“So, Miss Danvers, what do you think about the house?” The real estate agent asked. The agent was smiling at her, but was unable to hide her exhaustion.
The woman was an older brunet of about forty years, slightly overweight and wearing elegant round glasses. She was also fairly competent, even if she had tested Kara a few times by tempting her with more expensive houses that didn’t meet her initial criteria.
Kara traded a glance with Kori, the happy-go-lucky Tamaranean snacking on a baked cookie. Noticing Kara’s gaze, Kori just shrugged and stuffed a second cookie inside her mouth, starting to look like a hamster in her rush to consume as many of the things before they left the place… Cute.
“Do you have the blueprint for the house?” Kara shook her head and asked, smiling when the woman spread a large piece of paper over the kitchen island. “Thanks.”
Quickly analyzing the blueprint, Kara made a note of the house’s wiring, sewer connection and raw materials. She'd be changing just about everything if she bought the place, but she could save some work with the right house.
The house was nearly perfect, far enough away from the city that the noise was only mildly annoying, if she didn’t focus on it, but still close enough to travel by car in less than an hour if it was needed.
Most of the house’s materials could be reused without much trouble, there weren’t any close neighbors to bother them, and it was large enough to house the both of them very comfortably. The ground was good, without any other subterranean structures and having an easily bypassed sewer system.
There was a wall of trees blocking vision from the street, but the best part was that there weren’t many on the property itself, allowing Kara to easily get enough sunlight for any of her projects.
Janice, the real estate agent, had shown them two other houses that could also work, but one had an aquifer under the terrain and the other was just below several plane routes. The planes would be flying far up in the air but, with her hearing, it would be really frustrating.
“Alright, we’ll take it,” Kara said, rolling the blueprint closed and keeping it for herself.
“You will?” The agent asked almost incredulously, clearly surprised at Kara’s decision.
“Yes, I’ll have one of my lawyers finish the deal, but we’ll be taking this house,” Kara used X-Ray vision to look at her new home in its entirety and couldn’t stop the smile from reaching her face.
Quickly, she signed a contract with the woman, probably making her day at the very large sale.
It was perfect, with plenty of space for Dexter to play and she’d only have to install a single seismic stabilizer before starting to dig down for her new base. One could never have too many underground bases.
After a week, this place would actually be as safe as Mount Justice itself and, in a month, it wouldn’t even be a contest. In truth, Mount Justice was kind of… below her level of satisfaction.
Unfortunately, Batman hadn’t let her install Kryptonian solar absorbers -or any kind of solar panel, really- on top of the mountain, and there was only so much power her crystals could get while underground, making their growth very slow without a better source of energy.
In his defense, it would be a little too obvious if the mountain suddenly sprouted several crystalline structures instead of vegetation, but Kara was already working on solving that particular problem.
“I am glad you have identified a satisfying site for our dwelling, Kara,” Kori said, offering the single remaining cookie. “Here, I have reserved one for you.”
“…Thanks,” Kara said, eyeing the single, small cookie offered.
“I would have reserved more, but it is almost time for the Eating of Lunch and you have yet to regain your zest completely, and you do not seem to have a preference for cookies,” Kori answered, finishing the last of her own snacks.
“I’m surprised you didn’t want to help choose our home?” Kara said. She may hate shopping, especially for such a time consuming thing, but she had wanted more input from her partner. “You sure it’s fine to leave everything to me?”
“I have no complaints, or particular requirements for the location,” Kori shook her head. Sensing the beginning of a frown, she smiled and gave Kara a quick kiss. “I just surmised we could change everything else with ease. Demolishing the house would not be a problem, and you do possess several robots, yes?”
She… wasn’t wrong. Kara was already planning to rebuild the house with more secure materials. And more places to hide weapons and equipment. It wouldn’t be hard to also change its appearance. In fact, that would be the easiest part.
Ugh, why had she been trying to find a great house again? The most important thing had always been finding the right location anyway.
No, she had to find something passable first. Building something from zero would raise far more eyebrows than modifying something already built and she didn’t want to draw any attention. But, once she found a house of about the right size and shape, she could justify several changes with a week of construction.
With a command on her cell phone, Kara started getting things ready and smiled at Kori. “Thanks for reminding me, I kinda narrowed my view there.”
“It is no problem, I am sure that, once your eye finishes re-growing, it will not happen again.” Kori nodded to herself, following Kara out of the house and taking in the location once again with a satisfied look on her eye.
“That’s…” Kara started to say, lifting a finger to correct Kori but then she thought better of it and just shook her head. “Nevermind.”
“I will. Please, do you think I may invite the rest of the Titans once the renovations are over?” Kori grabbed Kara’s arm and stared at her with big, feline-like eyes.
Kara managed to not immediately fall under the spell those eyes cast, for a few seconds at least. Turning to watch the property, she calculated it’s size carefully, none of her underground floors would be ready in only a week, so she’d need to cover it completely from view with one of her holographic disguises.
Yeah, it was doable. She already had a device almost powerful enough ready at the Fortress, it would only take a few hours of modification. “Sure, we can have them over as long as they use my teleporting platform to come so nobody can see it.”
“Joy! Exaltation! I will inform them immediately!” Kori couldn’t stop herself and threw herself at Kara’s arms, causing the smaller Kryptonian to blush as the real estate agent gave them an amused look from a fair distance away.
“Ahem, I will enter in contact with your lawyers then, Miss Danvers?” The woman approached after seeing the two had more or less finished their chat, a small smile on her face. Just as Kara started to protest, the woman lifted a hand. “Don’t worry, I have seen enough young couples getting their first house. Your interaction is downright tame in comparison.”
“Right, thanks Mrs Miller.” Kara said, dismissing the woman. “I take it I can start making renovations right away once the paperwork is done?”
“Indeed, thank you for your efforts, Friend Janice. They are most appreciated!” Kara almost didn’t react fast enough, but she managed to stop Kori, saving the older woman from a back breaking hug.
“It was no problem, and yes, I will file my end today and, barring anything unexpected, I’ll have the keys ready after the inspections are done in a couple of days.” The woman smiled at them before waving goodbye.
Kara watched her entering the car and drive away, moving slowly back towards the center of the city, one of her drones hidden on the vehicle and another, smaller robot clinging to the woman’s clothes.
Kara was mostly sure Janice Miller was a normal human just doing her job, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
“So! Ready to have lunch after eating all those cookies? I have to pick up Danny in an hour, so we’ll have to eat out.”
“Oh yes, the cookies were only enough to fill my first stomach,” Kori nodded, hurrying towards their own rented car. “My other eight are completely starving!”
Getting into the driver’s seat, Kara drove them into a fast food restaurant and got herself a burger, and five for Kori, with extra, extra, extra mustard. It was incredibly nice to be able to eat an entire burger without feeling stuffed. Really, every day that passed she was getting better.
“So, how goes the Titans’ training?” She asked, biting into her meal with gusto.
“We have been learning about the disposal of explosive devices with The Green Lantern and espionage from The Captain Atom,” Kori finished her second meal and licked her fingers clean. “It is most interesting, my education never covered such subjects. In Tamaran, we just destroyed bombs with starbolts and, as a Princess, I was not expected to learn about espionage.”
“And the boys don’t complain about it?”
“They do not. Although Friends Robin and Kid Flash do seem bored by the classes,” Kori answered. “Unfortunately, we were supposed to have classes about investigation with The Batman today, but he has been preoccupied with problems in Gotham.”
“So, you’ve got this afternoon free then?” Kara lifted an eyebrow, hiding her annoyance. “What’re you guys going to be doing?”
“Friend Aqualad has been recalled to Atlantis, but I plan on leading the Titans in another battle simulation.”
“Hmmmm, you mind if I bring an expert then? If he’s free I mean.”
“That would be greatly appreciated, yes,” Kori nodded while devouring another meal. then she glanced at Kara with a considering look. “Although, it really would be preferable if this expert did not have any problems with the law.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kara snorted, it seems like Kori knew her too well. “He was actually recommended by Batman himself, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Satisfied, Kori nodded and then pulled out a mustard pack from the bag, biting into it and draining the entire thing. “Hmm, it is unfortunate we did not have more time, I have found the most wonderful restaurant for the eating of pizza and other greasy foodstuffs.”
“Really, since when?” Kara couldn’t help asking.
Kori actually went out far more often than Kara did, going shopping with Amber, the first Earthling woman they had ever met, or Troya at least twice a week, but it was still unusual to think that she knew Fawcett City better than her.
Heck, when had Kara started thinking about humans as ‘Earthlings’? She used to be human once, and there really weren’t that many differences between Kryptonians and Humans, all things considered. Not where it truly mattered.
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Was she starting to lose sight of things again? Yesterday had been nice, but she had already started distancing herself from people again… thinking about it, had she ever traded more than a few sentences with any normal human after coming to the planet?
Suddenly, Kara felt Kori’s hand squeezing her arm, interrupting her train of thought. “Kara, you were lost in your own mind again.”
“Huh?”
“Indeed, you are exceedingly cute as you are plotting things, but it did not seem to be the case this time,” Kori said, causing Kara to flush again. “As I explained, I have found the ‘Superbabes’ when strolling through the city with Friend Amber earlier this month. It has a large assortment of mustard packets and delectable pizzas.”
“You… want to go somewhere called ‘Superbabes’?” Kara asked aghast, refocusing on the conversation with no small amount of disbelief.
“Yes! Servers pay homage to Superheroes by dressing as them -although Friend Alice does dress as a villain- and most dishes are named after them too,” Kori nodded her head eagerly.
Lifting an eyebrow at what she was hearing, Kara couldn’t help but to do a quick search on the internet. She was left feeling strangely conflicted, her feelings struggling between jealousy, amusement and curiosity.
“Kori, you ate at a strip club? With Amber? Isn’t she underage?” Kara had so many questions. Worse, she didn’t even know if she wanted them answered.
Was… was there a male version of this too? One with Kal in it? No! Don’t think about it!
"Joy, excitement, eagerness, I have always thought Earth's prejudices against showing one's body to be primitive, but to think there were entire clubs dedicated to freeing themselves from such constraints!" Kori started floating above the seat, only held in place by the belt around her chest. "Friend Amber and I have only eaten there during the daytime, it did not have such a feature then."
"... Yeah, that's not exactly the reason why they strip like that. Or the reason they dress as Supers, for that matter."
An explanation later and Kara actually felt bad about Kori's shattered expectations. That people actually charged money in exchange for affection was so alien it hadn't even occurred to her and it was also, apparently, incredibly offensive.
Parking close to the Zeta-Tube, Kara looked at Kori's pout and tried to cheer her up. "Hey, maybe it's not just about the money. Some courtesans consider it art, or maybe they just like bringing joy to others and the job is just convenient?"
"Do you really think so?"
Unable to lie, Kara sighed. "Not really, it's probably just about the money, but who knows? Stranger things have happened."
"Thank you, I appreciate the attempt." Kori said, her voice making it clear that it hadn't helped all that much.
"You sure you don't want me to drop you off at the apartment? There's still a few hours before the rest of the Titans get out of school, so there should still be some left-over ice cream there, right?"
"I do not. Partaking of frozen milky treats is meant to happen as celebration, not to placate my disappointment," Kori shook her head, stepping out of the car with Kara. "I prefer to spend my righteous anger on more productive activities."
"You actually brought ice cream to celebrate…" Kara couldn't find her words.
"Indeed, it was a very long but successful hunt!"
Kara just stared at her girlfriend. She was not prey, Rao damn it! Narrowing her eye, Kara mumbled. "You do know I can build a tickle machine, right? It's extremely easy."
With a kiss, Kori placated her, cutting off her evil plans of ticklish retribution before saying goodbye and disappearing with the Zeta-Tube.
A second later, Kara herself teleported, appearing near Central City where Danny had spent the night in a hotel room. Quickly, Kara found the gynoid waiting for her in a nearby coffee and lifted an eyebrow at her creamy cappuccino and large assortment of desserts.
"What? You gave me fully working taste buds, I'm just resting to see if there was anything wrong," Danny said, avoiding her eye with some embarrassment. “I never knew deserts could be so good.”
“Good to see you’re making good use of it at least,” Kara snorted, while Danny asked someone to put the remaining snacks in a bag. “You sure you’re up for it? I mean, I know I was the one to ask, but you don’t NEED to do this if you’re uncomfortable.”
“Nope, you promised me flying, I was always jealous of our flyers in the JSA,” She said, paying for her meal. “I already bragged about it with Jay too.”
Trading a quick hug, Kara found a hidden corner and used her phone to call a smaller version of her teleporting platform to their location, the bigger one being too attention grabbing and still used by the Genomorphs.
A second later, they stepped out of it inside her side of the Fortress. Danny quickly looked around in curiosity, seeing several men working and moving things all over the room. One of them, wearing a red and white striped shirt and a large, brown beard, offered to take her bags.
“Ma’am, welcome. Are you here to oversee the operation?” He asked in a gruff voice.
“No, I’m going to be installing one of the wind cores, you guys just continue getting ready.”
“Right away Ma’am,” he gave them a quick nod, put the bags on top of a crystalline table and moved on further inside the Fortress.
“Wasn’t this supposed to be the Fortress of, you know, Solitude?” Danny asked with a curious tone as they walked towards Kara’s own laboratory.
“Well, don’t know if Kal can still call it that, what with me here, but those guys are just my Karabots. I’ll have them posing as construction workers at my new house,” Kara explained, arranging the location for their quick operation, it shouldn’t take more than an hour or two. “I just ordered them to be fitted with synthetic skin and a basic AI this morning.”
Danny gave her a disappointed look, almost facepalming. “Really, Karabots? That’s what you went with?”
“Hey, they’re just the retrofitted Morrowbots, and I really don’t have the best naming sense,” Kara shrugged while the room started changing, a crystalline bed growing in the middle as well as several pieces of equipment rising from the floor where they were being kept. “I could either waste a day or two trying to come up with a better name, or go with Karabots. I choose to not waste my time.”
“Very practical of you to not waste a full day on naming one thing,” Danny snorted, finally focusing on the small, round core held inside a transparent crystal casing. “Is that a ‘KaraKore’ then?”
“No, I just call it a wind core. Again, I could come up with a fitting acronym, but why waste time. It’s a core, it makes wind,” Kara answered with a distracted voice as she carefully took the piece of equipment out of the casing. “I managed to replicate Mr. Twister’s device fairly easily, but this one was actually built with some of my own supply of Nth metal. I had it separated for testing, but decided this was a better use. It should make flying even easier, and actually give you some magical protection.”
“Is that fine? Even back then, we knew that kinda metal was very rare,” Danny asked while laying down on the bed.
“It’s probably fine, and the piece was small enough it shouldn’t really cause any problems,” Kara said, causing the bed to rise until she could drag some cables to Danny’s back. At their approach, her skin seemed to part by itself and a connection port formed. “Just… Well, I heard that, in its pure form, the metal is actually sentient, so, if you start hearing voices or feeling changes in your programming, warn me.”
“Wait, what’s that abou- Ack!” The woman yelped as the cables connected, sending a small electric charge through her body and causing goosebumps to raise on her synthetic skin.
“Sorry about that, I’m lowering your sensitivity right now,” Kara said, using the computers to change some of Danny’s settings. “You shouldn’t really be able to feel pain, but the operation would be really uncomfortable without this.”
“No, I want to hear about this sentient thing first! What the fuck are you putting inside me?” Danny grumbled in annoyance, but didn’t get up from the bed.
“Don’t worry about it, I use the metal myself,” Kara smiled at her. “Even if it does form a connection, the metal tends to form a symbiotic relationship to the user, but it’s such small amounts here that that shouldn’t happen. I wasn’t even gonna mention it, but I thought your reaction would be funny.”
“Right, very funny,” Danny grumbled, allowing Kara to lower the bed and pull her shirt up to her chest, revealing most of her belly.
With a command from her computer, Kara caused a plate to lift from Danny’s armor, revealing her insides. Kara could actually do it with her own hands, but the equipment was delicate enough that she preferred to manipulate it with some tools to be more precise.
It wouldn’t actually cause any problems otherwise, but Kara did like looking at the neat wiring and perfectly positioned components. It was strange, Kara didn’t mind if her bedroom was a mess, but her devices? She absolutely hated it.
“Damn, this’s odd to watch,” Danny eventually commented as Kara continued to carefully install the core, connecting it to Danny’s own fire core in several ways while maintaining their independent functionalities. “It’s one thing to know I’m an android, another to actually see it.”
“Wants me to turn you off for a little bit? You don’t have to watch it you know,” Kara offered again, her tongue actually poking out of her mouth as she carefully formed the connections on the cores.
“No, I didn’t say it was bad. Just strange,” Resting her head back against the bed, Danny stopped trying to see the operation and looked at the robots walking through the Fortress. Two dozen were already covered with synthetic skin and wearing clothes, but there were several more of them standing in neat little rows. “Fuck, how many of those things did you manage to loot from father? Are you actually building more of the things? What do you even need them for, building an army?”
“... No?”
“Kara, why did you just hesitate to answer?” Danny asked, her eyes slowly leaving the rows of robots to stare at her friend. “And why did your answer sound like a question?”
“No reason, don’t worry about it,” Kara quickly answered, perhaps a little too quickly. “Busy now, have to concentrate.”
“Kara…” Danny sighed, closing her eyes for a second. “Fuck it, I owe you my life Kara, if you need help, just ask for it.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t need help, just time,” Kara commented absentmindedly, she had used it as an excuse to change the question, but working on such advanced tech really did require concentration. “I’m perfectly capable of taking over the world by myself, but thanks for the offer.”
“WHAT!”