The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[Lunaramblings]

Dale looked at Marcy, they were both exhausted. "we have a lot to talk about later. We better head out for now though. God knows what Merick will be getting up to."

"He's stronger than we ever thought. Well, than I ever thought." Marcy took Dales strong, weathered hand in hers and they walked to the door.

Merick stood outside, picking flowers out of the garden. By the time every had gathered he had a dozen beautiful exotic flowers seperated into two groups. One in each hand. "Looks like we are all ready. There's a bit of a meeting going on. I think you all have a right to be there for it." Merick concentrated for a second as a field of shimmering force surrounded them. He checked to make sure there was no one watching, and then there was Swoosh and a loud pop. Air rushed to fill the large space that had just been ripped from its place in the world. In a moment the ragtag group was standing on the porch of Wayne Manor. They had onlt just arrived when Merick knocked on the door.

"Sweetie, that was a bit rough. As a word of caution, never eat fish tacos before Disapparating."

"Sorry, lot bigger space to pull. Only the second time I have done that with a force field thingy. First time it was a total accident."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

"I think it's interesting how we're standing here debating the existence of such mundane concepts as 'good' and 'evil,' and blithely accepting the existence of magic."

I looked at Chloe, my lavender eyes glowing softly in my dark face.

"How can we not accept that magic exsists? Every song created, every poem written, every feeling we feel in our hearts is a kind of magic. As for me, I think i'm a blending of both. And I was speaking of men when I was talking about the absence of good and evil. There are creatures of pure evil, just as there are of good, but we were given a gift they were not." I paused a second. "We can CHOOSE!"

I kept looking Chloe in the eyes as I spoke.

"I scare the bejesezus out of people because I look like a walking nightmare. I have had people I just rescued from being beaten, robbed, shot or raped pick up their attackers gun and shoot me because of how I look. And as scary as I look, inside it's even more scary."
My fingers of my free hand slowly formed into the daggerlike claws they could become, while my other hand stayed as it normally was, wrapped in Rose's warm touch.

"Every time I change, every time I fight, I fight the urge to let go, to let loose what I could do. To let the chaos inside out. But I have been given a gift, and I choose to let loose only enough to stop someone, not to rend and destroy." My voice dropped to a murmur. "It would be soo easy to let go, but that is the easy path, and that leads to Hell, and I want to walk a higher path. But sometimes it's hard, so very hard."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri, Jamie, and Alfred

"He has a point, M'lady Tennylson," Jamie murmured, very much intrigued. "I was going to caution against the dangers of transdimensional shunting without the benefit of a capsule or, at the very least, protective garb. But your boy seems to make his own capsule, as-needed. Psychokinetic?"

"'The Tomorrow People,'" Ceri noted with a smirk. "Like you said."

Jamie grinned. "Always did love that series, especially the audio stuff," he confessed. "They had this marvellous A.I., named him Tim."

At this point, Alfred swung the door open, and blinked at the sudden fresh influx of characters.

"I take it you lot are the supervisory contingent?" he asked the two sets of parents. "Because, strewth, if there aren't a lot of tiny tots here to supervise."

Without waiting for an answer, he glanced at Merick, a wicked gleam in his eye. "Shall I fetch you a chair, lad, so as to facilitate your sitting out here and conversing with them knotholes?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose, Chloe, and Bruce

"'It's a kind of magic,'" Rose murmured with a soft smile, quoting Connor MacLeod and, by extension, Freddie Mercury. She squeezed Wraith's humanoid hand, running her eyes over his deadly-seeming claw with a bit of wonderment in those blues, and then continued deeper into the lyrics: "'The rage that lasts a thousand years will soon be gone.'"

"It's sensory," Chloe protested, though she knew she wasn't winning, "poetic extended metaphor and-and-and arrogance, to presume that our run-of-the-mill thought processes and sight and sound and smell have anything magickal about them. We're alive. That's not magic, it's fact. And I'm sure whatever strangeness you've got going on, 'Wraith,' has a factual, scientific explanation behind it. Some sort of hyperspace made not of light but of darkness..."

"The dark road we walk?" Bruce pointed out. "We all walk that. Every one of us, though I'll admit that the road for some is darker than the road for others. The choice between the easy road to the metaphorical Hell, and the long winding road to the metaphorical Heaven. 'Nothing has befallen you but that which is common to Man.' The trick is to not glorify the walk, but simply to walk it. Walk it without getting mired in it."

"'Not all who wander are lost,'" Rose declared, J.R.R., in The Wraith's defence, and in defence of Magic. "'Not all that is gold glitters.'"

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I leaned over and whispered in Rose's ear in a stage whisper.

"Like to see her explain the Dragon wasn't magical.

I looked over at Bruce than. "You are right Bruce. And yes Chloe, I was speaking metaphorically about some things, but on others I was serious."

I then heard a faint knock off in the other room.

"I think Merrick is back with the adults. Shall we table the magical discussion for the moment and get back to strategy?"

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter listened to the exchange between them all with a bemused look on his face. Here was the future of the planet debating the existence, or the characteristics rather, of magic.

"You must believe in magic," he spoke into Chloe's mind, "for it is the one thing against which my powers, and those of a Kryptonian, have no affect."

He then gave her a brief nod and disappeared. While invisible, he walked quickly and quietly to stand behind her, and spoke again as he became tangible again.

"Some would call this magic, but it is a simple extension of the physical properties of my Martian cellular structure," he told her. "But what would appear as science to some, is magic to another." He then gave a nod to Rose, and added, "Even the 'Princes of the Universe' recognize the limitations of science when compared to the infinite possibilities in the cosmos."

"So," he said, "shall we begin?"

 

[Wyldfire]

At first Kara had the lead, but when Diana pulled ahead of her Kara began to realize that there was more to Diana than first appeared.

"You're pretty fast," Kara said as she caught up again.

Diana gave her new sister a devilish grin as she accelerated again, almost to her full ability, to probably forty or fifty miles per hour and said "Catch me if you can sister Kara."

It had completely left the girl's mind to watch herself. She was alive and free with a sister, and it felt good to let go and just be herself. She slanted their course away from the road and out into the great wide open that was Smallville.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Bruce, and Rose

Rose grinned at The Wraith.

Chloe's eyes went extremely wide as she felt that weird whispery sandy voice wafting through her engrams, and a crawl went up and down her spine, like ghost fingers. Ghostly Martian fingers.

Her hands clenched into fists and her eyebrows went high up her forehead.

"You must believe in magic," he spoke into Chloe's mind, "for it is the one thing against which my powers, and those of a Kryptonian, have no affect."

"Cool," she murmured, uber-creeped, though the sensation wasn't entirely unpleasant. Just... unfamiliar. "I'll keep that in mind."

Bruce glanced at her sharply, surprised at her talking seemingly apropos of nothing. "What's that? You'll keep what in mind?"

"The Martian," Chloe looked back at him, disbelieving. "He's in my mind."

And then The Martian went invisible, and Bruce tensed, quite understandably: "Good God. Another teleporter?"

"For the record," Rose murmured, to The Wraith, "you have a kind of cool haunted-house moaning noise when you fade out, and the shadows swallow you like London pea-soup fog. It's not like that quick-zap-gone stuff even at all."

When J'onn J'onzz rematerialised, Chloe whipped about to face him, even as both Rose's and Bruce's gaze darted similarly to the now-visible Manhunter's new position.

He explained: "Some would call this magic, but it is a simple extension of the physical properties of my Martian cellular structure," he told Chloe. "But what would appear as science to some, is magic to another."

"Right," Chloe nodded, a little bit of a dubious curve to her lip, eyes half-lidded. "I'm familiar with Clarke's Third Law, and I suppose it's obvious that in this brave new world, on This Island Earth, it applies to biology as well as technology. But that's exactly my point!"

She strode into the middle of the room, gesturing emphatically: "There is nothing in this world or any other that can't be rationally explained, because nothing can exist that can't be rationally explained."

She whirled to face The Wraith. "Your 'dragon' could easily be, um, a pterosaurian throwback with a thermochemical respiratory system whose gigantic scale could be attributed to interdimensional variance in the gravitational constant over the course of its evolution."

"What about Clarke's Second Law?" Rose wondered, genuinely curious.

Chloe blinked. "What?"

(Bruce's expression was so sceptical it could have killed a Kryptonian dead on the spot.)

"Clarke's Third Law states that," Rose continued, slowly, enunciating her thoughts, an intensely thoughtful expression on her face, "'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' But his Second Law states: 'The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.'"

She took a deep breath, and grinned at J'onn, tickled by his continuance of her "Highlander" references. "In other words, to quote Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez: 'Who knows?'"

Chloe's face contorted for a moment, and then she shook her head. "Well played, Cerebra. Something else for me to keep in mind."

"So," The Martian said, "shall we begin?"

"One moment more," Bruce suggested. "There are others coming. And if you're right about the odds stacked against us, I think we can use all the help we can get."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick blushed a brilliant crimson. "No sir." Merick looked around at the group beside him. Alfred, sir, these are my parents. Dale and Marcy Tennylson. And these are Rose's parents."

Dale stepped forward and extended a hand. "Please to meet you sir. If Merick here is ever a hassle feel free to give him a swift kick." Dale grinned that foolishly lovable grin of his, the one that he inherited from his father, and that Merick had inherited from him.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"You're insanely fast," Kara said to herself, amazed that this girl from Themiscrya could run almost as fast as Kara could. Diana ran like the wind, and the road beneath their feet became nothing but a blur or grey stones.

Though Kara had fallen behind somewhat, she quickly caught up as Diana issued her challenge to catch her if she could.

"What say we kick things up a notch?" Kara said with a playful smile. Though Diana was fast, Kara was considerably faster. Her Kryptonian heritage made sure that underneath the sun there was next to no one that could match her speed... save that of another Kryptonian, perhaps.

They sped off the road and began moving deeper into the heart of Smallville, past all the farms, trees, ponds... past it all.

Finally they made it to a high cliff overlooking Crater Lake. Though many assumed it was so called because it might have been formed during the shower, the truth was it had just been filled with meteor fragments. The lake itself had existed for... well more years than Kara could count.

By now the sun had gone down considerably, and high above the moon cast an eerie glow on the lakes rippling surface.

"That was a lot of fun," Kara said with a smile as she looked at Diana.

"I've never met anyone that could run as fast as me," Kara added, her hands holding onto her hips.

 

[AmenRa]

It was through the vast resources of the Internet, provided by the BRAIN InterActive Construct, that gave Zod the location of the codes.

They weren't encrypted in layers and layers of data, or hidden amongst the netherworld of cyberspace, but instead they were written down on a plain piece of lined paper. And then that paper was placed inside a drawer, which was inside a vault, which was kept inside a building.

And with these codes, Zod would have access to almost 72% of the planet's monetary holdings. Every country, every government, every individual, every bank in the whole world.

There were gaurds that tried to stop the Kryptonian, as he stood in the doorway of the building wearing all black with a long coat. They watched in awe, then horror, as their bullets ricocheted from his body and he emerged unharmed. Then they begged, pleas of mercy and promises of loyalty as he broke their bodies into.

They had died so he could obtain the codes.

Their lives were given in tribute to Zod.

And then he wrenched the vault door open, metal and concrete cracking and spattering, and he took the codes.

And then he returned to the un-named and unknown office where he would plan and plot his rule of Earth.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri, Jamie, Alfred, and Pete

"The pleasure of the acquaintance is mine, Mr. and Mrs. Tennylson," Alfred nodded easily, returning that infectious smile. "And I assure you, your lad has thus far been a well-behaved boon about the place. Should he prove otherwise, well, normally I bonk miscreants on the conk with a golf club, push comes to shove, but I shall keep in mind your prescription of a kick. (Seems far more humane than a nine-iron, now that you mention it.)

"But enough of my self-important filibustering while you're out in the cold September night," he gestured apologetically. "Come on in, come on in. There's important doings about, I shan't want you to miss anything."

As he stood aside to permit the three Tennylsons entry, his eyes flickered first to Ceri McCrimmon, and then to Jamie Hamilton.

The man he knew.

From one good turn, and another.

And the woman was familiar, though he couldn't say from where. A hint of something at the back of his brain, a brain that had been made, through long training, damn near flawless for names and faces.

"'Ello, King Alfred," Jamie grinned, and waved a little wave.

Ceri arched an eyebrow at Jamie, but mimicked the wave to Alfred all the same.

"Uh, yes," she murmured, having the same nagging familiarity with Alfred. "Hulloh."

"G'won inside," Jamie suggested to Ceri. "I'd like to have a talk with the Gentleman."

She gave Alfred another long hard look, and then slithered past into the house. 'We'll talk later,' she seemed to suggest.

'Looking forward to it,' he nodded back to her, wordless.

Jamie shoved his hands into his pockets and was about to open his mouth when an extremely familiar car pulled to a stop in the driveway with a bit of a screech of tyres.

Ceri's Saab.

Jamie blinked, and Alfred arched an eyebrow.

"Oh, look," Jamie murmured, utterly confused but attempting to act blithely casual about the whole thing, "kerbside service."

Pete emerged from the Saab, slamming the door behind him and running up to the two Englishmen.

"Evenin'," he greeted the both of them. "Pete Ross. Which one of you is 'Fred Pennyworth?"

"Alfred," Jamie corrected, on the Gentleman's behalf.

"Cool, hey," Pete tossed Jamie the keys and patted him on the back as he darted past them into the house. "Thanks for everything, Alfred. I'ma just make myself at home."

Jamie blinked.

Alfred arched both eyebrows.

"Kids these days," Alfred clucked.

"No joking," Jamie blinked, staring at the car keys. "Still, though. He's an all right lad. Always, apparently, returns what he borrows..."

"Yours, then?" Alfred mused, indicating the car. "Fortuitous happenstance, I shouldn't wonder."

"Ceri's," Jamie explained, moving towards the door. "She's my. We're. It's complicated."

"Everything is, these days," Alfred consoled him, wryly, as the warm house welcomed them both. "Everything always is."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Alfred had no sooner made to let them in than Merick made a dash for the kitchen. "Rose, Chloe, little gift from the Tropics." Merick handed each of them a bouquet. "Hope you like them. I saw them and couldn't resist. Hope you don't mind" Merick deftly flopped into his seat, arms crossed and hat tipped back slightly. "Oh, I should introduce my parents. Guys, this is Dale, and Marcy Tennylson."

"Rose, I am glad your okay. I know Merick was a bit worried. Your parents are amazing kiddo. You take after them well. Pleased to meet everyone else." Marcy waved and stepped to the side of the kitchen. Out of the way. Any other day, the sight of The Wraith, and The Martian, would have sent her screaming. Today, it was par for the course.

"Good to see everyone. I don't know exactly what you are up to but, any help we can lend is yours." Dale grinned. Then he stepped to his wife's side.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose, Ceri, Chloe, Bruce, Alfred, Jamie, and Pete

Rose beamed as she waved to Merick as he re-entered, and beamed even brighter when she saw Merick's mum and dad. "Hi, Dr. and Mrs. T!"

And then she saw the flowers, and registered that some were for her, and she kind of boggled as she accepted them with both hands.

"What? Where? They're very pretty. Th-thank you." She blinked and glanced at The Wraith. "Don't you think they're pretty?"

At this point, Pete emerged in the kitchen doorway, breathing hard, having run like a motherfucker for something of a distance.

"Hey, y'all."

He waved to Chloe (herself presented with flowers and looking a little like a fish out of water), shared a stern glance with Bruce (himself looking a little like a fish out of water, evidently he wasn't used to throwing such huge parties at his crib), and then nodded respectfully to The Wraith.

"Heya, Ray--" he started to say, but then saw just beside and behind Kyle that Rose was making a worried face and shaking her head and he caught himself just in time "--th. Wraith."

Pete blinked, and looked at Rose more fully. "Hunh. I just got that."

"I know, right?" Rose grinned. "Funny how that works out."

Pete glanced at The Martian. "'Kay, so, guess she's all right," he noted, referring to Chloe. "So you're off the hook, Mean Joe."

He threw his hands wide. "So. What'd I miss?"

"Team's called The Outsiders," Bruce supplied.

"And Water is in Honduras," Chloe quipped.

"Oh," Pete blinked. "Seventh inning stretch."

In the hallway, Ceri had lingered, and was walking with Jamie and Alfred.

Her dark eyes hovered over Alfred, and darted to his face, and she pursed her lips in curiosity.

"Your posture," she murmured. "Cadence of your walk. Yeh weren't always a butler, were yeh, Alfred?"

Alfred blinked at her. "Actually, no. For a time before joining what we Pennyworths call 'the family trade,' I was a lance-corporal in the armed forces of The United Kingdom. Managed to get out well before that bitter affair in The Falklands."

Ceri nodded sagely. "Military. Might have known. What duties, if yeh don't mind my asking?"

"Something of a butler there, too," Alfred replied, heavy on the sardonic humour. "Solider-servant for a high-ranking posh fellow. Tended his guns, polished his medals, drove his motorcar."

"Ah," Ceri noted, remembering hearing about fellows like this from Great-Uncle Dai, "so you were a batman?"

Alfred chuckled. "That I was, yes, s'pose that's the term for it."

Only half-listening to this, Jamie wandered ahead, catching up to Pete at the kitchen, and clapping his hands together emphatically.

"Okay, team," he started, then frowned distastefully. "Ooh, I hate people who say 'team.' Okay, 'gang?' Erm, 'comrades...'"

He stopped, and then sheepishly shoved his hands into his pockets and grinned.

"Hello, everyone," he greeted them, one and all. "Everyone, hello!"

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

"Evening Mr. McCrimmon, Pete, Mr. & Mrs. Tennylson. We were waiting on you to get here before the real brainstorming started. So far we are separated into three 'strike teams' if you will. Bruce & myself are heading to Honduras, and could use you, Pete, for a translator. Chloe is going rogue alien AI hunting, with Merick providing logistical support and Rose has a very special first contact to make, which I am sure she will do very well."

I looked over at Rose when I said the last part. She looked especially beautiful holding the tropical flowers Merick had given her.

"So, to find a needle in a haystack I do need to know more about this crystal. what does it look like? How big is it. When was it hidden down there? It makes a difference if it was one year ago or a thousand years ago. We need something to narrow down our search parameters."

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter noted the entrance of the newcomers, particularly Dr. Hamilton.

J'onn J'onzz looked to him, then into him, his Martian sight allowing him to look deeper. He saw Zor-El's crystal in Jamie's coat pocket. J'onn stepped to him, looking down, his eyes intent. J'onn extended a hand, opening his palm.

"The piece you seek," the Manhunter said to The Wraith while waiting on Jamie to hand over the crystal that Var-Sen had given to Rose, "is similar in shape and size to the one that is now fused to the console in the cave. It has the Kryptonian symbol for 'water' engraved upon it, which I shall write for you shortly.

"As for when it was placed there, I do not know. It has been at least a century, I am sure. But, you will know where to look, as there will be others seeking for it, and it will be them that will lead you to it."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Jamie, Rose, Ceri, Pete, and Bruce

Jamie stared at J'onzz for a moment, uncomprehending, and then smacked himself on the forehead with the heel of his hand and produced The Crystal with a flourish.

"Never let it be said," he joked, placing the thing in The Martian's waiting palm, "that I never return what I borrow."

His eyes darted to Pete, standing next to him, who reddened with the implication.

"Mea maxima culpa," Pete mumbled. "Is that Spanish?"

"Latin," Ceri corrected, moving up behind him, gently clasping Jamie's hand in hers.

(Alfred had withdrawn, to do Gentlemanly things involving dust and airing cupboards.)

"Eh, Spanish enough," Jamie dismissed, giving Ceri's hand a squeeze.

Chloe, meanwhile, had pressed her flowers into Bruce's hands. She had then resumed a seat at the kitchen table, setting up her laptop and taking advantage of her tricked-out wi-fi aircard to access The Internet based on proximity to cell-towers, most of which were still standing after this most recent shower.

Bruce sniffed the flowers gingerly. He gave Merick a dark look.

(Bruce Wayne's darkest look had not yet become the thing of terrifying Gothic fervour that would inspire dread in the most superstitious and cowardly criminals. It would someday be that dark.

Now... now it was still a scary thing, to see the night slide over Bruce's eyes.

But Merick would live. At least for now.)

"I should put these in water," he suggested, and removed the flowers from Rose's hand as he fetched two tall, cylindrical vases, filled them with water from the tap, and arranged the blooms with effortless mathematical symmetry.

"Um," Rose blinked, still taken aback, reading the shadows on Bruce's face, "thank you."

And she decided to change the subject: "Mum!" she called, eagerly, indicating The Martian, "this guy's really learned about art and history and stuff. And his name's Jones!"

Ceri pursed her lips, intrigued, and offered J'onzz her biggest smile.

"'Gall pechod mawr ddyfod trwy ddrws bychan,'" she told him, curious to see how he'd respond.

Chloe's fingers flew over the silver Gateway's keyboard, murmuring as her eyes flickered back and forth.

"Actually," she eventually replied to J'onn, "we might not be so lost as you'd think, location-wise. You jogged my memories, doing that... peer-to-peer thing you do with brainwaves?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. ("Which? Really eerie, by the way.")

Her finger darted over the track-pad, made a quick circle, tapped open some windows.

Google Earth expanded before her.

Central America.

"Honduras," she muttered. "But specifically?"

"Honduras?" Jamie grinned, puckish as ever. "Honduras! Lovely! They've got great Forteana in Honduras. No joking, once a year? Blind underground fish fall from the sky. Like pennies from Heaven, except more, erm, ichthyological. Sometimes twice a year, if you're lucky. Happens in the summer, though, you'll have missed it at this point."

"That's a shame," Chloe mused, zooming in on satellite photography of Honduras, "missing the fish-storm."

"Oh, I know," Jamie sighed. "Oh, I know."

Chloe clicked once, twice more, and then sat back a bit, propping her elbow up and rubbing her fingertips together as she spun the laptop around for more to see.

"Here," she said, reaching around and pointing to a spot on the map.

"Aqui," Pete provided.

A waterfall down the side of a mountain, inland from San Lorenzo.

The waterfall had a small lake at the bottom, surrounded by a small town.

"The town's something of a problem," she confessed, "according to my favourite conspiracy mill forum. Maybe something of a big problem. Rumour has it, the terrorist organisation known as The Ten Rings has an outpost in this area, and that town may well be that outpost."

Her eyes darted to Pete, and she turned a little pale. "I volunteered you for this? No shame in bowing out."

"'Even when I think you're whack,'" he replied, "'I show up ready to rumble.' 'Sides, I got Bruce Wayne an' The Wraith. There's not a terrorist on the face o' God's Earth what ain't gonna lose their shit when these guys roll in."

"Bad-ass black guy's got our backs," Bruce nodded. "And we've got his."

"Cool," Chloe nodded warily, seeming rather unconvinced. "Anyway. The Crystal is behind the falls, in a cavern. It's inside a hollow statue of a Mayan rain god."

She smirked, faintly. "Water, right? Something of a theme, I guess."

Bruce swung his gaze across to The Martian. "What was that symbol, again?"

 

[Wyldfire]

"What say we kick things up a notch?" Kara said with a playful smile. Though Diana was fast, Kara was considerably faster. Her Kryptonian heritage made sure that underneath the sun there was next to no one that could match her speed... save that of another Kryptonian, perhaps.

They sped off the road and began moving deeper into the heart of Smallville, past all the farms, trees, ponds... past it all.

Finally they made it to a high cliff overlooking Crater Lake. Though many assumed it was so called because it might have been formed during the shower, the truth was it had just been filled with meteor fragments. The lake itself had existed for... well more years than Kara could count.

By now the sun had gone down considerably, and high above the moon cast an eerie glow on the lakes rippling surface.

"That was a lot of fun," Kara said with a smile as she looked at Diana.

"I've never met anyone that could run as fast as me," Kara added, her hands holding onto her hips.

Diana was amazed. Kara had not only kept up with her but had managed to keep just ahead of her. No one her own age had ever bested her in anything. She managed to contain the surprise with the shock that she had completely lost her compossure and displayed her true potential. "I have to agree with you Kara, I have never met any who could best me either."

She looked at Kara as if for the first time, this girl must be a "Changeling", one of the rare Themysciran girls that don't come back with their mothers for one reason or the other. She could think of no other way that a girl in Man's world could beat her in a race. She was curious now, and in Themyscira it was known that when little Diana got curious there was no rest until that situation was remedied.

"Kara, I have what might be a poor question for someone I just met. I cannot think of any better way to ask this," Diana paused with a frown, "Are the Kents your blood parents, or are you a fosterling?"

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I stood and moved over to behind Chloe, looking down at the screen and memorizing what was there.

I think it was time I used a few resources not from Shadow. It was time to make a call, which I could not do in this form. But the fewer people who know who I am, the safer all of us were.

It was a delima. I could more effectively help Chloe if I interfaced with Odin and let the AI crunch the data and get recent satellite intel on the location. Hell, it might give us a definite edge with the alien AI (if the silly thing didn't get distracted by hacking the networks trying to get the next season of "Heroes" before it airs.)

It was time to get anothers perspective. Someone I trusted.

"Rose, could I have a word with you in private for a few minutes please? I have something I want to run by you."

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"Kara, I have what might be a poor question for someone I just met. I cannot think of any better way to ask this... are the Kents your blood parents, or are you a fosterling?"

That was the kind of question that raised red flags in her head. It was the kind of question that made her realize just how foolish she had been. She was careless, and in cutting it loose and just being who she really was... she set herself up for the kind of conversation that she had always feared to have.

But perhaps... perhaps Diana was different. Maybe with Diana, Kara could be herself.

Kara noticed the frown on Diana's face, and she could sense the care that lay within her. Sure, there was a hint of curiosity, but who wouldn't be just a little curious after what had just happened?

Very slowly Kara turned aside, her eyes shifting from the stars above to the ground beneath her feet.

"I don't know who my biological parents are," Kara said after a moment.

"I was taken in by the Kents when I was young. I've lived with them ever since."

 

[Wyldfire]

The agony in Kara's soul was so very clear to Diana, it was a pain she understood from home. Born to rule, born to don the Emerald mantle that would make her even more apart from her sisters. Just like it appeared that Kara was apart from all, even Diana. Diana reached out gently and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry for the hurt I have caused you sister, truly I am," Diana said, "And that pain has one last part to it. Have you ever come into contact with an Emerald Diamond? A gem that glows green like an emerald, but with the texture of a diamond?"

Diana knew what the mantle looked like. She seen it from a distance more than once. It was her own destiny to don it and accept the mantle of rulership of Themyscira. It would enhance a Themysciran to nearly Godlike power. Power like Kara had. Diana was beginning to suspect that Mother hadn't told her everything of her own Sabbatical into Man's World. The timing was almost right.

"Kara I think I may know who your mother may be. And if I am right I have been calling you sister with more appropriateness than I knew."

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara felt Diana's hand touch down upon her shoulder, and if there was any suspicion or thoughts that Diana might betray her secrets... they quickly vanished.

But her talk of an Emerald Diamond was somewhat confusing at first.

And then it hit her: the meteor rocks. They glowed all right, but every time she came into contact with them she felt sick. She felt weak, unable to stand or even move.

"I'm not sure about diamonds, but there are some rocks in Smallville that glow green," Kara said before she shuddered.

"But I can't go near them, or at least I try not to. I just get sick around them... like they're taking away my abilities. It's a terrible feeling," Kara added.

Kryptonite... it was her Achilles Heel. Magic she was vulnerable to as well, but being blasted away with mystical energy was not as likely to happen as her running into a small shard of the green meteor fragments.

"Why? Who do you think my mother is?"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

OOC: Short post, but I need to dash off to work =(
---

"We're glad too," Jonathan said.

His family was darn lucky the meteors didn't strike their farm. If they had... it would have taken quite a while to get everything fixed up again. He was more than positive, though, that Kara could easily get things put together.

As George began to walk away, he stopped suddenly and asked about the old Siegal place.

"Yeah, vaguely. Why?" he asked curiously.

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter took the Crystal of the House of El from Jamie Hamilton. He bowed to the man, bringing his considerable height even with Jamie's head in a gesture of respect. He then turned to Rose and opened his palm. The crystal, held by the Martian, was lightly glowing an incandescant red. He nodded for Rose to take the crystal.

"'Gall pechod mawr ddyfod trwy ddrws bychan,'" she told him, curious to see how he'd respond.

J'onn J'onzz turned his head to the side and considered the Welsh proverb Ceri had given him. He let a smile escape his lips, softening his Martian features.

"Gorau adnabod, d'adnabod dy hun," he said to her in his voice that whispered like sand through a glass.

J'onn J'onzz then took up a pen and paper that was situated near Chloe's laptop. He made a few fluid and swift strokes on the paper, and the resulting symbol in the language of Krypton appeared.

Water.

 

[AmenRa]

"Water is in Honduras," the BRAINIAC said as it coalesced from its squiggly, inky form into the bland and unremarkable human form of Milton Fine. "I have learned this from my research at the University."

Zod stroked his mustache and goatee. "Is it near the location where you have hidden the vessel upon which my soldiers had traveled here?"

"Unknown," it replied, "the black ship is cloaked and near the geological formation called Paramount Peak. I suspect The Artifact's location will be revealed through local legend and folklore."

"And what of the allies of Zor-El's heir?"

"Most all of them have families, except for two, one of which exhibits powers unusual for a human. The other, though, appears to be without any remarkable attributes, and an orphan as well.

"There is one," the BRAINIAC continued as Zod listened, "whose family appears to be somewhat unconventional."

"Families, loved ones, they can be exploited and used," Zod surmised. "What of Kara Zor-El?"

"It is believed she does not know the extent of her powers, as there are no records or reports indicating anything unusual about her or her family, the Kents."

Zod was quiet for a moment, thinking, plotting. "Go to Honduras and retrieve the Crystal of Water. Return it to me."

The BRAIN InterActive Construct bowed its head and left.

General Zod picked up the printout the BRAINIAC had left for him. He scanned the pages at superspeed, and then settled on one bio in particular. Yes, he thought, it is time for a recon mission. A small visit to learn the extent of this network of allies. Just a little look to find out how much of a fight there will be, an intelligence gathering mission to learn strengths and weaknesses.

Zod set the printout with the photograph of Chloe Sullivan back onto the desk.