"Here, hold this," Kara commanded, throwing Captain Marvel a spare command chip in case the ones she was using failed. He was far enough away that the device’s energy field shouldn’t affect it but one could never be too careful in DC, the universe half built on scientific mishaps.
Carefully settling things in place, she stepped back and activated her teleportation platform. With a flash of light, the stuffed toy teleported from one location to the other, appearing intact on the other side.
Kara was still trying to create a cheap teleport device for commercial use with just Earth materials. It was proving far more challenging than expected.
"Did it succeed?" Marvel asked, observing the teddy bear for any damage.
"Don't know, it's the insides that are getting messed up at the moment," she answered, deactivating the devices and grabbing the bear.
Unzipping its back, she checked and saw the cheap electronics she had stuffed it with were half melted and sparkling. She could only imagine what it would do to a human.
"Maybe you could slow the teleport down?" Marvel offered, eyeing Dexter suspiciously, but the cat had learned to just ignore him when he was in his older, invulnerable form. “From what I can understand, you’re actually moving the object through a different dimension when it teleports. It's probably the re-entry into normal space that's causing the damage."
"Hmmm… you're probably right, but then I'd have to find a way of keeping someone from dying while their cells reform one by one," Kara scratched at her chin, checking the platform's batteries to see if they weren't fried in this attempt.
Wearing her heroic costume, Kori came out from the bathroom and threw herself onto the sofa in a lounging position. "Greetings, Friend Billy."
"Hi, Miss Koriand'r," Marvel waved back at her, squinting at the device and trying to think of a way.
Looking at him, Kara considered the young boy. "Say, how does that work anyways? The whole 'Wisdom of Solomon' thing. How come you don't retain the understanding when you transform back?"
"What? Ah, well," Marvel leaned his head back, trying to think about the best way of explaining things. "Right, do you know how your brain can't comprehend large numbers?"
Kara tried to imagine a large number, picturing a hundred people in her mind, she managed it, fairly easy at that, so she increased it and changed the target, and picturing thousands of little dots instead… it wasn't that much harder.
Then she tried to remember how it was when she had been human, but she just couldn't.
"No, can't say that I do," Kara shrugged.
"I do not, Friend Billy," Kori said from the sofa, trying to be useful. "It is fairly easy."
"Right, aliens, forgot that," Marvel sighed, coming up with a new example. "Well, when I transform, I just understand the meaning of things, it's kind of a tacit knowledge, I know what's going on, even if I can't exactly explain it in words. Like, when someone thinks about a car, they don’t think about the mechanics of it, how it works, the materials, they just know what a car is.
"When I'm not transformed, I lose that tacit knowledge, and all this just becomes words without meaning again," he replied, shrugging as if it didn’t matter. “Well, the ‘Wisdom of Solomon’ gives me more than that, but only if I actively use it.”
“Like what?” Kara asked, now genuinely curious, she didn’t know all that much about Captain Marvel’s powers.
“Well, I can see a little into the future, speak all languages,” he started listing on his fingers, revealing just how bullshit his powers were, and that was only a single letter of his name. “I can get Solomon’s advice about things if I focus and I can hypnotize people.”
Huh, and Kara thought Kryptonians were versatile.
Focusing back on her project and a few adjustments later, Kara was ready for another test, the last one before they’d have to go. The platform had survived the first test, so she didn’t need to use the spare chip.
This time, the flash of light was much longer. Focusing her vision, Kara saw the new stuffed bear teleporting from one side to the other, its body gradually disappearing to reappear at the other side.
Two seconds later, the process had finished. Kara grabbed the toy, but it crumbled in her hand, the cloth no longer connected. Rummaging through the remains, she pulled out the electronics.
They were separated into tiny little pieces, but they weren’t melted or damaged in any other way… Hmmm, maybe she could put in a space lock while the teleport was happening? No, that would make things too expensive again.
“Well, it’s about time we go,” with a tap of her fingers, Kara’s outfit changed into casual wear and the hologram hid her eyepatch. She couldn’t wait to get rid of the thing.
Kori activated her own device, hiding her exotic skin and outfit to appear like a normal, if extremely hot, young human woman.
Getting up, Marvel settled the spare chip on top of the table and whispered. “Shazam.”
A small bolt of lightning hit his chest, coming completely out of nowhere and not damaging anything, after which, left Billy Batson standing in Marvel’s place.
Kara frowned, she’d have to find a way of blocking that. Not that she had anything against Billy, but he called upon the power of Zeus to transform and Kara didn’t like the idea that a god could reach her inside her home, not at all.
But, maybe, it was just because Billy was already a conduit?
With a snarl, Dexter attacked, pouncing on the kid, his claws extended as he aimed for Billy’s face with irrepressible rage. Billy released a girlish scream, clearly having forgotten the reason he was always transformed while in the apartment.
Snatching the cat out of the air mid-pounce, Kara cradled him between her arms and scratched at his head. Dexter hissed a little longer, but calmed down as Kara held him, enjoying sharing her heat.
Glaring at the cat, Billy put a table between himself and the feline menace, giving it a wide berth before hurrying towards the door. “Miss Kara, you really should start socializing your attack cat.”
“Yeah, I’ll probably start introducing him to the Titans… or take him to Kal’s farm. Anyways, good kitty, that’s right, protect home!” Kara said in a childish voice, then realized what she was doing and corrected herself. “Stay safe Dex, and try not to destroy the house too much.”
The cat wiggled in her grasp until she released him on the sofa where he promptly turned his back to her, his tail held high as he gave a meow towards Kori, clearly complaining about the way Kara had prevented him from attacking. For her part, Kori only gave a warm smile to her friends' antics.
Leaving the building with Billy in tow, Kori waved goodbye to the doorman. Kara just gave the man a nod before focusing back on her companions. “By the way, kid, about your girlfriends.”
“They’re not my girlfriends!” Billy answered automatically, only blushing a little bit.
Kara snorted, messing up his hair. “Yeah, right. So, are they out of Star Labs already?”
“No, the doctors have cleared them to leave if they’re under watch, but they don’t really have a guardian,” he answered, his face frowning as he thought about both girls… or was it only one? Kara wasn’t certain they could still reconnect after so long. “It’s hard; people don’t like meta-humans.”
“Friend Billy, have you tried asking the League for help?”
“Batman is setting up something; a group home for meta-humans using the League’s funding, but that’s gonna take time.”
Kara wanted to help and, if it came to it, she could take the girl in, but she wasn’t really in a good situation right this moment, what with changing houses, and everything she had on her plate.
“Well, if you need help, just ask,” she offered anyway before asking what she really wanted to know. “Do you know if she can still absorb your powers?”
“We haven’t really tested that… why?” Billy asked, squinting his eyes at her and feeling protective.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, just an idle thought,” she dismissed his question.
It truly had been an idle thought, a way of getting something she wanted without too much trouble, but it would probably be too dangerous for the girl. No, it would definitely be too dangerous for the girl.
Leaving Billy at school, Kara kissed Kori goodbye and let her take the Zeta-Tube towards the mountain. Kara herself took the long way around, having to fetch Detective Chimp before meeting the Titans there.
The chimpanzee was dressed in his full detective gear, but he lacked the usual smell of booze or the lit cigarette, clearly at least trying to be presentable to the team.
“Ready to give some lessons to the incorrigible youths of today?” Kara asked as she dropped beside him and the both of them started walking towards the nearest Zeta-Tube.
“No, I really should have gone to Japan on that demon-hunting job,” the chimp sighed, reaching for his pocket before hesitating and dropping his arm. “With Sangaku there, I probably wouldn’t be needed, but it beats playing babysitter.”
“Well, you get to mess with the boy wonder.”
“Hmmm, that is a perk,” he admitted, scratching at his face. “Maybe I can teach him a few tricks the Bat lack’s”
“Any luck with Ivy?” Kara had to ask.
“Some. Are you free tomorrow?” Bobo asked, adjusting his cap. “I arranged a meeting and it would be better to have company for it.”
“Someone dangerous?” Kara asked with caution. Bobo messed with the more magical side of superhero life so she’d have to be ready for it.
“The meeting is on neutral ground, but villains are never the most stable individuals and I’d like to have protection when leaving,” the chimp confessed, showing her his large fangs as he smiled. “Contrary to some, I don’t have any of the flashy powers to escape or to fight my way out.”
Putting a hand on her pocket, Kara took out a small box, throwing it to the hero. “Well, I’m glad you asked.”
Poking the box, Bobo carefully opened the lid and looked inside. A few seconds of thought later and he closed it, putting it in a pocket. “Hmmm, you’re spreading them around instead of curtailing their use. Good choice, should muddle The Light’s searches a little. I take it you gave a box to the big boys up there too?”
“Of course,” Kara nodded, smiling at the chimp. “Handed an entire crate to my cousin yesterday.”
“Hmmm… bring more of these boxes with you tomorrow,” Bobo said, tapping the box in his pocket absentmindedly. “We’ll probably meet some folks that deserve one of those where we’re going.”
“Some heroes that deserve the support or villains you think I’d like to monitor?” Kara asked, trying to figure out where they were going.
“Both, but mostly the heroes,” Bobo answered, glancing up at her before clarifying his statement. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t secretly spread them while INSIDE the place, but I won’t stop you if they accept it themselves.”
A moment later, the both of them used the Zeta-Tube to appear inside the mountain. Bobo lifted an eyebrow as the security features took a few seconds to recognize him and gave Kara an annoyed look, but she just shrugged.
Time for the Chimp to meet the Titans.
Stepping out, they walked to the main room. Red Tornado was there, watching something on the computer while Aqualad and Kon sparred on the floor. A quick look around with X-Ray vision and Kara saw the rest of the Titans scattered around the mountain.
Really, she should have made every wall impervious to her vision but, again, she currently lacked the necessary energy to fuel the shielding and she’d have to demolish everything if she wanted to cover it all with lead. So she had settled for masking only the exterior’s surface.
“Detective,” Red Tornado greeted in his usual monotone, turning away from the screen and causing both teens to stop their spar. “It is good to see you’re well. I confess I had some apprehension when Miss Zor-El said she’d provide an alternative teacher.”
“Long time no see Red, getting some much needed human interaction I see,” Bobo replied amicably, looking around the place with a critical eye.
“Greetings, I am Aqualad, leader of the Titans,” the Atlantean approached, extending his hand to the chimp with no hesitation. “I’m glad you could make it, Sir.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“You’re a polite one aren’t you?” Bobo squeezed the offered hand, giving the boy a fang filled smile. “Bobo T. Chimpanzee, and drop the ‘Sir’, kid, you don’t need that with me.”
Looking to the side, Kara caught Kon’s frowning face as he approached his new teacher, slowly, very slowly. Walking closer, she wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him into a friendly hug. “What’s wrong?”
“Did it have to be a monkey?” he whispered, fidgeting in place. “I hate monkeys.”
“First, chimps are apes, Kon,” Kara sighed, ruffling his hair while he struggled to get free from her hold. “Second, don’t be an asshole. I don’t think the Kents are raising you like that.”
“Yeah… sorry,” he finally escaped, combing a hand through his hair to put it back in place. “But… monkeys, ugh.”
“But nothing. Anyways, how are your powers? Any change yet?”
“Yeah, nothing big, but I’m jumping much higher than before, I don’t do as much damage when I land and using super speed doesn’t tire me as much as before,” he gave her a proud smile, opening and closing his hand as if feeling the power in his muscles. “I think it’s still growing too.”
“Great, if you begin to fly, call me. I don’t want to miss taking pictures of you smashing into everything around like a drunk as you try to control yourself,” Kon gave her a sharp glare, causing Kara to burst into laughter. “Just kidding, but flying is harder than you’d expect or, well, landing is. Call me.”
“Fine and I’ll try to be civil.”
Watching the boy approaching Bobo, Kara could clearly see how uncomfortable he was, not to mention the chimp himself. The detective gave her an exasperated look, but she just shrugged.
From the hallway, Kid Flash arrived running, slid to a stop and released a girlish ‘yip’ when he saw Kara, his face immediately flushing in embarrassment. Robin walked in shortly after, pushing him out of the way.
“Aww man, she’s here,” Kid Flash whispered, causing Robin to roll his eyes.
“Come on Wally, you’ve gotta get ‘traught’,” the smaller boy patted his back. “Besides, it was making Megan uncomfortable man, she helped you.”
“Yeah, and I’m kinda thankful, but did she have to do ‘THAT’, it’s playing dirty man.”
“You do know she can hear everything, right?” Robin snickered, causing Kid Flash to turn towards her and release another ‘yip’. "Besides, you apologized right? Heck, even I apologized; I kinda let the joke go a little too far.”
“What do you mean?” Kid Flash asked, narrowing his eyes at Robin.
“Man, you got any idea how stupid you sounded? I had to record it for later you know, I mean, ‘Megalicious’, seriously?” Robin quoted, snickering at his friend while patting at his belt. Then his face became a little more serious as he sighed. “Should have just called you out on it, but it was too funny, didn’t really think about how she felt.”
Ugh, stupid teenagers. Kara sighed, shaking her head and turning to watch as Megan and Kori made their way through the Mountain towards the main room, laughing with each other.
At least things had turned out positively there. Kori seemed to have taken M’gann under her wing, despite technically being younger than the girl, and they were getting along very well.
Finally, Bobo seemed to have enough of Kon’s grunts as they spoke, approaching the boy and standing in front of him.
“I’m sorry; do I make you feel awkward? Put you out of your comfort zone? Get over it, boy,” the ape scolded, patting Kon’s side and turning towards the newcomers. “You think I’m happy here? Playing babysitter? I’m a talking, intelligent Chimpanzee, kid. I don’t have a comfort zone. I’m here to teach you so stop being a baby.”
Leaving Kon behind, Bobo greeted the rest of the Titans, waiting until everyone was in the room before beginning his instruction. Kara hung back with Red Tornado, trading a few polite words with the android.
Not for the first time, Kara considered if the machine-man would let her open him up. His core was probably far better built than Mr. Twister and he was a newer model than either Dani or Red Torpedo, she could definitely learn something.
Still, how does one go about asking someone if you could ‘vivisect’ them? Would it help if she offered to make the same improvements she did on Dani?
Red Tornado hadn’t been built to imitate humans, so he probably didn’t have the same programming she did, making the adaptation much harder, but Kara could probably do it.
“Alright folks, now that you’re all here, I guess I can start,” looking at the Titans, Bobo reached for his cigars again, but sighed when he didn’t find them. “Maybe I can even teach BirdBoy some things the furry couldn’t.”
“Ah, sir, wouldn’t it be better to do this at the crime lab?” Robin took the chance to ask.
“Hmmm, a crime lab at home base. That’s convenient,” Bobo scratched at his face and shook his head. “But no, I’m a more… hands on kind of guy. We’re going out, come on.”
Walking back towards the Zeta-Tube, the ape was quickly followed by the rest of the Titans, Robin walking closer, amused to hear someone badmouthing the Bat for some reason.
“You… don’t have a crime lab?”
“I have a magnifying glass and a hat,” he snorted in amusement, barely looking back. “Kid, again, talking chimpanzee here. Half my clients don’t pay me and it’s not like I can sue them for it, the courts don’t protect animal rights that way. Labs cost money.”
Watching the entire team leave, Kara waved them goodbye and turned back towards the android, considering the best way to open his armor.
“Will you be staying at the Mountain, Miss Zor-El?” Red Tornado finally asked and… was that a hint of apprehension she heard in his voice?
“Ah, yeah, I have to make some adjustments to the safety features,” she looked around, considering all the sunstone seeds she had in the building that weren’t getting enough energy to grow.
“Very well, with the Titans out of the Mountain, I too have a personal appointment. I take it you will not require my company?”
“No, go ahead. I’m probably gonna be working until they’re back anyways.”
Despite saying that, the android stood in place for a few seconds, his metallic face impassive. Finally, he seemed to gather himself and spoke again.
“I… thank you Miss Zor-El,” he spoke slowly, his words without inflection, but Kara could hear the emotion anyways. “I was not aware I still had family, I had long considered my father to be dead, much less a brother and sister.”
“So, you spoke with Dani,” Kara commented, her friend still hadn’t given her an answer about becoming part of the team, but it seems like she was getting her life back in order. “It was nothing. You know, if you want, I can help build you a new body, something closer to Dani’s?”
“… I will think on it. If you will excuse me,” nodding his head, Red Tornado too walked towards the Zeta-Tube.
Kara observed him going, following him through the walls until he disappeared after being hit with a Zeta-Beam. Finally, she was alone in the Mountain.
Thinking about what Billy had said, Kara quickly made a short trip back home, grabbing Dexter and bringing him into the Mountain with her. Without too many people here, he could explore and smell the Titans without getting too stressed or crowded.
She let the cat explore for a little bit, putting one of her drones on watch to follow him around. Of course, all of the defenses were already calibrated for his presence.
Nodding, she went back to her current goal. She could have done this with people here, but she had the odd feeling that they wouldn’t approve. Still, she needed a way of getting energy damn it, a lot of energy!
Walking down into the Mount’s grotto, Kara let the security features check her identity before opening a secret path further down.
Her cousin and Green Lantern had carved out the mountain’s insides to create Mount Justice. They had put the entire structure in place by themselves and hidden it from the world. With her tech, Kara had done much the same to expand it further down, creating more rooms inside the Mountain.
Reaching her destination, she saw the crystalline walls, not unlike the Fortress itself, and the central shaft. The ten meter wide hole was made by a device that, instead of retrieving materials, had compressed it beyond current Earth’s capabilities and used it to reinforce the walls.
It had taken days to dig all the way down, consuming the vast majority of the energy she could produce at the moment and leaving the Mountain temporarily under-protected. Thankfully, the device was fairly easy to make, something common back on Krypton and she had just… left it working while she focused on other projects.
Stepping into the shaft, she let herself drop a little more than a kilometer down where she arrived at a second, much wider chamber. Using the sensors and her own Kryptonian senses, she did one last check of the turbines and water reserve, making sure the structure would be able to withstand the persistent pressure.
Satisfied, she flew back up. A small seat and a computer lifted from the floor and Kara sat down, starting to monitor the progress. It was ready, the power plant had finished being built and all that remained was activating it.
Rhode Island was not the ideal location for such construction, it was firmly in the middle of the North American Plate and, while it had several small faults, there were no major ones, much less any convenient volcanoes.
Still, all of that was barely an inconvenience when one had access to Kryptonian tech. Finally, Kara made the last checks necessary, momentarily redirecting away most of the energy being used on Mount Justice for her safety measures and pressed the button.
With a hiss, the locks opened and the pressure pushed a limited amount of magma up from the shaft, letting it pool into a giant magma chamber below the water reserve. The amount perfectly controlled by a system of sunstone locks to prevent overflow and control the pressure.The toxic gasses generated were slowly gathered for use in some traps up top.
Quickly, the heat started boiling the water, turning it into steam and activating the turbines. She had energy! Enough energy to dramatically accelerate her projects and, in only a few days to a week, fully activate all of Mount Justice’s defenses!
Eventually, a meow under her feet revealed that Dexter had had enough of exploration and was already asking for her attention. Adjusting her posture, Kara let the cat jump on her lap and caressed his fur, causing him to start purring.
Really, who knew that creating an artificial volcano under Mount Justice would be one of the safest options of generating energy?
Also, she could probably build a way of flooding the mountain itself with lava in case it was ever taken over, destroying the computers and incinerating, or at least inconveniencing, any attackers.
Kara had considered a lot of options, from simply installing a nuclear reactor to breaching into the Bleed to steal energy from alternate universes, but everything had its drawbacks and her level of tech made several options equally viable. Of those, the artificial volcano was on the high end of expensive and took a little longer to build, but it was actually safer in the long term.
Also, the Bleed thing was reaching a little. It was both the most expensive and the most dangerous option to make.
She had a few misgivings about the whole thing, but using a small amount of magma to generate geothermal energy was so completely different from harvesting the core directly that the comparison to her homeworld and its fate hadn’t even occurred to her until the construction was almost complete.
Kara wasn’t exactly sure why her version of Krypton had exploded, she hadn’t had access to her uncle’s search, but, in the comics, it was often because of harvesting the planet’s core for energy.
Still, she wasn’t exploiting the core, just a minuscule amount of the magma from the mantle. Those were completely different things.
Leaning back on her chair, Kara scratched Dexter behind his ears and smiled as she watched the turbines gaining speed and started to produce energy.
The first things that came online were the shielding that prevented anyone from sensing the increased activity. After that, the artificial sunlight lamps started working, feeding energy directly to her sunstone seeds. The remaining features would come online as the energy was produced and the defenses finished growing.
Now, how would she explain this to the others again?