CapitaoCaverna Merry Christmans once again.
I'm currently writing from my phone so the chapters should slow down, but one of my patrons is really helping out with PR and offering suggestions, so there shouldn't be any loss of quality.
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter
"I'm sorry Miss Danvers, what exactly is going on here?" The large man asked, his huge beer belly touching the table as he used his elbows to lean forward. "I mean, I'm glad things are working again, but why now?"
Kara thought about what to say, she could lie and come up with an excuse but, did she even need to?
"Were you close to the Danvers, Mister Blackwell?" She asked, buying herself a few more seconds to think.
"No Miss Danvers, I never really met your parents. I'm just a grunt trying to keep everything working after that asshole ran away with the company's money." The man told her and scratched at his beard. "From what the boys tell me, they were never that involved with things anyway."
"I see. Well, suffice to say that, for personal reasons, I too did not know them very well either." That the personal reason was the fact that she was an alien from another planet with no actual relation to the Danvers didn't need to be pointed out. "It took me some time to get access to my inheritance once I found out they were dead."
"I see…" he sighed, then shook his head. "Or well, I don't, but I guess that's not any of my business anyway. All I wanted to know is, do I still have a job? And what about everyone else?"
"Yes, you still have a job. Mr. Donovan will be taking over the CEO position for the time being however," Kara pointed to Dubbilex disguised form at her side; a middle aged black man wearing glasses. "And, since we're going to be expanding, you're actually getting a salary bump despite the demotion."
Derrick Blackwell had turned out to be a surprisingly simple man. Far from being the best man for the job, Blackwell had, nonetheless, been the only one capable of doing it until now.
Thankfully, Dubbilex had agreed to act as CEO for a few months until Kara could get someone better.
She was already compiling a document with all she could prove about Lex’s crimes to try and entice her first choice away from the unscrupulous business tyrant’s side.
"Right, can't say I'll miss all this damn paperwork, and I'm really glad the guys still have a job but…" Blackwell cut himself off, as if afraid of actually asking something.
"Go on Mr. Blackwell, I won't be firing you for asking questions as long as you're polite about it." Kara waved for him to speak.
"Well, it's just… a few of the boys and I stopped by the factory earlier today and… well, it's awfully in order ma'am, and there were some strange people working there, people nobody had ever seen before." The overweight man pushed himself away from the table and his eyes avoided Kara's. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you, but a man hears things."
"Now, I don't mean to insult you ma'am, but you just showed up out of nowhere, fixed the old factory in a week, and now you're not only hiring the boys back, but a lot of other people too, all this because of some miracle contract with WayneTech of all things…" Blackwell's leg started tapping against the floor from anxiety and he kept glancing at the door. "I had to think to myself: The city is awfully quiet and away from anything exciting. Ain't nobody gonna be asking too many questions if strange shit starts happening around here. I don't want the boys getting caught with some kinda metahuman or mad scientist deal."
“Don’t worry, Mister Blackwell. I’m only going to be doing exactly what I said, which is to produce affordable technology.” Kara sighed. In hindsight, getting the G-Trolls to help put the factory in order was kind of a dead giveaway. Even when Dubbilex kept them under his illusions the entire time, they were still too fast and too strong to be normal humans. “Is anyone else going to cause trouble because of the ridiculous notion that I’m some kind of supervillain?”
“No ma’am. Most of the boys are too happy to see the company back on its feet again to even think about it.” Blackwell said, and now that Kara was looking for it she could see the clear signs of fear on his face.
At least now she knew why he was being so polite to her. Machiavelli may have been a prick, but if it really was better to be feared and that kept Blackwell in line, Kara wasn’t about to go out of her way to correct any misunderstandings Blackwell might have.
They finished talking about the new hiring policies and having Blackwell act as a guide so Dubbilex could get to know the company better, with that out of the way the now former CEO of her company left the room feeling both apprehensive and optimistic.
With Bruce having accepted her proposal, Kara had spent two weeks designing new solar panels that they could produce. Kal had not been happy she was putting off her talk with the League’s unofficial counselor, Black Canary, but he hadn’t pushed the issue yet.
Still, Kara had managed to get her panels’ efficiency up from around 13% to a whopping 26% just with the technology her company had access to, and decreased the cost of producing them by 35%. However, even this improvement was pitiful considering what she could do with her own tech, but it was the absolute limit with the current materials in use.
They weren’t exactly the quantum leap forward she’d hoped for but she’d make her panels even better in a year or two.
“Miss Danvers.” Dubbilex shook her shoulders, causing Kara’s eyes to snap open with a startle and her fingers to dig a hole into the table she had been holding. “When was the last time you slept?”
“Sleep is for the weak.” Kara joked. Seeing the unamused look on Dubbilex’s human face she pushed herself to her feet and explained. “Kryptonians don’t really need to sleep, Dubbilex.”
“Miss Danvers, I was in charge of your little cousin and read CADMUS’ files on Kryptonians. While you can achieve a state where sleep is unnecessary, it requires years of exposure to yellow sun radiation.”
“I slept plenty yesterday.” Kara defended herself, but didn’t tell the Genomorph it had only been for two hours before waking up in a cold sweat. “I’ll sleep a little tonight when I get home.”
“...Very well, I’ll start working on getting the company fully operational right away.”
“Remember to put some G-Gnomes to watch over the employees, at least for now. Like Blackwell said, I don’t think anyone is gonna be asking questions at the moment, but we did ‘mysteriously’ get a WayneTech contract and the factory site is full of Genomorphs. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Of course. Miss Danvers, before you leave, can I ask you about a personal matter?” Dubbilex said, his illusion appearing to be hesitant.
“Sure, go ahead.” Kara mumbled as she scratched at the bags under her eyes.
“Many of us Genomorphs wish to meet the metahumans used as a base to produce our kind, but the CADMUS database only has the location of a few of them. Could you ask the League about it?”
“Of course, I’m sure that even if the League doesn’t have that information, Batman should.”
“Thank you.”
With a yawn, Kara allowed Dubbilex to take her seat and start working on the company systems.
Walking into one of the storage rooms, she typed a password on her cell phone causing both the floor and ceiling to open and revealing the Zeta-Tube she had installed in the building a few days ago.
In truth, she really wanted to fly back home, but the Lobo locked on the Fortress of Solitude was already completely healed. It meant there was far too big a chance that a copy of the bounty hunter had already regenerated from his missing arm and was hunting for her.
Lobo really was incredibly annoying, she didn’t even dare go back to her moon base alone since he could travel through space with his motorcycle. As a result, she had to get Kori to go with her and relocate some of the projects there into the Fortress.
Thankfully, Kal had agreed to separate a corner of the Fortress for her use and she trusted him to give her privacy while she was there.
When she got back and saw the state of her apartment, she groaned. There were feathers spread everywhere and even some drops of blood. With a sigh, Kara made for the linen closet when Dexter came running from her bedroom, his little paws barely making a sound on the floor.
He threw his body against her and waved between her legs once or twice before dropping a pigeon head at her feet and glancing up with an incredibly smug look on his face. “Meow.”
“Ah! Who’s my cute little murder machine!” Kara couldn’t resist and crouched down to scratch at his ears until the cat laid on the floor and presented her his belly. Kara knew it was a trap, but being a Kryptonian had some advantages so she scratched at it anyway. “You’re a good kitty, eliminating all those flying rats. I just hope you know you’re gonna need a bath now.”
Dexter had been in the middle of clawing at her hand with all four legs when he heard the dreaded word. With a hiss, he kicked away from Kara’s fingers and fled under the sofa.
“You know that’s not gonna help you!” She called out as she got the cleaning supplies and started using her speed to clean the apartment once again.
She was in the middle of washing the yowling cat when something on the TV caught her attention, a supervillain with wind powers had attacked Happy Harbor and caused a lot of property damage.
“Right, almost forgot about that.” She said and finished getting rid of the blood on Dexter’s fur. Pulling her phone out she first called Kal’s number.
“Hey Kara, is something wrong?” Kal asked in a worried voice when he picked up the phone..
“Nope, just calling to warn you I’m gonna be improving the defenses on Mount Justice.” She said in a calm voice.
“What?”
“Just saw it on the TV. Kori and Kon subdued a villain over at Happy Harbor less than a week after they moved into the mountain.” She told him with a tired voice. “I just wanted to warn you I’m turning that mountain into an impregnable fortress. And I’m NOT avoiding deadly force.”
“Ah… look, can we talk about it later? I’m working right now.”
“Sure. I’m not gonna change my stance, but you can talk.”
Hanging up the phone, Kara immediately started dialing a second number even as her mind was filling with the defenses she’d put on the mountain… Was poisonous gas too much?
“I thought we’d only talk next week, Miss Zor-El?” Said the older, male voice over the phone.
“Hello Bobo, have you found out anything about Dr. Morrow yet?” Kara asked in a curious voice. “Cuz I just saw one of his robots attack Happy Harbor not even two hours ago.”
“Hmmm… that certainly explains some things.” The chimp said from his side of the phone, then seemed to stop to think about something. “Yes, I do believe I can narrow down the scientist’s location by the time of our first team meeting.”
“Good, while The Light is a far more dangerous long-term enemy, T. O. Morrow is our most immediate priority.” Kara said before ending the call, already thinking about how much of a powerhouse Firebrand would be.
CapitaoCaverna
If you enjoy my work take a look at my other fics: Dungeon Delving is Damn HARD (SFW) / Reincarnated into a H World (VERY NSFW) / Welcome to the System (SFW). Reincarnated into a H World just got an update yesterday!
Also, think about giving me a tip if you have some spare change by supporting me on patreon, ko-fi with the buttons bellow the chapter, or just a one time donation directly to PayPal. All my content is free.
A shout to Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox and Chaos for supporting my work!
Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Eric Faust for helping me improve this chapter.
CapitaoCaverna Merry Christmans once again.
I'm currently writing from my phone so the chapters should slow down, but one of my patrons is really helping out with PR and offering suggestions, so there shouldn't be any loss of quality.
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter
"I'm sorry Miss Danvers, what exactly is going on here?" The large man asked, his huge beer belly touching the table as he used his elbows to lean forward. "I mean, I'm glad things are working again, but why now?"
Kara thought about what to say, she could lie and come up with an excuse but, did she even need to?
"Were you close to the Danvers, Mister Blackwell?" She asked, buying herself a few more seconds to think.
"No Miss Danvers, I never really met your parents. I'm just a grunt trying to keep everything working after that asshole ran away with the company's money." The man told her and scratched at his beard. "From what the boys tell me, they were never that involved with things anyway."
"I see. Well, suffice to say that, for personal reasons, I too did not know them very well either." That the personal reason was the fact that she was an alien from another planet with no actual relation to the Danvers didn't need to be pointed out. "It took me some time to get access to my inheritance once I found out they were dead."
"I see…" he sighed, then shook his head. "Or well, I don't, but I guess that's not any of my business anyway. All I wanted to know is, do I still have a job? And what about everyone else?"
"Yes, you still have a job. Mr. Donovan will be taking over the CEO position for the time being however," Kara pointed to Dubbilex disguised form at her side; a middle aged black man wearing glasses. "And, since we're going to be expanding, you're actually getting a salary bump despite the demotion."
Derrick Blackwell had turned out to be a surprisingly simple man. Far from being the best man for the job, Blackwell had, nonetheless, been the only one capable of doing it until now.
Thankfully, Dubbilex had agreed to act as CEO for a few months until Kara could get someone better.
She was already compiling a document with all she could prove about Lex’s crimes to try and entice her first choice away from the unscrupulous business tyrant’s side.
"Right, can't say I'll miss all this damn paperwork, and I'm really glad the guys still have a job but…" Blackwell cut himself off, as if afraid of actually asking something.
"Go on Mr. Blackwell, I won't be firing you for asking questions as long as you're polite about it." Kara waved for him to speak.
"Well, it's just… a few of the boys and I stopped by the factory earlier today and… well, it's awfully in order ma'am, and there were some strange people working there, people nobody had ever seen before." The overweight man pushed himself away from the table and his eyes avoided Kara's. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you, but a man hears things."
"Now, I don't mean to insult you ma'am, but you just showed up out of nowhere, fixed the old factory in a week, and now you're not only hiring the boys back, but a lot of other people too, all this because of some miracle contract with WayneTech of all things…" Blackwell's leg started tapping against the floor from anxiety and he kept glancing at the door. "I had to think to myself: The city is awfully quiet and away from anything exciting. Ain't nobody gonna be asking too many questions if strange shit starts happening around here. I don't want the boys getting caught with some kinda metahuman or mad scientist deal."
“Don’t worry, Mister Blackwell. I’m only going to be doing exactly what I said, which is to produce affordable technology.” Kara sighed. In hindsight, getting the G-Trolls to help put the factory in order was kind of a dead giveaway. Even when Dubbilex kept them under his illusions the entire time, they were still too fast and too strong to be normal humans. “Is anyone else going to cause trouble because of the ridiculous notion that I’m some kind of supervillain?”
“No ma’am. Most of the boys are too happy to see the company back on its feet again to even think about it.” Blackwell said, and now that Kara was looking for it she could see the clear signs of fear on his face.
At least now she knew why he was being so polite to her. Machiavelli may have been a prick, but if it really was better to be feared and that kept Blackwell in line, Kara wasn’t about to go out of her way to correct any misunderstandings Blackwell might have.
They finished talking about the new hiring policies and having Blackwell act as a guide so Dubbilex could get to know the company better, with that out of the way the now former CEO of her company left the room feeling both apprehensive and optimistic.
With Bruce having accepted her proposal, Kara had spent two weeks designing new solar panels that they could produce. Kal had not been happy she was putting off her talk with the League’s unofficial counselor, Black Canary, but he hadn’t pushed the issue yet.
Still, Kara had managed to get her panels’ efficiency up from around 13% to a whopping 26% just with the technology her company had access to, and decreased the cost of producing them by 35%. However, even this improvement was pitiful considering what she could do with her own tech, but it was the absolute limit with the current materials in use.
They weren’t exactly the quantum leap forward she’d hoped for but she’d make her panels even better in a year or two.
“Miss Danvers.” Dubbilex shook her shoulders, causing Kara’s eyes to snap open with a startle and her fingers to dig a hole into the table she had been holding. “When was the last time you slept?”
“Sleep is for the weak.” Kara joked. Seeing the unamused look on Dubbilex’s human face she pushed herself to her feet and explained. “Kryptonians don’t really need to sleep, Dubbilex.”
“Miss Danvers, I was in charge of your little cousin and read CADMUS’ files on Kryptonians. While you can achieve a state where sleep is unnecessary, it requires years of exposure to yellow sun radiation.”
“I slept plenty yesterday.” Kara defended herself, but didn’t tell the Genomorph it had only been for two hours before waking up in a cold sweat. “I’ll sleep a little tonight when I get home.”
“...Very well, I’ll start working on getting the company fully operational right away.”
“Remember to put some G-Gnomes to watch over the employees, at least for now. Like Blackwell said, I don’t think anyone is gonna be asking questions at the moment, but we did ‘mysteriously’ get a WayneTech contract and the factory site is full of Genomorphs. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Of course. Miss Danvers, before you leave, can I ask you about a personal matter?” Dubbilex said, his illusion appearing to be hesitant.
“Sure, go ahead.” Kara mumbled as she scratched at the bags under her eyes.
“Many of us Genomorphs wish to meet the metahumans used as a base to produce our kind, but the CADMUS database only has the location of a few of them. Could you ask the League about it?”
“Of course, I’m sure that even if the League doesn’t have that information, Batman should.”
“Thank you.”
With a yawn, Kara allowed Dubbilex to take her seat and start working on the company systems.
Walking into one of the storage rooms, she typed a password on her cell phone causing both the floor and ceiling to open and revealing the Zeta-Tube she had installed in the building a few days ago.
In truth, she really wanted to fly back home, but the Lobo locked on the Fortress of Solitude was already completely healed. It meant there was far too big a chance that a copy of the bounty hunter had already regenerated from his missing arm and was hunting for her.
Lobo really was incredibly annoying, she didn’t even dare go back to her moon base alone since he could travel through space with his motorcycle. As a result, she had to get Kori to go with her and relocate some of the projects there into the Fortress.
Thankfully, Kal had agreed to separate a corner of the Fortress for her use and she trusted him to give her privacy while she was there.
When she got back and saw the state of her apartment, she groaned. There were feathers spread everywhere and even some drops of blood. With a sigh, Kara made for the linen closet when Dexter came running from her bedroom, his little paws barely making a sound on the floor.
He threw his body against her and waved between her legs once or twice before dropping a pigeon head at her feet and glancing up with an incredibly smug look on his face. “Meow.”
“Ah! Who’s my cute little murder machine!” Kara couldn’t resist and crouched down to scratch at his ears until the cat laid on the floor and presented her his belly. Kara knew it was a trap, but being a Kryptonian had some advantages so she scratched at it anyway. “You’re a good kitty, eliminating all those flying rats. I just hope you know you’re gonna need a bath now.”
Dexter had been in the middle of clawing at her hand with all four legs when he heard the dreaded word. With a hiss, he kicked away from Kara’s fingers and fled under the sofa.
“You know that’s not gonna help you!” She called out as she got the cleaning supplies and started using her speed to clean the apartment once again.
She was in the middle of washing the yowling cat when something on the TV caught her attention, a supervillain with wind powers had attacked Happy Harbor and caused a lot of property damage.
“Right, almost forgot about that.” She said and finished getting rid of the blood on Dexter’s fur. Pulling her phone out she first called Kal’s number.
“Hey Kara, is something wrong?” Kal asked in a worried voice when he picked up the phone..
“Nope, just calling to warn you I’m gonna be improving the defenses on Mount Justice.” She said in a calm voice.
“What?”
“Just saw it on the TV. Kori and Kon subdued a villain over at Happy Harbor less than a week after they moved into the mountain.” She told him with a tired voice. “I just wanted to warn you I’m turning that mountain into an impregnable fortress. And I’m NOT avoiding deadly force.”
“Ah… look, can we talk about it later? I’m working right now.”
“Sure. I’m not gonna change my stance, but you can talk.”
Hanging up the phone, Kara immediately started dialing a second number even as her mind was filling with the defenses she’d put on the mountain… Was poisonous gas too much?
“I thought we’d only talk next week, Miss Zor-El?” Said the older, male voice over the phone.
“Hello Bobo, have you found out anything about Dr. Morrow yet?” Kara asked in a curious voice. “Cuz I just saw one of his robots attack Happy Harbor not even two hours ago.”
“Hmmm… that certainly explains some things.” The chimp said from his side of the phone, then seemed to stop to think about something. “Yes, I do believe I can narrow down the scientist’s location by the time of our first team meeting.”
“Good, while The Light is a far more dangerous long-term enemy, T. O. Morrow is our most immediate priority.” Kara said before ending the call, already thinking about how much of a powerhouse Firebrand would be.
CapitaoCaverna
If you enjoy my work take a look at my other fics: Dungeon Delving is Damn HARD (SFW) / Reincarnated into a H World (VERY NSFW) / Welcome to the System (SFW). Reincarnated into a H World just got an update yesterday!
Also, think about giving me a tip if you have some spare change by supporting me on patreon, ko-fi with the buttons bellow the chapter, or just a one time donation directly to PayPal. All my content is free.
A shout to Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie, Banh Bao, Ian Michael, WanderingDaemon, Scott, Tony Martinez, Travis cox and Chaos for supporting my work!
Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Eric Faust for helping me improve this chapter.
