c24

March 15th, 2010

Mars' orbit, L2

Mobile Space Station Odyssey

Hangar

I dropped my Glamour, dismissed my Asgardian armor and landed in the Hangar with all the Rogues. The boys all watched around them, some of the Kryptonian fighters and scoutship were already built thanks to the drones working in tandem. MACHINA has seriously updated the spaceships with the Kryptonian technology at her disposal. Crystal spaceships? It reminded me of the Minbari from Babylon 5.

The ships used a gravity drive to propel themselves and they also possessed some kind of gravity manipulation conferred by the crystalline engine employing a weird type of technology MACHINA had come up with: Neural-Physics. Instead of a souped up Phantom Zone generator used as a FTL engine, MACHINA used the Kryptonian tech to come up with a translight engine which was a type of slipspace drive, like in Halo. Kryptonians had to die out for someone to allow them to make a real FTL drive not dependent on the Phantom Zone dimensional fuckery, great.

Anyway, we exited the Hangar, I didn't want anyone to go check the scout ships. We took the nearest teleporter and we ended up in the park that was now looking greener; something told me that Pamela was speeding up natural growth of plants by her mere presence on the station. "Welcome to Odyssey everyone."

I turned toward them and grinned; all of them looked at me as if they had seen a ghost. Only the bravest of them all dared speak.

"Shit, we've been abducted, boys." Captain Boomerang quipped with a nervous laugh.

Doctor Alchemy, emboldened by his companion added, "So she's a Green Lantern magical princess alien?"

The other men snorted at the Doctor's comment; in particular Top who said, "That's new."

"No, sounds like a Mary Sue from a fanfiction." Captain Boomerang said. He was lucky that I had control over my Stellar Energy Vision. Just one glare could kill, but I wasn't going to control this gathering of misfits through force.

Captain Cold of course had to be a dumbo. "Where's my sister?" He stood before me, in my personal space with a glare of his own.

I raised a hand and patted his cheek. "Calm down, Herr Snart."

He batted away my hand but hurt himself when it was his hand which must have been like hitting a steel beam. I smirked at him. "Silly human."

MACHINA whispered into my mind that Lisa was hiding in the park behind some recently grown bushes and watching us. The silly young woman needed to be right here with her brother. I breathed in and shouted, "Lisa Snart! Come here and tell your brother to behave!"

"Eep!" I heard a feminine voice from the verdant growth from the right ten meters from us.

A young looking blonde in her twenties ended up landing on the ground between us and the bushes. Pamela must have gotten her into the regen-tank, because she looked like a porn actress, big breasts, hourglass figure and long blonde hair reaching her ass. She wore one of the basic soft-suits that I shared with the people of the station, but it was white and it fitted perfectly with her skin tone and hair.

"Lisa!" Captain Cold ignored his hand that he must have sprained against my arm and helped out his sister.

The girl tackled the man. "Big brother!"

They stayed on the ground, hugging. Lisa must not have realized that her strength was enhanced, because Captain Cold became bluer suddenly.

Pamela and Harley arrived right behind me and the boys looked at the two of them, then at me.

"Damn, why are all the women here looking like Goddesses…?" Captain Boomerang commented idly. Mirror Master's eyes stayed glued on the form of Lisa Snart.

Lisa finally let go of her brother who could finally breathe, he saw what she was wearing and took off his winter jacket and gave it to his sister. He then proceeded to glare at the men looking at Lisa's ass.

The young woman made a provoking smirk at her brother, knowing exactly what she did. The Captain grumbled, "I heard that you were cured?"

Lisa beamed and pointed a finger at Pamela. "Yes, Doctor Isley is the best Surgeon and doctor aboard the station. Better than those quacks from Earth!"

I corrected her. "That's unfair to say, Friend-Lisa; your Homeworld's medical practitioners are just too primitive to be able to operate on delicate organs such as brains."

Everyone looked at me, and Doctor Alchemy was the first to say with an amused tone, "Is this alien superiority I sense in your voice, Lady Miracle?"

I don't know why everyone suddenly thought that I was a speciesist…

~/.\~

(Lisa Snart)

Residencial Deck (15)

Family Quarters

30 minutes later

"Lisa, please tell me everything." Leonard asked of her once they were behind closed doors in the family quarters designated to them.

*Harley, MACHINA and Komand'r were right, her brother was a paranoid man…* Lisa thought as she remembered what her new friends, those who saved her life, had told her.

Previously, Lisa had been looking forward to getting her kabosh operated on because she had stage 3 brain cancer and half a decade of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. But instead of that, some alien princess kidnapped her and cured her of it; not for free of course! Things were never free in life. She did it because she wanted her brother's smarts and team of friends to come work for her to apparently stop Superman from taking over Earth and later… the universe.

Well that's a lot of pressure for Leonard. Lisa had never liked the villain scene her brother was delving into, but it made him some loyal friends over the years if the story of the guys banding together to get her back was true. She could understand Samuel, Mirror Master, coming to her rescue as he was her on and off boyfriend. Lisa sat on the chair that deployed from the ground when she pushed a button on the table in the middle of the room.

"Where should I start then, Leo? I mean you know most of my life." She chuckled

Leonard violently pushed the button on the table and sat down on the metallic chair that appeared. He glared at his sister, a bit angry. "This is not the time for jokes! Do you realize we've been taken far away from Earth and are at the mercy of an overpowered tyrant?!"

Lisa snorted as she tried to think of Komand'r as a tyrant. The Komand'r who kept treating her to food and had an ambiguous relationship with Harley and Pamela? The sexual tension between the two women was palpable; Komand'r was too nice to be considered a tyrant, she was a good listener as well and took Lisa seriously. The blonde said with a sarcastic tone to her brother, "And do you realize that there's a powerful alien on Earth who seized power and is now tyrannizing our people?!"

Leonard chuckled derisively, his eyes spearing her. "I didn't think that you cared, Lisa?"

The blonde young woman almost slapped Leonard for that; but Lisa agreed that she was a selfish bitch sometimes. Leonard and their parents had spoiled her and made her what she is; but, being told that you might die from brain cancer in your twenties changed your perspective a lot. Leonard had no idea about what she felt at the moment.

Lisa crossed her arms and her face went slack. "Oh yeah, because I'm such a selfish bitch. I know what others think about me, Leo. Even you."

Leonard had the decency to look away from her furious gaze and her words. Lisa continued, this time with a soothing tone. "I may be selfish, but I can see the writing on the wall, big bro. This situation isn't going away unless we act!"

The leader of the rogues slammed his hands on the table, not happy with what Lisa was telling him. "Did that alien fill your head with bullshit?"

"So you're going to just turtle up and wait it out like usual?" Lisa snarled.

Leonard took on a defiant expression, because it was exactly what he intended to do. "We may have to, fighting the Justice League in their current state is going to get us killed or sent where they send criminals now."

All the cities with heroes patrolling them were now filled with Super soldiers from Superman's armies. Every super criminal was now in hiding, keeping their head down. Those bastards had started killing everyone or even doctored their reports to not take anyone alive.

Lisa leaned against the back of her chair, smirked with a nod and said, "Uh Uh. Don't you think that we should stop running? I know you want to protect me, no… to protect us and the guys; but bro, I'm tired of having to be careful all the time. You know… when I woke up here, everyone was awesome and took care of me and offered to teach me stuff with their learning technology to have a job in the station. There's so many options available to me now, bro. I believe that we should pitch in to the cause as well."

The brown haired man sighed, he hated that his sister was making sense right now. "I will think about it."

Lisa smiled, knowing she had won. "That's all I ask," The blonde stood up and made her chair disappear by pushing the button on the table and looked at her brother. "Here, stand, let's go see the others. I'll give you the tour as well."

She was taking her future role as deck manager very seriously. Leonard let himself be pulled by her rhythm again…

~/.\~

(Ace)

Deck 150

Private research lab

The Princess' workshop

Ace felt the presence she had gotten used to wrap around her mental self. A sure sign that Komand'r was there, she disengaged her mind from the virtual educational space available to her. Ace couldn't get bored, she could read books or watch educational programs…

Already she had learned some engineering, and computer science at college level and undergone weapon training; guns, sword and staff. Ace didn't realize that she was being groomed as a Tamaranean royal by Komand'r who gave instruction to MACHINA to do so.

Ace found herself back in the virtual chat room that MACHINA had shown her how to access. It took on the form of a coffee shop, with AI servers. MACHINA had explained this worked a bit like the holodeck from Star Trek, but Ace had no idea what Star Trek was. The Artificial Intelligence had looked at her shocked when Ace said this and promised her to spend some days in hypertime with Ace to get a full pop culture education.

Ace dreaded this promise, MACHINA could be too enthusiastic sometimes. Ace looked around herself, the template of the coffee shop was randomly generated from Earth's media. The shop had a high ceiling, tasteful wallpaper with a purple and white flower pattern. The tables with chairs were at the front of the shop, while at the counter there were the stools. Some random avant-garde artwork consisting of paintings and strangely designed metallic statues were placed on the walls and between the section dividing the shop.

In the back were the sofa, low tables and shelves filled with books and magazines available for the client. The AI who came up with this model of shop must have used optimized marketing design to build the place. The bell at the door of the coffee shop rang when it opened, and here appeared Komand'r in her usual black and silver soft-suit. She was wearing a circlet around her head this time. She spotted Ace sitting at the end of the shop near a window and floated toward her.

"Hey, Ashley." Komand'r called Ace by her real name.

Ashley Nakamura was her true identity, MACHINA and Komand'r had shown her the files Cadmus had on her. Her family, her age, her medical files. Her parents were killed in the nuclear bombing of Metropolis, so she couldn't go back to them. All she had now was an eager alien princess who wanted to mother her.

"You're back, Kom." Ace said laconically.

Komand'r sat at her side and passed an arm around her shoulders. "I told you that I would be."

Ace could somehow feel her body outside of the simulation her mind was interacting with. She opened her eyes and felt herself floating into some kind of blue liquid. She couldn't move her body though. On the other side of the glass she could see Komand'r, standing, facing her supine body.

The alien princess was smiling at her, she waved and threw her a flying kiss. Ace closed her eyes and focused again in virtual space, she looked at Komand'r who ordered cakes for them. The young teenage girl couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing to me, I feel like… I'm being tethered back to my body and is it me or is it changing too?"

The waitress came with a rolling tray and put two slices of cake and some tea on the low table for the two.

"Do you want the truth or me downplaying things?" Komand'r bluntly asked Ace.

Leaning forward, Komand'r took the tea cup and drank from it while Ace deliberated internally. When the Tamaranean princess finished sipping, Ace asked with puppy dog eyes, "The truth, please."

Komand'r put her teacup on its saucer on the low table before her. "Very well little one…"

The orange skinned beauty leaned against the sofa. "I placed you in a stasis tank when we arrived at the station, to stop the deterioration of your body and, more importantly, your brain. The psionics you've developed were too much for your body to hold. MACHINA and the Medical AI discovered that somehow those crazy scientists at Cadmus have attempted to limit how much power you can throw around by putting some kind of biological limiter on your meta-gene."

Ace cocked her head cutely. "I barely understand what you said…"

She knew what DNA was, but she didn't know what a Meta-gene was. A limiter, was that why she was dying?

Komand'r sighed. "How to say it more simply? Ah, yeah like that! They effed up your DNA, your power was overflowing and your body couldn't keep up with how much it grew and the process was killing you."

This, she understood. Ace wasn't dumb, but there were terms that she wasn't familiar with. She pretty much had the Thesaurus open and looked for the words on her HUD's search bar. "Okay… so now, what are you doing to me?"

"Well, I took my own DNA and now the DNA sequencer that is working on you is making half of you, half of me." Komand'r pointed at Ace, then at herself. "You'll be half-Tamaranean, the limiter that the butchers put on you is going to be removed and you'll be as strong as me." The Princess lifted her arm and flexed it, her biceps hardening.

"Really?" She could already do telekinetic and illusions stuff, but there was a certain satisfaction in punching stuff with super strength and using lasers like Komand'r does.

Komand'r showed her a serious expression. "I don't lie. I can obfuscate or omit information, but I won't ever lie to you." She patted the girl's head.

Ace wrapped her arms around the alien princess, her face between Komand'r's breasts, she asked, "Can I… can I call you, mom?"

"Of course, Ash!" Yet again Ace was wrapped in her warm embrace.

Coming with Komand'r was the best thing that happened to her, better than the time when Batman tried to get her and do nothing about her situation. Ace didn't like him much…

~/.\~

(Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot)

Odyssey mobile space station

Deck 30, Armory and Danger Room

The room looked like a shooting range on one side and on the other it was completely empty, blank white space. A holographic construct vaguely shaped like a humanoid appeared. It was blue colored and transparent.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang!

The recoilless coilgun fired multiple energy charged rounds at the holographic target shaped like a human. The first three shots missed, but the last one hit the target's shoulder who became red colored where it was hit. The younger girl firing the coilgun pistol put a disappointed expression on her face. She had asian and afro-american ancestry, because of this beautiful mix of genes, she could be called extremely cute for her age.

Because their mother disagreed with the form fitting soft-suit that everyone wore on station putting their body on display; and that it wasn't appropriate for little girls like Suchin and Zoe Lawton, Denise Lawton, their mother commissioned short dresses that they could put over their soft-suit to hide their curves or lack there off. Suchin wore a gray robe with orange colored LED lines over her little dress. She loved it because it made her look like a Tron character.

Floyd laughed and patted his little girl's shoulder. "Good shot Suchin."

The nine year old looked up at her father and pouted after putting the coilgun on the stand and taking out the ammo cartridge. She turned to Floyd and said, "But dad, I didn't get the bullseye!"

"But you hit the target, darling." Denise Lawton who stood on her right in her own black soft-suit and red dress tried to appease her adopted daughter. She had black hair, brown eyes and looked a bit mousy.

Suchin then turned to her right to look at her little sister who wasn't given a real weapon, but a toy blaster that fired beams at the targets that looked like ducks flying. The little girl was barely seven years old and a crackshot. Floyd was particularly proud of his girls today.

"I want to be as good as Zoe!" Suchin said in an extremely competitive tone.

Zoe was killing all the ducks, not letting a single one escape; the Augmentation that cured her of her leukemia boosted every attribute she possessed, dexterity, strength, intelligence… the girl could outrun him now. Denise had been complaining that she couldn't catch her rambunctious daughter anymore.

"Don't be like that Su, your sister may be younger, but she just received the enhancement serum…"

"Then when is it going to be my turn?" Suchin demanded as she stomped her right foot on the dark gray deck plate.

Floyd needed to nip this attitude in the bud, the girls staying with Denise made them more spoiled… more entitled. He calmly continued to say. "We're waiting for the people slated before us to pass. Zoe passed first because she was ill, remember?"

Suchin widened her eyes, her cheek reddened and lowered her face ashamed of having forgotten that her sister had been ill for a long time and was saved recently by the Augmentation. "Ah, yeah… Sorry daddy."

"Good, you recognize that it was wrong. Here, get another clip for your gun." Floyd took a clip from one of his utility belt pouches and put it on the stand for Suchin.

"Yay!" The girl raised her fist up and started loading the clip into the pistol like a pro.

Floyd looked at his two girls shooting their guns; Suchin started hitting the target more consistently. Zoe was still hunting ducks, and switched from a pistol to a small toy rifle reminding him of a NERF gun.

Denise stood next to Floyd and asked, "She's really going to get her turn."

The black man nodded. "The Rogues are getting priority on the list because my employer wants them to train for future field operations."

Nothing was said for a moment, the two looked at the kids having fun. Suchin observed weapon safety scrupulously and Zoe switched from ducks to clay pigeons.

"Is it going to be like your previous… job?" Denise asked while sounding a tad vulnerable.

Floyd reached for Denise's hand and held tight onto it. "No, I am done with the assassin's life. The Princess asked me to train the troops, only train. This whole floor we're on, Denise? I'm the one managing it. Komand'r doesn't want me to get out on the field anymore, she said I earned my peace."

From his wrist computer, a holographic screen appeared; he showed Denise the ten gold bars in his locker at home that he received from Komand'r. "Look, I'm already getting paid, when this gig is done, we will be able to retire somewhere tropical and the girls will be able to go to any university they want."

Denise looked at him when he said "we" and looked at the money, then again at Floyd. "This is good, really good."

Floyd smiled, he had reeled his ex back to the fold; when the night came he was busy showing Denise how pent up he was after his two years of prison as he fucked her in a mating press position, it went on all night.

~/.\~

(Nora Fries)

Her eyes blinked open. The cold sensation that she'd been living in had abruptly left her, and warmth filled her body. Her mind was clear and her body under her complete control as she raised her hand in the air.

She looked at the silverfish ceiling, the lights looked strange to her, they were sphere shaped and floating, looking more like an atomic model with the way they orbited each other. The last time Nora was awake she had difficulty concentrating, memory lapses. She even developed moments of involuntary jerking or twitching movements known as Huntington's chorea that she's been diagnosed with.

Then came the bouts of depression – including low mood, a lack of interest in things, and feelings of hopelessness.

Victor, her husband, God bless his soul helped her all through it, even when her illness made her a mess. Nora had severe mood swings, or aggressive behavior over the years as she took it out on her husband.

Then there was what she hated the most, stumbling and clumsiness. Her illness affected her motor control. But now? Now, she felt none of those things; Nora felt as if she was back to being eighteen years old and active. Nora sat up abruptly, the sheet covering her body falling. As she looked around she saw that her husband was sleeping on the sofa near her.

He looked young as well, he was in his twenties. With a full head of black hair and his skin a little pale. Victor was wearing some kind of blue skinsuit that hugged his body perfectly. "Vic?"

The man opened his eyes, looked blearily at her, then his eyes opened in surprise. "Nora? You're awake!"

He jumped from the sofa and caught her in his arms. Nora held onto him, her hands sliding on his muscled back. She felt that Victor was more buff than usual. "Hon, what happened, where are we?"

"I have so much to tell you, so many things happened, my love..." Victor began to caress her hair.

Then he told her everything, his research and the life of crime he had had to resort to to save her life; that he finally succeeded after an alien decided to kidnap the two of them and offer him a research job on this space station. Victor was working in conjunction with Darwin Elias to work on the meta-gene and a terraforming project supposed to help for the colonization of Mars.

Nora was about to say that she didn't believe him, that Victor was too much of a nice man to be a criminal. The man put on a resigned expression and let go of her. He walked toward the wall in the room and pushed a button on his forearm. The wall became… transparent and Nora was suddenly confronted with a lot of red and a tapestry of stars. The metallic arms of the space station were deployed and some ships (?) exited the hangar and nimbly moved around.

"Welcome to Space Station Odyssey, darling." Victor said as he himself seemed to be impressed by the view.

Aliens, Gods, super powered villains; everything Victor told her was real? "So you've been a villain for real?"

"Yes…" Victor looked at her, his shoulders sagging.

Nora recognized this expression, Victor thought she was going to dump him because of what he did to save her life. But she wasn't an ingrate, she had the best man ever who was utterly dedicated to her. To be frank she doubted she could find any other guy who would go over the distance like Victor did for her. "Did you kill anyone?"

"No! Never. I have a code, no killing, no harming women or children." Victor said quickly,.

Nora sighed and exited the bed, she had on some kind of stretchy shorts and sport bra on; she molded herself to Victor who took her instinctively in his arms. She said in his ear, "Then all is good, I can be morally flexible as well…"

She kissed him, and pulled him toward the bed, it was time to show him how grateful she felt toward him.

~/.\~

(MACHINA)

City of Kandor

The Central Tower

The Kryptonian city of Kandor was originally a trading point between the island of Vathlo and the continent of Twenx. From this, it developed into a center of commerce. People flocked to the city from all corners of the map, seeing the city as a chance to gain work and make a fresh start.

The city's organizational structure was dominated by the Guilds: the Military Guild, the Science Guild, the Artists Guild and the Labor Guild. The city is controlled by a council with representatives from every guild except the Labor Guild.

It was such a council that was arguing at the moment, they were paralyzed by indecision about what to do. Their resources were diminishing fast, to conserve energy the city had to restrict the use of crystal technology that consumed a great deal of it. The council had to break out the cache of liquid-geo, a technology from the age of expansion.

MACHINA accessed her Kryptonian technological database and understood why switching from sun crystal technology to this old one created division in the council.

Liquid geo (meaning 'liquid geometry') was a standard, multi-purpose display technology used by Kryptonian culture, consisting of a collection of silver beads that are suspended through a magnetic field and can be dynamically arranged to create a three-dimensional surface that hovers in the air.

It was a technology which had a considerably low energy consumption, but it depended too much on storing the liquid geo. Not everyone in the city would be happy about the change as the city didn't have an endless store of the substance. MACHINA looked for a solution to the city's energy problems, to prevent much discomfort for the 10 millions of Kryptonians.

The Smart AI came up with an obsolete technology: Neutrino-ion generators. She would have to replicate some elements that are not available in this universe to make them possible to use. She quickly generated the schematics and beamed herself down in the council chambers. In a shower of light and code, the curvy and long haired avatar of MACHINA appeared at the center of the room amongst the councilors who were all sitting on their chairs.

MACHINA slightly bowed. "Greetings councilors."

The councilors all stood up in surprise; the leader of the council, Alura exclaimed, "MACHINA, you're back."

The Smart AI smiled."Sorry for my long absence, Mistress Alura; the first princess had to go gather new allies and there wasn't enough time to contact you..."

The usual troll of the Military Guild intervened. "We still don't know who this intelligence is and…"

Rak-An, leader of the Military Guild was at odds with MACHINA which he suspected to be some kind of spy for the Tamaranean Empire who somehow defeated Brainiac and wanted to exploit the Kryptonian survivors. But there were more holes in his theory than in a slice of Swiss cheese.

I was playing the role of a caretaker AI and we didn't need anything from the Kryptonian, Komand'r already had everything they possessed, their technology and cultural and historical database. But she wanted to give them a chance to survive and to become better than they've been before.

Folria Rall-Voth, the leader of the Labor Guild and the second hottest female Kryptonian in the room barked, "Can it, Rak-An your paranoid prattle is tedious each time Lady MACHINA appears."

She was a Kryptonian with tan skin and red hair, showing that her family was from Vathlo Island back on Krypton. From what data MACHINA could access, Vathlo did not join the planetary federation that the Kryptonians formed. People from that island were fiercely independent.

No one trusted the Military Guild after Zod tried to grab power for himself. The power of the military Guild was reduced to the level of a civilian militia. But this has cost Krypton, Brainiac seized this chance, attacked the planet and stole Kandor and destroyed their homeworld.

"He is just doing his job. I would be wary too in his place." MACHINA said to avoid having the councilors argue even more.

MACHINA enjoyed a certain status in Kandor as someone who helped defeat Brainiac; she was respected and lauded by the population when she had shown them on a city wide level the recording of Komand'r killing Brainiac. This has made everyone so cooperative… It did even more good when she started sending supplies of food, water and medicine.

Alura Zor-El, leader of the Science Guild and one of the Lady of the house of El took control of the conversation by saying, "Why did you come today, Lady MACHINA?"

The Smart AI shrugged. "A little bird told me that you had an energy crisis on your hands."

Alura sat herself on her chair and with a tired and weary tone started to explain the situation they were in. "It is indeed becoming worse as the days pass… we're going in the red really soon, I fear that a lot of lives will be lost. Many services in the city depend on our energy stores… I was about to propose a motion to put 95% of the population to sleep in stasis… to conserve energy."

Slam! A black haired woman, with brown eyes and in a multicolored bodysuit and robe slammed her fist against the armrest of her chair. It was Sena Kiv-Vill, the leader of the Artist Guild. "No! There must be another way!"

"Relax, Mistress Kiv-Vill. I'm bringing presents!" MACHINA raised a hand and transmitted the data to the councilors' own personal portable computers.

Alura raised her left wrist, a liquid geo construct raised from the computer module and she began reading the screen. "What is this?"

"Schematics for a generator from an old Tamaranean archive that the first Princess gave me access to." That was technically a lie, but the Tamaranean people did have such technology pilfered from the Citadel and the PSION.

"Ion based technology?" Councilor Rall-Voth guessed just by looking at the schematics, MACHINA was seriously impressed by how smart and knowledgeable the labor Guild Councilor was.

Councilor Kiv-Vill was frowning at the data she had received. "Not just that, it uses some kind of exotic material to generate energy."

But it was Alura Zor-El who grasped how the technology MACHINA shared worked. "Is this a self-sustaining generator that catalyzes subatomic particles to generate power?"

Just like that, the Kryptonian scientist understood the principle behind the technology of the generator she was looking at. MACHINA whistled, she really liked working with smart organics. "Wow, you're not the Science Guild leader for nothing, Mistress Alura."

Rak-An, the military Councilor still stayed skeptical about the technology, it made him ask this question, "What's the theoretical yield of such a generator?"

MACHINA cocked her head as she quickly calculated how powerful this type of generator was. "From my calculations, four of those could have easily sustained your Krypton. It generates approximately 30 Quadrillion GigaJoules."

"Rao!" Councilor Kiv-Vill exclaimed loudly with a hand on her chest.

Councilor Rall-Voth looked at the Science Counselor and asked a pertinent question, "Why did we never come up with one of those, Alura?"

Alura Zor-El fiddled a bit more with the data. "The primary material, this… Naquadah, doesn't seem to exist in our current universe, that is such a shame."

"How do you have access to another universe's material?" The Labor Guild Councilor's mind seemed aflame as she was going through theories and speculation.

MACHINA laughed, those people must have guessed something like we're mining resources in another universe or something too smart like that. Something the smart AI noticed was that highly advanced species had a tendency to be unable to think of simple solutions to their problems. "Well, that's a secret. You're not ready to know yet. But what I can tell you is that we have access to matter-energy conversion technology."

"Rao!" Councilor Kiv-Vill exclaimed loudly again.

"That's…" Rak-An stared dumbly at MACHINA, finally realizing that her Mother and herself were members of a more advanced society than his own civilization.

Alura laughed, as she received this new nugget of knowledge from the AI. "A molecular synthesizer, you have those. This explains why you've been so generous with the resources you've given us. As long as you have energy, you can produce almost anything. What type of energy generation does the station you have Kandor stored use?"

"For now, it's a white hole singularity core." MACHINA reported.

She intended to upgrade to a Zero Point Module later; the quantum foam tap was safer than a singularity core.

The council chambers went silent at MACHINA's revelation, all the councilors looked at her in shock. Krypton was lauded as a super-scientific civilization far beyond that of other worlds, but it seemed they were more akin to a frog in a well who were controlled by Houses that vyed so much for political power that it was detrimental to their civilization; advances in technology were slowed down, and the defense of the planet were impaired by the Science council…

The Science Guild leader, Alura Zor-El, made a self-deprecating chuckle as she said, "It seems Krypton is no longer leading in the field of technology, my fellow councilors. The universe moved on without us."

MACHINA realized that she just burst the bubble of belief in their superiority. It was good, they weren't going to last if they were still thinking of themselves as too good to help others. It was one of MACHINA's objectives, to make the Kryptonian survivors break the isolation they were under. Multiple and far reaching societal changes were needed for that.

To fill the silence and further her plans, MACHINA asked innocently, "I ask myself why your species never developed a more powerful means of energy generation, you know? You had multiple working examples around you, your sun, the numerous singularities in your sector of space, there's even that pulsar near Krypton's previous location. Kryptonians are a highly intelligent species, this confuses me."

Councilor In-Ze looked even more tired as she decided to enlighten their species' savior. "We are, but MACHINA, you must understand that we're still beings of emotion and logic. We're not perfect… Greed, greed was our downfall."

It was Rak-An who continued to speak, not hiding what really happened. "The previous council was focused on developing plasma technology for political reasons, the reactor they came up with was low yield, barely enough to power a city. 1 billion GigaJoules." He slammed his fists on his armrests. "They were fools! Everyone knew that cold fusion or an antimatter reactor was the way to go!"

The military guild Councilor began to cry, tears of rage in his eyes. "It gets worse! To resolve the energy crisis on Krypton, the previous council was discussing harvesting the planet's core the last time it was in session at Kryptonopolis."

Rak-An seemed really passionate about the failures of the previous council; MACHINA made note to investigate him later, he might be a remnant of Zod's rebellion.

"This was a criminal decision, they would have killed us all. The planet's core could have easily destabilized and imploded." Alura Zor-El added. That was one of the reasons she hated politicians, they made a mess of things.

Councilor Kiv-Vill voiced an opinion that matched everyone's. "I'm glad they're dead."

After a moment of silence, Alura said, "MACHINA, thank you for this gift… the council of Kandor will be forever in your debt-"

The Smart AI interrupted her. "My help doesn't stop yet, I will be beaming the materials you need to build the generators. You'll need to be careful with the Naquadria though, it is a highly unstable substance."

Councilor Rak-An laughed and said, "And with this, the crisis is averted. What's next on the list?"

The redheaded labor Guild Councilor took things in stride and passed to the next item on the list of problems the city has. "We have a vermin problem, some Moolrats have been trying to get into the granary. There's the metal-eating Moles who have escaped the confines of the Zoo as well, they are a danger to our infrastructure."

MACHINA looked for the animal that the Counselor was speaking about, they looked like a cute and cuddly brown Mole from Earth, but she watched a video of them breeding en masses and started eating the foundation of a skyscraper, making it fall on itself. They were like a demolition crew!

Kiv-Vill put on a frightened and disgusted expression. "I knew I didn't see things, Lady El! They're the size of small dogs and fast on their feet!"

Alura nodded at Kiv-Vill's outburst. "We need a way to-"

Cough. Again, MACHINA interrupted the council leader and walked toward her, attracting the attention of the others.

Alura shook her head and chuckled as she said, "Yes MACHINA?"

"I have a solution for this as well." MACHINA smoothly said as she raised her hand. Multiple holo-screens appeared around her.

The Science Counselor had expected that. "Oh please tell us what you've got for us."

MACHINA type on the holo-keyboard she made appear, to show the organics that she was working on something as she was speaking. "I've been given permission to fabricate some equipment for you, mainly material to create some simple traps, armaments: Kryptonian Plasma guns and grenades, as well as the old model of warsuits."

At this, Rak-An perked up and began rubbing his hands together. "This will help considerably to stop the threat those animals represent."

They may well be able to capture the animals before they breed with the material help they would be getting, MACHINA counted on it. The Smart AI nodded and clicked decisively on the keyboard one last time. "I have everything already, please step back, I am transporting the current stock."

In a shower of blue lights, containers started being beamed into the council chambers until they formed a mountain that reached the tall ceiling. The deluge of containers being transported in the room stopped when the middle of the chamber was completely filled.

"Get those into the Military and Labor Guild Warehouse, I will beam the rest of the containers in." MACHINA said with a professional tone.

Alura, the Science Councilor felt a wave of relief in her body, she relaxed a bit as she said, "We owe so much to Princess Komand'r."

~/.\~

(Alura Zor-El)

City of Kandor

House of El apartments

Three hours after the council…

Alura entered the apartment unit reserved for her family, the darkness inside gave way when the house's computer detected her presence and lit up the hall. As she walked, Alura thought about the happenings of today; the Tamaranean royal had helped them once again. Alura doubted that they would be able to repay the princess' kindness; it seemed to her that she was doing that because she really wanted to save the Kryptonian species.

The scientist kicked off her boots when she reached her personal study. Her liquid geo workstation lit up and some construct came alive on it. The elongated oval form of the caretaker android of the house of El floated from its pedestal toward Alura and greeted her in a pleasant female voice. "Good evening, Mistress Alura."

The voice was sexier and younger sounding than Alura's and she hated the fact that this android with liquid geo interface gave her a complex about getting older. But it wasn't Kelex' fault, it was Jor-El's in his horny teen period who calibrated her voice box.

"Evening Kelex, could you please fetch me a cup of tea?" Alura asked her robot caretaker as she sat on the comfortable bed that unfolded automatically as its sensors felt the woman coming toward it.

"As you wish, Mistress." The strangely shaped android bowed by dipping its head twenty degrees down and then left for the study.

The blonde then laid on the bed and closed her eyes for over two minutes when she felt Kelex being back. The android had a levitating tray with a mug and a gourd shaped pitcher full of red tea leaves. It gave the beverage an amber color and it exuded an aromatic calming fragrance. A low table appeared next to the bed, it was made of liquid geo.

"Did Zor-El leave any message for me?" Alura asked news about her husband who must be busy researching solutions to Kandor's problem.

"None my Lady, he is currently at his brother's lab." The Caretaker Android reported with a sad tone.

Even though they had secured help from outside, Jor and Zor were trying to not be outdone by the Tamaranean princess who showed up out of the blue to save them. They wanted to not be too thankful to the other space nation. Here again, they were thinking like politicians. "They're still trying to undo the bottling of the city?"

"They won't succeed, it's impossible to escape once you're inside the bottle." A familiar voice assured her.

Alura sat up quickly and scanned the study room, only to see MACHINA's blue avatar sitting on the workstation, feet dangling. The blonde asked with a hand on her heart to calm it from beating too fast, "MACHINA, what are you doing here?"

MACHINA jumped from the workstation and stood up. "I'm taking advantage of the privacy of your home to tell you what's been happening outside Kandor."

"That didn't sound ominous at all…" Alura didn't understand why MACHINA latched on her since they met two weeks ago in the council chambers. She deferred to her most of the time when she wanted to address the council. She understood that the Electronic Intelligence was hyper advanced and worked on a completely different principle than Kelex or any superintelligence that the Kryptonians had come up with so far. To Alura MACHINA was surely a synthetic being, capable of emotions and she proved many times since their acquaintance that she can actively learn from and adapt to situations and events.

The fact that MACHINA came to her for certain topics on Kryptonian culture for some problem solving operation that she was doing on the down low told her that the synthetic girl was working on her own personal projects. Projects that Princess Komand'r wasn't privy to.

MACHINA showed an awkward expression on her face as she began playing with her hands like a teenager embarrassed to speak her mind. "I'm sorry, you're not going to like what I've got to say."

Alura nodded, she felt that what MACHINA was about to say concerned her. "I presumed."

MACHINA opened her mouth and began to speak about the tale of a Kryptonian baby being found by a farmer couple on Earth. They taught him to be hardworking and raised him to know what's good and evil. And the child grew to be a great hero for the people of Earth. Alura understood that MACHINA was speaking about little Kal-El, and for a moment she was proud of what her nephew had become.

But as people prop up their heroes, there are always those who want to tarnish them and bring them low. MACHINA then started a tale about a human male who wanted to see the world burn around him, not caring of the emotional and physical damages he perpetrated. How he killed, tortured and raped at the drop of a hat, nothing was sacred to the 'Joker' a controversial figure that should have been long killed by the authorities, but kept alive for corrupt reasons by rich men in the country where Kal-El operated.

The Joker instigated a plot to make Kal-El kill the female Earthling he had bonded with. The Joker died by Kal-El's hand but by doing so, he was himself tainted by the kill. Losing his unborn children and the woman he loved made Kal-El a monster who took over the planet and ruled it with an iron fist.

With trembling hands, Alura put down her mug filled tea. "This… Rao preserves us. Kal-El turned into a tyrant?"

The woman's eyes were filled with tears after MACHINA finished the tale about her nephew's life on planet Earth. Then she stood up in panic, she didn't hear about Kara at all in this story. *She can't be dead, right?*

"But what about Kara? Wasn't she there to guide him?!" Alura demanded to know.

MACHINA shrugged. "Kara hasn't arrived yet, her ship got knocked off course by the planet's debris when it exploded. At least in most timelines that's what happens to your daughter."

Alura reeled back at the word, "Timeline?"

Suddenly everything made sense to Alura, how the Tamaranean princess' technology was so powerful. Did they come from the future? "MACHINA, are you a time traveler?"

The synthetic teenager shook her head and revealed, "No, I'm a universe hopper, well technically my mother is, I was created in this universe."

Alura sat down, this entire discussion gave her whiplash, she laughed. "This explains so much, your technology being superior to our own, if you're able to take from other universes..."

The scientist didn't dare think how powerful the Tamaran of Komand'r's universe was if they could do all this. She hoped that it was just Komand'r being industrious… and not sharing with her people.

"Are Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van alive?" MACHINA suddenly asked.

*Oh Rao, Jor and Lara are going to be devastated by this news!* They had sent their son to be safe on Earth and instead they unleashed a tyrant on a pre-FTL planet.

They needed to fix this! This realization jolted awake Alura and she stood up with more vigor. "Yes, they live in this complex with us."

MACHINA swore under her breath and facepalmed. "As expected, they're alive… there was an 80% chance that they were. I bet they're not going to be happy." the synthetic teenager looked up at Alura. "Are you going to tell them?"

Alura nodded sadly. "I've got no choice but to do it, my vows when I married into this family are forcing me to."

With a voice filled with hope, Alura asked, "Can you get us out of Kandor, maybe if we go speak to Kal-El he will stop?"

MACHINA sighed. "It is possible, yes… but before doing this, I think we should worry about Kara. My sensors have caught a craft entering the Sol system, the engine's design is Kryptonian in nature and it is using a lower dimensional band outside the normal space/time continuum."

"KARA! This is my little flame bird! I'm sure of it!" Alura became more animated, she attempted to catch MACHINA's shoulder to shake her, but she passed through her.

"Careful there, Alura." The synthetic girl said as the blonde caught herself on the workstation.

The scientist didn't care much about what just happened, what mattered to her was now her daughter, who was inbound. "You must help her, please can you do this for me?!"

MACHINA nodded. "Princess Komand'r wanted your opinion about what to do because her craft is en route. Do you want us to intercept it, we want to prevent Kara from getting her mind poisoned by Kal."

Alura didn't know what to do, she had almost no proof that what the Smart AI had told her was true. But she had no reason to lie, no motive. The blonde woman stared hard into MACHINA's eyes. "Do it."

Raising her left wrist, Alura used her computer and transferred data to the blue girl. "Here are the command codes of Kara's ship… I trust you to bring her back to me."

MACHINA snapped her finger and a hole in space with a blue maelstrom of color swirling inside opened. "I have a better idea, come with me, Alura. We're going outside."

Alura didn't even hesitate, she entered the… portal and felt her entire body stretch and when she opened her eyes again, it was to see Princess Komand'r standing before her. "Welcome to Odyssey, Lady Zor-El."

~/.\~