LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 33.1
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Kara asked as she nursed a cup of scalding hot coffee and attempted to not think about what happened yesterday.
The night had ended with all of them sleeping at Selina's place. For whatever reason, the drunken woman had dragged them all home with her before collapsing on the bed.
Kara had made sure to hack every camera in the club and erase any footage of the night before they left, and now, the next morning, or well, almost evening really, Kara and Selina sat awkwardly at the kitchen table.
"I need your help." Selina said, drinking her own cup of coffee and looking far too good for the night she had. "I'd usually go to the Bat with something like this but, with that whore in town, I guess you'll do."
"You're talking about that Talia woman?" Kara asked, pretending that she didn't know anything about it. When Selina nodded, she continued. "You do know she's staying in Bruce Wayne's manor, right? Not with Batman."
"Bullshit, she's just using our resident man-whore as a shield so nobody can attack her at home. She's after the Bat. She's always after the Bat." Selina took a calming sip of her drink and sighed. "Nevermind the bitch, I need your help saving a friend."
"Explain." Kara sighed, her eye following after Kori as the girl walked into the kitchen, poured herself another cup of coffee, and left to talk with Danette on the sofa.
"Damn, you've got it bad." Selina smirked, but continued explaining. "Alright, you remember that organization I told you about after I did the job?"
"...Yes." Kara said, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Well, things are chaotic in the underworld right now. A few months ago, Ivy had 'agreed' to do a job for someone but, in the chaos, she thought she could get away from it." Selina tapped her nails on the table and glanced at Kara to see her reaction.
"I take it she was mistaken?" Kara lifted an eyebrow.
"Yes, but also no." Taking another sip, Selina laid back against her chair. "With them no longer holding a monopoly on things, Ivy would normally be strong enough to get away with it, but they used her boyfriend as bait and captured her in secret. I want your help rescuing her."
Kara finished her coffee and thought about the situation, 'they' were probably The Light… so they were losing enough control of the other villains that they were getting denied, Kara just bet Vandal loved that.
She tried to think about what The Light wanted with Ivy, then she remembered that Injustice League nonsense… But that was supposed to be months from now.
Well… they probably needed time to plan things, and also to experiment with using Blockbuster and Venom on Poison Ivy's plants.
"So, how did you find out about this? Did 'they' spread it around to intimidate other people?"
"A hero ended up rescuing her boyfriend. The guy got hurt doing it and couldn't save her as well, but the freed boyfriend came to me for help since he knew we were friends." Selina smiled at Kara with an amused smile.
"Not the League or Batman?" She asked, exercising a lot of restraint not to eavesdrop on Kori when she and Danette started laughing in the other room.
"Well, Kite-Man didn't think he could contact them without getting arrested too."
"Wait, Kite-Man? Poison Ivy was dating Kite-Man?" Kara almost shouted, her mouth hanging open. "Rao, I thought she was a lesbian."
"She's actually bi." Selina snickered at Kara's reaction. "Also, Kite-Man got a lot of clout when he helped Batman defeat the Joker. And you didn't even hear the best part, who do you think managed to rescue them?"
Kara thought about it, it was probably some weaker hero or something, but she had no idea who. "I don't know, perhaps some third rater?"
"You can say that again." Selina snickered, then shook her head. "It was actually the Red Bee."
"Don't… really know him." Kara commented. "I'm guessing he can control bees? That's not a bad street level power if used right."
"Well, he can control ‘a’ bee, just the one." Selina snorted. "Calls it Michael and everything. Tried to arrest me once."
“Sooooo, let me see if I got this right.” Kara took a moment to gather her thoughts. “Kite-Man, Poison Ivy’s boyfriend, got captured by someone. Poison Ivy herself was captured when she tried to get him back, then a dude who controls ‘a’ bee rescued him, but Poison Ivy couldn’t escape herself? Somehow, my respect for this organization is disappearing by the second, and for Poison Ivy.”
“Well, in her defense, once they had her, nobody really cared about Kite-Man. They probably didn’t waste anyone competent guarding him, and Red Bee is a good martial artist, he also has something to climb buildings.” Selina stared at Kara’s eye and waited a second, when Kara didn’t say anything, she probed. “So, are you willing to help?”
Kara considered it, she had promised Selina a favor and rescuing someone, even a villain, was a far more acceptable use of her favor than helping steal something or, Rao forbid, actually fight off a Hero.
Kara didn’t exactly care that Catwoman stole things as long as it didn’t hurt anyone, but explaining her reason to her cousin would be a pain. Also, she really didn’t want another confrontation with The Light, at least not for another week or so. She’d been enjoying her vacation, damn it.
With a sigh, Kara massaged her temples, eventually glancing back to Selina. “Alright, do you know where Ivy is right now?”
“Not really, I went after her when I heard about it, but they had changed locations as soon as Kite-Man escaped.” Selina explained while grabbing the table and stretching her back like a cat. “I confess I like hunting as much as the next cat, but it is very annoying when my enemies show signs of competency.”
“Fine, I’ll ask around and see if I can find her. I’ll decide next steps after that.” Kara glanced back at the living room and considered how angry Kori would be if she got into trouble only a few days after deciding to take a break. “Still, if I think it’s too much, I’ll probably be calling my cousin.”
“Fair enough.” Selina sighed and pushed herself to her feet. “Getting arrested by the Big Blue would be annoying for her, but escaping from Arkham is much easier than from other villains. Probably safer too.”
“What makes you think I wouldn’t arrest her?” Kara narrowed her eye at Selina. It’s true that she didn’t care all that much about stealing things, and she even supported some of Ivy’s environmental goals, but there were things she couldn’t ignore. “Ivy kills people Selina, innocent people.”
“Ivy is… complicated, even I tend to stay away from her when she’s having one of her episodes.” Selina nodded. “But Kite-Man was doing her wonders, and she even got herself a good psychologist, some cute blonde that’s helping her out a lot. Besides, the news gives her a much worse reputation than she really deserves, she doesn’t even like hurting people.”
Kara lifted an eyebrow. “Really? That’s your excuse, she’s misunderstood?”
“You do realize she could be MUCH worse, right? Ivy tends to use vines and normal trees to cause property damage… and some poisons. When she’s at her worst, she’ll mind control or even poison people, but some of the plants she talks about…” Selina shuddered. “There’s this ‘suicide plant’ from Australia, or that evil tree you can’t even burn that’s just… ugh.”
Kara had to give her that, she had hardly ever heard of Poison Ivy using the more… tasteless plants out there. Besides, if that whole Injustice League incident was because of The Light forcing her hand, she may be able to turn the Villainess against them.
“Fine, I’ll help look for her and, if I think we can pull it off, I’ll call you for the rescue.” Kara answered, looking at the clock on the wall and pushing herself to her feet. “If you don’t have anything else to talk about, it’s about time I go home. Have to take a bath and see how my cat’s doing.”
Dexter was a fairly independent kitty, and Kara’s cleaning robot had been programmed to feed him and change his water, but Kara didn’t like leaving him alone for more than was necessary.
“Thanks.” Selina smiled at her. “Bring the cat next time you turn up. I take care of a lot of strays, but I’m out of the house too much to have one myself.”
Kara left Selina’s house, followed closely by Kori and Danette. Even in the morning, Gotham City looked gray and had a large cloud blocking most of the sunlight from shining through. Kara enjoyed the club, and she could see some of the beauty in the city, but she couldn’t imagine living here.
The android waited with them until a taxi arrived, then gave each of them a hug. “Thanks for inviting me, I really needed this.” Looking at Kara’s eye, Danette gave her an uncertain look. “Everything just feels so… overwhelming right now. Can you really get Flash’s address? I’d love to talk with someone familiar before deciding things.”
“Sure, I could invite Wonder Woman too, or your younger brother?”
“No, I admired Diana but we were never really friends.” Danette confessed. “And I’d like to have my life in order before meeting Red Tornado.”
Kara could certainly relate, even if meeting Kal before she was ready probably turned out better for her in the long run. Still, she’d give the android a few more days before pushing her.
Alone, both girls returned to the apartment, getting a loud greeting by Dexter as the cat complained about sleeping alone and weaved between their legs with vigorous indignation.
Lifting the cat up, Kori touched their noses while Kara kicked off her shoes and went to check on her Sunstone printer. It had finished producing a prototype adaptation of the Fog in the shape of a ten centimeters cube of crystal.
Taking it off the printer, she brought it closer to her good eye and saw the minuscule robots neatly packed in the shape of the cube. They were supposed to incorporate the best traits of the Fog and her own drones, but Kara still needed to test it.
“I will be occupying the bathroom first.” Kori called from the other room. “I still have to train with Master Diana today.”
“Alright.” Kara absentmindedly answered while ordering the cube to activate.
The millions of little robots turned on, giving the cube a slight glow, then they dispersed into the shape of a small cloud. Using her tablet, Kara started testing the programmed instructions.
Like her previous drones, the new fog robots had small limbs that could connect to each other, allowing them to take different shapes and form different devices, but they retained their ability to disassemble inorganic material and steal information from electronics. Unfortunately, that functionality would still result in the unsubtle destruction of the original targeted data.
Ordering the robots to organize themselves into a large plate, Kara started stress testing it.
Turns out, the tiny robots could form a very strong defense, but they were far less resistant than a solid block of the same material, much less her battle armor. Still, their versatility had Kara seriously considering incorporating them into her public costume.
“Friend Kara, I am leaving now!” Kori yelled, finally causing Kara to lift her head from the experimentation. “However, do not think I have not noticed that you are avoiding me. That will not stand, we will talk later.”
Glancing at the hour, Kara realized she had wasted more than forty minutes just testing the new invention and not thinking about anything. In a hurry, she dropped her experiments and rushed to the door.
Poking her head out of the room, she saw Kori wearing workout clothes. The Tamaranean was back to using the disguise device to change her skin color, but wore black leggings and a sports bra that barely contained her breasts and left most of her body exposed.
“Wha-what do you mean I’m avoiding you?” Kara swallowed hard, her eye running over Kori’s body and taking it all in.
Kara had thought she had gotten used to how beautiful Kori was, but yesterday’s kiss seemed to have changed something and she was looking at her… friend with newfound interest.
“Yes, you are.” Kori had a self-satisfied smile on her face at Kara’s roaming gaze, then her face became serious and she narrowed her green eye. “Still, I must fulfill my obligations to Master Diana, but we will speak tonight. Do not try to escape me.”
Waving her goodbye, Kori stepped out of the apartment, leaving Kara feeling very intimidated by her proclamations, and a little hot under the collar.