22

Kord Industries was one of largest tech companies in both America and Europe, which meant that it had a number of facilities across the nation. The facility dedicated to robotics research was located in southern California, on a relatively remote part of the coastline (it was also perched close to the edge of a cliff dropping off into the ocean, because I guess that's just a rule for coastline scientist labs). A good part of the surrounding area was used as a sort of testing ground for the various land and air drones the facility developed. In addition to robotics, the building also doubled as the head of Kord Industries' nanotech research.

A fact which Serling was endlessly miffed about.

"Seriously, you couldn't even give nanotechnology its own building?" Serling said as she walked down the rows of the lab, inspecting the equipment it had to offer. "Bad enough that you barely have a presence in the nanotech market at all, but it also has to play second fiddle to mundane robotics? And you wonder why I keep turning you down."

For his part Ted Kord sighed. "It has some of the best tech for nanotech development in the country, and it's used enhancing said robotics." He said as he gestured to the lab around us. Indeed, the large room was filled rows of servers, tables lined with high end microscopes and nano-tweezers, vacuum chambers, field emitters, and a number of things that honestly just looked like random parts smashed together. "Besides, isn't the whole point of nanotech keeping things small?" He shot Serling a smile, which I swore sparkled. I was forced to admit, between the man's classically American good looks and his A-type work focused personality, the man could have told me he was John Galt and I wouldn't have bat an eyelash.

Serling however was unimpressed, and narrowed her eyes. "Cute, but it doesn't change the fact that you're sidelining one of the biggest emerging fields in technology."

"Sidelining?!" Ted shouted indignantly. "It's a core part of my company! Just because I'm not focusing on nano-robotics doesn't mean it's not important to me."

"You're a generalist." She said with the same inflection that one might use for 'plague carrier'. "You mix other fields together until you get something that works and you sell it."

I rolled my eyes before sliding off the stool I had been sitting on and clapped my hands. "Kids! You're both very smart and pretty, but can we please get to the task at hand?"

Ted gestured. "Certainly. I'm ready to start when our lovely expert is." Serling scowled at him before she turned and started to type at the console next to her, attached to a big row of servers. But not before she shot me a look too, which I think I totally didn't deserve. She was acting like I was automatically on his side.

Then again, that may have been because I technically worked for him. It had come up the first time I met Ted that I didn't have a real identity or job to speak off, and that I wasn't going to be getting one soon due to my condition. At which point He suggested that I come work for him. Not full time, but as a 'Technology Consultant', mostly as a nice legal way for me to be paid for my time, and for him to use any discoveries he made while studying me. I had questioned the legality of a League affiliate being hired for a position like this, but apparently there was precedent for this sort of thing in the League charter.

So, I was employed by Kord Industries, and making pretty decent money for barely ever showing up to work. Strictly speaking I was actually making less money than I used to make as a programmer, but considering all the other benefits of my situation (Mountain fortress room and board, teleportation network, ect.) I think it more than made up for it. That said, my 'salary' was going to shoot up dramatically soon; I had informed Ted earlier how I had figured out how to use my molecular forge to create carbon nanotubes, and he was very interested in hashing out a deal to make me a supplier.

Serling finished whatever she was typing and grabbed a number of prongs similar to the one she had used on me back at the university. "Alright, now that we have… satisfactory equipment, the first to do is to get some baseline scans of your nanites' communication network. The scans you gave me were helpful, but I need to do some poking around myself to get an idea what's going on inside you."

"…Those are never words you want your doctor telling you." I said with a frown, but I stepped closer and let the woman do her thing. In short order I was turned into a high tech pin cushion with half a dozen of those prongs sticking out of various points of my body. While this was going on, Ted had kept himself busy with setting up a couple of scanning devices around me. He had already tried this early when we didn't have Serling to work with but I suppose he thought he would get better data now with the nanotechnology specialist at the helm.

The next two hours were relatively dull, with Serling constantly fiddling with things and typing in new diagnostics into the computer. She managed to replicate her success in 'touching' my mind easily, but she didn't get much farther than that. Every other thing she tried just felt more and more unpleasant, going from tapping, to pounding to scraping across my 'brain'.

"Well, good news…" she said after a while, pulling back from the computer. "I discovered a lot of things that didn't work."

"You really are a scientist." I grumbled as I poked at various science do-dads sticking out of me.

"Thank you," she said brightly, and I was honestly not sure if she actually took it as a complement. "In any case, this has helped me narrow down the frequencies and modulations used by your nanites connective fields. I think I'm also started to see the encryption coding that they're using; quantum waveform oscillation if I had to guess. Similar to what I kludged together for the Fog." She gave me an appraising look. "You said that you didn't get anything when you assimilated them, correct?"

"Pretty much." It had been several days, and I still didn't know what (if anything) I had gotten from the Fog nanites. I half suspected that given how my assimilation works, by physically mapping out the target's internals, other nanites were just too small to copy. But then, I still felt something when I thought about it, scratching at the back of my mind but out of reach.

"Well, if my original assessment is correct, that is because you already have that ability." Serling pointed out. "You just can't actually use it for other reasons."

"Maybe, but what am I to do about it?"

"I have an idea," She said as she rifled around in her bag before she brought out a flash drive. "I needed to confirm just how your nanites were communicating, but since it is similar to what I've worked with I think I now know enough that can try communicating with them using similar coding."

"Hold up," Ted said. "Before you try that, I'd like to give Machina something first." He moved out of sight for a moment before he came back holding a small gunmetal box.

Serling arched an eyebrow. "And just what do you think you can accomplish?"

"Oh, you know, just mixing a few things together to make something new." He said with a grin before he looked at me. "I wanted to see if I could, let's call it, expand your mind." Ted said as he gestured. "If you can't automatically copy in software into your nanites, then perhaps we can give you the ability to do so manually. Your ability to interface with electronics already provides part of what we're looking for."

I nodded as I started to catch on. "You want to see if I can learn how to mentally parse and absorb pure data."

"And then apply it to the hardware configurations you already have." He confirmed. "If this works, there's a good chance you'll be able to write your own programing to shore up any gaps."

The thought made me chuckle a little. "My own Integrated Development Environment, huh? Machina Studios."

Ted chuckled at that as he held out the small box to me. "Well, first thing's first. This is a purely hardware based Internet Protocol Suite, along with a few data parsing algorithms. I'll admit that it was a bit novel to make, but I do not want to have to do this too often."

I perked up as I took it from him. "Does this mean I'll finally be able to connect to the internet?"

"It will work with most ISPs so long as they don't change their handshake protocols too much, but that shouldn't happen for a while." He said. "Just don't get a virus."

I let out a small chuckle myself before I consumed the box. I was still for a few seconds as I let the pattern settle into my body, and then formed the device inside of my head. I made a face as I started to fiddle with it.

"So, any luck?" Ted asked.

"Give me a minute," I replied. "It took me a day to figure out how to turn radio waves into sound, so this might take a bit."

I mentally prodded the device for anything to latch onto before I quickly found the radio receiver and focused on that. There was a clear signal in the lab, and I was getting something from it… After a few seconds I had an idea and formed Amazo's processing system around it. Then, there was a moment of something snapping into focus and-

"Whoa!" I said as my vision filled with white. I blinked a few times and had to focus before the white pulled back and I was greeted with the image of… a search bar. Hesitantly, I focused on the bar and imagined a keyboard. Slowly, letters typed themselves out, and with a bit of mental effort, I found myself looking at the TV Tropes homepage.

"Yes!" I yelled as I fist pumped. "It worked! Kinda!"

Ted made a face. "What do you mean 'kinda'?"

"Well, I'm not exactly surfing along at the speed of thought, but I am connected." I said as I focused on mentally typing out Asimov's name. "To be honest, it'd be faster and easier for me to use a computer manually. But it's a start!"

The man's face twisted a little as he walked over to a laptop on the nearby table. "Glad to hear that, but I was hoping for a little more. I'm going to send you a data packet to see if you can parse it. Just need to find your connection on the network and… there."

A few seconds later I felt… the best way to describe it was as if a droplet of white noise splashed against my senses. It was barely noticeable, and by the time I sensed it the feeling was gone. "That was… odd. Do it again." Ted sent the packet a few more times, but the results were the same. "I'm getting the data, but I'm just not understanding it, even with advanced processes running."

"Damn, I was sure that would work." Ted said as he folded his arms. "Well, it was partially successful… maybe I just need to alter some parameters and encoding…"

"And while you are busy with that," Serling said in a loud voice, bringing our attention to her. "We can get back to the original plan."

I arched an eyebrow. "Which is going to be different from what you've been doing for the past two hours how, exactly?"

"I'm not going to try to send your body a command, it's already proven that it hates those. Instead I'm going to see if I can make it more of a suggestion." She gestured at the terminal screen. "This is the most basic diagnostic algorithm for a distributed neural net I could make. Hopefully this will give you something more than just a 'knock'."

Ted tilted his head to the side. "And why's that going to have more success?"

"Because a quantum waveform signaling is slightly closer to what those nanites use as oppose to binary." Serling remarked as she hammered out a few more key strokes. "Starting the signal in 3… 2… 1."

This time I felt not a knock, but more like a sort of pressure, a flow of water across my mind. It wasn't pleasant or unpleasant so much as just… there. On a whim, I tried to mentally follow the current and-

I drew in a sharp breath as my body started to writhe, my nanites shifting and moving in constant motion. The chittering sensation which had long since faded into the background had come back in force, and my awareness turned inward. I could still perceive around me, but it felt fuzzy and far away.

"Machina, are you alright?" I heard Serling ask, her voice sounding like it was through a filter. "Is it working?"

"I… am not sure." I said with a scratchy tone, looking at my arm as it rippled. "I am aware of myself. Like, more than usual. It's hard to describe."

"Hmm," Serling hummed as she looked at the screen. "Try forming something. Anything."

I held my arm out and formed a laser canon, but as soon as I finished it started to shift and change, its configuration continuously morphing. "That… huh." I said as I started to piece together what was happening. "It's like I'm pulling it apart and putting back together over and over again, looking at each piece and how they work and how they can go together."

"Couldn't you already do that?"

"Not to this extent, apparently. I'm not getting much new though, I've already analyzed my laser cannon quite a bit." Although… if that module can combine with that other module, maybe I could make a variable frequency modulating beam? Interesting.

"Well, then try forming something else." Ted suggested "Something with… I don't know, more potential."

I thought about that for a moment before the answer came to me. At some point I'm going to find other tech as useful as this thing, I thought to myself as the aerokinetic core formed in my chest. Considering how damaged Mister Twister was when I consumed it, there was a good chance there was more to it I could figure out, even without having all of the control software. "I'm trying something with the core from that wind android I fought a few weeks back." I said, as I felt the core pull apart and shift around, and I started ticking off functions. "Alright… that handles electric potential, that's for pressure differentials, polarizing field, fluidics manipulation- wait, fluidics? Air is a fluid, but… oh you combine it with the pressure manipulator that that gets you-"

Then it clicked. "Oh, that's… so that's how… oh. Oh!" The realization hit me, and the idea crystalized instantly, my face splitting into a grin. "Holy shit."

"What? What is so damn amazing?" Serling asked.

"I figured out a new feature of the aerokinetic core." I said excitedly as I pulled the prongs out of my body, my form solidifying as I did so. Once done I started to hurry to the door. "And I know what I want to do with it. Get the outdoor testing area ready, I'll be back in half an hour!"

"What? Why half an hour?" Ted called out after me.

"Because I need to get an expert first!"

---------------------​

I knocked on the door, and after a moment I got a response. "Come in." Kori said, and I let myself into her room.

The dwelling was an interesting mix of purples and blues, the furnishing and draperies a few decades out of style. The walls had a number of posters that looked to be illustrations from pulp fantasy novels. Kori herself was lying atop a pile of blankets on her massive bed, and I could faintly hear the music playing from the headphones she pulled off her head.

'When I look at you, I see the story in your eyes~'

'When we're dancing, the Night Begins to Shine~'

Kori rolled over on her bed towards me. "So, what is it?"

"If you have some free time, could use a spotter."

Her brow furrowed. "What for? I thought that normal exercise was ineffective for you. Oh, is this a new function you've created?"

"No. Yes. Kinda," I said. "It's something I've just figured out something about the wind tech I got from Mister Twister."

She perked up. "You can now fully manipulate the wind?"

"No. Yes. Well, kinda. It's relevant." I sighed in exasperation. "I still can't make cyclones or the like, but I can configure a cannon such that I take in air and expel it." My right arm shifts to demonstrate, the arm cannon forming several intakes along the length and a semi-angular opening at the end. "Problem is that Newton's Third law applies. The knockback makes it impractical for most situations. But that's not that thing! It's buoyancy!"

"…You will have to elaborate for me."

"Back when we fought Mister Twister, I had wondered just how he was flying, because he clearly wasn't using cyclones or heavy winds to stay up like Red Tornado. It turns out it's because his aerokinetic core allowed him to manipulate his buoyancy in the air, giving him the ability to float, and then he used relatively light winds to push himself around. I can't do that, but I've already been practicing with the other thing, and now I can mix them both together, and I need your help to make sure I don't landscape myself!"

Kori got up off the bed and looked at me warily. "Jacob, what are you saying?"

I grinned, and all over my body, curving panels and control surfaces formed. Air intakes opened up between the panels and several main thrusters took shape on my back. A number of smaller ones were also created at various points on my frame, as well as the secondary ones on my feet and palms. As the aerokinetic core came to life in my chest, I pushed upwards and floated in the air.

"Kori… wanna help me learn how to fly?"

----------------------​

"WOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOO!"

I skimmed low across the ground, ducking left and right between the posts that littered the kilometer long 'obstacle course'. My control surfaces flared as I went into a roll to get through a series of hoops, but as I reached the end I found I had gained more lateral momentum than I intended and was about to scrap into a side wall. I adjusted my back thrusters and flipped forward, hitting the wall with my feet and sprinting forward until I had bled off the momentum and pushed back into the open air. I scraped underneath and overhang in doing so, but I continued towards the finish.

I probably wasn't flying with the most grace, even with this being my tenth time through the course, but I didn't really have time for that because holy shit I could fly!

Though it was some distance ahead, I could still clearly see Kori's fire trail. "Come on!" I heard her call, and I pushed myself a little harder. Under and over obstacles and around bends I flew, gradually getting the hang of manipulating all of my control surfaces and thrusters at once. I needed to use all of them, covering my body as they were, to give me the kind of maneuverability needed to match non-propellant flyers like Tamaranians, and that required some focus. I was doing better with it than I would have thought, but it was easy for me to make a mistake or lose focus on my surroundings.

Which is why I almost didn't notice that I had just about reached the finish line until I was only a dozen meter away from colliding with a stopped Kori. With a start I quickly veered off to the side and towards the ground. My feet made contact and I skipped a few times before I came to a stop. I froze where I was for a few seconds before I thrust my fists into the air. "Woo!"

The Tamaranian floated over to me with a bemused expression on her face. "A little rough, but you are learning quickly." She glanced back to where we had started. "Shall we head back to the others?"

"Sure, we could do that. Or, and hear me out here…"

"Yes?"

I leaned in close… and booped her on the nose. "You're it!" I said, and took off straight up. I just barely managed to hear a laugh before I sensed Kori coming up behind. I made it about 200 feet before cut off my thrust and turned, angling back downward towards the ocean before shooting off again. I cleared the cliff and pulled up in time to skim the ocean, following the curve of a wave with Kori close behind me.

We raced up and down the coast line, weaving around each other in circles and spirals as we avoided getting hit by ocean waves. It quickly became clear that while I was fast, the woman could beat me when it came to top speed. However, I could make harder turns than she could. This usually resulted in her getting close before I juked away at sharp angle.

Unfortunately, as I tried to do so when pulling back towards the facility, I then made a slight error with the aileron on my left shoulder, rolling me a little too far to make the turn. I turned up the one on my right to compensate, but it put me too far in the other direction, and I started tilt downward. What followed were a series of frantic corrections which only resulted in compounding errors, and in a matter of seconds I lost control completely and started tumbling head over heels straight at the cliff side.

"WOOOOOOOOOOHHHHSSSSHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Before I could hit though, I felt something roughly grab my back and yank me upwards, pulling me above the cliff. As I dangled, I looked up sheepishly. "Thank you, Kori."

"Tag." She replied with a smile before she let go, letting me drift away a few feet as she came to a stop. "While you are doing quite well for your first time flying, perhaps you should practice precision before speed."

"Yeah, yeah." I said, and we flew (slowly) back to the staging area where Ted and Serling were waiting for us. We landed on the platform next to them and I said "Well, I'll need some more practice, but otherwise I'm pretty god damn happy with this."

"Nice to know you're having fun." Serling said dryly as she glanced between myself and my teammate. "However, while this is good and all, I still have a number of tests run back in the lab with you."

Before I could say anything, Kori spoke first. "Jacob, it is approaching evening. We'll have to go soon."

I was about to protest before I remembered and nodded. "Right, we'll have to wrap this up."

"But we have so much science to do!" Ted insisted. "What could be more important than that?"

"The team is have dinner tonight." Kori said excitedly. "And it is my turn to cook!"

----------------------​

"Man, your powers are bullshit." Wally said with a frown.

"I know!" I replied cheerfully as the assembled team walked into the kitchen. "Isn't it great?"

Wally rolled his eyes, but he still said "Well, it'll be good to have another flyer on the team."

To my other side Superboy started to grumble, but he seemed to let it go. "So, what exactly are we having?" Superboy asked as he looked at Kori, who was pulling something out of the oven. "No offense, but I still don't know exactly what it was we had the last time you cooked."

"Fear not, for since then I have made study of human cookery!" Kori said as she placed a pie on the countertop. "However, I could not decide on the vast selection of choices before me, so I made everything!" Kori exclaimed as gestured to the countertop, which was covered end to end in… food. I mean, it definitely was food, just slightly odd. "First there is the chicken and waffle lasagna, then the nacho pizza, then the strawberry-kiwi-blackberry-lime-rubarb pie!"

Kaldur made a face. "Koriand'r, I do not presume to know what cooking on your home planet is like, but I don't think you can just mash everything you like together and expect it to turn out well."

Wally on the other hand had a differing opinion. "Clearly you have no taste. If happiness was edible, this would be it!"

Kori perked up at the praise. "Thank you Wally. Though if you don't want what I have laid out, I have also put out the ingredients for sandwiches."

"Oh thank god…" Artemis muttered before she said more loudly. "Yes that will be fine."

The lot of us grabbed something and moved into the adjoining dining room tosit at the table, the team filling up their plates with various degrees of enthusiasm. Artemis, who had sat down next to me, looked around in confusion for a moment. "So, I'm only seeing bread and condiments. Where are-" she cut herself off as she looked at Kori, who was currently making herself a mustard sandwich. "…of course. Never mind." She said with a grumble.

I leaned towards her a bit. "Regret joining our little madhouse?"

(Meanwhile, Kori began poking at the various food topping she didn't have a firm grasp on yet. "What is the tan thing?" She asked. "Horseradish" M'gann told her. The other girl gave it a taste before she smiled and dropped it on to her sandwich.)

Artemis snorted. "So long as I don't have to eat like this every day." She said as she gingerly picked up a slice of pizza. "I don't think my arteries could take it. Besides, my costume would not be flattering if I gained weight."

"Ah, yes, it takes a very specific figure to rock the combat halter-top." I remarked. "Figure or not, you certainly are a firm believer in the power of your uterus force."

("And the green slurry?" "Relish" "Novel, but good!")

Artemis looked at me like I was nuts and said "My what?"

"You know, the energy field all women produce from their uterus. I mean, why else would you leave your midriff unprotected unless you had a strong energy field protecting it?"

Kori perked up at that. "Human women really have a defensive field around their middle?"

"No!" Artemis exclaimed before she looked back at me. "Don't you go filling her head with lies. And my outfit is plenty practical! It's designed around freedom of movement and mobility. Besides, Kori's outfit covers even less than mine!"

"Yes, but A. she can take small arms fire without much issue, and B. she absorbs ultraviolet light through her skin to power her abilities." I cast a glance at the Tamaranian. "To be honest I'm surprised that you don't wear less."

"Mostly because I do not have to." She replied. "The material my consume is made out of is permeable by most bands of ultraviolet, so in effect it is like I am wearing nothing at all. I was told that the fabric is very similar to what Superman uses for his costume."

Superboy grunted. "Cadmus gave me something similar to that, a solar suit that could store solar energy. It got destroyed though."

Artemis paused before she looked back at me. "As I was saying, my costume is fine."

("And the white paste?" "Mayonnaise" "Filling!")

My mouth twisted a little. "I'm just a bit worried is all. Most of the team is super durable. If you get hit by a stray bullet in an area that could have been protected…"

She sighed. "I get enough worrying from my mother. Look, all of my training has been about staying out of the way of incoming attacks, and adding layers of armor would slow me down an compromise that. I know what I'm doing, so don't you go all… all big brother on me."

"I promise nothing." I said. "In fact, it takes every last bit of my willpower not to tussle your hair like the adorable rapscallion that you are." I was still for a moment before I slowly started to reach for Artemis's head.

The girl narrowed her eyes and grabbed my arm, forcing it back down to my side. "Aww…" I said in disappointment before I hung my head.

("What's this?" "It looks like tofu. Not really a topping, but I doubt that would stop you.")

Artemis rolled her eyes before she glanced around the table, her gaze lingering on Superboy before she turned back to me and spoke in a low tone. "So, I was wondering… is-"

The sound of glass hitting the table brought my attention back to Kori, who had dropped the tofu container. She twitched slightly as she pulled the spoon out of her mouth, and it looked like she was fighting to control her stomach. It passed after a moment though, and she noticed everyone staring at her. "Ah," she said hesitantly. "I… don't think I like this."

"Oh, well most people don't eat it plain." Wally said. "Why don't you try it with-"

"No, no, I think I'll let that one be." She said.

Conversation moved back to its normal flow after that, but I kept staring at Kori. To everyone else she was normal, but to my eyes… I had been around Kori enough to see how the patterns of light beneath her skin change depending on her mood. Slow and flowing when she was relaxed, quick and rippling when she was in combat. And at that moment they were flaring erratically with no signs of stopping. There were other things as dinner went on, how she was a little less animated, a little less enthusiastic. A tenseness in the muscles of her shoulders and a slight paleness of skin.

Eventually dinner wound down to a close, and Wally stretched and sighed. "And don't know about you guy's but I think sunset here did a great job." He said, grinning at Kori. "So, we're watching a movie next, right? What have we got, a comedy? That new dystopian-world cop action flick?"

"Nah, tonight we're watching a classic." Robin said with a grin. "The Grey Ghost: Mask of the Wraith."

"That old thing again? Come on, man." Wally complained.

"Hey, some of the people here haven't seen it yet, so we're going to fix that!" The boy insisted as he got up from the table and grabbed his plate.

Kori stood up and took it from him. "Do not worry, I shall handle the cleanup. You can go and start the movie without me."

Everyone gave their thanks and they shuffled out of the dining room, but I hung back. The last one out was M'gann, who paused in the doorway to the room, looking at Kori with concern before her eyes turned to me. A shared look between us told me that she had noticed something was amiss as well. I hesitated for a moment before I gave her a small nod. Her mouth pressed a little tighter, but she nodded in kind before she walked out.

I turned and walked towards Kori, stopping next to her as she stacked plates. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" She said as another dish clacked into place. "Go to the others, otherwise you will miss some of the show."

I leaned on the counter a bit. "You've been keyed up ever since you took a bite of that tofu, like you're ready to bolt. That's kind of an extreme reaction for not liking the taste of something."

Her motions slowed a little before she waved me off. "It… is nothing. Trust me, I'll be fine."

"Oh, I see how it is." I said with mock anger. "Any time you say its fine we can let it go, but anytime I say it…"

"What? No I…" she started, but stopped as she couldn't find the words. She tried to start again a few times, but finally her shoulders slumped and she stared down at plates. A long moment later she quietly said "It reminded me of the gruel they fed me."

It took me a second to realize what she was talking about, but when it hit my eyes widened and I pulled her into a hug. She didn't quite return it, but she leaned against me as she continued. "It was the only thing I ate for years. In truth, I probably ate better than most Citadelian prisoners due to my status, but I hated that slop. I never thought I would taste it again."

"It'll be alright. You'll never have to go through that again."

"I know. But… One taste and I remembered it so strongly. I thought I had put it past me, but I suppose I was wrong."

"Kori, one bad moment doesn't mean that. In light of what happened to you, I'd say you've been doing extremely well."

"But what of you?" She asked. "I have not seen you succumb like this."

I shifted uncomfortably. "I'm… not a great example. It hasn't really hit me yet." This was true. I know what would have to happen before I truly accepted the situation I was in, but it was easily avoided. I just... don't think about it. "Just trust me on this one, okay?"

She made a soft sound at that. "You said I was stronger than what happened to me."

"And you are. Doesn't mean that it means nothing to you."

For a second, she was still. When she pulled back I got a look at her face, and in that moment she looked absolutely miserable. It's amazing how expressive those eyes can be. To anyone else they might have seemed almost solid green, but to me her irises nearly glowed that close up. "I miss my home." She whispered.

My heart ached at that, because there was nothing I could do to fix it. There was little I wouldn't have done at that moment if it meant I could make the woman in front of me her joyful self again. But I had no words, no actions that were good enough. Eventually, all I could say was "I do too." The one thing I could do was be there.

It would have to do. It was all I had.

A small, sad smile tugged at the corners of her lips before she leaned forward, touching her forehead against mine. We stayed like that for a long moment before we pulled apart and she took a deep breath. "Now, let us clean this up."

And so, we finished up and watched the movie. And for then, it was enough.

=====A=====​

So, I debated with myself over whether or not to have that last scene, because I wasn't sure if it was right to have Kori experience a moment of weakness regarding what had happened with her. After all, one of her defining character traits in every version of her who went through that is how well she dealt with it. *Continues shoveling dirt on to Red Hood and the Outlaws* Arguably, seeing as how she isn't human, she wouldn't even experience trauma in the same way.

And yet, I felt it wouldn't do for her to just shrug it off either. For one thing it's kind of insulting to people who have been through similar experiences, and for another I felt it would dehumanize her. Again, I know she is not human, but you never want to do that to a main character without a very good reason. Also, overcoming something shows more strength than being over it, if that makes sense.

In the end, if Jacob hadn't been there, she still would have been fine. She does prefer the company, though.