The princess just remembered that she was using her native language. There was only one way for her to know the language of this person.
The princess grabbed the man on his arms and turned him around to meet his face. Once she saw his face, she immediately brought her lips into his. A surprised moan came out of him, as how most languages are learnt from Tamaranean. Once she was done, she pushed him back and turned him around. She raised her plasma blaster to the back of his head and continued her question.
"Who are you?" Koriand'r asked.
Koriand'r did not expect to deal with someone with an elaborate clothing, complete with a mask and a mysterious persona behind all of that. She would expect that this person dress up in this manner to intimidate someone, but there was more to it than just mere intimidation. This was an armor, and he was going up for a battle.
He did answer it by turning around in a swift manner and kicking her arms to put her Plasma Blaster out of the way. The man continued his barrage of attacks by punching her, but being trained by the warlords of Okaara was a huge benefit for her. The Princess retaliated by blocking most of his punches and grabbed his hand. She grabbed his shoulder and flipped him over, slamming him into the ground.
The man had quite the endurance and a surprising reflex. Just as Koriand'r stomp him, he rolled up the front. He managed to regain his posture, but instead of charging more towards the princess, he put both of his hands up front and asked her.
"Wait." he said. "I don't want to fight you."
"Then tell me everything."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Well... I can, but not all of it."
Koriand'r sharpened her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I can give you a few answers, but if you want to know more, this isn't the place." he said. "My name is Robin."
"Greetings." Koriand'r said. "My name is Princess Koriand'r."
There was an astonishment coming out of his eyes. "Princess? I... wow. You're really an alien?"
"I'm sorry?"
"I mean... you come from another planet?"
"Yes."
He grabbed both of his knees down and took a breath. "We... we never had a visitor like you."
"Well, here I am." Koriand'r said. "I need a spaceship."
"For what?"
"I do not wish to disturb your planet and cause this... destruction." Koriand'r said. "I need to come back to my home planet. I have to stop the Kryptonians to take over my people."
"Well, there's a little bit of problem with that."
"What's the problem?"
"We..." Robin began. "We don't have the technology yet."
There it was. Only a few words managed to shatter her hope of coming back. The only one hope to come back was her spaceship, and it was stranded lord knows where in space.
"Are you certain?"
"I'm very certain." Robin said. "But I know a place where you can stay for a while."
"I don't need a place to stay." Koriand'r said. "I need to go back home."
"You can't." Robin said. "You can only stay here. I'm afraid that you're going to need to fit in before you get your spaceship. You're a stranger. You need a guide. Besides, you're lucky that I stumbled upon you first. If it was the government, they're going to subject you to experiments."
"Experiments?"
"So either you come with me, or the government comes down and hunt you." Robin said. "I know how to keep you safe from them. Do we have an agreement?"
Koriand'r sighed. "Yes."
"Great." Robin said. "First, you need to destroy this space pod. Leave no trace. Make it look like rocks. Can you do that with your weapon?"
##
It was quite weird for Robin to bring in a rather seriously attractive humanoid alien into the Bat-Cave. The alien, a woman with a tanned skin and a long red hair, was sitting on the couch with her purple metal armor, which was also unidentifiable. Of course, Robin revealed his identity to her, and he gave her quite the assurance to not tell it to anyone.
"So this 'Tamaran' was your home planet?" Julia said.
"Yes."
"And the Citadels and the Kryptonians are trying to take it over?"
"Yes."
"Have they?"
"I don't know." Koriand'r said. "Not until I see it myself."
"Have you ever been in contact with anyone in Tamaran?" Damian asked.
"No." Koriand'r said. "My communications are not able to reach a place that far."
"Not even e-mails?" Julia asked.
"What's an 'e-mail'?"
Damian sighed. "You should... probably use less Earthling phrases, Penny."
"I don't know." Julia said. "She speaks English very well."
"English?" Koriand'r said. "So that's how you call this language?"
"Yeah." Damian said. "How did you learn that?"
"By kissing you."
Julia nodded her head, hearing something that was quite surprising. "Oooh... that was something."
"Stop it." Damian said. "The important part right now is that you are here on Earth. You look like human, so it would be fitting if you would adapt to our ways."
"Why would I do that?"
"I've told you." Damian said. "The government doesn't like aliens like you roaming around Gotham City. The government will not notice if you're a normal human. Thanks to your humanoid physiology, it's a lot easier for you to adapt."
"Why are the government wanting to experiment on... visitors?"
"Because believe it or not, you are the first visitor from outside of Earth." Damian said. "We're practically at the time where we're begging for something or someone or any other alien beings to come down to Earth and make contact with us. Well, here you are making contact, and the most dangerous part is that you're alone."
"I... understand." Koriand'r said. "I have been subjected into numerous experiments. The last thing I want is to be subjected even more."
"What kind of experiments have you subjected into?" Julia asked.
"If you don't know it yet, I have powers." Koriand'r said. "My power relies on absorbing ultraviolet light either from the sun or from other organic matters. However, my race is only able to absorb that power, but not utilize it. The Kryptonians did some experiments to me with the help of the Psions. They wanted to see how much energy that a Tamaranean can absorb before exploding."
"And you were one of their subjects?" Damian said.
"Me and my sister." Koriand'r said. "We both managed to escape out of the facility and we used both of our powers to take them down."
"So what this power allows you to do?" Julia said.
"I can create these... starbolts." Koriand'r said. "A little demonstration, perhaps?"
"Uh... not here. Not in the cave. And not now." Damian said. "Just tell me how it works."
Koriand'r showed a green plasma energy coming out of her hand.
"I simply do this and throw this into my opponents." Koriand'r said.
"Is it lethal?" Damian asked.
"I can make it one."
"Keep it non-lethal." Damian said. "If you have that kind of powers, the last thing you want is for innocent peoples to die."
"That is the last thing I wanted." Koriand'r said. "You have no idea how my planet and my people suffered by the Kryptonians. That war has cost me thousands. If I see them anywhere, I'm not going to be hesitant to kill them."
"Well, no reports on alien activities so far." Damian said. "So you're lucky."
"Uh... Damian," Julia said. "8:00AM, important board meeting. Don't be sleepy."
"Right." Damian said. "I'm very sorry. I need to take a rest, and I think you should too. You must be tired."
"After breaching through your atmosphere, I cannot imagine." Koriand'r said.
"For the moment Julia is going to take care of you." Damian said. "Be nice to each other."
"That I can do." Julia said.
"We will." Koriand'r said.
"Good."
Damian left the bat-cave, leaving the two attractive women for a bit of a run.
"So uh..." Julia said. "I'm not really that tired."
"Well, to be honest neither am I." Koriand'r said.
"So where to begin?" Julia said. "If you're going to blend in with the other earthlings, you're going to need an earth name. You say that your um... Tamaranean name is... Koriand'r, right?"
"Yes, but if I translate it to your language, it means... Starfire."
"Oh, that's an amazing codename." Julia said. "I mean a hero title, you know?"
"Hero?"
"Yes." Julia said. "If you're going to... oh wow."
"Wow... what?"
"You... fly."
Julia noticed that her legs were a few feet hovering up the metal bat-cave floors. Koriand'r noticed this and dropped down.
"Yes, it's one of my many abilities." Koriand'r said.
"That would be useful when you're going to help peoples, you know?"
"Right." Koriand'r said. "I meant no offense, but the way you speak your English language is... strange."
"Oh, yeah I have an accent." Julia said. "I'm from London. It's a place far from here."
"Oh alright." Koriand'r said. "I understand."
"Hey you know what, you're going to need a new Earth name." Julia said. "If your name is Koriand'r, let's play it down a bit. So your Earth name is..."
Julia, who was sitting on a computer desk chair with wheels, rolled herself into the bat computer and typed in a few words.
"Congratulations, Princess Koriand'r." Julia said. "Your earth name is... Caroline Anders."
"Caroline... Anders?"
"Yup." Julia said. "Didn't expect that out of the woodwork, did you?"
"I... well maybe." Koriand'r said.
"So from now on, your name's going to be Caroline Anders, and your nickname's going to be Kory, so Kory Anders." Julia said. "Ain't that spectacular?"
"Um... yes it is." Kory said.
"Now what you're going to need to learn next is proper earthling etiquette." Julia said. "Let's start with greetings."
##
Someone like Amanda Waller had enough problems to deal with in the grand scheme of things. It's the year 2022 and dangerous ideologies managed to invest the wasteland that is the Middle-East. If that wasn't a problem, a civil war just broke on the south of Africa, and there was quite a tension that ARGUS and the American government just couldn't handle and take sides.
And then there was the threat of an extra-terrestrial alien invasion. After a few times of gathering intelligence, Waller's agents were able to get the knowledge of alien presence that can be proven, and that these aliens were walking among humans. The only problem was to find a way to get these aliens and wipe them out for good before they start to take over the Earth.
She decided to send her latest pet project. A few years ago, the vigilante group in Gotham known as the Bats managed to take down Ra's Al Ghul, the not-so immortal leader of the League of Assassins. The League managed to expose their base of operations in Nanda Parbat, and there lied the Lazarus Pit. Waller wanted to harness the power of the Lazarus Pit and stabilize it so that there were no other complications and resurrections can be done about as easy as that.
The bats continued their run for a few years until the death of two of their members: Timothy Drake AKA Red Robin and his step-sister Cassandra Cain. Waller was able to get Tim Drake's body and submit him into the new Lazarus to see what kind of effects that it will bring. Waller classified Tim Drake as officially dead, but in truth he was in coma, and just regained his consciousness after three years of absence.
Somewhere in a dark room, Waller sat right on a chair. Across the table separating them was Tim sleeping with his head on the table above his arms. He was cuffed into the table to ensure that he was not going anywhere. Tim regained his breath and woke up. Waller gave him the proper greetings.
"Good Evening, Mr. Drake." Waller began.
Tim glanced at Waller with surprise. He was about to move a little bit, but he got his hand cuffed into the table.
"Waller," Tim began. "What... what are you doing with me?"
"You have been in a coma." Waller said. "You noticed that I have taken proper care of you."
"I... why?"
"Remember the Gotham Uprising?" Waller said. "You have saved my little child Coretta. If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have been here. I owe you a great debt."
"Yeah, you're welcome." Tim said. "Now get me out of here."
"Not so fast." Waller said. "Don't you want to know what happened to you?"
"I..." Tim calmed down and took his seat back. "Where am I?"
"You're in ARGUS facility, Gotham Branch." Waller said. "Shouldn't be too far from your home."
"What happened to my friends?"
"Your friends are doing very well." Waller said. "All with the exception of your step-sister, but you already knew that."
"So you saved me but you didn't save Cassandra?"
"We have tried our best, but we couldn't save her." Waller said. "I'm sorry."
"You damned right you are."
"I understand why you are furious."
"Oh yeah, other than you cuffing me up in this chair and putting me in ARGUS when I'm in coma? I'm good." Tim said. "I didn't even count the many times you tried to kill me."
"I didn't try to kill you. My men have gone rogue out of their missions." Waller said. "Which is why I'm trusting you for something that I want you to do."
"How long have I been in coma?"
"Three years."
"What?" Tim said. "Three years and you don't want to tell me what happened in between?"
"I will, but only if you listen to my proposal." Waller said. "This might sound ridiculous, but our world right now has been invaded by... unknown forces beyond our world."
"Aliens?" Tim scoffed. "I presume that you're serious when you say that."
"I am in every bit of way serious, Mr. Drake, or maybe should I say Red Robin?" Waller said. "I wouldn't be here if I weren't."
"So... aliens?" Tim said. "What kind?"
"They called themselves Kryptonian." Waller said. "We have captured one of the aliens and interrogated them, but he escaped out of the facility.
Waller ordered her men to hand Tim over a folder containing the briefing. Tim opened it up to see a human face.
"This isn't an alien."
"Humanoid in physique, but alien in the rest." Waller said. "He has superhuman strength, high durability, endurance, and is a threat to the whole world."
"What, you call this guy with a straight emo haircut an alien?" Tim said. "What's stopping you from taking Michael Jackson already?"
"This alien has called himself Kon-El." Waller said. "He said that he's from planet Krypton, far away from here. He has proven himself to be a dangerous fighter, and has destroyed a significant portion of our labs back in Washington."
"Did you forget to lock on the armory when he escapes?"
"He doesn't need our armory." Waller said. "He can use his bare hands."
Tim glanced at Waller in surprise. "Wait, so you're saying that this whole lab crushing down like it was being an earthquake was all his doing... with his bare hands?"
"I know it sounds unbelievable."
"Because it is."
Tim snapped out of his cuff in a moment using a pin that was actually concealed on his jumper suit. "If you're going to look for an agent to stop aliens, look somewhere else. I'm out."
Tim stood up from his table and was about to move, but Waller's two other guards prevented him from getting out of the room. Waller issued an order to both of them.
"Let him go." Waller said. "He'll be back."