Chapter 16

"'Better than the Bat', huh?" Kara lifted an eyebrow at that, she had only been vaguely aware Detective Chimp existed in the DC universe and had no idea what kind of ma… animal? He was. "Well, you'll understand if I don't just take your word for it?"

Bobo just shrugged as if he didn't care, and maybe he didn't.

"What does the Bat want from me anyway, sending someone with superpowers like you?"

"And how do you know I have powers?" Kara asked, brimming with curiosity and trying to come up with a way to test the chimp.

"Alright, guess we're doing this then," his large hand grabbed the bottle and he took a swig, whipping his mouth with a hairy arm, he leaned forward. "I could smell grass and farm animals as soon as you entered the room; it's far too recent of a smell for you to have come from anywhere near here the conventional way."

"That means you either flew, ran or teleported here, I could see you arrived from the direction of the cemetery, yet there isn't a paved path between the graves and yesterday was a rainy day, since your boots aren't completely covered in mud, I tend to think you're capable of flight."

The chimp released the bottle and put a hand under his chin.

"There's some kind of field around your body disrupting the refraction of light, yet I can still smell you. You aren't floating above the chair and you're wearing metal, which means you wanted protection when you entered the building, but your shield doesn't fully block 'mundane' particles or protect against physical objects, even metallic ones."

"It's possible that the field blocks bullets and other such kinetic projectiles based on the speed they're moving, but why would you use such a specific shield when you could block far more and be far safer with a more generic protection?"

"The most logical explanation is that this shield blocks a particular form of attack, probably mental, magical or a unique weakness. Given that you're paranoid enough to activate it before even meeting me, but equally unworried about the protection not blocking physical attacks, I would say you don't fear them."

"Following flight and fearlessness towards bullets, the most likely complementary power would be super strength. And since you aren't carrying a weapon, you believe you're strong enough to face any human you may encounter without one. You could arguably do this with martial skill, yes, but your overall movement and posture nullifies that notion almost outright."

"A slight bulge in your clothes indicates a mask of some kind, but you aren't wearing a costume under your clothes, even a temporary one, and your body doesn't match any of the well known heroes. You're clearly new to the business, but since the Bat himself sent you here, you're probably a heretofore secret relative of one of the League's members… most likely Superman, Wonder Woman or the Martian."

Lying back against his chair, the chimpanzee looked at her with a smug smile to which Kara could only respond with a sigh.

She had to get better at hiding things if there were people like this just running around in DC.

"Impressive." She said and thought about her situation.

Had the chimp approached her of his own accord, she'd probably be getting really paranoid and would start to consider silencing the guy, but she was the one looking for help.

It seems like Batman couldn't directly help her so he sent her to someone with a similar skillset. She could use that, particularly against people like Luthor or Queen Bee, both of which hid behind the law to block the League's actions, investigation and public exposure was the most straight-forward counter.

As soon as she got out of here she'd have to do a more in-depth search on Bobo, but she decided to outline about her goals without revealing too much of her hand.

"Alright, I'm creating a team, people who can be discreet, but hold their own in case they're discovered." She began while watching the chimp's reaction.

"Hmmm… the Bat finally decided he'd had enough, did he?" Bobo said and scratched his face. "Must be annoying, having to keep to the charter."

"More like, I decided I'd had enough, and Batman agreed with me." Kara answered, frowning at him, the chimp nodded, conceding her point. "The way I see it, it's not that the League is unwilling to deal with the problem, just that it's best they don't have to… problems like this one could easily spiral out of control and set their cause back by decades."

"Alright, and how exactly are you thinking of… dealing with those problems?"

"I'm not looking to form a team of cold blooded murderers. Arresting people will always be the preferred option." Kara sighed and thought about the situation. "But I don't want the law stopping us from doing what's right."

"No boy scouts then, do you already have anyone in mind?"

"I already have a member, and maybe two more, but I could use your help looking for some of my candidates." She said and squinted her eyes. "You can find people, right? It's not just pretentious presentations of your logical prowess?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a fully trained private eye." The chimp pushed himself up and pulled a pack of cigarettes from under his seat, then put it in a pocket in his chest for easy access. "Want to give me a hint as to what we'll be dealing with?"

So, Kara started talking, she didn't tell the chimp everything or even every name, that would require more trust than just a referral, but she did talk about the Light, a cabal of supervillains working and manipulating things from the shadows.

Detective Chimp had questions, a lot of questions, eventually, she ran out of things she was willing to divulge without doing further research on the hero.

From the look on his face, Kara had no doubt he got far more from her than she did from him. But then again, she couldn't really be blamed for having a lot of trouble judging his reactions since he was, well, a chimp.

"I'll start asking around." He told her when they were done talking about the team and its goals. "Something like that doesn't start from nothing."

"You sure you want to risk it before I get the team ready?" Kara asked with worry, the Light were quite capable of silencing the chimp. "I can only provide so much protection by myself."

"Kid, I've been doing this for a very long time and if there's one thing I have learned, it's that criminals don't like being controlled." He took a drag from his second cigarette and blew it towards the fireplace. "The fact these characters have stayed hidden for so long means there's some powerful people involved, but it also means their minions will be all the more eager to backstab them at the first chance."

"Well, at least take this." She handed him one of her drones, "squeeze it and it'll send a signal to me with your location."

The chimp rolled the little metal ball between his thick fingers and brought it close to his eye, critically looking at all its little details, then shrugged and put it in his pocket together with the pack of cigarettes.

"Hah, it's not like I'll go around asking for this Light of yours by name, Kid, I'm sure the bastards won't say anything about a shadowy secret organization, but they'll still be eager to point me at their Bosses in hopes of stealing their places."

With their meeting concluded, Kara shook the chimp's hand and made her way down the stairs. Alice's door was closed and Cain was nowhere to be seen.

Kara swore there was something watching her inside the house, but, even with her improved senses, she couldn't find anything.

Feeling goosebumps starting to rise on her skin, she hurried out of the house. The sun had just set and the lights on the street were already on, but the cemetery itself seemed much darker than the hour indicated.

The feeling of being watched vanished, but she still hurried to follow the path out of the damn place, her steps becoming faster and faster as she walked.

"Leaving so soon, Miss Kara?" Said a voice from her side causing Kara to jump up in fright and turn around.

She had been focusing on the house so much that she hadn't been paying attention to the rest of her surroundings.

Cain appeared from between the graves, a small smile on his face and a shovel in his shoulder.

Kara's eyes narrowed as she saw old, dried blood on the shovel, but she couldn't tell if it was just some animal blood. He did interact with a heroic detective fairly often so it probably wasn't nearly as bad as it looked.

"Yeah, I don't think the house likes me very much." She joked.

"It likes collecting stories," Cain said while looking back at the house. "Maybe tell it a story next time you come?"

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, and hoped it would never come up.

Finally, Kara left the property and released a sigh of relief. She walked a few blocks away from the place before finally deactivating the beacon on her leg.

Then she pulled out her phone and started watching the images recorded from her drones.

Despite its looks, the thing pretending to be an old woman really was acting as a nurse and housekeeper to the woman inside the room.

Her devices still managed to start mapping the house, but, despite how long she had been talking with Detective Chimp, they just weren't done, and the information they had gathered made no sense.

Kara tried to retrieve the drones, but, as they followed exactly the same path they used to explore, they ended up in new rooms in the house.

After waiting for ten minutes Kara was forced to order them to self-destruct, only then did she release the breath she had been holding.

Magic, she hated magic.

Kara started walking again before releasing a frustrated sigh.

No, she didn't hate magic, it was actually incredibly cool. But, as a Kryptonian, things would be so much easier if it didn't exist.

Getting into a little coffee shop, she ordered a cup of it and started looking at the information on her phone again, deciding if she should approach her next meeting or ditch it for another day.

She was confident she could escape in case things went sideways, but this recruit was a powerhouse, and hadn't always been on the side of the angels.

Also, as Detective Chimp just showed, her identity was far too vulnerable.

She had planned to appear as just a normal human, someone completely independent from her heroic persona but, if Detective Chimp could determine she had powers with a simple glance…

Not like there'd be a lot of detectives on his level, at least if his claims of matching Batman had any validity but the concern remained.

In the end, she decided to go. She didn't know if she'd have any chance of another meeting if she ditched this one, and the man wasn't only a powerhouse, but also provided incredible utility. She'd just have to wear her mask while there and hope it was enough for the time being.

Paying for the coffee, Kara found an empty spot on the street, she put on her mask and flew directly up, too fast for any humans or common cameras to register more than a blur rising through the air.

Then she made her way towards Opal City. She had a meeting with a certain Richard Swift and his girlfriend Hope O'Dare.

Kara's search hadn't turned up any criminal activity for the Shade at this time, but her computer had found some suspicious historical records that indicated he had been active, using his powers on and off again around the world for hundreds of years now.

She wasn't entirely certain it was him but, even if he was only a metahuman in this version of DC, getting access to his powers before the Light would be a win.

Still, he did have a record of pretending to be weaker than he actually was and having fun by playing the villain, or hero, from time to time.

At least she had spoken with his girlfriend and confirmed the woman would be there during the meeting, it was unlikely he'd try to kill her with a loved one close by, and O'Dare didn't seem hostile to her. Quite the contrary in fact.

As she approached the city, she made sure to activate her beacon once again, then reconfigured the sunstone on her leg to act as an emergency teleport in case the man did turn out to be hostile.

It would ruin her prosthetic if she had to use it, but better it than her really.

O'Dare's home was a loft in a quiet corner of the city, Kara knocked on the door and the beautiful redhead answered. She was around 35 years old and still extremely fit, wearing a white shirt and common jeans. "You must be the one who called about Richard."

"What gave me away?" Kara asked with some amusement as the woman led her inside.

"I don't know, maybe the mask?"

"I'm surprised he even agreed to speak with me." She only knew the man from what little information she had gathered, and from her previous life, but he didn't seem the type to entertain a stranger.

"He didn't."

"Then… why am I here? Why invite me inside?" Kara could see the woman didn't have any animosity towards her, but springing a surprise superhero on someone like The Shade was never a good idea.

Maybe she really should leave, then again, Shade never killed a good superhero before, at least none that she could find. The man seemed to actually admire them.

"He's getting restless again, he thinks I don't see it, but he's been out of things for more than a decade now." O'Dare offered her a chair and sat in front of her at the table. "If he's gonna go out there again, I'd prefer he gets to adventure for the good side this time."

"So he is immortal then?" She asked in curiosity, trying to confirm if her information about his actions was correct.

"I don't know, but he hasn't aged a day since we first met." She sighed and supported her face with a hand. "It's hard, aging and watching him remain the same."

Kara didn't know what to say, then the room suddenly became a little darker, flakes of darkness started behaving as if they had mass, gathering in the shape of a man in the middle of the room, finally, The Shade teleported inside, his eyes hard as he stared at Kara with barely contained malice.

Then he looked at O'Dare and seemed to understand the situation, he sighed causing Kara to relax the grip she had on her teleport device.

Richard Swift looked like a slightly pale, but not unnatural 40 years old, he was well muscled and his hair was darker than any Kara had ever seen, his eyes filled with affection, and frustration, as he looked at his lover.

He was only wearing an overcoat over a simple black shirt and didn't have his signature top hat or cane, but Kara's eyes caught the sight of tendrils of darkness quickly retreating down his coat and out of view.

"I see you're having guests today. Hope, you should have informed me."

"Would you have come?" she huffed.

"For you my dear? Yes." He sighed and took off his jacket. "I feel more and more alive with every second I'm with you, I wouldn't pass it for anything."

He bent down and gave a light kiss on the woman's forehead before elegantly sitting down at the table with them.

"I know you've been itching to get out, to have fun like you used to do in the past." She glared at him.

"Hardly like I have done in the past, no. I was thinking of acting as a metahuman in another five or six years, one of the ones whose powers change their bodies, they're such convenient justification." He replied with amusement and turned towards Kara. "What do you think, white skin and black eyes to go with the shadow motif? I don't think I have clashed against any of this current Justice League yet."

Right before Kara's eyes Shade's skin lost color, darkness filled his eyes and it consumed even his eye sockets until they became round circles with red dots in the middle, his hair was covered with shadows and his cheeks sunk into his head until he resembled a skull.

"See, I knew you were eager to start your little games again!" O'Dare accused and with an amused laugh, Shade reverted back into his original form and combed his hair back.

"I can't deny that." He said and adjusted his perfect posture. "I thought I'd handicap myself, not use constructs very well and limit my portals to a certain weight or size?"

"How about a different game then?" Kara interjected, if she could get him interested… "I'm creating a team to fight against certain villains. They call themselves The Light."

"Ra's little group, yes. I'm aware of them." He told her and appeared to consider it before smirking. "It's just not the same… facing against a hot blooded hero, one filled with conviction and an iron will… I miss that."

"Well, the team isn't exactly supposed to be well known so, you can still play with the heroes if you want?" she offered. She didn't really want to condone villainy in any form, but The Shade always seemed to take it easy when playing around, and it could make for good training for Kori and the sidekicks.

The Shade looked towards his lover and O'Dare laid a hand over his own, nodding her head with a smile, he smiled back. "I suppose it could be interesting to fight without restrictions for once, and Ra's little group includes many who could face me even at full power. Do you have a way for me to contact you?"

"Here," Kara tossed him another of her drones, "You can get in contact with me by just squeezing the metal ball."

"Very well, I suppose our meeting here is concluded?" He asked and, after Kara nodded, got up and offered O'Dare an arm. "Come my dear, you did offer me a relaxing walk in your company, didn't you?"

Kara went out of the loft and watched as shadows covered the couple, then it dissolved like ashes, leaving no signs of where they had gone. Not believing her luck she deactivated the beacon once again and flew back to Fawcett City.

The Shade was a little more cold blooded than any of her other candidates, and perhaps a little too much even for her goals, but he also had standards, and she may need someone of his caliber to take on the Light.

She arrived home and, seeing as there was nobody inside, took a quick shower before going directly to work. Using the Kryptonian crystal in her bedroom as a computer, she searched the internet for information on Detective Chimp.

What she found was… promising. He was far less known than Batman but, amongst certain groups, there was serious discussion about whether he, the Bat or the Question was the best detective.

It quickly became clear the chimp was a hopeless alcoholic, sometimes incredibly rude, but also incredibly competent and trustworthy. Not ideal, but workable.

It also seemed like he was actually more experienced than Batman in dealing with magical mysteries.

Coupled with the Bat's support, Kara decided to give a little more trust to the ape.

Her computer had also managed to get the information for several addresses for people she had flagged as interesting.

Victor Stone was still a kid, Ted Kord was a business magnate with no interest in heroics, Maxwell Lord showed no signs of supervillany… yet.

More importantly, she had found the location of the Tower of Fate. Doctor Fate was an essential force of the universe, a natural enemy to Klarion, and, in the worst case, someone capable of helping Match.

Plus, Kara couldn't help but want to ask a few questions about her own state of being from the Lord of Order.

She also found the address for the future Elongated Man. The guy actually lived in the same city as The Shade.

A pity that he was still just a kid, his ability to shape his body was second only to a Martian, and the Plastic Man. Perhaps she could get Plastic Man involved instead, he still wasn't a member of the Justice League, right?

Still, there were a lot of names she couldn't find and she had no way of knowing if it was for lack of information or just because they didn't exist in this universe.

"Friend Kara, are you home?" Kori called from the living room as she arrived back from her training with Wonder Woman.

"In the bedroom, just a sec." Stretching her back she noticed she had been reading for two hours and decided to take a break.

Turning off her screen, Kara floated up in the air and to her feet, she stretched her neck and opened the door with a wide smile on her face.

"Welcome home Kori. How was the training?"

"Wonderful! Friend Troia finally managed to best me in a contest!" the redhead informed her with a nod, "it was a truly inspired match, I am proud of her improvement."

Kori had already taken off her boots and hung a coat at the door leaving her dressed in a comfortable set of shirt and pants.

"So, you don't have anything else to do right now?" Kara asked with some amount of hope.

"I do not."

"Come on then, let's relax and watch a movie or something."

Kara's visit to the House of Mystery, then facing someone like The Shade… it had left her exhausted and she needed to recharge a little.

Having lunch with Kal's parents had been wonderful, but it hadn't been very relaxing for her, always wondering if she was leaving a good impression.

"What a great idea, I will prepare buttery explosive grains while you choose the movie."

"It's called popcorn Kori!" Kara shouted after her and started looking for something to watch on the internet.

Eventually, she decided a silly horror comedy was just what she needed, the House of Mystery had left her rattled and making fun of something scary would help her relax.

Soon, Kori came floating from the kitchen with a bucket of popcorn and sat down on the sofa.

Kara stopped thinking about supervillains, or anything really, she just decided to relax, take the rest of the night off.

Kicking off her own boots, Kara threw herself on the couch, her feet hanging off the side of the sofa while her head tested on Kori's lap.

It made for a surprisingly comfortable pillow.

"So, when is the new sidekick meeting taking place?" She asked as she lifted her arm and stole a handful of popcorn from Kori's bucket.

Kara couldn't remember any of the show's exact dates even if her life depended on it, but she knew the team formed very soon after Kon's rescue.

Now it had already been over a week and there was nothing.

"The Batman has asked us to meet in nine days." she said and lifted her bucket to keep it out of Kara's reaching hands. "I am most excited to start training with them, the joint training with Billy was very enlightening."

Pointing the remote at the TV, Kara started the movie and adjusted herself, turning her face towards the screen and curling her legs until they fit on the sofa.

Kori dove into her popcorn, her nine stomachs working overtime to consume the entire bucket. Kara still managed to steal some every now and then, but Kori ate like her life depended on it, finishing the entire thing in less than ten minutes.

She wiped her hands on a tissue and turned towards Kara, eyes shining with interest.

"Friend Kara, may I perform braiding maneuvers on your hair? Diana informed me it is a common form of bonding between sisters, but I have never had the opportunity with Komand'r"

Kara glanced at Kori's fingers and, after checking if they were clean, nodded. "Sure, go ahead."

She too had never been this close with a friend, it would be unthinkable on Krypton and just… not something she had been interested in as a man.

As she felt Kori's gentle fingers running through her hair, Kara felt the last amounts of tension leaving her shoulders.

Releasing a breath, she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the sensation, the atmosphere. She felt safe, welcome, her body wasn't even hurting that much at the moment.

As Kori separated her hair and started braiding it without much skill, Kara actually fell asleep.

Almost an hour later, Kara woke up feeling better than she had… ever.

Her body wasn't in any amount of pain, she had a sense of peace around her and there was a pleasant scent in the air.

Hearing the TV still on Kara remembered where she was, without opening her eyes she asked. "Sorry about sleeping on you like that. How goes the movie?"

"I do not know, I dare not open my eyes!" Came the squeak from above her causing Kara to glance up.

The movie was right at its climax, with zombies running after the main characters and tension filled music.

Kori had a hand over her eyes and her shoulders were stiff with tension while her other hand gripped the sofa's arm, almost pulverizing its wooden frame.

Kara wanted to laugh out loud at the sight, but instead she carefully grabbed at one of her new braids, one of the more well made ones.

Slowly, she brought the end of her hair up and towards Kori's trembling face, then she tickled her.

With a scream, Kori jumped into the air until her body hit the ceiling, her movement throwing a laughing Kara to the ground.

The shining green glare she received back only made Kara laugh harder.

Kori attacked, her fingers finding purchase under Kara's clothes and starting to tickle her.

Oh, it was on.

Fifteen minutes later the both of them lay on the ground breathing hard and the house was a complete mess.

They had managed not to break anything, but it would still take quite a while to put everything back into place.

Kara's hurting lungs took a little bit of the joy away from her, but not much, and she still had a huge smile on her face when Kori floated up.

"Humph, now I will have to take another shower." She complained, but there was no bite to it. "I shall forgive you if you assist me to put everything back into place"

Kori extended a hand to help her up, which Kara ignored.

"Don't wanna." Kara denied, the carpet was incredibly comfortable and she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep again.

"Kara Zor-El!" Kori scolded, causing Kara to release one last snicker and float up to her feet.

"Fiiiine." She said to show how reluctant she was, but, when they started working together, they finished surprisingly fast.

When they were done, Kori took her shirt off revealing her white bra and sweat filled chest, Kara gulped and averted her eyes, not wanting to perv on her best friend but, after she turned around and started walking towards the bathroom, she couldn't help staring at her back as she went.

Unlike Kori, Kara had better resistance even wounded, she hadn't managed to sweat quite so much and decided to take her bath in the morning.

With a happy smile, she went to sleep.