"This the last one?"
Kara looked over at him and frowned for a second. "Yeah, think so. I'll check with the van downstairs to make sure."
"Okay."
Jason laid down the last stack of boxes on a glass coffee table coated in bubble wrap. Moving at normal speed made the process that much more tedious, but now that he was done, he finally had the chance to give Kara's new apartment a once-over. The place was gorgeous. The white and light grayish-blue paint scheme combined with large, steel-framed windows overlooking the city skyline…a place like this? In NYC? Yeah, that scholarship was the only reason Steph and Kara could afford this place.
Right as he started removing the bubble wrap, Kara returned with a smile.
"All done," she said. "Movers have been paid and all the paperwork for this place is taken care of."
Jason grinned and glanced around. "Look at this place, Kay. Your first apartment, first place that's actually yours." He shrugged. "Well, more or less."
"At least until Steph moves in, yeah." She ripped the tape off a box and started unloading it at superspeed. "No more prying eyes—should be able to get this done in record time."
Jason's eyes widened excitedly. "Oooh, wanna bet I can do it faster?"
She arched an eyebrow. "You'll lose."
"Remember the last time you bet against me?"
"Yeah, you sucker punched me into treating you for lunch."
Jason grinned and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her midriff. "Mhmmm. As I recall, you very much enjoyed that sucker punch."
She bit her lip, saying nothing. He leaned in and nibbled on her neck. Kara squeaked softly and abruptly removed his hands.
"Nope, not now."
Jason's eyebrows shot up.
Her face was flushed. "We get that started, and we'll never unpack. Plus…" she blushed even darker, "there are some things your parents would kill me for."
It took him a nanosecond or so to figure out what she meant, at which point his eyes tripled in size and he blushed from head to toe. "Y-Yeah, no, that's—that's not uh…not happening." He cleared his throat and tugged at the collar of his tee. "Gosh, it's hot in here."
A fierce gust of wind hit him dead in the face, along with a wintry chill that quickly cooled him down. Kara was standing there, eyes smiling as she blew his way. She grinned ear to ear and tossed him a bottle.
"Need some water with that thirst?" she teased.
"Ha ha," he deadpanned.
He drank the bottle anyway.
"Now come on," Kara whined. "The sooner we're done, the sooner we can relax." She effortlessly lifted her new mattress. "And I dunno about you, but I think this bed looks really good for cuddling." She motioned her head vaguely toward something. "And that couch. And this carpet…"
Kara trailed off as she hauled the bed to another room.
Jason slapped a hand over his eyes as soon as she was out of sight, slowly dragging it down his face. That girl was going to be the death of him, he swore. Given his parents' renewed overprotectiveness, he'd had a difficult time convincing them to let him help Kara move on his own. That or they were worried about what might happen if those two were alone together. He'd only managed to finagle them into it by saying they'd hire movers to help them unpack instead of flying everything there. Not…technically false. He just neglected to mention that they'd be doing all the actual organizing alone, away from prying eyes.
He was gonna catch hell if they ever found out the truth. Oh, who was he kidding? Dad already knew, of that much he was certain. The firm look he'd given Jason right before departure was proof enough of that. Jason silently griped to himself. He was fifteen, almost sixteen, doing college-level work and stopping wars in his spare time. Hadn't he earned a little good faith?
On reflection, yes, he supposed that was why Bruce had let him go at all.
"Also, lunch after!" Kara called from her bedroom.
That got Jason moving. Within moments, the apartment was a mess of blurry afterimages and crisscrossing gusts of wind. Every box and piece of furniture they'd hauled in was unpacked and set up within minutes, and only because Kara had to debate where to put a few bits. The few boxes that were left were mostly extra decorations that would take her a lot longer to decide on, so they decided to save that for later.
Kara pushed her glasses up her nose as they exited the building hand in hand. She glanced up at him with a grin, leaning into his arm.
"Y'know the great part about winter?" she asked softly.
Jason smirked. "You can use the cold as an excuse to cuddle?"
Kara giggled and wrapped her arms around his, using his shoulder as a headrest. He reached over with his free hand and adjusted her beanie so it fit a little better. It had started flurrying as they started hauling boxes in. Now it was properly storming, which meant a periodic stream of plow trucks moving by, pushing snow off the road.
"Oh, there's this really cute place nearby I wanted to check out."
"Lead the way," he said.
A frown creased his lips when she wasn't looking. He glanced down at his left hand, bereft of a glove for the moment. A week ago, he'd awoken in half a panic after that dream and there they were: the runes that had broken through Zeus' barriers and freed his powers. He still didn't know how they worked, but clearly distress had something to do with it. They'd shown up when Cass was about to get her chest crushed, and then again when he dreamt of that bastard's golden eyes…
Or maybe it was something else entirely. He'd seen Kara's face first.
His research on Themyscira had revealed nothing about them. Any magical knowledge he'd found regarding runes had to do with physical totems, not…vanishing holographic tattoos. He just wished he'd been able to get a snapshot of them while they were active. If he knew what they said, he might be able to figure out how to control them.
Kara pushed the door open, ushering him into a small café with pleasantly dim lighting. The storm gave the place a little extra glow from the sunlight reflecting off the snow. One look at the menu told Jason this place specialized in sandwiches. He absently perused the list, a little lost in his careening thoughts. He ordered practically on reflex a minute or two later, glancing over to see Kara on her phone.
Jason sighed and nodded to her. "College stuff?"
She nodded. "Trying to get email set up and everything. This system is a little ridiculous."
Jason hummed absently and glanced out the window when a faint chill crept down his spine. There, a dark silhouette stood out against the white backdrop of the snowfall, no features, no form really. One look sent every defensive instinct in his body on overdrive. He knew it was watching them. How nobody else on the street noticed this creeper was anyone's guess—or maybe they knew enough to stay well away.
"Clara," he said softly. "Don't look now, but we're being watched from the street."
She frowned and glanced at him. "Paparazzi?"
"Could be," he said dubiously. "I'm gonna go have a look. Follow me out in thirty seconds."
"Okay."
He leaned in and pecked her cheek, then turned for the door as if he were going outside for some air. Immediately, the silhouette started to move toward a nearby alley. Jason followed at its heels—or whatever it was using to move. Aside from its presence alone, the figure was almost impossible to make out, as if he were looking at it through a diffraction screen—and it wasn't the snowfall. Jason's hand dipped into an inner pocket of his jacket, fingers curling around his collapsed sword as he followed it into the alley.
As soon as he rounded the corner, he flicked the switch on the sword, expanding it to full length.
There was nothing there. Jason stared at the empty alley for a moment or two, eyes panning side to side, until he glanced behind him. Nothing. Sighing hard, Jason collapsed the sword and put it away, mentally counting down thirty seconds. He felt a touch on his arm and snapped halfway around before everything went dark.
…
As soon as Kara's mental countdown reached zero, she sped-walked toward the alley and cursed herself for not keeping a constant eye on him through the walls. He was gone without a trace. Immediately, she called him. A faint vibration came from a thick pile of snow. Kara stiffened and bent over to pick up his dropped phone. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned it for fingerprints or foreign DNA. Nothing but Jason. Her head tilted slightly, hearing stretching outward, searching for any abnormal air currents or signs of struggle.
If he'd been taken, no way he'd go without a fight.
Nothing out of the ordinary. So either he'd been clocked out quietly enough to avoid even her senses, or—
Her eyes widened in horror.
Janus?
Kara's gaze darted around, searching in every direction as she started to panic. She shut her eyes tightly and took a breath. "Okay," she whispered, "calm down, just…he would've planned for this." She chuckled nervously. "Because he's a little paranoid like that."
Suddenly, something caught her nose: a faint trace of something metallic—and foreign enough to stand out even in the middle of Manhattan. It took her a bit to figure out why it was so familiar. Then she remembered where she'd smelled it: first in the Batcave at the Waynes' Christmas party, then in Qurac during the border battle.
Nth-metal.
Kara closed her eyes, fine-tuning her senses to it. A scent that distinctive would show up for miles. Granted, it was still a longshot. If Janus had grabbed him, he could be anywhere on the planet. Snatching Cass and Jason in Singapore had proven his range. Shoving that thought away, she focused and took in a deep breath. And there it was, a long distance off, near the edge of the city limits. Her eyes snapped open as she smirked.
Never before had she been so glad her boyfriend was so paranoid. Because of course he kept his sword on him. Kara backed further into the alley, scanning the area for any prying eyes. Then she folded up her glasses and pressed a key on her watch. She became little more than an indistinct blur for a second or two. When she fell still, she was encased from the neck down in Kryptonian nanotech, deep red cloak flowing in the cold wind. In the blink of an eye, she took to the skies, zeroing in on the trace's location with arms outstretched.
She used her telescopic vision to scope the place out while she was still miles off. It looked like an industrial park, and abandoned at that. There were no notable heat signatures in the immediate area, no voices, no signs of life. Rusted machinery and rotted pallets were scattered everywhere. Could just have been one breadcrumb on the trail, so she quickly closed the distance and hovered just off the ground. She was right on top of the scent. No sign of Jason or the sword anywhere. Frowning, Kara closed her eyes and focused again.
There was another source nearby, stronger this time, coming from one of the larger buildings. She took off toward it, hearing a faint whistle from inside—too regular and tonal to be the wind. Tightening her jaw, she opted for shock and awe. Supergirl slammed through the doors fists-first, scanning the massive open room for movement or any signs of life. The only thing she found was Jason's collapsed sword sitting on the concrete floor in the very center of the room. Cautiously, she approached it and knelt down to scoop it up.
Kara swallowed as she clipped it to her belt, looking through the walls and floor.
Then she felt arms loop around her from behind and giggled as she was lifted off the ground.
Wait, what?
She blinked, and the warehouse was gone. So was the snow and overcast sky—and New York City. It was bright and sunny and she was giggling up a storm, all the while plagued by awful paradoxical feelings of contentment and alarm.
"Stop it!" she laughed, weakly swatting at the arms holding her.
"Make me," a male voice chuckled.
That wasn't Jason.
No, she recognized this voice all too well—the smoothness, unnatural lilt and flanged tone.
"Brainy!" she protested.
He laughed. "All right, all right."
Slowly, her feet touched the ground and a warm touch fluttered across her neck. Kara sighed and leaned into it, craning her neck to give him better access. She looked up and outward, noticing her surroundings properly for the first time. This was New York, just not hers. Everything was glittery and contoured and massive, built at a scale no modern architect could ever hope to produce. Kara's hands gently laid atop his as she leaned back into him.
"How long can I stay?" she asked softly.
"Not long enough," he murmured against her ear.
Her smile faded. "I wish…"
"I know, but rules are rules, Kara."
She snorted and glanced over her shoulder. She could only see part of his shoulder. "Oh yeah, because you're Mr. Straight-Laced."
"Hey, if the Legion yanks my ring, you lose your way home."
Finally, she managed to turn around and face him properly, placing her hands on his chest. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Kara looked up and saw his pale green features, his wide, inquisitive green eyes—and the red tri-dot symbol on his forehead.
His green skin darkened slightly as he cleared his throat. "Tempting as that is, I know you don't mean that. We both have responsibilities—"
Her grin faded. "Querl, can you, for once in your life, not be a twelfth-level buzzkill?"
Immediately, Brainiac-5's mouth clamped shut. He smiled ruefully. "One of us has to be, or we'd never get anything done."
She tapped his lips with her index. "Not true. Even Batman finally learned how to be both responsible and fun."
Querl arched a skeptical eyebrow.
Her eyes rolled. "Okay, maybe not fun, but not a total stick in the mud either."
"And I'm not!" he protested.
"Says the man whose mind is constantly preoccupied by work."
Querl smirked and leaned in close. "I'm a twelfth-level intellect, Kara. I can multitask."
He pecked her lips playfully. Kara grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in deeper as she closed her eyes.
No.
A sob rose in the back of her throat, startling herself as much as Brainy. The gleaming skyline and clear skies fizzled and blurred.
Stop it.
"Kara?" Querl—no, that's not him—asked worriedly. "Kara, what's wrong?"
Get out!
She closed her eyes and thrashed her head side to side. She could still hear his voice, smell the metallic aftertaste of his implants.
"Kara, talk to me!"
"You're not him!" she screamed.
This memory—she remembered now—was almost a year old. Querl Dox was gone. He left. She moped about it with Stephanie for days over ice cream and alien beer. The last date she'd been on was with—
Her hand dropped to her waist, fingers wrapped around the hilt of the collapsed sword. Kara activated the switch and roared as she slashed in front of her, keeping her eyes closed. There was no scream, no ping of metal on metal or warping of metal on the forcefield Brainy always kept on a hair trigger. Just an empty swoosh. Finally, Kara dared to open her eyes. She was back in the warehouse, alone. A hard, ragged sigh left her lungs as she knelt and leaned on the sword.
"What the hell?" she whispered breathlessly. Her sharp blue eyes snapped up, looking in every direction. She raised her voice to a shout. "That was a cheap move, whoever you are!"
Kara collapsed the sword and stood up.
"Cheap, eh?"
She froze, immediately trying to pinpoint the source of the taunting voice. Something about it was a little too familiar for all the wrong reasons.
"Well I ain't ever been so insulted in my life."
Then all at once, she recognized that jaunty accent and rolled her eyes hard. "Mxyzptlk," she groaned.
A tiny, mostly-bald man with a pudgy gut and crooked top hat popped into existence in front of her with a none-too-happy expression. "That's Mister Mxyzptlk to you, missy."
Mister Mxyzptlk was a phenomenally irritating imp from the fifth dimension possessed of near-infinite power and an unhealthy obsession with Kal-El. Over the years, he'd been responsible for numerous pranks and practical jokes of a progressively grander scale—with the danger to match. Fortunately, Superman had stopped him every time, but only ever by outwitting and tricking him into saying his own name backwards. However, everything that happened up to that point was pure chaos.
Supergirl crossed her arms. "What do you want, Mxy? I am really not in the mood for this today."
"Oh?" He floated and whizzed around her in circles. "Got somethin' better to do?"
"As a matter of fact, I'm supposed to be having a nice, relaxing day with my boyfriend—who you kidnapped."
"Mhm, and there's the problem."
Her brows furrowed as she looked at him over her shoulder. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Mxyzptlk tapped his nose with his index. "You got a secret, toots. Somethin' you're keepin' from that good ol' lad."
Her eyes narrowed.
The little man smirked and leaned his head back on his hands as he reclined midair. "Time to play a game, Supergirl. You like games, right?"
She didn't give him the satisfaction of an answer.
He waved dismissively. "Ah, what am I sayin'? 'Course you like games. Who doesn't?" He grinned slowly, "sitting" up as it were. "Yeah…this is gonna be a riot."
In the blink of an eye, Kara snapped her hand out, snagging him by the throat. It took her a millisecond to realize her prisoner wasn't fighting back. Mainly so because it was a wooden Mxyzptlk doll he'd swapped himself with. Tightening her jaw, she crushed its head with a squeeze of her hand. Mocking laughter echoed through the empty warehouse.
"Time for a little walk down memory lane, blondie. Why don't we go back to the beginning? All the way back."
Kara waited ten seconds in utter silence. She stretched her senses and looked in all directions. Nothing.
"Damn," she muttered.
Much as she hated the whole situation, the only way out was to play along. Kal had discovered that the hard way when he first became Superman. So she would play along. For now.
Back to the beginning? What was that supposed to mean?
Kara paced and started thinking aloud. "'All the way back…'" Her brows furrowed. "Home? Argo City?" Her head shook. "No, Argo went up with Krypton." She sat on a large, overturned spool. "The beginning…beginning here on Earth?" Her features shifted. "The crash site—Gotham Harbor."
Supergirl took off, a loud crack sounding in her wake as she careened across the tristate area at supersonic speed.
…
The moment Gotham's skyline was in sight, she zeroed in on the bay, peering beneath the water. To her mild surprise, she could still see the impact crater of where her ship had landed years ago after decades adrift in space. Kara dove sharply, thrusting both arms out, hands open. She shot through the water like a torpedo, leaving a cascade of ripples in her wake. Hopefully nobody saw that and posted it on social media. The last thing she needed right now was a call from Bruce Wayne.
The closer she got to the impact site, the more worried she got. There was nothing there except the divot that once held her ship, and even that was only barely visible under the layers of sediment and debris that had accumulated. She brushed her hand against the crater's edge and blinked.
The muffled roar of a boat engine reached her ears through the wall of the selfsame vehicle. She barely cast a glance backward and winced as a sharp ringing pierced her ears. Her hands tightened around the boat's controls. She blinked and looked down when she heard a faint crunch. The yoke was compressed beneath her fingers. What was this thing made of, paper?
Suddenly, the engine sputtered and flared, and the dashboard flashed red instead of its pale blue. Strange characters she didn't recognize scrolled across the screen. The vessel turned sharply, ignoring her careful tugs on the yoke. She pulled a little harder, and the controls tore off their mountings. The boat slowly came to a stop at the edge of a pier, its top hatch opening to reveal a strange, armored creature, wing-like fabric pooling around its feet. She had a moment to stare before remembering her current state of undress and shouting at it while attempting to cover up.
Its eyes never drifted below hers, and when it spoke, it was like a growling dog. It might as well have been a dog, for all she could understand it. It knelt on the pier and slowly reached out toward her. On instinct, she slapped its hand away, surprised when the hit threw it completely off-balance and dumped it into the water. She clasped both hands over her mouth, then leapt from the vehicle and took off running. Everything streaked by in a blur until she paused by a building to catch her breath. It was night here, so the shadows concealed her for a time.
The quiet crunch of boots on snow reached her ears, snapping her head around toward three approaching figures in heavy coats.
{Help me,} she said softly, raising her voice when they didn't seem to hear her. {I don't know what's happening.}
They stared at her, confused. Unlike that creature, their eyes drifted plenty. One had this little smirk as he reached out for her. Her hand snapped up like lightning, squeezing his hand until it was bent backwards. He screamed and stumbled away as one of the others charged her with some kind of metal pipe. She threw her hands up on instinct and braced for impact. A loud screech filled the air as it was bent in half. Both her and the assailant stared at it briefly.
Then she put both palms against his chest and pushed.
He flew thirty feet into a stack of wooden pallets. The third man held both hands up and slowly backed away, eyes wide. She was breathing harder by the second, looking down at her hands. Her eyes widened when she saw through the skin, through the muscle, all the way to the bone. She looked up at the retreating man to see the outline of his skeleton—and a metal object he was reaching for. A moment later, he had it pointed at her head. Nothing about this place looked familiar, but she recognized a gun when she saw one. Before she could move or even shout, a whistle carried through the air from the direction of the water.
The man yelped as the gun was knocked from his hand, whirling toward the source of the assault. He screamed in sheer terror. A black blur tackled him a moment later. Sickening cracks of bone filled the air for several seconds, the sight alone stunning her into silence. Slowly, the creature rose to his feet and turned toward her. Then she looked a little closer, beneath the surface, and realized he was a man just like the others—or at least appeared that way. Dark blue eyes peered at her from behind the mask, briefly glancing down.
She swallowed and backed up a step. His hands reached up toward his shoulders and something clicked at his touch. The black cloak fell into his arms as he approached her. He held it out and opened his mouth.
{Take it.}
Her eyes widened at his heavily accented growl. Cautiously, she reached out and took the fabric. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt, light and remarkably tough. She quickly threw it around her shoulders. Its volume concealed her shorter form well.
{You speak Kryptonian?} she asked.
{Calling someone who speaks better,} he answered choppily, tapping something on his gauntlet.
A supersonic crack sounded from above. Moments later, a man in red and blue descended from the sky, landing next to the man in black.
They conversed in this world's strange language for a moment or two before the man in blue turned to her with wide eyes. He took a slow step toward her, hands out calmingly.
{Take it easy,} he said. {You're safe. What's your name?}
She pursed her lips and hesitated a moment. {I'm…Kara Zor-El, of the House of—} that was when she noticed the red-gold symbol on his chest, {—El.}
If she thought his eyes had been wide before, she was wrong.
He stared at her, mouth agape, for just a moment before his entire face broke into the biggest grin she'd ever seen. He put a hand on his chest. {Kal-El.}
It was her turn to stare. {You're Uncle Jor and Aunt Lara's kid; I-I thought you were a baby!}
Kal laughed and held her shoulders briefly before pulling her into a tight hug. He was so much taller and broader than her, it would've been intimidating if he weren't so gentle. And when next he spoke, she couldn't help hearing the slight shake in his voice.
{I thought I was the only one…}
He released her and turned to his friend, speaking to him briefly. The man's eyebrows shot upward briefly before he turned his gaze to her with a deadpan look. She didn't need to understand his language to hear the annoyance in his reply—or see how his eyes rolled as he walked away.
Kal chuckled. {Don't worry about Bruce. He's like that with everyone.} He grinned down at her and threw his arm around her shoulder, half-hugging her. {Welcome home, Kara.}
She blinked, and suddenly she was back at the bottom of the bay in broad daylight. Kara frowned and blinked several times. Was the debris always arranged like that? It spelled something in Kryptonian.
{Didn't take long to meet your Harbinger, did it?}
Unlike last time, Mxy's clue didn't take long at all to figure out. Her jaw clenched. Nevertheless, she took to the skies and headed straight for the ocean.
…
A while later, she penetrated Themyscira's protective bubble and descended toward the main barracks, looking for one of her old sparring partners. She saw Artemis moments before the redhead saw her.
"Kara!" Artemis called as she descended. "You've been gone a long time!"
Artemis pulled her into a tight hug and clapped her on the back.
Kara smiled a little. "Yeah, I uh…"
Artemis punched her in the arm, hard. "You left without saying goodbye."
She winced and rubbed her arm. "Sorry. I uh…didn't really feel like staying after what happened to Jason."
Artemis frowned. "Yes, I heard about that…" she smirked, "and your little dalliance."
Kara rolled her eyes.
"So much for 'guy trouble,'" she said with a grin.
"Actually, that's kinda why I'm here."
Artemis immediately scowled. "Where is he?"
"No-no, I mean—he's been taken."
Her features softened. "My question stands."
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be here." Kara sighed and frowned. "Look, I need to know where you put Lyla's things after…"
Artemis' eyes sobered. "In a place of honor, as all Amazons should be." She nodded toward a nearby hill. "Come."
Kara followed her closely, heart growing heavier with every step. She knew exactly where they were headed, had known from the jump what Mxy's message had been referring to: Lyla Michaels, the Harbinger, a metahuman with the ability to see the future and an Amazon by training.
Minutes later, Kara was standing inside a massive circular cavern, the walls lined with receptacles and cubbies. Within those spaces were clay urns decorated with the exploits of the Amazons whose ashes lay within. Painted on the one she now stood before was a circular portal serving as the backdrop of a bulky figure with no features and blazing red eyes.
And an Omega symbol stamped on his chest.
He stood over two blonde women, one laying on her back in the water, the other standing between them, sword out. Kara swallowed a lump as she brushed her fingertips over the one standing guard.
The acrid stench of flames and ash filled her nostrils.
"No," she said shakily, "I don't want to see this."
Memories flashed through her head—the Themysciran waterfront, the sounds of distant battle, the shock of several massive impacts all over her body. The snarling countenances of the Furies as they beat her unconscious. She wasn't even awake to witness Lyla's murder or fight back as they dragged her back through the boom tube. When next she awoke, it was to a relentless litany of tortures, mental and physical. Arguably the worst was being forced to look into his eyes without blinking.
She counted herself lucky that Darkseid's brainwashing had spared her the memory of trying to kill her cousin.
Kara growled and shook her head violently, trying to throw off the visions. Yet there was still one left to see: the fields of bodies, Amazons who gave their lives trying to defend her. She fell to her knees, shaking violently.
"Kara?"
A gentle touch landed on her shoulder.
"Kara, what's really going on?"
She blinked rapidly, verifying that Mxy's trick was done and over with. Kara swallowed and stood up, gently brushing off Artemis' hand. She sighed and reclined against a wall, then launched into a short version of the day.
Artemis' features steadily tensed over the course of the story. "We need to alert the queen."
Kara's head shook. "There's nothing she can do. Mxyzptlk is on a whole different level. He makes your gods look like kids playing in a sandbox."
"She deserves to know that her grandson—"
"Art, please."
Artemis stared at her, lips pursed.
"The more people know about this, the more complicated and chaotic it gets. I know how Mxy operates. Please just…just let me handle this."
The Amazon's jaw clenched. "Fine. But you owe me."
Kara smiled and patted her shoulder. "Thanks, red."
Artemis nodded. "Now what?"
She frowned at Lyla's burial urn. "I'm not sure. He left clues behind at the other two sites, but I don't see—"
Kara stopped short and glanced at a pattern of Greek lettering in the dust. She mentally translated it as "home."
"Home?" Artemis asked.
Kara swallowed hard. "Kansas. The Kent farm."
"What would he show you there?"
Kara felt a chill travel down her spine. "Considering the trend so far, I have a few ideas."
…
As soon as she touched down on the farm, Jonathan ran out to meet her, grinning teasingly.
"Yo, Aunt Kara, you forget something?"
Kara's brows knitted. "Jon, can you keep a secret from your mom?"
He stared at her blankly.
She sighed and stepped past him toward the barn. "Yeah, didn't think so."
Jon frowned. "I seem to remember you being excited to spend a whole day with your boyfriend."
Her jaw clenched. "I was."
He blinked. "Oh…need me to hold him down?"
Kara whirled toward him and threw her hands up in exasperation. "Why does everyone keep assuming he did something wrong?!"
Jon stared at her wide-eyed.
Her eyes slipped shut as she rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry. This…it's not your fault."
"What isn't?"
Kara swallowed. "Remember Mxyzptlk?"
Jon flinched.
"He took Jason."
"Oh." Jon slumped against a wall of the barn. "Oh."
"Now I need to find something on the farm that'll give me the next clue. He keeps…projecting old memories into my head, stuff from my past that's happened at each location."
Jon frowned crookedly and paced around. "Well, you've lived here for years. Could be anything."
"That's the thing. These memories, they usually…most of them have been painful."
The teen tapped his foot on the ground, thinking for a bit. "Well, there was that one time you, Dad, and Darkseid wrecked the whole farm."
Her head shook slowly. "Yeah, the whole farm, not any one item or area in particular."
"Well, the only other thing I can think of is…"
Kara turned to Jon, finding him pale. Her eyes widened. "The Olympus War. What would've been left behind that's still here?"
He thought for a bit, swallowed, and turned toward the house. "Mom's shell casings."
She turned toward the porch and narrowed her eyes, searching for—there they were, sitting a few inches beneath the grass. It took her a few seconds to dig them up: two large metal casings, partially rusted over. She hesitantly reached out and touched them.
Pain exploded all over her body as the lightning surged over every inch. She couldn't move at all as she was pummeled into the ground. The blows only stopped coming when she stopped moving. A ragged groan came from her throat as the pressure on her chest suddenly eased up. Furious shouts came from her assailant—in two voices. Slowly, she opened the eye that wasn't swollen shut to see Superboy viciously yanking on the large man's neck in a rear naked choke.
Through the haze of pain and disorientation, some of the pieces began to return. They'd been having dinner when Kal stepped out to check on something. Then out of nowhere, the main barn had exploded with him inside. She'd run outside to investigate when Superman flew up out of the wreckage, grappling with someone she didn't recognize at first. Then memories of her training on Themyscira returned, and she remembered the immortal aesthetic of the Old Gods.
Then been promptly tackled by the fused forms of Deimos and Phobos. Twin sons of Ares, their unique birth conditions allowed them to fuse body and soul and multiply their power exponentially. It was with this power that "Deibos" easily overpowered her and Jon in Kal's absence. Or perhaps that was the exponentially increased aura of fear they exuded. She was a half-step slow, more hesitant in her strikes, and they took advantage of that to lay on heavy damage as quickly as possible.
Summoning swords and magical lightning, the twins batted her and Jon around like pinballs, using their magical vulnerability to practically toy with them. Until Kara managed to land a lucky hit that snapped a tooth from their shared form. Then all bets were off. Now, she used every scrap of strength she had to try and climb to her feet. Jon cried hoarsely as he was slammed against a tractor, caving it in. Deibos threw him to the ground, then pounded him with the tractor's carcass, over and over and over.
They threw the misshapen hunk of metal aside and kicked Jon in the ribs. He coughed up blood between strikes, desperately trying to get up. Kara could just barely move her fingers. Then she heard a fierce whisper from the house.
"Jon, get down!"
Kara glanced that way to see Lois kneeling on the stoop—with a Kryptonian railgun braced against her shoulder. A faint whine filled the air as Jon threw himself to the ground and curled into a ball. Surprised at this sudden shift, Deibos frowned and furrowed their brows. Then turned toward Lois and stared with wide eyes as she pulled the trigger.
The railgun's barrel flashed. A deafening boom cracked the air.
And suddenly, Deibos was staring at the cauterized stump where their arm and half their chest used to be. They slowly looked back up at Lois, staring in shock as she pumped the weapon, ejecting a massive shell. Another whine filled the air. Another boom.
The bastards' head and upper shoulders vanished an instant later.
Lois exhaled a sigh of relief and stood up, making her way to her son. "Jon? Jon! Are you—"
"Deimos!" someone shrieked desperately.
Lois stopped short and snapped her head to the side.
There stood Phobos, staring at what was left of his brother after their separation. He bared his teeth and snarled at Lois. "Bitch!"
She hefted the railgun and pumped another shell.
Phobos hurled a dagger at her. She threw her weapon up on reflex, barely deflecting the dagger. Lois screamed and collapsed to her knees as the ricocheting blade sliced through her upper shoulder. Phobos' right hand clenched into a fist, fragments of metal flying up to form a jagged sword. He lunged at her as she charged the railgun and tried to hip-fire it. Phobos' sword slashed her gun in half. He immediately slashed the other way to decapitate her.
Phobos stopped mid-swing.
His head turned slowly to see Kara's hand gripping his wrist. He bared his teeth as the sizzle of electricity filled the air, his other hand snapping toward her. Kara used her other hand to twist his empty hand's wrist before he could shoot her. They struggled for a brief moment before Kara roared and blasted him in the face with her heat vision.
Phobos shrieked as his helmet melted into his skin, thrashing around in a rage. Supergirl swept in behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his chest. Then she took off and flew straight up, fighting his struggles the whole way.
"Piss—off!" she roared.
Then promptly punted him into the vast reaches of space.
Kara's eyes opened, and she swallowed as she stopped touching the ejected shell casings. Frowning, she picked one up and turned it so she saw the back side. Etched into the rim were the words "your Brain skedaddled here."
She froze and stiffened. She understood exactly what it meant. It was just about the last place she wanted to go, for so, so many reasons.
"I," she croaked softly, "I gotta go."
Jon frowned and crossed his arms. "Sure you don't want me to call Dad?"
Kara nodded. "I'm sure. Thanks, though."
She stood and prepared to take off, but Jon's voice stopped her.
"For the record, Aunt K…"
Kara looked over her shoulder at him.
"…I mean, I'm only speaking for me, but…I think we kinda assume the worst about your boyfriend 'cause of what happened with your last one."
Kara swallowed hard, trying to banish the chill that passed over her arms. "Yeah."
Then she turned away and took off.
…
STAR Labs Metropolis had for years been one of the only reliable sites for medical treatment in extreme situations. Like, say, a Kryptonian being in such a bad way that not even the sun could restore them fast enough. Some months after the Olympus War ended, Parasite attacked STAR Labs in search of a way to prolong his life. He'd finally bitten off more than he could chew, absorbed something he couldn't handle, and it was rapidly killing him. He left a trail of bodies on the way to the lab just to sustain himself.
After threatening the staff, Parasite leveraged the head scientist, Dr. Emil Hamilton, into attempting a procedure that might have been able to save him. It failed. Parasite snapped Hamilton's leg in half in a rage and would've finished the job if not for Conner—Kon-El, the first Superboy and Kal-El's half-human clone. Kal was offworld at the time, and Kara only responded to the sounds of their fight in time to see Parasite standing over Kon's broken body. She'd trapped the bastard in full nelson before he could react and thrown him into a Promethium containment cell on-site. Try as he might, Parasite couldn't escape before his deteriorating condition finally offed him.
But the damage to Kon was already done.
Kal rushed back as soon as he heard the news. Hamilton's crew did everything they could to save Kon. Even their tech couldn't repair the damage, and he wasn't full Kryptonian; his imperfect cloning meant his system didn't absorb sunlight the way Superman did. What none of them knew at the time was the chain of events that led to that tragedy, and how Kara herself was indirectly responsible. Unfortunately for her, someone came along to inform her.
Kara frowned as she strode into the building's lobby, ignoring the brief stares of the lab personnel. They were used to their S-wearing guests' comings and goings. Kara could tell the ones who stared longer were new hires.
"Ms. Zor-El!" someone called from deeper in.
She turned toward them, seeing a man with dark hair and a cheery smile approaching. "Ryan! Hey."
Dr. Ryan Choi, the second Atom, and for years STAR Labs' premier expert on nanotechnology. She reflected with mild amusement that he was only a few inches taller than her. Ryan shook her hand and waved her inside.
"You here to see the boss?" he asked after a while.
Her head shook. "Not exactly." Her face fell. "Hey, you were…you were here, when Kon…"
His cheer faded. "Not for the attack, but after."
"Yeah, I remember. You tried to fix it from inside him."
Ryan frowned and looked down. "I wish it had been that simple."
"Yeah. Do you…have anything preserved from that day? Like, debris or…I don't know."
He looked at her sideways. "I'm not usually one to ask too many questions—"
Kara gave him a look.
Ryan grinned sheepishly. "Okay, not true, but—Kara, what's this about?"
"Look, the less you know, the better. It's a bit…personal."
He frowned grimly and nodded. "Family. I understand."
She said nothing.
He sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't think we kept much around from that day. Most of the gear and samples were unsalvageable, and the debris was nothing special, just ordinary building materials for the most part."
Kara frowned and thought as they walked. She blinked rapidly. "Wait, what about your suit?"
He arched an eyebrow. "I…suppose?"
She held a hand up to calm him. "I don't need to borrow it, just…touch it." She winced. "I think."
Ryan looked skeptical, but nodded, ushering her toward a door with his name on it. As a Leaguer with a public identity, Dr. Choi had the rare option to keep his gear within ready access without having to go to great lengths to keep it hidden. Especially since he had the suit and all its functions bio-encoded seven ways from Sunday. To anyone but him, it was just a wacky-looking accessory. Though, at the moment it was more like an action figure.
Once behind closed doors, Ryan pulled a small box from his pocket and flicked it open, revealing his suit inside—barely three inches long in its shrunken form.
Kara took a deep breath and exchanged a glance with him, then lifted her hand and laid her fingers on the device.
She couldn't see through the haze of tears. Well, honestly, she probably could've if she'd tried. She didn't. Conner's internal organs were failing, and given his unusual biology, there was no viable donor. The only chance they had was to try and clone him a new set, but there was no telling if his body would even accept them. Cloning cloned flesh? There were so many ways that could go wrong, so many more degrees of error added to the mix. Not to mention they'd have to expose him to either heavy amounts of red sunlight or kryptonite just to open him up, and his Kryptonian powers were the only thing keeping him alive.
The Flashes had offered to try phasing his new organs in until a barely-functioning Hamilton listed all the many ways that could—and likely would—backfire. At this point, they had to trust that the surgeons and scientists knew what they were doing and made this one shot count.
Kara released a shuddering breath as she slumped into her seat, head in her hands. Just a minute sooner, a few seconds even, and…
"This wasn't your fault."
Her eyes widened and snapped up, looking through the blur of her tears. Querl Dox was standing in front of her, regret etched into his pale features.
He tilted his head slightly. "I know you, Kara."
She said nothing, just stood up and embraced him tightly. He held her back, just as tight. She didn't ask why he was here.
"I'm so sorry," he said.
Something in his voice threw her off—a faint hint of guilt.
Kara drew back and looked in his eyes. "What do you mean?"
Querl's lips pursed tightly. "Remember the Olympus War, when you asked for my help?"
She nodded and sniffled, wiping her eyes. "The magicians needed that thing, uh…the Element X?"
"That's right. Their ritual required a substance of pure creation to act as a catalyst to restore Diana's abilities."
"Okay, so?"
Querl frowned. "Element X is…symbiotic, alive in its own way."
Kara's eyes widened as she started to put it together. "That's what he absorbed."
He nodded grimly. "But it was raw, unrefined. When Parasite absorbed its power, it twisted him inside, both mentally and physically."
She tensed slightly, sensing an uncomfortable build-up in his voice. "Why are you telling me this?"
Querl paced the room. "The shard that was used to enact the ritual fell into Parasite's hands because I brought it here from the future."
Her blood ran cold.
"And like an idiot, I left it here, thinking it would be safe. Or…not really thinking at all." He sighed and closed his eyes. "I know better than anyone the dangers of time travel. Manipulating the timeline for any reason always has a cost."
Kara's head shook. "You didn't cause this."
"No." He turned to her. "I just facilitated it." Dox swallowed and took her hands in his, staring down at them. "Kara…I love you."
Her eyes tripled in size.
He huffed a humorless laugh. "I think I have for a long time." His head shook slowly. "And that's the problem." He hesitantly met her eyes. "If it comes down to it, and I have to choose between you and my duty as a Legionnaire…I don't know that I'll be able to do the right thing."
Her eyes shut, and she put a hand over his mouth, her voice shaking. "Don't—not now…please?"
He gently removed her hand and tipped her chin up, forcing her to look him in the eye. "If I don't do this now, I may never find the resolve."
Kara swallowed hard, trying to keep from breaking down.
Querl's lips pursed tightly. "You deserve someone who can be with you, through all of this, the good and bad. Someone who can proudly stand by your side until the end." He averted his eyes, shook his head. "And that can't be me. As long as we are together, we will always be pulled in two directions, never truly able to commit to either."
Her breath came raggedly.
"I'm sorry, Kara."
And then, then she broke. Her head fell into his chest, sobs wracking her body hard as the tears just wouldn't stop. He held her, gently smoothing out her hair.
"Kara."
She held on tighter.
"Kara, I have to go."
Slowly, Kara's grip slackened, arms unwinding from around his midsection. It felt like sawing off her own arm. She glanced up at his face as he prepared the Legion ring that would send him back to his time. He wouldn't look her in the eye. Her hands clenched at her sides. She turned away as the time portal opened. Kara only turned back around when the room fell quiet again. And he was gone, like he was never there at all.
Kara stamped down the urge to cry hard.
An effort that failed when Dr. Choi emerged from the operating room and greeted the Kent family with bloody gloves and sullen eyes.
Kara sobbed hard, recoiling from Ryan. She held a hand up to calm him when he approached her, alarmed.
"I-I'm okay." Her shaky voice said otherwise, so she forced it to steady. "I'm okay." She took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Just…a lot."
"What is?" he asked. "You just touched it and started crying."
Kara focused on her breathing, pulling herself together. A quick wipe of the eyes, and no one could tell. "I need to see the suit again, take a closer look."
"Kara—"
"Please, Ryan, I'm running out of time."
Until the moment she said that, Kara hadn't noticed the coiled knot sitting in the pit of her stomach. Yet right there and then, she knew it was the truth. Every memory Mxyzptlk had forced through her head had become more and more recent, and now it was down to less than a year ago.
Hearing the edge in her voice, Ryan sighed and opened the case again.
Kara's eyes narrowed, vision zooming in on the micro-level. Some of the suit's parts were etched with serial numbers. One bore two numbers with three decimal points each—coordinates. She blinked and looked up at Ryan.
Kara nodded. "I got it. Thanks, Ryan."
He arched an eyebrow. "Someday you have to explain this to me."
She smiled. "Yeah."
…
Moments later, she was flying across Metropolis to a construction site on one of the city's partitioned islands. It was inactive at the moment, and thank goodness. She didn't want to have to explain why the site had to be temporarily shut down. The coordinates led her to a mostly-finished room—it looked like a basement, given all the concrete and steel beams. It was high-vaulted and reinforced, but bare. No clues, no signs of life, no significance to her at all.
"Kara?"
Her eyes widened. She whirled around. Standing near the entrance in green and purple was a wide-eyed Brainiac-5.
"Querl?" she breathed, slowly approaching him.
"Kara, what's going on?" Brainy stepped closer, stopping right in front of her.
She stared at him for a second, not even processing the question. Then her jaw tightened.
And she promptly smacked him across the face. Hard. Well, for a human—or Coluan, in his case.
Querl pressed a hand to his cheek, slowly turning his head back toward her.
Kara sighed. "Just had to make sure you weren't another illusion."
He arched an eyebrow. "Yes. I'm sure that's the only reason."
The smack to his other cheek put him through a wall.
Brainiac just sighed as he climbed from the crater, dusting himself off like it was nothing. She'd banked on his forcefield protecting him—correctly, as it happened. Kara didn't move or look his way, just stood there with her arms crossed as he made his way back to her.
She scowled off into the distance for a bit. "Sorry."
"I probably had it coming."
Kara sighed hard and faced him. "Why are you here?"
He frowned and raised his Legion ring into view. "That's a question I'd like answered myself. One second I'm walking around Legion HQ, the next I'm here in your time."
She glanced at the ring. "It's not working, is it?"
His head shook.
Kara rubbed her eyes. "Oh this is a special kind of petty."
"Sorry?"
"Mxyzptlk kidnapped Jason and sent me across the world on this stupid scavenger hunt."
"He must've pulled me here and disabled my ring." Brainiac frowned. "That doesn't bode well."
"Yeah, even your tech can't compensate for his power."
He shrugged. "Debatable." Then he blinked. "Wait…who's Jason?"
Kara froze. Whoops.
"Friend of mine," she said quickly, a little too quickly by the suspicious look on his face. Nope, not igniting that awkwardness, not like this. "I don't know why Mxy took him, but he's been forcing me to relive some of my worst memories ever since, and I'd really like this day to be over now."
Brainy shrugged. "Well, maybe I can help. I'm stuck in this time anyway."
Kara shot him a look. "Thought you said you couldn't interfere in the past."
He definitely detected the edge in her voice. "Well, I can't help it if the past interferes with me."
Her eyes widened. "You're my next clue."
"Exactly." He pulled up a holo-display on his arm. "What can you tell me about Jason? Any identifying markers?"
She frowned. "He has an Nth-metal sword he keeps on him at all times, but…" She pulled it from her belt.
"Mxyzptlk found out how you were tracking him and ditched it."
Kara nodded. "He's part Amazon, if that helps."
Brainy glanced at her with a hint of surprise.
She swallowed slowly. "And Querl…his name is Jason Wayne."
He froze, slowly looking from the hologram to her eyes. He said nothing, just returned to his search. Information sped across the display too fast for even her to fully understand. What little she did see indicated this was data from the future. So she looked away and let him do his thing, nervously tapping her foot against the ground.
"Anything?"
Querl chuckled. "You never did have any patience."
She glared at the back of his head, silently miming a blast of heat vision with her fingers.
"I saw that."
Her eyes rolled.
"Got something," Brainiac said at last.
"Seriously? How?"
"Mxyzptlk's abilities might seem like magic, but they have a scientific component to them. Fifth-dimensional beings give off a unique energy signature whenever they teleport—undetectable to modern technology, but not to mine." Querl projected a map of the U.S. on a concrete wall. "I piggybacked off your satellite system to scan for it. This is what I found."
He swept his hand over the projection, lighting up half a dozen red dots. He pointed up at the brightest one.
"See that?"
Kara nodded.
"That's the most recent one, and Mxyzptlk's likely location. Even if Jason isn't there, he will be."
She sighed and headed for the exit. "Thanks for the help."
"Wait."
Kara stopped short and saw him walking up to her.
"I'm coming with you."
"You did enough with the scan. Just keep trying the ring until—"
"Kara."
She looked away from him.
"What is it you don't want me to find out?"
Kara sighed and shook her head. Better to find out from her. "Jason…isn't just a friend."
His features shifted subtly, voice lowering. "I had a feeling." He took a deep breath. "Then let's go get him back."
Kara swallowed and nodded. "Thank you."
AN: Kara Zor-El is definitely among my top five favorite characters in all of DC. For this arc, I really wanted to delve into her backstory and personality, since I hadn't really had the opportunity for much of that in the first story. That and she has a much bigger role in this one. I needed a way to accomplish all that while making it plot relevant. Enter the 5th-dimension invader.
Mxyzptlk has always been a minor fascination with me since I discovered his first appearance in an old Superman comic. The more I researched about him, the more I realized he was the perfect character for the job—whimsical, basically omnipotent, and absolutely obsessed with the Super family.
This universe's Brainiac-5 is a bit different from most of his comic counterparts, though ultimately not by much. He always struck me as a bit emotionally stunted and socially inept—undoubtedly the consequences, at least in part, of having a ridiculously high intellect. As for his reasoning regarding Kara…well, that's a story for another day.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This arc is something I've wanted to write for a long time. The final part will be coming next week, so stay tuned for that.
Drake out.
Formatting notes:
– Internal Thoughts/Flashback
– "Super-Hearing/Surveillance"
– Telepathy/Divine Speech
– "{Foreign Language}"
– [Text Message]