Kara carelessly tossed her phone onto the table, it bounced upside-down and clattered itself to a stop. Her drink sat untouched as she looked around the bar. Despite not coming to this place for a long time, it was largely the same. The barren interior and lively atmosphere was once quite novel to her, now she was only left with a simmering anger. It was to be expected, a few rough-looking types laughed and drank away around her. The ring's drive was always pushing at her and there was no doubt some of the frequenters here deserved to be taken down a peg. She wanted to start something, encouraged by the ring's near constant pressure. She had grown as accustomed to it as she could manage. What was once an incomprehensible chorus of angry shouting was now a low hum in her head, white noise that she could mostly ignore. She adjusted her stool and leaned her elbow on the high table, there were no free booths so she just watched them wistfully. None of them looked to be free any time soon as the glasses and bottles piled up at each one.
There was a vibration in her elbow, she looked down to a violently buzzing phone shifting itself along. She exhaled loudly and watched it come to a stop before bothering to pick it up.
"He's probably running late." It was hardly an inciteful text Lena provided her. She rested her head in her hand and watched the phone expectantly. She was not sure what she was expecting, the phone unapologetically locked itself from inactivity.
A small hairless man covered in dark spots started walking purposefully in her direction. It was not a species she had seen before, but with aliens becoming an increasingly common sight in the city, seeing new people was no longer a surprise.
"Couldn't help but notice you were alone," he said, there was a natural amplification in his voice, as if two people were speaking at once. Kara gazed at him, her hand still pressing into her cheek.
"That would appear to be true," Kara said. The ring seemed to take little offense to the man, only an occasional angry blip surfaced from the hum.
"Might I ask if you want to be alone?" He said, eyeing the free stool opposite her. It was a good question, she regretted agreeing to Lena's request the moment she left the office. What little enthusiasm she had for the idea had faded fast as she found herself waiting in a tedious bar for someone she did not like. Her willingness to give Lena the benefit of the doubt was the only thing that kept her on that stool and at this point, even that was hanging by a thread.
"I'm waiting for someone," she said.
"Someone special?" The man asked.
"Sure, why not?" She said, keeping her flat expression.
"Fair enough, have a nice night," he said, slinking off. He was at least polite enough to respect her disinterest.
After a few minutes of people-watching and weighing up whether to leave, her enhanced hearing picked up on another quick rapping on the door. She turned to it, sliding her glasses down the bridge of her nose. This time it was indeed Oddball that had found his way. The bouncer slid the partition open, Oddball looked at him impatiently.
"Can I help you?" The bouncer said.
"Open the door, Andre," Oddball said.
"No password, no entry," he said. Winn had told her tonight's password was "ice-pick." He knew not to ask follow-up questions or try and force her to go back on her decisions, which was more than can be said for Alex. She was meeting with her in a couple of days and was dreading it almost as much as Oddball's arrival.
"I'm not giving you a stupid password," Oddball said.
"Then I guess you're staying outside," Andre said. Oddball folded his arms and looked at him expectantly. Andre put his hand up to the partition but hesitated to close it. He stood up briefly and glanced down the stairs. Looking visibly defeated he unlocked the door and Oddball sauntered in. He stopped at the first step.
"Ice-pick," he said with a wink.
"Why didn't you… whatever," Andre said with a groan. Oddball patted him on the shoulder.
"I wanted to see if you still had a soft spot for me," he said.
"That's a good way to go about losing it," Andre said. He tried to sound gruff but was still flustered.
"Love ya too, Andre," Oddball said as he made his way down. Kara reverted to her regular senses when Oddball's feet reached the final steps. She was near the back, away from a band's stage and obscured slightly by the other patrons. Oddball stood still, surveying the place with a grimace. He spotted her and caught her eye quickly. After a small wave he made his way to the bar, he was served quickly despite the busy surroundings. She listened in to his order out of curiosity.
"Beer, anything from another planet with a kick to it," he said.
"Fair warning, friend, that kind of stuff is extremely strong," the bartender said.
"I'm a resilient man," he said. The bartender shrugged and filled a glass from an unmarked draught. Oddball put down a crumpled five-dollar bill.
"Keep the change," he said.
"That drink is six dollars," the bartender said. Oddball scowled at him.
"Of course it is," he said as he reached into his pocket and slapped down another crumpled bill.
"Thank you," he said. He weaved through the bar with surprising speed and grace considering he had a full glass. His timing was perfect, striding between people standing up for pool shots and gaps opening at the bar's crowd. Kara looked up at him as the glass clonked down on to her table with only a few spilled drips rolling down the sides.
"Didn't want to start without me?" He said, her glass dinged as he lightly flicked it. She grunted at him. The stool scraped along the floor when he pulled up in front of her.
There were hints of bags under his eyes but apart from that everything was as expected, a wide grin and a plain hoodie. The ring had no interest in him whatsoever, but behind his irritating quirks something always seemed off about him. She could never place why he made her so uneasy. After closing her eyes for a few seconds and wallowing in the ring's hum she took a sip of her drink and spoke up.
"So what now?" She said.
"Lena didn't go into much detail as to why I'm here. All I know is you're in a bit of a funk and that apparently I can help with that," he said. She took another sip of her drink, the overly-sweet taste tingled on her tongue for only an instant. The irony taste of blood in her mouth was a constant that only the strongest of flavours could fight through.
"She said that you've helped her, her thinking was you can do the same for me," she said.
"You don't sound convinced," he said.
"I don't want your help, this is a favour for Lena," she said. He scratched his head and sniffed loudly. His eyes darted around the room, quietly observing his surroundings. From the broken jukebox, to the scrum at the bar and the band starting to set up, he seemed just to be taking it all in.
"I don't know whether to be surprised that you like this place or not," he said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She said. He smacked his lips and leaning his head in his hands, mirroring her.
"There's layers to this place, I don't know which one you're on," he said.
"Is cryptic nonsense what helped Lena?" She said.
"I'm making conversation. If you like, you can list whatever's troubling you and I can nod meaningfully," he said. One of her fingers started to tap away at her jaw. An impatient shout emerged from the hum.
"The constant double-speak, the lying and that smug attitude you sport. I don't get how Lena thinks you can help me," she said. Oddball did not even blink at the insults.
"Pulling no punches, I can respect that. I have my way of doing things, you're wrong about the lying thing," he said.
"Is that right, Monarch?" She said. A wry half-grin lifted on his face.
"I'm Monarch to Lena, Oddball to you. No lie there," he said.
"One, if not both of those names are false," she sat up and folded her arms.
"Who says I can't be both? We all hide parts of ourselves, usually people hide the same type of things away. You and I probably have some similar secrets, or even me and that bartender over there. Sometimes it's for convenience, sometimes it's a necessity and sometimes it's just fun." He sat up as well and drummed at the table. "You can call that lying if you like, but I wouldn't call it dishonest." Kara slowly let herself relax again, her own experiences sprung to mind as he spoke.
"So, what is it you're hiding from me and Lena?" She said.
"It wouldn't be hidden if I told you would it?" He said, raising his glass and gulping down a sizable chunk of his pint.
"Well I'd say that gives me the right not to trust anything you say or do," she said.
"More power to you for it, but I think you'd be stretched to find someone who'd reveal everything about themselves just because you asked," he said. His reasoning was fair, but that niggling doubt she had about him refused to subside. She tried to tune into the ring's faint humming, but it gave no insight to the strange man.
"Besides, I'm here because of Lena as well. You trust her, don't you?" he said.
"I do, even she can make mistakes. If whatever hidden agenda you have hurts her then you'll be sorry," she said, another wave lashed out from the hum. She clenched her fist under the table, letting the frenzied demands wash back into it. He put his hands up.
"Ooh, scary. Lena is smart enough to know that I have my own life, she's also smart enough to know that I mean her no harm," He seemed to catch himself at this point, his tone dropped and his body relaxed again. "I suppose I should be more sympathetic, those parts that are hidden away can't always be controlled. Hell, you've seen that first hand," he said. Kara leaned back and her eyes narrowed again, she stopped herself looking down at her ring finger.
"I don't know what you mean," She said.
"Lena told me you were there when Sam became Reign," he said.
"Right… yes," Kara said, trying to downplay how she had reacted.
"I can assure you I have nothing hidden away that's dangerous. And I obviously mean no harm. To be honest between the two of us Lena is far scarier," he said.
"How is Lena scary?" she said, doing her best to make her scepticism of the idea abundantly clear.
"Seriously?" Oddball said. Kara looked at him like he was mad.
"Kara, this is a woman that bought one of the largest media empires in the country because she was bored. Apparently heading her own international company, research in just about every scientific field, philanthropy, answering fan-mail and losing to me at pool wasn't enough to keep her occupied. She's capable of anything, luckily for us you drew her compassionate side out. He took another swig of his drink. She could not decide whether that was a compliment to her or not, he carried on before she could pry.
"She's an unstoppable force of will with the resources and brainpower to back it up. I'm just a man that happens to know a few things. I know who I'd be more scared of," he said. Kara did not react, recently it had been easy to forget that Lena was more than just her counselling friend. Having her described in such a blunt manner served as a reminder as to how incredible Lena was. She started to cough as a pain in her chest spiked and the hum in her head got quieter. When her shoulders began to feel heavy she refocused on Oddball and let the hum back into her mind.
"Are you okay?" Oddball asked.
"Fine," she said, lightly hitting her chest.
"So how much do you know about Sam and Reign?" she said, doing whatever she could to move on quickly. Oddball shrugged.
"Lena tells me things," he said.
"Like what?" She said
"Apparently Supergirl gave her a nasty beatdown, I can't tell you a lot more than that," he said. Kara shifted uncomfortably in her stool. It was a vivid memory she very much wanted to put behind her. It was her determination to find out more that trumped these feelings.
"You know what I do for a living, I can always find out more for you," she said.
"A reporter poking around one of the more unstable elements out there, probably not the best idea," he said.
"I can be discreet, I'm good at my job," she said.
"I've seen your articles. What I gather from them is that you're very close to Supergirl. That'd just be more fuel for the World Killing fire. Unless you know more something about the fight itself, that could be fun," he said. Kara shifted again, clearing her throat and concentrating hard on the present. She could not let herself revert to the mindset of that day.
"What's there to say, there was likely some punching involved," she said. Oddball's reaction was one of mild disappointment, she was not sure what more he wanted from her. He looked like he was about to ask more. She Ignored it and spoke before he could. "As for the relevant information, I can still help. Lena tells me you love to be in the know about this sort of thing," she said, not wanting to press too hard. It was Supergirl that knew how deep he was in with the World Killers, not Kara. There was the option of telling him Supergirl told her, but there was always a risk of suspicion when crossing over that sort of knowledge. He stopped for a moment, he drummed the table and looked at her intently. The ring did nothing to flare up about or cause concern as to whatever was going through his head. She tried to focus on it more, she was determined to get some sort of rise from it. There was no such luck, the heat of her blood remained steady, the hum droned on at its usual level.
"If you want to get stuck in, Lena's the one to ask. Isn't she basically your boss anyway? I mean CatCo is like ninety nine percent her company now," he said. Kara backed off, it was going nowhere and pursuing this angle was already going against Lena's wishes. The faint hum buzzed at her louder and a few coherent thoughts of rage poked through the noise when she decided to let the matter go. She looked down at it, unimpressed. It had no reaction to the suspicious man she spoke with but had the nerve to flare up at her.
A long silence fell between them. The bar's atmosphere started to rise and the band looked like they were about to get started, some people squeezed past their table in an effort to get closer to the stage. Oddball seemed to check his pockets as people brushed aside him, he also looked to be weighing up something in his head. She ignored it and finished the last of her drink, the bubbles had died a while ago and the flat drink had become quite sickly, the bloody taste worked in her favour as it quickly diluted the overload of sugar.
"You don't like me because you don't trust me, right?" Oddball asked.
"Amongst other things," she said, that uneasy instinct of hers having never gone away.
"How about I chuck you a freebie, information for information's sake? Could even help with that job of yours," he said.
"Fire away," she said, resigned to whatever avenue he was pursuing.
"I'm gonna guess you know about this place from a reporter, fed or cop," he raised his voice as the music kicked in.
"That's true, so what?" She said.
"Are you not curious as to how I guessed that?" He said.
"It's an underground bar, word gets out," she said.
"Word gets out," he said with a smile. "And I'm sure plenty of helpful rumours have made their way to you here."
"Where are you going with this?" she said.
"You, Kara Danvers, are sitting in a front bar," he said, as if the statement deserved triumph.
"Should that mean something to me?" She said. Oddball scratched his chin.
"So that's the layer you're at," he said.
"I don't know why I'm still listening to this," she said. He put his hands out.
"Okay I'll clarify. There are plenty of illegitimate businesses and shenanigans, not all of them human, happening all over this city. They enjoy a certain amount of freedom," he said.
"And?" Kara said.
"And, they have their ways of keeping that freedom. When nosy people get on their trail they're subtly directed to a place like this. Places with a grungy vibe, inflated secrecy and alien element are enough to make these nosy people think they've found what they're looking for. They feel in the know, when in reality they've just found a crappy bar. A front bar, if you will," he said.
"If that's right and there's this criminal cabal running the city, then why would they want aplace to help the likes of me?" she said.
"You're thinking like a reporter, that this is some grand conspiracy to be blown wide open. These are lots of different people going about their lives and running their own little operations. How do you think alien booze is in such plentiful supply when there are literally no local laws for interplanetary trading?" He said.
"You're telling me alien moonshine operations are the primary source of knowledge in this city," she said.
"Not just them, but yeah. I mean if the city is in danger, that's bad for business. When one of these operations discovers something of note from their unknown position, they need a way to communicate it to the authorities without drawing attention to themselves. Direct anonymous tips conveniently turning up to the authorities every time something is off would be a trend people would start to notice. So instead, they let the information out in a place where they know nosy humans like to dwell, places like this. Bam, job done, front bar serves its purpose," Kara looked around at the jovial atmosphere, the band began to play and bad dancing by the stage followed. Looking at it with this critical eye did make some of the roughness she had perceived dissolve away.
"The management seem happy to be endorsed by criminals," she said with a sneer. Oddball scoffed.
"Please, management doesn't know their bar's role in all this. They think that an obscure location and no branding whatsoever is a smart business decision. Not even questioning how they can draw in these sorts of numbers," he said.
"You've told me you know that places like this and others like it are tools for criminals to get rid of larger threats. I now trust you completely," she said.
"That's a level of sarcasm no-one deserves… and criminal is far too strong a word. I just thought it'd be something you'd like to know," he said. Kara adjusted her glasses.
"Why tell me this, what do you serve to gain?" she said.
"You wouldn't believe good will, would you?" he said.
"No," she said.
"Well the moral of this little story is the rumours that flow to this bar help everyone, you included. Just because there's some questionable things hidden under the surface, doesn't mean you can't trust it," he said. Kara blinked at with a neutral expression, then looked down at her empty glass.
"I'll get another round," Oddball said, springing up from his stool before she had a chance to say anything. The mediocre band played on and Oddball effortlessly found his way to the front of the crowded bar. He had hardly endeared himself to her, but there was no harm in one more round.