?
Kara felt far better the next time she woke up. Her body far warmer and relaxed, and her head no longer pounding. She was wrapped in something thin and soft, lying across to her to provide her warmth. Her eyes scrunched as she shifted on the platform she lay upon, fighting back to consciousness. Blinking herself awake, she took in her new surroundings.
Immediately, she could tell she was in some sort of medical ward, the room covered in diagrams of skeletons and medications littering the tables. She rubbed her hands over the platform below her, finding that she had been placed into some sort of bed or sleeping cradle. Before her was a pane of one-way glass, mirroring her and the room around her. Next to it was an industrial door of sorts. But it seemed a bit more primitive than the doors her people used. Said door suddenly slid open with a hiss as a yellow creature stalked in.
Kara watched as the creature froze, noticing she was awake. In its grip was a tray filled with what Kara assumed to be food. In a strange display, it bared its teeth. But not in an aggressive manner, instead it seemed to be trying to calm Kara. Slowly, it made its way around Kara's bed. Its movements were smooth and clearly telegraphed as if it were afraid. As if it wasn't the one with claws and fangs. It settled the tray in Kara's lap and backed away, sending her another eyeful of teeth.
With trepidation, Kara plucked up the metal stick with prongs and stabbed it into the strange, brown block in the center of the tray. She pulled off a portion of the block and brought it up to her lips, only to pause. She sent the creature another suspicious look, but it seemed to be watching her with a gentle and curious look.
Deciding that the creature was probably harmless, Kara bit into the block. Instantly, flavor exploded in her mouth. It was rich and savory, yet also soft as Kara chewed. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
Kryptonian society had long since advanced past requiring flavors and textures for their sustenance. Such factors were deemed to be unnecessary distractions to society as a whole. Instead, their society relied on simple, flavorless bars and fluids to sate their appetites. The only exception was when Kara attended formal events. Then there'd be other foods with utensils provided, but such events were rare.
Kara tore into the block with gusto, devouring the block in a few large bites. She next inhaled the stack of green leaves, which was followed by the orange cylinders. Both were filled with flavor, the leaves tasting slightly bitter while the orange cylinders crunched under her bite. She only paused when she reached the final item on her plate.
It was red and jiggled slightly whenever she moved the tray. She leaned down for a closer look and found that the red object was slightly translucent. Slowly, she brought the pointed stick forward and poked the red thing, making it jiggle and bounce.
"?"
Kara rocked back and had her gaze snap back toward the creature, who was still watching her attentively. Its lips parted and it repeated the strange series of chirps and growls. Belatedly, Kara realized it was speaking to her.
"I don't understand you," Kara answered in Kryptonian, but it seemed the creature hadn't understood her either. Its face shifted in confusion and it spoke again,
"?"
This time, however, the creature wasn't looking at her. Instead, its gaze was directed toward the roof above them. Kara opened her mouth to ask it a question, but then a new voice echoed into the room.
"?" It spoke, mimicking the chirps and growls of the creature. Said creature then nodded in what appeared to be understanding before catching Kara's gaze once more. It flashed its teeth again and seemed to be speaking to her once more.
"?" It jabbered, probably trying to soothe her.
Kara swept her gaze up and down its body, both silently judging and making connections in her mind. It was muscular, that was for sure, but also somewhat shapely. Its form seemed to tilt towards the more feminine side of things. Its teeth and claws marked it as some sort of predator, but its actions and clothes spoke of a higher intelligence. It also resembled her people but seemed as if it may have been altered. Yet still, Kara was struggling to categorize what type of alien was before her. Perhaps it was a new species?
Kara's attention was then stolen away as another hiss announced the entry of another individual.
This one was tall, far taller than either of them. At first, Kara thought it to be some sort of mech, with all the metal crisscrossing across its form. But she swiftly buried that thought when she noticed there were no visible joints or motors. Instead, it was just a seamless, black bodysuit that lay underneath the sections of metal. Knowing this, she reexamined the being.
The closest comparison she could make as to how it looked was to some of her peoples' next generation of war-mechs. Big and bulky, but also somehow slim enough to thrive in all environments. If memory serves, those mechs were likened to be closer to tanks and other armored vehicles than that of people.
She narrowed her eyes to try and make out some of the finer details of his armor and was shocked when her vision shifted. Her vision pierced through the being's armored form, revealing the flesh and skeleton of the being buried within.
Initially, she panicked, a spike of horror traveling down her spine. But her curiosity quickly overrode this terror, screaming at her to find out all she could of where she now was.
The figure's skeleton and organs weren't all that dissimilar to her own. But its bones and organs seemed to be overlaid with technology and genetic tampering. She panned her gaze to the yellow creature and found a matching skeleton and organs. There were only minor differences in the teeth and the addition of a tail. Genetic modification perhaps?
Quietly, Kara continued to look about the room, taking in the sights between the walls and hallways.
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Grim set his jaw as he watched the girl glance about the room. Phoebe had placed her age to be between fourteen and sixteen based on human measurements. But she could easily be a few centuries older. Her counterpart had been annoyingly closed-lipped about his origins and biology when it came to the media. It was somewhat ironic considering the numerous articles detailing his potential relationship with a reporter.
"What has she said so far?" He asked Barbara.
"I have no idea. It's not any sort of dialect or language I've heard before. But that's probably to be expected considering she's from outer space." Barbara shrugged.
"Phoebe?" Grim shifted. Maybe she had stumbled on something or the girl's counterpart had provided something to help them communicate. Unfortunately, Phoebe didn't have anything to add when she answered,
"Sorry, Smiles, but I've got nothing. Her language is unlike anything on earth and her counterpart has only given Star-Labs permission to dig into his ship and its files."
"Then hack into Star-Labs."
"Oh! I didn't think of that. Silly me, I forgot I was an AI. Let me just… Oh, wait! I already tried that, and the data is stored on an isolated system in a highly classified section of the lab!" Phoebe explained sarcastically.
"Understood." Grim conceded flatly, making Barbara snort as she held back a smirk.
"So it looks like we're doing this the old-fashioned way… Charades." Phoebe finished for the group.
"Or we could drop her off with Superman," Barbara suggested. Only for Grim to shoot that down a second later.
"No, too dangerous."
"Dangerous how? The man's done nothing but help people since he appeared. I don't think he even swears." Barbara questioned.
"Too many unknowns," Phoebe answered for the Spartan. Barbara cast a quizzical look towards the ceiling, silently pleading with the AI to explain further.
"Look. Where we come from, aliens aren't exactly friendly." Phoebe started. "Our first contact with extraterrestrial life resulted in the firing off of the first salvos of what would become a decades-long war."
"Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments," Grim interjected without explanation.
"What?" Barbara asked, now turning back to the Spartan.
"Grim is referring to the first and only diplomatic communication the UNSC would receive from the aliens prior to them invading and then subsequently glassing the planet of Harvest," Phoebe explained.
"Glassing?" Barbara inquired. She had never heard of such a word being used before in warfare.
"High orbit, high energy, plasma bombardment. Meant to boil a planet's oceans and reduce its landmass to rubble. Highly effective and far too efficient. Once completed, a planet's surface would be made up of superheated, fused metals and minerals. Resulting in a glossy and glass-like appearance, hence it was called glassing a planet." Grim explained flatly, his voice unwavering.
Barbara felt her blood go cold and her eyes widened.
"How often did the aliens glass your planets?" She stuttered, already knowing she probably wouldn't like the answer.
"Before the war, the UNSC boasted over eight hundred colonies. With ongoing efforts in the outer colonies to expand that number… but after the war, we only have a few dozen colonies left." Phoebe answered the doctor.
"Thirty billion lives lost in thirty years." Grim tacked on.
Barbara physically shuddered as she fought back the bile threatening to rise from the back of her throat. Losses like that were incomprehensible to the doctor. The sheer scale of the fighting was horrific. But Grim and Phoebe were here now and they kept speaking as if the war were over, which meant that there still had to be some people left after all that fighting.
"How much of humanity is left….. where you come from?" Barbara questioned. She was immediately met with two differing answers.
"Classified."
"A little over the current population of Earth in this reality."
Grim turned his stare from the girl on the bed and leveled it on the ceiling above them. Barbara could only imagine his glare behind his visor. Phoebe, seeing the Spartan's questioning glare, spoke.
"Exact figures are classified but publicly available data is not." She justified, causing the Spartan to silently huff indignantly. But Barbara had more pressing concerns.
"But you won… right? You wouldn't be talking about it like it were in the past if not." She asked, feeling sicker by the second.
"We survived," Phoebe answered. "There's a huge difference."
Barbara felt herself go pale, the air around her chilling once more as the AI's words washed over her. She looked over towards Grim, struggling to picture any conventional threat that could rival him or his abilities. He was a walking tank in her mind, but he moved with a speed that left any normal human struggling to keep up. To be told that their humanity had only survived, with soldiers like him… was terrifying. Not to mention the self-aware AI that seemed more lively and alive than the walking tank that accompanied her.
"So is your war over then?" Barbara strangled out.
"In a way." Grim answered dismissively as he turned back to the young girl.
"ONI doesn't like to let sleeping dogs lie. Especially if the dog hasn't been defanged." Phoebe expanded. "Which is why we're a bit hesitant to let this one roam free."
"She's just a kid!" Barbara protested. She was met with only silence as the two UNSC members continued to observe the girl before them.
"Seriously?!" Barbara continued, flabbergasted.
"We don't take chances." Grim answered for the two of them.
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Kara ignored the ongoing conversation before her, their words flying back and forth too fast for her to make any sense of them. Instead, she was focused on the strange engine that was mounted deeper into the craft. It seemed to glow a light cyan blue and had a large circular component that never seemed to stop spinning. Behind the engine was what she assumed to be the power source of the craft. It seemed to be some sort of primitive fusion reactor, but it must have been damaged if the large dents and holes were to be believed.
She narrowed her eyes as she tried to examine one of the reactor's cooling pipes. It appeared to have been severed and would likely need a complete replacement. As she focused, she felt her eyes begin to warm. Initially, she just assumed that she was using her new vision for too long, sort of like a computer overheating. That notion was swiftly proven wrong when the pipe and reactor she had been looking at started to melt. Her eyes whipped between the reactor and surrounding pipes as she tried to stop whatever was happening. In her panic, she cut vast holes into the ship's superstructure and internal subsystems. It was then that a terrified sound echoed out into the room beside her.
Kara's eyes snapped toward the source of the sound and she nearly missed the walking tank diving towards the orange creature. It wrapped the smaller creature in its embrace as a blanket of golden light appeared around him. She quickly realized whatever she was doing was now focused on them, so she pulled her hands up to cover her eyes. This only succeeded in splitting the beams as heat escaped through the openings between her fingers and hands. Heat filled the room and alarms began to blare as the uncontrolled beams tore through the ship, boiling solid metal as if it were little more than butter.
Eventually, Kara began to feel her eyes gradually cool, her energy reserves approaching depletion. The beams lost their power and disappeared, leaving behind the charred remains of their existence. Kara felt herself go light-headed as her ears began to ring. The world spun and she collapsed back onto the bed, unconscious.
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"Grim, we need to move! NOW!" Phoebe called into his helmet over the blaring alarms. Below him, Barbara stared at the unconscious teenager with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Where do you need me?" He asked the AI calmly, far too calmly for the situation at hand.
"In the reactor! We're one bad explosion away from a wildcat destabilization! I need you to move, Spartan!" Phoebe cried, and with that, Grim was off.
He didn't even bother to wait for the medical bay's doors to open, instead he smashed through. Sending the two metal panels flying as he pivoted and rocketed down the hall, pulling on all the speed his suit could provide. He slid and slammed into the bulkhead of the first junction, leaving behind a Spartan-sized dent in the wall as he turned. A similar dent was left in the wall of the next junction, along with a fist-sized hole where he punched into the wall to try and slow himself down. But he had only succeeded in carving a long trench along the wall.
He eventually tore into the reactor room, sliding to a stop before the many consoles and screens. In an instant, his gaze swept over the readings and flashing lights. The data was pouring by too fast for him to comprehend fully, but he understood enough to know that their only option was to initiate the emergency shutdown.
"That lever!" Phoebe called out, highlighting a large handle on his HUD.
Grim dashed toward the lever and slammed it down. He looked up and towards the reactor itself as the emergency shutdown sequence started. In the reactor room, three long pylons slowly began to descend into the reactor below. Just beyond these three pylons, the fourth was struggling to move. Every few seconds it would start lowering itself, only to hit something and abort its attempt.
"Pylon four's been damaged!" Phoebe reported.
"Will the other three be enough to stabilize and terminate the reactor?" Grim questioned.
"Not anymore! Whatever she did superheated the reactor!" Phoebe explained.
Without a second's pause, Grim moved toward and through the door into the ship's fusion reactor room. He passed the three functioning pylons and eyed the fourth quizzically. It appeared to have been slightly bent in the crash, not enough to be noticeable, but enough to cause issues.
Grim took a few steps back before rushing forward and leaping. His elbow crashed down on top of the pylon, shaking the room and bending the pylon slightly. It started its descent once more, going lower this time. But still it hit some sort of obstruction or blockage and started to rise once more.
"Does the entire Pylon need to enter the reactor?" Grim questioned. He could sense Phoebe's processes halt in his implant as the AI ran and re-ran the numbers.
"Theoretically, no. But I don't think….." Grim never caught the next part of her sentence.
Instead, he reached down towards the small silver handle attached to his belt. After they had opened the strange craft, the first thing he had done was dive into research surrounding Superman. An activity he had long since mastered in the intervening months. There wasn't much to do on the island besides scout and repair the ship, so instead he had filled his time with researching this world. It seems that he should have dived deeper into this world's heroes though. In his brief search, he quickly realized that all the ballistic weaponry would do little more than annoy the Kryptonian resting in his med bay. So, he had decided to hold onto an energy sword should the blade be needed.
The blade ignited into a splendid red coloring, small streaks of plasma flashing outwards from the blade as it sprung forth. Without any hesitation, he sliced the blade upwards into the midsection of the pylon. He then deactivated the blade and turned. He moved as far back in the room as he could before springing forth towards the pylon. He leapt and slammed his balled fists into the back of the pylon in a hammer-fist maneuver. Grim felt the metal shutter underneath him before giving, allowing the pylon to fall into place in the reactor below.
After a few seconds, the reactor hissed and groaned before it abruptly fell silent. With it, the ship was plunged into darkness.
"Well…..shit." Phoebe summed up.