LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 32.1
Lois Lane was a shark of a reporter. Her words could cut deeper than most swords and her sharp wit was intimidating, so it was with an enormous smile that Kara watched her pester Luthor about his company’s shiny new set of lawsuits.
The camera zoomed out of Lois’s face and Kara could see Kal’s own amused smile at her side. Her cousin was enjoying Luthor’s squirming, a lot.
“I want to reiterate that LuthorCorp is doing its best to cooperate with the government in order to investigate all allegations.” The bald man answered smoothly. He wasn’t showing many outward signs of the pressure to the point where, if Kara wasn’t a Kryptonian, she wouldn’t be able to see the bags under his eyes. “LuthorCorp has always had a policy of full transparency in our actions and I assure you, I will personally be working overtime to solve these issues. Next question?”
Using the internet, Kara had released a lot of the information she gathered with the Fog, the result was LuthorCorp losing 9% of its value in only a few days, while getting swamped with civil lawsuits, as well as a few criminal ones.
Luthor himself was being investigated for three dozen crimes ranging from bribery to tax evasion to intellectual property theft, but there wasn’t much chance that he’d be getting arrested anytime soon. Still, it was funny to watch the man squirm to solve everything. Despite all his power, his base of influence was crumbling around him and the man absolutely hated it.
Good, Luthor wouldn’t have much time to come up with plans to kill her cousin if he was busy dealing with a company losing money faster than the Flash could run. Time for the political assaults!
With a tap of a key, Kara scheduled the release of some more information in four hours, right when she suspected he would be going to sleep. It was nothing illegal, but documented proof that LuthorCorp outsourced the production of its latest circuit boards to the 'completely legal' internment camp in China would hit him hard and probably cost him the Ferris Aircraft contract to WayneTech.
Turning away from the TV, Kara continued tapping at her portable computer, putting the finishing touches on her adaptation of the Fog. The tiny robots had limited use as they were, but she was still recreating them with Kryptonian modular crystals.
They wouldn’t be able to form her sturdiest devices, but it would speed up the formation of delicate tech and improve her hacking ability… if she didn’t care that it made her actions obvious.
“Friend Kara, you are supposed to be relaxing!” Kori scolded as she floated towards her position on the couch.
“This is relaxing; I’m genetically engineered to enjoy tinkering with technology, Kori.” Kara answered as she ordered the new Fog based drones into production.
“Regardless, it is your constant surveillance of Luthor’s actions that worries me.” Kori sighed and slowly settled on the couch beside her.
“But hearing the suffering of my enemies in the background as I work is the most relaxing part! Muahahaha!”
“No, Bad Kara.” Kori flicked Kara’s forehead, snapping her out of her laughter.
“Ouch.” Kara deadpanned, rubbing her forehead to get rid of the sensation. “What was that for?”
“Maniacal laughter is one of the most glaring signs of villainy.” Kori nodded sagely as she explained this self-evident fact. “Master Diana has lost many friends when they started showing symptoms that were not addressed.”
“Oof, fine. I have to take a shower anyway.” Throwing Kori the remote, Kara lowered the lid of her notebook and floated up. “Don’t forget we’re going out later, you’d better be ready in an hour.”
“That timeframe will be more than sufficient.” Kori waved her concerns away.
Heading to her room to grab a towel Kara nearly stepped on the pigeon’s decapitated head. Somehow, Dexter had managed to leave her a present without dirtying the floor with blood, too much.
Seeing his curled form on top of one of her discarded shirts, Kara scratched him between the ears, earning herself a purr in thanks. “Good Kitty.”
A simple command caused the cleaning robot to roll out from under her bed and start sweeping the floor. It was a blocky thing, but filled with cleaning tools and a very good AI, using mechanical tendrils to clean the most difficult spots.
“Huh, now that’d be a good use for the Fog. Could I program it to consume only the stains and dirt? Would be much faster than the robot.” Kara wondered to herself as she stepped under the shower and relaxed.
Feeling much better after she was done, Kara stared at the foggy mirror. Taking a small breath, she blew a wave of frigid air over the surface, freezing the water on it and waving a hand through to get rid of the resulting ice, leaving the mirror completely clean.
Looking at her reflection, she leaned closer and started poking at her missing eye. Once it had started regenerating, Kara had to take out all the prosthetic equipment to stop the itching and give it more room. It left her with only one eye again, but only for a short amount of time.
Using her improved vision, she could actually see the regeneration, it was slow and would take a week or two, but she could barely contain her happiness.
Despite all her technology, her robotic eye never really reached the level of her actual flesh one. The discrepancy had been a constant reminder of what the Psions had done to her, one far, far more intrusive than just her leg. With it gone, she was feeling much better.
Stepping out of the bathroom she eventually managed to slip into a black jumpsuit that hugged her body almost as much as spandex, with a cleavage that went almost to her bellybutton.
It wasn’t something Kara had even thought she’d be wearing, but Selina was having a 70s party in her club and Kori wouldn’t let her miss it, or go without a costume, and Kara found that it wasn’t that bad.
Plus, she had invited Danette to come with them. The woman had been staying with her brother for nearly a week now, and Kara felt she had given her enough time to take in her situation.
Yes, Danette had discovered she was an android, and found herself more than sixty years in the future, Kara could sympathize, but at the very least it was still the same planet.
So Kara had decided to invite her out. Danette had ‘died’ in 1945, so a 70s party wasn’t exactly her time, but it was certainly closer than 2010 , so Kara thought it was a good compromise between it and the present year.
Stepping out of her room, Kara saw Kori was already ready. Wearing green bell bottom pants and white shirt, the Tamaranean had managed to style her hair in an afro, somehow, a pair of round sunglasses over her eyes and a huge, eager smile on her lips.
“You are looking marvelous, Friend Kara!” Grabbing her by the hand, Kori nearly dragged Kara towards the door. “I can not wait to meet Miss Reilly. Please, do you think she will like me?”
“Calm down, here.” Kara handed a small bracelet to Kori. “I should have made it much earlier, but you didn’t ask and, honestly, didn’t seem to need it.”
Kori put on the device and touched the stone in the middle, causing her skin to ripple and slightly change tone, turning from light orange to olive, her eyes continued to be green, but they no longer glowed. The change didn’t actually make her look much different, but now she could easily pass as human.
“Friend Kara, I did not ask because I do not actually mind not having a secret identity.” Kori answered, finally dropping her flight and letting her platform shoes touch the carpet. Kara made a guilty face, so Kori hurried to continue. “Do not worry, I know it makes you feel better, and I have nothing against it either. It is merely something I do not commonly think about.”
Kara stared at Kori’s concerned face, giving the Tamaranean’s hand a squeeze, she smiled. “Thanks for doing it then.”
Activating her own disguise, Kara only masked her missing eye with a hologram. Walking around with an eyepatch was cool and all, but it did draw a lot of unwanted attention, and Kara was being more careful about that nowadays.