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Gotham's Dead End Bar Ch.25
🕑 Added 2024-02-18 16:44:08 +0000 UTC“Barbara. Just file your own damn report already,” Batman growled.
Barbara rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time since she came up to the Watchtower to visit Kara and put herself in Bruce’s range of nagging, “Flash filed one. Isn’t that enough?”
“For something like this? No. I need a report from someone who doesn’t run on pure, unadulterated ADHD,” Batman deadpanned.
“You trust Tim’s reports well enough,” Barbara grumbled.
His tone took on a warning, “Barbara…”
“Ugh, this is SO not fair! I called ‘not it’!”
“Tough.”
“… I’m going to get you back for this.”
“This is important, Barbara. You should realize that. While Mr. Barkeep is not currently classified as a threat, additional information on his abilities and history is always needed.”
“You think I don’t know that?! You weren’t there, Bruce. I don’t want to relive last night just yet. It’s too soon!”
“… I trust you’ll do the right thing here,” With that, Batman sunk back into the shadows of the training room and all but disappeared.
“Ugh,” Barbara grumbled to herself. “Stupid, sexy Sean… This is his fault.”
“Uh…? What’d he do this time?” Kara asked innocently, pulling Barbara’s attention back to her friend.
“Just his usual bullshit,” Barbara muttered. “Honestly, I’d rather forget it for the moment if Bruce didn’t ‘need’ my POV of last night.”
“And don’t think I didn’t notice that impossible martial art you were doing,” Batman’s voice came from the shadows right before he left the training room. “I want a report on that too.”
“Fucking bite me, Bruce!” Barbara snapped.
There was no reply from the shadows. Barbara knew Bruce well enough to know that didn’t mean much though. He could just as easily stick around to brood if he wanted to. Not that she thought he had a reason to do so this time. Still, she had to check.
“Is he gone?” Barbara asked Kara.
Kara cocked her head slightly, “Yes, he just slipped into the vents and crawled away. Why does Batman use the vents in his own space station? Or partially his, at least.”
“Because he’s fucking Batman…” Barbara grumbled. “Paranoia or preparedness or just pure theatrics. That man has never been entirely right in the head.”
“Hmm,” Kara hummed, not agreeing or disagreeing. “So are you going to tell me about your night?”
Barbara sighed, “I suppose I should. It’ll help with writing the report I have to write now. Fly and talk?”
Kara nodded, as adorable as ever, “Mmm~!”
She took off to a hover, casually floating about Barbara. Barbara concentrated on the original reason they’d come to the training room. Kara was VERY excited about the prospect of flying with her friend. For the given definition of flying Barbara was actually capable of.
To be fair, Barbara wasn’t far behind in that excitement. She still hadn’t gotten over the Anything Goes Art Sean was teaching her. It wasn’t flying in the most traditional sense. But it was more than enough to make a huge difference for the otherwise flightless Barbara.
Much of her free time recently had been devoted to practicing the moves and motions that Sean had shown her after their little spar. Date… Whatever. Barbara most certainly didn’t blush thinking back to the way he’d gotten her blood pumping and then held her so closely in the air less than a week ago. No, most certainly not…
Right, Anything Goes. Even outside the impossible martial arts-based flight, the style was worth learning. Honestly, it was a martial masterpiece. Easily on the same level or leagues better than the more popular styles Barbara already knew. Whoever developed it must have spent their whole life on the art of Anything Goes.
It was also a great way to explore her improved and perfected physique. She’d been happy enough with just being healed that she hadn’t truly delved into what her new ‘Death of an Unhealthy Body’ body could do. Like, REALLY do…
It was a bit overwhelming now that she’d begun to experiment. Somehow, even with her now-perfected form, it still felt like she was only scratching the surface of Anything Goes. It was a superpower in its own right. One that was stacked right on top of the already almost divine physical buff Sean’s healing had given her.
The style seemed to thrive on a level of physical fitness that should have been impossible to achieve. However, according to Sean, Anything Goes was designed and practiced by normal martial artists. Well, relatively normal.
He did mention harnessing an energy called Chi, something Barbara was only passingly familiar with. She had a feeling she’d be getting much more familiar with it going forward. But also according to Sean, Anything Goes was something that could be taught to anyone with enough hard work and determination to learn.
The fact that any Joe off the street could technically learn Anything Goes was a bit startling. Even magic and the more supernatural martial arts from their world still had certain prerequisite requirements — mostly in the form of inborn potential —, as Barbara understood it.
She knew she would have to put all of this in her report on the new abilities she’d demonstrated. Barbara had been hoping to hide Anything Goes for a little while longer. Mostly for the perfect moment to reveal it. She had been looking forward to seeing if she could get Bruce’s jaw to drop when she kicked off thin air.
It seemed that was something of a pipe dream now. The Anything Goes cat was out of the bag and the perfect opportunity for a killer prank was lost. Barbara would just have to be content with a new supernatural martial art and a perfect body beyond human limits. Oh, woe…
Bruce and the others already knew about how her physique was enhanced after she was healed. But none of them had realized then just how much it was enhanced. They’d all been a bit understandably caught up in the excitement of Barbara being able to walk again. Or masturbate again, in Barbara’s case.
There was a damn good reason Barbara found herself so interested in Sean. Other than the infuriatingly impossible insanity that surrounded him, of course. And his stupid sexy pretty boy looks and style… And the way he made her heart pump, for good and for bad… Okay, there were a few reasons. But being able to feel her pussy again was damn near the top of the list!
Shaking stupid sexy thoughts of stupid sexy Sean out of her head, Barbara kicked off the training room floor in a leap. She put just a bit more ‘oomph’ into it than she usually did and was rewarded by going just a bit higher than what could have been considered reasonable for a baseline human.
Kara hovered about two meters above the floor. Barbara’s leap closed the distance. The apex of her up-and-down arc brought her level with Kara’s eyes. Smiling wide with excitement, Kara slowly floated higher.
Barbara bicycled her feet in mid-air. Both for stability and to fight for a grip on the insubstantial ‘surface’. Even after hours of solid practice, she had to concentrate immensely to accomplish this much. But it paid off. Shakily and steadily, Barbara’s feet found impossible footholds in the air. Like walking up invisible, shifting stairs on her very tippy toes, Barbara matched Kara’s slow ascent.
“This is soooo~ cool~!” Kara giggled giddily.
Barbara returned her excitement with an almost silly smile, “I know, right-? Aak~!”
It was enough to disrupt her concentration and send her falling back to the floor. She landed steadily on slightly bent legs. Unharmed but disappointed.
“Okay,” Barbara sighed. “Maybe flying and talking is a bit much for me just yet.”
“You’ll get there~!” Kara encouraged happily. “Don’t give up, Babs!”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” Barbara grinned. “No way am I giving up on the chance to fly that easily.”
“It is rather nice,” Kara giggled before changing the subject slightly, “But now, you still need to tell me about your night.”
Barbara groaned, “God, don’t remind me. I swear that stupid sexy man is trying to give me kittens. And not in the way I want him to…”
Kara blushed, scandalized, “Barbara! Must you?”
“I must,” Barbara answered, nodding solemnly. Shortly after, she broke and chuckled.
Kara could only sigh at her friend, “Your night, Babs? Was it another of Sean’s stories?”
“Less of a story and more of a…” Barbara paused, searching for the right words. “Show and tell. Impossible, perspective-altering, reality-challenging show and tell…”
“Huh?” Kara tilted her head like a little golden retriever puppy.
“Flash asked Sean to show off his ‘trophies’…” Barbara explained, her voice sounding almost dead.
“Ah? Aaaahhh…” Kara quickly realized why that might be a bit worrying. “Trophies he gathered from different realities and different lives…?”
“Indeed,” Barbara nodded stiffly. “Then there was the fact that Talia had shown up beforehand. So I also had to deal with — as Harley called her — Bat Mom as well. With all the teasing that entails. It was… an eventful night.”
Kara looked at her with amusement barely hidden on her face, “How is ‘Bat Mom’?”
“Well. Too well for my tastes. She was in good form,” Barbara deadpanned.
Kara did a poor job of suppressing a giggle, “My condolences. It must have been tough dealing with her and stupid s-sex-…” She blushed and stuttered on the crass word before finally forcing it out, “Sexy!… It must have been tough dealing with both of them at the same time…”
Barbara snorted in humor at her friend’s innocence, “You have no idea, Kara. Stupid sexy Sean started his show and tell with his Excalibur collection of all things. And it only got worse from there.”
Kara blinked, “Excalibur? Isn’t that, like, THE sword? King Arthur’s sword or something?”
“Yup,” Barbara popped the ‘p’. “Sean knew King Arthur too, it seems. Though he said the ‘king’ was a ‘she’, interestingly enough. And that he was going by Merlin at the time…”
“Oh…” Kara reacted with soft surprise. “Even I know that name. That’s a bit… crazy.”
“Oh, so you’ve met Sean?” Barbara quipped. She sighed, “Yeah, it certainly made the mage’s jaw drop.”
“Who?” Kara asked.
“Klarion the Witch-Boy,” Barbara explained. “He couldn’t catch a break last night. I’m pretty sure everything he knew about magic was turned on its head.”
“Hmm,” Kara hummed with interest. “So Excalibur? And then what else?”
Barbara groaned, “A great and terrible beast in the form of an adorable little rabbit, some spell that was basically just an extinction event in crystal form, a master key to existence, and an honest-to-God Pokemon.”
“Oh, Pokemon~?” Kara perked up. “I know that one~!”
“Yeah,” Barbara let out a sigh. “He didn’t put that one back on the shelf. So if you see a little pink cat flying and teleporting around, you’ll know what it is now. Mew was friendly and curious but our reality may just be seeing an invasion of Pokemon if things go poorly…”
Kara giggled, “I don’t know if I would call that ‘going poorly’. All the Pokemon I know are super cute~!”
Barbara shook her head, “Yeah, but people might start asking questions. Thankfully, my report should hand the responsibility for answering those questions back to Bruce.”
“I wonder if I can get a Vulpix,” Kara tapped her chin and wondered aloud. “I always thought it was adorable and Ninetales is just beautiful.”
“There’s a non-zero chance that Sean’s actions last night will change everything. Like, completely. Pokemon on Earth… Villains with Pokemon… Shit, I’m going to have to put that in my report. What a pain…” Barbara trailed off.
“Actually, you know what?!” She suddenly stood straight with righteous indignation. “He’s going to feel my pain this time! C’mon, Kara. We’re going to get Sean and drag him up here to help me fill out this report!”
“If you say so, Babs~” Kara giggled, floating along after Barbara.
Barbara stomped out of the training room like a woman on a mission. Once she was clear, she called out into the otherwise empty hallway, “Two to port!”
The ever-watchful Martian Manhunter ‘heard’ the call. Kara and Barbara teleported from the Watchtower with two brief flashes of light. In the duty room, Martian Manhunter barely looked up from what he was doing. A line of gummies was meticulously sorted by color and shape on the desk before him. Very ’SPECIAL’ gummies…
“Amusing and potentially worrying. I might need to prepare for incoming insanity,” He popped two of the gummies into his mouth, paused, and went back for a third, mumbling to himself. “You can never be too careful… Thank the Great Sage Pic’colo for this dank Martian Zaza.”
IIIII
“Sean! Prepare to experience empathy, you stupid sexy bastard!”
Giggling, Kara followed her friend as she stormed into the Dead End, “Hello again, Didi. May we borrow Sean for the day?”
Didi treated Kara with a soft, amused smile, “I suppose that’s fine. Just have him back before opening time.”
Kara looked back over at Barbara. She was currently chasing Sean around the bar as he laughed out loud. His head was thrown back and everything. Barbara seemed to be enjoying the chase too if the small smile on her face was anything to go off of.
“We’ll try our best,” Kara said, smiling.
“What do you want the old man for?” Someone else asked.
Alice? Was that her name? Ah, yeah, Didi and Sean’s adopted daughter. It took Kara a moment to place her but once she remembered, she treated the younger girl with a wide smile.
“Hello again, Alice~! Are you well?”
Alice blushed slightly, overwhelmed by Kara’s sheer positive energy, “… ‘M fine…”
“That’s always wonderful to hear. Barbara wants Sean to ‘experience her pain’. She has to fill out a report on a certain someone and wants him to help her with that.”
Alice snorted, “Nice. Serves him right for all the trouble he causes her.”
Kara continued, “Then after that, I thought I would show Sean around the Watchtower. I’m sure some of my friends would like to meet him. Perhaps even Kal.”
“Oh, God, from what you’ve told me about your cousin, Sean will make him burst a blood vessel…” Alice paused. “I’ll pay you 50 bucks to get a video of their meeting.”
“Surely, he won’t be THAT bad,” Kara giggled.
Alice wiggled her eyebrows, “Wanna bet~?”
Didi watched them with amusement plainly written on her face. That and the daring expression on Alice’s face gave Kara a moment of pause.
“… No. No, I don’t think I do,” She said slowly.
Didi chuckled, “That’s probably a good idea, Kara. I love Sean but he won’t be able to resist poking Kal-El.”
Kara’s face flushed, “Kal is going to embarrass me, isn’t he…?”
“It’s very possible.”
“Maybe I should put off introducing Sean to Kal until Ma can be there to moderate him,” Kara considered.
“Either way, I feel the need to wish you luck, Kara,” Didi’s grin reached her eyes, practically twinkling.
“You’re going to need it,” Alice added in a deadpan.
Before Kara could put words to her worries at their warning, Barbara’s voice cut into the conversation, “I’ve got him, Kara! Let’s go!”
Turning, Kara saw that Barbara now had Sean slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He’d obviously let himself be caught. The amused expression on his face and the way he propped himself with his hands on his chin and his elbows on thin air said that much clearly enough.
“Oh, no. I’ve been caught,” Sean said, his tone utterly flat and unconcerned. “Whatever shall I do? How wicked. How cruel. It seems God truly has abandoned me.”
“You shut up back there!” Barbara growled, even though her lips were twitching with amusement of her own.
She punctuated her growl with a smack aimed at Sean’s butt. His butt! And though he didn’t flinch at all, Kara couldn’t help but gape and flush on his behalf.
“O-Oh my…!”
But again, Sean barely reacted, his tone almost casually dead, “Oh, how depraved. Truly, I am caught in the clutches of a villainous woman. A true degenerate, I say.”
“I don’t need that from you, Stupid Sexy Sean!” Barbara snapped right back.
Sean ignored her, “Keep an eye out for my obituary, Didi dear. I imagine this deviless will leave me a broken man. Alice… You must avenge me. Avenge me, my child…”
Alice snorted, “Fat chance, old man.”
“A deviless and an unfaithful child. Woe is truly me,” Sean shook his head ‘sadly’.
Barbara rolled her eyes, “Oh, shut up. I hope those pretty fingers of yours are ready, Sean. I’m finally going to put that stupid sexy mind of yours to work.”
“You shall not tempt me, woman. My purity shall stand ever-strong against your seductions.”
He said it so proudly, so righteously that Kara almost started cheering for him. Then she remembered the rest of the situation and that Sean’s ‘purity’ wasn’t actually in danger. With yet another blush, she aborted her round of clapping before she could embarrass herself.
“Not that kind of work, idiot!” Barbara physically shook Sean on her shoulder. A blush started to creep onto her cheeks as well. “Writing a report! I’m going to put you to work writing a report! Your nonexistent ‘purity’ isn’t in danger! Yet…”
She trailed off at the end there, saying the last word so quietly that Kara was sure only her Kryptonian ears caught it. Or maybe not, considering the way Sean suddenly smirked.
He tutted lightly, “Shame.”
“Ugh,” Barbara groaned. “C’mon, Kara. Let’s go before I reconsider…”
Kara found she couldn’t nod fast enough, “O-Okay! Bye, Didi~! Bye, Alice~! We’ll bring him back in one piece~!”
“Take your time,” Alice drawled.
Sean got in one last quip, “Don’t worry. They will~”
Barbara sighed as she carried him out the door, “God dammit, Sean…”
Kara followed them, catching up just in time for Barbara to call out for another teleport, this time for three. In more flashes of light, they disappeared from Gotham and appeared on the Watchtower. No one was in the port room but Barbara and Kara still moved quickly out of the way out of force of habit.
“You know,” Sean said, intensely amused. “You can let me down now.”
“That sounds like a terrible idea,” Barbara grumbled. “You’re likely to run off and get into God knows what trouble. No, you’re going to share in my pain first. We’re writing the report on last night. And you get to transcribe while I dictate. Good for you.”
Sean laughed, seeming more than willing to accept his current predicament. Kara didn’t doubt that he was completely capable of getting free if he wanted to. But he was content to let Barbara carry him while he pushed her buttons. It was enough to make Kara suppress a giggle.
“You seem to be doing well enough, Babs,” Sean observed plainly. “You’re handling me quite… handily. Finally exploring your new fitness?”
“Physically? I’m better than ever. Mentally?” Barbara scoffed. “You consistently have my mind in tatters, Sean.”
Sean nodded matter-of-factly, “Then I’m doing my job perfectly.”
“That job wouldn’t happen to be driving me utterly insane, would it?” Barbara snarked.
“It mainly applies to all of you heroes. Almost all of you need to lighten up some. Annoying you in particular is just a pleasant side benefit,” Sean said.
“Pleasant, my ass,” Barbara grumbled.
Kara lost her fight against giggles, making Sean turn to her, “Nice to see you again, Kara. Have you been sucked into this villainous woman’s schemes as well?” He tutted and shook his head, “What a shame. I expected better from a paragon of sweetness like you.”
For some reason, Kara felt almost ashamed at his words. Then she realized he was teasing her and she pouted, “Hey~! I can be mischievous too!”
Sean smirked at her, “Truly? I think I’d pay to see that.”
“Don’t write me off, Sean!” Kara stomped her foot on thin air, belatedly realizing she was still flying with a slight blush. “I’ll show you how naughty I can be!”
“Oh? And how will you do that~?” For some reason, Sean’s smirk widened.
“I’ll-… I’ll take you to your limit with my naughtiness! Yeah~! You’ll be begging me to stop!” Kara insisted.
Why was he laughing at that? Was it something she said? Barbara?! Don’t groan! Not you too! Make sense, dangit! What’d she say?!
“You think you’re up for the task~?” Sean asked. “Even Harley couldn’t make me yield, you know~?”
Kara turned up her nose proudly, “Well, I’ll just have to do it better than her. You’ll see. I’ll have you panting to keep up with me! And you’ll never see it coming!”
“Oh, yeah?” Sean asked between chuckles. “You’ll make me really work for it~? Leave me frustrated and aching to catch up to you~? Tease me until I have no choice but to chase you down and pounce~? Maybe ride me to my absolute limits~?”
“Exactly~!” Kara didn’t know what all of that meant but it sounded right to her!
“Sean, stop teasing Kara. She doesn’t understand any of the things you’re implying,” Barbara smirked.
Kara blinked. Smirked? Implying? Sean was teasing her? Huh?
“So she’s exactly as uncorrupted as she seems?” Sean asked with a laugh.
Barbara chuckled, “Probably more.”
“Oh, we’re going to have so much fun with her…”
Heyyyy~… Now, they were both teasing her! That wasn’t very nice! Kara didn’t get whatever was so funny. Some inside joke or something? Either way, Kara didn’t like being left out!
“Guuuuyyyyys~…” She whined. “Cut it out~!”
It took a moment but their laughter died down and Sean apologized, “Sorry, Kara. We weren’t trying to be mean. You’re just so much fun to tease.”
Barbara grinned, “Yeah, Farm-Girl, so easy to wind up. So gullible and pure.”
“I’m not that pure…” Kara pouted. “I’ve seen plenty of things during my time as a hero!”
“Not this type of thing, it seems,” Sean chuckled.
“Then tell me what’s so funny!”
“Hmm… No, I don’t think I will.”
“Sean~…!”
Kara was still pouting and totally not whining when the three of them arrived at the little workspace Barbara kept on the Watchtower. Sean still wouldn’t budge for her. He was still teasing her with something. Kara didn’t know what it was but she would find out!
Barbara shook her head at the two of them in amusement, finally setting Sean down, “Alright, you two. Work first, teasing later.”
“No! No teasing later!” Kara cried.
Unfortunately, her cries fell on deaf ears. Kara was left to pout as Sean and Barbara got to work. Even then, Sean teased Kara in ways she didn’t understand whenever he had the chance. Dang meanies… Kara would have her revenge!
She’d show them pure… Pure, uh… Pure naughty! Yeah~! They didn’t have a clue how mischievous Kara could be~! Yes… Kara would show them mischief and teasing…
But how to do it…? Oh~! She’d take inspiration from those Earthling prankster movies! Perfect. Now… what would Ferris Beuller do?
Whoopee cushion? Hand in warm water? Something with an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine? Hmm, not quite right yet… Aha! A panty raid! She’d steal Sean’s u-undies and make him go without in embarrassment! As a prank, of course…
It was brilliant! There was no way it could backfire in a potentially l-lewd and hilarious fashion! As Sean and Barbara worked on the report, Kara plotted. And if a few maniacal giggles leaked out of her for the other two to notice… well, that definitely didn’t mean anything! They were clueless~!
The work didn’t end up taking very long at all. Or maybe Kara was just distracted for some reason. Either way, Barbara was sighing in relief at a job well done soon enough.
“That’s that. It went better than I expected it would,” Barbara said. “Thankfully, you were familiar with filling out reports like this, Sean.”
He chuckled, “You never escape paperwork. It’s been a constant in every life I’ve lived. Like gravity.”
“Or death and taxes?” Barbara added with amusement.
“Of course,” Sean nodded. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Even if she takes on different forms, Didi is everywhere in existence.”
Barbara paused and then sighed, “Putting that tidbit of Eldritch knowledge aside… I should get to turning this in. Bruce is going to want me to do it in person too… Kara? Do you mind watching Sean? Maybe showing him around the Watchtower to keep him busy?”
Kara was pulled from her plotting by the request, “Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure! I don’t mind. I never get to give the tour. It’ll be fun~!”
“Good, I shouldn’t be too long. I’ll catch up with you two when I’m done,” Barbara nodded.
Standing and walking out of Barbara’s little workspace, they went in different directions. Kara absently floated along beside Sean. Sean easily followed along with his hands in his pockets, content to let Kara take the lead.
“Hmm, what should I show you first?” Kara wondered aloud. “Do you normally save the best for first or for last?”
“Usually, for last,” Sean replied, amused. “But I’m open to switching up the order of things if you are.”
“Great~!” Kara chimed cheerfully. “Then come on~! I want to show you my favorite place on the station~!”
She bolted ahead in her excitement before realizing that she was flying much too fast for Sean to follow. She almost paused and went back to where she’d left him. Only to see he was easily keeping pace with her, walking ‘normally’ at her side. He didn’t even seem phased by their sudden speed.
“… How are you doing that?” Kara asked curiously.
Sean chuckled and explained, “I’m used to keeping up with excitable girls. Ruby, in particular, had a bad habit of running off without thinking. And don’t even get me started on Naruko.”
“Oh,” Kara paused. “Neat~! Can I go as fast as I want?”
“Why don’t you find out for yourself?” Sean grinned.
What followed was the immediate breaking of several station rules and regulations. Kara zipped through the halls of the Watchtower. Sean followed along beside her, casually walking at a blistering pace.
Kara whooped as she flew, “Wooo~! This is great~! Not many people can keep up with me~!”
“I can see why,” Sean chuckled. “I think you nearly broke the sound barrier going down a 100-foot hallway. Thank God for Kryptonian reaction times, huh?”
Kara blushed and giggled, “I may be getting a bit carried away.”
“No, you’re having fun. That’s important. The other things can come later,” Sean reassured.
Kara found herself smiling brightly and agreeing with him, “Yeah~!”
She flew up one of the vertical shafts that ran alongside the station’s elevators. They were something of a necessity when many of your group’s members could fly wherever they wanted. Once you got used to flight, it was very hard to go back to standing in a slow elevator, Kara had found.
Zooming up the shaft, Kara looked to her side to see if Sean was still keeping up with her. He was. She giggled as she saw how.
Sean grinned, “What is it? Do I have something on my face?”
Kara grinned right back, “No, silly~! You’re walking up the wall~!”
Sean made a show of looking at his feet, “… So I am. How curious.”
Kara lost it as she slowed to a float at the top of the shaft. As she left through the access point at the top, Sean went back right side up as if nothing had happened. There was no sign of his impossible walking or how he’d kept pace with her. Just a slight, amused smile on his face as they reached the destination Kara was leading them to.
Thoroughly enjoying herself, Kara slowly regained control of her laughter. She floated forward with Sean still walking beside her. He looked around as they did, taking in the place Kara had taken him. With a silly smile on her face, Kara finally floated to a stop.
She sighed fondly, “I love this place.”
“It’s quite nice,” Sean agreed.
Taking Sean’s advice, Kara had saved the best for first. She’d taken them to the Watchtower’s observatory deck — her favorite place on the station. It was a dome at the top of the Watchtower, small only in relative terms.
The glass of the dome wasn’t actually glass. But Kara didn’t know exactly what it was. She didn’t particularly care, considering the view offered on the other side. All around them, the universe was laid bare to their eyes.
Great clouds of gas and dust, laid out like a stairway to the heavens. The Milky Way sprawled out before them. Millions, billions of stars. Little points of light that did nothing to betray the sheer scope they represented.
Kara knew there were whole galaxies hidden in those stars. Uncountable planets and the life that inhabited them. Civilizations whose stories would never be told and histories that were lost to the sheer distance. It was humbling. It was awe-inspiring. Nothing else came close in Kara’s mind.
The only thing missing from the scene was the Earth. The planet Kara had come to call home. The orientation and orbit of the Watchtower prevented its inclusion — a necessity for the station’s sensors to keep a constant, watchful eye over Earth. But it still offered them such a spectacular view of what lay beyond.
“I must have seen it a hundred times now. It still never gets old,” Kara said quietly, reverently.
“It never does, in my experience. The first or the thousandth, there’s always something new to enjoy in this view. Especially when you stop to think about just what you’re looking at,” Sean replied. Kara could hear the slight smile in his voice.
“Have you… Have you ever been to another galaxy?” Kara asked.
“A few times,” Sean chuckled. “Some of those lives even started from Earth. The scene changes but it’s still just as spectacular. Just… from a different angle.”
Kara considered his words with a near-silent hum, “Hmm…”
Something about them resonated with her. She couldn’t see the sky she was born under anymore. It wasn’t even there anymore. But she could still see that same sky from a different angle.
She didn’t lament the loss of Krypton much these days. But whenever the universe was laid out in front of her, Kara couldn’t help but feel… nostalgic. Sean’s wisdom was a nice perspective to add to her own. This wasn’t the loss of her childhood sky. Just a shift in direction.
Finally, Kara spoke softly, “I like that.”
She shook off the slightly solemn, introspective mood that had overtaken her, perking back up to her usual self, “Okay~! Next stop on the tour~! I’m thinking… training rooms~!”
Sean treated her with a soft, knowing smile but thankfully, didn’t say anything, “After you, Kara.”
She grinned, whooped, and took off at speed again. Somewhere in the station, alarms went off all over again. Martian Manhunter was currently — quote — ‘way too high to deal with that shit’. And so it fell to a certain model boy scout Farm-Boy to investigate why his cousin was suddenly tearing things up in the halls.
Kal-El Kent was treated to a curious sight when he checked the station’s camera feeds. Kara was smiling. That was normal, at least. The curious part was the man walking beside her as she flew at Yellow-Sun Kryptonian speeds. A man Kal recognized from a certain report on a certain bar in Gotham.
‘Ah…’ He thought. ‘I think it’s about time I meet Mr. Barkeep for myself. And perhaps ask… politely… what his intentions are with Kara. Of course, the real question is whether or not I have enough time to ask Pa if I can borrow his shotgun…”
Comments
JaminLamin
Don't forget Pa kent also showing up with another shotgun as well XD.
Cory Chen
I love the idea of a teen showing up to the Kent's as Kara's prom date or whatever just to step out of the car to superman slowly fly down with a shotgun casually saying "her curfew is 10:00 and she will be on these steps by 9:30, any questions billy?"
Dave
TFTC!
Roy Marax
Gonna admit, pretty happy this seems like it won’t be a “Smut chapter”. Nothing wrong with those, they can definitely be enjoyable… But honestly? I really love all the stories, reactions, interactions and whatnot happening in this story more than the Smut. That’s just my opinion though. …And it seems Namekians were the ancestors of Martians? XD …Sooo, RWBY and *Naruko*… Why am I not surprised he ended up in at least one Gender!Bent universe? XD …Oof, considering the Watchtower *definitely* has Cameras, Flash is gonna request a race from him at some point. XD Aaaand, cameras are outright shown, alongside an incoming “Shotgun-talk”. XD This’ll be interesting next chapter. XD Loved the chapter! Less stories and reactions, so that’s “sad” since those are always hilarious to read about, but more interactions as relationships are advanced, so that’s nice. I look forwards to the next update!
