Well dressed wait staff buzzed around the main floor of the fancy Capital Room restaurant tending to their tables while Clark and Karen were seated. Karen give Clark an amused smirk after they set down their menus and ordered, "This is one of my favorite spots, one of the trendiest in New York. Hopefully you don't mind going a little upscale today?"
Clark answered with thin smile knowing she was sticking it to him a little bit. If the prices and the offerings on the menu were any indication, he was certainly out of his element especially on his modest news reporter's salary. If this was some kind of reminder that she was out of his league, then she was doing a good job of it. He kept his voice low, "Let's just get right to it. I had to do a bit of digging and called in a favor to learn more about you. But you already seem to know a lot about me when we've never met before."
Karen shifted slightly, "That's not entirely true. Where I came from, I already knew you... an older more experienced you anyway."
"How can that be?"
Karen frowned to her herself and hesitated before speaking softly, "This might sound a little crazy, and I sort of doubt you'll believe me... but I came from an alternate version of this Earth... or rather, I grew up there. In a lot of ways it was similar to your world and had its own Justice League until..."
"Until what?"
Karen clenched a fist, "My Earth was devastated in an attack by vicious aliens. Many people died fighting them off, including several members of the Justice League."
Clark fell silent at the sobering story and simply nodded feeling a little bit of pity for this young woman now. Karen continued, "My friend Helena and I had been sidelined from most of the horror in order to keep us safe but we were caught in a sort of dimensional portal that stranded us here. Ever since then, she and I have spent the last five years trying to figure out a way to get home."
Clark considered her words, "I wonder what's going on in that version of Earth."
"For all we know, there might not be anything left," Karen said, "I try not to think about it too much, but I just feel like I need to get back there."
"And Krypton?"
Karen shook her head, "It's destroyed in that timeline too. I'm sorry."
Clark sat quietly as they paused and let the waiter bring them their food. Once he had left, Clark spoke again, "Are you sure there's nothing that the League can do for you? Or anything I can do?"
Karen stirred her bisque soup, "No. This is my problem. I'm going to deal with it myself."
"I'm guessing that the Caduceus Driver has something to do about it then?" Clark guessed, "You've been developing tech to get you home and this relates to the aliens who attacked?"
"Yes to the first part and no to the other," Karen answered, "My people are still looking into it and figuring out what those things were."
Clark took a sip of water, "Maybe the things that destroyed Earth-2?"
She shook her head, "No. Those were not the same aliens. I was being honest when I said I didn't know where those things came from."
A brief quiet fell over the table as the two ate their meal. Finally Clark broke the quiet again, "You know... while you're here, we might need your help in the future against these aliens that showed up and..."
Karen raised her hand, "Hold it right there. I'll protect my own turf here but I'm not too interested in looking out for the whole world either. No offense, but this isn't exactly my home either."
"Is that why you're being so stand-offish about everything and everyone?" Clark asked. "Because if it is, I think it's kind of selfish and hypocritical of you."
"Excuse me?" Karen said putting down her utensil with an indignant frown.
Clark sighed, "You say that this Earth isn't exactly your home, well what makes Earth-2 all that different? From what I understand, Krypton should be our true home."
"What are you getting at?"
"We found homes in our respective Earths and as of these last five years, this Earth has been your new home too. Listen... I get that you want to go back, but don't you feel any responsibility to the people who have given you a place here? Whose lives are affected by your presence here?"
"Says the guy secretly hiding his powers and masquerading as a mild mannered news reporter," Karen retorted, "Face it Clark, we're outsiders. As much as we try, we might not understand these people and they certainly wouldn't understand us. If anything, they'd fear us and see us as some kind of dangerous threat."
"I never claimed I was an expert with relating to people," Clark answered calmly, "And I often feel the same way you do about all this, but this is the only home we have. All we can do is keep trying."
"Is that also why you're here then?" Karen asked, "You were hoping you could try again and talk me into being your friend or something? Because we're both superheroes with a couple other things in common?"
"Well... if I'm being honest, maybe there's a little truth in that too," he shrugged sheepishly, "Can you really blame me for being a little curious and wanting to talk to a fellow Kryptonian? Especially when it's a pretty girl?"
That compliment caught Karen off guard and she felt her cheeks grow a little warm before she took a breath. She regained her composure and decided to deflect the conversation a little, "What about this other cousin you mentioned? Don't you have her to talk to?"
"It's... complicated," Clark admitted with a grimace, "My cousin Kara... she's been though a lot and is still adjusting to things here. I don't think she fully trusts me yet and wants her space to sort things out. I really can't say I blame her either."
Karen gave a sympathetic look and felt pity well up in heart. She still did not want to reveal to this Clark that she was in fact his cousin Kara... at least in her own timeline. What still amazed her was how very different things could be in these alternate realities. In her own Earth, she had adapted to her new home relatively quickly and she had bonded with her older cousin just as easily. If she hadn't she would have felt even more lonely, miserable and lost. She couldn't imagine how her counterpart here felt, or even how that might have hurt this Clark here. If it was Kara's decision to push Clark away right now, did this say something about Karen by extension. Wasn't she doing the same thing, only in a different way?
It was bad enough being an alien outsider on a new world, but to be estranged from your own remaining family seemed like a torturous thought. It suddenly made her miss her own deceased cousin back home all the more and while she still didn't fully accept that this was also Clark, or rather Kal-El she couldn't help but feel sympathetic. This conversation wasn't making things any easier to not getting attached to things here but Karen decided to make the most of it. She reached out and gently touched his wrist, "I'm sorry about that Clark. Maybe in time she'll come around."
"Thanks. I hope so," he said giving a hopeful look toward Karen. He shifted his hand slightly and turned it to touch hers too, "I... know this might sound a little crazy, but part of me hopes that you'd reconsider my offer. I'd still want to try and talk to you more in the future and hopefully, try to be your friend too. You don't have to be completely alone Karen."
Karen grimaced and withdrew her hand. "I'm sorry Clark... I still don't think that's a good idea. You'll just have to trust me. You don't want to get involved any further with me and that's probably best for the both of us."
She hated to do that and to hurt him again, but she had to stand firm and focus on her mission. If doing this was what it took, then she'd just have to bite the bullet. Clark stopped and wore an unreadable look before giving a slow nod. "All right."
"Oh... um, you're sure?"
Clark took out his wallet and calmly pulled out some money to cover the whole meal. "I'm sure. I'm glad we got a chance to talk one more time, but I can see how focused you are on your own goal. I don't want to get in the way of any of that."
"I'm sorry..." Karen said apologetically. Now she was really feeling awful.
"Don't be," Clark said rising from the table and putting on a good face, "I wish you luck with getting home Miss Starr. I've already taken up enough of your valuable time, so I promise you don't have to worry about me bothering you any further."
He gave a polite nod and headed outside leaving Karen sitting at her table feeling more alone than usual this time.
Meanwhile aboard the large alien vessel in deep space, the cybernetic ship captain made its way to the bridge. The ship was largely autonomous so there was little need for a crew. There was even smaller need of the viewports looking forward into space, but the captain found the aesthetics pleasant. It enjoyed viewing the approach toward the worlds it visited as it made it's task even more enjoyable later. It was still a ways from Earth but it decided that perhaps another probe was in order. Unlike the small scout probes, this new model would be a much better way to test what the captain would be up against when it reached the planet.
It neared the main console and extended its hands letting cables extend out and plug into the computer ports. Streams of data were exchanged and the order to deploy the newest drone was relayed. It would go on ahead of the main ship and perhaps even subdue some of the specimens. If it was lucky, the show might even be a mildly entertaining diversion for the captain. It unplugged its arms and walked toward the largest forward port. There it would wait patiently until the ship would reach Earth and seize upon its next greatest find.
Another work week came and went for Karen as she worked late again one evening. There had been a lot of meetings and administrative issues to deal with this week along with updates on the testing of the Caduceus Driver. Although they had displayed a working prototype power generator at the recent expo, it only worked at a fraction of its true capability. More testing and tweaking of the systems had been done and the results had been encouraging. They were making great progress at working out all the bugs and getting the generator to work to its full potential. The thought of returning home still clung to the back of Karen's mind but now, so did her last conversation with Clark from a week ago.
Even though she had justified her actions in her mind, she still felt badly about the way they had parted company. It annoyed her that in her attempt to make a clean break of things and avoid feeling anything, she had only seemed to make the problem worse. Even if it hadn't been Clark's intention either when he left, that guilt now hung on her shoulders every time she put her mind on going home. By the time she got to her last stack of work, she was surprised to find a new report buried at the bottom. She looked at the cover sheet and saw that it was an analysis from her lab about the alien drone that had been recovered from the expo. She considered locking her door for a moment but brushed off the idea before opening the binder.
She paged through and skimmed over the findings, including some breakdowns of the system schematics and comments made by the engineers. She stopped when she saw a familiar pattern that had been stylized on the drone as well as in some of its circuit configurations. There were three distinct circles linked together in a V pattern meaning that this was the work of none other than the evil artificial intelligence known by some as Brainiac. It had been speculated that he was responsible for miniaturizing and stealing the Kryptonian city of Kandor long ago.
Although Karen never had any direct dealings with the alien menace, she had heard about how dangerous Brainiac could be. There had been many instances where those defending their worlds believed they had vanquished the AI, only to find it was only a body double. She also knew that Brainiac had a thing for collecting rare specimens and looting worlds meaning that he was likely on his way here to find something. Perhaps it would be her power generator, or even some of the superhumans here on this world.
She closed the binder and thought it over with silent dread. If this alien were to attack the Earth in some way, would she even be strong enough or prepared enough to defeat him? She liked to think so, but Karen couldn't be totally certain either. Maybe Superman had been right after all... but after what had been said and how they parted, that would make things difficult. That would also mean she would have to reach out and confront Clark, likely on his home ground in Metropolis. She was reluctant to admit it and thought scared her, but she couldn't afford not to spread the warning to him either.
She took a few deep breaths before hitting the pager on her phone to notify her secretary, "Cecilia. Clear my schedule for the next several days. I'm going to be going on a business trip to Metropolis."
"Yes Miss Star," her assistant answered, "But it's too late to book any transportation tonight. You might have to wait until tomorrow for me to arrange..."
"That's all right," Karen said with a small smile, "I plan to fly there and I think I can figure out a way to do it fast and cheap too."
She ended the call and Karen got up from her desk to look out the window of her office. She took a moment to admire the evening lights of the city before looking toward the horizon. She would have a lot to think about tonight and a lot more to figure out once she would arrive in the city of Metropolis.
The next day, Clark Kent arrived in his workplace at the Daily Planet. He walked though the doors of the busy building as he always did; on time with a hot cup of coffee in hand. After he navigated the bustling news room, he sat down at his desk and cleared off some papers. As he began to go over some of his notes and type out material for his next column, he glanced over to see one of his friends approach. A younger photographer by the name of Jimmy Olsen came over with a broad smile and a friendly wave, "Hey, morning there Clark. How's it going?"
"Everything's good Jimmy," Clark said as he continued to work, "You seem awfully chipper today."
"Well why wouldn't I be?" Jimmy said as he casually sat down on the corner of Clark's desk, "It's Friday, the weather will be great, and I've got a hot date lined up."
Clark raised an eyebrow with mild interest, "Oh? Anyone I know?"
"Probably not," Jimmy admitted, "It's a relative of Lois's boyfriend, Jon Carroll?"
"Ah. I see," Clark answered curtly. He liked to think he wasn't a petty person, but even now he still couldn't help but feel a little displeasure at the mention of Jon's name.
"You didn't have any major plans this weekend, did you? Jimmy asked, "You would've been able to double date with me and Emilia."
"Well I guess it's just not in the cards for me," Clark sighed trying to contain his minor feelings of annoyance.
He knew Jimmy wasn't doing this on purpose and he was just being friendly, but it still felt like putting some salt in an open wound. It was bad enough that Lois was already seeing someone but he was still feeling a little sore about getting a gentle cold shoulder from Karen Starr. Granted, it was probably a long shot and never would have worked anyway, but he'd be lying if he said Karen wasn't an incredibly attractive woman, both as a civilian and as Power Girl. He had been genuine in his desire that they could become better friends, but maybe he also hoped it could possibly lead to something more over time. After all, they were both Kryptonian and in some ways knew how each other felt. Unfortunately, there was little he could do at the moment but accept that this was the way things were. Maybe Batman had been right after all.
Jimmy nudged Clark, "Hey cheer up Clark. If you want, maybe I can see if Lois would be willing to hook you up with one of her cousins or something."
"Absolutely not," Clark answered adjusting his glasses with a disapproving frown.
Before Jimmy could say anything further, one of the building's security guards named Chuck entered the news room. He was a portly graying man with a friendly face and today he had a visitor in tow. "Hey Clark! I've got a visitor here. She says she's here to speak with you."
Clark turned and his jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw who it was. It was Karen. She wore a pleasant smile along with some dark business clothes, a skirt and a small blazer over a low cut white blouse. Jimmy looked on in awe before Chuck gave Clark a conspiratorial little wink and headed back downstairs. Clark blinked again and choked out a few words, "Miss Starr... I... what a surprise."
"Hello Mr. Kent. Nice to see you again," Karen said extending a friendly hand which he took.
Clark turned and gave an introduction to Jimmy, "Jimmy, this is Karen Starr, the owner of Starr Industries. We met at the technology expo in New York a few weeks back."
Jimmy offered a meek greeting before Karen turned to Clark again, "I'm sorry for not giving you more advance notice. I had just flown in to Metropolis on business and was in the neighborhood."
"Err... no trouble at all," Clark replied.
"Great! Are you free right now? I had promised you that exclusive interview after all," Karen said sweetly while putting on an act for Jimmy.
"Right... I can make myself free. Just a sec," Clark answered while fumbling to collect things from his desk, "Uh, Jimmy? Hold the fort down while I'm gone? If Lois asks, I'm doing an interview."
"You got it," Jimmy said scratching his head as he saw Clark and Karen walk off and head for the elevators.
As they reached the elevator bank, Clark shook his head in amazement, "All right Karen, I'm pretty confused right now. I'm glad to see you and all, but what the hell is going on?"
She spoke quietly and gave a pointed look, "I needed to speak with you about something important. It's about the drones we recovered. Can we talk?"
The elevator doors opened and Clark escorted her inside, "Only if I get to choose the place this time."
