Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Survivors

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 45: Deals With the Devil.

“Why are we having a family meeting three days early?” Jeremiah asked worriedly. “Kara, I know what you went through, I can’t imagine but have you hurt…”

“Its not about that. I haven’t hurt myself, gotten drunk, gotten into a fight or been unwilling to get out of bed.” Kara promised. “I just… Alex thought it would be a good idea for us to talk about this with Jessica present so she could…”

“Referee.” Alex told them, earning an annoyed look from the younger sister.

“So we are going to talk about something that could potentially make Jeremiah very angry and want Jessica to be an intermediary. I think that is a wise decision.” Eliza surmised.

“I don’t. I realize our last… disagreement did not go well but I don’t think we need someone to mediate our talks, Kara. You and I have always been… Kara, I think we can both control our… more emotional…”

“Tempers.” Alex clarified.

“I do not have a temper. Just because I might be a bit overprotective…”

“You both have temper issues when you disagree lately.” Eliza agreed with Alex.

“We do not. One time! That was it. Now suddenly we need Jessica to…”

“I want to hire Lobo to find the Myriad base.” Kara blurted out.

“Absolutely not! Have you lost your mind? He tried to kill you! No way in hell are you going near that…”

Jeremiah stopped speaking as he noticed the four females were giving him a very pointed look.

“Okay, you are right. Sorry. But I almost lost you two days ago Kara. We all did. Your mother and I could have lost both of you. Forgive me for being a bit on edge.”

“I know. I’ve been on edge myself. But I need both of you to listen to me. I have a plan, but I need some help. I have a plan to end this, once and for all. Part of that plan is needing him.”

Eliza took a deep breath, not happy with this at all. However, after preaching to Kara for the longest about controlling her temper and Eliza herself losing her temper with Astra, the mother was determined to remain calm.

“Jeremiah lets listen to Kara first, then we can all discuss this calmly.” she ordered in the form of a suggestion.

“Of course. I am calm. I am the definition of calm.” he agreed, lying very well.

“I am also going to contact the Batman.” Kara added, since Jeremiah seemed calm.

The man stood up and began pacing the room, fists clenched.

“Okay Kara, I am listening. You need a genocidal maniac and a freak vigilante. Go on.” he told her, continuing to pace the room and taking slow deep breaths. “I am calm.”

“You don’t look calm.” the blonde pointed out.

“I am calm.”

“You don’t look calm.”

“I am as calm as I can get.” he admitted.

“Jeremiah, sit down.” Jess told him. The man looked hard at her then did as instructed.

“Okay. My hope that she would come to me when she saw me on TV didn’t work. She is sending others, ones who don’t know where Myriad is. My technology, I have eyes and ears everywhere in the world and I can’t find her. Lobo found me in less than 24 hours. The two of us followed by Alex and Connolly’s team will go to the place he was supposed to bring me. Once he does that, his contract is fulfilled. If any of Astra’s army is there, we take them out, maybe get information.”

“And you go against this guy as well as Kryptonians.” Jeremiah pointed out.

“Nope, he will fight with us. Like I said, I will hire him. He honors his contract. He has some weird sense of honor thing. I don’t pretend to understand him, but I know if he gives me his word, as he has said he would do, then he will fight with us.”

“Provided you go on a Dolphin watching tour with him.” her father reminded her. “You are not going anywhere with him.”

“I said hire, not sell myself. He will work for money.”

“And the Bat freak?” her father asked. “Where does he fit in?”

“The DEO cannot be officially involved in this mission. I need J’onn, the real J’onn, and not Henshaw. Connolly’s team, J’onn and Alex, they can fight. But I need more. Batman has tech, a lot of tech. I have watched a lot of his video. He is an amazing fighter and unknown to the public he also has someone backing him up, someone who stays in the shadows. He isn’t bad either. Batman will fight with us because he wants to protect the innocent.”

“He is a vigilante.” Jeremiah told her. “He takes justice in his own hands.”

“So do I.” Kara countered.

“No, you are a hero. You and Alex both are.”

“Dad, I hunt prison escapees.”

“Who have been convicted.”

“Not to death sentences though. Batman, as far as I know, has never killed anyone. I do. You can’t call me a hero and him a villain in the same breath.”

“You save people.” the father argued.

“Yes, I try. He saves people in his own way too. He isn’t crazy, at least any crazier than I am. He seems to be quite sane, driven, focused and disciplined.”

Both parents looked at her for a moment, trying to read between the lines.

“You know who he is.” Jess said, being the one to bring it up.

“So do Alex and Dante. I haven’t told anyone else and I won’t.”

“You won’t tell me?” Jeremiah asked.

“You hate him.” Alex reminded her father. “Telling you is the last thing…”

“With good reason.” Jeremiah told her.

“I am sorry Dad, I know you love me so much, but you can’t call him a terrorist and vigilante and call me a hero. I am tired of everyone telling me I am not this or I am not that. I know what I am, what I could be, what I should be, but right now I am a vigilante. I am probably worse because I have no intention of taking any of my enemies in alive. If it happens, it happens, but my first goal in a fight is to take down my enemies permanently. I need him, his tech and his skills. I need the two of us to come to some sort of agreement. We may have different methods but our goal is the same. He will help.”

“How? Only Connolly’s team knows and has the weapons that can kill Kryptonians.”

Kara and Alex said nothing, letting the silence speak for itself.

Eliza groaned.

“You cannot seriously consider giving him Kryptonite, Kara. He could consider you a danger to the human race and try to kill you when we are finished with Rozz.”

“And he could wonder if I am going to kill him once I have gotten what I need from him. I can handle myself. I know who he is. He won’t betray me because he knows I could do the same to him. Giving him something that makes him feel more secure and gives him a chance would probably be enough to show him I am not his enemy.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “Or get you killed.”

“Alex can be killed any number of ways. She is constantly in more danger than I am. Let me talk to him. If you are really against this plan, I won’t do it, but at least consider it. Look on the bright side, he may get killed himself, Dad. Wouldn’t that make you feel better?”

Jeremiah actually laughed. “I don’t want anybody dead, besides… them. I don’t like the idea of the DEO having Kryptonite and after this is over, Dante, Connolly and I have a plan to get it out of their hands, put it somewhere only we would have access to it, in the event it is ever needed again. If he has it, there is going to be Kryptonite that can hurt you, still in the world.”

“What plan? You know J’onn will…”

“Go along with it. He better.” her father finished.

“Then we can keep it at the Fortress.” Kara offered. The looks of her family told her that wouldn’t be happening.

“Seriously, everyone. Why do you treat me like I am suicidal? I am not going to kill myself!”

“Would you want us to keep plutonium in our house? We don’t want you keeping it in yours.” Eliza reasoned, in a tone that cut off any further argument.

Kara decided that was a battle she would fight another day. “So what do you think of my plan?”

“A Martian, five special forces soldiers, an intergalactic bounty hunter, a gun for hire and a masked vigilante who has a fetish for bats, plus you two against the remainder of the Fort Rozz army, including at least seven Kryptonians.” Jeremiah summed up. “As opposed to all of us and the DEO against the same army. I don’t like either, but what you are saying does make sense. I am very against this Batman and wish you would consider telling me his identity in case he tries anything but… you are right. The team you want to use is better than the DEO agents who go into the field. Connolly hardly uses them except for minor threats. Says he doesn’t want their deaths on his head. It would also negate the involvement of other interested parties such as the President, ARGUS, General Lane and others I have learned about. What do you think, dear?”

Eliza looked at the two girls, and saw the skinny 14 and 13 year old sisters who were inseparable. They were no longer those ages but it seemed they would always be to her. Alex and Kara, taking the weight of the world on their small shoulders constantly.

“I trust the two of you. If you believe this is the best way, I will back you. But, please… be careful.”

“We know what we are doing. Alex is completely on board with this and she wouldn’t be if she thought it was a bad idea. Right Alex? Tell them you are completely on board with this.”

Alex planted a fake smile on her face. “I am completely, mostly, kind of, sort of on board with this. This isn’t the worst plan she has come up with. Honestly, its pretty bad, but Kara went through four DEO agents without her powers and knocked them all out in less than a minute. They would just get themselves killed.”

“Exactly.” Kara agreed, annoyed that Alex had not expressed 100% support. “Alex has spent a lot of time in close physical combat with Agent Chase. Would you say she can fight very well, Alex? For that matter is she physical at all? How strong is she? Have you had a chance to grapple…”

“I 100% support Kara’s plan. Its a great plan. No way this doesn’t work.” Alex amended, causing Kara to smile.

“Okay, so we can talk to J’onn about it. He is coming over tonight for dinner. I’ll just grill more and invite everyone else. Alex, would you take my car and pick Clark up from school?”

“I’ll get him on my bike.”

“Take my car.” Jeremiah countered.

“Kara picks him up on her bike all the time!”

“Because if Kara hits a pot hole she can lift him up and fly with him, instead of possibly exposing you both to broken bones and road rash. You drive your bike alone or with Kara. Do I need to remind you of how against you having your own bike I was?”

Alex and Jeremiah continued to argue, walking out of the room, leaving Eliza and Kara alone with Jessica. The therapist excused herself to go home and have a drink in celebration and relief that a massive explosion of Kara’s anger and Jeremiah’s overprotectiveness had not occurred.

“So that went better than I hoped.” Kara told her.

“You have been quiet since… that thing.” the mother started. Kara nodded her head.

“I asked Alex… to tell me what she saw.” Eliza admitted. “I should have asked you but I didn’t know if you would want to talk about it and I was worried. She… If I am overstepping, or you don’t want to talk, but if you ever do, Jessica isn’t the only…”

“It hurt. It hurt so bad. It was like being shown every good thing you ever wanted, everything you ever wanted, placed into your hands for a moment and then ripped away. Of all the things I have ever done or had happen to me I think that was the worst.”

Eliza moved from her chair and sat down next to her, taking her hand.

“I’m not going to cry. I won’t. I am going to get better. But that… I want to kill them both so badly. I want them to feel the pain I felt but nothing I can do to them will equal it.”

Eliza ran her hand through Kara’s blonde hair and brought her to lean on her shoulder.

“I know, but once this is over, Kara, that hurt is still going to be there. Defeating Astra and Non won’t magically make your problems go away. Killing them won’t make you feel any better. If you can take them alive, you have to Kara. You are better than they are.”

“Maybe I am, but… I don’t know. I just want to win. I know it won’t make anything better. Maybe I won’t have to live in fear of them all the time. But what they did, whoever did it, I will tear them to shreds. Mom, I am so angry even I am scared. I am willing to make a deal with a monster to beat them, to make them suffer. I don’t even think I have been this mad when Henshaw tried to take us and I attacked him.”

“Just don’t lose yourself, Kara. You are my baby. This isn’t your perfect world but you are still my baby girl and always will be. I love you so much. You need to talk. You can’t stay quiet. Talk to me, your father, your sister, Jessica, anybody. Don’t keep this bottled up. That kind of anger can only hurt you worse.”

“How can I be worse?” the girl asked in a soft voice.

“Kara, I love you. I have dreams too sometimes where I have you as a baby, I do your hair in little ribbons when you are toddler. Ever since we got your childhood photos from Kelex the dreams have come more and more. I love those dreams but I also thank God for the reality because the reality is I get to have you. I wake up and maybe it isn’t the life we would have scripted out but it is our life and my children are in it. We still have each other. So thats not so bad, right?”

“No.”

“I know being shown, feeling how real it was, had to be… I can’t imagine. But what we have, right now? It isn’t perfect but I think in a way, what we have gone through has bonded us in a way that no other family can have.”

“In my dream, I was clumsy. I played soccer and fell down a lot. I got sunburned easily. I smiled. I was afraid of nothing. I was safe. I didn’t hurt myself. I had lots of friends, Alex and I both did. I sang in front of people, I competed in art competitions. It wasn’t just the world I was in. I had a whole life, memories of a life that never was. You do know, one day I am going to walk away from these powers. If I survive this, one day I will figure out a way to give this up, to live like everyone else, to grow old.”

“Here I am, not wanting to grow old and you are looking forward to it.” Eliza joked. “Yes. I know you will Kara. I want you to. Once this was over, if you want to walk away from being this superhero forever, I will support you. I have told you over and over again, you owe this world nothing.”

“Thank you for understanding. I know you all worry I will kill myself or… I don’t know. I won’t though. I think I would be a lot better if I could just live life, without all this other crap. If I could forget that I even know how to fight, that I could maybe get a headache and use Tylenol to make it go away. It sounds stupid…”

“It is not stupid. As far as dreams and goals go, that seems to be a pretty good one. I will be honest, Kara, I hate this plan of yours. It scares me to think of you in league with a monster and this guy who swings around Gotham beating people up, but if you think it is the only way, I support you. I believe in you.”

“You do? Really?”

Eliza was surprised.

“Kara, I have loved you, worried about you, been so proud of you, frightened out of my mind for you but I have always believed in you. I have watched you through times I thought would destroy you, make you completely withdraw from the world and yet you always come back, saving people, making a difference, loving your family and the friends you allow in your life. Your good heart is what separates you. Your compassion for others, your ability to love, that is what makes you a hero.”

Kara wrapped her arms around the woman tighter and laid her head in her mother’s lap.

“Any compassion I do have, I learned it from our family.”

“I think you were born with it. You really do not give yourself enough credit. Close your eyes and let me hold you a while longer before J’onn gets here and the two of you yell at each other.”

“J’onn will go along. He will trust my judgement.”

“Oh sweetie, he is going to explode. Our house may be covered in green goo before the night is over.”

Three hours later, Eliza’s prediction nearly came true. He didn’t explode physically but the usually stoic man erupted.

“No! Absolutely not! This is ridiculous! That man is a criminal and a prisoner of the DEO. I will not release him.”

“You have no grounds to hold him.” Kara pointed out.

“Grounds?” J’onn asked. “He attacked you!”

“And I am not pressing charges.”

J’onn stared at her for a moment, while Ty tried not to laugh out loud in the back of the room. No matter what, whenever his buddies and the Danvers got together, it was never boring.

“Who said you had to press charges?”

Kara smiled, having given this much thought.

“You don’t have evidence to hold him. You capture aliens who have posed a threat but what then? Do they not have any rights? The Rozz escapees were already sentenced. But the rest? On what grounds do you hold them? If an alien was committing burglaries, would he be held in the DEO for life? Human’s aren’t given life sentences for burglaries. Have you ever considered a court hearing for these criminals? I have killed, stolen, assaulted the former director of the DEO. I haven’t been arrested. For that matter, what is the penalty for an alien impersonating the Director of a Federal Agency? You have do a lot for the aliens of this world, helped them hide, let them live in safety, live as normal lives as they can. So you obviously believe they are equal to humans, have a right to life. Why do they not have the same rights as humans?”

“Wow, she got you there.” Ty admitted, then bit his fist to keep from laughing out loud.

“He… no we don’t have a system. The aliens we have, tried to kill people or succeeded in killing people.”

“They still deserve a trial.” Alex agreed.

“How am I supposed to do that? I have enough trouble keeping Lane out of our business. If I approach the President with this, he will send Lane in to take over.”

“My point is, you have no reason to keep him locked up if I am not pressing charges.”

“How about the fact that he killed his entire race? What about that?”

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “I never said he was a good guy. He never claimed to be. But you really have no jurisdiction over Czarnia. You weren’t there, you don’t know the facts of the case. He could have been brainwashed…”

“He was not brainwashed!”

“The point is, the DEO does not have jurisdiction over the entire universe. With the exception of me, you have no proof that he committed a crime. You think I want this? You think I want to have to rely on trusting him? I don’t but you know this is better than taking your agents to their deaths.”

J’onn stood up from his chair and paced the room. Taking a deep breath he looked at Connolly.

“What do you think about this?”

“Its the most reckless, irresponsible plan I have ever heard and we are probably all going to die. I think its a great idea. We have a better chance with these guys than with the DEO. I am not crazy about adding this Bat Guy in. I sure as hell do not want him to have Kryptonite.”

“I have watched him.” Kara told the group. “He can fight, like we can. I doubt I could take him without my powers honestly. He is brilliant and he has a mind for combat. He is anything but reckless, cold, calculating but not reckless. There is no point inviting him if he doesn’t have what he needs to fight Kryptonians. I want a list prepared of the aliens still loose from Fort Rozz who we believe may still be with Astra. I want him to know their powers, what we could face, everything. If he tries anything after this is over, Alex can shoot him. I doubt his armor can handle a shot from her hand gun. Also all of you need Kryptonite weapons.”

“If we use Kryptonite against them, there is the possibility that you could be effected as well, especially if it is in a closed in area.” Dante pointed out.

“Thats why I won’t be there. While you guys are taking the Fort Rozz guys out, I will be fighting Astra and Non.”

Dante shook his head. “Both? You are not prepared for that.”

“I have been preparing my whole life on Earth. Lets make this happen guys. I need to talk to Lobo, make sure he is on board. Then Alex and I are heading to Gotham City.”

The next morning Kara was up early, meaning as usual she had slept perhaps two hours the night before, the rest of the time talking to Clark from across the city and assuring him the plan he eavesdropped in on was safe and she and Alex would be okay. Once she had sang him to sleep, effective now, even if they were miles apart, she listened to Alex snore then toss and turn, mumbling through a nightmare. The girl got into her older sister’s bed and held her till the mumbling stopped then rose with the sun up.

She flew to the DEO in her bright uniform, catching the eyes of a few National City residents and continued moving towards the desert base. A quick call to Connolly who had gotten no sleep the night before and she was allowed access. The young woman wasted no time, moving to Lobo’s cell and walking in, shutting the door behind her.

The large man sat up from the neck he had been sleeping on and smiled.

“I was too irresistible to stay away from, right?”

“I figured you would have escaped by now.” Kara told him.

The bounty hunter shrugged his shoulders. “No point. I knew you would be back. You need me. Let me guess, you want me to take you to the meeting spot, call Astra and fulfill my contract then you are going to hire me, to fight the escapees with your band of humans. Am I close?”

“Partly. I am hiring you to find the construction site of Myriad. I want your help in raiding it. We kill everyone inside and destroy the technology.”

“I think I am in serious love right now.” the man admitted. “But since I am betting the Dolphin Watching tour isn’t on the table, what are you offering?”

“Freedom, for one. As for the other, how much do you want?”

Lobo stood up and looked at the ceiling then began pacing.

“You want me to fight anybody after you at the meeting spot, then track down a secret base full of galactic scum like myself, report back to you with the location then take part in an assault to wipe them all out. Got that about right?”

“Perfect. What is the cost?”

“I want two things, actually. The first, up front is a dollar.”

“A dollar?” Kara asked, thinking he was joking.

“The exchange of money locks the contract in place. I am yours until they are all dead or at least captured and contained. The second thing I want is a power source, after this is oven. I am betting you have access to a lot of Omegahedrons. I need one. I kind of crashed my ship when I landed here. I have it stashed in the Andes. I got it fixed but need a power source. If I repair mine, there is a good chance it will explode, the kind of explosion that starts wars. You give me that, I head to Warworld. Earth is getting kind of boring, at least until I met you. I need more challenging jobs and Warworld is usually the place to find them.”

“Warworld?”

“Thats what the English speaking aliens call it. I’m not sure what it is called in Kryptonese.”

“Its called hell. Fine, we have a deal. You will be released immediately. Your bike is waiting for you. Have your weapons read and we leave in two days.”

Kara reached into her boot and pulled a dollar bill out, one of twenty she kept rolled around her phone.

The Czarnian took it and shook her hand, his enveloping hers completely.

“We have a contract. It will be a pleasure working with you, Kara.”

“This is not about pleasure. This is about reckoning.”

Lobo noticed something in the girl’s eyes. He had seen the hate, anger in them, while fighting her and their first conversation but something was different. The Bounty Hunter was very good at reading people.

“Something happened to you. Something since the last time we talked. Something that has finally broken through, allowing you to do whatever is necessary, even work with a man who committed genocide. What was it?”

Kara had no reason to answer him, no reason to tell him anything about herself. Still, she found herself talking.

“I traced Astra when I used her phone to talk to you. She must have guessed I would trace her because the trace led me to an abandoned fall out bunker in Idaho. I went into investigate and was taken by a… Black Mercy. That is what I was told. I had never heard of them on Krypton but they were kept in Fort Rozz. She set me up to die.”

Lobo’s face hardened.

“Black Mercy? Alien plant, tentacles?”

“Yep.”

“That is a cowards weapon. Your aunt wanted you alive. I have no doubt either Non messed with her phone or there is an entity around her that wants you dead. Non did this.”

“There is a Coluan working with them. A member of the Brainiac clan.”

“They used a Black Mercy and are working with Coluans? I swear my loyalty to you. We will destroy them. No coward who uses one of those creatures deserves life.”

“Do we, Lobo?”

The man shook his head. “You do. As far as me, I don’t give a damn. I set out to destroy something, I do not fail. Let me out of here and we will hunt together, Kara.”

Kara nodded her head and the two walked out of the cell together, Lobo collecting his bike, after agreeing to meet her in two days at the warehouse they first battled.

Returning home, she was glad to see Alex was still asleep and opened the window, sitting in the window sill and strumming her guitar, singing quietly.

An hour later Alex was up, standing in the doorway and listening to her sister play.

“Nice song. I’ve never heard you play it before.”

“Arsonist’s Lullaby.” Kara told her.

“Don’t you ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash.” Alex mused. “Appropriate.”

Kara smiled. “I am about to unleash my demons soon, Alex and there will be hell to pay. Make sure your fight suit doesn’t have any rips. Tonight we fly to Gotham. We have one more demon to recruit.”

Gotham City

Bruce Wayne sat in the main living room, in front of his ward and friend, going over building plans. Dick Grayson had been with Batman since he was 14. Bruce trained the boy, keeping an eye on him, hoping to give him the same discipline that had allowed him to seek justice instead of becoming a killing machine he could easily become. He recognized the look in the boys eyes when his parents were murdered. It was the same look Bruce had when he looked in the mirror. Now 18, Dick was much lighter than Bruce, more good natured. Bruce and Dick had found his parents killer when the boy was 16, taken the man to justice. Dick had some sort of closure and Bruce envied him in a way.

Now the two sat, examining blur prints of the suspected hiding place where the most dangerous, evil man he had ever encountered may be. The so called Joker. The man whose past Bruce knew nothing about. The one who kept coming back, who saw himself as another side to the Batman’s coin. The man so vile he bombed a children’s hospital.

The front doorbell rang and both men immediately tensed. No one should have been able to get close to the house, without Alfred opening the electrified gate and without setting off the entire laser grid motion sensors around the large mansion.

“Alfred don’t…” Bruce tried, but it was too late. He heard the door open and debated suiting up, or telling Dick to suit up while he dealt with the problem. The hesitation was all Alfred needed to deliver the news.

“Two young women are here to see you. Alex and Kara Danvers.”

“How did they get past security?”

“I don’t know.” the man told him dryly. “I am as curious as you are. They appear very young, perhaps not old enough to drink.”

The Batman looked at his ward with a raised eyebrow. “Friends of yours Dick? You gave out the security codes?”

“I’m kind of offended you would ask that and kind of flattered you think I would have two girls ready to go out with me… or stay in. But nope, not me.”

“Ask them what they want and instruct them to leave. We have work tonight. They can make an appointment at the office.”

Alfred walked out and a minute alter walked back in, looking a bit shaken.

“Sir, one of the girls, the blonde one, said to tell you that Supergirl needs to speak to Batman.”

Bruce’s face remained calm, stoic even but Dick did not try to hide his thoughts.

“We are so screwed.” the boy whispered.

“I suppose we can’t stop her. Bring them in, Alfred.”

“Thank you sir.” the man told him. “I doubted my ability to defeat her in hand to hand combat. Or yours I might add.”

A moment later the two young girls were there, Bruce and Dick both standing, not knowing what to expect. Bruce was taken back by how young they both looked. He had studied this Supergirl, every video he could find of her. Unfortunately what he had was what the News stations had. To his irritation, Brother Eye could not find her on facial recognition anywhere in the world. He could not see or break into the DEO system, who dealt with aliens for the first time ever. She was a mystery, one that concerned him greatly. She had been helpful, performing miracles. There were already churches being set up in smaller countries and a few in America and Canada who were building religions around the teen. He saw an alien girl who could destroy the world if she wished.

But up close, he just saw a girl.

“Supergirl?” he asked. The blonde nodded.

“And you are?” he asked, looking at Alex.

“Alex Danvers. Her sister and the person who will shoot you if you try to harm her.”

“I see. This is my ward, Dick Grayson.”

“Yes, the man in the shadows,deepr shadows than yours, helping you out.”Kara surmised. “If you are wondering, and I am sure you are, your super computer, Brother Eye, the machine that gives you almost godlike access to the planet, that can invade anyone’s privacy, is not better than mine. I am impressed by your technology but have been watching you, even inside your cave. Only my sister and the man who trained me, know your identity.”

“I see. Why have you been watching me? I won’t bother denying what you know to be true. You have obviously invaded my privacy.”

“Like I have no doubt you have been trying to do with mine. We need to talk.”

Bruce remained calm but his mind was moving quickly, going over dozens of scenarios he could try and defeat this girl and finding none that were feasible. She had technology, alien technology that countered and defeated his and god like powers. His only option was to play this out, see where it went.

“I wasn’t aware you became involved in police business. What has a lowly vigilante like me done to catch your attention?”

“May we sit?” she asked.

Bruce nodded his head and the four sat, Alfred trying to discreetly make his way to the underground cave.

“I know you are more than a lowly vigilante. I am a vigilante as well.” Kara told him.

“According to the press, the politicians of the world, and even some newly formed cults you are a savior of the human race, the second coming, the goddess on Earth.”

Kara did not bother to hide her irritation at those claims. She was well aware of them.

“I think you of all people should know, we are not who we appear to be in the light when the night falls. I need your help.”

This caught both men by surprise. He saw the sincerity on the blonde’s face. He also noted that despite the warm temperature outside, the short haired brunette was wearing a leather coat and he had no doubt some sort of weapon was underneath it in easy reach. He also doubted it fired bullets.

“So how can I help you?”

“I am going to tell you my story. I won’t tell you the names of my adopted parents or information that pertains to y Earth family. Alex fights by my side, watches my back, as I imagine your ward does but they are under assumed names and you won’t find them. What is your name?” Kara asked, looking at Dick Grayson.

“DIck. Or Richard. You can call me whatever you want.” the ward told her quickly, fascinated by her. He knew he should be wary, cautious of her power. He knew Bruce was very concerned about her. All he could think at the moment was she was even more beautiful in person.

“Quiet Dick. Kara has a lot to go over and time is short.” Alex snapped.

“Like I said you wouldn’t be able to find them, anything about my family. They live under assumed names, and Justin protects us from nosey intruders.”

“Justin?”

“My Brother Eye. I am going to tell you my story. I am going to trust you because I believe you are a good person, that we have the same goals. You also have as much to lose if your secrets are known as I do. You actually have more to lose. Are you interested in hearing this?”

Bruce nodded his head, very fascinated. She was throwing him off. He had expected the worst when the two girls walked in but she seemed sincere.

Kara began. She told him of her arrival on Earth, leaving out Clark’s presence in this world. She told him about Fort Rozz, she even told him about her family from Krypton, going into detail about Astra and Non but not revealing the sins of the House of El. She told him about being hunted, about a Martian and his friends saving her.

Kara continued, confirming his suspicions that aliens were and had been on Earth for a long time. She also told him briefly about the problems she had, the anger, the guilt and the desire to atone. To Alex’s irritation, she told him about the mother and child she failed to save.

After the information was give, Alex pulled a memory stick from the inside of her coat and handed it to the man.

“Here is the information about all the Fort Rozz escapees still alive. It contains information on their powers and weaknesses. It will give you everything you need to know to help us raid this base and defeat them all.”

“Defeat?” Bruce asked.

Kara shrugged her shoulders.

“I realize you don’t kill. I do, when necessary. If you can take them alive, be my guest. But if one of them gets up and hurts my friends and especially my sister, one you could have killed, I will end you. This is no game, Bruce. These men and women cannot be locked in a normal prison. They will not hesitate to wipe out the entire human race if given the opportunity. But make no mistake, I will kill my aunt and uncle or die trying. If you fight with us, do not get in my way.”

No one said a word for a minute, the two men in deep thought and the two girls watching them closely. It was Dick that broke the silence.

“I never thought I would meet anyone like you.” he told her.

“An alien?”

“No, someone with more issues than Bruce.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Kara found herself laughing, to the shock of her sister. Bruce did not bother to hide his annoyance.

“So let be clear on this. You want me and Dick to accompany, you, your sister, five Special Forces soldiers, a Martian and an intergalactic Bounty Hunter who is most likely insane into a base we know nothing about, filled with violent alien criminals with possible unknown powers in an attempt to destroy a machine being built that could control every mind in the world?”

“When you put it like that it sounds crazy.” Kara admitted. “But yeah, essentially that is what I am asking.”

“I’m in.” Dick spoke up immediately. Alex rolled her eyes. The man had not taken his eyes off her sister since they walked in and he wasn’t always looking her in the eye. Her father would love this one.

Bruce shook his head. “Kara, I assume I can call you this since you seem comfortable calling me Bruce…”

“You would prefer Mr. Batman?” she asked. Bruce ignored her.

“How exactly are we supposed to fight the Kryptonians?”

“You will be told…” Alex began before Kara interrupted.

“The DEO has weapons that can harm, sicken, even kill Kryptonians. If you agree you will be receiving a delivery tomorrow in an armored car. Its a substance called Kryptonite. You will need to make as many weapons as you can manage as soon as possible.”

“Thats it? You are just going to give it to me? I suppose you will want the weapons back…”

“You keep them.”

“Kara…”

“No Alex, we agreed.”

“I didn’t.”

“Agree to what?” Bruce asked.

“I want us to be friends, Bruce. I know about your childhood. Now you know about mine. But you will never fully trust me. You are scared, scared of what I could do if I went out of control, correct?”

The Batman said nothing, waiting for more.

“I am going to give you what you need to kill me. I am going to trust you not to. I know I can trust you because you are an honorable person. I have known many honorable people and I have known scum and can tell the difference. I also know those closest to me will not be able to do what needs to be done if I ever lose control. If you have this, you wouldn’t be afraid of me, would you?”

“And I could be a threat to you.”

“No, you could be my partner. The two of us have the same goals. You protect this city, try to make it better but with your influence, our technology together and our shared goal of wanting to protect humanity, we could do more together than apart.”

Bruce looked at Dick who may as well have literally been drooling over the blonde alien. He had certainly not expected this tonight. The worry he had over aliens was still there but this girl seemed sincere and she was trusting him of all people, someone she had never met. Judging by the look on her human sister’s face, her family and friends were probably very much against this.

“No one but you two and the man you spoke of know my identity?”

“He won’t tell anyone.” Kara assured him. “Neither will we. I won’t even tell my Dad. He thinks you are a terrorist and a psycho.”

Bruce did laugh, surprising the hell out of Dick.

“You certainly are honest, Kara.”

“I haven’t always been. I’m not perfect, anymore than you are. Far from it. We are both willing to go to extreme measures to protect the innocent. My measure are more extreme than yours at times. You want honesty? When I fight a real enemy, a strong enemy, I hold nothing back. I never do. I lost my world once. I won’t lose this one. We both have our demons, Bruce. Alex does and if Dick is hanging around you, I would imagine he has his as well. We both are trying to atone, want to put an end to violence, evil on this planet. We will never succeed completely but neither of us will stop trying. Outside of the five men I mentioned and the Martian, My sister and I have no back up. We can’t rely on the Government. We have friends in the DEO but you know what the Government brings. Amanda Waller, Samuel Lane, Wade Eiling, I can go on but I don’t have to.”

“I think we should work closely with her… I mean them.” Dick told his mentor.

“Dick, shut up.” Bruce told him, rubbing his forehead. “Kara, I will work with you. If for nothing else, because of what you have done. I believe Cat Grant. You saved those children, those nurses, the firemen in the Children’s Hospital, didn’t you?”

Kara said nothing, telling Bruce all he needed to know.

The man reached out his hand.

“Partners.”

“Partners.” Kara agreed, shaking his hand. “Now since we are all going to be one big happy team, Alex wants to see your cave. I can see it fine and have seen it before through your security camera and computer cameras. I also probably need to fix some bugs in Brother Eye that will open back doors to your system. And that car you have down there? I can add a hundred more horsepower to it and make the center of gravity more stable without adding weight.”

“You can?”

“I got here in a space ship. I have a pretty good mind for machines.” Kara told him.

“I’ll show you around. Anything you want. Want to see the mansion?”

Alex rolled her eyes. “Grayson, why don’t you just lay on the floor and let her walk over you. We can sight see later. We need to get are going to Metropolis tomorrow with the psychotic bounty hunter. While we are away, I would suggest you take the Kryptonite that will be delivered and figure out a way to not get killed. Also, you are probably going to need a bigger suit.”

“What do you call yourself, Dick? The media hasn’t gotten a good enough shot of you to name you yet. Its coming though.” Kara asked.

“I uh… Bruce calls me… Robin?”

“Robin? Where the hell did that come from?” Alex asked.

“My parents… they were… we traveled with a circus. They… we were acrobats. They used to call me Robin in the show.”

Kara nodded her head. “I can understand that. But if you ever want a change let me know. I’m thinking something darker. Night Hawk? No, that doesn’t sound right. I’ll think of something.”

Alex grabbed Kara’s arm, intending to do her best to pull her out the door before she became even more infatuated with the pretty boy. Dante, Barry Allen, Dick Grayson. No one would ever accuse Kara of having a type.

At the door, Bruce had one more question.

“The costume. Why the bright colors? Not exactly great for stealth.”

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “I went to the Halloween store but they were all sold out of vampire costumes with bat ears.”

The blond held her sister from behind and the two shot off in the air, leaving two men, completely off their game and frazzled.

“So, still concerned about her?” Dick asked.

Bruce surprisingly shook his head.

“She is sincere, probably has more issues than both of us put together. Anyone who has gone through what she has and still has the empathy to love a family and help others, it is a miracle, Dick. She could be… she could be what we aren’t. Something for the world to look to, fighting evil in the light, while we fight in the shadows. I haven’t felt this much relief in a long time.”

“Did you see her eyes? Have you ever seen eyes that blue? I think she liked me. Do you think she liked me?”

“Dick?”

“Yeah Bruce?”

“Shut up.”

Metropolis

Kara and Lobo walked side by side through the abandoned subway tunnel leading to the alien bar Kara had once snapped a Kryptonian’s neck at. Connolly and company as well as Alex to the brunette’s irritation, were outside the subway entrance, waiting for a signal from Lobo or Kara that Astra had arrived or there were Rozz escapees in the bar. They had weapons hot, loaded with Kryptonite, even Alex to her disgust. If all hell broke loose Kara would be in the middle of a battle with Kryptonite flying around.

The two aliens stopped five hundred feet from the door of the bar, far enough away that the doorman couldn’t see them in the dark.

“You ready for this, kid?”

“For a long time now.”

Lobo took a deep breath, grabbed a very large rifle he had taken from a dead Dominator who insulted him once, and with his other hand dialed his phone.

“Kara.” the voice of Astra answered.

“Nope. The guy who you hired to bring her in. She can’t exactly talk right now. I have her in a case lit up by red sun rays sleeping. She is alive as part of the deal and she is where you wanted her. The contract is fulfilled.”

“Kara said you were dead.” Astra told him, shaken now.

“I’m hard to keep dead. Isn’t that one of the reasons you hired me? She is a vicious one. You should be proud. Took my head off. She should have paid more attention though. I got her here. Deal is done.”

“You hurt her, didn’t you?” Astra asked, threatening tone obvious.

“Part of the contract. Any means necessary, short of death.”

“I will be there soon. Do not leave her.”

“Not part of the deal. I get her, I bring her here. Its on you now.”

Lobo ended the call and looked at his young partner.

“Want to head into the bar, see if there are any escapees? I don’t want to get hit from both ends.”

“I don’t know. I destroyed this guy’s bar once. I would hate to do it again.”

Lobo shrugged his shoulders.

“Your call. I work for you now. I don’t want to go without you. its better if we stick together. I take one end of the tunnel, you take the other.”

“Thats fine. Maybe we should check out the bar. We just won’t get into any fights unless we absolutely have to.”

Kara and Lobo walked past the doorman who didn’t even bother to ask for a password. The sight of these two scared him and everyone knew who the blonde was, even before she started wearing a skirt and cape. Honestly between the two he wasn’t sure who scared him worse.

The entire bar quieted down when the large bounty hunter and the blonde half his size walked in. Kara saw Charlie at the bar and heard him whisper a curse word.

“My name is Kara Zor El. You all know who this is. We are going to have a drink. If anyone has problem with me say it now so I can kill you quickly and enjoy my night.”

No one said a word, but everyone stood up and practically ran out, Charlie included.

“You know how to clear a room, kid. Looks like drinks are on the house. Want one?”

“No, yes, very much but I won’t. We need our heads clear. Things could get very violent, very quickly.”

Lobo agreed and the two sat at a table, both chairs turned to face the door, the Czarnian’s rifle aimed at the entrance.

They sat and waited.

And waited.

After two hours, Kara still saw no one in the tunnel. No one outside the entrance, no soldiers, no aliens at all.

They waited another three hours before Kara called it.

“You have my number. Call me when you find them. Good luck.”

“You too kid. Watch your front and back. I won’t take long to find them. I’ll show you a little sweat and grunt work can beat your fancy computer any day.”

The two walked out and Kara scanned the skies once more, then met up with the team in hiding and they left.

Kara should have scanned father to the East.

Astra was in the sky, watching everything. She had seen through the layers of pavement and concrete, watched the girl she desperately wanted to hold for years, sitting with a gun for hire, waiting on her, prepared to fight her. Astra had brought no one, told no one.

But now the time for games was over.

Kara would be with her, she would be made to understand. Astra would be all she had left. She would have no one else to turn to. Making a quick call, she followed from a great distance, easily tracking the group. She followed the to the airport, watched Kara fly under the plane that was carrying her humans. As she suspected, the plane touch the ground in National City.

Astra heard her fellow Kryptonians near and ordered them off until she made contact. Once she found Kara and the other female land near an apartment building and ride motorcycles in the garage, she took off for the middle of the city. Closing her eyes and opening her hearing she listened.

Astra hated the nosies and smells of cities but had become accustomed to them over the years. Like Kara, she could single out sounds, voices, separate a single voice from the millions around her.

She found what she was listening for in ten minutes.

The voice of the woman who claimed to be her Kara’s mother.

Following it was easy. She heard the names Alex, Clark and Kara spoken many times between the woman and a man.

It was a nice house, right on a beach, a beautiful spot. Astra landed softly and kicked the door in.

A dark haired man stood up, while a blonde haired woman sat in shock on the couch.

“So you are the woman who dared to claim my little one.” Astra said, looking Eliza over, anger barely concealed.

“Mommy, Daddy?” a voice from the top of the stairs called out. A little dark haired boy ran down to see what the noise was.

“And the son of Jor El lives. Kara has become a very good liar.”

“Stay away from him.” Eliza shouted, running in front of Clark.

“I had planned to kill you both slowly with as much pain as possible. First I think I will let little Kal El know what kind of man his father was. Then I will deal with the two of you and make him watch. A planet, an entire race died because of your horrible, cowardly father. You don’t remember loss. You will learn all about it now.”