Chapter 103: Loose Ends
Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman and Aquaman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.
Hall of Justice, Metropolis
"This is Arthur," Zatanna introduced the boy standing next to her. "Arthur, this is the rest of the Teen Titans. Supergirl, Flashboy..."
"Hey," Wally protested.
"… and Superman. Arthur recently helped my dad and I when we came across a water demon near the coast and I wanted to introduce him to the rest of you."
"Great to meet you, Arthur," Clark stepped forward, holding out his hand. Arthur shook it with surprising strength for someone who could not be any older than 15 and had a rather slight build. Judging by the handshake, though, his strength was far above human.
"Thank you," Arthur replied, looking around a bit nervously. He was obviously feeling a bit out of his element.
"I'm the Flash," Wally introduced himself. "Not Flashboy, Flash! Nice to meet you, Arthur!"
"Anyone who helps Zee is good in my book," Supergirl finished the round of introductions. "Where are you from, Arthur?"
"I... I was born here in America, but... my mother, she is from Atlantis."
Clark's eyes widened. His mom had told him about the Atlanteans, whom she had briefly met during her travel to the past, but he had never imagined meeting one. From what (very) little Clark knew of them, the Atlanteans were very reluctant about showing themselves to the surface-dwellers.
"Arthur is tremendously strong and fast," Zatanna explained, "especially in the water. And he can also exert some kind of mental control over aquatic animals and even over water itself."
"Cool," Flash remarked. "We're going to need a good name for you. Can't all be running around using our public names like Zee here."
Zatanna glared at him, causing Flash to take a step back. Clark chuckled. After returning from the future, Wally and Kona had found that their teammate was a bit miffed at being the only Titans member not invited to the rescue mission. They had argued a bit, which had ended up with Zatanna giving both Kona and Wally bunny ears by way of a magic spell. Kona had found the whole thing endearing and wanted to keep them, but Wally had been embarrassed and ended up apologizing quite profusely to their magic teammate before she finally reversed the spell.
"Are you interested in becoming a full-time superhero, Arthur?" Clark asked.
The teenager shrugged. "I... well, I want to learn how to control my powers. There is... it's a long story, involving my mother and my people, and... no offense..."
Clark raised his hands. "Hey, it's all good. No need to tell us more than you are comfortable with."
They spent the next hour or so with Arthur displaying his powers. His strength was truly impressive. Not fully powered Kryptonian level, but Clark figured he could easily outmatch any Amazon not called Diana. They took a brief trip out to the harbor area and in the water Arthur was so fast that even Wally was impressed. He also briefly displayed his ability to control water itself, though it quickly became apparent that he was only just beginning to figure out how that worked.
Kona and Wally were busy racing Arthur over the water, giving Zatanna the opportunity to talk to Clark.
"How are you holding up?" she asked.
Clark looked at her. They had given her the entire story of what happened, including how he was mind-controlled by Darkseid. The worry on those dark eyes of hers was easily apparent.
"The nightmares are getting fewer... slowly," he admitted. "It helps to be around friends and family."
Zatanna reached out a hand, almost as if she was touching something hovering around Clark's head.
"There is... something still here," she tried to describe it. "Like a residue. From what you told me, the powers of those New Gods were probably way beyond the magic that dad and I practice, but still... whatever they did to you, for me to still be able to feel it, it must have been extremely powerful."
Clark closed his eyes, once again overcome by memories, fractured as they were. Of being an obedient tool, of fighting and... and killing for Darkseid. How eager he had been to kill his own mother at his master's command.
"I still think I should have been able to resist," he whispered. "Somehow."
"I don't know you quite as well as the others do," Zatanna said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "But I do know one thing, Superman. If there had been any way to resist, you would have done it! You would never have served this monster if you had had any choice in the matter."
She smiled at him. "Besides, the way Kona tells it, you held back in your fight with her, allowing her to pin you down."
He chuckled. "Kona is just trying to soothe my wounded ego, I think."
Zatanna looked him over for a moment longer. "Well, if it helps, apart from the residue I can no longer feel the touch of any magic upon your mind and soul. You are yourself again, just in case there was any doubt."
Clark smiled.
"Hey, slow pokes," the Flash said, arriving beside them in a crackle of lightning. "Our boy Arthur is really something once he hits the waves! He's like a human torpedo!"
Clark chuckled. "That's gonna be his superhero name then? Torpedo?"
Flash shook his head. "Nah, he can do way more stuff than a torpedo. I was thinking... Aqualad."
"Lad?" Clark asked. "Not boy?"
"We need a bit more variety here, I think," Flash shrugged. "By the way, have you told Zee yet?"
Zatanna looked at them, confused. "Told me what?"
Clark was equally confused.
"Your superhero name," Flash told her. "We finally figured it out. You're going to be... The Zee!"
Clark nearly burst out laughing at the look on Zatanna's face.
"I am NOT using 'The Zee' as a superhero name," Zatanna protested.
"It's already history, Zee," Wally told her, though the edges of his mouth were very much trying to curve upwards as he spoke. "We looked you up in the 30th century and it's all there. You are 'The Zee'!"
Clark laughed, knowing full well that Wally was just messing with Zatanna, but deciding to go to the rescue of his friend before another magic spell turned him into a full bunny.
It was good to be back home among friends.
Proxima Centauri
In a rather uncharacteristic move, Kara had actually taken an entire week off to rest, recover, and reconnect with her family before she finally refused to put off her duties any longer. So with Clark resuming his life, Kona back in school, and no current crisis occupying her attention, Kara finally decided to take care of one humongous loose end.
The remnant of the War World was still where they had left it, in stable orbit around Proxima Centauri. Despite its diminished state, the construct was still awe-inspiring. The greatest weapon ever built by mere mortals. And now they had to figure out what to do with it.
"I believe the best course of action would be to disassemble it," Adam Strange said, representing the planet Rann in these discussions. "It's too dangerous a weapon to leave intact, even if it is currently under our control."
Kara's gaze strayed to Vril Dox, aka Brainiac 2, who was the one currently in control of the War World. She had already spent weeks trying to understand his new state of being, a Coluan mind merged with the near-sentient Brainiac node that had previously controlled this giant war machine. She hadn't known Dox well enough before to really judge how much his behavior might have changed due to the merge. He seemed fully in control and loyal to their alliance, but still… Brainiac.
"Should we really deprive ourselves of such a major asset?" Weber Va was the elected leader of the planet Dhor, having replaced the dictator Kanjar Ro after the Justice League's adventure in the Antares star system. "If someone like the Dominators were to launch another invasion, would it not be prudent to have such a weapon at our side?"
"A valid point," Primus, leader of the Omega Men said. "We must also consider the wider implications, though, of having this rather notorious weapon of mass destruction in our possession. Species across the galaxy tell horror stories about the War World and its destructive potential. Do we really want our young alliance to be associated with such a horrid tale?"
Kara hat not wanted to make a decision of this magnitude all by herself. No matter that she had declared herself Empress of the Kryptonian Empire, the alliance she was building here was not supposed to be an autocracy. If this here, these beings gathered around this table, were really the genesis of the United Planets as she suspected, then she wanted to do it right from the get-go.
General Philip Blankenship, commander of the Earth Defense Command, was obviously still a bit out of sorts about having travelled to a different star system and being involved in a discussion with aliens about a planet-sized weapon of mass destruction. Still, having weathered the Dominion Invasion, the old veteran was nothing if not adaptive.
"Is there a way to make it unrecognizable?" Blankenship asked. "Change its appearance in such a way that no one suspects it to be this War World everyone knows, while still retaining its military potential, just in case we should ever need it?"
"I like that idea," Weber Va jumped on the thought, her insectoid eyes glittering. "A disguised, reconfigured War World could also serve as a mobile capitol, so to speak, for our alliance."
"You are thinking very far ahead, Weber," Primus mused. "But I agree, this might well be a workable idea, if we can ensure that the War World will truly be unrecognizable once we are done."
Leaving them to their discussion for the moment, Kara walked over to where Vril Dox was observing the talk.
"You do know that you will have final say, don't you?" Dox asked her, sounding amused. "No matter what they discuss, they will refer to you in the end."
"Not something I am very comfortable with," she admitted. "Speaking of comfort, though, are you comfortable with the idea of destroying the War World if that is the final decision?"
He merely shrugged. "Its destructive potential aside, there is little about the War World that holds my interest. While the creation of the Warzoon is certainly impressive, that is mostly because of its sheer scale. The technology behind it, while certainly advanced, is nothing our alliance cannot match."
"The Brainiac part of you will not mind losing it as a hardware component then?"
"There is no 'Brainiac part' of me," he corrected her. "The Brainiac node that controlled the War World and the mind of Vril Dox of Colu merged. I am a singular being, Kara-El. The fact that I used to be two does not change that. There is a lot more of Vril Dox in me than of Brainiac, simply because Brainiac had little in the way of a personality, but still, I am both. I do realize, however, how difficult this must be to understand for someone who has not gone through a similar experience."
He looked at her. "You have met my successor, Brainiac 5 from the 30th century, and you trust him. I understand why you still find it difficult to trust me, but I was hoping our joint work to help rescue the city of Kandor from the time stream would, as the Earthlings would say, give me some credit."
Kara nodded. "You do have a lot of credit, Dox," she said, refusing to call him Brainiac 2. "Still, my history with Brainiac is... difficult. This will still take getting used to."
For a moment the two of them observed the ongoing discussion in silence. A consensus seemed to be forming that the War World would not be destroyed, at least not immediately, but that they would try and find ways to reconfigure and change it.
"There is something we must discuss, Kara-El," Vril Dox whispered to her. "Something I am not sure everyone here should hear."
She gave him a questioning glance.
"I am still in the process of integrating my memories with the data recordings of the Brainiac node, so it took me while. But I have found out where the War World was previously to Braininac bringing it here."
Kara did not like the sound of that at all.
Metropolis
"Mr. Luthor? Mr. Luthor! A moment of your time, please!"
Lex Luthor, dressed in his sharpest suit, stopped on the stairs of the court building he was just leaving. Unsurprisingly a large number of media representatives were present, all shoving their cameras and microphones into his face.
"You are a free man now, Mr. Luthor," one of the reporters said. "What are your immediate plans?"
"Well, first thing, I am hardly a free man," he replied, smiling. Looking down, he pulled up his pant leg to show the tracking device affixed to his ankle. Cameras flashed; the image recorded dozens of times. "I am out on probation, under very strict watch. Still, I may walk under open skies again without any fences or walls around me. That is a measure of freedom I have not enjoyed in quite some time."
"Were you surprised by the verdict, Mr. Luthor?" someone else asked. "Considering that your original conviction contained multiple counts of..."
"I am well aware of my past sins," he interrupted, his smile never faltering. "People can change, however. I have received a new perspective on life during my incarceration."
"Have you found God?" someone asked jokingly, causing a small ripple of laughter.
"Hardly, unless of course you are talking about the alien woman so many of you seem intent on worshipping as a deity."
"Superwoman served as character witness during your appeal. Care to comment?"
Luthor chuckled. "Superwoman and I have certainly had our... differences... in the past. I am very glad that she is such a staunch defender of truth and justice, though. Her statement was nothing more and nothing less than the absolute truth. I aided her in defending this world from Brainiac. I helped save the world from an alien take-over. I figure that alone should be worth a second chance and apparently the courts agreed with me."
"Mr. Luthor, there are rumors that you are no longer the majority share-holder of Lexcorp. Is that true and, if yes, who owns your shares now?"
"If you were to actually go to the effort of journalistic work, my friend," he replied cuttingly, "you would find that the majority of Lexcorp shares belong to L. Luthor, just like they always did."
He started walking towards the car awaiting him. While he was no longer the extremely rich owner of a multi-national corporation, he still had a number of (entirely legal) accounts at his disposal. More than enough to buy a car and hire a driver.
"Enough questions for today, people," he waved off further inquiries. "I am out of prison and fully intend to enjoy a most delicious meal, a solitary shower, and a very comfortable bed. Everyone and everything else will just have to wait until then."
A moment later he was gone. Lex Luthor, a mostly free man, back out in the world.
Proxima Centauri
Kara stared at the records Vril Dox had called up. She was seeing it clearly, but her mind was refusing to grasp the facts laid out before her. These horrible, horrible facts.
"There is little doubt, I fear," Dox said, standing behind her. "I checked the records several times."
Kara took a deep breath, trying to calm the panic that was trying to grab hold of her. The records were months old. Everything she was seeing had already happened, was already history. It was not happening right now, there was nothing she could do to stop it.
"The Dominion is no longer threat," Brainiac had told her weeks ago, when she had lured the artificial intelligence into a trap. Back then she had refused to consider what exactly it had meant by those words, too preoccupied with finding Darkseid and her son. Now she could no longer avoid it.
Opening her eyes again, Kara watched the recordings of the War World casually annihilating the planet Elia, capitol of the Dominion. Clenching her fists, Kara forced the memories of Krypton dying to the back of her mind.
"How many people?" Kara finally asked, surprised at how calm her voice sounded.
"Impossible to tell," Dox replied. "The Dominators are notoriously secretive about anything and everything. The War World's sensors picked up several dozen hive-like cities scattered over the planet as it approached firing range, but as to how many individuals lived in each of them, I can only guess."
Kara just kept staring at the screen in front of her until Dox put a hand on her shoulder.
"This is not your fault, Kara-El," he simply said.
"Is that Dox or Brainiac talking?" she snapped back, though she immediately regretted her words. "I am sorry, I..."
"I fully understand, do not worry!"
"You are wrong, though," she said, though in a calmer voice. "Maybe it is not my fault, but it is certainly my responsibility. Brainiac is a Kryptonian creation. He destroyed Elia in retaliation for an attack on my adopted world. An attack that came about because my family was involved in the destruction of a Dominion outpost. No matter how you approach the matter, I am responsible."
She massaged her temples, feeling a massive headache coming. "Besides, this is a diplomatic disaster in the making. The War World destroyed the capitol of one of the galaxy's most powerful galactic civilizations and now it is in our possession, still under the control of someone called Brainiac. If this gets out... the Dominators would not even have to raise a finger to get support from dozens of other civilizations for another invasion of Earth."
"I see your point," Dox admitted. "I doubt that the Dominators would be keen to admit to such a disaster having befallen them, but we dare not assume that nobody else could find out through other means. If our alliance is connected to the destruction of an entire inhabited world..."
Kara kept scanning through the records. Brainiac had also annihilated the large fleet guarding the Dominator home world, not to mention several outposts and colonies in the same system. Still, the Dominion consisted of dozens of inhabited star systems, probably hundreds of outposts and colonies. Did the political entity as such still exist? The Dominators had been governed by a strict cast hierarchy and all roads had led to Elia, seat of the High Caste. Was there any kind of government left to approach? Or had the great Dominion crumbled upon being decapitated? What kind of chaos was now raging in that sector of the galaxy?
"We need more information," she said eventually. "I need to try and salvage this situation, if it can be salvaged."
Rising from her chair, she found her resolve. "Looks like a journey to the Dominion is next on my to-do list."
End Chapter 103
Author's Note: Aquaman as shown in this chapter is loosely based on the teenage Aquaman we saw in flashbacks in the 2018 Aquaman movie, played by Otis Dhanji. So he will grow up to look like Jason Momoa, but that will take some time yet. And still being a somewhat awkward teenager caught between two worlds, he is a far cry from the boisterous and self-confident hero he will one day be.
Knowledgeable Legion of Super-Heroes fans might have caught the little hint I planted regarding the future fate of the War World. Brainiac destroyed the Dominion homeworld Elia in chapter 88. Brainiac hinted at the destruction in chapter 94.
Up next: a visit to the Dominion to try and make amends for Brainiac's genocide. What could possibly go wrong?