Author's Notes:
This is a fanfiction that's been in the works for years. YEARS.
I have no idea why I'm so invested in this (Seeing as I stopped watching Korra after Season 1. Not because I didn't like the show; I just never found the time to watch Season 2 when it first came out & it snowballed from there). Even as I'm writing this, there's no final epilogue quite yet. Not reassuring to hear, I'm aware.
Even more not reassuring is how next weekend I don't have the time to clean up Chapter 0.2. Ideally, I would've posted all Chapter 0 at once, but yesterday/today/tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of when a certain story was published, so I wanted to lock in this story's publish date even though the rest of Chapter 0 isn't ready yet.
Disclaimer:
Alright FanFiction, listen up cause unlike the other sites I'm only interested in saying this once; I, Symbolic Joker, do not own anything that has appeared in/under or is connected to the name Marvel Comics and DC Comics, as well as the Parahumans franchise that is owned by Wildbow.
The only things I own that are related to these franchises are some merchandise such as toys, keychains, clothing, etc that have been (and will continue to be) bought throughout the years.
Same goes for franchises like Kamen Rider, Super Sentai Power Rangers, Ultraman, Ryukendo, BoBoiBoy, RWBY, The Legend of Korra, Ben 10, Fate/Grand Order, Devil May Cry, NieR, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Persona, Metroid, Pokemon, Metal Gear, Sonic the Hedgehog, Resident Evil, Overwatch, Digimon, Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, etc that may or may not appear in this fanfic in some shape or form, including but not limited to shout-outs, references and/or quotes.
They all belong to their respective owners, such as Toei, Capcom, Atlus, Square Enix, Rooster Teeth (RIP), and many more that I did not list due to how many of them exist.
Please support the official release!
Chapter 0.1 (Kara Zor-El) —
Who Was The One Who Gathered Us All Here?
As she stretched her body while lying on her bed, Kara decided that she was having one of those days.
The days where she wondered why she bothered getting up in the morning instead of just staying in bed and spending the afternoon lazing about.
In fact, she was tempted to do just that.
She really, really, didn't want to get up. Yet some part of her didn't want to listen, and she just continued to lay on the bed, wide awake despite her eyes remaining closed.
… .
…Wait a minute.
Kara immediately sat up when she realized that she didn't remember going to bed in the first place.
That wouldn't be so bad if the last thing she remembered was going back home after a long day instead of flying throughout Metropolis, because it was her turn to patrol.
Quickly scanning the area, she found herself in some kind of… dorm room that had white walls and red carpentry, and had been lying on the bottom-half of one of two wooden bunk beds. There was an assortment of matching shelves & drawers, in addition to a table and a chair to go with it. There were three wooden doors painted white, one she's assuming led outside, while the other two may lead to a bathroom and a closet if she guessed right.
She wasn't alone in this unfamiliar room, as the other bunk bed was also occupied. The bottom half was occupied by a fellow blue-eyed blonde, while the upper bed was occupied by an asian brunette with light green eyes. While the blonde looked normal enough, the asian girl wore some kind of trendy, fashionable dark red and gray outfit that seemed to invoke the image of a business suit, though Kara admittedly wasn't quite sure if there was a specific name for it.
Still, Kara noticed that there was something…off. Not just the kidnapping, but Kara couldn't help but feel that something was just… missing. Honestly, despites the grunts and groans of grogginess coming from the girls from the other bunk bed, things were honestly way too….
Kara frowned before she began focusing on her hearing, and couldn't help the feeling of unease that came when she realized that things here were way too quiet.
Despite that, when she heard the familiar heartbeat right above her, that feeling of unease lightened considerably. With a small smile, she got off the bed to greet her friend and… .
… .
…Oh.
Oh dear.
Kara couldn't help but feel that she was in bigger trouble than she thought, seeing as she was greeted by the sight of Batgirl instead of Oracle.
Not good. Not good, not good, not good! Was this the Barbara of the past? That meant time travel. It could be time travel, this Barbara looked a few years younger than the one Kara was familiar with. Even if she didn't quite recognise the specific Batgirl costume (which looked way more armored than the one Barbara had in storage).
"Supergirl." Barbara greeted her, jumping off the bed and landing on the floor like it was the most natural thing to do in the world. Floating back down, Kara resisted letting her jaw drop when she realized that this Barbara was noticeably taller than her, even without the heels and pointy bat-ears. Heck, she was pretty sure she's taller than the Barbara that Kara knows!
'Alternate universe counterpart?' Her mind theorized, assuming this person was Barbara Gordon to begin with instead of some other redhead under the mask. Well, technically, that person would still be an alternate universe counterpart since they're both Batgirl.
And she was getting distracted. Barb… uh, Batgirl was expecting a greeting, and it would be rude of her not to reply. "Ba-atgirl." She managed to correct herself. Thank goodness for super-speed and sped-up perceptions…. This was going to take another minute to get used to. Just like seeing Barbara taller than her. And without glasses. And standing.
Was that rude? That was rude, wasn't it? She didn't want to be rude, but it was kinda weird even after considering the universe they live in. "What can you tell me about the area we're in?" Barbara (because with that voice, a bit younger as it is, there's no way it wasn't Babs) asked her, and Kara quickly got her head back in the game. She and Barbara can talk more after they make a plan.
"Quiet. I can't hear much." Kara admitted, trying out her enhanced vision powers, only to see they're working just fine. Nice to know one of the doors led to a relatively big bathroom, and a huge walk-in closet that Kara only seen in movies, tv shows and rich people have. When she looked past the door in the middle, she saw a hallway and a similar room across theirs, with its own occupants waking up (one of them being the most eye-catching of the four, in terms of hair color).
"Power inhibitors?" Barbara asked, as Kara took note of the other four girls. Two brunettes, one having a brushed bob cut with red tips whereas the other had long, wavy hair along and a black bow (who sleeps with a bow still attached?). The other two consisted of a fellow blonde, though her eyes were a light purple instead of blue, and someone with naturally white hair despite being around Kara's age. Her eyes were a fader shade of blue than Kara's, and she had a superficial scar going vertically across her left eye.
Turning her attention back to Barbara, she answered. "Doesn't seem like it. My powers seem to be functioning just fine." Kara pointed out, even making it a point to let out a chilly breath and letting her eyes glow red. Barbara nodded to her before turning her attention to their roommates.
Who seemed to be staring right back at them, most likely after having a conversation of their own. Kara idly noted that both of them were of the same height, and had to resist the urge to pout once she realized that she was the shortest of the bunch (even her fellow blonde had beaten her by literally the tiniest of margins). While the two girls were cautious, the asian girl seemed friendlier whereas her fellow blonde was more apprehensive.
"Hello there." Barbara greeted with a nod and gentle smile.
The blonde blinked, and let out a small but wry smirk. "General Kenobi." She replied, and Kara perked up a bit. Not the most scientifically accurate of movies, but at least she got the reference! "So, I'm guessing you two are supers?" She questioned, as the brunette next to her gave her a confused look that Kara had a feeling she herself had worn a few times in the past.
"If by supers, you mean "superheroes" then yes." Barbara answered, as Kara smiled and placed her hands on her hips and puffing her chest out.
"I'm sorry, superheroes?" The brunette interjected, sounding skeptical. Kara blinked and let go of her pose in her surprise and slight disbelief.
"Yes. Like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman… ?" Barbara clarified, and it did nothing to help alleviate the confused look on the other girl's face. Kara frowned at seeing this, in addition to the same look on her fellow blonde's face.
"I'm not familiar with those heroes." Said blonde admitted with a frown, her guard right back up.
"Then… What heroes are you familiar with?" Kara asked before Barbara could.
"Captain America, Iron Man, Thor… ?" The girl tried, and Kara blinked.
"Thor… ." Barbara hummed the name, before asking "As in the Norse God of Thunder?" While the (barely) taller blonde nodded, she did give the two of them a look. One that Kara didn't like, though she decided to let it slide as things were starting to fall into place.
"Wait, what's a Norse God… ?" The brunette asked again, and slowly all three of them gave her a look of disbelief. Kara realized that "complicated" didn't even begin to describe the situation they're more than likely in.
"How… do you not know what a Norse God is?" As Gwen stared at Asami as if she was some kind of idiot, Kara winced before stepping in as Asami frowned and was about to say something.
"I think we have bigger things to worry about at the moment." Kara said, stepping forward as the two turned to her. "We're not the only ones here." She revealed, as took in the other girls' reactions.
While the other girls merely frowned and gave her a look of suspicion, in addition to digesting the information, Barbara expectedly narrowed her eyes and began inspecting Kara's body language to glean even more information from her.
"And you know this… how?" The other blonde asked, guarded as she gave a nastier look of suspicion compared to the brunette.
"Superpowers." Kara answered, taking a breath and giving them a small (and hopefully comforting) smile. "There's actually four other girls in the room across from us." Kara informed, pointing to the door that'll lead them out to the hallway. "While over there is a bathroom, and that's a walk-in closet." She gestured to the other two doors the room had.
"…That walk-in closet. I supposed it's filled with clothing?" Barbara strangely asked, getting looks from Kara and the rest for her strange question.
"Yes… ? That's what they're for… ?" Kara confirmed. Admittedly, Earth can get weird at times so for all she knew those closets could be used for something else. They were sure big enough for it.
Barbara didn't clarify anything, instead approaching the closet with a frown before entering it. Kara blinked at the sight of this. Why would she want to enter there instead of going out into the hallway? In her confusion, she looked at her fellow blonde and the asian girl, before hopping towards the closet door and entering herself.
She won't get her answers if she doesn't ask any questions, after all.
Ending Notes: Pretty short, right? Don't worry, we're looping back to Kara's POV eventually. Hence why it's short. Meta-wise, it's split in half. So the next few chapters will be around 3000 words in length in comparison to this one that's around 1500.
Image Credits: SuperRose(?) by lesly-oh, modified SuperRose(?) background is from artwork by マスクド/Masked, Spider-Gwen by Jeehyung Lee, WBY by Uyalago, Korra by Artgerm, Spider-Man by HotToys & KR Legend by Toei.
I'm not quite sure who did the Asami Sato image so if anyone can pass me the name I can properly credit them for their work.