Reincarnated as Supergirl (YJ / DC)

 

“I suppose you don’t get too many technological armors here,” Kara nodded, taking another look around the room. “Forge, nice to meet you.”

“Here’s to making new friends!” Bobo saluted and finished his shot of whiskey before motioning for Kara to put the Drones on top of the counter. “Nightmaster, I gave a bunch of sidekicks a lesson yesterday and the League handed me some of those, you mind handling it?”

“And what might ‘these’ be?” Nightmaster pulled out a drone and eyed it critically, twisting it between his fingers.

“Recording devices, they have those shields too and can act like a phone,” Bobo explained, pulling out one of his own drones from his pocket. “It won’t hold up to a heavy hitter, but they can be very useful for street level conflict.”

“Huh, that would have been nice to have before my retirement,” Nightmaster muttered, picking up one of the drones and rolling it between his fingers. “Nice to see the League remembers the little guys every now and then. I will make it available to some of my customers, but I will not push it.”

Bobo nodded, after all, that was about all he had been asking for.

Looking up at the drinks they had available, Kara noticed that all of them had superhero names. “No villain drinks?”

“I do not support villainy. The former owner ran a neutral establishment and I still honor that, but I will not name any of my drinks after villains.”

“Fair enough,” Kara wanted to try some of the more recognizable names, but she didn’t want to take off her helmet. Turning back to the chimp, she asked. “Has the one we’ll be meeting arrived yet?”

Bobo patted her armored waist and shook his head. “Not yet. Listen, I’m gonna talk with some of the boys, I’ll be back in a second, enjoy the view.”

Seeing as she wasn’t going to order anything and one of his patrons was calling from the opposite side of the counter, Nightmaster gave her a nod, poured her a cup anyway and prepared to leave. “Here, the first drink is on the house. I’d not have you leave without tasting my hospitality.”

Kara considered the small glass for a moment, should she drink it? Was this some kind of magical hospitality thing going on or would it just be rude to leave it?

“Ugh, magic,” Activating her holographic projector, she hid her face and unlocked the helmet, lifting it only enough to be able to sip the alcohol. Still, she shielded her face with one of her armored hands, counting on the Nth metal in the gauntlets to block the view of any magician peeking.

Putting the cup back down, Kara froze, only her bulky armor prevented her from jumping away as a stranger appeared at the seat right beside her in the blink of an eye.

“Apologies, I did not mean to frighten you,” the man said, tilting his hat down in greeting. He wore a black suit and cape, with gray hair showing below his hat and entirely white eyes that seemed to contain some inner power. “You have come very far wanderer. Farther than you even expect, I’d guess. Would you care to exchange some words with me?”

Kara stared at the man for nearly a full minute, she didn’t recognize him. Were it not for the eyes, he’d probably fit perfectly in with one of Bruce’s parties, but she wasn’t about to underestimate him. “And who are you?”

“Men call me The Phantom Stranger and, like you, I’m a wanderer,” he said with a small smile on his face. “We are more alike than you imagine, both strangers in a foreign land between the furrow and the stars. Like me, your presence has caused ripples, as if a rock was cast onto a still pound, some have been for the better, others… not. I am here to warn you, the board has changed, much faster and drastically than you ever expected.”

“… and I take it this warning is out of the goodness of your heart?” Kara asked. She had heard the name mentioned in her previous life, but she had never read any comic with the character, she had no idea of his motivations or powers. “If you know so much, why come to me instead of doing something yourself?”

Looking at her, he gave a bitter smile. “I steer, but I cannot lead. That has always been my fate,” he answered calmly, not moving from his position, but Kara could sense tired resignation in his voice.

She took that in, trying her best to remember what she knew about the being. He was powerful, but she didn’t know in what way. She recalled him being heroically inclined, although she wasn’t sure how much and worked with Constantine from time to time… that last tidbit did not help her relax.

She had read something about him being Judas, but he didn’t wear the coins on his neck, using a medallion instead. Ugh, she really did hate dealing with Magic, it was so hard to predict. Give her a mechanical enemy any day of the week, at least those only did what they were built to.

The man turned to stare at her helmet, his eyes seeming to look beyond her shielding, beyond even her body to stare directly into her soul. Finally, he spoke.

“Before you, the play had been written, the story told, even if it had not been finished. You bring change, movement, chaos and, as you well know, chaos is not on your side,” fuck, did that mean that Klarion was stronger because of her? Would Fate be against working with her because of this? “Heed my warning. The coils of your enemies are everywhere. They’re cold, malignant and may look alike, but do not make the mistake of thinking they have a single source nor do they act towards the same goal.”

“Forge, he’s here,” Bobo said, drawing Kara’s attention away from the Phantom Stranger for a second, when she looked back, he was already gone.

“Detective, what do you know about The Phantom Stranger?”

“Tall chap, wears a hat and a trench coat, likes to talk too much?” Bobo asked, frowning at her. When Kara nodded, his frown became worse. “Yeah, he’s not good news. Never gets directly involved with anything nor fights any battles but, every time he appears, things tend to go Old Testament. People turning into pillars of salt and rains of fire, that kind of thing.”

“Great, that’s just great,” Kara mumbled under the helmet, looking through the pub to see their target. The obese man and his group had left and, at his table, there was a single, older gentleman wearing a top hat and a mutton chop beard. “Is that him?”

“Yeah, Wizard, former minion for The Light,” Bobo nodded, starting to walk towards the isolated table. “That debacle with Wotan blocking the sun always smelt bad to me, but I didn’t have time to investigate it. When you came to me with information about The Light, I started looking into other magical powerhouses that could be working for them.

“Faust, Wotan, Blackbriar Thorn, Wizard, White Magician, The Light got to them all. Heck, they even spoke with Morgaine, but the old witch kicked them right out her castle. Well, you already killed Faust, White Magician escaped the same day, probably took the same deal. But, I did manage to get a meeting with Wizard,” Bobo snorted, finally arriving at the table and pulling out a chair. “Mr. Zard here is a terrible human being, but I doubt he’s working for them because he wants to.”

“Humph, I am a gentleman and a professional. I didn’t learn magic just to be forced to obey that childish abomination,” Wizard snorted, taking off his top hat, he bowed towards Kara. “William I. Zard. Can I presume the pleasure of meeting the one who attacked Infinity Island and dealt with Faust?”

As soon as she approached, Kara’s armor registered a flicker of energy and her devices had trouble recording any audio from the nearby tables, she still had several drones around her to keep watch and make sure, but it seems like the place was somehow warded for privacy.

“Forge, and yes. His increased powers did make the fight slightly harder, but not by too much,” she answered, causing her eyes to shine red under her helmet. It was purely esthetic, but the intimidation worked, Kara could sense his heart speeding up a little. “So, you want out? Why should I help you?”

“That’s the beauty of it, you don’t need to,” Wizard answered, putting his top hat back on and combing his beard with a hand. “Now that Klarion no longer has such a monopoly on the magical underworld, I’ve more than enough to be left alone. As long as he remains busy, that is. Pushing you in their direction will do that, even if you don’t wish to help me.”

Kara nodded, she could understand the villain. It was almost poetic, The Light kept throwing problems at the Justice League to keep them busy and achieve their objectives. Now, its own minions were doing the same thing to them. Oh how she loved the irony.

“Good, but just so we’re clear, if you’re trying to trap me, I am NOT the Justice League. I will kill you, do you understand?”

“Perfectly,” Wizard nodded casually, having recovered from his initial reaction and not seeming too preoccupied with the threat. Kara didn’t know if that meant he wasn’t intending to lie or if he was just too used to such deals. At least all the sensors on her armor seemed to think he was being honest.

“Very well, what do you know about The Light?”

“Not much, the leaders kept things compartmentalized, I only know about Klarion himself and Savage. Guessing about Klarion’s goal is fairly easy, but Savage is old, old and cunning,” grabbing his staff, Wizard caused a small magical circle to form in the air and pulled out a map. “This is a map of the latest location I have been to, Marduk’s Temple in the center of Bialya. Klarion seemed really interested in the location.”

It was Bobo who grabbed the map, reading over it carefully, but his ears never left the conversation as Wizard talked about what he had done for The Light, they spoke for a long time, but the actual information wasn’t a lot, they seemed to have just used him as a consultant or to coordinate some of his attacks.

Still, getting more insights about how The Light operated was valuable enough and, even if Kara couldn’t use the information herself, she had recorded everything for later review by Bobo, Batman or anyone else that wanted.

“What do you know about the Injustice League?” Kara finally asked. She was sure the villain hadn’t told her the whole truth about his activities, but he had told her enough.

“A scapegoat, anyone could see that,” he shook his head and leaned back against the seat. “Klarion was gonna force me to participate, but Wotan needed rescue after his attack and he owed the creature a favor.”

“So, they know it’s meaningless?” She asked. She was under the impression that The Light had tricked most of the Injustice League’s members.

“That group would never be enough to face the entire League, even those maniacs can see that,” Bobo interjected, cutting off Wizard before he could speak. “Besides, if villains of Wizard and Wotan’s caliber felt compelled to obey, The Light had enough power to take on the League any time they wanted, at least before they started losing cohesion, doing it was just never their goal.”

“Well, I’m not so sure. The Joker spoke with Klarion, so he probably just thinks it’s all a huge prank and I suspect Vertigo is pompous enough to actually believe they can get away with it,” Wizard told them, his face serious as he shook his head. “But the others knew.”

“Any idea where Poison Ivy is being held?”

“I know a few locations. There were a lot of possible safe houses that were considered for the meetings,” he told her, seeming to think about the situation. “I could find out more, but Savage is feeling paranoid right now, so I won’t. Not unless you can offer me something better than what you’re already doing just by existing.”

Only a few minutes later, Wizard had written the locations and addresses on a piece of paper Kara had provided. She recognized a lot of cities, including her own Phoenix, but had no idea where to start.

Bobo took the paper from her and only gave it a quick glance before handing it over again.

“Well, it seems like our meeting is concluded gentlemen. I do sincerely wish you good luck in your endeavors. After all, I benefit from them,” tipping his hat again, he got up.

Kara thought about stopping the man when he got up, but a shake of the head from the chimp made her remain in place as Wizard adjusted his old style clothes and grabbed his cane.

As he was walking beside her, he paused, barely having to glance down to look at her helmet. “Hmm, almost forgot, be aware that Klarion was enlisting support this last week. He was planning to do something and, with everything that was happening, I believe the others probably forced him not to act alone… as much as the little abomination can be forced, that is.”

Kara waited until the villain was completely out of the pub before asking. “Why stop me?”

“Nightmaster is a friend, it would be rude to bring you in, only for you to cause a scene on your first night,” the chimp answered, lighting another cigarette. “Besides, I know where she is.”

Kara glanced at the paper and grunted, her face still looking at the ape as he tapped a nail on a single name.

“I guess she could be in Phoenix or Hub City too, but she’s probably here. Midway City is urbane enough to keep her powers in check, doesn’t have any hero anywhere near it and the place has enough comfort for someone like Vertigo while also having enough violence to amuse the Joker… I also have some reports from there I was already looking into.”

Suddenly, Kara’s hearing caught the faint sound of screaming, turning around; she stared at a huge TV above the pub. Nightmaster was increasing the volume and several of the patrons were now focused on it.

Before, the TV had been playing some soccer game, but now it showed a scene out of a horror film. The subtitles read, Salem, Massachusetts, Justice Society of America Reunites?

The cameraman was in a helicopter a few kilometers away from the city, but Kara could see burning buildings, some of which were actually moving as if alive, a lot of smoke and a fracture on the sky that seemed to pour out large tentacles that held balls of light, fur stuck out from several places and there were crude hands forming that grasped towards a few small figures fighting against it.

“Yog-Sotha,” Kara heard one of the patrons whisper, but she ignored him to focus entirely on the image.

Rao, what in the frozen hells was going on? Was this what the Wizard was warning about? A little late wasn’t it? Wait, she recognized that plasma sword…

Bursting in motion, Kara ran out of the bar as fast as she could. She almost broke the small door in Happy Harbor and then called her personal teleportation platform while ignoring the odd looks she was getting. She had a friend to save.