Enter Karma
2014
Lena Luther was standing in front of the sliding doors that led out to the balcony of her hotel, which was overlooking Star Labs. There was no way she was standing in a crowd of protesters, or in the rain. Just to look at a building. The only reason she was in Central City, was to talk to the CEO of Mercury Labs. The only reason she was even watching Star Labs from her hotel room was that she was hoping Harrison Wells failed. She really couldn't stand him; there was just something about him that made her skin crawl.
To her, the storm seemed to be a portent. She was thinking of calling it a night and going to bed, when she saw the explosion and the beam of light and lightening, then she saw the wave of energy. When the energy hit her hotel she was thrown back, then darkness.
Jess opened the door to Lena's room and walked down the hall of the suite. When she entered Lena's bedroom, she was shocked to see her boss laying on the floor. Jess hurried over to her boss and knelt down next to Lena and lightly patted her on the cheek.
Lena moaned and covered her face with her hands, "What time is it?"
Jess shook her head, thinking that her friend and boss, got drunk and passed out on the floor. "Come on Ms. Luther, let's get you up off the floor." Jess, proceeded to help Lena sit up.
Lena looked around confused about being on the floor; then it all came back to her. Then she started to chuckle, then she groaned as the headache got worse. Jess sighed when she saw Lena wince and cradle her head in her hands. "I'll be right back Ms. Luther." Jess went to the kitchenette and grabbed some aspirin and a glass of water. "Here take these and drink the water. It should help with the hangover."
Lena threw the aspirin to the back of her throat and drank down the water, then slowly shook her head. "Not a hangover, Jess. After Star Labs went up, I felt like something slammed into me. Then the next thing I remember is you waking me up."
2015
Lena was bent over the circuit board, soldering iron in hand. She was just finishing when she felt a head-ache coming on, so she put the iron down and took her safety glasses off and placed a hand on her forehead. It was more of a pressure than a pain. It has been happening a lot since Star City, ten months ago at least. She got up and went to the kitchenette and took a bottle of water from the fridge. She had just finished half the bottle when something caught her attention on the silent television. She blindly reached down to the table and grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.
"Once again, the hero known as the Flash has saved the day, as he not only rescued a family from their burning home; but also he caught two jewel thieves. For the last month people have wondered, where did this hero come from and who he is, and did the Star Labs explosion have anything to do with it."
Lena turned the volume down and began thinking, 'was this speedster the product of the explosion? And are there more out there?'
She threw the empty bottle away and went back into her lab with these kinds of questions on her mind. She was ten steps into the room when a head-ache hit her. This head-ache was not like the rest, this was an actual pain; this one took her to her knees, then blackness.
Lena was woken by the theme to Kill Bill. She groaned, not really wanting to wake up, but she knew she had to. That was when she knew she wasn't in her bed, but on a hard cold floor. Lena pushed herself up off the floor, then rubbed the back of her neck as she stumbled back to the breakroom. She plopped down into a chair and put her head down on her crossed arms. She growled when the whistling started up again. She lifted her head and stared at the offending phone. Reaching out she tried to snag the phone but it was out of her reach, so she pushed herself up off the chair and tried again but was still short. With her arm and fingers stretched to the limit she squinted her eyes and gave the phone her best evil eye; that's when something happened that equally freaked her out and amazed her. The phone slid the half a foot to her out stretched hand. Lena picked up the phone and sat back down in the chair. She looked at the phone then at the spot it was sitting just a few seconds ago then back at the phone.
"Hypothesis, I caused the phone to move to my hand." Lena turned the phone over and took the back off of it and looked to see if anything was different about the phone but couldn't see anything on the surface. "O.k. time to test the hypothesis to see if it's true." Lena looked at the salt and pepper shakers and concentrated on the salt shaker. After a few seconds it slid across the table into her hand. "First test proves the hypothesis." She looked around the breakroom and noticed her coffee cup sitting next to the coffee pot. Not a second later the cup flew off of the counter and she caught it in her hands, she examined the cup and smiled. "Second test proves the hypothesis. So if the hypothesis is true than I did move these items with my mind."
Lena stood up and went over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup and took a sip of the coffee. Then went into her lab and looked around until she saw what she was looking for. She set her coffee on a table and went over the shelf and grabbed two steal trays and a jar of ball bearings. She set the jar down and put one of the trays on one table and the other one on the table across the room. She went over to the table and emptied the ball bearings into the first tray. Lena went to the middle of the room and looked at both trays, then concentrated on one of the little balls. It lifted into the air and she moved it to the other tray; she did this moving the balls from one tray to the other all day for the rest of the week. By then she was able to move up to ten steal balls at once and have them dancing in front of her.
Late on a Friday night, Lena was walking to her car after leaving her so called friends at the bar. She was nearing her car when a man stepped out in front of her and pointed a gun at her. By instinct alone she used her power to push the gun to the side then pushed the man, causing him to go flying backwards. She looked to where the gun went and held her left hand out and caught it as it flew into her left hand. She walked over to the man and used her power to make sure he couldn't get back up.
"What is the meaning of this?" Lena said as she held the gun up. "You think you can just mug anyone you want just because you have a gun?"
The gunman stopped trying to get up when the pressure on him increased and he shook his head. "I don't want your money. I want my daughter back."
Lena took a half step back and gave the man a look of confusion. "What are you talking about?"
The man sat up and Lena took three steps back. "Luther Corp. has my daughter."
Lena took a deep breath and noticed a diner down the street, she pointed towards it. "Go to that diner and get a booth or table in the back, I will meet you in there and we will talk."
She waited till he was halfway down the street, before she pinched her nose, took a deep breath and shook her head. She didn't want to believe her family could kidnap someone, but they have been acting strange lately. She looked at the gun and ejected the clip, put it in her pocket, then racked the slide and ejected the last round, caught it with her power then plucked it out of the air and placed it in her pocket with the clip. She place the gun in her other pocket, then headed towards the diner and the continuation of a bad night.
When Lena entered the diner she looked around till she found the man; he was sitting in a corner booth with his face buried in his hands. She caught the eye of a waitress and indicated to her that she was sitting with the lone figure and that she wanted to order.
When Lena sat down the waitress was right behind her. Lena looked up, "I want a cheeseburger with onion rings and an orange juice; and what type of pies do you have?"
The waitress stopped writing for a moment, "We have pecan pie, apple pie, peach cobbler…."
Lena held up her hand, "stop, I'll take the peach cobbler, and get him whatever he wants."
The man looked up and ordered a coffee, and the waitress left. The man opened his mouth but Lena stopped him. "Wait for my food to get here then we can talk." The man shut his mouth and nodded. Lena was hungry, using her powers takes it out of her sometimes.
When Lena's food was set down in front of her, she took a bite of the burger and just about moaned and smiled at the waitress and nodded. Lena turned to the man sitting across from her, "are you sure you don't want something to eat? This burger is to die for."
The man shook his head. "No thank you, I'm not hungry."
Lena shrugged, and took a bite from an onion ring then a drink from her juice. "So, why do you think my family had something to do with your daughter going missing?"
The man nodded, "two months ago I was at my daughter's house when a representative from Luther Corp. showed up. He offered her money if she would let them study her and her powers, she politely turned him down. I can tell you, even though he smiled and shook our hands before he left, I could tell he wasn't happy with the answer he got. Then a week later she disappeared. I told her to keep her powers a secret."
Lena wiped her mouth off with a napkin. "What makes you think she didn't just up and leave?" He looked like he was getting upset so Lena held up her hand. "I don't mean any disrespect. I don't know her at all, and I'm not defending my family, but they are my family; who as far as I know hasn't done anything wrong."
He balled his hands into fists and took several deep breaths. "She wouldn't just up and leave without telling me first. Plus, she has been running a business out of her home that she loves and she would never leave without her cat." He shook his head, "I know my daughter; she just wouldn't up and leave. I know Luther Corp. had something to do with it."
"Look, Mr.?"
"McCarthy, Jacob McCarthy." Jacob answered.
"Mr. McCarthy, I won't make any promises, but I will look into it. Do you have a card?" Lena asked, she drank the last of her juice and wiped her lips with a napkin.
Mr. McCarthy nodded, took out his wallet and handed her his card. "Thank you Ms. Luther, and I'm sorry about pointing a gun at you."
Lena waved it off. "Don't worry about it, thanks to who my family is it wasn't nor will it be the last time someone points a gun at me." She got up and put her coat on, then dropped a hundred on the table, "It's on me." Lena informed him, then left.
Two days later.
Lena was in her office of her private lab, her nails digging into the varnished wood of her desk, her breathing was getting faster; her anger was on the rise as she watched the video of her father, mother and brother experimenting on meta-humans. She snapped out of it when something caught her attention. She looked around and saw her office furniture and other items in her office was levitating. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths and lowered everything back down to where they belong. She exited the video and brought up a document and found who and what she was looking for.
Lena looked at the display case against the wall and smiled. Inside the case was the finale product of her hard work; a suit of high tech. armor, she was thinking of pitching it to the military. In her lab is two energy weapons that she made to go with the armor. Now with all that she just learned about her family, she changed her mind about selling it to the military.
Lena was perched on a building across from where the secret lab is located. She wasn't surprised that they were able to build it in secret, her family had a way with disguising building projects, sometimes with the governments help. She had a feeling the military had a hand in this 'Project Cadmus.'
'So they view themselves slayers of monsters, do they?' She thought. She scoffed at the notion of it. "They are more monsters than the meta-human's they are torturing." She whispered.
Lena touched a spot on the side of her combat helmet, and the visor slid down and sealed her helmet. The heads up display came up and told her the distance to the building was twenty yards. The heads up display also showed her other readings; such as heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and a targeting aperture. The distance was about thirty yards. She turned and walked to the other side of the building then turned around. She place her right foot in front of her, took a deep breath and started running. When she reached the edge of the roof, she planted her right foot on the edge and used her power to push herself off of the roof and into the air in a high arc. As she came down she used her powers again to push down on the opposite roof to help cushion her landing. Lena turned and looked across the way and pumped her fist at her success.
Lena approached the door and typed in her brother's master pen number and was rewarded when the L.E.D turned green. She grabbed the handle and opened the door. She slowly went down the stairs till she was on the ground floor. She peered out the little square window, the only thing she saw was a camera in the corner down the hall. She waited till the camera was pointing down the other hall then she slipped out of the stairwell and made it to corner just as the camera started swinging back.
Lena looked down the other hall and saw another camera. Before she could move the camera pointed right at her and that's when the alarms went off. Lena sighed then shrugged her shoulders. She pushed away from the wall and walked over to the elevator doors, placed both her hands on the doors and concentrated, and the doors opened. She looked down the shaft and shook her head; the elevator was at the very bottom, where she needed to go. Lena took a deep breath and stepped out and started falling. As she neared the bottom she used her power to push down on the top of the elevator car, she started to slow down then landed with a light thud on the roof of the elevator car.
Lena reached down and opened the trap door and dropped down into the elevator car. She moved to the corner of the elevator, then reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a flash bang grenade, then she pressed the door open button. When the doors opened that's when all hell broke loose. Holes appeared in the elevator walls as guns were fired. She pulled the pin on the grenade then tossed it out of the elevator and waited. She drew her blasters, and when the grenade went off she stepped out and started firing. Thanks to the targeting reticles in her HUD she didn't miss. When all of the hired help was down she went up to the first door and used her father's code and the door opened up, but the room was empty. The second room she had better luck and saw someone she hoped was Laurie McCarthy sitting on the floor against the wall.
"Laurie McCarthy?" Lena asked just to be sure.
The woman in the cell shook her head, "No. Can you help me?" The woman used the wall to help her stand up, and she made her way over to Lena.
"Yes, come on, I'm getting everyone out of this place." Lena then punched in the code at the next door but it didn't work, so she pulled out one of her blasters and upped the power and shot the lock out. Still not the person she was looking for. Fifty doors and several power packs later and five freed people, she still hadn't found Ms. McCarthy. She approached the last door and realized it was another stairway; she was about to open the door when she heard booted feet pounding down the stairs. She turned to the people that was following her. "Go back the other way, there is an elevator, get on it, take it to the main floor and get out."
"I can help." One of the prisoners said. Lena looked at him and saw his hand was on fire.
Lena shook her head and used her telekinesis to hold the door shut as one of the guards tried to open it. "Go, I got this." She waved him back and drew her blasters, and reset the one she was using on the doors back to stun. She took a couple of steps backwards, raised her basters and released the door. Two guards came tumbling out, Lena fired and knocked them out. The other two guards used the door frame as cover and started firing at her. Lena holstered her left blaster and continued to fire with her right one. She reached into her pouch and withdrew another flashbang grenade, she thumbed the pin out and tossed the grenade into the stairwell and slammed the door with her power and held it shut.
When the grenade went off she opened the door as she ran and dropped to her knees and slid through the door. She raised her blasters to either side and fired knocking both out. Without hesitation she stood, turned and pushed off the floor and jumped to the second level. Lena looked through the small window in the door and saw more guards spilling out into the hall from one door. Lena holstered a blaster, reached into her pouch and to her disappointment found it empty, so she drew her blaster, pushed the door open and stepped through, pushing at the guards in the front while firing. She could feel rounds hitting her armor and she even felt and heard several hit her helmet. She didn't stop firing till all of the guards where down. Lena walked down the hall, doors opening as she came near, she looked in each one to make sure that they were empty. Till she came to one that wasn't; inside was woman sitting in front of screens and typing on a keyboard. Lena reached out with her power and pushed the woman across the room away from her workstation. She walked in and looked at the monitors, she saw the prisoners coming down the hall, her parents in a lab one floor up strapping a woman down to a gurney, and a countdown on another monitor.
Lena heard a noise to her left and pushed the woman against the wall, the woman's gun falling to the ground. Lena turned to the woman, "what is this countdown for?"
The woman just smiled, "fifteen minutes till we all go BOOM, you freak."
Lana pulled the woman towards her, till she was directly in front of her, "you're the freak missy." Then Lena using her powers slammed the woman hard against the far wall. She turned to the workstation, looked at one of the monitors then used the keyboard to activate the elevator and bring it to their floor. She walked out and turned to the ex-prisoners. "Take the elevator to the main floor and get out of here and get as far away as possible."
"What about you?" one of them asked.
Lena, turned and started walking back the way they had come, "I have one more person to rescue, we will be right behind you."
Lena made it to the stairway when she heard the elevator doors close. She didn't bother using the stairs, she just jumped up the next landing. There was only two guards in the hall and she dispatched them with ease. Lena dashed down the hall, looking through large window, looking for the lab she saw her parents and hopefully Ms. McCarthy. "She better still be alive!"
Lilian Luther growled out, "don't worry that thing is still alive."
Lena ground her teeth, and used her powers to roll the gurney over to her, she holstered her right hand blaster keeping the left one aimed at her parents. She then proceeded to undo the straps. She saw her father make a move so she fired, she didn't hit him just a piece of equipment in front of him which exploded, and he stopped then backed up so he was next to his wife again. "Who are you?"
Lena thought about it and smirked. "You can say I'm Karma come around to bite you two in the ass." Lionel, harrumphed. "Oh, by the way, I figure you have only nine minutes to get out, so I'm sure you will want to get out as soon as you can. So I suggest you think about your actions." She holstered her other blaster, then lifted the woman, and pushed the gurney towards her parents. "I suggest you take that secret tunnel I'm sure you have to escape." Then she backed out of the lab with the woman over her shoulder. She drew her a blaster and pressed the button, then pointed the blaster at the door to the lab. She really hoped her parents would take that escape tunnel. Well part of her hoped they didn't make it. After tonight they would be on the run from the feds. Lex was already out of the country for a business meeting so he wouldn't be able to come back. The elevator dinged and she backed into it, pressed the button for the main floor.
When she made it out of the building she saw the people she rescued milling about. "What are you people still doing here, I told you all to get out of here; come on move, this place is going to blow."
They all started running, then they felt the ground shake, then they all stumbled and fell to the ground. Lena made sure that Ms. McCarthy wasn't hurt. When they got up and turned to look, the building they came from had fallen into the hole that was created when the hidden lab blew. When Lena saw this, no matter what her mother and father had done they were still her parents and she loved them, so she really hoped they did get out.
Lena checked on the woman she was hoping is Ms. McCarthy to make sure that she was all right. She heard the sirens then got up. "I gotta go; make sure you tell the authorities what happened to you all."
Lena turned and started to leave when one of them called to her so she turned back, "Who are you?"
Lena thought about it and what she told her parents and smiled. "Call me Karma." Then she turned ran and jumped up to the roof of the closest building. When she got back to the her private lab she was tired and really, really hungry, so she ordered some take out and changed out of her armor.
The next morning Lena looked at the Daily Planets web site and read what Lois Lane wrote about the explosion and was pleased that nothing was being covered up. Well it would be hard with the people she rescued talking not only to the police and to reporters, but also with all the files and videos she leaked to the press. Plus, Lois Lane also wrote that criminals should be on the lookout, because Metropolis had a hero or vigilante called Karma. She set the tablet down on her desk and turned to look out the window and admired the view of Metropolis, she loved the view from the C.E.O's office.
Lena heard her phone buzzing on her desk, she held her hand out and the phone flew into her hand. She looked at the message that appeared. It was from Lex, telling her that he wouldn't be coming back to America, to take care of the company and that he was meeting their parents at an undisclosed location. Lena smiled glad that her parents got out, but also disappointed that they got away. She shrugged, one day she would find them, then Karma would pay them another visit.
A/N: Well what do you think of Lena (Kama) Luther? Let me know.
In Greek mythology, Cadmus, was the founder and first king of Thebes. Cadmus was the first Greek hero and, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles.
