Chapter Sixty-One: Reaching for Answers
Lara received a contact, a distress signal which brought her over to the DEO. She arrived and could see a woman on the ground, screaming in agony. A blue scarab implanted in the base of her neck and was slowly, starting to overtake her body. Daisy, Kara, and Carol all stood around, trying to get a closer look at the scarab. She moved closer towards the woman, who screamed out in agony.
"It's your sister, isn't it?" Lara asked.
"Yeah, it….I recognize that thing, but not well, I don't know what it is," Kara said. "It's hurting her though, there has to be a way to get it off of her."
Alex screamed and every now and then, she started to battle in a frenzied flurry in some kind of alien language. Lara understood traces of the language which came out of her and there were parts of the language which Lara did not quite understand. She leaned and placed her fingers on the edge of the scarab.
Another loud scream echoed, and Alex jumped to her feet. Daisy stepped forward, and prepared to do what she could to defend them. This crazed alien artifact could have very well taken over Alex's body and attacked her. Kara and Carol moved on either side of her and restrained Alex.
She screamed out some more before her two sisters wrestled her onto a table.
"We're supposed to have super strength, and she's overpowering us," Carol groaned when her attempts to hold Alex up did not go quite as planned.
Kara responded with a nod and tried to hold Alex back and at bay. Alex struggled against Kara's grip. Kara placed her foot underneath Alex's legs and tried to hold her back even more. She just managed to help Carol get her over to the operating table where they could restrain her.
"That should…that should hold her," Kara said.
It didn't take long for the younger Kara to catch her breath. The thing attached to Alex's neck was going to put up a hell of a fight. She and Carol stepped off to one side, to make sure Lara had enough breathing room to take a look at that thing, whatever that thing was.
A frown passed over Lara's face when she ran her finger down onto it. The artifact sent a very crisp shower of sparks at Lara when she touched the artifact. It warped into Alex's neck, clinging on for dear life when Lara tried to work with it. It would not bend, no matter what she tried.
"Please tell me you at least know what that thing is," Daisy said.
"Actually, I do," Lara responded. "The scarab is a group from a group of aliens known as the Reach."
Kara reacted to the name in a very obvious amount of horror, while Daisy and Carol looked a bit confused by the news of this Reach organization. She shifted her lips together in a frown.
"The Reach is an organization of aliens who sent their agents to infiltrate a planet, normally one rich in resources and abundant in technology, so they can gain the trust of the people, giving them a champion, before turning it around and enslaving them," Lara responded. "There are normally at least half of a dozen other sleeper agents around, waiting for their directive."
"And Alex has been infected by one of these…sleeper agents," Carol said.
"One of them, yes," Lara admitted. "But, it doesn't make any sense. Earth isn't the type of planet the Reach normally targets. Unless they found out about the Kryptonians on Earth…but that wouldn't make any sense, because the artifact was in a temple which had not been uncovered for hundreds of years."
"None of this makes any sense," Daisy said.
Lara shook her head. She would have to concur with Daisy, there was a whole lot of this, which didn't really make any sense at all. She took a couple of seconds to close her eyes and breath in response. She noticed the pulsing item on the back of Alex's neck.
"We're going to have to reach it somehow," Lara said.
"Reach it?" Daisy asked.
"The scarab is bonding with Alex," Kara said, wringing out her hands in frustration. "It won't be too long before she becomes one with the collective mind of the Reach…and if there's any other their agents here…"
Kara trailed off an instant later and there was no need for anyone else to say another word. They understood precisely what she was going for, and what she was going to say. Carol leaned in and put a hand on her younger sister's shoulder to calm her down. Despite the fact Carol was really freaking out over worry regarding her second oldest sister.
"Please tell me there is a way….."
"The only way is for the host to be destroyed," Lara said. "That I know of."
"Absolutely not," Carol said. "So much alien technology, and we can't figure out how to get this stupid scarab off of my sister's neck!"
Carol reared her hand back and prepared to punch something. Lightning quick reflexes on the part of Kara prevented her from hammering the wall. Carol released her breath in a sigh.
"I know you're upset, and I am too," Kara said. "Punching the equipment doesn't do anything to solve this. We're just going to have to….."
Alex's blood curdling screams cut Kara off. She thrashed against the restraints and it would not be too long. Lara doubted a sedative would work, especially give the scarab was making changes to Alex's body.
'If only I had an unbonded one to take apart and work with, I might be closer to figuring out what makes these nasty little buggers tick.'
A seemingly harmless warehouse on the north border of one farm town and the south border of another farm town was the last place anyone would have expected anything completely dangerous and world changing. They made farm equipment, at least on the official reports. And it was a story which no one discounted, given the fact it made way too much sense.
Deep underneath the warehouse, there was something else dangerous. Clark wanted to know what, wanted to bring the people who were behind Cadmus to justice. Clark dropped down onto the ground and he was not alone.
"Kara, are you in position?"
Kara In-Ze, better known by her alias Karen Starr these days, dropped down onto the ground. She put her hands on her hips and nodded while looking around.
"She's in position, and so am I."
Diana dropped down next to Clark and looked pretty much ready to go. And Clark appreciated the arrival of both girls, because they were stepping directly into the great unknown.
"And if the two of you are in position, than so I am," Chloe said. "Boy, I'll tell you, this place doesn't seem very threatening, but it makes the perfect Cadmus facility."
"Tess dug up the information."
"There are some weird shipping routes for a farm supply company as well," Chloe said. "There's nothing too out of the ordinary to people who would look into this, and really, who would look into it? Other than someone who was way too obsessive and had away too much free time on your hands."
"In other words, you."
Chloe just laughed. She couldn't deny being the type of person she had been accused to.
"Okay, there's no security, at least none we can see," Karen said. "How about you, Chloe, do you detect any security alarms on your end?"
"Well, no," Chloe said. "Which means either someone disabled them, or there are none, or someone has moved everything they need out of the facility before we can get in there."
"It's a possibility," Clark admitted. "We still should have a nice look around, just to make sure we haven't missed anything that could get us into trouble later on."
Karen already stood in front of the door. She touched it and the front doors blasted open without her really touching them. One look from the Kryptonian survivor made her be put on pins and needles.
"Okay, that was a bit too easy," Karen said.
Clark, Diana, and Karen already stepped inside. They made their way to the edge where there were two figures, one dressed in green and one dressed in black who waited for them.
"I see you're already here."
Batwoman and the Green Arrow both nodded.
"We have our own sources," Batwoman said. "We searched all of the top floor, and nothing other than boxes of seeds and bags of fertilizer."
"You've searched the top, but there's still the bottom," Clark said.
"No basement, at least not yet," Green Arrow responded.
Clark looked at the ground and realized there had been a certain panel underneath the ground which had been lined with lead. He could not see through it.
"Whoever did this didn't really take into account that I'm more likely to notice the lead and think something's up, than not," Clark said.
"Or maybe they're just baiting you into a trap," Batwoman said.
Clark thought about it and despite the cynical nature of Helena's words, she would have to agree. The Detective moved towards the panel of the floor. For all he knew, there could have been a large chunk of Kryptonite jammed underneath the floor, just waiting to be unleashed, and more importantly, just waiting to ruin his day. Clark had to keep himself rather calm, and collected.
Helena pried back the floor and there was lead lining there. She cut through the lining and she saw a set of stairs which lead to a room deep underneath the warehouse. The party made their way down the steps where a panel alongside a thumb print stuck out like a sore thumb.
"I'm on it!" three voices shouted in unison in three different communication links.
"I see we all brought our own hacker to the party today," Clark said Thea.
"Bet you anything Felicity can hack it faster than the other two," Thea said.
"Chloe," Clark said.
"Finished!" the voice in Batwoman's ear cried in triumph.
"Oracle," Batwoman said. "No need to pay up, the look on your faces are more than enough."
They entered the facility under ground. There was a computer which blinked at the end of a long hallway, and for a second, they all thought the computer had been blue screened. A closer look indicated this was not the case. Clark moved over and noticed something very particular lying on the ground, it was a Kryptonian power cell of some sort. It had been cracked, slightly damaged, but whoever ran this facility somehow made it worked.
"How did they get their hands on a Kryptonian power cell?" Karen asked.
"I smell a Luthor," Thea said.
"Can't be, both of them are locked up tightly," Karen said. "Unless this is a long plan, and….actually, I just answered my own question, didn't I?"
A nod from all of the parties involved indicated Karen just answered her own question, indeed. Helena made her way over to the computer and plugged into the system. The files scrolled down and many of them had been heavily encrypted and many of them had been recently modified.
"Project KR2?" Oracle asked. "What is Project KR2?"
The crystal burned out and the computer burned out along with it. The lights of the lab all burned out as well, leaving them all in darkness.
Clark switched on the ear piece.
"Daisy, are you there?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, I'm there…..what is it?" Daisy asked.
Clark frowned, he could hear Daisy's voice quake just a little bit under some kind of anxiety, and he wondered what was going wrong with her. Before Clark could ask, Chloe jumped in to give her all of the essential information.
"Project KR2," Chloe said. "We need you to look into it."
"I'll look into it, but…we have a problem," Daisy said. "Alex has been infected by alien technology….your mother is here, but she can't figure out anything, and I was…."
"I'll be there," Clark said. "It's Alex Danvers, she's been infected by the alien artifact."
Karen realized something, perhaps too late to help anyone. She really hoped though, the merger would not cause Alex to lose all sense of herself. Unfortunately, it went without saying that when the Reach merged with their victims, all sense had been often times lost.
Alex's eyes flashed open and a chill spread through her body. One moment, she was in the DEO, having a conversation. She had gone to take a look at that creepy alien artifact they dug up all of those months ago in Egypt. And it still unnerved her to even look at the thing. And now, she was out in the middle of everything. Alex closed her eyes, trying to reflect on what happened. Those thoughts crept into her mind and it took Alex some time to realize something very unsettling.
The artifact bonded with her somehow. She could hear, in the distance, the screams of her conscious body, while her unconscious mind had been trapped in this void. As far as the eye could see, Alex spotted strange and mysterious alien writing. Languages she did not recognize and she could only begin to hope to comprehend. Confusion followed, and there was plenty of fear going through her body.
Alex looked around from one side to the other. Her knees sunk to the ground and it took a lot of determination to physically will herself up to a position where she could stand up. She retreated further into the cave, which had weird alien writing. The scarcest part to Alex was the longer she stayed in the cave, the easier it was to comprehend the scrawling on the cave wall around her.
"You have been chosen, Alexandra Danvers."
She spun around and looked for the source of who had spoken. Alex's fingers grew progressively numb at clutching her first. "No, no, I don't…you don't understand. This has to be some kind of mistake."
"We don't make mistakes, we would not have bothered joining if you were not worthy. And you are very much worthy, Alexandra, even if you don't show much worth in yourself. You are worthy of holding the power of the Blue Beetle Scarab."
Alex reached out in one last ditch effort to gain control of everything around her. Unfortunately, the Blue Beetle scarab flickered away into the distance. Alex had no idea what to make of this. The beetle reappeared away from her and hovered closer towards her face.
"I have been created as one last ditch effort to stop one of the most dangerous groups of the universe, the Reach. They have conquered worlds, made the inhabitants of said words dependent on the Reach, and drained them all of the resources."
Somehow, Alex listened. If nothing else, she had to keep the Blue Beetle talking. She, and Alex somehow knew the scarab identified as female, seemed to relish talking to her. And Alex had to keep her talking, if she had any hope of breaking the hold the scarab had on her.
"I was created by a revolutionary scientist who did not approve out the actions of the Reach High Council, and what they were doing. How the wrecked worlds, just to become fatter and more arrogant on their power. She created me to be deployed as a champion to liberate each world from the Reach."
If possible, sadness entered the voice of the Blue Beetle. Alex watched something flicker through her eyes. Was it longing? Alex didn't know.
"An error stranded the suit's intended champion on Earth, which she perished. I remained alive, dormant, until a worthy one came across me."
"You think it's me," Alex said. "You think I'm the one who is worthy to hold this, don't you?"
Alex really had no idea what to make of this situation. Her nerves had been rocked something fierce. It had to be done, there was no question about it.
"Let me go!" Alex yelled. "Release me now, I never signed up for this."
"It's for the good of more than just your planet, and for your life," The Blue Beetle told her. "I suggest you don't struggle. The more you struggle, the harder you're going to make it on yourself. And I don't wish to harm you, for you're the perfect vessel."
"You're no better than the rest of them, you're no better than….ARGH!"
Alex screamed out in pain when several electrical sparks immobilized her body. Alex dropped down to her knees, the wind cut from her lungs. She struggled to breath as the Blue Beetle edged closer towards that moment of bonding.
Inside of the DEO facility, Alex's screams grew more feverish, just getting louder and louder by the moment. She remained restrained to the table, although Daisy, Kara, and Carol had to reinforce the straps. Lara tried to get as many scans as she could.
Learning technology, especially one from the Reach, in a few short hours, if that, was taxing on anyone. Lara was no exception to this very obvious rule. She bit down on her lip and just barely noticed out of the corner of her eye, Astra and Alura showing up.
"I really hate to pull you two away from Kandor."
"Faora and Raya are handling things on that front," Astra said. "And we have a problem."
Alura motioned for Lara to step back and she did. The scientist, one of the smartest minds Krypton ever known moved closer to Alex, to take a look at her. The Scarab looked far different than the illustrations Alura saw during her research. She wasn't going to discount it as being a threat though, because it could have just been the Reach had managed to change up their technology to further ramp up their deception.
"We should have taken a look at that scarab before it had a chance to infect her," Alura said.
"Too late now," Kara said.
"Yes, I understand," Alura said.
She smiled and placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Alura leaned in closer and studied Alex. She could have almost heard what Astra was going to say.
"You might as well get it out of the way, so I can shut you down, and move on with trying to find a non-lethal way of freeing this poor girl from the parasite."
Astra lifted her hands up into the air. "You weren't going to even consider it, so I'm not going to mention it. I know none of you are going to hear it. All I'm going to say is it's perfectly clear the Reach are nothing by parasites, and there's nothing other than annihilation which can stop them."
The decorated general stopped for a second and looked over at Alex. The misery on the girl's face made it kinder to put her out of her misery before the beetle completely took over all of her bodily functions, brain included.
"It's almost like she's struggling against it," Kara said. "You know, against the bonding process, she's struggling against it."
"There are people who will struggle," Astra concluded. "And it will just make the scarab double-down on everything. Once it's locked onto a target, there's really nothing stopping it."
"Unfortunately," Kara muttered underneath her breath.
"Yes, unfortunately," Astra said.
None of them were willing to say much of anything. Daisy turned back to Lara.
"Are you sure there's nothing in the Fortress database which tells us how to break the scarab's hold on a person?" Daisy asked. "There has to be something, shouldn't there?"
Lara continued her studies on the scarab, growing progressively more annoyed by the moment. It had been very rare her intelligence failed her, and now Lara grew very much annoyed by her failures. Her fist clutched together and she took a very deep breath. She let out the breath.
"If I knew of a way to stop it, I would," Lara said.
"I believe you," Daisy said.
"And The Fortress has nothing," Lara said. "The collective knowledge of every single known galaxy is not enough to break the hold one stupid little alien bug has over a human girl!"
Lara took in a deep breath. It had been a long time since any of them had seen Lara lose her composure like that. Astra backed away. It was always the gentle ones who had blown up the hardest when they had been frustrated.
"Aunt Lara, I'm upset too, but you shouldn't get mad, we need you to be focused," Kara said.
"Right, you're right and…"
Alex's eyes opened up and blue armor retracted over her body. Astra stepped back.
"Next stage," Astra said.
The restraints ripped off the table and everyone could agree there was no more restraining this girl. She looked at them, with the blue part closing in over her face. The only thing which was visible was her eyes and those eyes were glowing.
"Alex?" Kara asked. "You need to snap out of it, okay….."
Kara came face to face with an arm cannon which retracted out of the outfit. The cannon blasted Kara and sent her flying through the wall. Astra moved in to take out this attacker who struck her niece, but the ground exploded underneath them and more debris were sent fyling.
"Nothing will stop us from doing what's necessary!" Alex yelled. "Either stand out of my way, or my next shot won't be a warning shot."
One of the arm cannons pointed directly to the top of the roof and blew a hole through it. The Blue Beetle took off after it and left everyone in her wake.
Kara pulled herself up, her clothes ribbed, and scratches all over her body which slowly healed underneath the yellow sun. Half of the wing of the DEO had been destroyed by the Blue Beetle's attempt to get out of there.
"I'm fine," Kara said, answering the unasked question. "We've got a serious problem, Alex is out there, and we got to get her home and soon."
"Where is she going?" Daisy asked. She could not keep out the ringing in her ears, no matter how hard she tried. It was pretty much deafening in vibrations.
"A place where she can finish the bonding process," Astra said.
They had another problem, they had no idea if the Blue Beetle released any of the prisoners in her escape. The loud blaring sounds of sirens indicated there was a potential for a prison break, and they should stand by closely.
Clark dropped down at the DEO, with Karen following him closely behind. In an instant, they saw the chaos. They moved around and Clark pushed in the ear piece.
"Daisy, Daisy, can you hear me?" Clark asked.
Clark could have sworn he saw something move past him.
"Clark, Alex has been taken over by the Blue Beetle Scarab," Daisy informed him. "I need to clarify whether or not Alex has left the building."
Clark's eyes looked up and noticed something blue flying over his head. It had moved in a flash and then it was gone.
"I think that was her, wasn't it?" Karen asked.
Clark nodded without any words. Everything just turned around for the worse very quickly, and he moved his way over to the DEO, where Astra, Alura, and Lara helped shifted over the wreckage.
"I think Director Henshaw is down there!" one of the agents screamed.
"Everyone get back, we'll get him out!" Astra yelled.
They all felt into line, because that was the commanding voice she had. They moved around the base to secure the prisoners.
Clark took a step forward and tried to lift the debris off of Henshaw, even though he would have been lucky not to get crushed.
Something punched through one of the fallen walls. Clark had been taken aback at the look of Hank Henshaw who rose up from the ashes. Ashes rolled over his body. Clark took one look into the man's eyes, which started to glow red. He had been taken aback.
"She won't get very far."
Kara and Daisy looked at each other for a second. Lightly, Kara nudged Daisy on the shoulder.
"You didn't know your boss was a Martian, did you?" she whispered.
Chapter Sixty-Two: Journey to the Center of the Mind
Freaking out failed to adequately describe what Alex was feeling. She just took a shot at her sister while using this suit, and had blown up a government base. The taking a shot at her sister was a bad thing on a personal level, and on a professional level, the entire blowing up of the government base might as well have been career suicide. Alex's frustration bubbled over to the surface, to the point where she was having a fair amount of trouble keeping her head above the water.
She took a deep breath and flew from the government base. The only thing which could rule Alex, and the only thing which could calm her was instincts. Instinct, sweet, and glorious instinct, it guided Alex away. She could not cause any more damage. Kara might have been durable, but that did not matter. Alex feared she would have seriously hurt her sister in the crossfire.
Something slipped into her mind, and Alex realized, perhaps a bit too late, how this thing was trying to enter her mind again. The bonding process continued. Alex refused to allow it any deeper inside of her mind. She gained moderate control, before dropping down onto the field.
Alex's breathing increased, and she thought she was going to pass out, or maybe scream. Actually, screaming sounded a very good thing right now. Alex just needed to throw her arms back and let it all out, let everything all out. Alex closed her eyes, shaking her fist.
'Let me out of here, please, for the love of, let me out of here,' Alex thought.
'You need to calm down, you're just going to hurt yourself more.'
The attempts of the scarab to sooth her had fallen completely on deaf ears. Alex grabbed onto her own face and tried to rip this new covering off. Unfortunately, she could not even get a tight enough grip. She would have much better luck ripping off her own face.
Alex's screams of frustration continued to escalate. All of her nerve endings hit a state where they felt like they were on fire. Alex struggled against the grip of the scarab when it continued to force its way into her very being. Her breathing increased, accelerating as fast as possible.
'You need to let me out of here,' Alex thought. 'You need to let me out of here now.'
'I told you it's important to calm down, don't make this any harder than it needs to be.'
Someone took her body, against her will, and they had the arrogance to tell her to calm down. Alex wished she would have stayed away from that alien artifact. It was nothing, but trouble, and it just further sunk into her skin, causing Alex's skin to burn. She doubted very much she would ever see the light of the day.
'Think of Carol, think of Kara, think of Daisy, think of your parents, think of everything that matters,' Alex thought. 'Think of them, think of them….you're Alex Danvers, you're not this collective entity. You're not the Blue Beetle….you're Alex Danvers. Oh….'
Images flashed in Alex's mind of war torn worlds. She closed her eyes and she almost collapsed down in frustration.
'We got to keep moving before they find us,' the blue beetle thought to her. 'Disrupting the bonding process will not end well for either of us.'
Alex not only begged to differ, no she demanded to differ. She wanted someone, anyone to catch up and stop this. The pain spreading through her body was the worst thing ever. All of the bumps, all of the bruises, fighting alien threats who could squash her like an insect if they chose to, nothing compared to this pain.
'What are you showing me?' Alex asked.
On the one hand, she did not want to know what these images were. On the other hand, Alex's driving trait was curiosity. She always wanted to know everything that was going around her at all times, even though those image would end up being her doom.
'It's what happens to a planet that the Reach invades,' the blue beetle thought. 'You need to relax…if they ever find Earth, they will leave it decimated.'
'What's the chances?' Alex asked.
'Kryptonian technology, they may find that of value, and may find it worth enslaving humanity to acquire,' the blue beetle explained. 'It will increase their ability to seek out new worlds by a thousand times.'
Despite the craziness of this situation, something about the scarab's words hit Alex hard. It made sense, and she could not put her finger on exactly how everything changed.
'You need to calm down,' the scarab repeated.
'Look, I'm finding it difficult to do so, given how you almost blasted my sister straight into the next life,' Alex thought.
'The blast did not harm her, rather it was a warning shot,' the scarab told Alex, in what passed for a gentle tone, even though Alex was not appeased. 'We're almost joined, it will happen. The pain will only be over once we are assimilated.'
Alex might have watched a few too science fiction movies with Carol back in the day, but even if she did not do that, she had a feeling assimilating with an alien artifact was not in her best interests. Her mind went a million miles a minute and not in a very good direction either.
Kara's words caused the man known as Hank Henshaw, or at least the man the world believed to be Hank Henshaw, to look around. He took a second to peer at everyone around them, and there was a few seconds where everything had gone.
"You're serious, right?" Daisy asked.
"Well, he either has to be a Martian or a cyborg," Carol admitted. "So, which one is it?"
"My name isn't Hank Henshaw, as you well know," the man in question responded. "My name is J'onn J'onzz, and I'm the last son of Mars. I was asked as a favor my old colleague, Jor-El, to keep an eye on his son, and if he needed any help, to give it to him."
Clark just nodded in response. He tried not to judge the actions of the physical Jor-El based on what his Artificial Intelligence copy was. Time and perspective healed a lot of wounds.
"I was sent here, to look after you, but there was a flaw in that plan," J'onn said. "For one, my planet was on the cusp of extinction around the same time of Krypton, and the White Martians bombarding my planet forced me to defend them. Once….once it was done, and both races were lost….."
J'onn took a deep breath, and sighed. It was a long trip down memory lane for him, the destruction of his people left some pretty deep and gaping wounds in him.
"It's been a long time, but yet, it feels like it was just moments ago," J'onn responded. "I knew Jor-El intended to send you to Kansas, to live with a family he picked out, one which he knew would take care of you. And there was a ninety five percent chance you would reach that destination."
The five percent chance something would happen to Clark on his way from Krypton was very worrying for a number of reasons. J'onn supposed there was nothing to worry about now, given they were all here and they were all talking to each other now.
"So, you made it to Kansas?" Daisy asked.
"Eventually, but not right away, as there were more complications," J'onn responded. "I landed in South America, still battered from the war, and my arrival had caught the attention of the DEO, along with their director, Hank Henshaw, and Jeremiah Danvers."
Carol and Kara looked very shocked at the news. They did not know what to really say, other than they had been taken off guard.
"Jeremiah showed compassion to my plight, Henshaw…well he was less than compassionate," J'onn answered a moment later. "The two of them got into an altercation on that evening….and they ended up falling. I was still not as strong as I could have been…they hit bottom."
J'onn's breath took, with Carol looking back at him a second later.
"None of this is your fault," Carol responded. "You couldn't have, you couldn't have saved him in time. It was out of your hands."
"Thank you," J'onn said.
"So, Henshaw and Jeremiah were both dead," Daisy answered. "And you took on Henshaw's identity….and you ran the DEO."
"They were working through some unethical matters, which I tried to back away from," J'onn said. "I hoped to fix everything, and I have….in some ways. But, there are still some in the DEO who tar aliens with the same brush."
J'onn would have liked nothing better than to get rid of those people. He recalled a saying the humans had, which he adopted one hundred percent of the way. One should keep your friends close by, but keep your enemies even closer. And J'onn made sure to keep these people close by. They followed orders, because they respected Henshaw, and in some cases owed him big time.
The moment any of them found out he was an alien, and more importantly, a Martian, all bets were off and there was going to be some big trouble. J'onn hoped to delay the day.
"Good to see you're around and….well, it's a good thing we didn't have the same misunderstanding we did in the past," Karen said.
"Time travel?" J'onn asked in a weary voice.
"Trust me, when I say, we wouldn't have done what we did, if it wasn't absolutely necessary," Karen said.
J'onn took a moment to survey Kryptonian before him. He knew whose daughter she really was, and while he was not completely happy, she had proven herself to be loyal to Clark and only to Clark. Therefore, J'onn had no choice other than to accept her presence.
"We're going to have to work together for a common cause," J'onn said. "Regardless of any differences we might have had in this, or any other timeline."
Karen nodded. Kara nodded as well, she figured they would all have to work together.
"You okay, kid?" Karen asked.
"Hey, a couple of bumps and bruises, little yellow sunlight, I'll be as good as new," Kara responded. "I'm really worried about Alex though. She's out there, in the middle of nowhere, with that alien scarab, and I don't know…."
A cackling of the ear piece in Clark's ear could be picked up by the super powerful Kryptonian hearing on the part of several of the occupants in the room.
"I found Alex," Diana said.
Diana stepped into the distance and kept a look on Alex when walking next to her. The woman did not see her straight away and Diana had to slowly walk behind her. She came closer behind Alex.
Alex spun around and one of the arms retracted into a cannon. The cannon pointed towards Diana. Her arm began to shake madly.
"Please go, please, Princess, I don't want to have to hurt you," Alex begged her. She kept her arm as steady as possible when pointing it at the Amazon Princess.
"Alex, take a deep breath, and calm down."
"I'M SICK OF EVERYONE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN!" Alex snapped.
The sudden show of emotion took Diana aback, at least for moment. Having a younger sister though, Diana was more than used to her fair share of sudden, emotional outbursts. She looked straight into the eye of the woman across for her. The good news, was Alex did not attack.
"No matter what, remember who you are," Diana said. "That thing doesn't have control on you. You're the one in control. You can fight it. I know you can fight it."
"This is your last warning," Alex said, gasping for breath. She tried to struggle to hold herself back. "You need to get out of here."
The arm cannon shot forward and blasted Diana. The shot had been so jerky and not so refined, Diana could avoid the attack. Another blast from the arm cannon came inches away from nailing Diana in the side. She crouched down and ducked underneath the attack.
One precise strike to the back showed Diana how durable the armor was. The Amazon reared back and tried to do her best to hurt the armor, and not the person inside. Further support spread over Alex's body and blocked Diana's latest attempt to punch through the armor. Diana reared back and nailed her one more time.
The Princess of the Amazons dropped down to her knees and groaned in response. One of the blades retracted from the costume and plunged at Diana's throat. Diana blocked the blade with her hand and struggled with it. Diana flipped Alex down to the ground.
'She is a threat, she should be eliminated,' the scarab said. 'She has offered aggression, allow me control, and take the necessary steps.'
Alex closed her eyes and came close to a blade trying to slice into the chest plate of the armor. Diana was trying to cut her out of there and Alex just had to let her. Alex blocked the blade from connecting her with the one coming out of her costume.
'She's a friend, she is just concerned, I'm in trouble….'
Blue Beetle shot up into the air. The person in the armor was now along for the ride. She sent several razor sharp large staple like objects down towards Diana. Diana swung the sword and deflected the items back at her aggressor. Those staples shot through the air and connected with the Blue Beetle.
"Remember, your sisters, Alex, they don't want to see you hurt," Diana said.
The Blue Beetle dropped down and aimed two arm cannons at Diana. Before she could fire, a blur shot in front of Diana and sent a blast of heat vision at the Blue Beetle armor.
"I'm really sorry, Alex," Kara murmured underneath her breath.
She clapped her hands and the sonic vibrations coming from her hand clap knocked the Beetle armor back. The armor crashed down onto the ground. It was very durable. Kara looked over her shoulder just in time to watch J'onn drop down, along with Carol and Clark.
"Both of you grab my hands," J'onn said. "And Kara, you grab Clark's hands…I think we can reach her, but we don't have much time."
Everything took a side trip to the surreal and the very insane. Clark slipped into a clearing, and looked up towards a very large tower. Kara and Carol dropped down on either side of Clark. Both of the women looked like they had been water logged.
"So, we're in her mind, aren't we?" Kara asked. "Looks pretty orderly."
"Appearances can be deceiving," Carol said.
Clark looked around and hoped that they could reach the Blue Beetle scarab before something, anything could happen. It had worked its way into the outer resources of Alex's mind.
A scream in the distance caused the entire party to spin around. They most certainly located Alex, off in the distance at least. She was a long way away from them.
"Stick together," Carol said. "If we get separated in her mind, I don't know what will happen."
"What if we get trapped here forever?" Kara asked.
"You don't…we won't," Clark said.
'Will we, J'onn?' Clark asked mentally. 'J'onn, are you there, with us?'
'Yes, Kal-El, I am with you, but you better find Alexandra, because we don't have much time before everything falls completely off of the rails.'
Clark had no idea what he meant by that. He turned around three hundred and sixty degrees. He hovered off of the ground, as did Kara and Carol.
"At least we know we can fly in here, so that's something, right?" Carol asked. "I think in theory we could be able to cover more ground, but….I know better….well at least I should know better."
People tried to pierce the mysteries of the human mind for years. No one had even gotten within spitting distance of figuring out how the most complex and most vital organ truly worked. Carol knew Alex could be anywhere, and the Blue Beetle could be finding a way shield her presence.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Alex yelled.
Kara, Carol, and Clark zoomed off to the side. They saw the rapidly fading mental representation of Alex Danvers, and she was being stalked by the Blue Beetle. Clark, Kara, and Carol formed a barrier between the two parties. The Blue Beetle looked through them, looking more bored, than annoyed, or angry.
"There's a Martian in here," the Blue Beetle said. "Very, very clever, but ultimately pointless. The universe needs a champion to defend itself against the Reach, and it's too late."
"I'll be that champion!" Kara piped up suddenly which caused everyone, Alex, Clark, Carol, and eve the Blue Beetle. "Please, let my sister go, and I'll be your vessel, I'll be the Blue Beetle. I just don't want to see Alex suffer any more, please, let me, take me instead."
Carol shoved her younger sister out of the side.
"Absolutely not, I'm not going to see either of my sisters be joined with this thing," Carol said. "I know…I know you mean well, but this is wrong. Alex is not who you want. I have powers, if the two of us can merge, than whatever threat you're fighting, we can stop them together."
"No," Clark said. "Neither of you can do it, I'll do it."
"You can't do it," Kara said.
"I'm going to do it," Clark said. "I've been put on this world to save it, for a purpose. Join with me, and I'll be the Blue Beetle. Let Alex go."
The Blue Beetle looked at all of them in the deepest contemplation. She was trying to figure out how to decide how to deal with their offers.
"As enticing as your offers may be, and as tempting as they may be, the bonding process has already begun," the Blue Beetle responded. "It will have fatal consequences now to remove me from your sister, even if I had been offered a more worthy champion."
"Are you saying we're not worthy?" Carol asked.
"You have power, but worthiness comes in many different ways," the Blue Beetle responded. "You need to allow this process to happen, or Alexandra Danvers will died."
"That's on you," Kara said. "This is all on you, you were the one who bonded with my sister, you killed her! She might as well already be dead."
"Our bodies are intertwined," the Blue Beetle said. "Once she stops fighting it, the joining process will be complete."
'It's more then their bodies intertwining, it's also their minds,' J'onn thought. 'I couldn't rip them apart, without shredding Alex's mind, and even if she asked me, I would refuse to do so.'
Alex opened her mouth and shut it at once. She was about to ask J'onn to do so. Everything hit her suddenly, acceptance at her lot in life. She needed to just relax, like the scarab said, and slowly the pain would fade away.
"You are everything my inventor wanted in a champion," the Blue Beetle scarab responded half of a second later. "You are strong, you're brave, and you're resilient, very resilient given you were able to fight this for so long, even though it was not in your best interests."
"Fine, you win," Alex said. "You win, but you only win under one condition. If we become one, we consult on everything, you don't take control like you did before, unless I'm an inch away from death. And you don't fire any more shots at my friends or my family."
"We always were intended to work together, that was my intention," the Blue Beetle said.
"You….you were going to let me have a say, this entire time?" Alex asked. "You mean, you let me believe you were going to take over my body and my mind completely, and we went through all of this….when you could have been more upfront with me from the beginning."
"You didn't ask," the Blue Beetle scarab said.
"Well, you really need to work on your communication skills," Alex said.
"I'm unfamiliar with that term."
Somehow, Alex didn't disagree with it. She reached in and locked hands with the Blue Beetle scarab. All of the pain decreased, and she faded off into the distance, along with the images in her mind.
A moment passed and Alex slowly woke up. Her temples throbbed, and she thought she had a hell of a dream. She woke up in the middle of the Hospital Wing of the DEO. Aches, pains, bumps, bruises, actually not as bad as they had been in the past. They could have been much better, but all things considered, they could have gone a lot worse.
'It's done.'
The voice of the Blue Beetle came in through Alex's head and nearly threw her completely off. The dream she thought she had, it was real. She had been dressed in a hospital gown. She reached around and noticed a small locket around her neck which looked like a Beetle.
'Did you have to make it look like a choker collar?' Alex asked.
'Sorry, within your memories, I thought you were into that sort of thing,' the Blue Beetle responded.
Alex took a moment to breathe deeply and breath completely out. She did not have the strength or the energy to fight the scarab, or argue with it. She just had to deal with her new life.
"Oh, hey, Daisy."
"So, I was wondering if you would ever notice me."
Daisy smiled when looking down at Alex. Kara and Carol were waiting outside, to visit with her. And there was another one, Hank Henshaw stepped inside.
"Agent Danvers, how are you feeling?" Henshaw asked.
"Well, my mind is a lot more crowded," Alex said. "I really feel bad about the damage I caused though."
"No worries, I'll just take it out of your salary."
Alex blinked a second later, and Henshaw offered her a nod.
"We do have insurance, we would be ignorant not to, given all of the highly dangoerous alien prisoners we have locked up under out custody," Henshaw responded. "Once you have a chance, I need you to report to Lab Nineteen for tests. Astra, Alura, and Lara will be helping."
A very sardonic smile popped over the face of Alex Danvers.
"I'm going to take a wild guess, and say that Astra wanted to kill me to get rid of the scarab," Alex said. "And she had to be talked down."
"Right on the nose," Daisy answered with a brief smile.
'This General Astra had faulty information,' the scarab responded. 'The Reach are all about conformity, and I'm different as could be.'
'Could they have changed them?'
'The Reach detests change,' the scarab responded.
'I still think you need to work on your communication skills,' Alex thought. 'Because the way you were talking, you really freaked me out. And also, boundaries, you're going to have to learn about those as well…but I guess we're going to have to work on that.'
'You're going to have to educate me on those two terms.'
Alex shook her head, there were a lot of human nuance things she would have to bring the Blue Beetle up to speed on. She walked out in the middle of the hallway, moving side by side with Alex as they left.
"At least you're better now," Daisy said. "Of course, if you start referring to yourself as we and craving chocolate, we have a very serious problem."
"The entire power thing though….."
"Hey, and takes some getting used to," Daisy responded. "When I first got my powers, it took me a long time to come to terms with who I was."
Alex smiled, she slowly had to come to terms. Now she walked towards Carol and Kara. Both of her sisters moved over to hug her.
"You…you didn't have to do what you did," Alex said.
"Well, it turns out all of that drama was all for nothing," Carol said. "Maybe you should have a chat with your other about proper communication skills."
"I'll get on that," Alex said. "Well, I better not keep everyone waiting, tests….guess I have abilities now."
"Hey, join the club, we have cookies," Kara joked.
Alex smiled.
"So, any other big world changing things I missed out on when I was out?" Alex asked.
"Nothing that can't wait until after tests," Daisy informed her.
Chapter Sixty-Three: Preparation:
One tiny step got anyone into the swing of things. Alicia Baker adjusted to the very fact her life ended and had been started back up. Some people considered resurrection to be one of the most abnormal things possible and hell, Alicia would be the first to agree about that. The meteor mutant felt a little bit more clearer after being stabilized.
Every now and then, a flash, a flicker, entered the girl's mind. Alicia had many regrets about the life lived before. More regrets than any sane person could have. Alicia took a few seconds to do those deep breathing exercises which calmed people down. They worked, very slightly, in calming Alicia down. The girl had been hooked up to several machines. All of her vital signs were on point.
Vital signs were not the problem. What Alicia went through went far behind vital signs. Mentally speaking, Alicia had no doubts of her health. The doubts only rose from Alicia wondering whether or not something would decay. Mentally or physically, and yes, Alicia understood the reports made from the Fortress, from Lara and Alura, which indicated she was fine.
'Yeah, they can tell me everything is fine all they want. They were not the ones who got resurrected and brought back to life. It's a very awful spot to be in, I don't even know where to begin.'
The first blonde looked up to see another blonde walking around the corner. Alicia stepped up almost as quickly.
"Whoa, Alicia, it's me," Chloe said.
"Yeah, sorry," Alicia said. Another deep breath did wonders in calming Alicia down just enough to look Chloe directly in the eye. "There's just something about this entire mess which makes me nervous. I don't know how to describe it. Guess, I'm just jumpier than a cat in a room of rocking chairs."
Chloe leaned in and grabbed the other girl's hand. Alicia took in a deep breath and found the gesture to be very relaxing, which surprised her. Given the problems Alicia had with both Chloe and Lana, both of them helping out shocked Alicia. Expectations could be turned around in a blink of an eye.
"I'm just one big mess," Alicia said. "I wouldn't have blamed you if…"
A tighter squeeze of Alicia's hand forced the meteor mutant to look Chloe directly in the eye. "No one says you would have blamed us. I know in your position, I might have felt lost, scared, broken, and unable to see what's right and what's wrong. None of us are debating that."
Alicia nodded and sensed a but at the end of the tunnel. It was just one of those things which Alicia figured something was going to happen, one way or another.
"Clark would have never forgive himself is something happened to you."
Everything which happened came around to Clark Kent. Alicia did not necessarily disapprove even though Clark's role in everything resulted in one of the greatest enigmas in Smallville. Appearances deceived the best of them, and Alicia almost had been tricked at first. Years later, Alicia found there was something more about Clark Kent, and the very thought just made the meteor mutant smile.
"I'm not just here for a pep talk," Chloe said. "I'm trying to piece together as much information about Cadmus as I can."
"I don't really know what to think about them," Alicia said.
"Understandable," Chloe said. "On the one hand, they brought you back to life. That's a good thing, isn't it?"
"Maybe," Alicia answered a few seconds later. "They brought me back to a state of living. It was Clark and Lana…"
Alicia paused and never in the meteor mutant's wildest dreams did she ever think thanking Lana Lang would be the order of the day. Everything changed, maybe for the better, Alicia could not really tell right now.
"It was Clark and Lana who gave me true life, and true purpose one more time," Alicia said. "A second chance, to hopefully make something better out of my life."
Alicia's breath came out at those words. Admitting wrongs could be one the harshest pills to swallow. Alicia hated to admit it, but there were many times where she was more than wrong. One of these times was right now. Alicia took in a deep breath and swallowed the very bitter pill.
"Not to distract you or anything….."
One hand rose up to stop Chloe's words. Alicia took in a couple of deep breaths and looked Chloe straight on in the end.
"I remember a lot of darkness, being bombarded by radiation in an attempt to bring me back to life," Alicia said. "I don't remember any places, any names….they just released me into Smallville. I think they wanted to see how I reacted to the world around me."
Chloe patted Alicia on the shoulder. Despite Alicia's despondent nature, her testimonial was very much needed to make sure she drew a picture of what Cadmus intended to do. Chloe did not want to put anyone down especially after the ordeal they had been through.
"You've helped me more than you could ever know," Chloe said.
"Oh, I don't know how that's helpful," Alicia said.
Alex Danvers adjusted to the new situation with the blue beetle scarab. The DEO agent thought at first there were going to be some problems, but other than the bonding process, everything was pretty smooth sailing. Alex could not have been more pleased with how everything had gone, and perhaps there was something to this entire scarab thing. Perhaps, she could make the arrangement between human and scarab work.
Then again, another potential frustrating though burst Alex's bubble. No matter how much Alex hated to admit it, the blue beetle scarab had not been battle tested for combat. No idea how the scarab reacted to a combat situation put Alex on an edge.
'I don't understand the point of these tests, I can tell you my systems are one hundred percent functional,' the scarab said.
While Alex agreed about the scarab's words in principle, the agent also lived by one edict. Best to be safe than sorry, and when dealing with alien artifacts, Alex wished to be safe, rather than sorry, to be perfectly honest. The two of them had gotten off on the wrong foot with each other.
'The sooner we get through this one, the better off we'll all be,' Alex thought a few seconds later.
Alex took a deep breath and ran through the obstacle course. Henshaw, Kara, and Daisy all watched her move through the course. Working with the DEO as unofficial consultants were Tess and Indy, both of them watching how she had worked with the scarab.
"It is my assessment the scarab is not like the others from the Reach," Indy said. "Of course, whether or not it fully comprehends the purpose it has been commissioned for, that remains to be seen."
"How so?" Daisy asked.
"The Reach may have ordered the commission of a powerful weapon, but something happened, with the scientist having an attack of her conscience," Indy said. "Do keep in mind this is just mere speculation based off of several similar events. It is curious how this artifact remained un-dectected on Earth for so long. And what ended up happening to the original occupant."
"I suspect we will never know," Henshaw said.
A part of him could not wait to get Agent Danvers out on the field to see what the scarab could do. A part of the disguised Martian felt a bit anxious about how the DEO agent was going through the motion.
"The two of them seem to have come to an understanding," Tess said.
"For now," Kara said.
Kara still was not too fond about her adoptive sister being the host of one of the Reach scarabs. Despite several tests being done, including by Kara's own mother, Kara still regarded the scarab with some suspicion, and perhaps for good reason.
"She broke the record, I can't believe it!" Daisy yelled. She almost pumped a fist in celebration, at least until Henshaw gave the DEO agent a side long look. "No one is able to beat that record, well not without Kryptonian super speed anything, or I guess, they don't have to be Kryptonian."
The numbers flashing up on the screen made Alex look very impressive. Kara kept a firm lock on the vital signs. Alex and the scarab's, they both worked in harmony. Both parties were one with each other. Kara began to slowly accept maybe she had been wrong, but you never really knew.
'We will see when they get out on the field,' Kara thought.
Alex stepped out of the training room and walked with a lot of energy towards the people who were viewing them.
"Well, that's encouraging," Daisy said. "Most of the people who run through this training simulation the first time, end up dropping down to the ground. And for good reason, it's challenging."
"I didn't drop to the ground," Alex said. A smile shifted across the newly empowered women's face. "And didn't throw up either."
Daisy glared at Alex, but a small smile threatened to break out. "I thought we agreed to never bring that one up."
"I'm impressed," Tess said. "The Blue Beetle is going to be a very valuable person to have out on the field, and we're going to need all of the help we can get out there these days."
"Hey, I'm just happen to be part of the team," Alex said. "We had some stumbling blocks, because someone doesn't know how to communicate properly."
'I'm willing to accept only part of the blame,' the scarab thought. 'There would not have been as much damage if you had just not fought against the bonding process.'
'Well, I might not have fought against the bonding process, if you had been more upfront with what you were doing,' Alex countered the Beetle.
Henshaw looked towards several notes on a pad of paper. A smile popped over the face of the DEO director. He always had been proud of the agents and the work they did. Then again, the DEO had one of the most important jobs in the world. Being an alien, in disguise, gave Henshaw, or J'onn rather, an interesting perspective. There were alien threats out there, and there were good aliens, who would be valuable allies.
"So, anything on KR2?" Alex asked.
"Not a thing," Daisy said. "Cadmus facilities are like weeds, you keep taking care of them, and they keep popping up somewhere else. There's someone very connected who is keeping one step ahead of us."
Daisy intended fully to get to the bottom of the entire Cadmus mess. She would not have been stopped any means. There was something, one piece of information.
"They found another one," Tess said.
Perhaps Clark and the others located the break they needed to tie everything together. Cadmus's goals were not completely clear yet, and until they had a clearer picture, the entire DEO, the Kryptonians, and everyone else just groped around the dark.
Also, the looming crisis, potentially with a Thangarian invasion, brought them a great deal of frustration. There had been many irons in the fire, and something was going to happen where they were going to get burned something fierce.
"So am I finally field ready?" Alex asked.
"We have more tests," Henshaw said.
'Humans and their tests,' the blue beetle thought.
'He's not a human,' Alex reminded the scarab.
'Martians and their tests,' the scarab corrected herself.
Clark circled around three times to check for any obvious security traps. He dropped down to the ground and clicked on an ear piece. A moment passed before Clark jumped in and told them what they were up again.
"Locked gates are the only problem," Clark said. "They might have already cleared out this facility."
Every fiber of self-control in Clark Kent's being struggled for him to add the very frustrated grunt of, again, it as happening again, Clark could not believe it was happening again. Someone stayed several steps ahead of the entire group and the frustration mounted. Cadmus, they knew this, whoever ran Cadmus knew this. They intended to do what they could to get into the heads of everyone involved.
"I'm coming in underground," Helena said.
"Of course, I know you wouldn't have it any other way."
Karen and Diana dropped on either side of Clark.
"Kara, I'm not wrong, there are no defenses, right?"
The older Kara scanned the area around. No defenses, not even any hot spots which lead lined panels, which would have been a telltale sign the people involved at the facility hid something from Kryptonians. Perhaps they had been more savvy then.
'Just what we need,' The Kryptonian thought in frustration. 'The bad guys learning their lessons. As if we didn't have enough to worry about, we have that on our heads.'
'Nothing," Karen said. "Diana, would you do the honors."
The Amazon moved over and ripped the gate open. The lock and the deadbolts would normally keep anyone out. Clark figured something about it was very suspicious they would just leave the gates open for them to walk inside. Hanging around certain people made Clark a bit uneasy, and slightly nervous.
"Keep your eyes open," Clark answered a few seconds later.
"Yeah, no need to repeat yourself."
The trio of heroes stepped into the facility, not quite knowing what to find when moving inside. The sound of a heart beat coming from one of the labs put them all on edge. A door opened and Clark turned around to grab the figure coming up the stairs.
Helena looked Clark straight in the eyes and smiled.
"Perfect reflexes."
The Wayne Heiress scanned for something in the air. Some particles caused a blip on the radar to bring the trio forward. They made their way to the lab. There was no bio-metric lock, just a good old fashioned lock which had been bolted shut.
"They're being sloppy on purpose," Helena said. "Stand back, both of you."
Helena took a tool out of her utility belt and slowly worked the door open. The door creaked open, and the moment Helena stepped inside, she walked in front of a scanner. The scanner blinked, but did not react when it registered her as human.
On the ceiling, several shards of Kryptonite hung, ready to drop down on any Kryptonian. Karen and Clark had been shielded, unless of course the Kryptonite broke their skin and got into their blood stream somehow. Then they were vulnerable as anyone else.
Helena moved over and disabled the scanner. She turned around and motioned for Karen, Clark, and Diana to all take their first steps into the room. Diana moved around and recoiled for a few seconds. Everything around them was overpowering.
Clark understood why Diana reacted the way she did when entering the room. A very overpowering stench almost knocked Clark over went stepping into the room. He turned over towards a pod which contained a pile of sludge himself.
"It's an attempt to clone a Kryptonian," Karen muttered underneath their breath.
"Chloe, we found something interesting," Clark said. "Cadmus is planning to clone Kryptonians. Only they haven't quite figured out how to do anything."
Chloe's surprised and exasperated breath from the other side of the line told Clark pretty much all he needed to know. They were in agreement something rotten was about ready to go down, although it was hard to say what at this particular point in time.
"Well, it makes sense, I guess, in some kind of really twisted way," Chloe said. "There are a growing number of Kryptonians on the planet. A whole lot for a supposed nearly extinct race. Therefore, it makes sense Cadmus was going to make one of them one."
Clark moved into the pod to grab a sample from the sludge. Cadmus had tried to work with science they had no idea how to deal with. Clark feared they would end up creating some kind of Frankenstein's monster level atrocitiy with their meddling of science.
Bringing meteor mutants back from the grave, it was playing God in a way which chilled Clark. Creating Kryptonians from nothing, it was an entirely different thing whatsoever. Clark wondered who would do such a thing and what did they have planned.
"Tess may have found another facility, but…. someone I don't think it's going to give you much more love than this one," Chloe said.
"Why do you say that?" Clark asked.
"Oh, maybe because the facility is about ready to burn to the ground."
Some people called Hugo Strange a mad scientist. Surely, the line between genius and insanity could only be defined depending on how much imagination a person had. Hugo Strange saw himself having a lot of imagination to think beyond the bounds established as normal or natural. Strange did not box himself into what many people would call normality.
Everything around Strange though, he had been seriously baffled, and for good reason. His beautiful creation could be even more beautiful if somehow the cells could be stabilized. Strange's bosses wanted results, and so did the brilliant mind of Hugo Strange.
'There is no failure,' Strange reminded himself. 'There is only success which has yet to be attained.'
Strange's thoughts had been delayed by a glowing of the console halfway across the facility. The head of Cadmus checked in on his work, as they often had. Strange only had the slightest idea who might be running the show. The only point which could be verified beyond any reasonable doubt was the person running the show had been of significant means.
'Best to discuss this now.'
"Yes, Director, what can I do for you?" Strange asked in a very polite tone of voice.
"I'm offering you additional help," the Director said. "Unfortunately, you have not been able to figure out the proper matrix to prevent the Kryptonian DNA from degrading once it is exposed to Earth's atmosphere."
"Please, Director, give me time, these take time…"
"I'm not calling you out on your failings, Hugo," the Director said. "I've given you an impossible task and I realize that someone even of your brilliance, you're not a genetics expert, no matter how much you've dabbled in it. And alien DNA, that could be out of the thoughts of all, but the most brilliant. Wouldn't you agree?"
Strange would have been very foolish to disagree with this particular woman. He took in a very deep breath and let it out in response.
"The Matrix still remains unstable, there's something missing," Strange commented.
"Yes, and I'm bringing in some help, someone who was very interested in this project," the Director responded. "He wants to change the world, and you're going to help bring about that change."
Strange only could nod. The Director obviously made plans to bring in this person right away, and there was little more that Hugo Strange could do was go along with it. The doors slid open and a middle aged man with dark hair and a very neatly trimmed mustache stepped in. He did not look like the crazed type. The gentleman resembled a college professor, someone no one would expect working at a covert operation like Cadmus.
"Hugo Strange, it's an honor," he said. "My name is…"
"Miles Warren, I know, and I'm glad to have you as part of my team," Strange said. "Now, the Director said you might have some ideas of what to do with the Kryptonian DNA to stabilize it, to prevent it from breaking around at an accelerated level?"
Warren responded with a nod and a smile.
"It's actually quite simple, really," Warren responded. "The Kryptonian DNA involved is breaking down because our scientific methods are primitive, and cannot process it."
"Are you saying that we cannot clone Kryptonians then, and this entire project is a failure?" Strange asked.
Warren responded with a head shake. "No, nothing of the sort. Nothing of the sort, anything is very possible with science. You only need to find the right workaround and everything will be solved just like that."
Strange put a hand underneath his chin and just gave a solid hmm. Warren offered an interesting theory and would not have come to the lab without some clearer ideas in mind. Strange looked around at Warren.
"We need compatible human DNA to be fit into the matrix," Warren said. "What we need is a human specimen with an above average count of white blood cells."
Kara could not have been more flustered when coming eye to eye with the Princess of the Amazons herself. Diana stared down at Kara, dressed in a pair of tight spandex shorts and a black sport's bra in the training room. Kara wore a similar attire, only the shorts were red and the sports bra were blue. Both of them moved around in bare feet.
"So, what do you want me to do?" Kara asked.
"Attack me, and don't get distracted," Diana said. "You attack, and I'll block. Don't worry about holding back. I can take a punch."
Kara nodded in response and moved in at a blink of an eye. Diana blocked Kara's arm even quicker. The momentum of the punch being turned back made a fool out of the Girl of Steel. Kara flipped down onto the ground with the impact knocking the wind from the girl's lungs.
Frustration did not even begin to describe what Kara felt. Then again, the distraction of Diana standing before Kara in a pair of tight shorts did not help Kara's focusing issues. The Girl of Steel charged Diana and went for a huge punch. Diana blocked the punch and turned Kara around.
"You have to be quicker, and telegraph your moves less."
Kara flipped out of Diana's grasp and stuck the perfect landing beyond the Amazon. Diana spun around and grabbed Kara around the waist. The Girl of Steel struggled and the two women ended up on the mats. Diana pressed Kara down onto the mats.
"So, that facility burning down in a fire," Clark said. "You're not buying it to be an accident."
"No, not for a second," Tess said. "I'm trying to uncover as much information I can about the people running the show. When I know something, you're going to be the first to know."
"Good, I'm glad," Clark responded.
Again, Kara tried to grab onto Diana's leg. Diana kicked Kara away onto the ground, and wrapped her arms around Kara's neck. Kara struggled out, with Diana flipping Kara onto her stomach and onto the mats. Diana grabbed Kara's arm and extended it back.
"There are three different ways I can snap an arm from here," Diana said.
"Noted," Kara managed.
Diana pulled away from Kara and allowed her to stand up straight.
"Same time tomorrow?" Kara asked. "I'll be more prepared next time."
"Just remember, powers are nice and all," Diana told her. "But when going up against a stronger opponent, skill wins the day. And you're going to have to sharpen your skills. You have the idea in your head, it's just a matter of you finding a way to get them out."
"I know," Kara said. "I'll see you later, Carol and Alex are meeting me for dinner…and I don't want to keep them later."
"Then we won't keep let you," Clark said. "Don't get too frustrated, Diana still knocks me around on the mats when she wants to."
"Oh, you're much better than you were a couple of years ago," Diana said. "I've just had the benefit of some of the best trainers my entire life. If you survive Artemis, you're in pretty good hands."
Kara smiled and moved off to take a shower real quickly, get changed, and head out to meet her sisters. The moment the Girl of Steel disappeared, Diana grabbed Clark by the wrist and pulled him up to his feet.
"Why don't you say we hit the mats in a different way?" Diana whispered.
Nibbling on Clark's ear gave Diana a pretty persuasive argument towards having some after hours fun in the DEO facility. Clark reached behind Diana and grabbed her ass.
"I swear, you and your cousin have the same tastes," Diana said with a smile. "Both of them actually, both Kara and Kara….speaking of which…"
"Soon enough," Clark told her. "It's been a long day, and I think we can both burn off some frustrations here."
Clark cupped Diana's ass and gave the Amazon a kiss. The Amazon responded with a lip bruising kiss and ran her hands over Clark. The Princess made some short work of Clark's clothing, stripping him completely naked.
Diana removed Clark's rock hard rod from its confinement. Twelve swelling inches of cock, thick and juicy, stood up, waiting for Diana to play with and to worship. The Amazon slid down to the base and then all the way up to the head. Diana stroked Clark's cock.
"I can't wait to have those beautiful lips wrapped around it," Clark said.
"Well, you won't have to wait long for both."
The beautiful sight of the Amazon Princess descending before him made Clark's cock throb. Diana looked at the phallus before her with love and it twitched. One firm tug made Clark's cock get harder than ever. Diana leaned in and kissed the tip of the mating rod.
Seconds passed and pure heaven engulfed Clark's cock. The amazing sensation of Diana's perfect mouth wrapping around Clark's hard tool felt beyond amazing. Diana rested her hands on Clark's back and pushed more of the throbbing hard organ deep inside.
"Good, really good."
Clark threaded the back of Diana's hair through his fingers. The beautiful sucking before Clark only spurred the Kryptonian on to greater amounts of lust. The feeling of Clark's balls swelling, ready to give Diana their gift once earned, only spurred the Last Son of Kryptonian on to shove twelve inches of throbbing man meat down the throat of the beautiful Amazon Princess.
Several more pumps caused Clark's cock to ram deep inside of Diana's throat. The warm pleasure with Diana's mouth wrapping around Clark made the Kryptonian only want to shove deeper and deeper. Cum discharged into Diana's mouth and the sweet pleasure of release filled Diana's mouth.
Diana sucked Clark hard, and hummed when drinking his cum. One firm grasp of Clark's balls further milked the extreme volume of cum deep into Diana's mouth.
The moment the Princess finished sucking Clark off, she rose up to a standing position. Clark grabbed her top and removed it. Diana's round breasts, without any tan-lines on it, appeared before Clark's eyes. Clark reached in and cupped Diana's breasts and gave them a squeeze. Diana threw her head back and gave an appreciative moan with Clark cupping her.
"Please, take me."
Clark kissed the side of Diana's neck and came down. A frim grip took Diana's shorts down and exposed the warm pussy of the Amazon Princess. Those wet lips caused Clark to become wild with desire. Clark slowly slipped Diana back against the padded wall.
"Oh, Kal!" Diana screamed.
A furious assault brought Diana pleasure. Clark sucked Diana's nipples hard and lightly rubbed the Amazon's sides, and came down further. The Amazon ground down against Diana's wet core, and slowly teased her. Diana wrapped her legs around Clark and pulled him in closer.
"Please, fuck me."
Clark teased the dripping slit for another moment. Glorious friction appeared between the two of them. Diana gripped Clark and tried to push the Kryptonian. The gates of the Amazon Princess threatened to be stormed. Diana breathed heavily before Clark moved in and slipped inside of Diana.
"Oh, yes!" Diana breathed.
A dancing of fingers rubbed Diana's leg when Clark further slipped inside of the tight Amazon. The feeling of Diana's legs wrapped around Clark's waist only caused him to want to bury himself deeper into the tight chambers the Amazon offered. Clark groaned at the lovely feeling of Diana clamping down and releasing him in a few solid thrusts. Pulling back allowed Clark to push deeper into Diana.
"Further, please!"
Diana begged for a deeper penetration. Clark pleasured every glorious inch of her body. Tingles spread down Diana's spine when the fucking got further. Their hips clashed together in a passionate exchange. Diana locked onto Clark and slowly dragged him deep inside. The Amazon's wet pussy tightened around Clark and squeezed down and then released the Last Son of Krypton.
"Fuck, I want you, so badly!" Diana yelled.
"You get everything you wanted, and then more."
The hard thrusting brought Diana closer to the edge of an orgasm. Her wet walls clamped down onto Clark and released the penetrating rod. Diana milked Clark when the forward movement continued. Flesh slapped together and hands roamed eagerly. Diana returned the favor, both powerful lovers indulging in each others body. One of the best orgasms possible.
"Make me cum all over your giant cock," Diana said. "Oh, you really are super!"
The penetration caused Diana to hit the highest notes of pleasure. Diana registered this point by digging her nails into Clark's back in a force few woman could manage. The deeper penetration continued with Clark going all the way inside.
Clark rode out Diana's orgasm and pure heaven clamped down around him. Clark almost pulled all the way out of Diana and pushed back inside. Each thrust caused Diana to shiver underneath Clark's very beign.
Suddenly, Clark slipped out of Diana. The Amazon whimpered at the loss of Clark's generous phallus. Until at least, Clark positioned Diana where she had been bent over of the bench. Clark grabbed onto Diana's perfect ass and gave it a few smacks.
Juices dripped down to the ground from Clark playing with Diana's ample rear end. Clark slowly, but surely worked a finger into Diana from behind.
"I'm going to fuck your lights out," Clark said. "I know how much you like that."
Diana looked up with a smile. Clark spread Diana's thighs and was ready to shove himself into her from behind. Clark's hard cock slapped against Diana's asshole and just the smallest tease caused Diana a shiver. Clark's super powerful fingers grinded down upon Diana's clit, and stiffened the Amazon's nipples.
Inside, finally, and it felt so good. Clark plowed Diana when bending the Amazon over a bench. One firm smack of Diana's shapeless ass lead to an erotic appeal of the situation. Clark pulled almost completely out of Diana and then back into her again.
"Clark, make me yours all over again!" Diana begged him.
"Oh, I will, trust me," Clark breathed in Diana's ear.
Clark reached in and grabbed Diana's nipple for a nice little squeeze. The Amazon whimpered with a delightful feeling. Clark almost pulled all the way out of Diana and shoved his rod inside of her with more amazing trust. The feeling of drilling Diana from behind accelerated Clark's desire of working his way inside of her from behind. Clark stretched out Diana and pulled all the way out of her.
"Cum for me again," Clark told her.
Diana came, not resisting Clark. The Last Son of Krypton pushed deep into the core of the Princess of the Amazons. He stretched her out with a nice hearty fucking. Those balls kept slapping against Diana's.
The moments grinded by with both lovers indulging themselves. Each orgasm made Clark just want Diana even more. In turn, Diana wanted Clark, as Clark could tell by the slick moisture coming from Diana's pussy. Diana grabbed onto Clark and pushed him deep inside of her body.
"Want this, so badly," Diana begged him. "More, please, I want more."
"Hold tight, you'll get everything you've ever wanted," Clark informed her.
The Amazon's latest orgasm brought immense joy. Clark planted himself deeper inside of Diana's body and almost pulled all the way out before planting his rod back inside. Clark pushed further into Diana's moist canal and allowed her warmness to squeeze him.
All good things came to a close. Clark hung on to push deep into Diana's body and indulged himself into her one more time. Super powerful fingers drummed down Diana's body.
"Get ready for the big one," Clark whispered.
"Yes!" Diana yelled at the top of her lungs. "Cum for me, Kal!"
"After you, Princess."
Diana tensed around Clark and let the pleasure out in one fluid motion. The Amazon's moist cunt grabbed Clark's tool and released it with several fluid motions. Clark rammed deep into Diana's depths and brought his huge cock inside of her warm canal.
"Fuck me, Kal, fuck me tender!" Diana begged him.
Clark decided to finish up and ride out Diana's pussy all the way to the end. The feeling of her moist walls tightening around and milking Clark's spent cock felt like nothing else before. Clark planted himself cock first into Diana's wet pussy and pulled out of her with a few more fluid pumps.
Eventually, something had to give. Clark released a steady stream of cum inside of Diana's waiting, wet walls. The Amazon tightened the hold on Clark the deeper Clark pushed inside of her. Diana came three more times before Clark finished up.
A contented smile flashed over Diana's face when her lover came deep inside and filled her pussy. Diana breathed heavily and smiled, thanking herself for Aphrodite's gifts. Children would be in the future, but it was just that, in the future.
Clark pulled out and Diana crawled on top of him, breasts pressing in Clark's chest. She looked primed and ready to ride Clark like a stallion, and Clark wasn't going to complain.
"Ready for more," Clark said.
Diana smiled. "What do you think?"
The Amazon Princess looked over towards a pair of eyes and winked. Someone rushed out at super speed. Diana proceeded to bury Clark inside her.