Chapter 2: Frost Bite

Lita had seen Linda still staring at the picture of her and Spider-Girl, though she was now wondering which person in the photo she was staring at. She'd never pried about Linda's sexual preference, but this could just be a onetime thing; maybe she was just fascinated by the fact someone caught a picture of Superwoman?

Hmm, maybe, maybe not. She'd seen her date guys, but who knows?

Lita sure doesn't as she doesn't give it much thought and left the dorm room to go to her first class of the day. She adjusted her glasses after super speeding to the still deserted campus front and headed inside the building. She walked down the hall as more students started showing up and saw Lori looking over her notebook as she walked toward her. "Hi, Lori."

The other girl looked up before smiling tentatively. "Oh, hi Lita." She said, but looked a little anxious.

Lita frowned as she noticed this. "Lori, are you okay?"

"Oh, um, yes, I'm fine." Lori said still smiling, but her eyes held a wary look in them.

Lita wanted to ask again if something was wrong, but decided not to push her luck. After all, she didn't want to frighten Lori off. "Well, okay then." She then bit her lip. "Pardon me for being too forward but, would you like to get together later? It's just that we didn't really learn all that much about each other yesterday."

For the first time since they'd been talking, Lori smiled and the nervous vibes she'd been giving off diminished. "Sure, I'd like that."

Lita nodded and they agreed to meet again at the pier where they had last met for their 'date' before moving on to her first class of the day. She unfortunately saw the seat beside Lena was already taken and made to move to sit in the one behind her, noticing too late who was in the seat behind her.

"Hey, Ellie." An obnoxious voice said from behind her.

Lita looked back at the man who was the same age as her and plastered on a fake smile. "Kenny, you go to school here? Since when?"

"Since the fall, I've always been here." The boy replied smirking at her and brazenly reached out to grip the short blond locks of her wig. "Why'd you cut and change your pretty hair? I liked it."

"Maybe that's precisely why." Lita hissed, but on the inside she felt anxious. This boy being in her class didn't feel like an unfortunate coincidence. Back in Smallville during her high school years he'd been something of an abhorrent admirer bordering stalker. He'd tried to flirt with her every chance he got, even when he was with his girl of the week.

He was good-looking, he knew it, and he exploited it. But she never fell for it, mostly because she bated for the other team, but it was plainly because she couldn't stand the sight of him. Something about him made her uncomfortable to be around, like his very presence made her feel ill, kinda like that kryptonite stuff she'd dealt with in the past.

Sadly, nothing she did ever seem to deter the boy's attention from her for more than five minutes.

Lita took his hand off her hair and steadfastly tried to ignore him as the professor came into the room. It was a rather trying hour.

After class, Lena wrapped one arm under Lita's and led her away from the classroom. "I hear you got the inside scoop with the Bugle."

"What are you talking about?" Lita questioned and furrowed her brow.

"A heard of a reporter with the surname 'Clark' and isn't that your mother's maiden name?" Lena asked tilting her head innocently, but Lita knew her friend better. With the only other two friends they'd had back in Smallville being both boys they both had to be sneaky when called for.

"Ken Clark, yeah, he's my cousin, what of it?" Too could play the innocent game Miss Thorul.

Lena smiled coyly at the 'blonde.' "Come on, think you could call up family and ask him if I can go over and get the low down on the Bugle?"

Lita raised a brow. "Couldn't you do that anyway? All you'd have to do is tell them your real last name and they'd probably put out the red carpet."

Lena frowned at this. "You know as well as I do why I won't do that. I was treated different in Smallville because of my last name, and it's going to be different here. It's like with you and your change of hair color."

Lita felt somewhat self-conscious she put a lock of hair between her fingers. "You really think I shouldn't have changed it?"

Lena waved it off with her free hand. "Don't listen to creepy Kenny, I think it looks great, it would have been even better if Danvers didn't one up you and have a bob cut."

"Must you insult my roommate?" Lita asked sighing.

"It's not her personally, it's just her dad's a cop and my family doesn't exactly have the best…track record with them, particularly my brother." Lena answered softly as she took a quick look around to make sure that no one was listening.

"And paranoid." Lita muttered and Lena looked at her sharply.

"Oh, I am not." She huffed and pulled the taller girl toward their next class. "Come on, time to go planting."

"Environmentalism is not just about planting, and today we're going to talk about the effects of frost on a living organism." Lita replied.

"Boring!" Lena exclaimed. "Come on, ditch and let's go shopping, I need a new pair of boots." She suggested.

Lita shook her head. "Lena, no, and didn't you already go shopping just last week? Need you go so soon?"

Lena mock gasped in shock. "I thought since we were best friends that we were supposed to do girl things together. You're just like Wally and Artie."

Lita stared down at her friend dryly. "I am not like them; did I flirt with you when I also discovered girls?"

Lena flushed at the reminder. "Well, no you didn't." she said giving a point to the 'blonde.' "I still don't know whether to think it's funny or not that creepy Kenny practically followed you around after throwing rocks at you when we were kids."

"It's less funny and creepier." Lita replied. "His very presence made me physically ill; I don't know how he didn't take the hint after I threw up on his shoes after he kissed me."

Lena tittered. "I remember that, it was at a dance during our sophomore year and the four of us went out as a group because neither of the guys could get a date; then creepy Kenny comes along and plants one on you," she tittered a little louder, "and then you threw up on him. Oh, that was hilarious."

"For you maybe, but I was embarrassed for weeks afterwards." Lita replied still flushing at the memory.

"Come on, you should they were laughing for you and not at you." Lena waved it off and they continued on down the hall.

Lita jogged up to the café and smiled at the dark-haired girl sitting at the table. "Hey, Lori."

"Lita." Lori replied smiling back. "I just want to apologize for running off before."

"No, it's okay." Lita said waving off the apology. "It was probably important to you."

Lori felt her shoulders relax and smiled again, this time bashfully. "Yeah, it is important, so when I leave please don't take it personally."

Lita nodded, but wondered where she'd have to go before pushing it away as being none of her concern. "Sure. So, would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, but I can order that for myself thank you very much." Lori replied. "After all, neither of us are guys."

Lita chuckled at that, the irony of the statement actually humorous. "You know, my friend Lena said that I acted just like my guy friends, Wally and Artie."

Lori froze at that. "Artie? As in Arthur?"

Lita blinked at the sudden change in the woman's demeanour. "Yeah, his name's Arthur Curry; you know him?"

Lori was looking very pale now. "Uh, yes, I know of him, but I've never met him before. You are one of his friends?" she asked tentatively.

The 'blonde' nodded her head as she wondered why the woman was acting so nervous. "Yes, but he left during the summer before our senior year of high school." She explained.

Lori nodded absently as her mind seemed to be somewhere else. "R-Right."

Lita furrowed her brows in worry. "Lori, are you alright?"

The woman bit her lip. "Actually, I have something tell you, I'm-" she was cut off as a blast of ice shot by inches from her head and struck a lamppost.

Lita shot up from her seat and whirled around to see a woman with short dark hair and incredibly pale skin, wearing a white outfit and a cape around her shoulders. "Who are you?" she asked shocked.

Lori though was the one who answered. "Crystal, is that you? What happened?"

The woman scowled and she raised her hands before a bolt of ice form and shot at her, Lita though took and the hit and the 'blonde' was frozen over. "I'm not Crystal anymore, call me Killer Frost." She said before shooting more ice at the other dark-haired woman, and her legs were frozen. Killer Frost walked over to the woman and smirked at her. "Now that I got you why don't we have a reunion with Marty? I'm sure the man you stole from me would be delighted to see you again." She said grabbed Lori by the arm and proceeded to drag her off.

"I didn't steal him, I didn't even like him!" Lori protested, but as long as her legs were frozen she was helpless.

Lita felt the ice around her shake as she used her super speed to cause a vibration that shattered the ice encasing her. She shook the rest of it off her head and looked around, the people having already scattered when they'd seen the strangely dressed woman.

Her eyes narrowed as she thought about who her target was. From what she'd heard, that 'Killer Frost' woman blamed Lori for 'stealing' some man she liked. She'd guess that was probably why Lori had been so nervous earlier. She tried to use her hearing to see if she could find them, but they must have stopped talking or Killer Frost knocked Lori unconscious.

She headed over to the same alley from before and used her super speed to change out of her street clothing to reveal her superhero costume underneath it and took to the air. She kept her super hearing up and she tried to find any clue that could lead her to where the…

Superwoman's eyes turned thoughtful as she thought about the fact Lori had called the woman 'Crystal' and mentioned someone named 'Marty.' If she could find something that connected the three, then she could find out who the man was as it was obvious Killer Frost was going after this man.

Superwoman flew back to the university and changed back into her street clothes as she headed into the library and immediately tried to find records of those three names in the hard drive. When she got a hit off the search engine she found out about the trip to the Artic and how one of the people accounted for had supposedly died, a Crystal Frost.

'That's the name Lori called Killer Frost.' Lita thought before looking around and pulled a transmitter out of her pocket and turned it on. "Kelex, alert me when you find a higher than normal cold radiation from New York City."

"Of course, Miss Lor." Was the reply.

Lita put the transmitter away and decided to head back to the dorm, if only to have a cover for when Linda questions were she's been. Lita super sped to the dorm room and went inside, seeing the blonde sitting at the table and eating a bowl of instant noodles. "Hey, Linda."

The blonde paused for a moment before smiling at her. "How was your date?"

Lita blushed. "It wasn't a date." She protested weakly. "It was just Lori and I getting to know each other, that's all it was."

Linda grinned slyly. "Right." She said clearly not believing the other girl.

Lita shook her head as she walked into her room and sat down on the edge of her bed and sighed, her guilt at not having saved Lori when she could've was really getting to her. She liked Lori, and she was willing to be patient and wait for whatever relationship came from this. And if nothing did, then that's just how it was.

But first that meant she had to find Lori first and get her and this 'Marty' away from Killer Frost.

And considering the venom the woman looked at Lori with, she tried not to think about if Killer Frost had just gone and killed the woman.

The thought made her wince as the entire reason she was doing this whole superhero thing was to prevent suffering. And she couldn't even stop what was happening 3 feet behind her. Lita let out a sigh as she started pacing around the room, the sound of her transmitter beeping breaking her from her thoughts. "Yes?"

"An abnormal amount of temperature droppage has been located in the area of Columbia University." Kelex replied in his clipped tone.

Lita nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "Understood, thank you Kelex." She said before putting the transmitter down and in a flash of speed was wearing her Superwoman costume and flying out the window at a break neck speed and kept her ears open for the sound of Lori or Killer Frost's voice. She strains her ears to its fullest and could hear the voices before heading in that direction.

Superwoman used her X-ray vision to check through the building and found Killer Frost about to freeze both Lori and an older-looking man, both cringing back and the woman speeded in through the window, secretly hoping the man could spare to replace a window and Killer Frost looked up at her before turning her ice blast at her and Superwoman used her heat vision to counter the ice while her voice was directed at the two other occupants. "Get out of here, now!"

"No!" Killer Frost shouted, but before she could stop them from leaving, she briefly paused in her ice blasts that allowed Superwoman to tackled the other woman and let the other two occupants escape through the door. "You should have stayed out of this." Killer Frost hissed as she blasted the dark-haired woman back with an ice blast.

"And you should have thought twice about trying to kill someone." Superwoman snapped back.

Killer Frost smiled coldly at her. "Oh but I have thought about this." she said before sending another ice blast at Superwoman. "Ever since the day I was left to die in that freezer in the arctic!" she snarled and the room started to freeze over.

Superwoman looked around briefly before dodging another ice blast and let loose her heat vision, the counter attack hitting Killer Frost dead center and sent her flying back into the wall, slumping to the floor. The dark-haired woman went about defrosting the rest of the room and heard the sounds of police officers running down the hall and took her cue to fly out the window and back to her dorm room.

Linda was finishing up her dinner of ramen noodles when she heard the knock at the door and hoped it wasn't Lena. It wasn't like she hated the redhead, but they just couldn't seem to see eye to eye. She opened it to reveal Lori Lemaris, Lita's almost-friend and potential girlfriend.

"Uh, is Lita here?" The girl asked.

Linda beamed at her, feeling as though Lita was going to be very happy to see this girl. "It just so happens that Lita is here." She said leading the girl into the dorm and over to Lita's room, knocking on it as she opened the door. "Hey Lita, are you-"

The girl looked up from her desk, a surprised expression crossing her face. "Oh, hi Lori."

Linda felt her face grow pinched as the 'blonde' ignored her and she huffed. "Well, I'll leave you two alone then." She said moving back into the kitchen.

Lita winced as she recognized Linda's tone and was going to be ignored for the rest of the night. "Uh, are you okay?"

Lori stared at her as she calmly sat down next to her; the woman's earlier nervousness about being around her was gone. "I should be asking you that same question, 'Superwoman.'"

Lita felt her breathing stop and her mind blank. "I have no idea what you're saying; I just got thawed out, no big deal."

The dark-haired woman grabbed her hand, and at any other time, Lita would have welcomed it. "I know you're her," she said firmly, "because I can't read your mind."

Lita blinked. "What?"

"I…I'm not as human as I look." Lori replied somewhat sheepishly. "And if I told you, I don't think you'd believe me." She said pausing and clenched the girl's hand before the other one reached up and grabbed the wig, Lita freezing in place. "I could pull this off and your hair would be shone; I could do a lot," her hand let go of the hair and she smoothed it down, "but I won't."

Lita had to remind herself to start breathing again. "How can you be so sure, it can't only be my mind you can't read."

Lori shook her head. "No, the only other person's mind who I can't read is Superwoman's, and I connected the dots." She said shrugging. "But you won't have to worry about anyone knowing that it's you," her mouth twisted up, "I like you too much to do that."

Lita felt her heart clench and forced herself to remain still. "I…I see." She said softly. "Where are you going then?"

"I'm going back home, I've had a good time here, but I think after all that's been going on, I'm better suited to remain in my natural habitat." Lori said with a strange hint of humor in her eyes, like a joke that only she could get.

"When are you going?" Lita asked.

"Later tonight, my sister's coming to help me get back, but I will miss you, and I'm sorry that we could never have a real date." Lori said sounding truly apologetic.

"Was there ever a chance?" Lita asked tilting her head.

Lori was silent for a moment before smiling sadly. "I guess we'll never know."

"Well isn't this a nice surprise." Martha Kent said hugging her daughter and Lita hugged her back.

"I just hope I'm not interrupting anything." The 'blonde' replied.

"No dear, Lyla was just helping me with errands, she should be back soon." Martha said pulling the 'blonde' toward the island in the kitchen. "Tea dear? How are your classes going?"

"No tea, but thanks Ma." Lita replied politely. "And my classes are going great."

"What about your...superheroing?" Martha asked awkwardly and while she knew nothing could really hurt her baby, she was still worried for her.

"It's going on well enough, but I need some advice." Lita said and started to feel her face heat. "Um, how will I ever know when I meet the right person?" she asked and her face flushed brightly at the blunt way it came out.

Martha paused in stirring her tea. "Well, I assumed it's the same for both genders to feel this way, and all I can say is that if this person really means that much to you and you can picture it, then it's worth giving it a chance."

Lita thought over her mother's words, and though she had liked Lori, even with the knowledge that the woman might not be human like her, she honestly couldn't see it. It was nothing like with her male friends as she didn't feel anything other than a platonic sort of affection for them.

The advice helped, but it would still take a while to get used to the idea of Lori not being around anymore. "Thanks Ma."

"Any time, dear." Martha replied and the door opened up, a black-haired 'woman' walking in with a bag in both arms. "Hello Lyla, welcome back."

"Greetings Mrs. Kent." Lyla said in her mechanized female voice, the 'woman' having to be passed off as mute so she couldn't tip people off when she spoke. "Miss Lor."

"It's okay to call me Lita, Lyla." Lita said reassuringly, but already knew what the response would be. It was always the same whenever she told both her and Kelex they could call her Lita.

"It is not in my protocol to disrespect you so, Miss Lor." Lyla replied monotonously.

Lita sighed. "I know, Lyla." She said frowning. "Hey, I went looking through the fortress the other day and I found two rooms I couldn't get into, what are those for?"

Lyla frowned as her optics dimmed before brightening back up and the expression was clear again. "All rooms are accessible to only those from the House of El; the rooms you speak of are DNA coedited specifically to Master Mon and Miss Kara."

Lita froze up as she processed what was being said. "Why would they need rooms?"

Lyla's tone took on something akin to irritation, which was remarkably and had Lita thinking that maybe the robot girl had followed through with turning on her personality chip. "They would need the rooms as they were intended to be theirs for when they woke up on this planet."

"Are you telling me that they're alive?" Lita asked in shock as she pictured the first time she had ever seen her brother in the crystal hologram, grinning at her and saying how much he loved her while telling off a blond girl.

"Yes, that is correct." Lyla said blandly like she hadn't just dropped a bombshell. "They are here on this planet somewhere, still in suspended animation."