The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[ChasNicollette]

The Brethren of Bremen.

The girl on horseback rode like a woman possessed.

The horse was all saliva and sinew, launching itself across snowy plains and vaulting obstacles as though gravity was a plaything.

The girl...

...the girl was a placeholder.

She was on the verge of being something.

She was either on the verge of becoming a whole new thing herself, or she was on the verge of becoming something else entirely.

The girl was a junction-point in which one future would schism away from another.

She was a present darkness.

And, as she crushed ice and soil beneath thundering hooves, she was watched. From a distance. By golden brown eyes.

The Cat Named Jack sat upon the front steps of a house, a little house, utterly abandoned, he sat and he waited.

But he no longer waited alone. With him sat a dog, a brownish-grey German Shepherd. With him also perched a raven, a blackbird easily as large as the cat.

Strange stairfellows, to be certain. A cat and dog and bird dwelling quietly together, without even a suggestion of trying to eat or kill or chase each other.

They sat. And they waited. And their heads turned slowly, watching the horse and rider cut a course to the horizon.

"She'll be important," Jack mused. "Soon."

"Yeah?" the raven tilted his head. "How d'you figger?"

Jack squinted at the raven. "Matty. She's important. She'll be important. To what's coming. And what's coming after."

"You make it sound," the dog opined, dubious, eyes half-lidded, "like she's got a date with Destiny."

Jack harrumphed, and licked his paw for a moment, like he wanted to wash his hands of the whole affair. "Something like that."

Matthew the Raven considered this for a moment. "You want I should take a closer look? I mean, not that you're the boss o' me, I only got one boss--"

"I ain't the boss o' ya," agreed Jack the Cat. "But g'wan. Keep a weather eye."

Matthew preened his own wing with his beak, and then took to the skies.

A black feather fluttered down and rested on the snow as he gained altitude.

"Betcha the ravens at The Tower'a London never hafta put up with this crap," he grumbled.

Barnabas the Dog examined Matthew's departure. "And us?"

Jack the Cat angled his head. "We watch for him. And we wait for her."

Barnabas chuffed, at that, walked in a circle three times and then laid down on the top of the steps beside Jack. "Gotta love you beasts of omen. Would it kill you to provide a detail once in a while, in between being all cryptic?"

Jack chuckled. And remained sitting up tall, remained vigilant.

"I got the address right, didn't I?"

 

[AmenRa]

J'onn J'onzz

"Is everything alright, J'onn? Is Kara okay? Did anyone get hurt?"

"Everything turned out well," the Martian Manhunter answered. "Kara and the other Kryptonians, along with Rose," J'onn spoke as he turned to Ceri and Wraith, "are currently in the North Pole."

"We were able to remove the ring," he continued, "and destroy it. All are unharmed, except for perhaps a bit of wounded pride here and there. Pride always goeth before the fall, as it has been said."

J'onn was quiet for a moment, then he addressed the Kents directly. "I do not need to tell you that raising a child is difficult, especially when that child is endowed with gifts no other children possess. There have been trying times with Kara, and I know you understand there will be more."

J'onn began to walk towards the tool shed and pump house out back, towards the beginning of one the Kents many fields. He motioned for Johnathan and Martha to follow him.

"Kara is coming of age now, and her powers are beginning to fully realize themselves," he continued. "Being a child of two worlds is not an easy thing for her, and her reluctance to sometimes embrace her destiny may seem even more difficult.

Though he was a good head taller than even Johnathan, his voice was softly spoken in the rich, deep bass that identified him as J'onn J'onzz.

"In time, as you are aware, Kara will leave this place, and she will begin the mission for which she was sent to Earth. When that time comes, you must understand that it will be your guidance and tutelage that brings her through to that destiny. Just as it was today, Kara never fully lost herself, even through the haze of the Red Kryptonite. That can only be attributed to the upbringing you have given her.

"I know of no other that would have been a light shining as brightly in her life as you two have been."

The Martian Manhunter bowed his head in respect to them and then took to the sky.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Cliff. "Got a Long Taxi Ride."

After her probing she kissed the boy on the cheek and thanked him for talking to her a moment. She then sent the suggestion for the boy to forget the days events other than being kissed by her. She figured it was best to save the boy from the trauma he had experienced today.

The boy kind of stood there for a moment, a woozy little smile on his face. He touched her cheek where she'd kissed him, and then looked longingly on after her as she walked away.

And then he blinked as a deputy approached him, once more disoriented, but standing up a little straighter, a little prouder.

She then walked back over towards Cliff and smiled as sweetly as she could after sensing that poor boys memories. After this experience she really wished she could just be a normal teenage girl again so she didn't have to do things like this again. "So Cliff were you able to get my coffee?"

"Of course, Miss Graves," Cliff nodded, passing her latte back to her over the threshold between the driving compartment and the passenger compartment. "I'm told Beanery coffee isn't as good as Talon coffee, but any port in a storm, am I right?"

He looked at her for a long moment. "I've also brought word from Mister Luthor. I'm a little wedged into traffic, here, but he's waiting for you in the parking lot of the Smallville Savings and Loan, it's just a hundred yards over thattaway. I'll be 'round to pick you up as soon as I can wriggle this beast out."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Damian gets off his bike walking up to the group as he looks around. He then looks down seeing Chloe very pale and still being held by Merick. Under his black chrome mirrored helm his jaw tightened. He knew now he was to late with the new serum.

The young knight then turns to Jonathan and gives a nod saying, "Mr. Kent," Then turns to Martha, "Mrs. Kent"

He looks to Ceri and asks, "Status."

"Arms, legs," Ceri inclined her head subtly. "All ten toes, all ten fingers. Mother-sense tingling. Still can't teleport, still can't fly. Or is that not what yeh meant?"

Dinah arrived in a shower of gravel and a pretty respectable bit of showboat driving. Ceri nodded, solemn, to her.

...and then, after a few more exchanges, The Martian descended.

"Here's the man yeh need to ask," Ceri pointed out, inwardly relaxing a good quantity of the steel out of her spine. She could see that the same tension gripped Kyle, that he feared for the safety of his girl, his friends, and that the same tension ratcheted down, even as he took up a sentinel's posture by her side.

J'onn had the voice of a lawman and a clergyman. Ceri could respect that.

Quietly she listened as he praised the stalwart parenting of Jonathan and Martha, quietly she watched as he billowed back up into the sky.

Her daughter had helped save the world.

Good.

Now come home.

Anytime, Rosy. Just come home.

For a woman who's supposed to know a lot about faith, I don't want faith for this.

I want to see yeh're intact with my own eyes.

(Is that so much to ask?)

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose and Raya. Ephesians 6:12.

It reminded him, however, of home.

"'Of this place, I am not born'," he recited, "'yet of this place I am at home.'"

Rose blinked, and came a little bit back to herself. "'No matter where you go, there you are?'"

He smiled at her. "An old Kryptonian poem," he explained. "An epic, rivaling that of your Oddysey or Coleridge's Mariner. It is a tale of the founding of a new colony on a distant world, the struggles of life there, and the resulting triumph of an endowed spirit."

Raya moved up quietly behind them, watching the two of them talk as though old friends though they had known each other for such a small span of linear time.

I wonder whatever happened to that ancient colony. Perhaps this was the beginning of M'onel's Daxam? Of course, he would claim that our world was a colony of his...

She chuckled, though without sound, just a gleam in her eyes. A likely story. As though any planet that produced M'onel could be cultured enough to have epic poetry.

Her eyes returned to focus. Her husband was saying something beautiful.

Interesting, she noted.

"This place," he continued, "this Fortress of Solitude is a refuge not only for Kara, but it serves as a reminder of our Kryptonian legacy. Our past, and our future. And the future of Earth."

Raya heard J'onn's mass shift to intangible. She heard him leave, she almost missed it, he was stealthy even to Kryptonian senses, but she was studying her husband as he spoke and her senses were... acute.

"Yes," she agreed, "this place is a place of Solitude for Kara, a place for her to be away from the pressures of her human life and to immerse herself in her heritage. But Zor-El told me of this technology when he designed it, and he ever referred to it as The Fortress of Knowledge."

She slipped her hand into Var-Sen's, a curiously human gesture of affection.

"Knowledge of powers," she murmured, "and principalities, and this present darkness. And knowledge that for every Sun that sets, red or gold or blue, another will rise, even unto the ending of The Universe."

"'Every new beginning,'" Rose agreed, "'comes from some other beginning's end.'"

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen

Var-Sen turned slightly as J'onn J'onzz shifted into the realm of the invisible and intangible. He then turned back to Rose as he felt Raya's hand intertwine with his own. He gave her hand a little squeeze and then put his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.

"'Every new beginning,'" Rose agreed, "'comes from some other beginning's end.'"

"Which reminds me," Var-Sen said as he reached into a pocket of the coat he wore with his free hand, "I have something for you."

He held up an egg-shaped stone. It was smooth and clear.

"This is from our world," he told her, "the place called Sanctuary."

Var-Sen blasted it with a small amount of heat vision. He then dropped it into Rose's hand.

The stone was quite cool. In fact, it was nearly freezing.

"And, if you apply cold to it, the stone becomes warm," he explained. "It is directly linked to the intensity of the thermal variance. The hotter you make it, the colder it becomes, and vice-versa."

 

[AmenRa]

The Delicate Sound of Thunder

There were many cornfields distant from the house of the Kents.

Those standing in the yard where the Martian Manhunter had recently departed could see waving fields of stalks far beyond the farm, interspersed with grazing pastures for the farm's livestock.

The sky was clear.

Blue sky. No clouds. A gentle breeze that moved the tree boughs ever-so-slightly.

Weather in Kansas was typical. It was either hot or cold, raining or not.

Storms in this area of the midwest could be severe.

Weather was known to change almost instantly.

And so, without warning, the breeze picked up, which would normally signal the coming of a thunderstorm.

Clouds rolled in, carried by the wind. They seemed to come together over the fields, coalescing, joining, until they were but one cloud.

A curiously shaped cloud.

The wind stilled.

Silence.


KRRAAAKKAAA - BAAADOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!

The sound of thunder rolled across the fields, echoed, then subsided.

And, curiouser and curiouser still, lightning came an instant later after the thunder.

 

[Varshanka]

Zatanna - in the Back room

Floating, hovering, above the pentagram on the floor Zatanna focused. Words of power rippling from a human throat. A throat that was never intended to speak them. No human should have ever spoken what she commanded, but she did. Because she COULD.

The reality of the universe opened like a flower before her gaze, and she SAW.

The universe unveiled itself, and closed. Worlds turning to dark cinders. Stars winking out, detonating and imploding. Black Holes spawned and swallowed each other. A super darkness enveloping everything.

And one by one, and in groups of billions, the lights of the EVERYTHING, winked out of existence.

A shadow looming over everything.

So close.

Soon.

It would come soon.

Her eyes flashed open, the floor rippling and buckling. The windows of her shop vaporizing. The ground quaked.

Tarot cards fluttered to the floor.

Neither of them ha a real image, but combined, their images made a picture.

A hooded figure with a skeletal hand reaching out.

A scythe.

An hourglass…

A boat in the background.

In a blink the cards were black, the skeleton holding a boney finger to it’s lips.

And everything was normal once more. The glass was back, and clean. The shoppe was in order. And Zatanna knelt on the floor.

Shaken.

Horrified.

But she couldn’t remember why…


(will edit if requested)

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Say what you need to say

Kara had been somewhat plagued with doubts while flying through the air, wondering if perhaps, in some way, she had done things that she had truly desired all along. Did she really mean some of the things she had said while under the effects of the Red Kryptonite? Was she... actually in control and just used the crimson meteorite as a shield?

But being at the Fortress and surrounded by her friends renewed her hopes and her sense of confidence in herself. She was still so very young, and she was destined to be a guiding light for any and all that sought refuge and escape. She would fight for them. For Truth and Justice.

All that had happened was now in the past.

There was nothing but the present and the future.

With bright eyes Kara watched as Var-Sen gave Rose a unique gift, something that he had brought back with him from Sanctuary.

"A most unusual gift," a strange voice spoke from within the Fortress. Kara turned as a robotic figure strolled out to greet the gathering of heroes.

Well... it didn't exactly stroll.

It hovered.

Kara looked questioningly at the robot as it looked out at her, an electronic waveform moving across its faceplate the only indication that it was fully functional and aware of its surroundings.

"Who are you?"

"I am Kelex, caretaker of the Fortress. I served your father on Krypton and will continue to assist and guide you in any way that I can."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe. Hypnagogia.

Destruction and the angel had gone out, presumably to buy Death a new coffee table as Destruction's attempts at reconstruction hadn't exactly gone as planned.

Rain continued to patter and spatter at the windows.

Chloe's fingers touched the glass, and she felt a smidge of cognitive dissonance at the cool of the surface despite the warmth of the apartment.

Death was sprawled on the couch, gazing up at the ceiling with her fingers in her hair.

"It's not his fault, bless him," Death murmured. "He has this theory that we're both sides of each of our respective coins. He's seen me grant life as well as exact death, he's seen Delirium be the sanest of us. He's seen Dream navigate the real world..."

"He wants more than just his designation," Chloe murmured. "He wants Creation as well as Destruction?"

"Mm," Death murmured. "And he's made some worthy attempts, some rhymeless songs, some paintings without a lick of composition. But to break out of one's mould is a terrible and tremendous thing. To be more than you are. Delirium can be sane, but only for a moment or two at a time, and it agonises her, it tears her apart. Only Dream, out of all of us, has managed to transcend himself to any extent. And to do that... he had to die."

Chloe turned and regarded the feminine Endless, curious. "You do it all the time. You're there for people at the beginning, you're there for them at the end, but you're... you're so effortless about it."

"I'm very old," Death smirked faintly. "I've had a lot of practise."

She rolled onto her side on the couch, gazing out at Chloe. "Besides. Death and Life were always the same thing. They always always were. They're not two sides of the same coin. They're the same edge of the same coin leading always always into the next thing, the next infinite horizonless unknowable thing. I don't have to try to be two different things because I'm only one thing. I always always only ever was."

Sitting up, she fetched the dangling ankh out of the front of her shirt.

It gleamed as it sat in her palm.

"Which is not to say," Death murmured, with such an ache in her voice, such a terrible ache, "that there's not a price to be paid."

Chloe took a step towards her, there was such an ache in her voice, Chloe couldn't even begin to countenance it, to parse it, it was such an ancient ache-- "Death, I--"

Death glanced up at Chloe, and there were tears gathering in the darksome pools of her eyes, but there was a soft little smiling smirk on her face. "S'okay. Storm's getting closer. The heart of the storm, it's getting closer. Which means it's sooner to passing."

Chloe hesitated, and glanced over her shoulder at the rain outside.

Thunder rumbled through the buildings, over the rooftops, and she felt the quake of it in her toes.

"If you count the gap between the thunder and the lightning," Death noted, "you can find out how far away the storm is..."

Chloe didn't quite look at Death, kept searching the sky. "But wait, isn't that backwards? First you see the flash of the li--"

But then the jagged crack of blue-white light split the horizon and it was blinding blinding bright bright white, and for a moment Chloe could see nothing at all, her vision seared by that backwards backwards bolt.

And she was gone.

And Death sat alone, toying with a golden-white angel feather she'd found in the cushions of the couch.

"They're the same thing," Death murmured, to her empty apartment. "The thunder and the lightning and the birth and the death. They're the same thing. It's not backwards; you're just seeing it differently now."

She shook her head, and blinked away those gathering tears.

"Be seeing you..."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe. Myoclonic twitch.

...and Chloe awoke, startled, breathless, wheezing, exhausted and desperate, her hands immediately finding Merick's arm as she lay upon his lap.

Her skin was still pale, her fingers were a-tremble, and her eyes were dark-ringed and panicked...

...but there was an afterimage of lightning on her retinas, and the echo of thunder still rumbled across the snow-swept plains.

She dragged in breath hard like she'd forgotten how, almost choking on the air, and coughed miserably.

"Okay," she rasped and she gasped, searching the faces around her. "I'm back. Fill me in. Key words."

 

[Tymeless]

Misty took the java from Cliff graciously and listened to the man tell her that Lex was waiting for her. She thanked him for getting her something to drink even if it wasn't from where she prefered it from and then started walking over towards Lex. The emotions and the pain around her was still too much so she slid the ring back on her finger as she approached Lex.

 

[Lunaramblings]

...and Chloe awoke, startled, breathless, wheezing, exhausted and desperate, her hands immediately finding Merick's arm as she lay upon his lap.

Her skin was still pale, her fingers were a-tremble, and her eyes were dark-ringed and panicked...

...but there was an afterimage of lightning on her retinas, and the echo of thunder still rumbled across the snow-swept plains.

She dragged in breath hard like she'd forgotten how, almost choking on the air, and coughed miserably.

"Okay," she rasped and she gasped, searching the faces around her. "I'm back. Fill me in. Key words."

Merick had heard the words spoken. He knew there were others there and that they had addressed him. He didn't care. She was all that mattered. He also didn't trust himself. Sometimes it was like there was this dark place his mind went. He didn't really want to hurt anyone, but then he hadn't really wanted to hit Kyle in the face either.

Merick smiled slightly as Chloe awoke.

"Welcome back. I broke Kyle's nose. I think. He had it coming. He took you away. I think they said Kara is back to normal or something... I wasn't really paying attention. Are you okay? I hate it when you do that."

Merick swooshed to his feet, holding Chloe in his arms. "I love you."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose and Raya. "It was always burning since The World's been turning."

"Which reminds me," Var-Sen said as he reached into a pocket of the coat he wore with his free hand, "I have something for you."

Rose emerged from her reverie in a blink. Well, several blinks.

Rose blinked several times and emerged from her reverie.

"Wait, what?" she wondered. "You already gave me a car one time."

She arched a quizzical eyebrow and regarded Var-Sen with scrutiny.

"Are you being like a crazy uncle who offers me wacky souvenirs every time he visits?" she wondered. "'Coz I already have a few of those. The uncles, I mean. (And the souvenirs.)"

He held up an egg-shaped stone. It was smooth and clear.

Rose went quiet. This was an oddity. It was lovely.

"This is from our world," he told her, "the place called Sanctuary."

Var-Sen blasted it with a small amount of heat vision. He then dropped it into Rose's hand.

Instinctually, Rose flinched a little, forgetting despite everything that had just transpired that she was invulnerable to burning...

...but then it turned out, like Frodo flinching from The One Ring after Gandalf had cast it into the fireplace, that she needn't have worried even if she hadn't had powers.

(Except about frostbite.)

The stone was quite cool. In fact, it was nearly freezing.

She stared at it, unharmed by its low temperature but nevertheless hyperaware of it, her enhanced senses attuned to thermal anomalies and the like. She stared at it.

"Ginchy," she murmured, intrigued.

"And, if you apply cold to it, the stone becomes warm," he explained. "It is directly linked to the intensity of the thermal variance. The hotter you make it, the colder it becomes, and vice-versa."

Rolling the egg-shaped artefact between her finger and thumb, Rose considered this. She couldn't think of a single practical application for it off-hand, given that she could produce both heat and its lack in abundance... but it had certain ramifications and implications, not the least of which was confirmation of her father's assertion that cold was more than just the lack of heat...

Frozen lightning crackled in her palm and the cold cold ovum lit up crimson, searing hot, she whistled low and long.

"Spontaneous thermal polarity reversal," she murmured. "Double-ginchy."

"A most unusual gift," a strange voice spoke from within the Fortress.

And Rose glanced up, and her breath went away. "...[SIZE="-2"]robot[/SIZE]."

"Who are you?"

"I am Kelex, caretaker of the Fortress. I served your father on Krypton and will continue to assist and guide you in any way that I can."

Raya smiled ever-so-faintly, and inclined her head to the servitor machine.

"Greetings, Kelex," she murmured. "I am glad to see Zor-El included your fabrication matrix in The Fortress' synthesis protocols after all. Truly, he was reluctant that any should perish."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Lex. "You caught me under false pretenses. How long before you let me go?"

Misty took the java from Cliff graciously and listened to the man tell her that Lex was waiting for her. She thanked him for getting her something to drink even if it wasn't from where she prefered it from and then started walking over towards Lex. The emotions and the pain around her was still too much so she slid the ring back on her finger as she approached Lex.

Lex saw her approach and reached across, pushing the door open and nodding to her.

"Climb in, if you would," Lex requested, gesturing to the seat beside him. "As much as I'm eager to help these people, I still have legitimate reasons for wanting to remain incognito."

Gazing at her quietly, he regarded the bauble adorning her, and then looked at her face.

"Tell me what you've learned."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri and Chloe. "And the sky might catch on fire. And burn the axis of the world."

Ceri stood quietly.

She had watched The Martian ascend into a sky presently bereft of clouds...

...and she watched, and she wondered, as the icy dusts of the sky gathered anew, building upon themselves, like Babel's fabled edifice, reaching not up to Heaven but down towards The Earth...

...she saw the shape of the clouds as first it thundered and then lightning flashed, in defiance of all that men knew of Science.

And she knew that forces greater than Science were again awake and a-walking in the world.

And she smiled faintly. Ever-so-softly.

<"M'Lord.">

Then, before thunder or lightning had either fully faded, The Sullivan Girl breathed once more, shuddering and lurching back to life the way that Yeats' "rough beast" slouched towards Bethlehem.

This seemed fitting to Ceri McCrimmon.

Omens were lent greater import if they were accompanied by miracles.

"Okay," she rasped and she gasped, searching the faces around her. "I'm back. Fill me in. Key words."

Merick smiled slightly as Chloe awoke.

"Welcome back. I broke Kyle's nose. I think. He had it coming. He took you away. I think they said Kara is back to normal or something... I wasn't really paying attention. Are you okay? I hate it when you do that."

Chloe smiled a wibbly-wobbly smile back up at Merick. "It's no picnic for me, either. Sometimes there's cookies and tea, but we always eat indoors. No picnic. (I'm okay. I'm getting there.)"

Merick swooshed to his feet, holding Chloe in his arms. "I love you."

Chloe held her head for a moment, equilibrium a whirligig in her ears. "Orthostatic hypotension, frack..."

...but she smiled again, a gentle smile, and touched his cheek. "You punched Kyle in the face? I hope you didn't break anything. I don't think I'm up to fixing him again..."

She laughed softly, relieved that everything seemed to be getting back to okay.

"Everywhere I go, there's destruction," she reflected.

But then shook her head, and kissed Merick with blue, trembling lips.

"...I love you, too."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Kyle

Chloe's rising did not go unnoticed by me, but I had other things on my mind. I walked over to the Kent's, my hands in the pockets of my jeans.

"Kara isn't alone you know. She has big green there watching over her. Watching over us really, but she also has the rest of us. Rose to give her someone to laugh with, Mer and Chloe someone to be curious with. Pete someone to roll her eyes at. And you two, who give her the heart she has and the heart she will need to remain the girl she is now with all the power at her hands. She's not alone, and that makes a difference."

I continued on down past the barn, out to the tree in the field, where Kara and Rose sat and I watched them talk and laugh. I sat down in the swing, watching the sky to the north and waiting for the woman I loved.

 

[AmenRa]

Behold The Mighty Thor

He arrived kneeling, his eyes closed and cast downward at the ground.

He stood between corn stalks, brushing them aside as he made his way carefully through them towards the farm house.

He pushed the last two stalks aside and stepped between them onto open ground. He saw them gathered there, near the house, and he lifted his hand high in greeting.

He saw Ceri standing with them, and Thor made to approach them.

He nodded his head to them all one at a time in silent, solemn greeting. He stepped closer to Ceri, and he reached up and removed his helm, allowing his golden locks to swing free. When he raised his head, his eyes were the bluest blue.

Ceri's eyes, too, were closed. For a sometime holy woman, she prayed with relative infrequency. But she prayed now. For Rose.

"Swordmaiden," Thor said to her, "you have spoken and have been heard. Bound we are, you and I, through the skein of things, and should I be needed, then hither I will come, and I will bring with me all the fury of the storm!"

It was good to be among friends once again.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"Greetings, Kelex," she murmured. "I am glad to see Zor-El included your fabrication matrix in The Fortress' synthesis protocols after all. Truly, he was reluctant that any should perish."

"Greetings, Raya Ro-Zan," Kelex said, using the name he knew from their time spent on Krypton. He looked at the former assistant of Jor-El, and, if it were possible, would have smiled at her. "It is good to see that Jor-El's choice of placing you in the Phantom Zone for your protection did not prove disastrous."

The others, he knew, were not so fortunate.

Kelex did not "feel" exactly as other beings did, but he was far more in-tune with emotions than other robotic lifeforms and certainly missed the presence of his creator.

"So, my dad made you?"

"Correct."

"Swell," Kara smiled. "So, are we ready to go inside... or should we head back to Smallville?"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"Everything turned out well," J'onn said. "Kara and the other Kryptonians, along with Rose are currently in the North Pole."

"Thank goodness."

Martha breathed a sigh of relief when J'onn filled them in on what had happened, and she was truly thankful that no one was hurt. She wasn't sure if she could have taken it if the news had been otherwise. She looked back at Jonathan and he smiled warmly at her, putting to rest all doubts and fears.

"I do not need to tell you that raising a child is difficult, especially when that child is endowed with gifts no other children possess. There have been trying times with Kara, and I know you understand there will be more."

"Thank you for that," the farmer responded simply, and he took Martha's hand into his own as they followed after the Martian Manhunter.

"Kara is coming of age now, and her powers are beginning to fully realize themselves," he continued. "Being a child of two worlds is not an easy thing for her, and her reluctance to sometimes embrace her destiny may seem even more difficult.

"In time, as you are aware, Kara will leave this place, and she will begin the mission for which she was sent to Earth. When that time comes, you must understand that it will be your guidance and tutelage that brings her through to that destiny. Just as it was today, Kara never fully lost herself, even through the haze of the Red Kryptonite. That can only be attributed to the upbringing you have given her.

"It hasn't been easy guiding her along, but we've tried to help her out as much as we could."

"Once she started doing more than just breaking furniture... it got kind of tricky," Jonathan added.

"I know of no other that would have been a light shining as brightly in her life as you two have been."

J'onn took the skies, leaving Jonathan and Martha to stand there with their hearts beating proudly within their chests. But they did not let things go to their heads. They both liked to live simple lives, even if their lives weren't so simple.

"Kara isn't alone, you know," Kyle said as he approached the couple. "She has big green there watching over her. Watching over us really, but she also has the rest of us. Rose to give her someone to laugh with, Mer and Chloe someone to be curious with. Pete someone to roll her eyes at. And you two, who give her the heart she has and the heart she will need to remain the girl she is now with all the power at her hands. She's not alone, and that makes a difference."

"Thank you, Kyle."

As the Wraith continued walking, a violent storm had whipped up off in the distance, but just as quickly as it arrived it went away, leaving the Kents to wonder what else could be coming their way.

They did not have to wait long to find out.

"Swordmaiden," Thor said to Ceri, "you have spoken and have been heard. Bound we are, you and I, through the skein of things, and should I be needed, then hither I will come, and I will bring with me all the fury of the storm!"

It was good to be among friends once again.

Jonathan and Martha had raised an alien as their own child, so coming face-to-face with THE Thunder god should have been no real shock to them.

But it was.

"Well now I think we've seen just about everything," Jonathan quipped as Thor took off his helmet and greeted them.

 

[AmenRa]

A Gift of Knowledge

Var-Sen turned to Kelex. He had not seen the robot in...what...a thousand years?

"It is indeed good to see you, Kelex," he stated, echoing his wife's sentiments. "I have no doubt you will serve Kara Zor-El as well as you did her father."

"Swell," Kara smiled. "So, are we ready to go inside... or should we head back to Smallville?"

"Not quite yet," he told the Last Daughter of Krypton. He reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a faceted crystal. He handed it to Kara.

"This is the original reason for my mission to Earth," he explained to her. "This crystal was designed to add its contents to the Fortress' database. It contains a complete catalogue of the flora and fauna of Sanctuary, as well as information on the planet's rotation cycle, seasons, all that kind of thing.

"It also contains data pertaining to the use of Gate technology, like the one that allows us to travel between there and here. Should the Fortress see fit to construct a Gate, then it will do so of its own accord. I would caution, however, against using this technology indiscriminately. Transportation between this world and another is possible, but so is transportation to other dimensions, such as the Phantom Zone.".

Var-Sen then turned to his wife. "Now that the mission is complete, and the crystal has been delivered, shall we return to our world?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri and Chloe. Psychopomps.

He was... just as she remembered him. Towering, built impossibly, like one of the figures from the comic books that Rose had worshiped and Ceri hadn't minded so much.

Utterly the incarnation of a legend. Reincarnated. Resurrected?

"Swordmaiden," Thor said to Ceri, "you have spoken and have been heard. Bound we are, you and I, through the skein of things, and should I be needed, then hither I will come, and I will bring with me all the fury of the storm!"

"Well now I think we've seen just about everything," Jonathan quipped as Thor took off his helmet and greeted them.

"(Not quite everything,)" Chloe murmured softly, mostly to herself, still quietly reflecting on her latest experience beyond the veil of life.

Ceri inclined her head to Thor. "While I have not been maiden for many a year," she pointed out, "and since then have been lover, wife, and mother, I am not unfamiliar to the sword. Long have I travailed against the darkness, and tried in one manner or another to make a better future, and long has the darkness seemed insurmountable. Proud am I, Lord, to know that the darkness will know fear at your approach. Humbled am I, Lord, to wield a mere sword beside thy hammer. Grateful am I, Lord, that you have not gone forever the way of many gods, as I feared in the violence of your departure when last mine eyes were bereft of thee. Again, welcome back."

Chloe slipped down from Merick's arms, though she still leaned firmly on him, not quite able yet to stand on her own two feet without aid. "Indeed, Thunderer, welcome back."

She stood as tall and as straight as she could. "It was suggested to me that you were returning, and I really am glad to see you. (And Rose'll be tickled pink.)"

She gestured to Jonathan and Martha. "Once, you and your counterpart sought 'she who bears the mark of The Traveler.' May I introduce to you her mortal guardians?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Raya and Rose. Worlds apart.

"Greetings, Raya Ro-Zan," Kelex said, using the name he knew from their time spent on Krypton. He looked at the former assistant of Jor-El, and, if it were possible, would have smiled at her. "It is good to see that Jor-El's choice of placing you in the Phantom Zone for your protection did not prove disastrous."

"Things did not end nearly as badly as they could have," Raya acknowledged the robot's assessment as she gave her husband's hand a squeeze. "Though I thank you for your concern; for a time out of time, I shared that concern."

She glanced at Var-Sen. "Though, Kelex, if you would update your catalogue? I have discarded my traditional patronymic for the name of my husband's house. I would be called Raya-Sen, now."

"It is indeed good to see you, Kelex," he stated, echoing his wife's sentiments. "I have no doubt you will serve Kara Zor-El as well as you did her father."

"So, my dad made you?"

"Correct."

"Swell," Kara smiled. "So, are we ready to go inside... or should we head back to Smallville?"

"Not quite yet," he told the Last Daughter of Krypton. He reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a faceted crystal. He handed it to Kara.

(Rose whistled, long and low. "Ohhhhh. Shiny!")

"This is the original reason for my mission to Earth," he explained to her. "This crystal was designed to add its contents to the Fortress' database. It contains a complete catalogue of the flora and fauna of Sanctuary, as well as information on the planet's rotation cycle, seasons, all that kind of thing.

"It also contains data pertaining to the use of Gate technology, like the one that allows us to travel between there and here. Should the Fortress see fit to construct a Gate, then it will do so of its own accord. I would caution, however, against using this technology indiscriminately. Transportation between this world and another is possible, but so is transportation to other dimensions, such as the Phantom Zone.".

Rose processed this for a moment. So he came all this way just to pass along a firmware upgrade?

Awh, he did miss us!

She grinned to herself, hugging the cape around her shoulders.

Var-Sen then turned to his wife. "Now that the mission is complete, and the crystal has been delivered, shall we return to our world?"

Raya nodded briskly in reply. "Indubitably."

Rose hesitated at that. "Oh. Yeah. The real world."

"With school in it. And Kyle's..."

She turned a little pale. "Yeah. 'Our world.'"

 

[Tymeless]

Misty approached Lex and as soon as she was close enough she got inside the car not taking care to smooth her skirt and and get in in a ladylike manner. It revealed a good portion of her cream colored thighs but nothing that would truly embarass her. She was to distraught to care of such things and if Lex noticed she wasn't wouldn't know she was so lost in what she had learned from the boy.

"I understand Lex. You have many reasons to remain anonymous I'm sure." Misty then began to tear up as she revealed what she had learned from the young boy.

 

[AmenRa]

Thor

Ceri inclined her head to Thor. "While I have not been maiden for many a year," she pointed out, "and since then have been lover, wife, and mother, I am not unfamiliar to the sword. Long have I travailed against the darkness, and tried in one manner or another to make a better future, and long has the darkness seemed insurmountable. Proud am I, Lord, to know that the darkness will know fear at your approach. Humbled am I, Lord, to wield a mere sword beside thy hammer. Grateful am I, Lord, that you have not gone forever the way of many gods, as I feared in the violence of your departure when last mine eyes were bereft of thee. Again, welcome back."

Chloe slipped down from Merick's arms, though she still leaned firmly on him, not quite able yet to stand on her own two feet without aid. "Indeed, Thunderer, welcome back."

She stood as tall and as straight as she could. "It was suggested to me that you were returning, and I really am glad to see you. (And Rose'll be tickled pink.)"

She gestured to Jonathan and Martha. "Once, you and your counterpart sought 'she who bears the mark of The Traveler.' May I introduce to you her mortal guardians?"

Ceri's words made Thor smile. He held her eyes for a moment, then, as Chloe called to him he turned to her.

"It does this old soul to see you once again as well, Chloe Sullivan."

And then to Johnathan and Martha Kent.

"I do not trespass upon your land with ill thought," he told them, "and it is with apologies that I make my appearance suddenly to those unprepared.

He looked the Kents over closely. He placed a hand gently on Johnathan's shoulder. "Well met," he said.

He then turned to Chloe. "It is unfortunate that I may not stay long," he explained, "for I have much work to be done. If it suits the lord of this land," he stated, removing his hand from Johnathan's shoulder and bowing his head in respect, "though I shall stay until she arrives."