Author's Note – I do not own any of the characters, Marvel and DC do.

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Chapter Seven

Dispersal

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The four Kryptonians looked up as the door opened and a bald man came in on a hoverchair.

"Good morning. My name is Professor Charles Xavier."

"How many others survived?"

"Aside from you four, there are only six other Kryptonians, ten if you count clones."

"Clones?" The short-haired woman asked curiously.

"Four of them, as far as we know." Charles said with a slight shrug. "Three of them are in Latveria, a small country ruled by Victor von Doom, while the fourth is in stasis because of his violent disposition. You four, Kal-El, Kara Zor-El, Kon-El, Karsta Wor-Ul and the two still in stasis are all that remains of Krypton."

The quartet sighed.

"I had hoped that these files were a lie." One of the men sighed, waving at the holographic screens. "So… what now?"

Charles gave them a gentle smile. "Have you reviewed the datafiles on the teams?"

"Yes… why?"

"It has become something of a tradition that when a Kryptonian is revived, he or she joins a team. The team provides support in adjusting to the new world, new friends… even romantic interests in a couple of cases. In exchange, the Kryptonian acts as the heavy hitter on the team, their… big guns, you might say."

"Kara is apparently working with a group called the Avengers." The second woman noted. "Do they have another opening?"

"It could be… problematic. Kryptonians, once fully energised by our sun, are the strongest, most powerful beings on Earth." Charles said slowly. "Having several of them on the same team could make non-allied nations nervous enough to launch a pre-emptive strike…"

"I see. So, when do you need our decisions?"

"Not for several weeks." Xavier said as the door behind him opened to reveal three more people familiar to the seated quartet. "I'll give you privacy to discuss things."

As the door closed behind Xavier, one of the seated girls rose and embraced Kara.

"Kara! I'm so glad you survived as well!"

"I'm happy to see you finally awake, Thara." Kara replied with a smile, then she looked round. "Cir-El, Mon-El, Lor-Zod, welcome to Earth. I'm sure you remember Kon-El, now called Chris Kent, and Karsta Wor-Ul."

Chris grinned. "Hi!"

"Good to see you again, little cousin." Cir-El grinned as she pulled him into a hug. "Hey, brother, you going to say hello as well?"

"Kon." Mon-El nodded. "Looking healthy. Found a girl yet? Ow!"

Cir-El shook her head. "Stop teasing him, or I'll hit you again…"

"I have." Chris said quietly.

Both siblings stared at him in shock. "What?"

"Her name's Laura, she has enhanced healing and retractable blades in her hands and feet." Karsta provided, smirking as she did so. "Kara's hooked up with an old man called Steve…"

"He was frozen for most of those years." Kara huffed. "He's not old."

"…and I haven't found anyone special yet, but I've made lots of friends." Karsta finished.

"Xavier mentioned Kal-El." Lor-Zod noted, glancing around.

"Our youngest cousin?" Cir-El asked. "I wonder if he's grown at all since I last changed his nappies."

"I have." A new voice said and Cir-El's eyes widened.

"Whoah! Kal? What… happened?"

"You're as big as I am." Mon-El marvelled.

"It's a long story." Clark said as he stepped into the room, then he smiled. "And we really need to get you sorted so that you can attend my wedding this weekend."

"My baby cousin's getting married?" Cir-El asked in near-shock.

Clark nodded, then paused. "Drat, something's come up. Kara, you're in charge."

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"So." Cir-El said as she stepped out and posed with a grin. "How do I look?"

"Nice." Kara said, looking as Cir-El's skintight, short-sleeved black bodysuit, black elbow-length gloves and blue knee-length cape. "I must ask… what's with the icon?"

Cir-El looked down at the red, unbounded S on her chest. "It's a variation of the House of El symbol used by the Heiress of the Cadet Branch on formal occasions. I thought it was appropriate."

"Not bad." Mon-El said as he stepped out of his changing room, adjusting the fit of his red tunic to which his ankle-length blue cape was fixed by a pair of large golden circular clasps. Catching the curious look, he grinned. "Traditional outfit of the Honor Guard of the Head of a House." He explained, motioning to his own outfit. "Since we owe Kal our lives, it seemed appropriate."

"I went for a more utilitarian look." Lor-Zod said as he emerged in his blue bodysuit, the cape notable by its absence. Kara blinked.

"That isn't the icon of the House of Zod." She pointed out and Lor-Zod sighed.

"After my uncle was convicted of treason and sentenced to Somatic Reconditioning, my mother decided that I should use the icon of her house, the Winged Dragonsnake. Dad always said that there was something fishy about my uncle's conviction, though…"

"I heard." Thara said as she emerged to join the others, the symbol on her chest the same as on Lor-Zod's. Seeing Kara's quizzical expression, she laughed. "What, you didn't realise that he's my cousin?"

"No…" Kara admitted with a wry smile. "Explains quite a bit, though."

"We made our decisions while we were designing our outfits." Cir-El said. "As I was training in law enforcement before the… incident, I believe that I shall take up the slot offered by SHIELD."

"Japan for me." Thara grinned. "I'll fit right in. None of them have capes either."

"The group Excalibur sounds interesting." Mon-El said with a slight shrug.

"I hear that I can get a good fight in Asgard." Lor-Zod grinned. "I'm an Master-level in Horo-Kanu and rated Low Expert in Noku-Konu… staff fighting. Hopefully I'll find a decent sparring partner or two."

"And with the Doors, it's not like we'll be any real distance away." Cir-El added with a smile.

Kara opened her mouth, then paused, one hand cupped over her ear.

"What is it?"

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The door to the bank burst open as the quartet of masked men piled through.

"All-right!" One of them shouted. "Let's get out of here before the cops show up!"

"I… don't think we need worry about that." The one in the lead managed as he came to a halt. The others looked round him and two of them swore as a very familiar caped figure turned to face them.

"Aw shit. Supergirl."

Kara tilted her head slightly. "You look familiar."

"Who are they?"

"No!" The lead burglar half-shouted as he watched the quartet descend into flanking positions. "No, no nononononono! This isn't right! Why does the universe keep doing this to us?"

"Are you… all…" One of the other burglars managed, trying to ignore the breakdown the lead burglar was undergoing.

"Kryptonians." Cir-El nodded. "We are."

"There's more of them." The trailing robber stated in a disbelieving tone of voice.

"Wait, I remember now." Kara realised. "I helped to catch you before. Why did you try again?"

"Because we saw that Superman was helping out in Italy." The lead burglar said in a defeated voice, placing his gun on the ground. "We thought you'd be doing Avengers stuff, so… damn. Four more."

A siren rose as a police car screeched to a halt beside Kara and the doors opened to disgorge a pair of grinning cops.

"We have a delivery for you." Kara grinned.

"Dammit." The lead robber swore.

"We're definitely going to get on TV for this."

"SHUT! UP!"

"Hey, Kara." Clark said as he landed. "What did I… you again?"

"This just isn't fair…" The leader half-sobbed.

"Ohhhhhh-kay." Clark finally said. "Let's get these men to their new accomodations, then we can see about getting you all to where you've decided to go."

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Lor-Zod looked around curiously as he and Clark stepped onto the Bifrost Bridge, then he followed Clark into the air and towards the gleaming towers of Asgard.

"This is amazing." He said. "So like Krypton, yet so unlike at the same time."

Ahead of them, a boat rose into the air, growing as it came to meet them and Lor-Zod's eyes widened.

"Who…"

"Sif and the Warriors Three." Clark said with a smile. "I sent word that I was coming, they've obviously decided to come and greet us."

"She… she's… beautiful." Lor-Zod whispered and Clark hid a smirk.

"Be careful, you do anything to hurt her and her big brother Heimdall will be after you in order to make a rug from your freshly-peeled skin. And that's not counting on what the Warriors Three would do to you first…"

Lor-Zod winced at the thought.

"Clark!" Volstagg bellowed. "Good to see you again, who's your friend?"

"Volstagg, this is Lor-Zod, a fellow Kryptonian."

"You any good at fighting?" Sif asked as she walked round the portly warrior and Lor-Zod grinned.

"Trained for years."

"Years." Sif scoffed. "I've trained for centuries."

"Care to spar?" Lor-Zod laughed as he pulled out his extendable staff from the holster in the small of his back and hit the trigger to make it lengthen. Sif grinned and pulled a similar staff from her belt.

"Let's get to the training grounds, then we can dance!"

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"What… is… that?" Cir-El asked in amazement as she and Lara emerged from the clouds.

"The SHIELD Helicarrier." Kara replied, adjusting course. "This is Supergirl to Helicarrier control, requesting permission to come aboard with one guest."

Cir-El stared at the massive airborne ship with the quartet of gravetic rotors providing the lift that kept it in the sea of clouds, then Kara tapped her on her shoulder.

"We have permission and my boyfriend will meet us."

"Your boyfriend?" Cir-El repeated teasingly as they angled down towards the deck. As they landed, Cir-El stumbled, only to be caught. Looking up, she found herself looking into the kindest blue eyes she had ever seen.

"…hi?"

"Steve!" Kara half-shouted and Cir-El stared as Lara caught the man in a hug, giving him a kiss as she spun him round. "Steve, this is Cir-El. Cir, meet Captain Steve Rogers of the Avengers and my boyfriend."

"Honoured to meet you." Cir-El smiled.

"So, you're the one that Director Fury wishes to recruit into SWORD." Steve said and Kara tilted her head.

"Sword?"

"Strategic World Observation and Response Division." Steve explained as he led them to one of the hatches. "It's a semi-independent department of SHIELD that deals primarily with extra-terrestrial threats, same as SHIELD deals with terrestrial problems. They're interlinked organisations with many operatives being transferred between in order to increase their all-round effectiveness. Both SWORD and SHIELD have domes on the new Moonbase that Clark set up,although the domes are connected by Doors, allowing for almost instant transit."

"So… I might end up on the moon." Cir-El grinned. "Nice."

"Maybe." Steve shrugged. "I don't really know that much about SWORD myself, the Avengers haven't had to work with them."

"But I have." A new voice said. "Agent Phil Coulson, honoured to meet you, Cir-El of Krypton."

"Actually, it's Cir-El of Argo, but thank you." Cir-El replied with a smile. "So, SWORD. Tell me about it please."

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Thara looked round at the large hall that they had emerged into.

"These Doors are really useful." She mused. "We didn't have anything like them on Argos."

"Yeah, they're neat."Chris said as he led the way. "Anyway, this is one of the Embassy Modules that dad retrieved from Krypton and he…"

Chris' explanation was cut off by a massed cry of "KAWAAAIIIIII!" and Thara blinked as the young Kryptonian was almost buried by over a dozen teenage girls glomping him. From behind her, Thara heard Laura sigh.

"Does this happen often?"

"Every time." Laura half-growled as she strode forwards and began pulling the fangirls off her friend. Thara grinned, then turned as someone approached.

"Am I correct in assuming that you are Thara Ak-Var?" The man asked and Thara nodded. The armour-clad man bowed deeply. "Welcome to the Dome of Hope. My name is Harada Kenuichio, although on missions, I am the Silver Samurai. Do you speak the true language?"

"I was granted knowledge of the true language and the customs of the People by Miss Marvel of the X-Men." Thara replied flawlessly, returning his bow. "I look forwards to flying into battle by your side."

Although Kenuichio's face remained almost inscrutible, Thara easily caught the microscopic tightening that gave away the smile that he would have been wearing.

"Superboy-dono, Kunoichi-hime, This one expresses his gratitude for escorting Thara-hime to this place. This one is aware that you have many calls upon your time, so with your permission, this one will provide the tour and introductions to the team."

Chris stared at him in confusion even as the last girl was prised off him.

"He say thank you, he has from here." Laura translated and Chris' expression lit up with understanding.

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Karsta and Mon-El descended through the cloud layer as the lights of London sparkled below them.

"Incoming, left low." Mon-El said, then he frowned. "That is an odd bodysuit design."

Karsta followed his gaze and smiled. "That's Captain Britain. He's an energy-projector type who can use it to fly."

The rising figure soon caught up to them and Karsta nodded.

"Brian."

"Karsta." Captain Britain nodded. "Fine weather for flying, isn't it?"

Karsta started giggling, then managed to pull herself back together. "Must you be so darned stereotypical?"

"Why yes, I must." Captain Britain deadpanned back, causing Karsta to start laughing again. "And you must be Mon-El. Welcome to Great Britain. We do things differently than they do across the pond."

"Across the pond?" Mon-El repeated in confusion.

"He means the Atlantic Ocean." Karsta supplied and Mon-El's eyes widened.

"Wait, if they call that a pond…"

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Xavier looked up as Clark entered the study.

"All done?"

"All done and Chris is getting some sleep." Clark confirmed. "Laura was grumbling about how Chris attracts too many fangirls. I got quite the glower when I asked if she was feeling jealous since she has less than he does."

Charles laughed.

"Odin sends his regards, by the way." Clark added. "And Sif says that if there are any more as good at fighting as Lor-Zod, she's going to stage a raid."

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Author's afternote – Yes, I did just seriously boost the Good Guys™. The two still in stasis will remain there for a while, though. TBH, I haven't even worked out who to base them off if they do get revived…