“What would Kent want with the twins?” Rogue demanded of Kara in a whisper.
“I don’t know.” Kara looked at the two girls that were, for all practical purposes, her daughters. “But I get the impression that this isn’t the first time they’ve talked to the wizard since the Continuum Wars.”
“Are you sure, Jen?” Arisia had pulled Jenny aside. She held her hands on her team mate’s arms. “You don’t have to go.”
“Yes, I do.” Jenny disagreed. “It might be painful but…” She trailed off, her neck and face blushing a darker shade of green.
“But it would be more painful for me to be there with out you.” Arisia finished for her. “Jenny, both you and Lar are basically free persons now. But I am your friend. I would not make a move on Lar. Free or not, it would be wrong. Friends do not do that.”
“I know.” Jenny nodded. “But…”
“But you still have to go.” Arisia forced a smile, though the concern for her friend and the sadness due to the strained feelings between them still showed in her eyes. “I understand.” She gave Jenny’s arms a final squeeze and then turned to the others and spoke up. “So when do we leave?”
“Right now.” Kara announced.
“Actually, it might be better if I transport the flitter to Daxam.” A deep male voice spoke up.
Everyone turned to see Zor-El standing in the open hatch of the hanger. He stepped in and glanced towards the ceiling.
“Thank you Motherboard, you can restore the shielding now.” He spoke up.
“You are welcome, Ambassador El.” The melodious voice of the woman that could easily be called a living computer came through the speaker.
Kara’s father smiled and shook his head as he approached the group around the rescued flitter.
“I think Dr. Stephanie Strange was right about her.” He remarked, “She will have to be careful. With her looks and that voice, she is going to have men lined up to meet her.”
“I’ll be sure to tell Mom you think so.” Kara drawled, raising an eyebrow. Before he could reply, she waved towards the flitter. “What do you mean you should take it?”
“Well, I do believe that the six of you are going to be rather busy for a bit…and since I happen to be going that way…..” Zor shrugged.
“Going that way?” Rogue frowned. “Are you being recalled to Daxam?”
“Actually, yes.” Zor nodded. “But it is not, from what I am given to understand, anything dealing the United Systems. Simply a Kryptonian issue.” He frowned, “Though the notice of recall was rather vague.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” Arisia noted as the group exchanged looks.
“We shall see.” Zor shrugged again and then pointed at Kara. “But I was also given a message for you. All of you should return to the Colorado Fortress. I do believe some one is on their way to ask for your help.”
(Note: if you have not yet read Sorority: Chapter 1, the Wasteland’s Unforgiven series, and the Inheritor/Alterverse cross over “Operation Alterverse”, then please do so. The above events occur before those stories listed while the rest of this chapter occurs after Operation Alterverse. )
MVP1-20
“That son of a bitch!”
Jenny and Arisia sat close together in the living room of Kara and Rogue’s Colorado Fortress of Solitude and simply watched in alarmed concern as both Kara and Rogue vented their rage.
It had began just before they had transferred out of Alterverse after the total defeat of the Kayzik threat.
Neither Jenny nor Arisia was completely sure what had set it off. Or who rather. All they knew was that it was some comment by either the twins, Cassie, Linda, or Chasity. One of the members of the so-called Sorority. They had not gotten the complete story until after they were already back in the Multiverse and back in their own Probability.
Both women knew that Kent Nelson and Diana of Alterverse had approached the twins and Kara and Rogue to allow the twins to form the groups code named Sorority and that the Twins, Motherboard, Cassie Sandmark of the Inheritors, and Jade of Alterverse had sped off to newly discovered Sector of the Continuum, code named Wasteland, in response to a call for help from Chasity Hudson, the one time Supergirl of the 25th century Otherverse and now the Supergirl of present day Wasteland Earth.
There had been no time for reunions, however, when they returned, for they had returned just in time to join with the forces that had been gathered from four different Sectors, The Inheritor’s Sector, the Multiverse Sector, the Wasteland Sector, and the Alterverse Sector, to finally put an end to the Kayzik scum that had for so long been inflicted upon the inhabitants of the Alterverse.
Through out the campaign, they had been split in to separate groups, very seldom even seeing one another until after it was all over.
It was then that all hell began to break loose…finally exploding upon their return to the Multiverse.
First, they had stopped off at Justice League Command and picked up Motherboard, leaving Carol Danvers in charge, before continuing down to the surface of the planet.
Whether through some sense of her own, or perhaps Carol Danvers had radioed ahead, Stephanie Strange, self appointed doctor to the Kryptonians, Jenny and Arisia, and now Motherboard, was waiting for them at the entrance of the modest looking home that, beneath its surface, housed one of the hardiest strongholds on Earth.
She had long ago been given free access, but to her credit, rarely abused the privilege. Rather than going on in, she had waited patiently for the group to arrive.
Kara nodded to her but said nothing as she stepped through the front door. There was no need for keys….the computer system that ran the security for what had come to be known as the Colorado Fortress of Solitude had been designed by the twins. It had simply scanned the group as they approached, determined their identities and unlocked the door for them…all in a matter of nano-seconds.
Once in the living room, Kara had motioned for everyone to be seated while she turned her eyes on Motherboard and the Twins.
“You didn’t know!” Karen finally spoke up, making a statement rather than asking a question though her tone was at once both skeptical and bewildered.
“How in Roa’s name could we have known?” Kara had responded. It was blatantly obvious that she was struggling to maintain her temper as she turned to Motherboard. “Carrie and Karen have briefed us on what occurred in Wasteland…what can you tell us?” She demanded.
“Perhaps it would be better if I showed you.” Motherboard spoke after a moment. Her eyes glazed for a brief moment and everyone noticed a quick flickering of the lights. Motherboard had just accessed the Fortress Computer. No…she had taken control of it!
The Twins were astonished that their security measures could so quickly be circumvented but remained still at a motion from Jenny.
They all turned as a wooden panel on the northern wall slid aside to reveal a large flat screen monitor. A monitor that instantly sprang to life and both Karen and Carrie stared in shock as images they had lived through flashed up on the screen.
“How…?” Carrie stammered, looking back and forth between the screen and Motherboard.
“Pause, Motherboard.” Stephanie Strange said. “I would like to hear the answer to that myself.”
“Upon our arrival on the Wasteland Earth, I was able to infiltrate the computer systems of the planet. With surprising ease, I might add.” Motherboard replied and indicated the monitor. “Every image you will see was taken from monitoring systems that were tied into computer networks, either after or during the events being recorded. “
“But that!” Karen pointed at the image on the screen. “That was taken in Chasity’s Fortress.” She turned to Kara. “Chas made an exact duplicate of the Fortress you and Rogue constructed in Otherverse.” She explained. “But the technology was tech that she brought with her from the 25th century Otherverse.”
“Yes.” Motherboard agreed. “It did take an extra micro-second to infiltrate the fortress computer systems.” She turned towards Kara. “I did take the opportunity to do some upgrades to Chasity Hudson’s system.”
“Wait a minute!” Carrie had jumped to her feet, her face pale. “If you could do that, why didn’t you take control of the computer systems of the Thangarian fleet? You could have ended it all right then and there!”
“Unfortunately,” and Jenny noticed that the only other green skinned woman in the room grimaced, “I was confined within a Green Lantern’s ring. While I was able to access the Earth bound computers.” Motherboard shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I was greatly restricted in my abilities. A most uncomfortable feeling.”
“I would imagine.” Stephanie drawled. “Motherboard, you can’t do that again. You may be a flesh and blood woman now, but you originate from an energy manifestation.” She lifted her hands and everyone saw a slight glow around her hands as she used her magic to scan the woman. She shook her head and gave Kara a hard look. “She can’t do that again.” She announced. “She’s damned lucky that she was able to regain her human form at all. Next time she might not be so lucky.”
“It was an uncomfortable sensation.” Motherboard agreed. “I do not wish to repeat it.”
“Don’t.” Stephanie said, wagging her finger at the green-skinned woman. “Consider that Doctor’s orders!”
Motherboard’s presentation continued in silence, punctured now and again by involuntary gasps or moans as particular scenes flashed across the monitor.
It ended abruptly, cutting off as the Twins, Cassie, and Jade stepped through portal on their way home.
For a long moment, no one could speak. Her face seemingly devoid of emotion though full of curiosity, Motherboard glanced from person to person, judging the reactions of the others in the room.
Carrie, stared at the blank screen, her face streaked with tears while Karen, hid her face in her hands. Rage was the emotion most evident on the faces of the remainder. Normally, one might expect to see horrified expressions. These people, however, had lived through enough horror in their lives. No. They were not horrified by what they had seen…they were angered. But angered by what?
Both Kara and Rogue had turned to face the twins.
“Why?” demanded Kara, her voice hard. “You should have known to call for help. Either one of you could have whipped up a transmitter in a matter of minutes that would have allowed you to yell for help! But neither of you even considered it.”
She stopped short of blaming the deaths of multitudes of Wasteland heroes on the twins…but only because she, like everyone else in the room, knew where the blame for that lay. Nevertheless, she had verbally laid into the twins, stopping only when Rogue had jumped in, outraged, when she had commented that Kal would have exposed her to Yellow K if she had done something so stupid.
“That’s enough!” Rogue’s voice had cut across hers, her face a mask of rage to mirror Kara’s. “That is enough, Kara!”
She did not want the twins thinking she was jumping in on their side so she instantly whirled to them.
“Kara is right. None of you showed very good judgment. And I don’t want to hear about Chasity being in charge. But I recognize that you might have thought we had tossed you in to sink or swim. That was not the case.”
She looked back and forth between Kara and the Twins. Kara still seething, the twins devastated by Kara’s outburst.
“This discussion is over.” She announced.
‘But….” Carrie began.
“I said it is over.” Rogue roared. “I have had enough bickering between my family for one night!”
She started to tell the girls to take off so she could calm Kara down when a familiar male voice spoke up.
“Kara Zor-El”
The voice was that of Kent Nelson and before anyone else could move, Kara had whirled, sending twin beams of red destruction flashing towards the Shazam Wizard.
Had he been prepared, he probably would not have been fazed by the attack. Yet he was not prepared, obviously not expecting Kara to use her destructive heat vision on HIM! The beams struck him in the chest, knocking him backwards towards the front door, before they were deflected by a Green energy field, shooting upward to burn through the ceiling.
Only the fact that she had already been facing in his direction when he appeared and spoke gave Arisia the time to cast her shield as soon as she did.
“Arisia!” Kara barked, her heat vision shutting down.
“You’ll thank me later!” Arisia called back over her shoulder, keeping her eyes on the one time Dr. Fate.
Kent had staggered to his feet, aided by the person that had materialized with him…Diana of Themyscira….the Alterverse Earth Wonder Woman.
“Are you mad, Woman?” Kent demanded, patting at the scorched front of his vest.
“Shut it, Kent, or I’ll drop the shield and let her have you!” Arisia snarled. Though she kept her eyes on the new arrivals, she reached back with her free hand and grabbed Jenny.
There was just enough time for surprise to begin registering on Jenny’s face before she was pulled in; merging with Arisia to form Senturia.
“I guess she didn’t figure she could face the Shazam Wizard, an Amazon, and two very pissed off Kryptonians by herself.”
Startled by the soft voice beside her, Rogue turned to see Stephanie at her side. She glanced around and saw that both the twins and Motherboard were stretched out on the floor. Apparently asleep.
“I put them out.” Stephanie confirmed. “There’s no need for them to witness this.”
Rogue gave a slight nod of approval and turned her attention back to Kent Nelson and Diana and the drama unfolding between them and Kara Zor-El. She had to admit, Stephanie was probably right. As Sentinels, both Arisia and Jenny were extremely powerful. Yet when they merged to form Senturia, they became one of the most powerful beings in the entire Continuum. Of course they could not maintain the merger for extremely long periods, and the more power they used, the less time they could remain merged. If they held the merger to the point of forced separation, then both Arisia and Jenny would emerge from the union unconscious.
Until then, Rogue was certain that Kent would be hesitant to match his power against hers…especially since she already had both him and Diana encased in a green energy bubble.
“What’s the meaning of this insanity, Kara?” Diana demanded, glaring daggers at everyone in the room.
“This insanity?” Kara hissed, stepping closer to the green wall of energy that kept them separated. “What about that insanity?” She flung her hand back to point at the now blank monitor screen.
“How many people had to die for your little Sorority experiment?” She demanded.
“No!” She held up her hand to stop Diana from responding. “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t to hear anything from either of you. I hesitate to call either of you incompetent, not after your actions in Alterverse….but it is either that or accuse you of willfully being accomplices in mass murder. I am not ready to go that far…yet.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her glare never wavering as she went on.
“You convinced me that you would keep an eye on them…that you had methods of keeping track of what was going on. You KNEW from the beginning that sending just them would not be enough. I hate to think what would have happened if they had not gone….More, if not all, of those Wasteland heroes would be dead now. But those that did die….died for Nothing! NOTHING!”
“They died trying to protect and free their world, Kara!” Kent Nelson countered. “Surely you can identify with that, given your history!”
“Oh I have no problem with THEIR actions, Kent.” Kara hissed. “It is YOUR actions that I find despicable. Chasity called for help….we should have given it to her.”
“I hardly think…” Kent began
“That is obvious, Kent.” Rogue spoke up. “Now shut your mouth….anything else that needs to be said, Diana can say it!”
With a frown and a look at Diana, Kent finally nodded and crossed his arms in an unintentional mimicry of Kara’s stance.
“I am afraid I don’t understand…” Diana began, only to be cut off by Rogue.
“Don’t you, Sugah?” She drawled in the southern belle accent that she had to fake, these days. She had lost her true accent along with her mutant abilities long ago when she had absorbed Kara’s powers and been transformed into a Kryptonian.
“You were supposed to be watching them.” She hissed. “We trusted you! You nearly let them all get killed. You let innocents die…you let heroes die….when there was no need. All just to get your precious Sorority experience. Was it worth it, Diana? Was that experience worth the deaths of that many of Wasteland Earth’s heroes? Deaths that need not have happened?”
“I don’t even know how you could look Chasity in the eye.” Kara cut in. “She called for help…and you gave them five girls when it’s obvious she needed all we could have given her! And despite that, she turned right around and answered YOUR call for help….and saw all the heroes that came….Heroes that could not be bothered to help Wasteland but were there to help you defeat the Kayzik!”
“Do not presume to lecture me, Kara Zor-El!” Diana flared.
“Go to hell, Diana.” Kara shot right back. “Understand this, Diana. Your inaction…yours and Kent’s, cost the lives of many people. Heroes, innocents, and even Thangarians. Lives that did not need to be lost. You damned near got my daughters and my great niece killed…and you did get my cousin killed. DID you and Kent decide there were too many members of the House of El in the Continuum and figure this was a way to thin them out?” Though strictly speaking, Chasity and Jon were her niece and cousin in the same way that Carrie and Karen were her daughters, Kara did not hesitate to claim them as part of her family.
She closed her eyes, visibly taking control of her anger.
“I won’t put an end to your Sorority. But I will not accept that you have sole authority over them. Until I put in place a method in which we can observe for ourselves, and if need be, intervene, then they will stand down. I will not let any more people die for the sake of your little experiment.”
“You can’t take the risks out of the equation, Kara.” Kent barked.
“No, I can’t.” Kara surprised everyone by agreeing. “But I can do what ever is possible to minimize those risks….just as I would for anyone else…myself included. And I can make damned sure that if the situation demands that they get backup….they get that back up. There will be no more senseless deaths. Do you understand me?”
Neither Kent nor Diana answered, but then again, Kara hadn’t really expected them to.
“One last thing….Don’t ever fuck with the House of El again. If you do, then there will be no where you can hide…No where. Now get the fuck out of my house!”
The use of profanity, so rare in Kara, was enough to cause Rogue to take a double take. She turned back just in time to see both Kent and Diana vanish.
Almost instantly the green energy bubble disappeared and Senturia split into her separate parts: Jenny and Arisia. Both were conscious, and neither looked the worse for wear since there had been no massive energy expenditure.
Kara looked around, glancing at the sleeping twins and Motherboard. She then turned her back and headed out of the living room, moving into the corridor that let to the sleeping rooms.
“I am going to bed.” She announced. She paused, glancing back as Rogue started to follow. “Alone.”
Rogue sighed and let her go, turning to the others.
“Let’s get the twins to their rooms and Motherboard to one of the guest rooms.” She said, her tone somewhat subdued. “The rest of us can crash in the other guest rooms.” Putting action to her words, she bent down and gently lifted Karen into her arms, moving into the corridor that let to their rooms.
Rogue came awake instantly as a weight shifted on the unfamiliar guest bed and she smiled softly as Kara slid between the sheets, snuggling close.
-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2009 by Dylan Clearbrook
-- and may not be reprinted without permission.
-- The Continuum Worlds Concept is a joint creation of
-- Dylan Clearbrook and Eldric. Otherverse, Multiverse,
-- and Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, as depicted in the
-- Continuum Worlds, are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook.
-- Alterverse and The Inheritors, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of Eldric.
-- The Realm and The Web of Shadows, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of John P. and Jason G./ Andrew Shields respectively.
-- Terra-verse, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- is an original creation of DTO.
-- DCM: The Mergiing, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- is an original creation of Chip Caroon and the stories therein remain
-- the property of the respective writers.
-- Some characters in Continuum Worlds stories are original creations
-- of Dylan Clearbrook, Eldric, Michael Liebhart, Jake H., Jason G.,
-- Andrew Shields, Kyle M., Brian, John P., DTO, or Jason Froikin and may not
-- be used without express permission of the respective author.
-- All DC characters are property of D.C. Comics.
-- All Marvel characters are property of Marvel Comics.