Kara floated in the air above the city of Phoenix, her legs crossed in a sitting position and a nearly finished ice cream in hand. Eating the last of the cone in a single bite, she licked some melted cream off her hand and leaned forward, her clean hand holding her chin in thought.
She had ended up adjusting her mask so the lower jaw could retract, freeing her mouth whenever she wanted to eat something. The change had diminished the mask’s structural integrity, but only minimally.
Turns out building a new Phantom Zone Projector wouldn’t be hard —she already had the Fortress start building the pieces that didn’t need her help— but locating anyone inside would be nearly impossible without the right data.
As far as she understood, the Phantom Zone was a nearly infinite realm, mirroring the material world and, while she could be relatively certain of some baseline assumptions like a prisoner not being sent to the very edges of the dimension, it was still an enormous area.
Really, without the list contained in an existing Phantom Zone Projector, it would be nearly impossible to even know if her counterpart was inside, much less locate her.
Not that Kara wouldn’t try but, at this point, trying to locate the remaining projector while also searching for the missing kryptonian in the current universe would be a better use of her time.
Smashing her head against a kryptium wall wouldn’t help, so she shifted her focus, working on some of her other projects to some success.
From preparing weapons to a way of draining magic, Kara was now ready to face Black Adam and Wotan, even if she had to sacrifice some of the Nth metal in her gauntlets to do so. All that remained was for Bobo to finish his investigation.
Tracking down exactly where in Midway City the Injustice League was keeping Poison Ivy and how she was being protected was taking some time, particularly as they had the Joker with them and, while he was a chaotic mess, the clown did know how to hide from a detective when it amused him.
Kara had even sent a few of her drones out into the city and did a fly-by, but she didn’t dare attract too much attention before everything was ready for the assault, not with the powerhouses they supposedly had in the area.
Bonus points, Kori had liked her power armor’s design despite it covering the entire body.
A few kilometers away from her, a helicopter filmed the transit underneath, the reporter shifting the camera towards her figure from time to time in amusement as the vehicle circled her location.
Kara kept most of her attention down on the city, but even she couldn’t focus on everything that was happening below. She couldn’t shut down all crime in the city and, often, wouldn’t even notice if the criminal was quiet enough, particularly if it happened indoors since she wasn’t using her X-Ray vision all the time.
Her hearing already invaded their privacy enough, even if she didn’t pay attention to anything but screams, there was no need to also be looking at normal people’s homes… Well, and there were some things she NEVER wanted to see again.
Her presence had meant a paradigm shift in the city though. Crime still happened, but car chases had almost completely stopped and violent crime was down, by a lot. Causing a ruckus, making someone scream, or shooting a gun was the easiest way of getting her attention.
She supposed that was a win, fewer people were getting hurt, even if it cut down on her amusement.
“Attention, Phoenix station 18, duty crew, Phoenix station 18, duty crew, for fire in apartment, 551 Oak Street, unknown if anyone is in the apartment, cross-streets Seventh Avenue, north coming down Oak Street, time of call 17:55.”
Kara’s head snapped up as her illegal connection to the police communications spoke up —she had yet to get in contact with the chief of police— focusing her eyes, she looked through the buildings until she saw the five stories apartment on fire.
The flames seemed to have spread through most of the left side of the building, consuming the fourth and fifth floors while slowly spreading. She couldn’t find a source or any adults, but she did see a small body hiding under a bed in one of the rooms, a dog cradled to its chest.
Closing the opening on her mask, Kara exploded into movement, her body going from zero to full speed in less than a second and leaving a sonic boom behind her. 20 seconds later, she slowed down, bursting through a window and doing her best not to cause too much damage.
Moving through the building as if it was water, she made a straight line to the kid, bursting through the wall to see a small room, with several drawings on the walls. In a single motion, she flipped the bed and pulled the kid out with one hand, making sure the dog couldn’t escape.
Unconsciously, her protections spread to the duo, blocking any smoke or heat from getting into their lungs. The kid must have been 9, he had a runny nose and was already wearing Batman pajamas despite it not being bedtime. He was also perfectly fine, without any wounds or suffering from the smoke. The dog was a mutt that definitely included some watchdog in there somewhere for how much it fought back.
“Shhh, it’s alright,” she tried to calm him down while looking around the building for anyone else.
“You’re not Batman,” he accused, his body still trembling in fear.
“You’ll get over it,” she deadpanned, holding him against her chest. “Come on, Batman approved of me. He’s even given me a hero license, you know.”
“… Really?” he finally asked, wiping his nose on her clothes before looking up.
“Uhu, that’s how you know I can keep you safe,” she answered, already moving. There was one more body in the building, a woman collapsed under a support beam, the rest of the tenants seemed to have escaped. The woman was still alive but had several burns on her back and her head was bleeding.
Rushing forward, Kara made sure to hold the woman, protecting her body before kicking the support beam away, gathering the body in her arms, she flew out of the building.
“Mommy?” the boy asked, now with a little uncertainty in his voice.
“It’s alright kid, she’s fine,” Kara said, pushing his head away from the woman’s burns and blocking his view. “Want to see something cool?”
No paramedics or firefighters had arrived yet, so Kara dropped some of her drones from a pocket in her costume, one enveloped the woman in a forcefield so she wouldn’t drop from the multi-story heights they were floating at and kept her immobile while applying soothing sprays, the wound hidden from view.
With the woman being treated Kara flew up with the kid still in her arms and sucked in a lot of air, her chest rising as she concentrated and blew out, a blast of cold hitting the building and not actually freezing it but blowing out the flames and lowering the temperature enough to be safe.
Just a week ago, she wouldn’t have been able to do this, her lungs too weak, but she was getting healthier faster every day. The effort did still make her wince, but the pain stopped immediately after.
“Batman could have done it too,” the boy actually pouted, his eyes glued to the burnt building. “He has, like, a huge Bat… Battinguisher that releases this white cream!”
“I see you have a critic,” someone said from behind her, his voice full of amusement. “I prefer my own powerset, much cooler and more flexible.”
Turning around, she saw Alan Scot floating in the air, he had his hand extended towards the woman, a beam of green light covering her and seeming to take care of her smoke inhalation while cleaning her burns.
The original Green Lantern wore a red shirt, an image of his namesake in a circle in the middle, a large green cape billowing behind him and a kind smile on his face.
“Hi, thanks for meeting me,” Kara smiled back. “I was going to go pick you up in Gotham, but I guess I lost track of time.”
“Don’t worry about it lass, perk of being retired is I have a very flexible schedule.”
Floating down, Kara dropped the kid off onto the street, making sure he couldn’t see his wounded mother until Alan was done with her, no need to scare the boy. “So, Batman is it? Why not Superman, my cousin would definitely win any fight between them unless he gave Batman a week of notice.”
“Well, yeah, but I’m not kiptonian, I can’t be Superman when I grow up,” the boy nodded as if the answer was obvious.
“Very realistic, aren’t you?” she said. “How old are you anyway?”
“I’m 10 and 9 months old!” he proclaimed proudly.
Kara was just glad the kid didn’t burst out crying, distracted by the two heroes in front of him.
“What about a Green Lantern,” Alan asked, dropping to her side and putting his body in front of the kid’s mother. “You don’t have to be born anything to get a ring.”
“Yeah, but I’d have to be an adult then,” the kid complained, squeezing his dog closer to his chest. “I only have to be twelve to become Robin.”
Kara traded a glance with Alan, both greatly amused, after all, the kid wasn’t exactly wrong. “Alright, what’s your name kid? Maybe I can recommend you next time I see Batman, the current Robin is kinda lame.”
“Really?! I’m Kyle Vasquez!”
The fire engine rushed out the corner at just that moment, followed closely by an ambulance. Kara looked at the men and grimaced. “Guess I really should have that talk with the Police Chief, they didn’t really need to make a trip.”
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt,” Alan shrugged, “But they’d have to come anyway, advanced notice would only mean they wouldn’t be as filled with adrenaline. Oh, and never underestimate the paperwork they have to file or root-cause investigations they do. I get called ‘fearless’ all the time but even I get afraid when insurance companies get involved.”
On top of her drone, the woman groaned in pain. Opening her eyes, she snapped up with a scream. “Kyle!”
“Mom!” The boy immediately switched focus, squirming in Kara’s arms until she released him and he ran towards her.
Stolen story; please report.
Watching the boy throw himself on top of his mother, Kara almost stopped him, but she saw her burns were mostly healed, with only a few scars remaining.
“I can’t exactly regrow things,” Alan said with a shrug. “Not on other people at least, but I’ve learned to accelerate healing.”
From what Kara knew she doubted it was impossible —Alan’s powers were even more bullshit than a normal Green Lantern’s— but there was a huge difference between something being possible and him knowing how to do it.
Standing by his side, Kara watched the mother embracing her son, squeezing him to her chest as if her life depended on it, the poor dog almost dying between them.
This, this was why she had started acting as a hero… well, messing with criminals was guilt-free fun too, but this was far more satisfying.
One of the approaching paramedics nodded towards her, then did a double take at Alan before seeming conflicted. Still, his duty won out and he hurried towards the woman.
Now that the situation was dealt with, several nearby civilians started approaching. Instead of dealing with them, Kara followed after Alan, floating up until they flew above the buildings.
Down below, Kyle furiously waved at them and Kara could hear his mother speaking. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Waving back, she accelerated up and out of sight. “So, for how long do I have you?”
“As long as it takes,” Alan said, keeping pace by her side. “As I said, I’m retired. I decided to start helping again, but I don’t exactly have a schedule.”
“Right,” Kara said, checking the time on the screen of her mask. “Well, I was supposed to meet Dany and Kon 10 minutes ago. Do you mind if we talk there?”
“Not at all, I heard the firecracker was learning how to fly, it will be amusing to watch.”
Together, they started flying at extreme speeds and, twenty-five minutes later, the duo floated over a wide stretch of empty land, no city anywhere in sight. The land looked red, with rocks protruding from the place and very little vegetation but for a thin strip down inside a canyon.
Despite that, the desert looked beautiful from the air, just not what Kara would have chosen. Looking around she heard a loud ‘bang’ and turned to see Kon dragging himself out of a small hole in the ground. “There they are.”
“You’re late,” Kal said, approaching them in the air.
“Sorry about that,” Kara said. “I was busy thinking and then had a fire to stop… did they find anything?”
Kal slightly shook his head in denial. “Their Corps is very busy right now, but Hal managed to take a look, there were no signs of her ship anywhere near Krypton.”
“Well, at least we know she’s not in the same situation as me,” Kara sighed and then gave him a quick smile before turning to the younger El. “Hey, nice crater! I see you’re getting the hang of creating them. Now, have you already started flight training?”
“Great, couldn’t you have arrived later?” Kon grumbled, dusting his clothes in embarrassment. “Now you’re gonna film everything.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” she waved his concern away. “Kal had one of my drones filming from the very beginning. I’m sure M’gann is gonna love watching your first attempts when I show her later, don’t think I didn’t notice you two.”
Kon blushed, his eyes shifting away from her to everyone’s amusement. From the side, Dany floated closer, her body moving unsteadily through the air guided by a light breeze, her face a mask of concentration.
“Red Tornado didn’t come?” Alan asked Kal.
“He’s on call for the League,” Kal said as the four of them slowly dropped to the desert floor. “Besides, her flight is distinct enough that he can’t offer much help.”
Dropping close by, Dany lost control of her flight and almost fell, having to hug Kara before to steady herself. “Thanks, the Nth metal you gave me is making flight easier, but it’s not exactly instinctual yet. Hello Alan.”
Giving the android a huge smile, Kara helped get her feet steady. “Good to see you, what have you been doing?”
“I… well, I’m starting college this semester,” Dany said, a happy smile on her face. “I’ll be studying Geology in Metropolis. It’s a little late, but they accepted my application. Besides that, I’ve been going out with Brother, getting used to being a hero again.”
“Great,” Kara said, she was glad to see her friend getting her life back in order. “You know, me and Kori are going out again this weekend, want to come with us?”
“Actually, yeah, I’d really like that.”
“Come on,” Kal said, clapping his hand. “Break’s over, back to flying! Kara, are you gonna help?”
“Oh, no, don’t mind me, I’m just here to enjoy the falls,” she laughed, seeing both Kon and Dany glaring at her in return.
Together with Alan, she watched the two new fliers trying to take off, Kon made a face of concentration, his forehead wrinkled and muscles locked as he slowly rose into the air, then he lost concentration and dropped back on his feet.
Dany was slightly better, she didn’t have as much trouble getting off the ground but, while Kon seemed to have control over his whole body, Dany appeared to simply float up as if gravity no longer affected her, her body wobbling unsteadily as she used small gusts of wind to control her movements.
Watching them with amusement, Kara stood back, giving the pair some space to train before pulling one of her devices from a pocket and letting it float behind her, the small drone filtered any sound from leaving an area of five meters around her and Alan.
The old Green Lantern just gave her a look, but he seemed to understand her need for discretion. With a wave of his hand, he materialized a set of comfortable armchairs in the air, sitting down in one of them and motioning for Kara to follow his example.
“None of us thought we’d ever see her again, you know?” Alan said watching Dani try to move. “Villains? Those always kept coming back, but heroes stayed dead, at least for our generation. Thank you.”
“I can’t say I was completely selfless when I helped her out,” Kara confessed. “Studying T.O. Morrow’s work was a huge part of it, but I’m glad she’s well.”
Alan snorted but didn’t dispute her words. “Regardless, you still helped, if you got something from it, all the better.”
“Very practical of you.”
“Girl, I have been active long enough to have met a LOT of people. Not every hero is as selfless as the current League. As long as they’re doing good, I don’t really care if they have other motives.”
Kara briefly winced as Dany lost control of her flight, the android’s eyes widening as a blast of wind sent her skipping along the desert like a rock through a river. Kon tried to ignore her but still dropped to his feet with an annoyed huff.
“Alright, you said you could help me?”
“You’re lucky one of the GLs wasn’t on the planet, back in Salem, I mean. I felt your rage, the power of the Red Light inside you, it’s not the same as mine, but you also don’t have a ring.”
“I… don’t want to talk about it.”
“Then don’t, I’m not here to lecture you or demand explanations, I’m here to help you control it,” he said, extending his legs and crossing his ankles. “You know, I don’t actually USE the Green Light. I could, but my source of power is the Starheart, it is pure, chaotic, magic. Still, it requires willpower to wield it and I think my approach would be better than the Corps… I’m also not a blue midget with control issues that may or may not want to put you in a cell.”
Kara lifted an eyebrow at the bitterness in his voice. “Oh? Please, tell me more.”
Alan chuckled. “Let’s just say the Guardians didn’t exactly like that I have possession of the Starheart. It’s one of the reasons I’m here, they don’t take well to others using the emotional spectrum, or even just being able to.”
“Why are the GLs out of the planet anyway? I know they have other duties, but usually at least one is always here.”
“Because of you, I suspect. At least in a roundabout way.”
“What?”
“Well, John intercepted a Red Ring just orbiting Earth a few weeks ago. —before Salem, but I doubt that was the first time you ever used the Red Light— He and Hal reported back to the Guardians but, imagine their surprise when a Red Lantern showed up after the thing before they could even hear back from the midgets. As I understand, the Green Lantern Corps is currently at war, or at least a huge fight.”
Well crap, did her connection to the Red Light call a Ring to the planet after all? Guess she HAD attracted Atrocitus's attention in the end, he was just blocked by the GLs… did that mean there were also Orange and Violet Rings floating around without a user.
“Are they after me?”
“Not exactly. As far as the League can figure out, the Red Lanterns came for the Ring, but they stayed for the war. Still, if one of them shows up I’ll personally deal with it,” Alan’s eyes became hard. “They seem to be keeping their war amongst themselves and it better stay that way.”
Damn, for some reason, Kara believed him. Alan’s power had been impressive in Salem, far above what she thought any of the local GLs could do, at least the ones in this dimension.
Kara adjusted herself on the seat, her eyes growing distant as she thought about things.
So the war between the Lantern Corps had started, probably a lot earlier than it should have since she hadn’t seen it on the Young Justice… or maybe the Team just hadn’t gotten involved in the war, the show was very focused on them after all.
Kara felt no desire to get involved in that, better yet, she felt no particular need to. The Red Lantern’s anger at the Guardians WAS somewhat justified and their battle really wasn’t her problem, even if she had played a small part in making it happen.
Of course, if they showed up and started causing trouble she’d deal with it, but this was a war she had no personal interest in.
“Alright, how do we do this?” Kara said. She had been eager to learn how to manipulate the Light Spectrum, even if her attempts hadn’t been very successful. “I haven’t been able to use the Green Light of Will at all. I did replicate the Red Light of Rage, briefly, and managed a few slivers of Orange or Violet too.”
“So you can control more than just wrath, good to know,” Alan said, a hand over his mouth in thought. “How exactly are you trying to use the Light?”
“Meditation mostly. I try to isolate a feeling and manifest it, focusing only on Will… or Anger, which seems to come easier. I guess I just don’t have enough willpower to block everything else.”
“Hmmm, it seems you’re trying to take the Guardian's approach, it works for their Corps, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing for you.”
“How so?”
“I’m not exactly an expert on the Guardians and their Corps,” Alan said, steepling his fingers above his chest. “But, as I understand, the midgets purge themselves of all emotion, becoming beings of pure will. I bet their rings don’t just search for those strong on willpower, but those whose willpower is vastly more powerful than every other feeling.”
“You think the way they use the light is wrong?” Kara widened her eyes.
“Heck no girl, it clearly works for them. Still, no insult to Hal or John, but do you really think they had more willpower than Batman? Supes over there? Even some of the old veterans?” Alan shook his head. “Maybe now, after years of use and training, but not back when they first got the rings. Take it from me, willpower requires tempering.”
“Maybe they target potential?”
“Could be and, as I said, I’m not an expert on the Guardians, but it would be just like them to choose people whose other emotions are already much weaker than their willpower and simply... teach them to suppress them. Suppressing the feelings could even work as a way of tempering themselves.”
Kara took a second to think about it, that… didn’t fully ring true for her, she remembered at least Hal and Guy being able to wield the other colors. Still, Earth’s GLs had always been anomalies.
Meanwhile, Alan lifted a hand, creating a green shield around them. Safe from the dust, they winced as Kon hit the ground at near-terminal velocity, his back creating yet another crater and sending rocks and dust flying everywhere.
Kara briefly deactivated the sound barrier on her drone and yelled. “You alright over there!?”
Kon just groaned and sucked in a breath. A second later, Kal dropped by his side. “You sure you don’t want me to catch you next time?”
“No,” the younger Kryptonian managed to growl, slowly pushing himself to a sitting position. “Gives me… motivation… not to fail.”
Shrugging at Kal, Kara reactivated the barrier and saw Alan lower his hand, the shield dropping after the dust settled. “You’re saying I don’t need to focus on only one feeling to manipulate the Light Spectrum?”
“I use my willpower to control the chaos of the Starheart but I still feel anger, fear, and love. I use those feelings, draw on them to fuel my will, they don’t distract me.”
“Yes, but can you use the Green Light while feeling those things?”
“Girl, I use my willpower to hold back and use most of the chaotic magic in the universe, do you really think I can’t touch the Green Light of Will? Or that my willpower is weaker than one of the boys?”
When he put it like that… “Fair enough.”
Over their heads, Kal held on to Dany, helping keep her in the air while she got used to manipulating the air to move, Kon taking a short rest before trying again.
“What you have to understand is that willpower isn’t endless,” Alan said. Pushing against the chair, he got back on his feet and dissipated his construct. “Using your willpower to try and suppress your other feelings will only exhaust you faster. Instead, use it for control, to channel your feelings, give them direction.”
“What about the other Lanterns?”
“I’ll be blocking your attempts, no one will sense them as long as you’re with me.”
“Alright…” Kara said, glancing at her cousin still in the air and back to the Green Lantern at her side. “Alright, when do we start?”
“How about right now?”