down on it, the two of us talk quietly as the owner of the room paces back and forth and mutters to himself.
"So, poker at my place in two weeks?" Green Arrow whispers. "Me, John, Wally, Clark, and Victor are gonna be there. You?"
I shrug. "Yeah, why not? But uh…" I subtly nod my head towards Question. "What about him?"
Green Arrow scoffs. "That ain't happening."
I chuckle and go to reply, but Supergirl wakes up with a start, drawing our attention. Her face is filled with pure terror, I get up and put a calming hand on her shoulder, my mask down so she can see my face. "Hey, hey, you've been here the entire time. You just fell asleep, that's all."
"Excuse me if I bore you," Question comments dryly.
"Hey, lay off!" Green Arrow growls.
"Hardcastle's gone," Supergirl says, the three of us look at her, shocked. "I-I just know," she shrugs.
"Well, 'least we know your other dream wasn't you," I say, trying to look at the bright side.
Supergirl gives me a grateful smile. Guess it worked.
The communicator on the desk activates. "Question?" J'onn's voice says.
"Go ahead," The Question answers.
"Look at your monitor, I'm patching through a live feed," a nearby screen activates. The four of us lean in to show a news report from Eagle Network, there's a picture of a middle-aged, balding man. "A scientist named Gilbert Halstrom has been reported missing. He's from a biotech company called Nuvo-Gen. It's the man from Kara's dream."
"He really exists," Supergirl whispers. "Or he did, anyway," she clenches her fist.
"And only one network had this story," Question points out.
"Now that's the first lead in this whole business that I can wrap my head around," Green Arrow stands up straight. "We go to Nuvo-Gen, we find out who this guy is."
"No," Question argues. "First we find the source of the report."
Green Arrow and I share a glance. "What for?" We ask.
"Don't you know who owns the Eagle Network?" The Question walks over and taps his board of connections. "The real puppet masters."
Green Arrow sighs. "Look, why don't we split up; Kara, Eric, and I will go to Nuvo-Gen, and you can go wherever you want," he turns around to the door. "Come on, you two! Let's go solve a mystery!"
Supergirl and I share a glance. I shrug and activate my mask before following Green Arrow, Supergirl follows shortly after.
Inside of a high-class steakhouse in Metropolis is Lasser, a reporter for the Eagle Network. He starts walking out when he's stopped by an old man, he knows named Jerry.
"Hey, Lasser!" Jerry says. "I saw that bit on Eagle today; now that's reporting!"
"Thanks," Lasser says in a condescending tone. "You get home safe."
He goes to leave, but Jerry grabs him by his arm. "The thing is, that Nuvo-Gen is a real hush-hush kind of joint, and Halstrom didn't have no family to file a missing person's report; between you and me, how'd you hear about this story?"
Lasser shrugs. "Good old-fashioned legwork, Jerry; you should try it sometime," Lasser then leaves.
He goes outside and steps into a taxi. "Commodore Hotel," the taxi drives off, but it doesn't get very far, only a couple of blocks before turning into an alley. "Something wrong?" Lasser asks.
"Gotta write up my fare report," the driver says as he starts to scribble on a notepad. "What do you think of that corporate, prepackaged pop that kids like these days?"
"Hate it," Lasser laughs, surprised at his taxi driver's insight.
"Uh-huh," the driver turns the radio on to maximum volume, a corporate, prepackaged pop song plays as yellow smoke emerges from his jacket.
"Hey," Lasser says as he grabs the driver's shoulder. "I just said…" He pauses as the man's outfit becomes blue and his face disappears. Lasser lets out a short scream as he then comes face-to-featureless face with The Question.
Nuvo-Gen
I'm currently inside Green Arrow's lunchbox.
Our plan is to have him disguise as an employee while I'm inside the lunchbox as Grey Matter. I'm eating the owner's sandwich that he called. He's gonna be mad, but I really don't care right now.
"Hi," I hear him say. "Ollie. I'm filling in."
"What happened to Frank?" I hear the guard ask.
"I heard some contest guy showed up at his door; got a free trip to Aruba!" Ollie exclaims.
Maybe I should take Zee to Aruba for a week, it'd be nice.
"Why him and not me?" The guard laments, I hear him get up to leave.
Green Arrow laughs. "Tell me about it! You have a good one!"
"Good cold one's more like it," the guard mutters before I hear his keycard do whatever it's supposed to do.
As the door closes, I hear Supergirl rushing in. "Free trip to Aruba?" She asks teasingly.
Green Arrow puts the lunchbox down. "Had to send Frank somewhere; shame how he dropped his keycard though," he then opens the lunchbox and glares down at me, eating the sandwich. "Dude, I called dibs."
I shrug up at him. "If I want to eat, I eat," I hop out of the lunchbox and transform back to normal. I then grab the sandwich and lean on the desk as Green Arrow goes to change. Once he's done, the three of us wander through the building, a few minutes later we find the record room. Yay, time to look through countless papers.
"I never heard of Nuvo-Gen or Halstrom until last night; this girl I've been seeing slipped it to me, said I could run with it," Lasser confesses to The Question.
"This girl," demands the faceless detective. "Tell me more."
"She's just a girl," said Lasser, not knowing where this was going. "Blonde hair, blue eyes; real farmer's-daughter type."
"And a handshake like a vice," Question asks.
Lasser furrows his brow before nodding. "Y-yeah, really strong, how'd you-"
"How long have you been seeing her?" The Question interrupts.
"About a week," Lasser answers.
"She have bad dreams?"
"More like tossing and turning."
The Question taps his chin in thought. "Can't sleep at night…"
Almost immediately, Lasser is hurled out of the taxi, The Question then speeds off towards Nuvo-Gen.
Nuvo-Gen
"Halstrom was getting a lot of emails from their legal department," Green Arrow announces as he stares at a computer, Supergirl and I look at another. "Looks like they were scared he was gonna blow the whistle on something."
After looking at another file, he sits back in amazement. "I don't believe this; that crazy old Hardcastle was right. These guys claim to be splicing hardier tomatoes, but they've really been experimenting with metahuman DNA."
"Not just any DNA," Supergirl says with a shaky voice. Green Arrow stands next to me, looking at the computer screen with us. "They're using my DNA."
I click on a folder, showing images of an older looking Supergirl training, I then notice a video and click on it, showing footage of Galatea training jetpack-wearing enemies.
"This folder was marked "Metropolis Training Exercises"," Supergirl sits back. "It's me."
"And it looks a lot like the fight we had earlier," I mention as the video comes to an end.
"Yeah, but uh, she's a little more…mature then you," Green Arrow comments. "But I see your point."
"So, I was cloned," Supergirl says calmly, which kind of unnerves me. After all, when I met my murderous psychopath clone, being calm was the last thing on my mind. "We must have some sort of psychic link; that's how I'm seeing things that I didn't do."
Our heads jerk up when a blur of motion goes on outside the room. I quickly dial through the Omnitrix. I could become my Kryptonian form but having three Kryptonians fight doesn't seem like the best of ideas, so instead, I become my Fulmini form, Thunder Stone.
My body mainly becomes blue energy, four retractable spikes sticking out of each shoulder. My arms become large, nearly reaching down to my feet. My arms, chest, and legs are made of black and gray stone, there is a moss-like substance around my neck and shoulders. My head looks like a helmet, with small Batman-like ears on the top. The Omnitrix crest is on my chest.
The three of us rush off towards the blur, and find ourselves inside of a blank room, after a moment, the room lights up, and we find ourselves in Metropolis.
"What's going on?" Supergirl asks.
"My best guess, we're in a room like the Danger Room from the X-Men," I comment. "I'd guess this is a training area."
"My training area."
We look up to see Supergirl's clone, Galatea, flying down towards us. She collides with Supergirl, the two fly through the side of a building. Galatea then flies up into the air, Supergirl follows shortly after, shaking off her daze.
"So, what do you think?" Galatea asks as she spreads her arms out. "It's important that you like yourself, and I'm you; just accelerated a few extra years, plus better trained, and I have to say, a heck of a lot smarter."
"She's overconfident," I say to Green Arrow, not even bothering to whisper, she'd hear it regardless. "That'll be her downfall."
Galatea scowls and looks down at me. "I won't fail!" She then shoots a blast of heat vision at us. I quickly create a shield that protects me and Green Arrow.
"Looks like I'm already getting in your head," I comment. "Supergirl! If I could do it, then you'd be a natural at it!"
Galatea stops the attack before calming down and looking back at her template. "That's the problem, I have to get rid of you, you're taking up too much space in my- AGH!"
Supergirl interrupts her with a right hook to the face, sending her clone flying through more holographic buildings. Green Arrow and I nod before he goes off to find a vantage point. I run over to Galatea's prone form, creating an energy battering ram as I run.
Just before I can hit her, Galatea gets up and grabs the battering ram, slowing me down. Once I'm stopped, she flips over me and kicks the back of my head, sending me flying into a car, and oh man, the car doesn't feel like hard-light. Galatea comes flying in and kicks me in the chest, sending me flying through the car and into a light pole, causing it to fall down on me.
Galatea tries to punch me again as I'm downed, but Supergirl comes in from left field and tackles her away through some buildings. I hear some hits connect and Supergirl comes flying out, slamming into me. The two of us skid along the street as Galatea floats above us, smirking as she folds her arms.
"Wow, I can't believe I come from such weak stock," she taunts. "And look at your friends. They constantly beat into my head how dangerous Triumph is, yet, here he is, knocked around like a piñata."
A sonic arrow hits the side of Galatea's face. The explosion causes pain for me and Supergirl, but for the clone, that had to hurt.
Galatea cries out in pain and cups her hands over her ears, I can even see some blood trickling down her ears. She shakes her head and recovers before glaring at Green Arrow, her eyes then glow, and she hits the ground around him as he dodges out of the way, sending the archer into a car and knocking him out.
"Arrow!" Supergirl shouts. She tries to go help him, but her clone intercepts her and grabs her by the cape, throwing her into the street.
Galatea pushes the attack, but I quickly create an energy cage around her, stopping her. She punches the cage, causing it to ripple, I groan as I feel the cage slowly break down from her onslaught.
Eventually, the clone breaks through the cage and kicks me away from her, sending me flying into a skyscraper. I break through some windows near the top floor and land in what looks like an office building.
I groan and slowly get up. Okay, Thunder Stone might not work. But maybe Ultimate Tyrantosaur will. I slap the dial and become the Vaxasaurian, I then tilt it and slap it again, becoming the Evolved Vaxasaurian.
My skin becomes a camo green, I have a dark blue shell on my back, silver spikes sticking out of it, and dark blue armor traveling down my front, three small spikes sticking out of my chest, and two bigger ones just below them. My knuckles have silver barrels on them, and my tail has a dark blue mace with silver spikes at the end. The armor around my head is similar to an Ankylosaurus, with two black spikes sticking out of the sides of my face. The Omnitrix dial is on my chest.
Due to my sudden increase in weight, the floor below me pits downwards. I fall through the building and end up on the ground floor, the ground around the building shaking, creating a tiny earthquake.
I run through the training area, the ground shaking and cars bouncing as I run by. I then arrive to see Galatea grab Supergirl by the shirt and knee her in the stomach, followed by an elbow to the back. Supergirl manages to recover and hit her clone with two punches, the second one sending Galatea flying through a building.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice The Question helping Green Arrow up. "Anything break?" The Faceless Detective asks.
"Just my stride," Green Arrow quips. He then looks up at me and his eyes widen in surprise. "Huh, guess life does find a way."
"Nap's over, come on," The Question says.
I hear what sounds like a sonic boom, I then quickly run to the fight to see Supergirl dig herself out of some rubble, her suit torn in some places as Galatea slowly walks towards her. "Next time get your own dreams," the clone snarls.
My arms shift into their cannon forms as I aim them at the clone. Supergirl just raises a hand, telling me to wait. "Who do you work for?" She asks.
"Really? At the top?" Galatea asks, amused. "Even I don't know that. But I do know that I can't work in secret if you keep seeing what I do," her heat vision charges up. "So, sayonara, sister."
"That's not the only reason, is it?" The Question asks as he and Green Arrow arrive, I hear Supergirl sigh in relief.
"You were setting up this bait even before Supergirl started asking questions," The Question continues as he approaches fearlessly. "It's because the link works both ways; while she was seeing what you were doing, you were feeling her conscience," Galatea turns away, practically confirming Question's theory. "That's why you couldn't sleep at night. And I'll bet that got in the way of your work," he leans in close. "It bites having someone else in your head, doesn't it?"
Galatea looks like she's fighting herself. Makes me wonder, why do they have this connection when Pyrrhic and I don't?
"Y-you don't know what you're talking about," the clone denies.
"No?" The Question leans in. "Prove it. Kill me."
Supergirl and Green Arrow look at him in surprise, I just get ready to reach out to protect him with one arm, and shoot missiles with the other at a moment's notice.
Galatea draws her fist back, but she then stops, her fist shaking. Using that moment, I hit her with a missile barrage from my cannon-arm. The explosion sends her flying away as she cries out in pain. Well, looks like Ultimate Tyrantosaur can hurt Kryptonians. The Question and Green Arrow move out of the way as Supergirl shoots forward and hits her clone with a barrage of attacks.
Supergirl punches her clone towards me, and so, I turn slightly and swing my tail at Galatea as she nears, knocking her back to her template. Supergirl and I continue this game of pong for a minute or two before Galatea manages to recover, she kicks off of my face and sends me stumbling back as she glares down at me. "I'm gonna enjoy turning you into a new pair of boots."
From my place on the ground, I aim my other cannon-arm at her, but before I can shoot, the ground between us explodes.
"NO!" Galatea shouts, screaming at someone we can't see. "I CAN DO THIS!"
The ground beneath her explodes again, and the clone falls through the hole, screaming during the entire fall.
More explosions sound out around us. Reacting quickly, I grab The Question and Green Arrow and run out of Nuvo-Gen, Supergirl flies ahead of us. We then make it outside just as the building explodes.
Watchtower
A few hours later, the four of us are in The Question's room, after Supergirl gets a new suit and we file the report. Right now, Supergirl's calling Professor Hamilton.
"We searched what was left of the place, but we never found the clone," she finishes.
"Maybe there was nothing to find," Green Arrow suggests.
"Or that's what they want us to think," The Question says.
Dios Mio, he really is paranoid, isn't he? Eh, we wouldn't have solved this mystery without him, so he gets some leeway.
"I'm just glad you're okay, Supergirl," Professor Hamilton says over the call.
"Professor," Supergirl says nervously. "To make the clone of me, they would've needed a DNA sample. Is there any chance that it came from your lab?"
"No," Hamilton assures. "We always destroy genetic material after surgery. It's standard procedure."
Hm.
Even though he can't see her, Supergirl nods. "Okay. Thanks, Professor."
"Give my best to Superman."
"Will do," Supergirl then hangs up.
She's silent for a moment and looks down as she wrings her hands in worry. I put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, we won," I assure her. "Yeah, whoever made her is still out there, but we solved the mystery of your dreams, you didn't do any of that, take the win."
"He's right," Green Arrow says with a nod. "Take the small victories when you can, they tend to add up," he then hums and looks at Question's conspiracy board. "But still, why would they clone you?"
"This all started because Superman went renegade," The Question says as he looks at his board again, Supergirl and I look at the board too. "They want a superhuman alien on their side if it ever happens again."
"Whoever they are," Supergirl says nervously.
Unknown Location
Professor Hamilton walks over to the operating room; there, surrounded by military and government officials lay Supergirl's clone. Galatea's hair is gone, and her body is basically one massive bruise; she is currently hooked up to life-support. She isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
"You rest," Hamilton says softly as he cups her cheek in his hand. "We'll have you fixed up in no time, Galatea."
Seattle
I open the door to my home, and the smell of alcohol, cigarettes, and blood hits my nose. I clench my fist and get ready to fight as I slowly peek through the door. No one in the living room, but the stench is strong, coming from the kitchen.
I slowly get inside before closing the door behind me, I don't have my armor on, but I'm not helpless at least.
I walk into the kitchen and peek around the corner, the lights are still off, so it helps with my stealth. Once I peek over the corner, I see a familiar form sitting at the island. Trench coat, blond hair, and the stench of a burning cigarette tells me exactly who this is.
I glare before silently walking behind him, he doesn't seem to notice me. I reach out and take the bottle of alcohol away from him, surprising him greatly.
"BLOODY HELL!" Constantine shouts as he falls over.
I glare down at him as he slowly gets up. "You're getting blood all over my floor," I deadpan.
"W-well if you hadn't scared me, this wouldn't be happenin' now, would it?" He questions as he gets up. "Hand me that, yeah?"
I extend my arm outward as he reaches for the bottle. "I was saving this, now it's wasted. What are you doing here, Constantine?"
He glares at me before leaning on the island, taking a drag of his cigarette, and blowing some smoke into my face, I lash out and take the cigarette. "Answer the question."
Constantine sighs before turning to me. "I need your help."
I look at him as he stays silent, I then sigh in annoyance. "With what?"
"I kinda lost the House of Mystery," he admits with a shrug.
I look at him in surprise before turning on the kitchen light, smirking at Constantine's hiss of annoyance. "How the hell do you lose the House of Mystery?" I ask.
"Well, I didn't lose it per say, I know where it is right now. More I've lost ownership of the House," he clarifies.
"To whom?" I fold my arms and glare.
He rubs the back of his head. "I'm not so sure about that. I was hopin' you could help me figure out! After all, you've got some forms that can do that, right?"
"Why should I help you? Zatanna's told me everything that happens to people who help you, what stops me from joining that list?" I question.
Constantine narrows his eyes at me. "I thought Zee hated you."
"You don't get to call her that!" I hiss as I loom over him.
"Oh, and you can?" He hums before grimacing slightly. "Guess the rumors are true, the two of you are back together. Just know, she and I had some…wild nights together," he smirks.
I smirk back. "We did first," I then scowl. "I thought you wanted my help. If you just wanna anger me, your existence does enough. Get out. Find someone else to con."
Constantine sighs before standing up straight, standing a few inches shorter than me. "Look, mate-"
"Not your "mate"."
"Mercer," he corrects. "Before I got kicked out, Nick's body was gone."
I blink in surprise and stare at him. "What!? W-what do you- Why was Necro's body in the House for so long? That was months ago! What, are you a practicing necromancer now?"
Constantine glares. "I lost the House months ago! It just threw me in the middle of nowhere without anything to make spells with! I just got back! So give me a break, Mercer!" he takes a deep breath. "Now, are you gonna help me or not?"
I narrow my eyes and fold my arms. Man, I'm gonna regret this. "Fine, but I'm telling Zatara and Zee about this."
"No," Constantine says quickly. "Right now, this is just a scouting mission. You do those, right? We just go in, get a feel of what we're up against, get out. Sound good?"
I hum before heading to my backyard. "Get what you need to teleport us there. Don't keep me waiting for too long."
As I wait in the backyard, I pull out my phone and text Zatanna.
Me: Hey, Constantine's at my place, says he lost the House of Mystery. We're gonna go scout it out really quick. If I don't respond in three hours, come after me. There's something off about this.
She replies almost immediately.
Zatanna: Got it. Be careful, baby, the people who travel with Constantine tend to die, I seem to be the only one who hasn't. I love you.
Me: I love you too.
Constantine walks out, a saltshaker in one hand and a knife in his other hand. He stands next to me on the concrete in front of the window and unscrews the top to the saltshaker, he then makes a magic circle around us. He then cuts his palm with the knife, the blood hits the salt before it travels along the circle, turning it pink. A mirror then floats out of his pocket, floating in front of us.
Constantine's eyes glow gold. "Ekat su ot eht esuoH fo yretsyM."
The circle then glows gold as well, the light slowly increases in intensity, blinding me.
My hand drifts towards the Omnitrix as my vision becomes pure gold. Constantine, this better not be a trap.
Everything becomes black.
Unknown location
My vision comes back just as I see the House of Mystery resting on a cliff ahead of us, the rising sun behind it. Constantine looks at me before nodding and walking around the house, looking in the windows carefully.
I narrow my eyes and crouch low as I check out the other side of the house. Inside I notice some Forever Knights, as well as some of the Cult of the Cold Flame inside. Well, looks like we know who kicked him out now.
Constantine and I meet up at the back of the house, we silently nod before heading back to the front of the house, I hold an arm out as I notice some Forever Knights outside, and who's leading them? Enoch.
He wears chainmail armor with black metallic boots, shoulder guards, and bracers. He has on a burgundy surcoat, the symbol to his faction of Forever Knights on it. What makes him stand out is his golden mask, which I think is designed to look like his face, I wouldn't know, I've never seen the actual thing. The mask has a hood over it, and he has a black crown on his head.
"We've got Enoch here," I turn to look at John, but he isn't crouching behind me, instead, he's standing over me, a magic circle in front of his hand, aimed at my face.
"Sorry, mate, but it had to be done."
"Motherfu-"
He shoots.
And that's the end of the chapter!
Next chapter's gonna be the end to the Hex story, as said before. It'll also lead to a really big change for Eric and explain the Anam deal. The rest of the season will be mostly canon chapters, with one more original chapter, which will be the follow up to "The Passenger", and another flashback chapter, then we'll hit the "Once and Future Thing" chapters, and I'm excited for Part II.
And hey, by the time this is posted, the story's had 10,003 views! That's over 10,000! Thank you so much for reading and sticking around, I greatly appreciate it. Well, here's to another 10,000 views!
Well, that's all from me. If you have any questions or want to leave a constructive review you know where to leave 'em! Remember to stay awesome and see you next time you beautiful people!
