The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[TearsoftheWorld]

"The back roads would probably be best. But if we do get pulled over I'll probably bolt out the door," Kara quipped, reclining in her seat a little. It was nice not having to worry about the fate of the world for once. It was nice to worry about the tiny little things, though getting pulled over by the police probably wouldn't go over that well.

Most certainly not with her parents.

"Wasn't one of our chickens. Might have looked liked one, but it was probably just a lost, hopeless soul."

Kara looked out her window and smirked.

"I wonder if I'll ever get kissed in a tree," Kara mused aloud.

Kara didn't really know that many guys aside from Bruce and Kyle.

And then she raised an eyebrow, turning her head back to look at Rose.

"So who's the lucky guy?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

"The back roads would probably be best. But if we do get pulled over I'll probably bolt out the door," Kara quipped, reclining in her seat a little.

Rose chuckled. "And I'll light a smokescreen or something to cover your escape. I mean, I'll take the rap, I'm the one doing the unlicenced operating of a motor vehicle, no reason you should be an accessory."

"Wasn't one of our chickens. Might have looked liked one, but it was probably just a lost, hopeless soul."

"Maybe it was just visiting," Rose mumbled. "Maybe it was Mel Gibson, like in that movie. You should be careful, he might try to liberate your poultry."

Kara looked out her window and smirked.

"I wonder if I'll ever get kissed in a tree," Kara mused aloud.

"Admittedly," Rose suggested, cheeks pink, "it's easier if you have a treehouse. It was just sort of. Impromptu."

Rose glanced at Kara, briefly, as she gazed out the window, and wondered what the supergirl was thinking.

And then she raised an eyebrow, turning her head back to look at Rose.

"So who's the lucky guy?"

Rose grinned a Puckish, beaming grin. "Kyle. Kyle Matthews. Or, well, Greystone."

She stumbled, suddenly, not sure which name was good. "Or. Well. 'Ray Charles.'"

Her pink cheeks were again blushing like wildfire, her voice an abashed mumble. "You know who I mean."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith & Bekka

I listen to Ceri talk and a small weight I didn't know was on my back lifted.

Now I just had to convince my sister that I could start dating.

& THAT I had ammo for!!!

"Now Bekka, I do seem to remember you and a certain someone disappeared for over an hour at a engagement you attended, when you were sixteen, the same age as me!"

Bekka blushed, then composed herself and looked me in the eyes.

"Oliver was a sweet boy and all we did was talk out on the balcony. We didn't so anything... improper, no matter what the paparazzi said. But you have a point, just do what you feel is right, follow your heart but listen to your head. And for pete's sake call the girl when you can and take her somewhere nice!"

It was my turn to blush, but I still had a roguish grin on my lips and a gleam in my eye.

"I was thinking The Matador down on the Riverwalk. Remember, Mom & dad always loved that place."

Bekka was quiet for a second and then nodded. "Good choice. You do listen when you choose to. Let me know when and I will set up a reservation."


She then wheeled her way back to the door leading back to Luthor when her device beeped again. Pulling it out she looked at it, then smiled.

"Good news! Our girl has resurfaced and is currently with your daughter Mrs. McCrimmon. Also, communications have been re-established and it looks like things will be back completely to normal within a few days, instead of the weeks Odin originally projected. Now, I am going to go check on young Mr. Luthor and make sure Min hasn't locked him in a closet." She then looked at me and sighed. "Alright spooky, go ahead and vamoose. Just stay out of trouble. I can handle Lex until I deliver him back to his father." She smiled a not-so-nice smile then. "That should be a memorable experience I am so looking forward to."

With that she rolled up to the door, opened it and slipped through, closing it behind her.

I closed my eyes a second, composing myself, then let Shadow roll through me until I was encased in my armor again.

"See you all in El Paso." Shadows swirled around me and I was back before the broken throne, the skull of the warrior who died there staring me in the face, as if looking for my secrets.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"And I'll light a smokescreen or something to cover your escape. I mean, I'll take the rap, I'm the one doing the unlicenced operating of a motor vehicle, no reason you should be an accessory."

"You won't really need a smokescreen. I can move pretty fast, you know," Kara said with a devilish grin. "But you're probably right. You're a menace to society, driving this car without a license. Shame on you."

When Rose brought up tree house's, Kara immediately thought about the one near the foundry... the one she always got sick around.

"Kyle... the one with the glasses?"

Kara scratched her head and then smiled brightly, as if a light had suddenly been switched on inside her head.

Dodgeball

Lunch

Kara grinned.

"Rose and Kyle sitting in a tree," she laughed.

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen

He looked at Raya, fighting the urge to take her and make love to her unabashedly under the starry Australian sky that very instant. He smiled down at her, kissed her gently on her forehead, but his eyes locked onto hers and told her how much he wanted her, how much he loved her.

"Earth," he said at last, "is too small for us, my love. Much too small for more than one Kryptonian. And you and I," a smile crept onto his lips as he nearly voiced his carnal thoughts, "would never leave it with just one, but more akin to 'one more' and then 'one more'.

"Such as it is then that we should travel to another, and I believe J'onn J'onzz will aid us in looking for a new home."

He looked long into her eyes.

"And then Flamebird and Nightwing shall become new heroes in a new place," he said with a gleam in his eye.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Chloe reached out with the hand that didn't hold the cellphone and she touched Merick's face.

"Yeah," she murmured, eyes a-twinkle, "yeah. Homecoming. I'd like that."

Merick started apologizing before he processed her answer.

"I mean its cool you don't-... wait. Did you say yes? You did!" Merick's eyes became alive. His spirit soared. "That is awesome. Like... really awesome." Merick reached up took Chloe's hand in his own. "Thank you. Your gorgeous when you smile and your eyes get all sparkly like that. I mean, your gorgeous anyway, but there is something in your eyes. A certain... Truth. I could look in those eyes for the rest of my life."

Merick blushed fiercely. "I'm sorry. Corny is kinda my schtick. I just had to say it."

From across the room Dale and Marcy exchanged glances. Marcy, as protective as she had always been, knew this was a good thing. Dale looked at Merick and Chloe and he smiled, wide and devilish.

Gabriel the Cat however, sensed the uneasiness in Pete. And made it his mission to check on him. Gabriel stopped eating and stood up on Pete's leg and let out a single mew. Softly rubbing his head on Pete's leg Gabriel waited.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri and Bruce

Good news was scant. But Kara's safety was good news to all. And the world was already swiftly picking up the pieces, sure, that was good news. But Kara...

"And to think," Ceri murmured softly, smiling wistfully, "I wanted those two to spend more time together because I thought her family would be a good influence on her. I didn't even know the half of it."

"We helped each other get our class schedules," Bruce remembered softly. "God, was that only this week?"

Bekka took her leave, maintaining vigil over the most dangerous man on the plane.

The second most dangerous man was sitting here with them in the passenger compartment.

The third most dangerous man was sleeping off healing drugs in sickbay.

And Kyle. The jury was still out on how dangerous Kyle was, where he would fit on that list. But he, too, was taking his leave. Wrapped in shadow. Clad in steel and bone. Walking between the worlds.

"See you all in El Paso."

"Tell Rosy that I love her," Ceri called to him, unsure if he'd hear her, as the veil parted and swallowed him up in living dark.

Bruce just watched him go, and lamented, not for the first time, that Wraith's departures were even more spectacular than his entrances. "Good hunting."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

"You won't really need a smokescreen. I can move pretty fast, you know," Kara said with a devilish grin. "But you're probably right. You're a menace to society, driving this car without a license. Shame on you."

"I am a menace to South Central," Rose nodded with gaunt and knowing admission, "while drinking my juice in the hood."

"Kyle... the one with the glasses?"

Kara scratched her head and then smiled brightly, as if a light had suddenly been switched on inside her head.

Rose pulled up to a stop sign, taking another deep and trembly breath.

Kara made her feel safe as houses, but this was still pretty intimidating. Big ol' vehicle, all the damage she could wreak. And here she'd thought superpowers were a hefty responsibility...

She examined the GPS, and took a shaky breath. Not much further now.

"That's hi--" she started to say, as she glanced across at Kara and stopped when--

Kara grinned.

Rose blinked at her. "Wait, what?"

"Rose and Kyle sitting in a tree," she laughed.

Rose turned just about purple with embarrassment, but she was grinning.

"Yeah," she mumbled, "I know, right?"

She wheeled right, onto the same road as had The Kent Farm on it. The same road that had Miz Potter's house, and The Old McCrimmon Place.

Ceri's daughter giggled delightedly. "It wasn't our first kiss, either. I planted one on him, once, earlier same day, right in the cafeteria. He just... he looked so sad, and I..."

Rose shrugged, blinked sheepishly. "I just wanted to reach out. I didn't care who saw us. But it was like... hiding in plain sight, you know? No-one saw it because they didn't look for that sort of thing in that sort of place. (Best place to hide, y'know. Plain sight.)"

Fenceposts and cornstalks moseyed past on both sides of the road.

"Anyway," Rose chuckled, "subject change. Forget learning to drive, you can fly. When the shock did that happen? I mean, I figured you'd learn to fly eventually because Var-Sen can do that, but I figured it was something only grownups can do."

She glanced at her friend, just with the corner of her eye, keeping her main focus on the road.

"Maybe Kryptonians are like humans. Maybe girls grow up faster than boys on your planet."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Raya

"Earth," he said at last, "is too small for us, my love. Much too small for more than one Kryptonian. And you and I," a smile crept onto his lips as he nearly voiced his carnal thoughts, "would never leave it with just one, but more akin to 'one more' and then 'one more'."

She looked at him. She didn't interrupt him. But she gazed into his eyes and she thought quietly to herself: Is it so bad, Var-Sen, that I have already started to imagine their names? This is such a schoolgirl thing to do. But I suppose there is a part of all of us that never truly outgrows such modes of thinking.

I want to name our daughter Kara, should we have one.

And if we have a son, he should be Lar-Sen. 'Lar,' after the man who sacrificed himself to save us. (I hope you understand.)

Then Charys, after Zor-El's mother, wife of Yar-El, this should be our second daughter.

If we have a second son, Kal-Sen. After Kal-Ik, whose folktale was for young Kryptonians the lesson of the importance of truth, and after Kal-El, his namesake, the child of Lara and Jor-El, whose legend has been lost, never to be told in full.

"Such as it is then that we should travel to another, and I believe J'onn J'onzz will aid us in looking for a new home."

She smiled softly. "I would stand with you on any planet's crust, beneath a sun of any colour. I would not be parted from you again. (I think a thousand years is quite long enough.)"

He looked long into her eyes.

"And then Flamebird and Nightwing shall become new heroes in a new place," he said with a gleam in his eye.

"This is metaphorically necessary," Raya beamed at him: "'And they lived happily ever after.'"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Pete

Gabriel the Cat however, sensed the uneasiness in Pete. And made it his mission to check on him. Gabriel stopped eating and stood up on Pete's leg and let out a single mew. Softly rubbing his head on Pete's leg Gabriel waited.

Pete opened his eyes and smiled a lopsided little smile, not so infectious as his grin, at the quadruped that insisted on being heard, on being acknowledged.

And quietly, gently, Pete reached down and gathered Gabriel the Cat up into his arms.

He scritched the little fella under the chin, and he chuckled faintly.

"Sometimes," he instructed the cat, very quietly, very very quietly, "you can follow your heart to the end of The Earth, and that's all it'll be. The end."

He paused, and gave the cat a little squeeze. "So what do you do? When your dreams don't pan out and you're at the end of the world?"

Pete waited for a moment, and when the cat didn't answer, Pete supplied his own little bit of Truth: "You wait. And then your heart picks up a new trail. And you get yourself some new dreams. And the world starts all over again."

He smiled faintly. Not a grin at all.

"It's the waiting," he decided, "that's the hardest part of all."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Merick started apologizing before he processed her answer.

"I mean its cool you don't-... wait. Did you say yes? You did!" Merick's eyes became alive. His spirit soared.

Chloe smiled softly, her eyes going half-lidded, her teeth becoming visible over her lower lip.

"Ordinarily," she chuckled faintly, "I'd have a whole diatribe prepared, 'we are go for Editorial,' about trumped-up rites of passage and the overblown overstated importance of these silly status outings and 'milestones' and-and-and 'mating rituals.'"

She shrugged slightly. Her eyes hadn't lost their twinkle beneath those half-lowered lids, but they were quieter, and they were deeper.

"But it's like I told Kyle," she murmured, "that one time: we're kids. We should just be... kids. And kids go out to dances."

"That is awesome. Like... really awesome." Merick reached up took Chloe's hand in his own. "Thank you. Your gorgeous when you smile and your eyes get all sparkly like that. I mean, your gorgeous anyway, but there is something in your eyes. A certain... Truth. I could look in those eyes for the rest of my life."

Chloe blinked at that, a little bit startled, but not outright alarmed. She hadn't known him from Adam before he'd 'ported into her office and clobbered himself against her Wall of Weird, but now she trusted him implicitly. Still, she couldn't help but murmur: "You're going to kidnap me again, aren't you?"

Merick blushed fiercely. "I'm sorry. Corny is kinda my schtick. I just had to say it."

She grinned at him, shaking her head. "That's okay. 'Corny' is fine with me. Corny is just fine. Better people say old-fashioned things that mean the world, rather than new-fangled silver-tonguery that means nothing at all. Don't ever stop being corny, Launchpad. Don't ever stop being sweet."

Chloe chuckled faintly, and looked half-away from him. "Just promise me one thing. Keep working on your landings, between now and then? I don't have any steel-toed boots that go good with dresses, so I'm not sure I'd be able to take it if you danced all over my feet."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick smiled and nodded.

"I can promise you that. But one thing you should know... I can totally dance. Seriously... when I was little, mom wouldn't let me play football, too dangerous, so she made me take dance lessons in Granville instead. I told her I hated it... but, 'tween you and me... I kinda liked dancing. And I promise, I will only kidnap you if you say it is okay... which come to think of it makes it not so much kidnapping and more going on a date..." Merick grinned and leaned forward and gently kissed Chloe's hand. "Next time I kidnap you... you chose where we go. Anywhere. Anywhere you want."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Gently, Raya took Var-Sen's hand.

And she looked upward, upward to stars that burned and twinkled, incandescent, countless in the night.

She closed her eyes.

She had seen him fly. She wished she had been able to fly like that right away. This would have solved the reunion problem.

Perhaps that it was simply that she hadn't felt those particular anti-gravity organelles awaken in her cellular matrix until just now... she had landed in a region of night, after all. Her absorption of yellow solar energy would be less immediate than one who awoke bathed in light.

Perhaps it had simply been psychological. She had to embrace the concept for it to fully take hold of her in a demonstrable fashion.

Whatever the reason she had not flown before, she closed her eyes now.

She flexed her toes.

And she flew, soaring upward, waving to Hugh, a fond and grateful farewell, as she led Var-Sen to the skies.

They billowed and streaked upward, curving with the spheroidal atmosphere, and there out in space, outside the ozone layer and the ionosphere, Raya received a far greater dose of that oft-discussed yellow solar energy.

Her senses awakened...

...she could see and hear, even in space, she could hear, defying acoustic physics, her conventional senses now augmented by extrasensory perceptions, the birthright of all Kryptonians but forgotten for aeons under the light of a red sun... she could see through walls, hear through space, feel a pin drop through concrete...

They hovered there near the Antarctic, and she could hear the hum and the quiver of Kryptonian morphic crystal technology, hear the molecular harmonics, she could hear it calling, calling, on the atomic level it called to her.

She flew, and she led Var-Sen, though already she was sure he knew the way.

They flew away.

And Hugh Dawkins stood there, the little campfire petering out with the repeated gusts of superspeed flight, and he gazed upward, upward.

Behind him, he felt the shadows move, and an old Aborigine man stood behind him. This man had not been there a moment ago.

Hugh did not turn around to look at him. But he knew that the old man was there.

He was blind, this old man, eyes unseeing. And he dressed entirely in white, save for a tie that seemed to be made from rainbows. And he stood with both hands capped over a silver-topped cane.

"Gone Walkabout," this old man murmured, "have they, Purinina?"

"Looking after Country, they are," Hugh agreed, without turning to look at him, "Grandfather Shepherd."

(This was spoken with reverence. This was not the man's name. It was his title.)

"It is as it should be," the old man proclaimed.

"Mm," Hugh nodded, finally taking his eyes from the skies and looking at the old man. "Everything always is."

The old man walked towards Hugh, his cane pressing little circles into the sand. "It's not every white boy gets to be initiated into the secrets of The First Peoples, Purinina, I hope you remember that. It's not every white boy that gets to attend a bora, much less get given the gift you received."

"I remember," Hugh nodded reverently. "I remember the stories you told me. About The Dreamtime. About how we were given our stories, our songs, our culture, by one being--"

"'Baiame,'" the old man nodded. "Called 'Sky Hero.' Called 'All Father.' And sometimes, in the faintest of whispers, called 'The Traveler.' He gave us the stories, he gave us songs, he gave us laws, tradition, culture. He made rivers and mountains and forests. Without him, we would have been lost. And when he was finished, he returned to the sky from whence he came."

"Back to the sky," Hugh murmured softly. "And there he goes again, or his inheritor. Sky Hero. Traveler. Back to the sky. Does this mean it's finished? All those traditions we were given, are they ended? A closed loop? Is The Dreamtime come to a close?"

The Grandfather Shepherd tsked softly, and smiled a wide, white-toothed grin. "The Dreamtime, The Dreaming, these are never at an end. The time of Creation is forever, you know that. Forever are we being remade, forever do we remake the world."

Hugh nodded quietly. "A new set of stories, then. Not replacing the old, but succeeding them. Given to us... by whom?"

The Grandfather Shepherd grinned broadly. "A new Sky Hero. This one... this one with the heart of a woman. And her story... is only now begun."

Hugh paused to think about this.

And then he... shifted... he roiled... his body changing, tapping into deep Red forces running through the currents of The World, this was his bora gift, he and his Dreaming were one and the same...

He stood. Transformed. Therianthropic. Zoanthropic.

A massive beast of a man, with dark dark red fur, and gleaming eyes, and a white-furred "T" emblazoned upon his chest. An anthropomorphic Tasmanian Devil.

He grinned with a row of gleaming white teeth, and he turned and walked from that place with The Grandfather Shepherd.

"A woman, huh?" he mused, his personality made far more raucous with his transformation. "Too bad. I don't suppose she has a brother? Maybe a cute male cousin she could introduce me to?"

The Grandfather Shepherd threw back his head and laughed delightedly, but on this topic he was curiously silent as they walked about in the Outback night.

...the plains of ice and snow stretched for miles and miles in every direction, whitecapped peaks the only interruption to the expanse.

And in the very centre of it all, the very very middle, there rose like a palace of crystal, like the enthroning pavilion of a Snow Queen, The Fortress of Solitude.

Raya slowed to a drift as she landed, and quietly, quietly, with great reverence, she strode through the cold cold snows to stand in that place.

She glanced over her shoulder at Var-Sen, wordless and awed, and she walked deeper into its embrace. Her eyes flickered this way and that, and it seemed that its spaces within were greater even by far than its exterior would have suggested.

She stood in that place, her eyes drinking in the cool white light.

It was... it was...

"It's so much like home," she murmured, one of those tears finally escaping to roll down her cheek. "It's so much like home."

She cleared her throat, and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. It would not do to get carried away under the eyes of her great mentor, even if he was just a technological ghost...

"Zor-El?" she murmured once, and then called out louder. "Zor-El of The House of El, can you hear me? I am Raya Ro-Zan, and I live today only because of your forward thinking. I wish to... to pay you homage. I wish to... thank you."

 

[AmenRa]

The Fortress of Solitude had built-in self defenses.

It was, after all, a fortress. These were of the utmost technology, Kryptonian technology, and designed thousands of years before Humans had even though of things such as perimeter alarms and intrusion detection systems.

(It was theorized that a Human might gain access to the Fortress by generating the precise alpha waves emmitted by a Kryptonian).

Had the two that just stepped through the Fortress's entrance been anything other than Kryptonian, the self-defense system would have activated, and a myriad of responses up to and including thermonuclear detonation would have occurred.

As it were, though, the two beings were scanned on the molecular level by the Fortress's AI, and then their unique DNA was compared to the Fortress's database.

Var-Sen could say nothing, just shake his head slightly because he knew Krypton was truly gone, and this was all that was left: a replica of a once-great civilization. Here, on Earth. Yet, though he was indeed saddened by the thought, a look over at Raya reminded him of a new beginning, a new purpose. Not just a purpose for himself, but for her, because he now carried her hopes and dreams as well as his own. He smiled slightly and winked at her, and realized right then, when she looked at him with her eyes full of tears, at that moment, he loved her completely.

The two intruders were determined to not be a threat, and actually considered to be most welcome.

"Zor-El?" she murmured once, and then called out louder. "Zor-El of The House of El, can you hear me? I am Raya Ro-Zan, and I live today only because of your forward thinking. I wish to... to pay you homage. I wish to... thank you."

The instant Raya spoke those words, a shaft of light illuminated her and Var-Sen from high above in the structure's support crystals. A voice then spoke, the voice of a ghost, a voice from their past.

"Raya Ro-Zan and Var-Sen," Zor-El's voice echoed through the main chamber. "It was not through the planning or forethinking of this construct's creator that you stand here now, but because of your own endurance, resolve, and destiny.

"You are, however, most welcome."

A hologram of Zor-El appeared before them. Var-Sen smiled and blinked back tears. He had been in awe of his surroundings upon the first sight of the Fortress. Now he was fighting the sweet pain of memories of his life before the destruction of Krypton, before Earth.

"I am pleased you were able to find your way to me, here," Zor-El's consciousness continued. "And, as I suspected, you both played an important part in Kara's retrieval of the Father Crystal and the ultimate building of this Fortress of Solitude."

"The road was not easy," Var-Sen answered for them, "but this much has been accomplished. Zod has been returned to the Phantom Zone once again."

"And yet Kara's destiny is only beginning," Zor-El answered. "She has much to yet learn about her new world, about herself, about her heritage. Experiences that you have already shared on this world Kara has yet to see. That is why this place stands here: to guide her through these times and prepare her to assume her role in the future of Mankind so that it will not perish the way our home world did."

The hologram of Zor-El faded to be replaced by a still picture taken sometime in Zor-El's lab on Krypton. The Fortress had obviously reproduced the still holo from its memory crystals. The picture showed Var-Sen and Raya, both looking over a table of scientific instruments, with Zor-El standing slightly behind them. It appeared Zor-El was teaching them something, and they both were intently listening as they worked.

Var-Sen broke out into a grin, and at the same time he swallowed hard to keep from breaking into tears.

Zor-El spoke, "I am sure you are full of questions, as you both always have been. Go ahead and ask, for after this time you will no longer be able to visit here until Kara has fulfilled her destiny."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Gabe, Pete, The Cat, and Alfred

Chloe grinned.

She grinned her very best delighted and incredulous grin, and it was this expression, this very kind of grin, that her face was simply made for.

"Better than a flying carpet," she decided, beaming at Merick as he kissed her hand in such an old-fashioned, classic, Old World... corny fashion... "Consensual kidnapping is infinitely preferable to the other kind."

She regarded him quietly, contemplatively, still grinning that grin.

"As much as I applaud any guy shucking the norm and rejecting the path of The Testosterone Elite," she mused, eyes dancing happily and dangerously, "embracing a more iconoclastic route, the idea of you dancing? That's a little hard for this sceptical reporter to swallow. Suffice it to say: I'll believe it when I see it. Suffice it to say? I'll see you on the dancefloor."

Gabe Sullivan looked up, glanced across at Chloe over the top of his mug of half-caf, and leaned over to Pete. "Wait. What just happened?"

Pete, who was holding Gabriel the Cat over one arm-- letting The Cat flop his four legs over his forearm like it was the branch of a tree --and accepting his cappuccino from Alfred with the other, could only shake his head and chuckle oh-so-raggedly.

"Last horse crosses the finish line, dunnit?" Alfred remarked, patting Pete on the shoulder, and regarding Gabe with a bemused expression.

"Hadda get there eventually," Pete agreed, tossing Gabe a half-hearted wink.

Gabe stood there, staring, completely at a loss. "Wait. What just happened?"

Alfred's eyes flickered from Chloe to Merick to Pete. And he smiled faintly, recalling a phrase from Master Bruce's childhood. "'Finders, keepers.'"

Pete smiled faintly, sipped his cappuccino, and turned away. And resisted the urge to dwell on the follow-up phrase. He refused to think the words: 'Losers, weepers.' ...because Pete Ross was made of sterner stuff.

Gabe's face was a mask of confusion, as he watched his little girl holding a boy's hand. "Wait. Wait. What just... what just happened?"

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Took one last sip about to tell the good doctor how Weasel was going to achieve the mighty feet of getting the money how it needed to be when he saw the exchange between Chloe and Merrick. He then placed the coffee down. He then looked at the doctor and swallowed once.

Damian then said, "Its simple doctor, Weasel isn't simply bound by our laws. He simply is going to set up the account or multiple accounts years before I got here, moving the money arround to what country country has the best interest rate at the time until the money has accrued the ammount of interest required. He keeps himself out of the affairs of mites and men whos names are without vowels. He likes to keep transient visitors out of trouble. Or help them get into trouble if they want.

He then shook his head letting his thoughts pass. He then looked at the good doctor once again and said, "I think my place is back in my cave." He then walked over to Pete for a moment. "If you want to learn about how to use those once you get home, look for me at the Siegal estate." He then walked back out of the room.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"So the best sort of place is to kiss in plain sight," Kara thought aloud.

"Somehow I don't think that will work all the time," she added. Kara reached her hand up and scratched her head, and she looked rather perplexed... as if she had just been presented with an advanced calculus question. Yet before she could even begin to formulate a response, Rose decided it was about time to change the subject.

Learning to Fly

Kara thought back to that moment when she thought she was going to plunge straight into the Arctic Ocean.

"But yeah, I think girls do mature faster than boys," Kara agreed, smiling even. "It was just weird. I left the Fortress and ran until I came to the end of the road, so to speak. My dad said I had a lot to learn, but that I wasn't ready to begin my training. I saw a few blocks of ice floating around, and I figured I could kind of hop my way from one to the other."

Kara blushed a little.

"I kind of missed my first jump. But instead of like hitting the water... I found myself sort of hovering over the surface. The flying just sort of... happened," Kara explained, and her cheeks returned to their natural color.

"Girls do mature faster than boys."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dale chuckled as he put his strong hand on Gabe Sullivan's shoulder. "I believe, our kids are now dating. Or at least going to the dance. Merick is a good kid. And your Chloe, well I am damn proud to say Merick is going out with a young lady of such a fine caliber." Dale smiled and winked.

Merick smiled at Chloe. "I look forward to that meeting." Merick looked around the room. His smile dissolving into a grin. "We got some time... you wanna maybe go get some air? We could go anywhere, and we could totally be back before the group coming from China."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jamie and Pete

Jamie stood there for a moment, pondering this. Sipping his coffee pensively. "All right, Son of Bat. Enjoy the rest of the... cave."

He took a slow breath, watching Damian as he walked from the room, his eyes never leaving the extrauniversal visitor until he was well aboard the lift and out of sight, and then blew that air through his teeth.

"D'you know," he murmured, to absolutely no-one in particular, "he just used the word 'simple' three times to describe a concept that's not simple in the slightest?"

He paused, and sort of shrugged to himself. "Well, I suppose 'simple's' a relative term."

He paused again, and sort of shrugged again. "Well, really, 'relative's' about as relative a term as they get, come to think of it."

Jamie shook his head, and swigged his coffee. "Names 'without vowels.' There was that interesting family from The Balkans, a bit backwards, high-frequency vocal suggestion powers, they didn't have a vowel -- or, no. 'Y.' Sometimes a vowel."

Pete glanced at Damian, digested that suggestion.

He frowned quietly, and he didn't watch Damian as he left. "'Do no harm,'" he reminded himself.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Gabe and Chloe

Dale chuckled as he put his strong hand on Gabe Sullivan's shoulder. "I believe, our kids are now dating. Or at least going to the dance. Merick is a good kid. And your Chloe, well I am damn proud to say Merick is going out with a young lady of such a fine caliber." Dale smiled and winked.

Gabe smiled gratefully at Dale, holding his head in one hand. "I think my life might be flashing before my eyes. (It's all happening so fast. Is it supposed to happen so fast?)"

He shuddered slightly. And looked at his daughter not with confusion but with awe. She was so very grown-up. So very very grown-up. "Sometimes she makes me wonder what I did right. But then I get to wondering... would she have turned out so well with or without me? I fumble and I bumble, and sometimes I'm in the right place at the right time. I think she's brilliant. With or without me. I just got to be in the right place at the right time."

Gabe glanced at Dale, and chuckled faintly. "Not like you, I'm sure. I bet you've been there for your boy from minute one. He's a good boy. I can... I can tell. You've done well, Doctor Tennylson."

"These, ah, superpowers," he murmured, "they both seem to have. That I'm going to have trouble getting my head around. But they have good hearts, and they're very grown up for their age."

Merick smiled at Chloe. "I look forward to that meeting." Merick looked around the room. His smile dissolving into a grin. "We got some time... you wanna maybe go get some air? We could go anywhere, and we could totally be back before the group coming from China."

Chloe paused. "Air might be nice. Now that you mention it."

And then she smiled. A beaming, incredulous smile.

"Weren't we supposed to go to the top of the windmill at Chandler's Field together?" she remembered. "Friday afternoon after school? Looks like we're skipping school anyway. Maybe we can go early?"

Chloe chuckled, half-shrugged. "I know, I know, all the places I could have wished for and 'there's no place like home?' I dunno. I'm a sceptic. With my own eyes, I want to make sure our town is still standing. I had this... premonition... about it being wiped off the map. Just want to... just want to make sure I was wrong."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

"So the best sort of place is to kiss in plain sight," Kara thought aloud.

"Somehow I don't think that will work all the time," she added.

The Kent Farm breezed by on the right, and Rose glanced up at their own, smaller windmill. Not like the one at Chandler's Field, but still such a very cool thing to have in one's front yard. (It was spinning rather quickly, that was odd.)

But then she put her eyes back on the road. Stupid. Pay attention. For once in your life, concentrate.

She smiled a tiny smile. "Well. I guess not. You've got to vary your tactics a bit, or folk'll get wise. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, right? Sometimes you kiss in plain sight. Sometimes you kiss in someone's musty oul' Treetop of Solitude."

Kara related her tale of first flights, and Rose, despite herself, found herself concentrating deeply on this, though a good measure of her ever-active subconscious was devoting itself to the road. (She didn't even notice when they trundled past Miz Potter's place, the wide wide green of it with the lovely horse barn.)

"Flying was my first power to show up," Rose recalled softly, wistfully, her brow half-furrowed. "I couldn't control it at all at first. I spent the first week of July on the ceiling. Mum had to toss food up to me, and I had to stand on my tiptoes to kiss her goodnight. Dad had this frenzied look on his face for seven days straight and he couldn't shut up about gravitational constants and 'no-one's ever seen a graviton' and 'polarity reversal.'"

She grinned ruefully at the memory. "That weekend, though, I got the hang of it enough that I was able to visit the floor again and stay there. And that very next morning, Dad got me up on the roof of the house, all excited to explore the limits of this thing. I fell off, landed bad, sprained my wrist, cracked three ribs and broke a fourth, scraped half my left cheek right down to the muscle. Dad blew a gasket out of guilt and Mum was ready to kill him, but I was fine the next day. (Power number two.) Fire and ice came later. (Second week of July.)"

Rose blinked, and glanced over her shoulder, and noted softly, "That roof there."

She shook her head, fiercely. "I just drove right past my house, hold on."

Carefully, carefully, she braked the SUV to a halt. And checked, furtively and intently, in rearview mirrors left right and centre. Carefully, carefully, she shunked the gearshift into reverse... and she eased the big machine back, back...

"Left is right and right is left," she mumbled to herself, "and I'm looking in the mirrors, so do I have to reverse it twice? Left is right is left?"

She turned the wheel, and the car wobbled a bit, but she adjusted she recalculated and with a trembly sigh of relief she backed into the mouth of her fork-split driveway and stopped.

Put it in park.

Killed the engine.

And grinned.

"I think I'm getting the hang," she murmured, "of this eye-hand co-ordination thing. (Uh, knock on wood.)"

She slumped, and sighed, and laughed into the steering wheel. "Girls may mature faster than boys. But I don't think I'm ever going to get the hang of maturity."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

One thing about Shadow, the laws of physics worked different here. (Would probably drive Rose's dad nuts trying to figure that out!) I walked among the ruins, occasionally picking up a artifact that interested me. A broken shield with a dragon coiled around a blue flame on it's face, a amulet shaped like a leaf wrapped in silver twine. A dagger, the tip broken off. Then I heard a noise.

I turned quickly, fingers turned into claws, and scanned the area. I saw a flash of movement, then nothing.

Lowering my hands I gave one more look. Guess I was just jumpy.

I closed my eyes and focused my need. Shadow responded, wrapping me in its embrace as power built within me, then I focused and released it.

"Take me to Rose."

Shadows swirled around and through me, and I appeared in the shadows of a porch. I looked out onto the driveway and saw a SUV pull up with two people in it. I couldn't make out the passenger, but by the red hair and blue eyes Rose was driving it.

I stepped out into the sunlight off the porch, walking toward the car.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara turned her head aside as the dirt road leading to her house went by, and she smiled at the familiar sight of her mailbox. Eventually she would head back home, but for the moment she was perfectly content hanging out with Rose. As of late they hadn't really had all that much time to relax.

Parents and the eventual scolding could wait.

Kara hadn't even really bothered to notice that a rather dark cloud was hanging over Smallville, preventing most of the suns light from shining through.

"Rose you kinda need to... you passed your driveway," Kara chimed in, even as Rose noticed the error herself. It was a rather humorous affair, and the young Kryptonian couldn't help but chuckle in impish delight as Rose put the car in reverse.

"Nice landing. You could probably give Danica Patrick a run for her money," Kara added with a smirk once the car was finally put into park. Rose slumped her head forward and laughed into the steering wheel, and Kara reached her arms around and unbuckled her seat belt.

"Your parents aren't home, right?" Kara asked as she pushed her door open. A few rays of sunlight poured through the gaps in the clouds, and Kara faintly heard the sound of thunder in the distance.

"I swear. If it starts raining I'm going to-"

Kara stopped talking when she she saw someone (or rather something) walking towards the car.

"Rose!"

A phantom...

A phantom had escaped from the Zone and had followed Kara back to Earth...

Kara balled up her fists instinctively, and she moved then much faster than any human eye could possibly perceive (slightly blurred movement maybe). Back when she had been imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, Kara was at a distinct disadvantage with her powers stripped away. But now that she was on Earth, under the light of a yellow sun, it was her turn to bring the hurting.

Kara would be damned before she would let even one of the phantoms lay a finger (if they even had fingers?) on herself or Rose.

She flew quickly towards the Wraith, and in one powerful blow she sent him reeling towards the ground. The solidity of her opponent only further reinforced the fact that he was real, and not an apparition.

How many more Phantoms escaped? Unfortunately Kara couldn't exactly recount how many had rushed to the portal when it was opened... but there had to be at least a half dozen. It didn't really matter now, though. She was a bit preoccupied to be concerned with such other matters.

"You will not hurt my friends!" Kara said defiantly as one punch led straight into another. Perhaps blinded by rage, Kara didn't even stop to consider the damage she was causing to the world around her. She didn't even stop to consider that she was the one throwing the punches.

The Wraith wasn't fighting back.

But Kara really didn't care. She pulled her arm back and let her fist swiftly connect with the side of his face, punching him straight into the garage, and she watched as the wooden beams came crashing down upon his body. Dust and debris rained down like meteors from the heavens... though not as hard.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Chloe paused. "Air might be nice. Now that you mention it."

And then she smiled. A beaming, incredulous smile.

"Weren't we supposed to go to the top of the windmill at Chandler's Field together?" she remembered. "Friday afternoon after school? Looks like we're skipping school anyway. Maybe we can go early?"

Chloe chuckled, half-shrugged. "I know, I know, all the places I could have wished for and 'there's no place like home?' I dunno. I'm a sceptic. With my own eyes, I want to make sure our town is still standing. I had this... premonition... about it being wiped off the map. Just want to... just want to make sure I was wrong."

Merick grinned as he looked at Chloe. She was radiant when she smiled. "Lets roll." Merick held tightly to Chloe's hand. And in a moment they were gone. There was a swoosh as they exited and another as they reappeared in Smallville on top of the windmill "There will be plenty of time to go anywhere your heart desires. I promise. In the meantime, this is kinda romantic." Merick grinned and waved a hand out at the small town. "There is a fair amount of damage. But nothing that can't be fixed. With time."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Kara had every right to poke fun at Rose's driving style. And as Rose chuckled into the steering wheel, she knew Kara was right. She should really invest in some actual driving lessons instead of relying on what passed for "photographic reflexes."

She lifted her head and turned her head, about to glance over her shoulder at the house, about to assure Kara that her mum was on a plane home from China and her dad had gone to some evac point, when she glanced up instead--

--she saw her front yard in the SUV's rearview mirror, which would afford anyone behind the vehicle a view of her eyes--

--Kara was out of the car, Kara was moving--

"Rose!"

Rose blinked, stiffened, her eyes way wide.

She thrashed her head back, whipped around in the seat, she couldn't move, she was trapped, her hair was in her eyes--

Kara was a powerhouse, she was thundering fists into a darksome figure and Rose's voice died, horrified, aghast, in her throat. Her hands tried to find the door-handle, couldn't find it, couldn't find it, her voice, she couldn't find her voice either

oh God don't hurt him

Finally her fingers wrapped around the door handle, she kneed open the door, but she still couldn't get up, couldn't get up, she was restricted she could hear the air-shuddering khooms of fist on face she couldn't get out of her seat

agh c'mon, gogogo

She was still belted and with clawing desperate motions she popped off the belt and shouldered out of the straps and sprinted desperately for Kara as Kara's fist drew back, she could barely see it move, Rose could watch the flight of bullets but Kara's fist was moving too fast to see...

"Wait!" she yelped, her voice all wadded cotton and scraping sandpaper.

Kara punched Kyle one last time, and Wraith hurtled head over heels ass over teakettle slammed into the garage, toppling the remaining tables Uncle Emil had left from his experimenting, causing the garage itself to quiver and crumple and partially collapse.

Rose skidded to a stop, eyes so wide in her head they were practically exploding. "KARA! Stop! Please... please, hang on, he's not as bad as he-- let's be rational--"

She bit the inside of her cheek, and she wheeled around, back to Kara, staring agape at the crumpled garage.

"He looks so scary but he's such a good guy," she mumbled, frenetic, desperate. "Guys say 'bros before hos' and-and-and I guess girls should say 'gals before pals' but-but-but he's a really a good guy you don't gotta hurt him."

Kyle was so strong so tough he'd fought actual hoods and villains and apparently he'd survived Zod but Kara had been furious in her misunderstanding, righteously indignant with misdirected righteousness, and what could stand against such fury?

OhGodpleasebeokay.

Life imitates Art. Always when superpeople meet in the comics, they fight first.

Sweet Heavens, I've died and gone to Civil War.

She sprinted, she was still feeling the golden shimmer of adrenaline and she sprinted from Kara into the rubble of the garage, and with her own limited superhuman ability she tossed aside a support beam like it was a twig, and then another...

"Kyle," she called, "ohfrellohfrellKYLE!"