Kara adjusted her business suit, then used her super vision to look through several buildings at the lone woman sitting in the busy restaurant, two security guards seeming to keep watch on her.
Lena Luthor had asked for a meeting in a week to discuss her proposal, but she hadn't been willing to wait, changing the time to only a day later, something Lena had disliked, but eventually agreed to.
In truth, Kara had kept in contact with Lena since their last meeting; the two of them sometimes traded articles about new tech and even asked for each other's opinion on personal projects.
Nothing important, and Kara couldn't really say they were friends, but there were very few people who could even try to keep up with her when talking about tech, and most of those were villains.
The raven-haired young woman was dressed in a black business suit, her hair tied in a ponytail, and she wore just enough makeup to be elegant; she was also drinking a cappuccino and had a stack of papers with her, one of which she was reading with an unhappy expression on her face.
Still, as Kara used her surveillance drones to watch the location, an upper-class restaurant owned by one of Lexcorp's subsidiaries, she wondered if it wouldn't have been better to accept the delay; it wasn't like she was planning to leave the planet in less than three weeks anyway.
Accelerating her thoughts, Kara went through Lena's file one last time. After their first meeting, it seems the woman attempted to depose Lex, convincing several of Lexcorp's shareholders to side with her.
Unfortunately, her brother had been the better player in that particular game, probably because he had been better prepared, years of bribes and blackmail paying off.
Lex managed to both retain his position and punish Lena for trying, taking away several of her projects and demoting her as punishment. That appears to be when she decided to quit the company.
There had also been several threats made on her person, something the Police seemed to be taking quite seriously.
Finally, Kara's car parked in front of the restaurant, one of her disguised Karabots opening the door for her. Taking a second, she closed her eyes and sighed… she really wished she could have resolved everything through her cellphone.
Not that she disliked Lena, but Kara had already dealt with her patrols, then spoke with Hawkwoman and even met with the Titans this week, there was only so much interaction she could take… and she'd definitely prefer to be home messing with her affordable teleportation network right now.
Still, she knew she'd enjoy talking with Lena, it was just difficult taking the first step.
With fluid movements, Kara finally grabbed the briefcase with her company's files, then walked into the building, her super vision finally noticing the nearly imperceptible discrepancy in the air around Lena's table, something small enough even her drones hadn't caught.
Kara frowned. Was that a hologram, a magical illusion, or an energy shield?
Pretending to look for Lena, Kara instead used her X-ray vision to look inside Lena's slightly too wide briefcase, analyzing the complex device hidden in it, an interesting machine fueled by some kind of alien galvanic cell.
It took her 15 seconds, but she finished going over the design and relaxed. The device was simply an interesting shield generator, unnoticeable to normal humans, but capable of blocking the vast majority of conventional weapons.
Kara could do better, but it was still impressive; anything that could fool her drones was.
"Evening, Miss Luthor," she said, walking through the shield and approaching the table. "Despite the circumstances, it is a pleasure to see you again."
"Miss Danvers," Lena smiled, but it didn't fully reach her eyes; she wasn't happy to have lost her struggle against Lex. "Please, call me Lena, we've certainly known each other enough for that."
"Then call me Kara. I take it you've reconsidered my offer?"
"Yes, it seems like Lexcorp has become more… disappointing than I first thought." The businesswoman sighed, taking another sip of her cappuccino.
"A very common realization nowadays," Kara couldn't help saying with a smile, despite everything, Lex was still struggling to restore Lexcorp's reputation from her latest leaks.
"I suppose it is," Lena nodded. "Also, congratulations, I learned of your latest cooperation with Caldecott industries, very well done."
There was an edge of bitterness in her words, something Kara couldn't really blame her for; they both knew most of the medical advancements discussed in that deal had been made by Cadmus… with Lexcorp resources at that.
"May I ask, why did you decide to meet me here?" Kara asked while ordering her own coffee. "Don't mistake me, it's incredibly amusing to poach you away from Luthor in one of his own restaurants, but you didn't strike me as someone willing to do that."
Taking another sip of her coffee, Lena thought about her answer, her eyes glancing to a pile of papers beside her. Finally, she leaned back and spoke. "You may, and I'll answer you if you answer one of my questions first."
"I'm intrigued, ask."
"Why are you going after Lexcorp? I've been keeping an eye on your company," Lena said, tapping some of the documents at her side. "Not only are you preparing to sell a lot of technologies from Cadmus, you're also starting development in several areas that directly oppose some of our interests, as well as collaborating with our main competitors and even acquiring our assets… myself included, why go to all this trouble?"
"You don't think you're worth poaching?"
"Oh, I know I am, but you didn't answer the question."
Kara leaned back and thought about how to articulate her thoughts. True, she had aimed at Lex Luthor because he was her cousin's nemesis, at least at first, but that was no longer the only reason.
"Lex Luthor offends me," Kara confessed. "He's brilliant. When I heard stories about him, I knew he was a terrible person, but he was also great, a human capable of facing any alien, dealing with any situation. I almost admired him.
"And yet, when I knew I had a chance to interact with him… I discovered that he deeply offends me; Lex Luthor has the money and the brain to elevate humanity, and yet he uses it to step on them; if he could, he'd keep them all firmly under his boot and only throw them scraps so they may praise his name."
"I hate to defend him, at least right now, but Lex does believe in humanity," Lena said.
"I'm sure he says he believes in humanity, and maybe he even thinks he's telling the truth, but does he act like it?"
In some realities, Lex Luthor was a paragon of humanity, but even without Superman, she didn't think that's what he'd become in this one. No, he didn't act like someone who wanted to make humanity great.
Luthor only believed in himself and, if he ever conquered the planet, maybe he would make it better, but only as long as he was the one doing it, and only so it would be more impressive when he showed it off.
"I'd have disagreed with you before, but those latest developments…" Lena shook her head, then sighed. "As for your question, my brother is being irritating, I decided to pay him back in kind."
"Please, tell me more," Kara said, leaning forward on her chair.
"As I informed you in our call, two assassins were arrested trying to kill me; it's one of the reasons I wanted to delay this meeting. I can't prove it, but I'm sure Lex has put a price on my head."
Kara lifted an eyebrow. Despite the gravity of the situation, Lena seemed more tired than afraid, as if the whole thing was frustrating. "Your brother wants to kill you?"
"Oh, he doesn't expect them to succeed; he was just being petty." Putting her mug down, Lena started playing with a pen by her side. "I'm almost sure I'm no longer in any danger, but just in case, I've been staying in Lexcorp buildings since then. The company can't afford another scandal, and if an attempt is made, I want the damage to be on his properties."
That certainly explained the shield generator on her briefcase, what a strange family…
Then again, Kara's own upbringing hadn't been exactly normal, and she was pretty sure her father would have killed Uncle Jor-El and taken over the house in a heartbeat if he knew he wasn't going to side with Zod beforehand.
Not that he didn't like his brother, or wasn't loyal, but his loyalty to the El house was greater, and a successful rebellion would have saved more lives.
"Do you know what's most frustrating?" Lena asked, twirling the pen on her hand. "Lex was the only one who made me feel welcome in the family, so I tried my best to be a good sister, but I know he respects me more now that I've stopped trying."
"I'm sorry?"
"Don't be," Lena shrugged. "I shouldn't have ever mentioned it. In any case, have you brought me the updated contract?"
"Yes," passing a folder to the woman, Kara took a moment to check the feed from her drones again, but there were no signs of assassins. "You'll have to pass by our office in Metropolis later to discuss all of your responsibilities, of course."
"Of course."
"Are there gonna be any legal troubles with Lexcorp?"
"A lot of what I did for Lexcorp was not in my contract, and the non-compete clause is overly broad," Lena said, glancing up from the paper. "Normally, Lex would still pursue things even if it's non-enforceable, but with Lexcorp's current troubles, the shareholders wouldn't agree with starting another losing legal battle."
Finally, a waiter delivered Kara's own coffee, so she leaned back, giving Lena the time to read the entire contract. She probably wouldn't be signing it today, having to have a lawyer look it over, but they could discuss adding to or changing things.
Turns out Lena wanted to change a few clauses, and she wouldn't agree with a non-compete as broad as Kara wanted, but they did come to an acceptable compromise, then spent another hour discussing Lena's current shield generator.
It had been her own design, something she made at home and so, not owned by Lexcorp, unfortunately, it was also far too expensive for commercialization, or even military use… Not that Kara had much interest in that particular market.
Military contracts were lucrative, but humans could kill each other well enough without her help; she'd keep her more destructive tech for personal use, thank you very much.
Two hours later, Kara teleported back home, arriving at her designated room through one of her teleportation platforms, quite a few new ideas in her head.
Lena couldn't yet contribute much to Kara's more advanced projects using Kryptonian tech, but she was still brilliant, and was very gifted with simplified equipment, things that could be mass produced by current human tech level.
With a loud 'meow' Dexter squeezed into the room as soon as her security features finished verifying her identity and the door opened, tail up, he almost ran to Kara, then seemed to realize how it looked and stopped, slowing down a lot.
Kara smiled. It seems the cat didn't want to appear too eager.
Picking the cat up, she touched noses with him before kissing his forehead and releasing him on the table of the waiting room before he could start complaining. Some physical contact was expected, but Dexter would only tolerate so much from his Kryptonian.
"Aw, did you get rid of your bell again?" she sighed, scratching him between the ears.
Entering her house, Kara dissolved the nanomachines that made up her shoes, then floated a few centimeters above the floor, one of her drones cleaning up the last remains of yet another critter on the rug.
Pulling what remained of the roasted chicken she ate for lunch from the fridge, Kara used her heat vision to warm it up, then started tearing strips from its breast while using her personal computer to make a collar configuration for the repurposed Fog.
Hmmm… maybe she shouldn't stop at only a Dexter-sized one, a collar and a few ropes could be very fun.
Jumping onto a chair, Dexter gave her another 'meow' before staring at her with large eyes. So, she threw him a piece too. He sniffed it, gave a few licks, then meowed again, louder.
"...Fine," Kara grumbled, then had to pick the chicken back up and cut it into smaller pieces… was she spoiling him too much?
Dexter devoured it all, then took a seat on her lap and went to sleep as Kara sent a copy of Lena's updated contract to both Dubbilex and her company's lawyer; hopefully, they'd have it all sorted out by the end of the week.
"Kara, it is most wonderful to see you!" Kori almost shouted, coming from their own zeta-tube entrance. "How was your meeting with Luthor?"
"Kori," Kara smiled, then noticed the slight bruises on her girlfriend's face, as well as how hard her heart was still beating and the glow in her eyes. "It was fine, we'll still need to go through all the legal steps, but at this point it's basically guaranteed. Were you having fun?"
"Yes, Friend Troia invited me to her home," floating through the air, Kori opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle filled with mustard, then grabbed a straw from the drawer and started drinking. "Hmm… The Amazons were very welcoming, and I was allowed to do the sparring with Queen Hippolyta."
"Is that where you got the bruise?"
"Indeed, I was not apprised of her condition as a demigod, it was glorious!" taking a second to scratch Dexter as he 'meowed' at her, Kori took a seat and gave her a huge grin. "I shall not be underestimating her again."
Yep, while Wonder Woman should be stronger, Hypolita was a daughter of Ares, and she also had a few millennia of experience under her belt; her being able to deal with Kori wasn't that much of a surprise.
"You talked with her about the amulet?"
"Certainly! She has agreed to be present whenever we find a solution. More than that, she has also offered one of her hiereia's assistance with Friend Adom's quandary."
"Hiereia?"
"I believe you would call her a priestess, yes? Friend Adom's powers do not come from the Greek; however, by beseeching Hades, we may speak with his spirit."
"Friend Adom?"
"He provided assistance against the demon, did he not?" Kori asked, cutely tilting her head. "Also, Queen Hipolita has told me stories of his deeds, I would quite like to call him a friend."
"Hmph, it better be just a friend," Kara mumbled. Teth Adom had looked quite handsome when she had seen him with Neron. "Not sure if that would work, one of the gods empowering him may take exception, but I guess if Theo Adams could trick the Wizard's spell… It's certainly worth a try."
"It would also present you with a chance to visit the isle."
"I guess," Kara said, sighing. "You know, I just haven't had the time to go, what with the new company, keeping up with villains and trying to adapt some of my tech."
"But you like sparring!" Kori pouted. "And I greatly enjoy seeing you sweating, mayhaps Friend Io could even craft you an Amazonian costume!"
"... Fine, I promise I'll take the entire weekend off to visit." Kara loved staying home and tinkering on her computer, but she had been meaning to get back to training. "But only if you wear a costume too."
"Joy! Excitement! I am agog with anticipation! It shall be a most glorious weekend!" floating up from her chair, Kori glomped her, raining little kisses on her face as the two of them started floating up in the air.
"Ack," Kara struggled, trying to get away from her excited girlfriend. "Do you have to drink so much of this stuff? Your mouth tastes like mustard!"
"You… do not want my kisses?" Kori finally stopped, pulling back and staring at her with large, green eyes.
Kara swallowed hard, but she recovered quickly. "Begone, foul trickster!" she cried out, taking the chance to break free. "I've become wise to your ways."
Kori had used the puppy dog eyes one too many times; she wasn't going to fall for them again. Kori was surprisingly innocent in many aspects, but that did not extend to manipulating Kara.
"You think I am… foul?" Kori said, lips trembling and her pupils dilating like a cat, leaving two massive green orbs, their light dimming.
"No… of course I…" Kara started to say, then managed to break free, realising she had lost the chance to flee. "Ack, no fair!"
Now she'd have to endure Kori's kisses, the humanity! Although… Did that apply when neither of them was human?
Before they could continue, one of Kara's alarms went off, and the two of them froze for a second until Kara recognized which one it was. "It's from Poison Ivy's room."
"But, she was scheduled to awaken in four more days, yes?"
"Yep," Kara said, using a command to reconfigure her nanomachines into a holographic projector displaying the villainess trying to break out of her room using what little plants she had available. "Guess I was wrong, botany and medicine aren't my strongest suit."
Thankfully, she had moved Ivy's room far away from her base; in fact, it was currently inside one of her sunstone ships orbiting stealthily around the moon, far away from anything Ivy could use to empower her plants. It was one of the reasons Kara thought her recovery would take so long.
With another command, Kara cut the nutrient feed going into Ivy's path of earth, which should at least make it harder for her to continue growing her plants.
"Do you require assistance?"
"Not really," Kara shrugged, adjusting her messed-up clothes. "But it's not like it would hurt, and it's nice having you around. Let me just fix this mess."
Concentrating, Kara moved at superspeed and, four seconds later, she had put everything back in place, refilled Dexter's food and water, and was ready to leave, her nanomachines forming into her usual Supergirl costume as they teleported just outside her moon base.
Using her mask, Kara accessed the cameras in Ivy's room, seeing the woman was completely out of her cocoon and trying to use its remains to grow some of her plants, the pitiful amount of earth in the room making it extremely difficult.
"Did you not separate The Poison Ivy's room from your base?" Kori asked.
"I did, but I later moved her into a smaller ship with a dimensional anchor. I guess we could still have teleported closer, but given the thinness of the atmosphere, that would only save a few seconds of flight."
Launching off the platform, Kara exploded into motion, Kori only a few meters behind her and, soon, she reached the orbiting sunstone spaceship, almost smashing into the crystal before she could stop herself.
Alright, maybe she should take a few days to train flying in space, it was so much faster than in the atmosphere and the lack of friction made maneuvering… odd.
Without a sound, the outer crystal shifted, revealing a small entrance room into the ship, then it closed behind them and a second door opened with a 'hiss' as air was sucked into the room to fill the void.
The sunstone research ship was small, not as small as her fighters, but it only had three real rooms, all of them no more than 35m², it meant that, as soon as they entered, Kara could see some of Ivy's plants hitting the wall of her cell.
With a deafening strike, the crystal wall groaned as a green vine the size of her head struck against it, a hairline crack forming all along the location before the crystal regrew.
Hopefully, Ivy would be coherent enough to talk.
With a command, Kara made the entire wall almost transparent, seeing Ivy using two vines to strike at the outer wall, trying to do it fast enough that the material wouldn't regrow in time.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kara said, making small openings in the crystal so her voice would pass through.
Ivy whirled on then, one of her vines smashing into the wall in front of Kara as a reflex, her eyes wild with both anger and fear but, despite being transparent, the crystal hadn't lost any of its toughness.
Even that brief moment was enough for the opposite wall to regrow completely, resetting any progress Ivy had made and causing her to growl when she noticed. Then she took a deep breath and adjusted her position, one of her vines curling around her legs for support.
Ivy took a few steps away from them, her vines whirling on the ground, and seemed almost eager to continue attacking, her eyes taking in their appearance and only slightly relaxing when she was sure they were women.
Finally, one of the thicker vines rose from the ground and formed into a seat, a few flowers blooming around it. Crossing her legs, Poison Ivy studied them, her eyes lacking any warmth, but at least they weren't wild.
"Really?" She said, "Then it's a good thing you aren't me. My babies and I have places to be, so either open this or try not to get in my way; this room won't hold me for long."
"Probably not," Kara nodded, making a note to reinforce the walls, maybe give them a few more days of growth to gain better density. "But, even if you succeed, you won't like the result. I don't think the vacuum would kill you, but it can't be a pleasant experience."
Ivy narrowed her eyes. "You're lying."
"I'm not, but try to sense any other plant if you want, that should be proof enough."
"Space? So that's your plan, how cute," she said in a mocking voice, but Kara could see the signs of unease. "Desperate, but cute, the Light must be very afraid of me."
"Not with the Light," Kara shook her head, using some of her equipment to get a better read on the woman. "I owed Selina a favor, and she asked for help locating you. Unfortunately, she also told me you're not exactly at your best after having to regenerate so much, and I don't want to cause any deaths by just releasing you, even indirectly."
"...What?"
"Really, by all accounts, I should hand you over to the police," Kara said, pacing in front of the transparent wall. "But, with how things are, you'd probably end up in Arkan again, and I've no confidence they'd actually help."
By her side, Kori nodded. "Friend Robin does say they have a terrible performance history."
"You're heroes?" Ivy asked, and Kara could see some sort of hidden tension leaving her, heroes didn't kill, enslave or torture after all.
"Indeed," Kori said with a smile.
"More… heroically inclined, I'd say, hero is a bit much," Kara said, getting a reproachful look from her girlfriend.
"Hmmm, interesting," Ivy said, adjusting her position in a way that Kara couldn't help appreciating… damn, she was hot. "You must know you can't keep me here forever, nature always adapts and so do I."
"Honestly? I probably could," Kara shrugged, consciously keeping her eyes on the villainess face. "But your power can be very useful, and you were getting better before…"
"You think you can save me?" Ivy asked, leaning forward and resting her face in one hand.
Kara licked her suddenly too dry lips. On her mask, a new warning signal came to life, her sensors starting to pick up something in the air, the ventilation system automatically increasing in strength.
Damn, she had been careless!
With a command, Kara sealed the villainess' cell back, then did a more complete scan of the ambient, finding microscopic amounts of pollen starting to saturate the air. Her mask had a filtration system, but the casual costume left a few parts of her skin exposed, and Ivy had slowly been taking advantage of it.
Inside her cell, Ivy stared at her, an amused smile on her lips.
A few commands later, and Kara had her nanobots clean her skin, then form a thin barrier around it, immediately feeling her control returning. Ivy was still extremely hot, but not impossible to ignore anymore.
Instead of opening the room, Kara grew a speaker on the wall and sighed. "That was uncalled for."
"You can't blame a girl for trying," Ivy shrugged.
"Hmpph, I am most certainly capable of it," Kori said, glaring at the villainess. "While I do not fully understand Friend Supergirl's insistence on monogamy, I will not allow you to use illicit ways to influence her."
"Don't try that again," Kara said in a much harder voice. "It won't work and I'll have to take away the rest of your plants."
"Oh, very well," Ivy rolled her eyes. "Can you at least tell me what happened to the rest of the… what was it we were called? The Injustice League?"
"Not anymore, let's just say they were dealt with," Kara said. "I've a proposition for you."
Ivy took a moment to think, but then she nodded. "I'm listening."
"The doctor you were seeing, give me her number and agree to restart your treatment, and I'll transfer you to the moon. You won't have a lot, but at least you'll be closer to the green than you are here."
Ivy seemed to consider the offer, some of her vines twirling in the ground and seeming to multiply despite the lack of nutrients in the ground, one of Kara's sensors registering some kind of magical connection.
"And after? You're not gonna try to keep me here indefinitely."
"You're not on Earth, and I'm not a member of the Justice League; there's no law requiring me to hand you over. When your psychologist says you're ready, I'll be happy to drop you somewhere you don't have an arrest warrant."
"I… need to think about it," Ivy finally said, her vines starting to fully take over the room. "Can you restart what you were doing before? My babies are starving."
"I'll start the nutrient feed again, just speak out loud when you're ready," Kara said. "Also, don't make me torch the room."
Cutting the sound, Kara made the wall return to its original configuration. That was probably the best she was gonna get from the villainess right now.
During the entire talk, she could see Ivy struggling to keep from insulting her and, despite how she looked, she knew it was an act; the villainess still wasn't doing very well.
"I do not like her," Kori said, still glaring at the wall.
Kara tried to put herself in Ivy's shoes. If she had been with the Psions and then woke up in another cell, under yet another person's power, she didn't think she'd react quite as calmly.
"Give her a chance, I don't think she was at her best."
"Very well," Kori nodded, then hugged her from behind. "But I shall not be forgiving her a second time. I know how much you despise being controlled."
"Thanks," Kara laughed, floating out of the ship again. "Race you back to earth?"
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