Chapter 3 - Rewrite

Kara was lying on the couch with her new notebook on her lap, searching for everything she could find about her cousin and Earth's other heroes.

Thankfully, she had already dismissed concerns of an Injustice or Justice Lords's situation; she also wasn't in any DC movie universe she could recognize.

In fact, the Justice League had been formed for quite a few years already and had a very diverse cast of heroes. Kara also wasn't in the DCAU; the Justice League's holster was both too big for JL and too small for JLU.

Her cousin seemed to be a well established hero, having been active for a long time now. People on the internet suspected he was around 30 to 35 years old.

Kara did find a Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet as a reporter and a Lois Lane acting as his partner, or well, more like the other way around.

With Flash and Lois still alive, Kara wasn't really concerned about his mentality, she just… didn't know how to approach him after so long being absent.

Instead, she had spent her time establishing herself in the city. Kara had broken off pieces of her gold bars and sold them to different pawn shops for some immediate cash, then rented a loft for her and Kori to stay at, before getting some new clothes for them both.

Kori really came to like Amber. They both hang out together a lot of the time, having even bought some bad superhero costumes so they could go out dressed like that despite Amber's shame.

With the bad costumes, they could say they were cosplayers whenever Kori's skin color and hair were questioned. It worked surprisingly well, or at least seemed to, since Kara couldn't find anything about her on the internet and no hero or villain had turned up on their door yet.

Kara had already spent a lot of time searching the internet for the known identities in the DC universe. Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen, Wally West, Selina Kyle, Lex Luthor and many others… Not that she could remember everything about every character from DC, but she did get a general idea of how things were.

Closing her notebook, Kara left a message for Kori and put on some party clothes. Opening the window, she flew towards Gotham City.

Kara wanted to get herself fully established before contacting her cousin and the Justice League. It would just feel better to cover all her bases and make some alternative options for herself. Far too many people knew her cousin's weakness for her liking.

Using her improved senses to make sure she wasn't caught by anyone of the bat family, or one of his many deranged villains, Kara dropped on an alley and patted down her clothes, making sure they were all in place. She was wearing a skin tight pair of jeans with knee length boots, a white tank top showing her midriff and a leather jacket.

Approaching the bouncer, she gave him a smile and he waved her into the Tin Roof Club without even checking her ID. Sometimes, it paid to be a very hot woman. She'd never have gotten away with this in her previous life.

The club itself was full. Kara had to distract herself from her hearing so she could withstand the loud music. She walked aside, freeing the club's entrance and then searched the room until she found Selina Kyle.

Even hotter than on her pictures in the internet, the Woman was acting like a bartender at the other side of the room. Kara could definitely see how Batman kept letting her escape.

Probably a case of: hate letting her go, but love watching her leave. The woman wore leather very well.

Squeezing through the full dance club proved very easy when one had super strength. Even if she had to slap a few male hands away, leaving them with painful reminders to mind their manners or push away some females until she arrived at the bar.

"Hey Baby, wanna have some fun?" Asked a young man sitting at the bar, the guy was a little too drunk for his own good. Kara just shook her head, but the inebriated idiot didn't take the hint and tried to warp an arm around her waist. "Come on, don't be like that."

Holding his arm with one hand, Kara grabbed him by the shoulder and pinched him painfully before lifting him from the chair and looking him in the eye. "I think it's time you went home, Romeo."

The guy just grimaced, nodding his head furiously until she released him.

Kara turned to see Selina giving her a curious look. She sighed. "I don't mind the looks or pickup lines, but touching without my permission is a big no, no." Taking the guy's place, Kara sat down at the bar and smiled. "Give me a neat Johnny walker."

"You sure you're allowed to drink?" Selina asked, but she was already grabbing a bottle and glass.

"I'm much older than I look."

Selina raised an eyebrow and challenged. "And If I asked for some ID?"

"I'm afraid I don't have one of those, not yet at least."

Selina's face became far more serious at that. She poured the whiskey and handed Kara the cup, but narrowed her eyes and took some distance. "I think you're in the wrong place for that kind of thing."

"Oh, I don't really need or want an ID right now." Kara took a sip of the drink and grimaced. Her Kryptonian body stopped the drink from affecting her in any way, a true pity. "But, I do come with an offer you can't refuse."

"I don't know what you mean." Selina's voice hardened.

Kara's enhanced senses caught the barely concealed tension in Selina's every muscle and she snorted. "Sorry, sorry, I just always wanted to say something like that. Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

"What makes you think you could?"

"Oh I could, I really, really could, but I won't. I don't want my cousin to get mad at me when we finally meet." Kara looked down at her glass of whiskey and sighed at the tragedy. She would never be able to enjoy a good drink again. Draining the glass, she continued. "What I really meant was, I have an offer you won't refuse, particularly since money is not a problem."

"I believe you." Selina relaxed a little and just stared at her for almost a full minute, clearly still out of balance at a stranger knowing who she was. "I don't usually take jobs from anyone. It's more trouble than it's worth, but you got me curious and that's always been a problem with a cat. Stay here after the club closes and we can discuss things without any interruptions."

"Great, don't worry you won't regret it." Sliding her glass back to Selina, Kara got up from the bar and joined the dance floor.

As a man, she had always though she looked stupid dancing, but she did enjoy the attention she was getting. Kara spent quite a few hours just enjoying the music, changing partners from time to time.

She was forced to give painful pinches when some guys got a little too happy with their hands, one even got a very painful and private lesson when he insisted, but Kara did enjoy her time, dancing with girls as often as guys until, finally, her chest started to hurt and she was forced to sit down despite not even having started to sweat.

She'd really have to spend more time sunbathing.

Half an hour later, the club started to empty out. Selina finally joined her in the private stall Kara was occupying, leaving an employee to finish dealing with the bar. "I'm surprised a little dancing wiped you out already."

Turning towards the woman, Kara tapped the flower designs on her eyepatch. "Don't tell anybody, but the eye is not the only thing I'm missing."

Selina looked her over, but didn't seem to notice her prosthetic leg, still she nodded. "I see… still, I have to say, you're acting awfully sure of yourself for someone without a reputation to back it up."

"Let's just say, I'm new around here." Kara made some small talk; she didn't really mind revealing things about herself. The only thing anyone could really use against her was her cousin and, well, she'd like to see them try. "Truth is, I was supposed to come years earlier, but I had an accident and couldn't make it in time."

"Must have been some accident then."

"Yes, a vehicle collision, I almost died."

"Club is closed, boss, do you need me for anything else?" Asked a giant of a man.

"No, thanks Roberto, you're free to leave." Selina waited until the man locked the club's door behind himself before leaning over the table, her moves becoming more fluid and predatory. "Now, tell me, what is this… job you're offering me?"

"Have you ever seen Hawkwoman and Hawkman's maces?" Selina just made a motion with her hand indicating for Kara to go on. "You may not be aware, but they're made from a very rare and valuable metal called Nth metal. It's originally only found on their home planet but, over the years, various small amounts have made their way here to Earth. I need you to find and retrieve at least 200 grams of said metal."

"Hmm… and I suppose you don't know where I can find such metal?" Selina asked while tapping her nail against the table.

"I have some ideas, but nothing certain." Kara thought about things and tried to remember anything else from the comics. "It's quite possible there's an entire Thanagarian ship buried down on Egypt. It would be full of Nth metal, but I don't know its exact location, it should have crashed there thousands of years ago. Batman also has several knuckled made from the metal in his cave and Despero used large amounts of the metal when he fought the entire League some time ago. After that, the most likely place would be in the hawk couple's houses and their maces."

"You're not asking for much, are you?" She mocked sarcastically. "Dealing with members of the League isn't easy."

"I understand, that's why I'm willing to offer almost anything for it."

"Why almost?" Selina wondered out loud while dragging her nails on the table and narrowing her eyes.

"As I said before, my cousin wouldn't like me killing anyone and I don't really want to disappoint him but, short of that, any favor you ask I could probably do." Kara thought about it a little before completing. "And, as long as you accept precious metals, I could pay any price you want."

"Hmmm… this metal must be very valuable then." Selina wondered out loud.

"It's not the rarest, nor the most powerful, but yes, it is very valuable." Kara leaned towards Selina and used her own nail to tap the surface of the table, leaving holes that went all the way through. "Let me be clear here, Selina, when I say I will pay any amount of money I really mean it. No need to offer it to others, no need to search for its true value. Just say your price and I will pay it."

"And if stealing it earned me some trouble?"

"I'll back you up. Don't worry, short of provoking Black Adam himself, I should be able to deal with anything and, worse comes to worse, I can ask for my cousin's help… or leniency."

"You'll understand if I take some time to decide if I want to take this job?"

"Of course, just try to not take too long." Kara replied and pulled out a small piece of paper with a pen from one of her pockets, writing her number on it. "I guess we're done here for now?"

"One last question if you will, that's some claim you're making and I can see you're strong." Selina stared at the small holes in her table. "But, how can I trust you're that much of a heavy hitter?"

Kara folded the piece of paper with her number and threw it at the table with a smile. She knew what she was about to do was a little over the top, and probably revealed more than she should, but she was in a world which had become a comic book in an alternate reality, she could indulge. "Oh, I'm sure you're aware I'd prefer to keep this between us Selina, but I think I can convince you."

Slowly, Kara floated off her seat. Her single eye glowing red with ominous heat, she turned her head up and shot a heat ray towards a window, melting the glass completely before flying out through it.

With tremendous speed, Kara rose up into the sky, using the cover of darkness to hide her body, almost out of the atmosphere; she made a parabola towards the European continent.

Kara had planned to spend quite some time exchanging her gold in pawn shops all over the world for some time now and, after her meeting with Catwoman, it was the perfect moment.

Since she could fly to anywhere on the planet, the fact that it was night wasn't an excuse to stop.

When she finally found a city where the shops were already open, Kara was in England, which was very convenient; she only spoke two earth languages right now.

Kara spent the next three hours going from pawn shop to pawn shop, selling pieces of her gold in every city she could. Eventually, she got fed up with the activity, there had to be a better way to do this, but she hadn't thought of it yet, not without getting in contact with worse criminals than Catwoman and she wasn't willing to do that.

On her way back, Kara couldn't help but be happy with her work. Hopefully, Catwoman wouldn't take too long to get back at her and, although she had only gotten a few thousand from each shop, she had gone to enough of them to gather almost a quarter million. It was more than enough for her expenses for the next month.

It's really a pity that people who accepted getting paid in gold were usually on the wrong side of the law; things would be so much simpler if that wasn't the case.

Arriving back to Fawcett City, Kara committed her first mistake, she let her guard down. The entire time, she had been flying under the radar, keeping her senses focused so she could avoid anyone getting a good look at her while moving too fast for most people to even see her figure, but she was almost home so, she relaxed.

Kara collided with a wide chest floating right in front of her, bouncing off and almost hitting a building before recovering her balance.

Captain Marvel stood in front of her. Almost two meters tall and with a wide chest, the brunette looked to be around twenty five, with perfect hair and well defined muscles filling his skintight red outfit, a white cape hanging over his right shoulder.

He looked hot as hell and, for a moment, Kara hoped this version of him was already grown up but, since she hadn't heard anything of the marvel family, she didn't find it very likely… a pity.

"Ahem, hello there." He said with a charismatic smile. Kara could even see the shine in his teeth.

"Hi….?" She made the greeting sound more like a question before looking around. "I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?"

"Ah no, no, you've done nothing wrong miss." He said embarrassed before scratching at his neck. "It's just… I don't see someone flying in this city everyday."

"Oh really?" Kara answered and leaned closer to the man before lowering her voice. "Are you making a pass on me?"

"No! No, of course not! Ah, not that I wouldn't… And you are very beautiful… Ugh, that's not what I meant." He floated back, his face going red as an apple as he desperately tried to justify his actions and immediately looking several years younger. "I mean… haaa."

Yep, definitely still the kid version, Kara thought and sighed in her mind. With a smile, she laughed at him.

"Don't worry, I was just kidding, come on let's get inside." She motioned for the young hero to follow her since they were very close to her loft. "I don't actually want to draw too much attention and hanging out with a hero isn't very stealthy."

"Of course miss, lead the way." He recovered from his flustered moment and waited for her to gain some distance before whispering to himself. "Stupid, stupid, this is Beautia all over again."

Kara couldn't resist, the best Kryptonian power had to be her ability to mess with people, because she really loved it. "I heard that. You know."

"Ugh." The Captain stumbled in the air, but recovered almost instantly, closing his mouth before he said something else incriminating.

Flying fast enough nobody would have time to take a picture, Kara entered her own flat through an open window and settled down, waiting until Captain Marvel followed her in, looking around himself curiously.

Taking of her jacket, Kara threw herself down on the sofa and opened her boots before kicking them away, revealing her metal leg. "So, what exactly did you want from me?"

"Sorry, I'm really not used to new supers just inviting me over." He said while searching for a place to sit. "They usually just want to kill me, you know?"

Kara sighed. The kid looked so earnest right now, she couldn't keep her distance. Floating up from the sofa she made her way towards the kitchen. "Fine, come on, I think my roommate left some chocolate cake in the fridge."

"What?"

"Cake, you want it?"

"... Yes." Captain Marvel was initially wary of the food, but Kori always took her food very seriously and always bought the best cakes in the city, so he soon forgot about him worries. "You know, this is turning out far better than I expected."

"Yeah, I'm not much for starting fights with superheroes." Kara said and pointed at him with her fork. "Besides, my roommate is a fan. She'd be mad if I beat you."

"Alright, so… What are you doing in the city?" He finally asked between bites of cake.

"It's more or less where I landed." Kara poured herself some milk and offered it to the superhero who nodded happily.

"You're an alien then?" He asked while lying back against the chair and wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"Yep, don't worry, I'm just here to meet one of my relatives and won't cause any problems."

Turned out, Captain Marvel was a pretty okay guy. He accepted her answer fairly easily and they spent the next half an hour just talking with each other with. Him telling her about his fights with Doctor Sivana or Black Adam, while she spoke a little about her life on Krypton, without revealing any details of course.

"Hi, Kara, you home already!?" Amber shouted from the entrance. "Ouch, watch it, Kori!"

"I am sorry, Friend Amber." Kori floated towards the kitchen, her arms filled with grocery bags, and then she froze, her eyes going impossibly wide while looking at Captain Marvel. "X'hal's breath! I am your biggest fan!"

Kori flashed in front of the Captain and proceeded to fly around him like an over excited bee. "Curiosity abounds! Please, who is your greatest enemy, why do you call out Shazam, who is stronger, you or Superman, do you like cookies, may I have an autograph?"

"I… Whoa, that's a lot of questions." He said to try and buy himself some time while the orange girl continued to buzz about.

Kori threw the shopping bags on the kitchen's counter, spilling out an intimidating assortment of snacks before grabbing a bag filled with cookies and dragging the Captain by his arm, surprising him with her strength. "Of course you like cookies, what kind of terrible creature would not, yes? Please, have you ever eaten the strawberry flavored ones, the geniuses of your Earth knows no bounds, to be able to invent something so divine!"

Kara shook her head at the scene. The huge man couldn't resist and was physically dragged towards the living room where a new girlish scream came from Amber herself.

Looking at all the bags, Kara sighed. Kori had probably bought a lot of ice cream again, so she better start organizing things before they melted.

Kara finished putting away the groceries when it hit her. "Shit, I knew the cake was too much."

Flying past a laughing Kori playing arm wrestling with Captain Marvel, Kara dashed into the bathroom without anyone noticing and proceeded to spill her guts out. Thankfully, she remembered to keep her hair out of the way, but her stomach was hurting like hell.

Once again, Kara cursed the Psions with every fiber of her being while spilling what little food she had managed to keep. Really, she was very thankful that Kryptonians under a yellow sun ate more out of habit than necessity.

Taking her clothes off, Kara took a long bath, making sure to clean her face especially hard. Her missing eye still bothered her and she knew she should make a prosthetic, if only to fix her problem with depth perception, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Somehow, a missing eye was harder to face than a leg.

Using one of the Psion's medical devices, she made sure to check her health to see how the constant exposure to the yellow sun was affecting her. The device was far too primitive to truly diagnose Kryptonian DNA, but it still gave her a base to work from.

Kara sighed; her missing limb and eye really had stopped healing. It seems like even the effects of sunlight had limits and her body had reached them. At least her insides were still recovering, if slowly. Kara felt slightly better every day that passed, but it would still take a long time until she was fine.

In a bout of anger, Kara almost punched the wall, but managed to stop herself and take some deep breaths. The Psions were gone, she was on Earth, she was safe... she was safe.

Kara finished her bath and put on a robe before briefly glancing at Captain Marvel, The hero was still being bombarded with questions by Kori and Amber. Kara smiled, both Kori and the Captain seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Too tired to interact with them, she went to the bedroom and took the time to check her phone. She knew Catwoman wouldn't have called her so soon, but she couldn't help but hope.

Nth metal would fix a lot of her problems.

Throwing herself on the bed, Kara knew she should get changed, but she just didn't care, before long she had passed out.