Interlude 3.5

Interlude 3

~/.\~

(Barbara Gordon aka Oracle)

April 2nd, 2010Gotham cityClocktowerBarbara’s Apartment10:21 PM

The lights of her computer screen reflected on Barbara's glasses, she was following the exploits of a new superhero, or should she say a contractor? She typed on her keyboard and switched tabs on Firefox and watched the video of the silver haired beauty in a blue sundress touching the man that was recently amputated while his leg was in a clearwater solution with some biomass available from vegetables at his side.

The leg began to regrow over an hour, it looked severely atrophied though. The man in question was rich, an engineer and entrepreneur named Elon Musk from South Africa who had been taken hostage by a group belonging to a Somalian warlord who wanted to ransom him.

Elon’s wife, a Talulah Jane Riley-Milburn, hired Lady Miracle to help her husband; Lady Miracle captured the ransomers alive and helped Mister Musk regrow his lost leg. Musk didn’t tell Lady Miracle that he was recording her using her magic at all and as a result the video ended up on Twitter.

Instead of suing Elon for his trespass, she thanked him and took it in stride and started advertising on the social media platform. Since then, Lady Miracle has used her account mostly like Zatanna did, for tricks with… portal magic. She was at least a billion richer, but all the money she got somehow always ended up going to children's hospitals and maternity wards in Europe and Australia which seemed to be her main hangout.

Barbara opened her pattern searching program, and on the holo-table next to her desk, a map of the world appeared. Sightings of Lady Miracle appeared, centered on Europe and Australia like she thought, but there were those that showed that she went to North America and in particular Canada. She left South America well alone somehow…

China and Japan were a bust, did she avoid them because of their culture and the language barrier? Or worse, she sounded to be German and Barbara suddenly had a bad feeling… was Lady Miracle a Nazi? However, the next video of her kissing some children of all ethnicities in a burn ward after they were restored to looking hale and healthy assuaged her fear.

The redhead sighed in relief, the woman wasn’t a nazi like she had thought. More videos of the sorceress circulated, she helped more people, mainly kids; there was one of her helping bring five babies into the world in an Eastern European country. The parents thanked her, and Lady Miracle gave them money to support themselves and their children and brought them to another country through her magical portals.

Lady Miracle was a good person. A truly rare person in this day and age who was unaffected by greed and wanted to better her fellow man to fund her humanitarian projects. That is why it pained Barbara to do this… she started to compile a dossier on the woman. There was almost nothing beside her clearly fabricated name, Emilia Von Linden, 21 years old. She forwarded an address in Germany to a town called Goslar.

It was offgrid of course, no internet there, only a cellphone tower. There were photos of her speaking with people in town or eating at the restaurants there; but knowing that she could use portals to move around, Barbara doubted that this was where she lived.

Goslar is an untouched medieval town that dates back to 1009. Most of the town was built during the 12th Century, which is known as “Alstadt” or Old Town. Or maybe she wasn’t lying and that she once lived there, immortal sorcerers were a thing in this world. Her official age, 21, maybe needed a bunch of zeros to show how old she actually was.

People like Lady Miracle didn’t get power like hers easily, and-

Barbara felt a breeze and a breath next to her left ear, “I heard you’re looking for me.”

“Eep!!” The redhead twirled in her seat, about to strike the intruder with a punch.

Barbara’s punch landed into an open hand, which was connected to a beautiful platinum blonde woman wearing a large blue hat and sundress, with gloves and a handbag hanging from her left forearm. The woman let go of Barbara’s hand and stepped back; with a smile she looked around and didn’t seem impressed by the redhead’s computer rig.

Was it Barbara’s imagination, or did she hear the blonde whisper the word: primitive.

“Are you Lady Miracle?” Barbara’s gaze focused on the woman who leaned against the wall next to the door of her work room.

Lady Miracle’s eyes shone with amusement and she said in a flirty tone while tipping her hat, “In the flesh, schöne frau (beautiful lady).”

If a man had done something like that, it wouldn’t have been sexy or attractive, but somehow this woman pulled it off. Then there was the fact that somehow Lady Miracle found her way into her home; how did she do it? What were the means to achieve this? Was it technology or magic? Whatever it was seemed to give the sorceress some kind of information defense which warned her that someone was looking into her.

This was… terrifying; now Barbara understood why no one kidnapped and enslaved Lady Miracle to turn her into a healing machine. Anyone who looked into her maybe was evaluated like this and judged? Or was Barbara seeing too much into it? Countless possibilities came into the ex-vigilante’s mind and when she saw the platinum blonde smile at her as she had this thought she added the possibility that the woman might be either a telepath or precog.

“More like a telempath.” Lady Miracle answered Barbara's thoughts.

Barbara’s hands landed on her armrests and she fell back on the old mental training given to her by the Martian Manhunter and closed up her mind behind an imaginary steel wall.

The sorceress shrugged at Barbara's attempt to keep her thoughts private. “It doesn’t matter if you have mental defenses, I can feel your thoughts through a different type of telepathy than you were trained to counter. Whoever trained you isn’t used to spiritual based telepathy.”

Walking toward her, Lady Miracle loomed over Barbara but didn’t do anything more. The woman kept her hand linked as she… waited for something. Maybe she wanted Barbara to answer her question? “To answer your question Lady Miracle, I will say yes; I was looking for you. My name is-”

“I’ve done my research on you Barbara Gordon also known as Oracle, your father is Police commissioner Jim Gordon, Mother Barbara Eileen Gordon and Brother James Gordon Jr. Your parents are quite unimaginative with the name given to their children…” The woman crossed her arms under her impressive chest as she asked, “What are you seeking me for? People often seek me out for healing, protection or other special tasks. You, Miss Gordon, are a tech billionaire, you’ve got everything going for you; beauty, smart, money… What do you want?”

Barbara was surprised that the woman knew enough about her already; the fact that she knew what her Hacker moniker was scared her a bit and almost made Barbara push the panic button underneath her armrest which would get Canari or someone of the resistance to her. But the redhead’s hand tightened into fist; if Lady Miracle came here it wasn’t to threaten her but to show her that she knew who she was.

The redhead understood that she wasn’t in control of the conversation right now despite being in her own stronghold; Lady Miracle acted as if she was a queen and Barbara her supplicant, and it was the truth she wanted something badly from the woman. But Barbara still had her pride, she wouldn’t beg but appeal to the woman’s good heart. Looking into the blue eyes of the woman, Barbara said, “Please, help me Lady Miracle, you’re my only hope of regaining a normal life.”

Tilting her head, Lady Miracle smiled ruefully. “A Star Wars reference? Really? Okay, I’m intrigued by your case… let’s discuss this over tea.”

The woman waved her hand and in a shower of blue and light a beautiful wooden tea table and a chair on which Lady Miracle sat on gracefully. With a twirl of her finger, she made a porcelain tea set appear, then asked, “Black tea? Darjeeling? Oolong or… Green tea?”

Different containers full of tea packets appeared as well as enough madeleine and cookies to feed a small army. “Don’t you have Peruvian coffee instead?”

“Ah, you’re one of those. Very well, Fraulein.” Lady Miracle didn’t twirl her finger this time but clapped her hands and in a shower of brown glitter, a decanter full of the brown nectar appeared. The smell was heavenly, then the blonde woman made some sweetener and sugar manifest with her magic.

The two women took their fill of the food and beverage over some small talk. Barbara needed to open herself to the Healer and speak of what she wanted done. She didn't go too deep about how she got paralyzed from the waist down, just that she was shot at by a Villain (Joker) from Gotham in the back.

The blonde nodded at Barbara and with palm open over the table asked, "Give me your hand, please."

Barbara looked warily at the white waiting hand. "What for may I ask?"

"To run a diagnostic, and to see if I can cure and treat you." Lady Miracle said as she found the question quite silly.

"Okay." Barbara reached out and put her hand in The blonde's.

The sensation she felt next was as if she was being jolted by a weak electric current, and Lady Miracle's eyes glowed with white light. Lady Miracle peered into her body and then the strange energy current circulating inside her body stopped. The blonde smiled and said, “I definitely can help you, but… can you pay the price?”

Barbara snatched back her hand and said with a glare, “If it's reasonable, yes. But be aware that I will not do anything that compromises my morals…”

The sunny smile appearing on the woman’s face became especially dazzling right at this instant.

“I don’t want money from you, money doesn’t matter to me.” Lady Miracle said, proving that she didn't want Barbara to do anything untoward. “What I want is a date with you.”

This was said with a smoldering gaze that made the redhead blush to her ears. Barbara gulped because she thought the sorceress was really attractive, then she thought, *Why the hell not? It's just a date.*

Barbara nodded and said after her internal deliberation, “Oh, I… I guess that we can come to an arrangement…”

~/.\~

(Barry Allen)

Australia90 miles StraightApril 6th, 2010

A green and gold blur passed him, he had been waiting for the person moving at super speed for a long while. Barry noticed that she had gotten faster, as fast as him and it heartened him to see such a young woman coming into her abilities and doing good. Barry chased Velocity all over Australia and was surprised when she suddenly chose to stop right in the middle of the Great Victoria desert under the scorching sun.

Barry was happy for the climate controlled suit Lexcorp had developed for him; despite the Great Australian desert receiving relatively high rates of rainfall, the high evapotranspiration going through the land made it an arid and desolate place. Australia is the driest inhabited continent with the least fertile soils. Everywhere he watched while running, Barry saw red sand dunes, sandstone mesas, rocky plains and sparse vegetation.

Velocity ran around him and stopped to say face to face, "Meep meep!"

The scarlet speedster smiled. “Hey V.”

Barry stared at Velocity, her costume and gear had changed again since the last time he saw her. Her costume looked more well put together somehow and hightech. The belt at her waist was of shiny golden color and had multiple green glowing screens and LEDs on it with the pouches attached to it. It looks like Velocity found money somewhere or someone to fund for her tech; hell she could be a trust fund baby and decided to splurge for her tech like Bruce did.

He had done some subtle research and found that every system she invented and let circulate in Africa such as the water filter were patented. The name on the patents was a Claire Richardson, who was an up and coming young genius with two doctorates in electrical engineering and Energy studies. Who was working on her third doctorate in computer science already.

She was a pretty redhead with blue eyes and a sunny smile. “Hey Flash, Mate, how are you?”

“Doing good!” He raised his hands.

Before he could continue speaking and try his recruitment speech, the young woman clapped her hand. “You have excellent timing, I wanted to… meet you.”

The pause in Velocity’s voice caught Barry’s attention; when someone as happy, bubbly or peppy, like Velocity, became serious one needed to focus and listen. “Why?”

Velocity took a device, it was the size of a smartphone, it had a touchscreen and when it lit up, it showed a picture of a map… Barry asked himself, *Is it some kind of GPS?*

Then the device chimed and a relieved smile appeared on Velocity’s face. “Lucky, there’s no satellite overhead.”

Okay now she could mess with satellite coverage or detect them? *How?*

Velocity took off her green tinted goggles and watched Barry in the eyes. “Okay, Listen Flash… I ended up findin’ somethin’… I’m not sure I can handle it alone.”

With a frown Barry asked, “And what’s that you found? You sound very worried.”

The girl gulped and made a nervous chuckle. She looked haunted and rather skittish. “Eh, bloody oath I am… First you must promise to listen to everythin’ I say without interruptin’ me.”

Barry nodded, she wasn’t asking for the moon. “Sure, I promise to listen attentively and not interrupt you.”

Just in case, Barry activated his HUD and began recording the conversation.

“Ripper, well… this all started when I went to the states. I was curious why no one focused on the hardware used in the Bombing of Metropolis...”

Barry suddenly felt a sense of dread. He asked himself the same thing, why wasn't the League looking for who gave the hardware to the Joker? The submarine, the Cold War era nuke and the high-tech Deadman switch detonator used. Everything went to shit because someone gave this to the Joker and the world changed because of it.

It was only three years later after the event that someone, who wasn't League, asked themselves the question: Who did it? Barry looked shocked, how come they didn't look for the ones who'd done it?

"I won't lie, what I did was bloody illegal, I spied on some criminals from Gotham who I discovered were made into cutouts. I followed the chain and eventually found my way to information trails leading to most of the city’s upper crust and Gotham's organized crime families." Velocity revealed.

Barry wasn’t surprised that she did this, all she had to do to not be seen was to use the speed force to phase through walls and move at super speed to not be seen at all. The young woman had a mastery of her speed that was better than Barry's when he started out. He really wanted to tell her about it, but he had promised to stay silent.

Velocity was aware of this it seemed as she gave him a thankful smile; then she started using her speed to start vibrating, her voice started to distort as she began speaking fast. However Barry sped up as well and heard Velocity's next report. “Then… then this is where I found why Gotham never got better despite your manbat’s years of vigilantism.”

It seemed to Barry that Velocity didn’t want anyone who wasn’t Barry to hear her. He was surprised that she could use that ability at will already.

“Have you asked yourself, why?” Velocity asked.

Barry guessed that asking him questions was allowed for her little show. “Why, what?”

“Why Batman never could put down crime in Gotham?” Velocity stared into Barry’s eyes intently, as if she was about to tell him the answer to an unknown mystery.

“I always believed that it was because most of the civilian higher ups there are crooked, that the crime families own them and the city.”

She raised her hands and showed him seven fingers. “Correct, 70 points; but the rabbit hole goes deeper than that, Flash.”

*The girl is a bit of a dork.* Barry wanted to laugh, but the gravity of Velocity’s revelation blunted Barry’s usual banterish behavior.

“Let me tell ya about the Court of Owls…”

From what Velocity was saying, The Court of Owls is an ancient conspiracy that has controlled Gotham City for centuries. They are a violent cabal of rich people wearing owl masks who wield political influence in the city. They are behind most unsolved crimes and why the city never gets better. Those people played the crime families against one another and the downtrodden inhabitants.

And it was them who stopped Batman’s gallery of criminals from truly being prosecuted and placed in Arkham. They were the reason the Joker didn’t get the death penalty and kept letting him escape because of the insurance scheme they set up to get even richer. What were a few deaths compared to them spreading more of their influence and making more money?

Then Velocity said, “I found out that it was them who sold the nuke to the Joker.”

That chilled Barry’s blood. That this so-called cult was so powerful and embedded in the fabric of this country that it could get a nuclear bomb.

“Do you have proof?” Barry found himself saying.

“Yah, I’ve got  lots. Pictures, videos, data from their personal computers, I cloned their smartphones and photocopied any relevant dossiers and paper in their possessions.” Velocity said as she took a dozen USB thumb drives from the pouches at her belt.

They looked like commercially available ones, not optimal; she put everything back in her belt’s pouches at super speed. Barry knew exactly what to do right now, he entered into his veteran hero persona and asked, “Is this why you were waiting for me?”

The woman looked scared, Barry could see it in her eyes. She scratched behind her head as put her feelings into words. “I can’t get any closer than this, I’m… I’m scared, Flash. The things I’ve seen, and heard… I never knew that humans could be this cruel and monstrous.” Velocity stopped speaking, looked into the sky for a moment, then stared back at him. “How?”

Barry understood what she meant. The world was a nasty place and the Hero-life had taught him that he needed to roll with the hits he received. You see some pretty disturbing and bad shit out there, but you gotta move and run forward by learning from your mistakes and successes.

“How do I do it, right?” Barry said when he looked at the scared-looking redhead.

Barry turned and gave his back to the young woman and looked at the road, there was nothing on the horizon. “Because I have to do it, no one else wants to; I don’t begrudge them, some people aren’t cut out for this life, Velocity. But you took a clear step in that direction, you’re a hero, V.”

He turned to her, showing her how proud of her she was; Velocity is used to playing it safe, but this time she went out to find trouble on her own. She may have been able to give Clark and the survivors of the Metropolis’ bombing closure.

The redhead shook her head, looked at the goggles in her hand. “I’m thinkin’ of hanging up the costume after that though, there’s no way-”

Barry panicked, Velocity couldn’t stop just because she saw the darkside of humanity up close! The speedster looked for a reason, and he found one. He quickly said, “I’m sorry you feel that way, V. But you’ll have to show the results of your research and investigation to the League.”

As an answer, Velocity shook her head and started giving the USB thumb drives to Barry as she said, “Can I not?”

Barry suddenly had his hands full of the devices, he looked rather awkward right now. “I…”

But before she could run into the sunset and out of the hero's life, Barry saw Superman descend from the sky; he landed softly on the road, cutting Velocity’s retreat.

The god-like alien in blue and red looked at the two speedsters for a moment, until his cerulean gaze focused on Velocity. “Good afternoon, Miss Richardson. I was passing by and couldn’t stop myself from hearing an interesting story.”

Barry didn’t like the fact that Clark was breaking her secret identity from the get go like this. This was a breach of privacy that might have cost them goodwill from the woman; the redhead stepped back from Superman and glared at him. The speedster sighed, Superman was here, and despite the smile he wore, it didn’t reach his eyes. The story about the Court of Owls was hard to swallow…

~/.\~

(MACHINA)

So far so good.

The Princess’ plans had to be reworked to take into account the role of the Kryptonians onboard the Odyssey. The recent ratification of a formal alliance between Princess Komand’r and the Kryptonian refugees meant that she was going to help them find a new planet on which they could settle, not necessarily in the DC universe but in her original one.

MACHINA was happy to have met this species, they are what beings should strive to become; intelligent and logical. But due to the social engineering perpetrated by some of their members over the centuries they repressed their emotions. It was clearly something bad to do, too much logic and rationalization unbalance a being.

The synthetic being shifted her attention back to Komand’r healing Barbara Gordon in her apartment, they were in the redhead’s spacious bathroom where she was naked and submerged in a bathtub full of water. The upper body of Barbara was muscular, but not her lower body, which looked quite emaciated, MACHINA made a plan for Komand’r on how to skip any reeducation treatment on the Princess’ HUD.

After acquiescing, Komand’r demanded that MACHINA transport some regeneration solution. MACHINA proceeded to do just that by fabricating it and teleporting it from Odyssey to the small apartment. The Princess took a vial from her handbag, filled with green colored regeneration solution. Enough to fix the woman’s atrophied muscles in her lower body so that when Komand’r does her magic, Barbara will be able to walk right away.

“Don’t worry, you won’t drown, I got you.” Komand’r reassured the redhead who held onto MACHINA’s creator like a Lifebuoy.

“Are you sure?” The redhead asked in panic.

MACHINA knew there wasn’t much trust between them yet, but she felt rather offended for her mother. She wasn’t about to kill her! Komand’r nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. “I promise.”

Then with a low whisper in Barbara’s ear, “I really want to date you.”

The redhead looked into the princess’ eyes. “Why? I mean why me?”

MACHINA was frustrated by the woman’s questions, they were so cliché! Obviously because you’re gorgeous Barbara!

“You’re my type, I like redheads and smart women. Why wouldn’t I want to be with you?” The line was delivered so smoothly that MACHINA asked herself why she didn’t do the same with Kara on the space station? With lines like those, the petite blonde should have been eaten already.

Komand’r made one of her lady killing smiles, the redhead blushed and averted her eyes from her mom’s. “It feels good to be desired.” Even more so when she's been a cripple for years and now has less self-esteem.

To MACHINA, it was like watching a soap opera with her mother starring in it. Then Komand’r's free hand became all glowy and she said, “I’m going to submerge you for thirty seconds, take a breath. It’s going to hurt a bit. Hold onto me, okay?”

“Okay.” Barbara nodded, fear starting to show on her face.

“Ready?” MACHINA’s mother asked.

Barbara said, “Rea-”

Splash.  Komand’r submerged Barbara all of a sudden.

“Eir, goddess of healing, hail!” Komand’r started praying and the light glowing in her hand flashed and the bathroom filled with white light.

Barbara stayed under the water for thirty one seconds submerged in the regeneration solution and bore the pain that the magical healing was giving her as it fixed her spinal cord and lower vertebrae. MACHINA detected some trace amounts of copper shrapnel that were immediately purged by the magical energy. The light slowly faded and disappeared.

Komand’r helped Barbara re-emerge from the filled bathtub and then let go of her. Barbara sat up by herself in a panic and then her face changed as she turned her head to her legs which didn’t look emaciated like before, but toned and muscular, matching her upper body.

“I can feel my legs! You’re really miraculous.” Barbara said as she turned her gaze to a smiling Komand’r.

MACHINA nodded, Komand’r’s infiltration of the Resistance with the help of Barbara Gordon was well on its way. She decided to focus her process on something else.

*** Fork 1: Dedicated to assist Doctor Pamela Isley. ***

At the same time, MACHINA dedicated some of her time to help the doctor; she looked at the vitals of the men in the tank and realized that the treatment was complete. MACHINA woke them up by injecting the gas into the rebreather each of them wore. Pamela Isley entered the facility, she was in a light green and black soft-suit with a utility belt especially equipped for lab work with a suit of powerful scanners and specialized computers.

She arrived before the workstation controlling the series of regeneration tanks; placed her palm on the scanner in the middle of it and the workstation unlocked and lit up. After a brief moment, Doctor Isley consulted the results. “We finally finished the augmentation of the Rogues. Now what is left is the brief reeducation process to get them used to their body.” Doctor Isley informed MACHINA as she looked at the men exiting the regeneration tanks.

MACHINA had an eyeful of fit and muscular naked men and chuckled. I have the best job ever.

*** Fork 2; Having fun with Stargirl in the Danger Room. ***

Courtney was in the danger room, testing the combat-skin fabricated for her. Floyd loaded a survival scenario about an army of Super soldiers attacking Courtney. It had been difficult for the young woman at first, but as she got into a rhythm, she started mowing down the troops. Gotham’s dock area was the current battlefield; and it was in complete ruins, the addition of the cosmic staff, cosmic converter belt and a star spangled combat-skin that amplified one-thousand times every attribute of its wearer was overwhelming.

Stargirl could solo an entire battalion and more. It was while she was firing stellar energy blasts at entrenched super soldiers in an alley that they barricaded themselves with a truck and some containers. They were slowly advancing toward Stargirl while using the containers as a shield. She broke through it by turning the beam from her Cosmic staff into a continuous cutting stream.

When the current batch of super soldiers were dead, Courtney contacted MACHINA through the Tactical Communication Net of the combat-skin. “Hey, Mach. Do you have more good songs? I like to play my video games with music.” Courtney Whitmore asked on her tablet.

MACHINA rolled her eyes. Courtney, who knew that this environment and people weren’t real, was letting her destructive tendencies out. This wasn’t one of her non-lethal tactical survival scenarios that Floyd ran usually, but a way to destress for her. Still complying with the girl’s request, MACHINA sought music bands and artists not existing on this Earth that were indexed in her databases which would be suitable for Courtney.

Bury the Light blasted on Courtney’s system in her suit. Stargirl started moving her head in rhythm pleased with the edgy song. “Mach, where did you find all these?”

Oh you know… a different universe. MACHINA idly responded.

“What?!” Courtney shouted, just as a gunship arrived, guns blazing in the sky shooting at her.

*** Fork 3: Monitoring Project HAX, the nano-forge full of Nth metal nanite culture in the lab of the Tempest Scout Ship. Completion of Cosmic Combat-Skin at 95%. ***

Nth metal was a strange alloy which could interact with Quantum particles in this universe. Its effects were variable depending on the will of its user; The interactions in this scale are mostly unpredictable, as particles interact differently in contrast to macroscopic material due to the complexity of quantum mechanics and the universe's fundamental interactions occurring at this level.

By using quantum manipulation, theoretically, Komand’r when she bonded to the Combat-Skin would be able to manipulate matter and energy to their essential components: molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles. Commanding them leads to the fabrication and transmutation of matter into any material the user desires, manipulating nuclear reactions, commanding both nuclear fusion and fission, detonating nuclear explosions or the formations of stars. The user can manipulate chemicals and transform them into any chemical element the user can generate, if they possess the information for it.

Completion of Cosmic Combat-Skin at 98%

MACHINA didn’t forget to take into account the metaphysical side of things when it concerned Nth metal. She was certain that the alloy allowed the ability to deal with all things undetectable by the physical senses. Metaphysics included science and went beyond it to encompass all aspects and dimensions of existence experienced as "reality".

Combining Nth Metal with Bridge Builder technology made the model and simulation of the power projection about  the Cosmic Combat-Skin impossible to calculate or foresee. MACHINA could guess that this should make Komand’r… not invincible but close to it.

Completion of Cosmic Combat-Skin at 100%

MACHINA sent a notification to Komand’r about the news of Project HAX. She could finally secure the nanites culture in a tank for her mother to pick up later.

*** Fork 4: Monitoring Kandor City. ***

Everything was going well in Kandor, the news about a portal to outside the bottled city being established spread like wildfire. The population organized a huge festival to celebrate their future liberation; the Artist guild immediately came up with holographic multicolored banners which started appearing between the buildings. Some adventurous youngsters started wearing purple and silver capes in honor of Princess Komand’r. Everyone had identified those as being her colors.

Food and beverage stalls, operated by Labor guild members, popped up in the center of the city. Food was no longer rationed as supplies were constantly delivered by MACHINA. The celebration continued for over a week, those people needed the good news after being bottled for thirty-eight years.

Meanwhile, the council had organized exams to choose the most competent and smartest individuals amongst Kandor's citizens to help MACHINA and Komand’r crew Odyssey. To start with, a pool of one hundred Kryptonians was chosen. Many entered the examination, but only 1% of the best and brightest were chosen.

MACHINA focused on who she would assign to which post and it was hard to choose…

~/.\~

(Caytlin Snow aka Killer Frost)

April 7th, 2010Star CityThe GladesAbandoned warehouseNight

Caytlin wasn't so sure about this plan anymore… sure she wanted out of the planet and out of reach of the Regime’s clutches but she didn’t know who reached out to her. Maybe this was a trap to get at every rogue or villain who has seen the ads on TV, the paper or their Internet Provider’s email. It was strangely targeted, as if she'd been observed from afar.

From Louisiana to Washington, her journey had been difficult since she escaped Belle Reve; the super soldiers created by Superman were too dangerous to confront and she was forced to kill them. They were relentless and single minded in trying to capture her. If it wasn’t for this random ad that popped on the acquired phone from a random rich girl in a red convertible car. She would have disappeared in the woods somewhere.

The trek had been a slog, but in a matter of a week and a bit of guile she stowed away on the Amtrak system and reached Star City. It wasn’t hard to contact the person who made the ad, just an email and a message by phone. Caytlin felt that somehow they were able to know who she was.

As she walked into the empty and dusty warehouse, she noticed someone sitting there on a chair  and playing with a smartphone. Somehow, the woman, because it was clear that it was a woman. looked rather absorbed in it. She wore a blue sundress and large hat, gloves and sandals; the woman looked familiar as well. *Isn’t she that Sorceress girl who has been trending on Twitter and Facebook and Wayne Media?*

The woman looked from her phone’s screen to the warehouse’s entrance, her eyes settling on Caytlin. She locked her phone, and placed it in a bag which suddenly appeared in her hand in a small shower of light. With a smile, the woman was suddenly before Caytlin, who flinched and stepped back.

“Guten Abend (Good Evening), Miss Snow.” Her accent was exotic and her greeting was warm.

“Hi, are you the… contact?” Caytlin asked.

The woman nodded. “It is indeed me.”

“You’re that magic girl from twitter…” Caytlin’s gaze sharpened on the platinum blonde.

“Once again you’re right, I’m glad that you came.” The woman still had on her smirk.

Caytlin looked around her and saw how dark it was, but the concrete ground and a lone light was illuminating where they stood. The air smelled quite dusty, enough for the cryokinetic to become asthmatic. “Am I the only one here?”

The woman tilted her head. “Today? Yes, you are.”

With a sigh Caytlin said, “Right, so what’s this about a sanctuary away from the One Regime?”

“Before I tell you anything… you must pass the test.” The woman made her handbag disappear.

Caytlin frowned. “What test?”

“This one.” The woman disappeared.

Caytlin felt someone behind her thanks to her heat sensitivity and she threw herself forward, rolled in the dust and pointed her hand and threw a cold blast at the woman. With a ‘Fwooosh’ the blast hit… nothing. Lady Miracle  wasn’t here.  Caytlin looked up, the woman appeared from the air and was intent on crashing on her, so the cryokinetic rolled on her right and heard a crashing sound. When Caytlin turned she saw Lady Miracle standing in a crater she created in the concrete.

Caytlin’s eyes popped and was glad she evaded that attack, she would have gotten killed! “What the fuck?! Why are you-”

Lady Miracle interrupted her as she turned toward her. “Hmm, good situational awareness there, fraulein.”

The woman levitated out of the crater and stood before Caytlin; the cryokinetic became somewhat jealous of how the woman looked in pristine condition while she was covered in dust and grim.

“Why? Why did you attack me?” Caytlin demanded as she stood there with a serious expression and was ready to defend herself.

Lady Miracle tilted her head again, and smiled. “Assessment of your powers. It’s too bad that you don't seem to explore them sufficiently; the scientist will work on this with you, there’s no way that you shouldn’t be able to control your power on a grander scale.”

Caytlin didn’t like this, the woman was already making decisions for her as if it was a foregone conclusion. At this moment Caytlin could only compare the woman to Amanda Waller, who she had the dubious honor to meet. “Are you trying to turn me into a fighter or something? If it’s that, I’m out of here.”

The cryokinetic made to leave, but the platinum blonde woman teleported before her, blocking the exit. “Miss Snow, I thought you knew? You’re being interviewed for a position among my team. We offer safety to our members and their families, we give them training, unmatched healthcare and enough money to make you able to live comfortably for several lifetimes.”

Cooling down her fury, Caytlin understood that she had passed the test of the magic woman. “So it’s not just a sanctuary thing, but a job offer.”

Lady Miracle walked toward her and stopped two meters from her. “Let me reassure you, this isn’t a suicide squad situation, in fact you should thank me, my associate and I got rid of Amanda Waller and CADMUS.”

Caytlin stepped back, the reason she was free and could run from Belle Reve, as it was being reviewed because of Waller’s ignoring the human rights of the prisoners, was this woman? “It was you?!”

“Gern geschehen (You’re welcome).” Lady Miracle nodded.

Closing her eyes, Caytlin thought about her options, she could no longer run and she was tired, tired of just… surviving.  When she opened her eyes it was to say, “Where… where can I sign?”

The woman clapped in joy and giggled. “Welcome, Miss Snow. Get in line with the others.”

The lights in the warehouse lit up and in the not so empty warehouse, she saw at least six people there when she turned to look around. “What-”

One of them was familiar and shouted, “Hey Frosty! You made it!”

It was a tall and muscular blonde in a red and black costume with blonde pigtails, she looked completely different from before. Caytlin couldn’t help but yell back, “Harley?! Is that you?!”

~/.\~

(Billy Batson aka Captain Marvel)

USAMidwestPhiladelphiaFawcett CityApril 9th, 2010

Billy floated down from the sky and landed in the Alley in downtown Fawcett and looked around, there was no one here. Not even a homeless person. Just the smell of piss and rubbish littering the place. He sighed in relief, he was being careful after so many close-calls with his secret identity. He opened his mouth and said the word that would turn him back into a child.

“SHAZAM!!”

Billy turned from the world's mightiest mortal, a superhero with magic origins to a lean kid who needed a bunch of sandwiches. Billy used his magic to take his backpack from his dimensional inventory, with the Wisdom of Solomon he couldn’t not have his magic while in his normal form. It was stupid to rely completely on Shazam’s transformation. What his long career as a superhero taught him was that he needed to be prepared for anything. Being able to store his things when he needed them was one of those smart choices.

With a hand combing his hair, he slicked back his hair and walked forward to the exit of the alley and went to wait for the bus. He waited at the bus stop for ten minutes and then one of the public transports stopped; he climbed inside and went to sit at the back. Billy saw a squad car of the Regime pass by; some people cursed as they saw them pass. Billy looked around and saw the people who wore a somber mood on their face. This wasn’t an isolated thing, everywhere he went, things were darker, as if a dark filter was slowly placed on his vision.

Kids were less happy, their parents too. The TV kept showing action from the Justice League and how they hunted down crime even the more benign ones. Billy wasn't blind, he saw the beatings and killings the Super soldiers, created by the pill from Lex Luthor and Clark Kent, perpetrated. Being young, Billy reasoned that his participation in this Regime bullshit was more because he was persuaded and bullied into participating by Superman in his tyranny.

But now, as the regime’s oppression grows, Billy is beginning to have second thoughts about the justifications of his actions. He remembered what he did to the Atlantean, to Black Adam…

Billy closed his eyes and resolved to try to forget the howl of pain from the man as they took the power of Shazam from his flesh, before he was sent to the Phantom zone, like everyone else lately. As the landscape changed from downtown to his neighborhood, Billy focused on not missing his stop. The bus stopped and Billy rose to his feet, ignoring the downcast passengers.

He stepped down from the bus and found himself on the sidewalk. Until he arrived before the white picket fenced house, Billy liked it here. Even if he was made to help maintain the house by painting or taking care of the garden and going to church each Sunday with all the other kids the Vasquezs were taking care of.

Rosa and Victor Vasquez were a couple who took in Billy after the death of his parents, after some time he was grateful, who knew where he would have ended up if he had been ushered from house to house. He liked the fact that the couple made each kid active and tried to find a hobby. They even helped with their homework, Mrs Vasquez was a retired teacher, and Mr Vasquez was a retired engineer. The reason they gave the kids why they accepted them into their home for the CPS program was because they can’t have kids on their own and decided to spread their love and attention to children who needed it.

Billy lucked out, he realized this and he wasn’t about to jeopardize this by being dishonest; he told them about his magic and his… other form. They didn’t berate him, or tell him to stop, because Rosa was saved by Captain Marvel from a car crash; they realized that he needed to protect others. So, Rosa and Victor sat Billy down and told him how to be more prudent and taught him subterfuge and to know how to defend himself when he was still in his normal body.

They had said that they were proud of him, they also entered into contact with the Justice League. This was something Billy felt he needed to do to avoid being sent to dangerous missions he wasn’t ready for; at least for his mental health. Billy walked through the gate towards the house, closed the gate and continued to the front door. When he was in, he shouted, “I’m home!”

But it seemed that there was no one in. *Strange.*

When he walked into the living room, Billy saw a woman in a blue dress and hat sitting before the sleeping Vasquez couple. She looked up at Billy and she smiled. “Hello, Junge (Boy).”

“Who?!” Billy shouted and he moved toward them only for two swords to appear in purple light over his adopted parents, their pointy end almost touching the Vasquez couple.

Billy stopped his charge, skidded on the floor and said, “Who are you?”

The beautiful woman tilted her head and playfully replied, “I’m not telling you that, Billy boy. But if you want a reason for me being here? I’ve come to remove you from the board, my sweet boy.”

This woman was a villain, she had found out about his identity and was now going to kill him! To kill his family! “No not again!! SHAZ-!”

Before he could finish she teleported to him and her gloved hand reached for his face and she shut Billy up. “I don’t think so, boy. Now, silence.”

She let go of him and Billy tried to say the words again only for no sounds escaping his throat. With widened eyes, the boy looked in panic; the smiling woman put a hand back on his cheek, caressing it and raised his face to look him in the eyes. “Now, night-night Junge.”

When he looked into her eyes, they shone with white light and… Billy felt his consciousness slip. He closed his eyes and there was only darkness.

~/.\~

(Komand’r)

“Ah that’s better.” I said when I took down the little kid.

I decided that taking out the big names first was a wise decision, Billy Batson was on the precipice of being killed by superman when he would question him about everything he did. I loved kids, I wanted some of those later with my wives; so when I thought about the kids in the adult body in the Justice League, I wanted him out of the game.

Now I just had to wait for the goddamn wizard to come to me, and explain to him why I took down his champion. I didn't have to wait for long, time slowed down around me and the house. I felt immense power encase the house in a cage of time that was normal compared to the outside. And in a golden pillar of light a tall almost bald man with white hair, a long beard a la Gandalf and blue and a huge white robe appeared.

He looked furious, and power rolled from him in waves; I stood my ground, not wanting to show weakness as Shazam the old Wizard shouted, “HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY CHARGE?!”

I said coolly, “I presume you’re the Wizard Shazam?”

With Billy in my arms, I looked at the old Wizard. I smiled at him and he must have understood that I wasn’t playing around. “Who are you? Unhand the boy.”

“My name is Lady Miracle.” I simply said.

He scowled at me. “No, this isn’t your true name.”

“Good you caught that.” I nodded.

Putting Billy next to the Vasquez couple on the sofa next to me, the Wizard looked at me as if seeing me in a new light. “You’re not from this world line… not from this universe. You’re an outsider.”

I tipped my hat to the Wizard. “Indeed.”

The old man huffed as he looked at my behavior. “Speak, are you looking to obtain the Rock of Eternity? Or my powers?”

I giggled at that, who wanted those pesky limited powers? Not me, I wanted to develop my own magic eventually. “Please, what would I do with your measly power and knowledge, Wizard?”

The old man looked affronted for a moment but I let out my magical might as I tethered myself to a magical dimension attuned to the light element. I was less powerful than him but I felt that I was at least there with Amora in level of power.

With his gaze softening, the old man was less antagonistic; suddenly, he reigned in his own aura and asked, “Then why have you come?”

Reigning in my own magic, I said, “Obviously, I've come to save the life of your charge.”

Shazam blinked and his eyes squinted as he said only one word, but it was in a commanding tone. “Explain.”

I shook my head.  “It’s better if I show you, give me your hand.”

Holding my hand open for him to take it, I waited. When he finally took it in his own old but strong callused hand, I said, “Embrace Eternity.”

I used my telempathy to show him everything I knew about Billy and his exploits and then switched about the timeline he was living in. Superman killing his champion and the reign of tyranny, oppression and terror which will spread on Earth and to the stars.

All my emotions and feelings about Billy being a good kid not deserving death were laid bare for Shazam to feel. Then my ability disengaged from the powerful and ancient mind. The old Wizard looked at me, there was a strange feeling coming from him.

He chuckled and lowered his guards as he understood that I didn't want to fight him. "I will take the boy, his parents and their other children to the Rock of Eternity."

I clapped. "Excellent, Lord Shazam. I know they will be safe with you."

The old man bowed his head. "You have my thanks, Princess Komand’r. Your noble heart and good deed shall be remembered. Let me reward you."

With blue lightning in his hand a huge leather bound book appeared in his hands, there was a sun shaped rune on its cover, "Take it."

"Sure. Thank you." I took the book from his hands and placed it inside my bag.

He nodded again. "No, thank you."

Billy and his parents disappeared with Shazam in a flash of blue lightning, and then I did the same. With a gold glow my portal opened like a whirlpool  and when I passed through it, I felt proud to have done my job without bloodshed. I didn't want to admit it but I would have lost if I had fought the old man.

~/.\~

(Bruce Wayne aka Batman)

????????At the same time…

He opened his eyes only to see flashes of white light. Raising his hand in the hair, everything was blurry in his field of vision, then the ceiling came into focus. The lights were painful, but not as painful as the excruciating pain he felt down his lower back. His legs, he couldn’t feel his legs! Again! First Bane and now… Clark, Clark did this to him.

“Alfred…” Bruce called out, his voice raw and tentative.

Then the elder face of his butler came into focus, the stone ceiling as a background; Alfred reached for his hand and took it in his. “It’s all right, master Bruce. I’m here.”

Bruce realized that he was on a medical bed, with some machinery and IV linked to him. The room was all brickstone and the bed quite uncomfortable to his sensibilities.

“Do you need more painkillers?” Alfred suddenly asked.

Bruce looked around him, he couldn’t feel his legs and it was annoying; with a sharp tone he answered, “No. I need to be alert.”

Alfred’s hand tightened on Bruce’s. “Nonsense. Your back is broken. You don’t need to think. You just need to Heal.”

Bruce ignored this old argument, continued to look around in the room when he finally realized. “This isn’t one of the bases…?”

“No.” Alfred told him.

Alfred pushed a button on the monitor next to him; Bruce looked at Alfred. “Where are we?”

With a slight smile, the British butler enigmatically answered with, “Somewhere even Superman can’t reach you. I called some friends.”

“Hello, Bruce.” Leaning on the wall and looking at him, Zatanna appeared. She was in her classic show costume, fishnets, half a suit; as if she was going to a French-cancan show. She tipped her magician hat at Bruce.

“Superman has been searching the world for you. He suspects magical involvement. Raven is searching all of the realms but you will not be found here.” The Sorceress informed him.

Alfred let go of his hand, allowing Bruce to rest it on his chest. “Where is here?”

“You are in the Tower of Doctor Fate.” She answered with a cocky smile.

Yeah she was right, he doubted Clark would find him here; Raven might, she knew the location of the Tower. Zatanna moved toward Bruce, and he finally noticed that next to her was Barbara who was standing up! *How did she cure herself?*

Barbara wore a really tight t-shirt, black cargo pants, tightly laced up combat boots; her expression was stony as she looked at bruce. She didn’t seem happy to be here. As Barbara looked at him, Bruce felt that she didn’t care about his state at all. “Barbara?”

“Bruce.” The redhead nodded to him, acknowledging his presence.

He could understand her antipathy, after the events of the killing jokes, she had almost died; she was also raped by the Joker and lost the baby he had unfortunately put in her. She didn’t care that the Joker wasn’t alive anymore; she must have celebrated it. Bruce understood that she was turned off by men, forever. She barely worked with him anymore. “Barbara? How are you walking?”

The redhead had been eighteen at the time and Bruce had thought that he had been weak and gave into his base instincts. It never happened again, his only repeat date or flings were with Selina. If there was a way for him to be out there earlier, he would take it; was it a regenerative treatment, or nanotech?

“I found a way.” Barbara shrugged, she smiled as she thought about something… pleasant.

“How?” Bruce insisted.

The redhead gave him a look. “Why should I give you a solution, Bruce, when I know you won’t take the same steps that I took?”

She adjusted her glasses and harrumphed; just from her comments, the billionaire inferred what she meant. The solution to her problem hadn’t been technological. “Magic?”

“Yes, Magic.” Barbara giggled like a school girl as she thought about something. He hadn’t seen her like this since she was with Dick.

Turning his head toward Zatanna, Bruce asked, “Zatanna was it you?”

“No it wasn’t me Brucie bear,” The magic user turned herself to the redhead. “but she’s been helped by magic, she’s literally glowing with the stuff. I didn’t know that you knew any magic users other than me and Fate, Barb. Who did the work and… what did it cost?”

This was what stopped Bruce from using magic, it always had a price. Or else he would already be out here, dealing with Clark. Barbara became more defensive, her stance shifted to an aggressive one. “Lady Miracle healed me and it cost me nothing, just a date and a weekend at a specialized spa.”

The redhead had a grin on, as she remembered a good time. Zatanna’s reaction was thunderous as she now knew who had done it. “That attention whore?! You work with her?!”

Bruce didn’t like the stormy expression on the sorceress’ face; Barbara chuckled at the raven haired sorceress. “Is that jealousy that I hear in your voice, Zat?”

Zatanna pointed her fingers at Barbara menacingly. “Somehow she is cheating with magic, I don’t know how she’s doing it; but her kind of magic shouldn’t be able to do what it does. How is she paying the cost of what she heals? This doesn’t add up!”

Bruce frowned, and he suddenly asked his pupil, “Barbara, did you make a…”

Taking a manilla folder out of the messenger bag at her shoulder, Barbara threw it at Bruce. “Here is all my research and a collated dossier on Lady Miracle. But I doubt that you’ll find it satisfying, she obviously doctored her background to protect her family and friends.”

“She blatantly told you so?” He asked calmly.

Having another magic user on the team would be good, not just Fate. Barbara angrily said, “Yes, the League tried to ‘recruit’ her and force her into their ranks, three times.”

“So she’s not a plant, good.” But he would need to test her, to see if she wasn’t just an infiltration agent.

Barbara shook her head, and crossed her arms under her chest, then she leaned against the wall before Bruce’s bed. “No, she doesn’t like Superman and his toy soldiers either. She passes most of her time healing their brutalities across the globe.”

Bruce continued to read the dossier, Lady Miracle is a powerful magic user, portals, healing, teleportation, photokinesis… and super strength. The woman was more than she showed, it was like everything was too easy for her. Bruce had seen this before, with Diana; the woman seemed in that range of power, and… this had potential.

“So… you’re going to date her?” He asked Barbara as he consulted the files about the magic user.

“Yes.” The redhead answered.

Bruce idly said, “Maybe you can evaluate her, bring her in-”

“Bruce?” Barbara interrupted him.

He looked up at her, she had walked right next to him; she put a hand on his neck and Bruce asked, “Barbara?”

With her eyes filled with anger, the redhead said between her teeth, “Shut the fuck up before I finish the job Superman started.”

The room went silent at Barbara's words; Bruce looked into her eyes and understood that she was completely serious. She pushed Bruce on the bed and made him lay back in it. “You won’t use me like you used the others. Dinah already wants your head for what happened to Ollie. I’m going to say it again, Bruce: We’re not your chess pieces”

Bruce closed his eyes and tried to not get hurt by the verbal lashing of his ex-student. Having his back broken by Bane had left scars on Bruce, but it's the times he's failed his sidekicks that haunt him the most. But events like Barbara’s paralyzation and Jason’s brutal death are Bruce's greatest failures. Not only has the Clown Prince of Crime hurt countless innocent civilians in his never-ending quest to torment the Dark Knight, but he's also harmed and even killed more than a few of Bruce's own allies.

*Clark and Lois… and their unborn child*

Barbara continued. “I’ve been on one of your dastardly crusades and I didn’t escape unscathed against the Joker. But now… that I look at you, you didn’t either. That monster broke you, Bruce; what he did to Clark Kent and Lois Lane hit you closer than the death of Jason Todd or my own paralysis; why didn’t you kill the clown at that point? He killed one of us, he killed your son. In the end, you save nothing, you protect nothing, you get as much blood on your hands as him.”

Bruce scowled at her. “I’m not breaking my own rule, if I start killing people it would make me more likely to use lethal force on others.”

The redhead laughed, it was in a cold and sad tone that she broke him further, “I see, always the same excuses. No wonder your father and mother got killed, if you, his son, is too much of a coward to get things done, it must be genetic.”

“Leave.” Bruce said angrily.

Barbara shook her head amusedly. “Maybe you forgot Brucie-love, but I’m not working under you anymore; I’m working with you. You’ll have to accept and respect that, or I will be out of your little resistance movement in a flash and leave you at the mercy of Cyborg.”

Bruce tried to sit up and miraculously, his legs moved; it was with sheer will that he almost moved. “So that’s how it is. Just like I thought… I can’t stay here. I have to-”

Zatanna was on him right away and held onto him. “Shhh. Bruce, you don’t have to do anything. Tser, Ecurb Enyaw.”

“Esolc ruoy seye dna peels.” Zatanna tucked Bruce in his bed; then she turned with a furious expression. “Barb, love, don’t you think you went a bit too hard on-”

Her shoulders slackened as she realized that Barbara wasn’t here. “Ah shit, she pulled a batman on me.”

Then the tower shook with incredible force… Rumble!!!

~/.\~

(Komand’r)

Outside of time and space. Tower of FateSame time

The Combat-Skin was taught against my body, the Nth metal weave didn’t feel like fabric but more like a second skin. I felt powerful, invincible when I bonded with the Nth metal combat-skin with my body, my spirit… my soul. My awareness was clearly expanded, my physical body, magic, and Starbolt energy were greatly enhanced. The dark metal amplified my senses until I could see beyond the membrane of reality.

And this was how I was floating in Massachusetts, in the city of Salem. The Tower is where Zatanna relocated Batman and Alfred after the Dark Knight's crippling at Superman's hands, the Tower being the safest place to hide Bruce from the Man of Steel, as it exists outside of time and space. The tower has no doors or windows and only the Nelsons may freely enter or leave. The Nelsons can allow others or objects to enter the tower, only if they are touching them. To permit Inza to pass through the tower's walls, Doctor Fate cast a special spell over her.

Nothing that can’t be remedied. I used my self-made sling ring that was on my right hand. Using my hand counter clockwise, I opened the golden portal. On my HUD I could see the interior thanks to the spy nanites inside my new woman’s body. I entered the portal and could see the granite walls and the mystical interior.

“How quaint, I still prefer the Halls of Asgard.” I floated from the ground, not wanting to trigger any trap. I remember the lore, this place was a fucking genus loci and served as a vault of sort.

Doctor Fate appeared before me in full regalia, his Ankh moving as he confronted me; the helmet was a little tacky on him. His attire was entirely tacky, couldn’t he wear some kind of suit like me? He oozed power, but compared to Shazam it was completely negligible. I stood before him with my hand on the hilt of my darling skysword; the weapon wanted to see blood, and rend bones already. *Not now. You’ll have your fill later with the yellow lanterns.*

“Impossible! How did you enter? Who are you?!” He demanded in a bombastic way.

With a raised eyebrow, I confronted him. “Am I speaking to Doctor Fate, or Nabu?”

Nabu is one of the Lords of Order who inhabits one of the artifacts of fate, the Helmet of Fate. Those who bear his helm become the entity known as Doctor Fate. The man or thing seemed to realize what was happening and settled down on the ground; I looked down at him with a smirk.

“My name is Doctor Fate. Again, who are you?” He finally said, this time his voice sounded old and calmer.

Ah, so it was Kent Nelson in command right now. “Stronger than you and not a slave to a higher entity. You can call me Lady Miracle. I have a rendezvous with a chauve-souris (bat).”

The man rallied his power and threw down an eldritch bolt at me. I backhanded the ray of energy, deflecting it into the wall next to me.

“How?!” Nelson looked at the hole in the wall.

I was on him almost immediately and held onto his neck and locked his motor function with my own paralysis spell; I also slapped a silence on him. “Were you always this weak?”

He tried to do something, but unfortunately for him, I wasn't in the mood for a fight. With my free hand, I opened a portal to the mirror dimension and passed through it. “Spend some time in the mirror dimension.”

The landscape strangely became the outside of the tower, that empty grassy plain in Salem. Apparently there wasn’t much to reflect and copy; it must be some space shit going on. When I let go of Doctor Fate, he broke the silencing spell through sheer willpower. "Are you working with the League?"

I showed an impressed expression. “Nice trick, but no cigar Docteur Destin; you might consider me a third party in this civil war between the heroes.”

I wanted nothing to do with it; MACHINA was already making plans on how to save everyone. We needed to get Kal-El to back off and just showing him that he wasn’t the only Kryptonian in the universe wasn’t going to cut it. No, I was about to play X’Hal and bring back what he lost. There was only one event happening in the Injustice continuity that would do it.

But I wasn’t going to spill my guts about it to my favorite Sorcerer. Doctor Fate looked at me, in particular at my sword, when whatever he did with his shiny golden eyes noticed about Skysword, he stepped back from me. *Yeah Nabu, I can kill you with it.*

"What do you want to do with Batman? Do you want to kill him?" The doctor asked, the sunlight struck that tacky helmet and blinded me by how ugly it was.

By the Homeworld, what was wrong with those humans? I threw him an affronted expression. "All-Father, no. I am not a killer! Mon bon Docteur (My good Doctor), I just want to heal him! Then bring a stop to this One Earth's Regime nonsense."

The sorcerer relaxed slightly at my announcement of my intention. "I understand, I won't fight you…"

I frowned at this. "What? But I want a fight! Please fight me! I need to test my new suit."

He shook his head no, "Black Nth metal, and you made an entire suit of it? I fought someone wearing something similar before, the magic resistance conferred to you now  is a bad matchup for my skill set."

"Magnifique (Gorgeous), right? My power is amplified in that state." I took on a pose and flexed my biceps.

Fate started floating and advanced toward me, saying, “And this is why I’m not fighting you, it’s pointless. Take us out of this place, I will allow you to heal Batman. But you must be aware of his identity…”

“Batman is Bruce Wayne, I know.” I said with a grin. “I know everything already.”

~/.\~

(Barbara Gordon)

She looked at her wristwatch and then back at the room where Bruce was sleeping. “Where is she? Wasn’t she supposed to already be here?”

The tower rumbled and jostled; and she understood that her new girlfriend was battling Doctor Fate right now. She knew that it was a necessary step in the plan to let her lover enter the Tower of Fate. The Tower of Fate was a Genius Loci from what Komand’r had told her. Urgh, she couldn’t believe that she was on the alien girlfriend's train after what Dick did to her with Starfire.

But Barbara got the superior deal, a universe hopping Komand’r who was a good one? It sounded like fantasy, but after being shown the Odyssey and being brought into the fold and meeting the Kryptonian council who swore that she was a good person and were saved by Komand’r, Barbara decided to not tell Bruce or anyone about the Princess. She can't believe she had thought that Komand’r was a really old sorceress or a goddess for a while there when she met her, but she sure massaged like one…

She was given back her legs, and was shown how worse things could get thanks to MACHINA who played the ‘Injustice’ cinematics from the fighting game showing how things would go for them. She didn’t want that future to happen; Komand’r was here to help and Barbara was going to facilitate her plan concerning the resistance. Even more so that she cured her father of his cancer after Barbara told her she didn’t know what to do about it.

“Who do you mean?” A soft voice said from the side.

Barbara turned and saw her least favorite batman fangirl. “Zatanna.”

“You’ve been quite harsh with Bruce.” The mind rapist said. Barbara never understood why the woman was still free after she spent her time erasing people's memories without their consent.

The redhead heard a sound coming from the other room. She waited to see if it was going to be Kom who would push the door first. “It doesn't matter that Brucie boy's sensibilities were trampled on."

Zatanna put a hand on the redhead’s shoulder. "Barbara what happened to you..?"

Barbara batted away the offending appendage touching her. "That’s none of your business. All you need to know is that I’m never going back to being that trusty girl Bruce bedded, threw away and let be paralyzed by his crazy clown boyfriend.”

“You have such a mouth on you, but I can understand your feelings, you're disillusioned by Bruce’s actions.”

Whomp! A transparent aperture showing a field of green grass appeared behind them. A platinum blonde and blue eyed sex bomb in a slinky gold and black outfit exited it, her eyes sparkled when she saw Barbara. “Oh, here you are.”

Barbara smiled and ran toward Komand’r in her superhero guise; the blonde caught her, lifted her off the ground and hugged her. Barbara wrapped her legs around the Komand’r and started kissing her like her life depended on it. Their tongues dueled for a while, until a cough interrupted them when things were finally getting good.

“Barbara is that who I think this is?” Zatanna asked with a glare at the blonde.

Doctor Fate looked at her with mirth. The redhead unwrapped her legs from Kom’s waist, coughed in embarrassment and her cheeks reddened. Komand’r wrapped an arm around her waist and whispered in her ear, "Introduce us, ma chérie."

“Sure. Zatanna, Emilia.” Barbara pointed her finger at the sorceress and then at the blonde. “Emilia, Zatanna.”

Zatanna squinted at Komand’r. “You know this isn’t her real name, don’t you?”

Komand’r showed a smile full of teeth to the woman, flipping her long hair behind her back in a sexy way. Barbara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she already told me and I am not going to tell you what her real one is.”

The sorceress glared at Barbara for that; she knew exactly not what to do, if Zatanna had access to Komand’r real name, she'd be able to do things to her. The sorceress gasped as she realized something. “You’ve come to heal Bruce. What about his consent? He doesn't like magic.”

It was Komand’r who answered, she looked at Zatanna and assured her that, “We don’t need it; but don’t worry the price will be paid.”

The sorceress squared herself, and stood in a threatening stance before Barbara and the alien Princess. “And what is the price? Is it going to be… steep?”

Barbara smiled. “Bruce's Retirement after this entire situation is resolved, this is my price.”

“He will never accept that.” Zatanna gasped.

Komand’r smiled and taunted, “Really? I already know he will after what I have to say.”

Zatanna opened her mouth, her hand lighting with eldritch light. Komand’r was about to unsheath her sword, but Doctor Fate teleported before the two sorceresses. And miracle, he chose Barbara’s side. “Enough, Zatanna; get out of my Tower if you can’t be civil.”

The redhead felt the air getting heavier, then Zatanna relented and her hands stopped glowing. Barbara still felt that this wasn’t finished yet, this confrontation was just shelved for later; she knew how Zatanna behaved. Doctor fate turned to us, “Please, come with me; Lady Miracle.” He floated up and left toward the small clinic.

Barbara felt a hand wrap around her waist, Komand’r looked at her, then they were wrapped in pink aura. “Game on, ma chérie!”

They passed next to Zatanna who whispered, “You’ll pay for this.”

“Bring it, Salope (bitch).” Komand’r replied back.

~/.\~

(Alfred Pennyworth)

The semi-bald butler looked at Master Bruce who was sleeping with a critical eye; a day didn’t pass when he thought that he had failed Martha and Thomas Wayne. Since those two were dead, he should have been more assertive and looked for mental counseling for the young master. If he had done it, he wouldn’t be waiting each night for young Bruce to come back shot, bruised or almost dead.

The door opened to show Kent Nelson in his Doctor Fate persona. “Doctor, is there something wrong?”

The man floated down and said, “No old friend; we just found someone willing to heal your charge.”

Alfred straightened his costume unconsciously, knowing full well what was told to him. “Through magic?”

“Yes.” The doctor answered.

The old butler looked down at Bruce who was sleeping fitfully; he might not like it but he was going to heal the boy back. “Do it, I don't care that he doesn’t want it.”

“Well said, Jeeves.” A feminine voice interrupted the scene.

Alfred looked up and saw Mistress Barbara standing with a gorgeous blonde in her arms. “Mistress Barbara, who is she?”

“This is Lady Miracle, my lover.” Barbara declared.

It seems that the girl had moved on from her botched relationship with the young master. This was a good thing, unfortunately, the young master wasn’t going to move on himself. Alfred’s dream of seeing more children in the future in the house seemed distant.

The old butler’s eyes focused on the sorcerous blonde newcomer, she was comely and looked like one of those Swedish volleyball players that Master Richard had liked watching play. “I heard about you on the internet.”

“Huh, Barb, he is a Brit.” The young woman said when speaking about Alfred who detected a French accent.

The butler lamented that they didn't have the Bat computer right now, he was sure they would be able to know more about Lady Miracle this way. Paranoia ran in the family, but Alfred was more open minded; he didn't feel compelled to know everything about someone who wanted to offer their services like Bruce did.

Barbara put a reassuring hand on Lady's Miracle arm. “Don’t worry he doesn’t bite.”

Alfred wanted to laugh, but he couldn't, the situation was that dire. Then the blonde's stance changed and in a commanding tone asked, “Please, could you have a bathtub ready?”

She held her hand palm up and a vial of green liquid appeared inside it. “We will plunge Mister Wayne into a regenerative solution, his body should heal itself faster this way.”

Alfred’s eyes zeroed in on the vial and he asked, “Does he need to be awake for it?”

Lady Miracle understood right away what he was implying, they didn't need master Bruce's permission to save his life. “No.”

“I would prefer that he stay asleep for the treatment.” Alfred didn't want Bruce to wake up and order him to stop.

This was difficult to accept for Alfred, he was essentially betraying the young man he was seeing as his son; but he was willing to shoulder the guilt. For too long he has been passive, and accepting; it was time to change and help Bruce help himself. “Master Bruce will be completely healed?”

The young woman nodded instantly. “Yes, this should get him back to his twenties fitness wise. There’s also some mental healing quality to it.”

Doctor Fate appeared next to Lady Miracle, looking intently at the vial of green liquid. “Where did you get this?"

With a vulpine smile, the gold and black suited blonde replied with, “This is a panacea prescribed by Goddess Eir.”

The good Doctor’s eyes shone with golden light through the helmet. “It is technological in part.”

Alfred watched the woman turn her head to Doctor Fate, and with an impish smile said, “Yes it is, I’m impressed you noticed, Docteur Destin.”

The butler relaxed even more, knowing that nothing was getting past Doctor Fate; it was even more imperative that this should be done. Alfred was thinking about asking for more vials of the regeneration liquid, however his hopes were dashed when Lady Miracle said, “This is the last dose I have left, unfortunately; I will need to go back to base to make more; it’s expensive to make you know. You better make it count.”

It was as if she had read Alfred’s thoughts and answered them; or was it just him? Doctor Fate interrupted his train of thought, not letting the old butler dwell on Lady Miracle’s abilities. “Please, one moment, I will conjure a bathtub.”

From the stone tiles, an oblong stone bathtub formed, the inside was smoothed out completely and the edges got the same treatment. “It is ready.”

“I will conjure some water. By the Water of Washi.” Lady Miracle said and her hand glowed with blue light and a portal opened over the bathtub and clear water gushed out of it to fill the receptacle. SPLASH.

Doctor Fate whipped his head toward Lady Miracle, then to the portal; as if he was seeing something impossible happening. The hero kept his peace and just continued to observe; when Lady Miracle was done she walked to the bathtub, uncorked the vial and poured its contents into the tub of clean water. The green liquid spread, coloring the transparent water and then, she looked at where Bruce was sleeping.

She opened her arms wide as if she was about to hold onto something. “Accio, Bruce Wayne.”

Bruce disappeared from his bed in a flash of white light, only to appear in Lady Miracles arms. She moved toward the bathtub and slowly immersed Alfred’s boy into it. Only the head was left, in the air, but not for long, Lady Miracle looked at the butler and said, “Count to ten, Jeeves.”

Alfred nodded and he started counting. “1.”

Lady Miracle immersed Bruce’s head into the water and chanted a spell.

“Flower gleam and glow

Let your power shine

Make the clock reverse

Bring back what once was his

Heal what has been hurt

Change the Fates design

Save what has been lost

Bring back what once was his

What once was his.”

A flash of light broke through the water, turning it turquoise.

“2.”

“3.”

“4.” It was at this point that Alfred was getting worried that Bruce was going to drown.

“5.”

“6.”

“7.”

“8.”

“9.”

“10.” A column of white light speared from the water and Lady Miracle let go of Bruce and stepped back from the bathtub. Alfred saw Bruce move in the water, he quickly re-emerged out of the green water. Gasp!

The light show stopped at that moment, leaving a completely drenched raven haired younger man looking at Alfred who looked at his charge with wonder. Bruce stood up on his own, Lady Miracle and Barbara looking down at his painfully erect penis.

Lady Miracle whistled, the redhead at her side averted her eyes. Alfred chuckled at this and quickly went looking for a towel.

The blonde waved at Bruce Wayne and greeted him. "Bonjour, Monsieur Wayne (Morning, Mister Wayne). We have so much to speak about, you and me."

~/.\~

(Kara Zor-El)

Space station OdysseyTraining room

While Komand’r was getting an eyeful of Bruce’s little boy, Kara wasn't having a lot of fun in the smart matter training field. They were in the futuristic dojo template, their feet bouncing off the wooden mats. Kara was in a Cobra pose, her aunt had downloaded the knowledge of Yoga directly into her own brain and was teaching it manually to her niece; it was available in the knowledge capsule in the training room.

The blonde Kryptonian suffered for over one minute before sitting down normally. Lara, who was a veritable machine, sat before her; and Kara couldn’t do anything but stare at the clearly angry woman. She was scared, normally her aunt was the cool type, she had always been calm and composed at all times. But now? Because of what had happened to Kal-El, she spent her time in the training room hitting or shooting things or exercising her body aggressively. Kara had chosen to follow her in her Physical training, and she could barely keep up.

The blonde never knew that a Kryptonian could bend like that. Lara was now helping her go through flexibility exercises in a practice similar to Yoga, that put her instantly into a meditative state. It was a form of martial arts that Kara was being taught, Torqasm Rao and Vo.

Lara put herself in a crow posture and switched to a handstand. She said without inflection, “Now, do a handstand.”

Kara did the same and when her aunt looked at her, she said, “You’re doing great, Kara. You’re almost there.”

The goal of this exercise was to facilitate the action of entering into a theta state which would allow Kara to control her own perceptions, making her highly resistant to distractions, illusions, or psychic attacks.

“We will stay like this for another two minutes.” Lara announced as she flexed on Kara by doing a handstand with one hand.

“O-okay.” Kara said, avoiding mimicking her aunt.

Kara counted down the seconds as she stayed in that handstand position; when Lara finally said, “You can stop.” She let herself fall on her feet, then sat down in a seiza position, while breathing in and out because of the exertion.

Komand'r had been clear with her, and not let any yellow sun radiation touch her skin for a second, that she needed thorough training before gaining her Kryptonian abilities. Lara, Jor-El, and the other scientists had all agreed that it was for the best. Being able to harness her senses, strength and body before getting her power up seemed prudent and… smart. She understood that Kal, from what she read about him, had to adapt to new power as he grew up. When Kara starts metabolizing the sunlight she will have the same powers as her cousin all at once.

After this Yoga session with Lara, they had more martial arts sparring to do. Kara didn’t miss that her aunt was now less tense and started to speak by asking, “Aunt Lara, have you calmed down?”

“A bit, it takes all my focus to not requisition a ship and go look for Kal.” Lara admitted with a placid look etched on her face.

Kara winced, she didn’t want to think what would happen to her aunt when she discovered that Komand’r had locked the whole ship down because she sensed her mood. The younger blonde decided to appease the military woman, by holding her arm. “Remember the plan? We need to go there with Komand’r when we go confront him.”

“Did she really change her intention though?” Lara asked, appreciating the intimate touch. Kryptonians were not used to showing affection this way, but things were changing as of late because of the destruction of their world. People were more aware of each other and what they had. Technology and knowledge wasn’t all they valued anymore. Family and friendship were valued coming back as more precious.

Kara understood her aunt’s wariness toward Komand’r who had wanted to simply kill Kal rather than speak with him for what he did and kept on doing. The petite blonde breathed in and out, “She promised that she wouldn’t kill him anymore, that she has another way. Komand’r always keeps her promises, MACHINA can vouch for this.”

“Yes and that’s why she chose you to execute this plan that she isn’t revealing to us yet.” There was some bitterness in that statement.

Even Kara didn’t know, all she knew was that Komand’r was going to source the tech for dimensional breach to the resistance. That’s the only thing she gleaned when she was being massaged by the Princess. She could still guess, they were going to look for something in a world different from this one.

“Do you think she’s attracted to you?” Lara asked.

The subject deviated all of a sudden but Kara quickly understood what Lara meant. Then she thought about it, she made her interest in the Tamaranean Princess clear; or did she? Komand’r seemed to avoid her a bit, lately. Kara found herself saying, “Yes, but she doesn’t act on it. It’s like our age difference is stopping her from making a move.”

This has been frustrating to Kara, even more so when Komand’r got back from Earth with a red haired human at her arm. Fortunately, MACHINA told her about the Princess’ polyamorous relationship back in her universe, so Kara didn’t give up. She wasn’t deterred in the least and wished to be part of it after reading the Smart AI’s files on the other women who were about to join Komand’r in matrimony.

“Do you want to court her?” Lara’s voice was serious, she must be questioning her in case she wanted to continue pursuing the Princess. Adding her to the house of El would be a coup for the family.

“Yes… do you know how to do it?” Kara asked the more experienced woman.

Lara nodded, a smirk on her face. “It’s going to hurt.”

With a shrug, Kara answered. “I don’t care. It would be worth it.”

Lara raised her right arm, the liquid geo wrist computer came alive and Lara did something and then the room changed to a Japanese Dojo to an indoor running field. It stretched for over 200 meters and the room’s ceiling was also higher. There was a field of green grass in the middle. Kara’s soft-suit auto-compensated and materialized footwear.

Her aunt smiled and said, “Then start running, little flame-bird.”

"Huh?" Kara said a bit lost.

Slap. Lara spanked Kara’s pert ass. “Start running and don’t stop until I tell you to.”

Kara started running, not at full speed as she looked behind her to see if Lara followed her. She was… and with her best drill sergeant impression yelled, “Run, Kara run!”

The blonde didn’t see how making her run to exhaustion was going to land her the Princess though…

~/.\~

(Komand’r)

While Kara was getting an impromptu bootcamp session, Barbara and I first exited the Tower of Fate with a somber mood. Using my sling ring, I portaled to Barbara’s apartment. As we passed through the golden aperture, I thought about our discussion with a more sane and introspective Bruce Wayne. He was healed earlier than expected and now he was going to help me with my plan; he treated me like a Machiavellian villainess the whole time. And I felt him look at Barbara longingly a bit too much, the guy was feeling rather horny; too bad for him that she’s my girl now.

*He better focus on Selina or Talia rather than my Barbara.* I thought in my heart.

We landed in the redhead’s computer room, it was a very wide space as she previously used a wheelchair to be mobile. It was kind of too somber for me here, I conjured a bunch of light balls which illuminated the place; the gloom was banished and this attracted Barbara’s eye.

“I think you should get more light in here.” I told her with an unrepentant smirk.

Barbara gave a look at all the unlit places in her dwelling. “I think you’re right.” She took on a thoughtful expression and basically asked me on a date as she said, “Maybe we can go on a shopping run and look for decorations to light the place.”

“Fine with me, bébé (baby).” I prowled toward her and put my hands on her waist, then she placed her arms around my neck and looked at me.

It was with difficulties that I said, “It’s time for me to get back to Odyssey.” Because I wanted to stay and do some erotics things to that wonderful body.

“You’ll call me, right? We need to coordinate for the assault on the Vault.” Barbara reminded me.

In three days we strike the Vault while the League would hit the Court of Owl. With a chuckle I nodded, “I’m going to be an annoying texter and tell you everything that I do, yes.”

I calculated how many I should send her a day, and came up with the number 42. Barbara seemed serious when she said she expected to hear from me all the time now. “Good.”

I reluctantly let go of her waist and I saw in her eyes that she seemed sad when she took back her arms from around my neck. I opened a portal and was about to leave, but something bothered me and I had to voice it.

“I noticed… by the way.” I blurted out.

“What?” The redhead asked.

“How disgusted you felt when you saw Bruce naked.” I bluntly said to her.

It had been a sick feeling, it was as if she was about to run away because she was looking at a naked man. It felt like a trauma, deeply ingrained. Barbara froze before me, her breathing sped up and she tried to say something, “I… I-.”

Flash of memories of a man with green hair and pale skin touching her inappropriately speared through my mental shield. I hugged Barbara tightly and said quickly, “It’s okay, we don’t have to speak about it.”

Barbara had developed a severe case of misandry, because of what happened to her. She froze in my arms, then the panic attack she just had stopped as she held onto me, melting in my embrace. I didn't care how long we stayed glued together, but this seemed to do wonders to her mood. "I'm sorry to have reacted like that… But we will speak about what happened one day, right?"

I nodded, smiling slightly,  then I put my hand on her cheek caressing it. "As much as you want, Barb."

The redhead’s own smile was dazzling. "Thank you, here for the road."

Kiss. Her lips touched mine, and I let her tongue in my mouth to find my own. My hands found purchase on her arm and back, pulling Barbara closer to me. When she stopped, I let go of her, then she pushed me with a red face, and a lilt in her voice, “See you later.”

It seemed that Barbara wasn't ready to be pushed down and made love to. Well, she didn’t have to push me into my own portal to Salem’s outskirts, I would have left of my own volition. The portal closed, after I was out of the Clock tower.

Very well, I finished what I wanted to do on Earth, but… I was curious about something. Looking up, I jumped and let my power free me from the grip of gravity and turned westward. I activated the cloak on my suit and flew at high speed beyond any flight path toward California.

MACHINA was busy with the Kryptonian personnel on Odyssey and not having her with me was kind of lonely. I wished TALI could be there too, but she was limited to sending me brief messages and technical information. The last message she had sent me showed that this dimension had completely deviated from its original course, so whatever I was doing, it was good.

Loneliness was a dreadful thing to a Tamaranean. I may have gotten a new protégé after I adopted Ashley, but she wasn't yet ready, her gene therapy was still ongoing. My HUD confirmed it, she was still half human, and to be able to enjoy the same powers as a Meta-Tamaranean she needed to be at least 80% Tamaranean, her new T-cells were still replacing the human ones. But at least now, her body could handle her power. The limiter the dumb Cadmus scientist had put on her had been lifted thanks to my own DNA mixing with her and replacing her own maternal DNA.

I was over Iowa when I looked for signs of Starfire on the internet; I found some, she was shopping at the Westfield San Francisco Centre with a girl called Terra and another called Wonder Girl. I legged it and found myself in Cali and looking for the shopping mall they were in. I finally found it ten seconds later. It is a nine story mall featuring over 170 shops and restaurants, a multiplex and a dome-covered atrium.

Apparently this was a publicity stunt to boost sales, the Titans servicing this mall was one of the usual contracts the girls took to make easy money and get free clothes and shoes. I will remember that for my embassy arcology back on my Earth.

I entered the building and triangulated the three heroines’ position and found them in a shop called ICICLES. They were sitting there, surrounded by fans despite the security accompanying them. I switched my combat-skin for my usual blue dress and hat, and went to a toilet nearby. There was one thirty meters away, I entered it after waiting a moment to see if anyone was going to exit it.

I pushed the door open on the female toilet side and checked in the stalls with my hearing; fortunately they were all empty for now. I deactivated the cloak and walked toward the side of the toilet with all the sinks and the large wall mirror. I straightened my hat, then my strapless blue sundress and added a shawl around my shoulders with my magic.

With my HUD I took a selfie, smiled and added some filters that automatically added some makeup for me. Then I materialized my handbag and took the smartphone prop and took a pose as if I used it to take the picture.

Just like that I announced that I was in California to my three million followers. To announce my arrival here in the shopping center, I opened a portal and exited near ICICLES where everyone was looking at me. The three heroines present were already in a battle ready stance and some people had their phone out and recording.

I sauntered toward the shop while hearing people shouting "It’s Lady Miracle!" And then there was a deluge of flashes. I was forced to take my sunglasses from my handbag and put them on my nose to act like a normal human. For whatever reason, Cassandra Sandsmarks aka Wonder Girl was glaring at me, while Terra had her own phone out and was taking pictures of me with a smile. What was her name again? It sounded Russian, Tara something…

As for Starfire she had a troubled expression on her face. I didn’t care much, I just wanted ice cream and to spy on the heroes. And that’s what I got, caramelized vanilla with chocolate chips for free as I endorsed the shop on my twitter page. Koriand’r didn’t act like my sister at all, she was… more mature and motherly with the girls accompanying her. It was strange to see my baby sister all grown up.

“Hey.” Someone interrupted my snacking on ice cream.

Raising my head, I saw that it was one of the Titans; I wiped my mouth with one of the provided paper tissues on the table and greeted back, “Hello.”

My hat was set aside next to me, and everyone could see what I looked like without it. I put a spell on the ice cream pot to stop it from melting while hearing why the Titans heroine was here. “I wanted to say that I’m one of your fans and I appreciate what you’ve been doing in the hospitals.”

“Thank you, I try my best. You’re Terra, right?” I vaguely remembered her from the Teen Titans cartoon, she was a redeemed traitor or something and stole Beast Boy from Raven. But isn’t Beast Boy dead in this reality? I think he was in Metropolis when it was bombed.

She put her fist on her waist, making a pose. “Yeah, a minor superheroine from San Fran! Hey, can I give you my number-”

Anticipating her offer of exchanging numbers, with a bit of sleight of hand, I presented her my coordinates. “Here’s my card.”

The blonde took it from my hand and read on the card, “Lady Miracle, Troubleshooter, Healer, Entertainer. Email: [email protected] phone number: 555 XXX XXX.”

Terra smiled and said, “I’ll call you.”

She waved at me and left. I hope that she called and let me hack her phone and the systems of the Titan tower. Or was she coming onto me? I have no idea; before resuming eating, I felt eyes on me. Koriand’r was staring at me with a venomous stare. Then there was this feeling of recognition she was exuding, and this made Koriand’r walk toward me.

"Ah, X’Hal, the gig is up." I grabbed the pot of ice cream and made it disappear into my handbag, put on my hat and snapped my fingers to make myself disappear. It may have been a mistake to have come to her turf, but I just wanted to see her from afar.

When I disappeared, she stopped in the air and looked around herself, seeking me out in the throng of people. I heard her curse in Tamaranean, damn when did she develop a potty mouth? I decided to turn this blunder into an opportunity, I needed to remove several pieces from Kal-El's side before our fight with him. Cyborg was one of my targets, but Koriand’r was a decent second choice.

With that decided I choose to continue tailing the three heroines…

~/.\~

(Koriand’r/Starfire)

San FranciscoEarlier, the same day

The HQ has become so silent since Beast Boy and Wally’s death; the only ones left were Blue Beetle, Robin, Aqualad, Cyborg, Raven, Terra and Wonder Girl. Koriand’r regretted having let BB and Kid go to Metropolis that day. There was also the fact that she didn’t approve of what Superman was doing with this One’s Earth Regime nonsense; it stank of tyranny and oppression, just like how the citadel did things.

Koriand’r was less enthused to listen to the Justice League executives’ orders at this point. They still did hero work, search and rescue and patrols; but they kept the Super Soldiers away from the Titan Tower and tried to not have anything to do with them. Already she refused to participate in the next meeting that Superman organized; Superboy found himself following her lead on this.

What the League could do is force the team to take on more people to inflate their roster. It was written in the bylaws they’d signed when they allowed the Titans to form. Koriand’r cursed her naive self and the high-handedness of Batman at the time. Superman and The Flash informed the Titans that someone else might join, a female speedster called Velocity that they recently found, she came from Australia.

Koriand’r doubted the girl would make the cut, she had big boots to fill; there was a big difference with Wally, in the file sent to her, Koriand’r read that Velocity abhorred violence…

*This isn’t going to work.* Koriand’r thought.

Terra and Wonder Girl were together with her at the ice cream parlor when Koriand’r felt a familiar energy near her, but she saw nothing that could raise that feeling from her in the crowd, just humans dazzled by the team walking amongst them. It wasn’t until she saw the golden portal open that she felt the immense energy more distinctly. Her hands lit with the green color of her starbolts, and she readied herself in case this was an attack. Villains who wanted to make a name for themselves often attacked the venues the Titans frequented.

*Here we go again.* But contrary to her expectation, a woman in a blue dress and hat exited the portal; this caused Kori to feel confused and not know what to do.

"It’s Lady Miracle!" Someone cried next to her, it was Terra who had her phone in hand and started taking pictures of the other blonde woman.

The other humans followed suit and started taking pictures, forcing the woman to put on her sunglasses. Koriand’r asked herself if the woman was really a magic user, the energy she felt coming from her was similar to her own starbolt energy. This Lady Miracle walked up to the crowd and started signing autographs quickly, with her magic all the surfaces or papers the people had in their hands were signed. Wonder Girl gasped at the length the woman went for time management and to enjoy herself.

Lady Miracle then sauntered toward the counter of the ice cream parlor and tried to buy something; but it seemed that the manager wanted something from her. Koriand’r watched an impromptu advertisement video with lights, cameras and a sketch in five minutes and the blonde getting free ice cream for a year. The woman easily outshined the Titans girls with her easy smile and magic tricks; Koriand’r regretted not having Raven with them right now, maybe she would have been able to do the same.

The more she looked at her move, the more it dawned on Koriand’r that this woman was familiar; she didn’t miss the subtle look that she received from her too. It wasn’t sexual in nature, but there was some longing there. It wasn’t until Terra went to meet the blonde and came back near her that she guessed who this was after she smelt her teammate. This smell, this energy, it was her sister, it was Komand’r!

Koriand’r glared at the woman, why wasn’t she left in peace?! *Didn’t I tell her to not come back after the beating I gave her?!*

She found herself floating directly to the woman, but she gathered her things, raised her right hand, snapped her fingers and she disappeared from view. Koriand’r stopped herself there. Komand’r wasn’t a magic user, was she projecting? No, she wasn’t, the energy was still there, but… farther. The leader of the Titans decided to cut short this excursion and told the girls when she floated back to them, “Go back to the tower, there’s a situation I must take care of.”

“Can we help?” Terra blurted out instantly.

The younger girls stood at attention, looked around them for problems; fortunately, there were none immediately but they checked their phone for alerts.

“No, it’s personal… and it's better that I do it alone.” Koriand’r smoothly said.

Cassandra… Wonder Girl looked at Koriand’r with suspicion, she crossed her arms and said, “We’re one call away, Kori.”

“I know.” Koriand’r smiled, patted both their shoulders and left…

She exited the mall, feeling the energy follow her just like she expected. She flew far and high, closest to the ocean next to a deserted creek. Flying here in the blue sky, the wind billowing, Koriand’r waited and the blonde revealed herself, she no longer had the blue dress from earlier, but a gold and black full bodysuit; there was a golden sword hanging from a sword-belt at her waist. The purple and pink halo surrounding her cemented who she was in Kori’s mind.

The woman opened her mouth and said, “Salut (Hello), I’ve come to speak about-”

Koriand’r’s left hand lit up with green Starbolt and she shot it at Komand’r in disguise. The woman leaned her head to the right and the starbolt beam was evaded. “Komand’r! Stop your games, I know it’s you!”

The woman flinched at the fury of Koriand’r, her starbolt energy covering her entire body. The blonde frowned and put her hands on her hips. “I’m not whoever that Komand’r person is.”

Koriand’r flew closer to the disguised Komand’r. “Don’t lie, I could recognize that starbolt energy anywhere.” The redhead pointed her finger at the pink halo and the flaming contrail of her hair.

Komand’r didn’t move when Koriand’r was face to face with her, eyes glowing green. “What is this on your face? How can you pass as human, is it holo-mask technology? I didn’t think you’d stoop so low to spy on me, sister.”

Koriand’r poked at her sister’s honor, what was left of it anyway. She continued her rant. “Have you come to get me? Didn’t I say last time you sought me out  that Earth was my home now?!”

Bracing herself for a fight, Koriand’r was surprised when her sister didn’t sucker punch her, shoot her or slap her like she always would since they were young. The blonde sighed and put on a tired expression… “I think there’s a case of mistaken identity here, Koriand’r. I’m not your sister.”

Oh she was good, like anticipated, she didn’t even waver with her lies, her heartbeat didn’t even skip when she spoke. Koriand’r caught her sister by the neck, she didn’t even flinch, as if she welcomed her touch. “Lies! You speak like her, you (sniff) smell like her, and you call my name like her.”

As if to reward her effort, the pale skin and platinum blonde hair gave way to purple hair, orange skin and glowing purple eyes. Koriand’r let go of Komand’r in surprise; she looked like her sister, but not, the different coloration of her hair and a sensation of unleashed power was almost scalding, as if she was near a burning star.

There was a heart wrenching sad expression on her sister’s face, one she had never seen. “You got me, Kori, I was discovered. Coming here was a mistake, I just wanted to see if you were like my own sister…”

Komand’r was flying away and about to leave as she mustered her starbolt energy. Koriand’r flew after her, fists first as she followed. “You can’t leave, Kom! At least not without an explanation!”

“Watch me, my little star.” Komand’r looked at her with the cocky smile she was used to.

“Don’t call me that! I’m not a baby anymore!” They were over the pacific ocean as they raced into the sky at low speed.

Then Komand’r sped up and disappeared from view; Koriand’r stopped flying and then she felt a breath behind her and heard her sister’s voice. “But you’ll always be a baby to me, Kori.”

“Grrr.” Whirling back, she punched , but only hit empty air with the shockwave created by her fist.

Komand’r shook her head and looked at her sister with pity; and with a ‘come on’ gesture said, “Come fight me. It seems you won’t be satisfied if you don’t punch me.”

“You’re not wrong.” Koriand’r laughed.

She broke the sound barrier as she charged Komand’r and punched her in the face. BAM!

Koriand’r gasped, her sister didn’t even flinch or move from her position; when she took back her fist, there wasn’t even a scratch on Komand’r’s cheek.

“That’s all you got?” Komand’r taunted.

There was some kind of resistance when she hit her fellow Tamaranean, as if the starbolt energy she was sheathed in had acted like a shield. Koriand’r glared at her sister. “There’s more where that comes from.”

“Flail away then, give me all you got.” She did the same ‘come on’ gesture and it infuriated Koriand’r!

She listened to Komand’r, and she went all out from the get go and came at her with great speed and punched her sister in the sternum sending her flying down toward land. Koriand’r followed her shooting at her sister with starbolts, every beam hit Komand’r who then crashed back to the creek they were hovering earlier.

There was a crater in the riverbed with Komand’r standing up and then who started hovering; she began dusting herself, looked up at Koriand’r who started charging the mother of all starbolts and shot it right at her sister who sighed and with a resolute expression on her face Komand’r raised her left hand and when she was hit by the green colored starbolt blast there was a suction sound.

Right before Koriand’r’s eyes something impossible was happening, her sister started sucking the energy of her starbolt. When she was done, she stood there unharmed. Again, Komand’r dusted herself, and smiled cockily when she looked back up at the heroine.

Koriand’r charged again, fury etched on her face and fist first, she broke the speed of sound multiple time and was about to hit her sister’s face again when her wrist was caught and the kinetic energy of her charge created a shockwave that widened the crater Komand’r hovered over.

The kinetic energy dissipated and Komand’r said to her sister, “Tut-tut. My turn.”

What happened next will forever haunt Koriand’r; she was flipped in the air, and slammed up and down into the crater with a strength she didn’t think Komand’r was capable of. Slam! Slam! SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!!!

Koriand’r was covered by soil and stone and was deeply embedded into a new crater inside the original one. She looked up into the blue sky, her body was aching and she felt that some of her bones were… bruised, not broken fortunately.

Komand’r entered her field of vision, a smile on her face. “Puny Kori, I’m not done with you.”

Koriand’r raised her hand and fired a starbolt, but yet again it was like it was being absorbed. Komand’r caught her arm and pulled her out of the crater and threw her in the sky. It was as she was hundreds of meters in the sky that she noticed the pink light zooming toward her breaking the speed of sound and then Komand’r was suddenly before her with a crazed smile on her purple lips, with eyes glowing pink, Koriand’r flinched and evaded a powerful haymaker by flying down.

But she didn’t escape the ax kick that came next. She was sent crashing down again but caught herself in flight by using her starbolt for propulsion. Komand’r was on her fast and the situation devolved into a fist fight.

Multiple shockwaves devastated their surroundings as they went at it; Koriand’r kept losing ground despite hitting Komand’r all the time, it was as if she absorbed the kinetic energy of her punches, while she kept hurting the heroine with the same force she was being hit with.

Komand’r finally had the first blood as there was a crack from Koriand’r face. Broken nose, that the heroine held onto; this shouldn’t be happening, but it was clear that she expended more energy than she metabolized. She was caught by the waist and she felt herself being thrown toward the ground, but stabilized herself and landed only for Komand’r to do the same, she went low and raised her pink starbolt covered fist vertically with blinding speed that broke the sound barrier.

Koriand’r felt her ribs break and her being thrown away directly into orbit only to crash into something. She only saw space and Earth… on the horizon.

Her body was hurting and it had been abused so much that she couldn’t move at all despite being healed by the rays of the sun. She was about to lose consciousness when she saw Komand’r hover over her prone body. She crouched next to her and put a hand on her head.

A voice came directly into her brain and said, [Now that I’ve beat you, it’s time to have our reunion somewhere more… private, sister.]

*Since when is Komand'r a telepath?!* Koriand’r thought before blacking out.

A/N: Ouch, poor Starfire...

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