Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ding. The soft chime of the airlock alarm came from his desk.

Kal gently lowered his cupped hand into the warm water and watched as the corydo flashed its silvery fins as it slipped away into the tank.

Ding. A second soft chime rang out.

How unusual. Crouching down to peer through the glass side, Kal smiled when he saw the fish hiding between the softly swaying plants that grew throughout the enclosure. Hopefully it would feel more comfortable here, at least temporarily.

Kal picked up the corydo's former home, bringing it with him to his desk. The small cube wouldn't be fit for much. He decided it could house some small knick-knacks that were cluttering his space. He checked his monitor to see the entrance logs.

> 12:05:43 Hal Jordan.

Kal recalled he was pleasant enough to deal with, like most of the Lantern Corps they got drop-offs from. Hal coming by also meant they were in his jurisdiction of sector 2814. But that second alert piqued Kal's interest. He’d remember if Hal had a partner. He checked the next log.

> 12:05:45 Guest.

"Huh, never seen that one before," Kal said to himself.

They rarely had visitors who weren't Lanterns or from some regulatory agency or other. Hal with a Corps partner was one thing, but a guest was another.

Seeing as there wasn't much else he could learn from the entrance logs, Kal turned back to his newest patient. Its astacid neighbor, a larger predatory arthropod, seemed to have decided the little fish was looking ripe to be its next meal. The corydo stayed hiding deep in the vegetation of its tank while the astacid looked at it through the glass of its neighboring tank.

Tutting quietly. Kal rolled up his sleeve and reached into the tank. He moved a large decorative rock against the glass facing the astacid’s tank. With its view obstructed, the astacid lost interest and resumed picking through the algae and detritus on the bottom of its own tank.

The small corydo stayed in its leafy hiding spot.

"He can't bother you. But feel free to hide until you're sure," Kal reassured the corydo.

Like his new patient, the astacid would soon be relocated in a habitat suitable to be its new home. Whenever possible, he tried to get them rehomed as soon as he could manage. The Caretakers did the same. They shouldn't keep them on the ship permanently after all, not if there were much better homes for them.

Speaking of which, he should start on finding a suitable home for the small corydo. Preferably far from where the astacid would go to.

Kal was happily reading about warm, shallow rivers on tropical moons when he caught out of the corner of his eye a flash of green, which was Hal Jordan exiting through the airlock.

Hal never stayed long. He was a busy man. Though from what Kilowog and the other Lanterns mentioned, apparently he was usually much more sociable. Kal tried not to take it personally.

Following the Green Lantern like a shadow, Kal saw a dark figure--Hal's guest, he supposed.

The shadow looked unlike any Lantern or contraband officer Kal had seen. But from what he could see of him--much like Hal--he looked... What was it? Human. But Kal knew that despite appearances, it was much more likely than encountering another Kryptonian.

As Kal watched, the shadow didn't follow to leave quite as quickly as Hal. He stopped in the corridor and, as if sensing Kal's gaze on him, turned and seemed to look directly at Kal.

Kal startled a bit where he sat at his desk. For the first time, he felt the floor-to-ceiling glass wall of his study left him exposed to the intense attention directed at him by the shadowy man standing stone-still at the other end of the corridor. Not wanting to be rude, though, he gave a small smile and a gesture with his hand.

Just as soon as he did, the man swirled around in his dark cloak and slipped into the same airlock Hal had left through. Kal looked at his hand still half-raised and slightly floppy. Hopefully that hadn't been offensive or anything--Kal thought it was a pretty universal gesture of greeting and friendship, but he could never really be sure of these things.

Kal saw Xelek's metallic form tread over to the airlock and stand there as the Caretaker interfaced with the control panel. The door to his study whirred quietly as it opened, and Kal stepped out into the blue-white light of the corridor.

"Who was that?" The light on Xelek's chassis blinked rapidly as Kal came to stand near it. "We usually don't get more than drop-offs from Hal."

After making sure the airlock sequence finished smoothly, Xelek turned to Kal. "Green Lantern Hal Jordan has brought to us a unique situation. Quite out of the ordinary," the Caretaker's mechanical voice relayed to Kal.

"Anything I can help with?" Kal asked.

Xelek's light blinked rapidly. Letting inhabitants out of their enclosures made the Caretakers uneasy on the principle of it being against their protocols, but they had no reason to be strict about programming deemed arbitrary in their situation. And on account of Kal, they had always been more than accommodating.

"Perhaps there is." The Caretaker shuffled its treads. "The sector has had a visit from Starro the Conqueror, and most recently the Earthlings overthrew his attempts at domination."

"I wish I heard less news about that warmonger." Kal shook his head disapprovingly. "Were they needing help with the recovery?"

"Quite the opposite. They made it clear they had it under control and did not need any assistance."

"Who's they? That...friend of Hal's?" Kal could imagine the shadow as less than friendly.

"A representative of the Justice League. I understand it is a committee Green Lantern Hal Jordan sits on." Kal nodded, following. "They have come into possession of a spore specimen."

Now that was certainly unordinary.

"They need us to take it in?" Kal considered, it would definitely be a challenge, a delicate case.

Xelek's light blinked. "They wish to maintain custody of the spore." That made Kal pause. "The reason Green Lantern Hal Jordan wished to consult with us."

"But why? Keeping a part of the being that tried to conquer them?"

"The spore was deemed harmless."

Kal's brow furrowed. "I would want to be more than sure of that."

Keeping a piece of something that tried to take over your world, it didn't seem wise no matter how careful you were.

"The League was advised to return for further consultation." The bot didn't supply anything further.

Kal kept pace as the Caretaker treaded back down the corridor.

"Well, the corydo is settling in nicely. I think there are some suitable habitats in the nearby systems."

"Very well. A course can be drawn to accommodate its release."

"Thanks. Anything you need?"

"No further assistance is required. But perhaps you will be needed during the maintenance in the mrinii enclosure."

Kal smiled. "No problem." He rather liked rounding up the invasive bird-rodents. The Caretakers could handle them, but the dust from their feathers didn't get along well with their cooling systems.

The door to his study slid shut behind him as he stepped back into the red glow of the room, the glow refracted through the crystals dim in contrast to the blue-white light outside. The scanner display pulsed a gentle magenta from the corner of the desk, and Kal relaxed as he glanced at its empty map. The sound of Xelek's treads faded, and as Kal sat back down at his desk the only other sounds he heard were the soft bubbling from the tanks and the quiet hum of the ship.

Kal tapped his finger against the top of his desk before he pulled out his datapad to jot down some thoughts that had been prompted by the curious situation of the infamous Conqueror’s spore.

---

I also made this playlist. For the vibes.

Chapter Text

"I think it wasn't too bad this time," Kal said. He swept up a little pile of dust and bedding.

A little further down the corridor, Zehiod moved slowly across the floor. The humming rotor attachment left a damp trail of freshly scrubbed floor behind it. "My records indicate that today was 4 minutes longer than the last session."

"Well," Kal remarked, picking a feather out of his hair, "quicker doesn't always mean better. I think we're getting a better handle on it."

"There is no rush. The possibility of release for the mrinii in the future are quite low. There is plenty of opportunity for improvement."

"You've got that right," Kal said with a wry chuckle. "Hey, any idea on if they're still in that meeting?"

Zehiod’s light blinked as it tapped into the central processor the Caretakers shared. "Xelek should be available shortly. The meeting was just adjourned."

"Mmh." Kal picked a stray tuft of feather-fur from his hair. His nose tickled furiously. He sneezed. "Uff. Excuse me."

"Gesundheit." A deep, gravelly voice interjected.

Kal turned and saw the shadow at the mouth of the corridor. The man was draped in shadow, a dark cape and armor covering him, except for his mouth, which he held in a stern frown, perfectly still like the rest of his body.

"Pardon the mess," Kal apologized, holding his broom with one hand while he dusted off his front with the other. "This stuff gets everywhere. We were almost done cleaning up." Zehiod didn't seem to stop to pay any mind to the shadow, whirring along and sweeping up the last of the larger piles.

"Are you Kal-El?" The shadow's low monotone was hard to read.

Kal straightened. "Yes?" His hand tightened on his broom. He could almost find it funny to hear his name from a man he called the shadow.

"I read your memo." Kal faintly recalled writing something of the sort. "Firstly, I recognize your and the Caretakers' experience and expertise." He paused before continuing. "Though every situation is unique."

Kal felt a prickle of pride before going on to feel apprehension about what might follow that statement.

Kal gave a small nod. "Yes, I can't imagine what you went through with Starro. The recovery must be taking a great deal of effort on your part. If we can do anything to help..."

"I appreciate the sentiment." The man’s unreadable expression didn't show it. "However, I would appreciate if you wouldn’t make any extraneous statements about Jarro with an incomplete understanding of the situation surrounding him.”

Kal was a bit lost. “Jarro?"

"The 'parasitic spawn' prefers to be called Jarro." The shadow’s frown deepened. "He has been under my direct care and observation. He poses no danger." A subtle tilt of the horned cowl gave the impression he was giving Kal a hard look. "Jarro shows potential, and he should be the one who get a say in what happens to him."

"I'm not trying to--" Kal pressed his lips together in a grimace. "I just think this decision shouldn't be made lightly without consideration. I hope you can understand that."

"You've made that very clear." Batman's statue-like composure showed no signs of breaking. "In which case, I would prefer--"

"Batman. Kal-El." Xelek's metallic form appeared next to the shadow, apparently called Batman. "I see you have met." Xelek whirred as it turned its chassis toward Kal. "Kal, I considered the contents of your memo relevant to our discussion. I am sure Batman found the additional opinion valuable."

Kal gave a nod and a tight smile. "Yes. I'm sure." He glanced at the similarly tight-lipped Batman. "We were just having a good talk on the subject." The other man shifted ever so slightly.

Batman grunted, or maybe coughed. "Of the sort."

"I am pleased to hear it." Xelek's light blinked. "Green Lantern Hal Jordan has contacted me. He wishes me to relay a message."

A whirr and a crackle sounded before Jordan's tinny voice started speaking. "Spooks I know you're ignoring my pings. I swear I'll leave with or--"

"Ahem." That was an actual cough. "Thank you, Xelek. Please let Lantern Jordan know I will meet him shortly." He seemed to look briefly at Kal. "Thank you for your assistance, Caretakers." He nodded slightly to Xelek before he sweeping away in a dark swirl.

Kal watched Batman stride silently away before disappearing from view around a corner. He realized he was clutching his broom tightly in his fist. The blood rushed back into his fingers when he loosened them.

"I didn't, um, know you were going to show him what I wrote." Kal looked at Xelek with a grimace. "I don't think he actually appreciated my opinion on the matter. He told me to mind my own business." Kal consciously loosened his fingers again. "I don't think he's wrong about that. I mean, he didn't ask me."

"On the contrary. Though you are not a Caretaker by make, you make significant contributions to our missions and duties." Xelek treaded over to the airlock panel and Kal followed. "The Justice League asked for the help of the Caretakers. It would be remiss not to share your opinions when relevant."

"Oh." Kal found himself surprised by the sentiment in Xelek's mechanical voice. "Thanks. I didn't, didn't know you thought of it like that."

Decoupling from the panel, Xelek turned his chassis back towards Kal. There was a quiet whirring as a panel opened on Xelek's chassis, and a small datastick appeared.

"A copy of the information. Perhaps you can familiarize yourself with the situation, if you would like to join the next meeting."

Kal took the offered datastick and stared at it. "I don't think Batman would really like that idea."

Xelek's light blinked briefly before stilling. "He has previously stated he would defer to the Caretakers' expertise in the matter."

Kal's lips twitched as he finally slipped the datastick into his robe. "Thank you. I'm sure it'll be interesting to look into at the very least. I won't make any promises."

...

Kal chewed his lip as he stared at the datastick he held hovering above his worktop. After so confidently writing that note for Xelek, he was ridiculously intimidated to see what was on the datastick.

He huffed self-deprecatingly and finally interfaced the stick onto his worktop. He pulled up a detailed and neatly nested dossier. Kal wondered if the Batman compiled this himself.

In between clicking through the files, the earlier events from a few hours ago filtered back into his mind. Kal dropped his face into his hand. Parasitic spawn. He really did put it like that in his memo, didn't he. No matter if it was true, ecologically speaking, he knew better than to think that earned him any kindness.

He remembered one more thing. Jarro. Kal's lip twitched. It was a pretty cute name for the dark, brooding Batman to be insisting on. Though, Kal considered, he ought to make sure they weren't really keeping him in a jar.

Clicking to the first folder, Kal startled at the sudden burst of sound from a video. The screen showed an overhead view of a tall city. The people below looked like ants as they moved as one mass away from a large spaceship hovering over the nearby bay.

The shot zoomed in close enough to show the figures in more detail. Each member of the swarm had a pink, fleshy star-shaped mass latched onto their face.

The audio crackled from a comm line. "The spores seem to be having a psychic lock on the victims. J'onn, what do you say."

"Their psyches are being overridden by the spores, but they are intact. Once the suppression is lifted there should be no damage."

"Everyone get that? Treat all adversaries as civilian. Minimal force."

"Roger. Me and Flash'll keep 'em busy."

“I’m afraid my lasso does nothing for the enthralled.”

"Copy. J'onn, any insight into how we can stop that thing? I'm all ears."

Kal was surprised to recognize the voices of Hal and Batman. Several other voices he didn't recognize spoke over the comm line. The view of the city spun as the camera turned toward the large ship over the bay. Kal realized the camera must be the feed from some sort of aircraft when it quickly drew closer to the hulking dreadnought.

"I'm going to do some passes on the ship, see what its defenses are. If we can get close enough, do you think you'll be able to get a read on it?"

The tense, sure tone of Batman's voice had Kal holding his breath as the feed drew closer to the ship. The dizzying perspective of aerial maneuvers was interspersed with more comm chatter and other flying figures joining near the ship. The video continued for several more minutes before cutting off.

Kal clicked quickly through the other folders. A rapid skim through the numerous logs and reports revealed that after several days of efforts, it seemed the Justice League were able to draw Starro out into a vulnerable position where they were able to weaken its hold on the thralled individuals. With the spores neutralized and the civilians released, together the League was able to barrage Starro with psionic cannons and drive it to abandon its conquest of the planet.

Kal glanced at the timestamp. The report was dated 10 days ago, only 2 days after Starro had left. Not even two weeks ago, Earth had been facing total domination. A long trail of reports detailed the start of damage assessments and recovery efforts showed an unwavering energy from the Justice League and the people of Earth.

Kal was all too familiar with the feeling of facing an impossibly powerful entity whose only desire was to control completely. And now this Starro...

And yet, the Justice League and the people of Earth seemed almost unfazed, almost even more driven to rebuild and recover after having done the impossible. Kal didn't know if he remembered ever feeling that sort of way.

The last folder had only a single report. It was a short report stating that a spore specimen had been collected and in the possession of Batman for further study. A file was attached. Kal opened it to see a small creature almost completely composed of a large, limpid eye staring at him. It was floating in a tank full of fluid, its vaguely star-shaped body pressed against the glass.

Kal closed the report and rested his chin on his hand. His eyes found themselves staring at the blank screen of the gently pulsing scanner. He imagined Batman on that plane circling Starro's mothership. He imagined him collecting a tiny spore and taking that picture. He remembered that tiny, pink star with its huge, shining eye. Perhaps with the capability of being a tiny beacon--or even some sort of dangerous clone.

Kal was reluctant to admit it was slightly adorable.

He watched the scanner display pulse at the corner of his desk--reading blank--and wondered if he was really in any position to oppose keeping the Conqueror's spore.

He sighed. "Sorry, guys." The two small tanks bubbled on their shelf. "It's looking like we're going to have a bit of a detour before we get you home.”

Chapter Text

To call their discussion with Batman friendly would be a misrepresentation.

Xelek, either due to their programming or their own upright standards, did not make false promises. And so Kal had found himself on the ship's bridge, standing uneasily and a bit to the side as Xelek hailed Batman from the command terminal.

On the large display at the front of the bridge, Kal was able to take his time really looking at Batman without feeling his intense gaze on himself. The masked man demeanor was unchanged, utterly professional and efficient, but Kal thought he saw in that stern expression the tightness of stress. Kal had a lot of time to go through the datastick Xelek had given him, and it had given him a different perspective on the magnitude of the attack from Starro.

"I don't recall that being up for discussion." Batman's flat tone had brought Kal back to the conversation at hand.

Xelek's light glowed steadily. "You are correct, this has not been discussed previously." Kal felt like sometimes Xelek took great satisfaction in throwing surprises at people. "However, there are many benefits and no disadvantages to doing so -- Kal-El is an experienced member of our ship and a well-versed scholar. I estimate it will be beneficial in accelerating the process, which would clear up time better allocated to the recovery efforts for your side."

It seemed Xelek had finally brought up the suggestion to have Kal join their meetings. By the pinched look on what was visible of Batman's face, it was not going over well. And really, after what Kal had to say about the project, in his now-infamous memo and in that corridor, Batman had no reason to welcome Kal into the meetings.

After several long moments of silence, Batman spoke. "I acknowledge your suggestion is not without merit. But you have to understand it feels unbalanced from my side." The pinched expression still sat on Batman's face, but it was really just as unreadable as any other stern frown Kal had seen him assume. "If you want to bring another member of your crew into our meetings, I would also like to bring in another from mine. To even out the interests represented in the room." Batman drew away from the screen as he sat back into his chair on his end.

Kal somehow got the distinct impression that Batman was no stranger to driving hard bargains--and never getting any less than what he wanted. But of course, Xelek also seldom failed to deliver what he set out to with analytical precision. In a strange way, Kal thought to himself as he watched the call between the two, they seemed to get along swimmingly.

***

The call had been a few days ago, and since then Kal had plenty of time to grow increasingly nervous and throw himself into combing through the datastick even more meticulously, and supplementing that with every other source of his own he could find about Starro's, psychic invertebrates and even child psychology. Not eager to make the same mistake like that memo again, Kal tried to cover all his bases.

But really, who was he kidding. The closest thing to a sentient, intelligent species he’d handled were the giant toulul. Kal swore they knew how terribly their bioluminescent fruits stained, the way they made sure to absolutely cover Kal's tunic with it when they fed. Speaking of which, Kal recalled the mortifying episode when he’d encountered Hal while the lantern was doing a pick-up of said giant toulul. Only to realize that, in the dim red light of his quarters, he had certainly not gotten all of the stains out of his tunic, when he stood in the blue light of the corridor with horrific splatters on his tunic, glowing like Hal's ring.

And of course, who else but Hal would be the most likely candidate for coming to this meeting as Batman's backup? Kal didn't want to be overdramatic, but he seemed to have his own brand of unlucky. Out of all the Lanterns of all the quadrants, who else but Hal Jordan would be in charge of the sector for Earth. On top of being a member of the Justice League? And of course, Batman would elect to bring Jordan as his backup, considering his history working with the Caretakers, as well as general inter-planetary relations and life-forms.

Kal wondered if he could survive the whiplash of being in a meeting with both Batman and Hal. He was already anticipating coming out of it with the symptoms of a concussion.

But just as Kal was beginning to consider how bad it would really be if he just slipped off into some hidden corner of the ship before the entourage made it to the meeting room, there was a click as the door engaged. Kal stood when the door slid open and Xelek treaded in. Batman shadowed Xelek, his silent footsteps, followed by a bright red blur. Compared to his stoic companion, the man in red was positively beaming. The gold sparks on the cowl of his form-fitting uniform were as bright as the friendly smile on his face.

Kal's tight smile gave way to something probably a little dumb when he saw the unfamiliar man step in behind Batman instead of Hal. After a short second of surprised stupor, Kal quickly recovered and walked over to them.

There was a quiet hum of static as Xelek began to speak. "And here is Kal-El."

"I appreciate you letting me join in." Kal put on his best smile. "Batman it's good to see you again."

Batman uttered a subvocal grunt, but with the small accompanying dip of his head, it came off as not unkind. Small mercies.

"Nice to meet you. Sorry we're late. My fault completely." The man's chipper greeting came not a moment too soon, as Kal began to seriously worry about how to address Batman's companion. "I'm Barry. Kal-El, right?"

Kal startled slightly when Barry suddenly took his hand. He was slightly thrilled once he realized what was happening. It was a customary Earth greeting ritual of sorts. Right. Kal remembered to match the man's grip as he bounced their clasped hands a couple of times.

"I'm glad to meet you, Barry."

Batman's grumble interjected, "Flash." But it sounded less intimidating and more a tired reproach.

Barry--Flash? Dropped his hand and laughed nervously. "Oh, um. Thought we were being polite."

Xelek treaded past and took a place at the table. "Since we are already delayed and you have other important matters at hand, it is appropriate that we begin promptly." They were eager to agree to the Caretaker's suggestion, taking seats at the table.

Batman handed a datastick to Xelek, who interfaced with it to project onto the large display in the center of the table. Kal was mindful of his place as an interloper and tried his best to be unobtrusive while Batman talked.

Kal was surprised to find that Batman was starting out from the very basics of the Starro spore project. He realized it was probably also for the benefit of Barry--Flash--who was new to the project as well. And while Kal had thoroughly reviewed the information of the general Starro report he had gotten from Xelek, he realized that Batman had much more detailed information on the spore, whether that was newly discovered, or simply left off the report of the event.

"Look at the little guy, he's definitely growing!" Barry remarked.

An image of the pink creature filled the display, and Kal realized that it must be a new photo. The star-shaped spore seemed to take up more space in the tank, and he could seefine, complex patterns on the surface of its skin.

It looks very cute. Kal could imagine saying, but he kept his silence, not willing to make more of a fool of himself than he did previously. Kal's skin prickled, and he looked to see that Batman was (probably) glowering at him. The long look somehow also held somewhat of an expectant weight.

"Uhm," Kal began eloquently, "going along with what Barry--Flash said. The spore seems to be growing, and looks to be in good condition as well."

Very insightful, Kal. He leaned back into his seat, barely resisting the urge to sink lower until he was out of sight.

Barry nodded amicably. Batman looked unimpressed.

"Hm." The gravel in his throat seemed to be saturated in sardonism. "I'm surprised you don't have notes prepared."

Kal felt an unintentional flush wash over him in a wave of hot chills. "I'm sorry." His voice came out sharp. "But we are here in this meeting because you wanted the help of the Caretakers. Not to," his exhale caught like a scoff, "not to hash out my missteps.”

When Kal turned to look back across the table, Batman held his gaze silently for a long moment.

Barry seemed to be one for diplomacy, more so than his fellow League member. "Actually, I think Hal had the idea to bring the Caretakers in." Batman glanced over at him and seemed to grumble something. "Oh! And Batman agreed to. Because he wanted to do the right thing," Barry added on, with a not-so subtle elbow to the other man’s bicep.

Batman's lips pressed together, and his head fell forward slightly. Kal thought he heard him let out a sigh and quiet grumble.

The right thing. Kal had been so quick to think he knew just what that was. What he helped the Caretakers do, rescuing and returning the creatures that were poached and traded, or otherwise unsafe or unfit, surely that was the right thing to do.

The Starro spore--Jarro--had been spawned for a niche that was no longer relevant on this planet. But Batman, for whatever reason, was willing and wanted to care for it. A home on Earth. Better than Kal could lay claim to.

"If there is a home for the spore--Jarro on Earth," Kal began, "then letting him remain would seem to be the least disruptive course of action."

It was almost ridiculous how his opinion completely changed from first time he'd met Batman, without any effort on the part of the other man at all. Still. Kal couldn't in good conscience give his blessing without due diligence. "As long as we can verify he is provided adequate care and living conditions and will continue to do so for the entirety of its life."

"Or however long he wishes to stay."

Kal dipped his head in acquiescence. "Yes. If as you say, he has the ability to, its choice will take priority. But," Kal added, his gaze hard, "I would like the Caretakers to be involved in such a situation. Excuse my skepticism when I say we've seen many are all too eager to let go of their reins."

"Hn," Batman grunted.

Maybe Kal was reading too much into the non-word, but it didn't sound dismissive. From his left, Barry smiled at Kal, another good sign.

"The Lanterns have worked with you, but as far as I know, you've never dealt with this species before. How do we know your advisory can help us in any way?" Batman cocked his head slightly. Kal was under the impression that if he could see the other man's eyes underneath that scowling mask, they would be narrowed and sharply focused on himself.

Xelek's smooth mechanical voice spoke before he could get in a sharp word. "You are correct. The Starro spore is a new species to the Caretakers."

He looked sheepishly at Xelek as the Caretaker steered the conversation in a calmer course. "It is simply impossible to have complete knowledge about every species in this sector, much less the universe. However, if the Caretakers depended on indexed past knowledge to fulfill our directive, the scope of our capabilities would be severely limited." Xelek's light spun briefly. "You must know that it is the flexibility to take on new challenges that is most important."

"Absolutely." Barry leaned forward and leaned his elbows on the table, smiling honestly. "Even though rote knowledge can be had by anyone, experience and expertise are invaluable." Barry turned to Batman and shrugged. "I think the Caretakers are probably the most qualified to look at something like this and help us. And I'm not just saying that because it was Hal's idea."

"A very insightful statement." Kal bit back a grin. That was probably the most partial sentiment anyone could get from Xelek. "The facilities on the ship are indespensible in observing and studying new species, and detailed studies can help us understand the Starro spore. If the specimen could be brought aboard for observation--"

"I object." Batman cut in brusquely.

"If you're worried about the studies, they aren't invasive at all and mostly involve observation of reaction to different environments and stimuli," Kal reassured him.

"That isn't my concern," Batman said in that same harsh tone. "There's too much risk.The spore was spawned on Earth, and it's only been observed in a highly controlled and stable environment. The effects of being in orbit, much less the process of transportation--there are too many unknowns about how it can handle those stresses and changes."

Kal scrunched his brow. "I would have thought your close work with a Green Lantern would assure you that appropriate safeguards practically eliminate any risk of space travel, regardless of species."

Batman scoffed quietly. "I wouldn't regard Hal Jordan a dependable reference point to reassure me." Barry, to his left, pursed his lips into an unimpressed line. Apparently, despite being on the League together, Batman did not hold the lantern in high regard.

"Sorry if I missed a memo," Barry chimed in, lips still pursed, "but why not come to Earth to do the studies you want to do on Jarro?" He lifted his red-gloved hands and smiled nervously. "I realize that's a big ask when you'd already be doing us a favor, but surely there's some sort of compromise?"

Kal let out a wry huff. Of course, if they didn't know something like this, something so basic, they'd gotten very little information from Hal.

"Leaving the ship is not an option. It goes directly against fundamental Caretaker programming principles. Not," Kal's eyes flicked to Xelek as he added, "not something that can be broken lightly."

Barry nodded solemnly, offering a small smile to Kal.

"What about you." Kal looked and saw Batman was addressing him intently. "You're not a Caretaker, or unless you've also got a processing chip in you, you can't have such restrictions hardwired into your system."

Kal was very tempted to do something immature, like try to kick Batman's shin under the table. Processing chip Hsir’s foot.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kal saw a flicker of light and turned to see Xelek's light spinning rapidly. "If our information correct, your Earth is part of a yellow star system?"

He distantly registered Barry confirm, and there was a curious tone to his following sentence. But Kal didn’t catch the words.

Because even sitting there in that room, all he could really think about was the sensation of unnerving prickling all over his skin, as if he could feel the radiation from just the mention of it. He had to clutch his armrests to make sure the chair was still beneath him.

"--may limit our options," he heard Xelek intone evenly.

Kal felt the echoes of the memories fade, and he blinked rapidly, his vision coming back into focus. Back in the meeting room--back on the ship.

Only after a moment did he register Batman's gaze locked on him, seemingly not paying any attention to the careful words being exchanged between Barry and Xelek. Whatever annoyed expression Kal might have expected from him, he may have preferred it to the unsettlingly assessing set of Batman's frown. Even from across the table, Kal felt like he was in a dish, being scrutinized under the microscope in his study.

"I'll have some ideas prepared for the next meeting," Batman stated abruptly. The way Barry startled a bit, he hadn't thought his teammate was following the conversation either. Batman's gaze, however, didn't leave Kal for a second. Kal found himself wondering if the feeling of being picked apart was due to Batman having some sort of psychic or hypnotic ability, instead of just having an unnervingly piercing glare.

But there was no wondering when it came to Barry--Flash--who blurred and crackled and was suddenly standing behind Batman's chair. "Great!" He said. "If you have ideas, I'm all for it. But I think we're going to be late to that UN committee meeting." Barry was suddenly by the door and grinned back at them. "At least it's not my fault this time."

"Apologies. It's our fault for keeping you." Kal moved to stand.

Xelek was already treading to the door. "I will escort you to the airlock."

Batman got to his feet silently, his black cape flared around him with nothing more than a whisper, but he didn't leave after-images or even cast a wayward shadow. Off-putting, but apparently normal, Kal thought. At least for now.

A quiet scuff of a sole had Kal aware that Barry hadn't yet followed Xelek and Batman out of the room. He was looking at Kal with a gentle expression. "Hey, that went well." He chuckled at the disbelieving look that must have crossed Kal's face. "I mean, all things considered. B can come on a bit strong, but I think that's just a bad habit of needing to get the last word."

"You don't say," Kal found himself saying, his lips twisting wryly.

Barry returned his smile warmly and shrugged. "Sorry, I guess you get used to it." His face turned serious. "But he really is dedicated to this project, you know? And I'd look forward to his ideas, because they're always worth the trouble he gives you for them. Almost."

Kal shared an small smile with Barry, who grinned back. "I'll have to take your word for it, then." And in a blur of half-formed images, Kal found himself finally alone. The table he stood at still displayed the projection at the center display--seven planets slowly orbiting a bright, yellow sun.

Chapter Text

Kal couldn't say he was looking forward to the next meeting. In the days since that meeting with Barry and Batman, he kept going in circles about the whole thing. Barry had extended a kind gesture to Kal, apologizing for his colleague's attitude, but Batman himself hadn't seemed the type to be apologetic about that sort of thing, unreadable as he was. He was glad to have met Barry, at least.

He tried distracting himself on working on the mrinii dander problem--there really needed to be a way to keep it out of the Caretakers' internals--but he couldn't help remembering Batman's prickly demeanor, which had abruptly done a turnabout at the end of the meeting.

He hoped Barry was right about whatever Batman might have in mind, because Kal wasn't even really able to picture how the next meeting would go. If the last two (or was it three?) times they'd met was anything to go off of, surely this collaborative effort was going to have a lot of unpredictable and incredibly awkward encounters for the foreseeable future. He and Batman never seemed to be in step with each other.

When that intent gaze entered Kal's mind he determinedly redirected himself to a new task--maybe a different configuration for the circulation system would help reduce the dander issues.

But as it turned out, there was going to be no awkward third (or fourth?) encounter with Batman. Because, according to Barry, "Batman is off-world. A mission with Hal." He nodded solemnly, like Kal understood. "Which you know has to be important because they do not volunteer to do that for fun."

Kal nodded slowly. "I see." He didn't really, but he might have had a faint idea of it, recalling Batman's offhand dismissal at the mention of Hal. "Do you need a hand?" Kal moved to take the top half of the large stack in Barry's arms. "What is all this?"

"Thanks." Barry gave him a grateful smile as the airlock clicked closed behind him. "Well, Batman might be busy, but he made sure to leave very detailed notes. It'll be like he's right here with us."

Kal raised an eyebrow and peeked down at his half of the stack. Sure enough, it was folders upon folders of what appeared to be extremely dense notes and reports. "Did Batman write this?" It had only been a few weeks since their last meeting, where had he found the time?

Barry snorted. "Batman does love his reports, but even this isn't possible for him. No, I think he's just babying us and printed out all the information he had so we couldn't say we missed it. I'm sure he's annotated it all for us, though." Now that he mentioned it, Kal noticed notes typed in small, blue text along the margins.

"Very analog," Kal observed. "You know we have data pads?"

"Oh, these are just the highlights. He sent me even more, plus a thick stack of slides. Those he definitely wrote himself." Barry set down his stack on the conference table with a dull thump. "And here's the rest." Kal took the datastick Barry procured and interfaced it with the display. He was in agreement when Barry huffed bemusedly at the long list of files. "Well, we have a lot to get through."

"Batman prepared all of this?" Even gathering all the information must have taken a staggering amount of time, especially for someone who Kal hadn't gotten the impression was exactly eager to have the Caretakers involved.

Barry directed the same soft smile at Kal as he had before he'd left. "I told you, he's all bark and no bite." Kal wrinkled his brow in confusion. "Oh, sorry. Idioms don't translate well, Hal is always saying that. It means he talks tough, but B's a real softie."

Kal let out a surprised snort. "Really."

"Oh, he thinks it's a big secret, but we all know it." Barry grinned. "He must have been on varsity debate or something, because he really doesn't budge at all when you're talking to him, but in reality he's reasonable and methodical. He just hates to show it. So it comes out like this." He gestured to the extremely thorough compilation of information.

"I think I know the type," Kal said, mirroring Barry's grin. "He'd fit in well with the werluk. It's customary to be adversarial to everyone in order to save face, but to people they esteem, they offer favors--in complete privacy, of course."

"Oh, man. Batman would definitely fit in perfectly!" Barry was apparently delighted with the idea. "I can't even imagine what a whole world full of Batmans would be like."

The werluk were far from humanoid, but Kal couldn't help but also be amused by picturing the scores of the caped man feuding with clans of himself in the same manner. But perhaps 5 msael of arable land compared to a terabyte of meticulously annotated data were not so different.

"So you don't think he resents me?" Kal asked and immediately felt a little silly for doing so.

Barry seemed to take pity on him. "If you'll believe it, he more than tolerated working with you. You would know if he didn't like you. And this is probably an apology, in his own, very special way." He scrubbed a hand on the back of his head, sheepish. "And I sort of owe you one, too. An apology."

"An apology?" Kal was taken aback. "For what?"

Maybe he should have had more appreciation for this aspect of not staying in one system longer than it took to hash out the barest bones of logistics--not having to parse the local cultural gestures and how to deal with apparently being owed an apology, without any obvious reason.

A slight grimace crossed Barry's face, which Kal felt wasn't necessary since he had no idea what for. "Neither of us wanted to put you on the spot like that. We didn't realize, um, something like our sun could be an issue. We took it for granted, and it put you in an uncomfortable situation."

Kal huffed a small laugh. Barry seemed to be caught in a hesitant bewilderment at Kal's reaction.

"Sorry," Kal apologized. "I don't mean to make light of your gesture. In fact, I should be the one to apologize for my behavior. My condition shouldn't be something you should have to consider. I should have already been aware of the qualities of your system and accounted for this so that it would not come up as an issue in the first place." Kal smiled wryly.

Barry's expression said he wasn't happy with Kal's answer, but he demonstrated a greater willingness to concede a losing point when he cracked a wry smile at Kal. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, it probably helped you in B's book. Batman's base is underground, and he hardly sees the sun himself, at least not if he can help it."

"Maybe we have something in common after all." He wanted very much to be talking about anything else. "If it's not rude to ask, how are the recovery efforts on your planet going?"

According to Barry, the damage was mostly localized to major metropolitan areas along the coastlines. One positive aspect to come of the disaster was that the country and the world had come together to put the recovery efforts on top priority, contributing a flood of money and resources.

"It's honestly really encouraging, to see that people can still come together to help each other. But a bit sad that it takes something like this to put differences aside," Barry said.

“So what sort of work is the League busy with in the aftermath of the attack?”

"A lot of grunt work, mostly. I mean, a lot of us are meta, so that's what we're good for anyways."

Kal remembered his first impression of Barry--a sparking blur of red. "I watched some footage from the invasion, but I think you were too fast for me to catch a lot of the time." The patchwork of clips featured a couple glimpses of Barry in his red suit, never in one spot for long. "What's it like? To be able to do that?" Barry probably got that question a lot.

"Well, it's handy when I need to get out of a tight spot. And it definitely helps get chores done quick." Barry grinned. "But I still can't be everywhere at once. And no matter how fast I am, it's not any good if I leave everyone else behind." Kal saw a shadow pass over his expression for a moment. "And apparently it doesn't help me be on time for anything," Barry added with a wry chuckle.

"You'd be right at home here with the Caretakers. There's hardly anything you can be late for. And if there is, well, Xelek has had to come find me plenty of times because I was too caught up in something" . And not like Kal had been hard to track down, almost always in his study.

Barry seemed fascinated with the idea. "I don't know if having that sort of freedom would be liberating or terrible for me." He pursed his lips. "Probably both. I know I drive everyone crazy when I'm literally the fastest man alive and still can never be on time, but without knowing there are people counting on me, I feel like it'd be too easy to lose my connection with things. Freedom can be isolating, you know?"

"I think I might." Isolation in freedom. It was something Kal thought he knew. The ship was an oasis, a sanctuary, but it was equally an island, more remote than a lone comet because even the most far-flung comet came back to its star even if it took eons. Even though long stops to rendezvous with Green Lanterns or do drop-offs made them easy targets, they risked being tracked anyways. Having a goal to stop at was all that made running worth it.

"Honestly, I think Hal has it rough." The mention of the lantern made Kal feel strange knowing he knew more of the man from others than from any words exchanged between the two of them. "He goes off-planet for months at a time for the Guardians, and not to say he doesn't come back with some wild stories and gets to do some really cool stuff," Barry shrugged his shoulder at Kal, like he understood. "But the first thing he does when he gets back is call me up, because he doesn't have much else. It's hard to explain why you drop off the face of the earth--literally--for weeks or months at a time. Hard to keep a lease, much less relationships. Hell, I can be off to Canada to put out a wildfire and back to Central City in a couple minutes, and even explaining that can be hard. Having friends like Hal--and the League--it's grounding"

"It's good to have someone, a friend like that. Your League is an important part of your lives beyond your duties, then."

"It is. But I suppose the fact it was the only thing that stopped us from becoming Starro-thrall might be a minor benefit, too," Barry quipped, and Kal let out a startled chuckle.

Kal paused and chewed his lip, he'd almost forgotten why they'd met at all. "Is Starro really gone, then? Your rebuilding efforts, are you considering that he might come back?"

Barry sat back in his chair. "Starro is definitely gone. We can't know for sure if he won't return, of course, but we're putting measures in place so we'll be ready. The first thing we did was set up an alert system on the Watchtower. "

"The Watchtower, that is your base of operations? It wasn't damaged in the invasion?"

Barry grinned. "Oh, it was lucky enough to be far from most of the fighting." He waved a hand in a vague direction. "It's a space station, you see."

"Impressive." A thought occurred to him, and Kal found himself scowling. "If your base is a space station, then Batman's stance against transporting Jarro seems..."

Barry shook his head wearily. "Believe me, I don't really get it either. But one thing that you should know about B is that trying to change his mind is more pain than it's worth. Plus, he usually ends up being right anyways. Which makes his stubbornness even worse." Barry pulled a face that made Kal let out a surprised snort of laughter. "By the way." Barry paused suddenly and looked around the room. "Where's Xelek?"

"Sorry, I forgot to mention," Kal apologized. "Hey, Xelek. Can you hear us okay?"

"Kal. Barry. Unfortunately I am needed on the bridge. I will be participating remotely." Xelek's voice buzzed from the room.

Kal smiled at Barry, who was turning his head to look up at the ceiling. "Xelek had to attend to some matters. It should be no problem to link into the room and display through to the central processor."

"Alright." Barry turned to the display and tapped on the first folder with the title '000 START HERE'. "See, it's like he's right here with us."

Kal huffed a small laugh. The folder opened and displayed yet another long list of files. The first file opened to show a detailed report on 'Extraterrestrial Individual Known as Starro the Conqueror - Physiology and Ecology'. "I'm sure he would have wanted us to dive right in," Kal half-joked; he was honestly eager to dig into the information despite the circumstances of its necessity.

The first report turned out to be a combination of observational accounts, crude instrument readings obtained during the invasion, and a smattering of slightly grainy-blurry photographs of Starro's ship. They steadily worked through the files, discussing the implications of the observations--Xelek pointing out some interesting factors in the raw data, Kal jotting down the occasional note on the physical copies, and Barry interpreting brief notes left by Batman as well as supplying his own accounts from the invasion. Kal was once again impressed by the volume of information Batman had gleaned and compiled from the few short days of chaos during and following the invasion.

When Barry closed the current topographic map, the three of them found they had come to the end of the folder. "I think that's it for the--" he flipped back to glance at the cover of the tan folder, "--background information." On the display, the next folder opened to an equally daunting set of files that promised operation manuals for various equipment. Barry sighed audibly.

"How about a break?" Kal closed his own folder and pushed his chair back. Looking at the time, it had taken them the better part of two hours to go over the information so far. Profiling a new species was long work, and the circumstances that caused the sparse data made trying to piece together a more or less comprehensive profile made the goings even slower.

Barry leapt to his feet. "That sounds like a great idea." He pushed in his chair neatly. "Don't get the wrong idea, it's all fascinating, but I can only handle so much reading without my eyes falling out."

That gave Kal an idea. "Xelek," he addressed the room. "Are you still working on that scrambler? Do you mind if we join you up on the bridge?"

"That would be no problem, Kal-El. Work is still ongoing."

"Great." Kal smiled and turned to Barry. "Follow me, we can go watch."

Kal led Barry through the corridors to the front of the ship. At the press of his palm to the reader, the door to the bridge whirred open, and they joined Xelek where they stood interfacing the main controller. Kal saw Barry looking around at the control stations and display screens around the room. The main display showed a slightly garbled interface before flipping to a scrolling command feed. The display changed again to show a rapidly changing page of code.

"Wow, very Star Trek," Barry said. He shrugged at Kal's questioning look, and Kal assumed it was another untranslatable idiom.

"Greetings, Barry. Kal-El. Please excuse my divided attention," Xelek intoned, still stationed at the main controller.

Kal smiled at the Caretaker. "Hey, Xelek. Just taking a break and thought I'd show Barry around. Don't mind us." He turned to Barry. "You said you recently set up an alert system on your Watchtower?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah. It's up and running, but we're still ironing some things out. And we're looking to make it more robust as well."

"I hope maybe some of the work Xelek is doing could be relevant." Kal tapped at a secondary controller and flipped the display to a stable interface. "Right now Xelek is doing a routine update of our scrambler-cloaker, which keeps the ship's signals hidden from any unwanted parties." He flipped to a different window. "But we also have a fairly advanced scanner to alert us to any threats." The scanner's display pulsed magenta as it refreshed each ping. "Our range is fairly deep. From here, maybe a little beyond the edge of your planetary system."

"This is really impressive. Yes, I mean, we could definitely use some pointers from you guys if you can spare them." Barry stepped closer to the display. "I bet we could see Voyager with something like this." He tore his gaze from the display to look back at Kal with a lopsided smile. "I guess inter-galactic travel means you have to be on the lookout to stay out of trouble, huh. All sorts of stuff out there."

"Something like that," Kal said with a wry smile. The ship's scanners were far more robust than typically equipped on a similar class of ship. Yes, part of it was they travelled so widely without any home territory to speak of. But the better part of it was that, in their case, they needed all the prior warning they could get.

"Most of our system is based on Lantern ring-tech. Do you use something similar?"

"Lantern ring-tech is good," Kal shrugged, "for the size limitations. Your Watchtower, I'm sure, has a lot more space and power to spare. You could do a lot better than the rings can." He thought for a moment. "Depending on your power source, you could get a range a good distance out from your main system. And depending on how long you can spare for it, of course. I know you're very busy with other things," Kal added quickly.

Barry was shaking his head lightly. "No, I think all of this would be well worth the time. If our rebuilding efforts are to mean anything, it's only as good as we can prevent it from happening again." He looked at the scanner's display a moment longer in silence. "You're already doing us a big favor, but if you don't mind sharing some more..." Barry turned back with a sheepish hand on his neck, but Kal was already nodding genially.

"Of course, it's no trouble. I can get you a copy of some schematics." Kal returned the display back over to the main controller and its constantly changing windows. "Thanks for letting us bother you, Xelek." The Caretaker responded with a mechanical hum and a flash of its light.

Leaving the bridge, Kal led Barry around a corner and down the corridor toward his study. The heart of the ship contained the utility rooms, as well as the numerous rooms designated for enclosures. Many lay dark and unused, but as they drew closer to Kal's own room, there were several that housed the permanent residents, like the mrinii. Difficult to find suitable homes for, usually due to being extinct or from an extinct planet. The enclosure Barry had stopped in front of was such a subject.

It was only when Kal was several steps ahead that he noticed Barry had fallen behind. He turned back and saw Barry looking into the enclosure as if transfixed. Kal felt a rush of anxiety as he rushed to his side.

"Barry." Kal's voice was sharp, to break through the light trance.

The man startled, the sparks on his helmet glinting as he shook his head slightly. "Uh. Hey. Sorry, didn't mean to get sidetracked." His eyes refocused, and he removed his gaze from the viewing window to look at Kal with only a little hesitation.

Kal didn't let himself face the enclosure himself, knowing the disorienting sensation that awaited him if he did, and he put a hand on Barry's arm, lightly guiding him down the corridor again. He put his body between Barry and the enclosure.

"It's not your fault. I should have warned you not to look. Or taken you the long way around." Kal grimaced apologetically, letting his hand drop from Barry when they were well past the sight of the viewing window.

"What was that?" Barry half-turned his head to look back before thinking better of it. He kept firmly in-pace with Kal. "That seems... Is it dangerous?"

"Most of the ship's permanent residents are dangerous in a sense," Kal said. "The polarized window blocks most of the effect, actually. It's an incredibly specialized defense mechanism--the pattern on their wings is extremely disorienting to most organisms." The mechanism was incredibly complex and beautiful, when it wasn't inducing a mental black-out or crippling nausea.

"Whoa. That is really fascinating, actually." Barry seemed to have shaken off the trance-state quickly and now looked genuinely interested. "And it makes sense if that's what they can do toned-down. You guys are kind of like a rescue and rehabilitation operation, right? How'd you come across something like that?"

Kal nodded. "That's generally what we do. Some residents are easier to place, but a few, like those ophiokus are too specialized or could be actively harmful if released somewhere that wouldn't be able to handle them." He stopped them in front of another enclosure, this one unlit and seemingly empty. "We get a lot of our residents from private collectors--either irresponsible or unequipped to handle the organisms. Interestingly, those ophiokus weren't the target species," Kal said, before pressing a button on the panel. ON the other side of the viewing port, a dim, violet-colored light turned on--just enough to make out the dark silhouettes hanging from gnarled branches. "These pstirn feed exclusively on the ophiokus. The collector likely had no idea the live food would be so hard to handle."

"Are you serious?" Barry asked, incredulous. He peered into the dusky enclosure, and one of the pstirn stretched a leathery wing before settling back down. The handful of pstirn were truthfully largely uninteresting, hanging by their feet from their perches and unmoving. "He could have skipped all that trouble if he'd come to earth." He laughed quietly, and Kal looked at him questioningly. "Bats. Batman," Barry said, as if that meant anything to Kal, "He must have hundreds of these guys where his base is."

Kal looked at the pstirn and thought of the dark uniform and cowl Batman wore--the heavy black cape--and in a flash of amusement admitted there was a striking resemblance. "So there is a similar species on Earth?"

"Extremely similar." Barry was holding back a grin. "Well, unless these pstirn have acid-spit or something like that."

"Nothing like that. They're completely blind and mostly harmless." Kal thought for a moment. "Unless you decide to eat one. The unique proteins in the ophiokus they eat allow them to produce an extremely potent toxin. Their only defense mechanism, really, but a very effective one. One drop of blood is potent enough to strike a man dead if consumed." Which was another fantastic reason that Kal left the care of the ophiokus and pstirn completely to the Caretakers, which were of course impervious to either danger.

"Okay. That's pretty hardcore, I have to admit."

"Yes, well. The collector was very interested in their utility as a source of poison."

"Some (Hal) would say Batman's blood is probably the same." Kal couldn't help but smile at Barry's overtly conspiratorial affectation as he said that.

"You'd have to tell me. I wouldn't know if Batman eats psychedelic insects." Kal pressed the panel again and turned off the violet light inside the enclosure.

"So, this collector," Barry's expression was pensive, "he was in it for the bat-blood, which I get. But the freaky hypnotic moths caught him off guard? How does that even happen?"

"Well," Kal said, as he led them further down the corridor, "for a dealer, it's much easier to pawn off a mostly-harmless pstirn if you conveniently leave out the fact that its food is a pain and a half." Barry chuffed at the understatement and followed Kal into the small laboratory space.

They stopped in front of an incubator, and Kal opened the humidity and temperature-controlled chamber to remove a clear container. There was a sudden tingle of static and a quiet pop in Kal's ears, tiny sparks bursting in the air where Barry had stood beside him. Blinking, Kal looked around to find Barry standing a few feet away, looking sheepish while a quiet alarm beeped somewhere in the room.

"Sorry," Barry laughed a little embarrassedly. "I had a run-in with a--a grub-based rogue a few months ago." He shuddered, a little like he was shaking off something stuck to him. "Been a bit twitchy around that sort of thing since then--when I think I feel one on me. It's kind of ridiculous, I can't be itchy around caterpillars forever. Go ahead. Startled me, that’s all." He stepped forward and peered at the almost translucent, jelly-like larvae gnawing on leaf litter in the container in Kal's hands. "I've got to stop jumping every time I see a caterpillar. I'm not even scared of them, they're cute!"

Kal shook his head. "No, it's my fault for shoving them in front of your nose without warning." He held the container and carefully didn't try to bring it up closer to show Barry. "I just wanted to show you these ophiokus larva." Barry's expression became slightly guarded at the mention of the ophiokus. "The immature life stages of the ophiokus are completely safe to handle, unlike the adults. These larvae are absolutely harmless, and they depend on their nearly perfect camouflage capability as protection against predators."

Kal held his hand against the clear glass, directly under one larva, and they both watched as the larva's body almost completely disappeared, its body mimicking the exact color and texture of Kal's hand underneath it. "Of course, the same blindness and echolocation ability that protect pstirn from the defenses of the mature ophiokus allow it to hunt these larvae as well. The only form they cannot infiltrate is the pupa stage--which is extremely durable and forms an almost impenetrable cocoon."

"None of those?" Barry asked lightly.

"They're mostly fed to the pstirn before they can get to that point." Kal cleared his throat. "It wouldn't be ideal to have more mature ophiokus to have to deal with. The visual defenses you encountered first-hand--their main defense--but if they feel threatened, they also possess a stinger loaded with a fast-acting neurotoxin venom," Kal explained.

"Let me guess," Barry said. "It's potent enough to kill a man, too." Kal nodded and shrugged affably. "Man, I do not want to ever run into these guys in the wild."

Kal carefully replaced the container in the incubator. "Good news for you, you won't have to worry about that." He led Barry to exit the lab. "These specimens were picked up by rare species dealers as the last surviving of their species before the island they were endemic to was turned over to anti-proton weapons testing."

Barry made a sound of dismay and shook his head. "Why is it always weapons testing."

"Ah, darn," Kal grumbled. The bioscanner at the entrance of the lab was beeping a muted alarm. He waved Barry forward from where he knelt in front of the sensor. "You can go ahead, I think it's just due for a maintenance cycle." The alarm cut off, and the bioscanner chimed softly as it restarted. Kal dusted off his tunic and hurried to join Barry in the corridor. "Sorry for getting us so off-track. I was supposed to get you the files on the scanner."

Despite their many detours, it was only a short distance to Kal's quarters. The door whirred open, and the warm red light washed over Kal as they stepped in. Barry glanced around the study as Kal rustled around his drawers for a spare datastick. A few short moments had the processor on Kal's desk chiming to signal the data transfer. Barry had gone over to look at the tanks on the far wall but turned back at the sound. Kal handed the datastick to him as he joined him in front of the tanks.

"These two are our newest temporary residents," Kal explained. The corydo was hiding in the greenery at their approach, and the astacid paid them no attention and continued to sift through the leaf-litter with its pincers. "Nothing quite as exciting as the two you just saw."

"I guess not everything can be so dangerous or...exciting, if you like to put it that way." Barry hummed. He turned the datastick over in his fingers absentmindedly, before starting slightly, as if remembering something. He began to haphazardly dig around in the deceptively slim, golden belt on his scarlet suit while muttering under his breath.

With an "aha", Barry pulled out an unfamiliar looking datastick and handed it to Kal. Kal took it with a curious look and decided he wanted to spoil whatever surprise it was, walking over to his processor and interfacing it.

"Batman left that for you," Barry said. He followed Kal to peer over his shoulder at the display. "I have no idea what's in there. Maybe homework?"

"He didn't say?" Kal asked, as he tapped open the folder that pulled up. The folder opened up into several subfolders, then into multitudes of what seemed to be instrumental data, as well as-- "I think this is...raw data?" Kal opened a file, and a new window opened to play a video feed. The feed was almost unchanging, an almost unremarkable view of the container that held the spore--Starro.

"Huh. Homework after all?" Barry remarked, slightly disappointed.

But Kal felt the opposite. He found he was smiling to himself. Kal looked at the reams of files again. He'd doubted Batman would be eager to compromise from their opposing opinions and even harsh words that had come up between them the last two times they'd met. But the datastick--containing what was possibly the entirety of raw data from Batman's own instruments--it couldn't be a clearer offer of goodwill from the stoic hero. Such a little thing shouldn't have made him so happy.

Kal turned to Barry, still feeling a bit pleased with the discovery. "How about we get back to our meeting? I remember you mentioning an appointment after this?"

"Oh, darn. You're right." Barry scowled at his watch. "We have a lot to get through if we want to stand a chance at finishing before I need to run."

"I'll try to get you out of here on time, this time," Kal said, grinning.

Chapter Text

Tentatively note regular cycles of rest and wake periods.

Batman's low voice was in Kal's ear. The subject deserved his close attention, Kal told himself, but that didn't negate the fact that the information was only half of the reason he was listening, the other half of him oddly captivated by the level rhythm of Batman's voice.

Engagement with subject during alert period included visual stimulation. Subject showed unexpected behavior imitating visual cues, indicative of high intelligence. End entry 53-2.

The recording ended. "Continue to next recording," Kal said, and his datapad on the ground next to him lit up in acknowledgement. There was a light static in his ear as the next entry played.

Begin entry 54–0. Subject rest period has been observed to last around 12 hours. Consistently enters alert period around 2000, aligning with the time that activity increases in the vicinity of enclosure.

Kal had a perfectly academic interest in the audio recordings, which had been included in the mountains of files. He'd spent hours going through the raw data Batman had included in the datachip Barry had given him. Readings and images from--Kal admitted--a respectable array of analytical instruments, high-magnification microscopes, and macro cameras.

And, of course, a slew of recordings. Notes dictated in Batman's baritone, as well as short videos of Batman interacting with the spore, moving his hands in front of the glass or talking to it in an unexpectedly gentle voice. It was inevitable that Kal was most interested in the recordings, after all, instruments couldn't replace direct, holistic observation, even if it was through a fixed camera-angle.

That didn't really excuse why Kal had taken to listening to the audio files at almost all hours. There was really no need to comb through them all. The highlights and actually significant findings were meticulously summarized in a written log. But Kal preferred the unfiltered nature of the dictations, and he found the understated excitement in Batman's voice infectious was all.

--subject shows recognition of simple symbols and responds well to small food rewards. Jellybeans have been a hit.

The audio played through the translator in Kal's ear as he knelt on the floor, bending closer to the panel. Kal picked up his datapad and squinted at the error logs again. He cursed under his breath when the faint alarm started up again, and a flashing, red error code bumped its way onto the top of the log.

The bioscanner for the incubator lab had been acting up for the past few days, intermittently alarming and spouting error messages every few days. Kal hadn't had any luck sniffing out the source of the alarms. The logs and software weren't giving up anything, so he'd moved on to thinking it was a hardware issue. Damn, Kal really hoped it wasn't broken, these bioscanner parts were hard to get ahold of. He was holding out hope that it was a loose wire or somewhere, as wiggled every connection in the open panel.

Kal jumped when a distinctly louder alarm emitted from his datapad. For a moment, Kal froze and felt his stomach dropp. His pad was linked to his workstation in his study and only forwarded the most urgent of alarms. Such as a blip on the scanner. Had they been found already?

Xelek's voice crackled overhead. "We are receiving an emergency transmission." Kal had never been more grateful to hear those words, even if it was a mayday. "It is directed at your station, Kal. I have patched it forward to your pad."

Sure enough, the screen of his datapad was flashing the words *Incoming Transmission.* Kal knew who it was--there was only one person in the nearest hundred sectors it could be. Alongside the specifications for the scanner, he'd included in the datachip he'd given to Barry a unique tunnel frequency that established a direct line to his station. *For urgent communications. Or if you ever want to chat*, he'd written in the note.

So not necessarily even an emergency; it could be a perfectly pleasant social call, he thought to himself as he accepted the transmission.

Barry's voice made it immediately clear to Kal that this was not a chat. "Kal," he said, almost whispering, with a strained, urgent tone. "I need some help here."

"What is it, are you alright?" Kal scrambled to his feet. Barry wasn't supposed to come to the ship until next week, could something have happened to him? Maybe on that space station, the Watchtower? Why call Kal and not a member of the Justice League?

Barry laughed nervously, which only put Kal more on the edge. "I'm fine. Kind of." Kal heard him take a slow breath on the other side. "I've got--there is a ophiokus. On me. I have no idea how, it's been a week since I was on your ship. But I think, it's hatching? From its cocoon?" There was a muffled noise. "It's moving, and it tickles. I'm doing my best not to move."

"Yes. Stay as still as possible," Kal said, feeling utterly unhelpful. "No sudden movements. The neurotoxin in its stinger can work in seconds." Important, but probably not helpful in keeping Barry calm. "Are there any reflective surfaces nearby? Do not try to look at it, even indirectly. And don't let anyone else look, either. Just, don't move." Kal was already quickly making his way back to his study.

"Okay. Okay. I'm on the Watchtower, and no one else is here," Barry said. "Actually, that's probably an issue, right? If I can't move, do I just have to wait until this thing decides to sit on somewhere that's not on me? And hope it doesn't melt my brain or something?"

"Good," Kal said half-absently as he dug through his desk drawer, looking for the damn visor. "Wait. No, just stay calm. Don't think about brain-melting--that's not exactly what happens, anyways." He found the visor, antivenom vial, and gas canister, bundled in the bagged kit they were supposed to be in, good. "Just hang on. I'll be there soon." And before he let himself think about that either, Kal turned on his heel in the direction of the airlock.

"Sure," Barry said, a nervous laugh in Kal's ear. "Wait, what do you mean you'll be here soon? I thought--"

"Yes, well unless there's anyone else who has an antivenom and can get to you in under an hour, I'm in the best position to help you."

"Kal. You should be aware--" Xelek's voice came in over the room.

"I'm very aware, Xelek. But I have to help him." Kal smiled mirthlessly, holding up the kit. "See, I have the emergency kit and everything. I'm the only one who can get the emergency kit to him." He stepped up to the airlock panel. "The shuttle is completely sealed. I'll--maybe someone can meet me at the Watchtower I can pass the kit over to them," he added, not really believing he'd be that lucky.

"Yeah," Barry agreed, sounding equally disbelieving. "I already put out a call to the League. Someone might be here soon."

"Very well.The shuttle autopilot will be directed to the Watchtower." The panel beeped, and the airlock door hissed. "Please also wear your suit as a precaution, Kal-El." Xelek said, its monotone sounding almost worried.

Kal looked up at the ceiling with a small smile. "I will. Thanks Xelek," he said, and as soon as the airlock was fully open, he rushed through it.

True to his word, he grabbed the radiation suit from its case. The white, full-body suit was something the Caretakers had fabricated for Kal after that first incident with the yellow sun, and it was still pristine, unused because, well, Kal had just never put himself in a position to need it. Still, its crinkly material felt like a blanket of reassurance as he zipped it up to his neck, and the, floppy hood-like helmet with its mirrored visor was a final comfort.

Through the gangway and into the shuttle, as the small spacecraft moved under him, the feeling of weight fluctuated for a moment when the shuttle's artificial gravity kicked in.

Kal took of the helmet and tapped his translator, grabbing his datapad to confirm the navigation.

"Hey, Barry. You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Never thought I'd wish for a freeze-gun blast, but I'm still doing a great impression of an ice statue without any help."

"Are freeze-guns normalfor you?" Kal asked, picking up Barry's thread. It was as much a distraction for Barry as it was for him. He opened up the procedures for using the emergency ophiokus kit to refresh his memory.

"Yep. There's this guy I deal with a lot, Dr. Cold. It'smore annoying than anything, to be frozen solid for a few seconds before I can get out. And it leaves these awful puddles everywhere."

"I can imagine," Kal agreed. "I don't suppose he cleans after himself? Or leaves a mop?" He triple-checked that everything was in the kit. 14 minutes until the shuttle would be at the Watchtower.

"Never," Barry confirmed. Kal imagined him starting to shake his head before stopping himself. There was a long moment neither of them said anything, the comm line loud with tension. "Thanks for coming, Kal." Barry said quietly. "Sorry to make you leave your ship when, y'know."

"You don’t have to apologize, Barry." Kal tried to sound light but didn't know if he really managed it. "You should see what I'm wearing. Yellow sun radiation suit. You'll get a real kick out of it." He looked at the floppy helmet on his lap. "Plus, I couldn't just leave you to be a pretend ice-statue with a ophiokus sitting on you."

"Thanks." A few moments passed before speaking again, this time sounding more baffled than anything. "How do you think this even happened? I've been speeding around this suit all the time, and it's been through the wash at least twice. Or do you think it was hanging around here in the lab?"

That was what Kal had been wondering himself. "If it's hatching just now, it must have began its chrysalis stage right around the last time you were here. Its chrysalis is nearly indestructible, as well as intensely camouflaged. It's entirely plausible it ciuld have endured being on your uniform without being damaged in the slightest." What had Kal stumped was how it had gotten out of the lab in the first place. "But it shouldn't have gotten out of the lab. We have several safeguards in place to ensure containment." The bioscanners should have-- "Of course." Kal groaned in realization. "We've been having issues with the bioscanner to the lab since then. Some sort of electrical bug." The static from Barry's speed must have caused a build-up of charge on the sensors.

"Okay, so I assume why you're not saying anythign is because I did something that caused it."

Kal shook his head even though Barry couldn't see him. "No. Even if it was that, I should have caught it sooner and kept track of the ophiokus. There's no excuse on my part for not even thinking of the possibility. It's a safeguard for a reason, and I should have investigated it further. I didnt even notice a specimen missing."

"Well. I didn't even notice a bug on my suit for a week. Man, it probably looked like a skin-tag or something unflattering like that. This is what happens when Hal isn't here to watch my back."

"Remember their camouflage is very advanced, if you didn't notice it, likely no one else did," Kal reassured Barry. The shuttle control let out a chime, and Kal tapped at his datapad. 2 minutes ETA. On the external display, a spindly structure floating against the black backdrop of space came into view. "I'm coming up to the Watchtower in a few minutes."

"I have never been more happy to hear that." He heard Barry take a quiet breath. "I haven’t hear back from any other Leauge members. Given that a lot of the usually available members are off-planet or otherwise out of reah, that's not unexpected for such short notice. Sorry, Kal."

Kal was calm as he put his helmet back on. "That's alright, Barry. We both expected it. About time I tried out this suit for what it was made for, anyways. You better be honest about how it looks on me."

"If I've watched enough reality TV, I'll know when I see it if I need to be brutally honest or positive and supportive."

"Maybe after this you can show me some. We don't get much broadcast entertainment on the ship." Kal had grown up with plenty of reading material and archived knowledge lectures, but broadcast media was only to be had in long-delayed stray signals that picked up on the reciever. "Clearance procedure?"

"You should already have clearance." True enough, on the display the atmosphere field let the shuttle pass inside. "Dock at 2C. The airlock is right outside the lab. And no windows nearby."

"Got it." Kal clutched his kit and datapad and didn’t let a sliver of anxiety enter his mind as he rushed out the ramp as soon as the shuttle settled with a final soft shudder.

The airlock hissed open to an interior of undecorated steel-gray. Kal immediately spotted the lab entrance, a square of soft white light on a door with all manner of hazard warnings and symbols.

"I'm through the airlock. I see the lab," Kal said.

He stepped closer to the door, and through the window he saw Barry standing, unmoving, half-leaning forwardbwith his hands lightly braced against a black lab bench. His back wasn't fully visible from here, but Kal glimpsed the barest flicker of a wing slowly fanning itself dry.

"I see you. I can't believe that's how you've been stuck." Kal set the kit down on the floor next to the door and began setting everything out. "You're doing great. I'm going to get everything ready out here so once the door opens I can move as quick as possible."

Kal primed the tranquilizing gas, checked the latch on the black-out box, and he slipped the antivenom kit into his breast pocket. Finally, he picked up the visor, his hand hovered for a moment before he snatched the protective suit helmet off his head and qucikly put on the polarized visor. Like the viewing port on the enclosure, the polarized visor would dampen the effects of the wings so they would only be slightly disorienting instead of immediately incapacitating.

He checked and re-checked he had everything and mentally ran down the short procedure one last time. Everything in place.

"Ready whenever you are," he said over the comm line.

He heard Barry's voice in double, in his ear and muffled through the lab door. "Fire at-will. Door should open, and I'm starting to feel a cramp in my side."

Kal took a breath. "Alright. Coming in."

The door to the lab opened with what felt like an unbearably loud noise. Kal only let himself hesitate for half a moment at the threshold, and then he started the painstakingly slow approach towards Barry and the threatening ophiokus at the small of his back. In one hand, Kal held the tranq gas, the other holding the black-out box, and he held his breath while easing his steps so he didn't make any sudden movements.

He only looked directly at the neauseating patterns of the ophiokus wings long enough to aim the gas canister. In a terrifying moment as he deployed the gas, he watched as the dizzying swirls pulse irrregularly, then stutter and dull; then the wings gave a small shudder, and Kal lunged to catch the ophiokus in the black-out box as it lost its grip on Barry's suit and slid off. The lid on the box closed, and Kal clutched the small opaque box, unmoving.

There was a dull clang when the discarded canister rolled into a nearby cabinet, and Kal and Barry both let out unsteady breaths.

"I'd say that was anticlimactic, but I do not want to jinx that." Barry broke the silence. He melted where he stood against the lab bench and let his forehead fall gently against the black surface. "Oh, man. Please tell me you have it," he said with an unsteady half-laugh.

"I've got it," Kal confirmed as he zipped the box into a small, clear bag for security. He reached for the antivenom injector in his breast pocket. "I'd ask if you’re feeling alright and not like you've gotten stung, but I can jab you with this antidote pen just to be safe, if you want." He added after a pause, "the side effects aren't supposed to cause permanent damage."

Barry shuddered into the benchtop with quiet laughter. "Oh my god. Ow." His hand flew to his ribs. "Please don't make me laugh. I was not joking about that cramp."

Kal found himself joining in the relieved laughter, only partially at Barry's unsuccessful battle against his giggle-induced side-cramp, and he slumped carelessly into the closest stool. He cradled the double-bagged box, trying not to jostle it too much as he slowly caught his breath.

Between the two of them, the air in the lab was quiet and filled only with their slow, relieved breathing and the hum of instruments.

They both startled when a sudden chime broke the quiet. Barry touched something on his wrist.

"Flash here. Go ahead."

A slight delay before the crackle of static over a small speaker. "Hey. Just letting you know my ETA for Watchtower is 10 minutes. Spooky's with me, too. See you soon."

"Good to hear. Thanks, GL." Barry tapped his wrist to end the call. No sooner had he done so did he promptly resume his quiet laughter, clutching at his side even harder as his whole body shook with the muffled sound.

"10 minutes," he gasped out between laughs. "Kal, I know you're going to hate me for making you leave the ship when I could have waited 10 minutes."

Kal, however, found it hard to hold anything against Barry when he was also struggling to control his fits of giggles and growing red-faced.

"I guess you owe me, then." Kal let out an undignified snort. "I demand your finest broadcast entertainment."

Barry met his eyes with a face-splitting grin. "Only the best. I'll start you off easy. I think you're gonna love Shark Tank."

Kal had no idea what that meant. "We'll see," he sniffed haughtily. He couldn't help the snicker that squeaked out, and that set the both of them off again.

By the time Barry's comm went off again, they were mostly recovered, and Barry had just enough breath to let Hal know he was in the lab.

Kal was wiping a stray tear from his eye when the door to the lab slid open, and when he heard footsteps stop, he looked up. Hal was looking at Kal with an unreadable expression on his face. He quickly moved his gaze to find Barry, who was basically sprawled across the benchtop at this point. Kal watched as his face melted and his lips twitched upward.

"I miss a party? You should've invited me, Barry, I would've shown up on time."

At that, Barry sent a wide-eyed look at Kal, hand flying to his mouth to stifle any stray giggles. Kal found himself biting his lip to try to keep a straigh face, for both their sakes.

Hal caught the look and couldn't help sending a confused glance back at Kal, who tried very hard not to look deranged to the Green Lantern.

"Okaaay. So I'm not going to be rude in asking the obvious questions," Hal said, eyes flicking back to Kal, "but I'm just going to scan you real quick."

He raised his ring, stepping in front of Kal to get closer to Barry. There was a slight hum as the ring started doing something, but Kal's attention was pulled away by a flicker of green that followed Hal.

A large green box hovered in the air behind Hal. Inside it was an object, ovoid and almost as wide as Hal was tall at its widest point. Several pairs of sreamlined fins extended from the object's body, and the thing itself had a smooth, metallic sheen to it.

But most notable was the still-glowing symbol of three connected spheres.

Kal felt his titillated flush drain away in the cast of the symbol's sickly green glow, cutting through the luminescent emerald of Hal's ring construct.

"Where did you find that?" Kal could barely find the breath to ask the question. He felt sick at the sight of the symbol, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight of it. It felt almost unreal, being close enough to reach out and touch that terrible brand, emblazoned on the object whatever it was. Funny in a gut-twisting way how the thing Hal brought in meant nothing to Kal, if not for the symbol that was smaller than the size of his hand.

"Kal. Kal."

Barry's voice made its way through the static filling Kal's ears. Kal was slow to tear his eyes away amd finally turn to look at Barry, who was standing much closer than he had been last.

"Kal. Are you okay?" Now Hal was stood next to Barry, wearing an expression like worry as well.

"I'm--" Kal inhaled, trying to steady the tremors he felt in his voice. "It doesn't matter. Where did you get that." He looked straight at Hal when he spoke and saw Hal's eyes widen slightly.

"I found it out in the Kuiper belt," Hal answered. He continued, more to Barry this time. "The blip on the Starro scanner I went to investigate. It's some sort of probe. Thought it'd be good to bring it in to check it out anyways." Hal's eyes grew sharper when he said to Kal, "it means something to you?"

"It--" Rao, how could this be happening? Kal didn't know if the room was unsteady or if he was. His mouth felt dry, and he swallowed thickly which only seemed to make it worse.

"It’s not Starro, it's--"

He only got that far before a wave of, what he could only describe as dread, terror, rolled through him. Kal registered the sound of nearly-silent footsteps, the susurration of an inky cape.

And at the very edge of his hearing, which was almost entirely subsumed by a sort of static and his heartbeat, the dark voice that had been in his ear the past week

"Lantern. I thought I said to bring the evidence straight to-- Kal-El?"

He distantly felt someone's hands catch him as he began to keel over.

Suddenly, Kal remembered the ophiokus he was holding and with concerted effort lifted the bagged black-out box. It took a moment for him to make his fingers release it when someone pulled the bag from him. Batman, he realized when he pried open his leaden eyelids that had fallen closed at some point and saw stern jaw and black.

"Careful," he gasped. He thought maybe he saw Batman's jaw clench before his eyes couldn't keep themselves open any longer.

"We need to move him to the medical bay," Kal heard someone say.

And he felt a current of air as his protective suit was unzipped. It offered the barest bit of relief, which he took gladly. More hands came to move his body so that he was slung between two pairs of broad shoulders. Slung limply between his two supports, Kal's legs barely held him up as they moved. Every lurch forward had Kal feeling only worse, his gore rising up into his throat and his pulse pounding in his skull.

His eyes were hard to keep open, and in between lost moments, he thought he could see they were exiting the lab, going away from the hangar, around a corner and down a hallway. Kal couldn't tell if there really was this much steel hallway that looked the same or if he lost more time than he could tell from the same-looking walls.

Each time he jostled against the body to his right, he felt more cold, shivering sweat bead on his forehead and upper lip, and his arm went numb and limp, which made the person grip him tighter. Kal had been sick before. Rarely, since the non-biological Caretakers around him were poor vectors for disease, but the occasional interaction with specimens and planetary representatives gave him enough opportunities to catch something. So he knew what "sick" felt like before the Caretakers gently and efficiently nursed him back to optimum. Usually, it involved strange gel foods, which never tasted quite right because the Caretakers were hopeless with regard to flavors, and lots of fussing, which they excelled at.

This was much worse than just "sick", Kal thought. The possibility of the probe being primed to release some sort of deadly toxin or energy was not unfeasible. Though to what end it would serve if it killed him, he couldn't know. The goal was always to capture him alive, after all.

His legs and feet feeling like beads on a string, Kal felt them turn a corner, and his eyes slid open enough to see they had come to a large open space. An atrium, his mind supplied, though he'd never seen one before. The floor and walls and even the tables and chairs were still the monotone metallic steel, but the curving far wall was unmissable. From floor to lofty ceiling was a clear viewing-window. A grand observation deck looking out into the dark sequined sea of space, joined by the graceful curve of the a planet far below, in shadow.

A stunning view, nothing like Kal had ever had the luxury to soak in. There were only viewing screens on the ship and shuttle, and for good reason. A real viewing-window the size of a porthole was an impractical frivolity, much less the kind of astonishing extravagance an enormous observation deck was. Still, the sight was almost enough to make Kal forget his lungs felt like they were being crushed inside his chest.

He spent a blissful moment letting the static in his mind float his spinning head, like the planet slowly turning below. On the graceful sphere, there were clusters of lights, pinpricks amidst swathes of darkness; cities, life, people. And a glow on the edge of the planet, warm and outshining the little pinpricks as it grew brighter--the rate the light was breaching the horizon probably meant the satellite was moving rather than stationary--the sun.

The yellow star.

Kal let out a noise, something akin to a wheeze was all he could manage, and his feet scrabbled against the floor.

"Whoa, steady. Don't drop him. C'mon, Kal, work with us here, the med bay's just across here."

The dull static in his head was quickly replaced by the deafening pounding of his heart, and more desperate wheezing, he couldn't let them take him there, into the room full of ridiculous viewing-glass and no shelter from the yellow star.

His clammy temple flopped limply onto a shoulder, and the low voice to his right spoke, almost into his ear. "It's the sun, it affects him. Still, get him to the med bay." Never did betrayal sound so sweet, Kal thought deliriously.

Of course, his boots barely scuffed the floor, offering no real resistance as they steered him into the perfectly exposed space. The terrible static and pounding in his head had Kal fading in and out of awareness, but somehow it made him only more aware of every jostling step they took in front of the unprotected viewing windows.

Through his eyelashes, Kal thought he saw the space brightening little by little, and he couldn't tell if the cold-hot flashes and sweat was from the probe or the yellow star. Rao, for all the effort Xelek had gone to fabricating the radiation suit, he'd just let them it take off of him for some air.

Even behind his eyelids now, the light grew brighter, and Kal could tell it wouldn't be long until star's first rays would crest the horizon. Kal squeezed his eyes shut hard. How would it feel this second time? Even without the radiation, his skin buzzed with chills and fever. Would the star's light lick his skin like brilliant flames of pure agony? Kal let himself be a little dramatic, this was something he avoided so he'd never have to face a second time, and here he was in the middle of a ridiculously large viewing deck. He let his mind run circles around itself with speculation and terror, the thoughts and imaginings vivid enough he could barely tell if any agony was real or dreamt-up.

Finally, inevitably, the light reached him, and there was no mistaking it for delirious imaginings.

Kal couldn't help the sharp gasp that left him. Even with his eyes tightly shut, he saw as much as he felt the burst of warm starlight. The sensation of it was somehow blinding, and for a startling moment Kal felt the rush of light burn away the buzz and sick in his head, leaving behind a startling clarity. For a moment, he couldn't feel the floor beneath him, untethered and filled only with the pure golden warmth.

The probe must have done something terrible to him, Kal thought, if the yellow radiation felt like undeniable bliss in comparison.

Distantly, he heard someone breathing in fast, shallow gasps--himself, Kal realized, when his chest started to burn with it.

"He's going down fast, B."

It was Hal, he recognized dimly, with an uncharacteristic tinge of urgency in his voice. Each quick breath left Kal feeling cold, the dizzy and nausea regaining its hold. He realized the cold wasn't just his feeling, though; a door whirred shut, and he realized they'd left the sunlight behind them. Kal shivered and his teeth chattered together in between gasps.

"Get him hooked up." Untethered or not, Kal felt vertigo as he was turned horizontal and arranged on a soft surface. His head fell onto a plush pillow, a bed. "I'm going to try to hail the Caretakers, if they know what's wrong."

Kal heard the snap of a cape, and even though he registered Batman's silent footsteps walking away, somehow the shush of his cape stayed in his ear as if he were only an arm's length away. Beside him, he heard the squeak of wheels, someone rearranging something, and hearing both that and the echo of steps down a metal hallway made Kal dizzy with a sensation like his head was being stretched like omja tar.

"Oh sure, just go off why don't you." Hal grumbled under his breath, but it was clear as a bell to Kal right now. "Barry, a hand?"

Gentle hands unclasped his outer robe and opened up his collar. At some point, the cold had retreated again, and his skin felt like it was smoldering coal and he was the fire inside of it.

"God, he looks terrible. Any idea what's wrong? He was fine one second and then dropped like a rock." What sounded like Barry's hushed voice, as cool gel pads were pressed to his chest.

"None so far." A quiet, rhythmic beeping started sounding. "I'll see what the ring can tell me. Maybe a Kryptonian allergy or something."

Kal must've made a sound, not really one of distress, more surprised that Hal remembered that about him. "Hey, you're okay." A cool hand, Barry's, stroked his forehead. "You're doing great, Kal. You're going to be okay."

"Keep doing that, his heart rate is way too fast. I don't know, there's not much to go off of, but he seems remarkably human. If we go off of that, he's burning up, his temperature is way too high."

"He does feel warm." Warm was an understatement, Kal felt the smoldering coal analogy still applied.

He opened his mouth, and a dry cough escaped. Rao, his throat was so dry he could drink an ocean. "I'm okay," he croaked, unconvincingly. "I feel better."

And it was true, strangely enough. Yes, he felt like he was molten on the inside, but the heat wasn't painful in itself. In fact, it had at some point burned off the terrible nausea and cold. Amazing how in the face of a new, worse sensation, Kal could find even the slightest comfort in any kind of radiation sickness.

He regretted the thought when a shrill buzz sounded from two points near him. Kal flinched at the sudden noise, and a cool hand closed on his wrist gently.

"No luck hailing the Caretakers' ship on normal frequencies." Of course not, Kal thought, it was futile without a keyed frequency. "Still trying to flag them with a mayday." Batman's baritone was in triplicate, the one in his ear unfiltered and clear, then doubled and staticky from the two points near Kal, disorienting the way they lagged by the smallest fraction.

"Keep that mayday going, but you won't be able to establish a channel on normal frequencies." Barry's voice also echoed in that same strange way. "Kal showed me their scrambling they have on the ship, and it's pretty advanced."

"Manhunter is incoming. I'm directing him to medical, he may be able to assist."

Kal barely had time to wonder who this manhunter was, before a foreign sensation, like a physical brush against his mind, made him gasp. The touch settled into his brain like a warm bath, and distantly he felt someone squeeze his wrist, Barry's voice saying something muffled and indistinct. At first startling, he soon felt himself relax. The dizziness, the echoes in his ears, the heat, it fell out of focus and left him almost blissful with the relief.

Kal-El. Do not be alarmed. A deep voice rang through his mind. Kal could breathe slowly again for the first time. Alarmed or not, he was supremely relieved. My name is J'onn, and I only wish to help you.

For a moment Kal resurfaced from the strange bliss filling his head.

"Kal," he heard say from Barry close by. "Kal. J'onn is here to help. He's going to try to figure out if there's something we can do."

Let J'onn help. He could do that. Kal's eyelids were still leaden, but even through them Kal imagined he saw the glimmer of kind, red eyes before he let himself sink back into that bliss again.

Chapter Text

The space inside his mind almost felt like it was spinning and turning, the blur of time and sensations and thoughts dizzying as it sped through and past him like an immaterial torrent.

Abruptly, the torrent slowed to a sluggish trickle, the blur materializing into a moment. A memory. Kal found himself slipping back into it as if he'd never left.

It had been a yellow star then, too, a common enough type of star for a life-sustaining planet. Kal had seen and orbited them dozens, hundreds of times. From inside the safety of the ship, at least. He hadn't made trips planet-side often, only when there was no one else--no Lanterns available and the planet uninhabited by higher life-forms. And even then, only when the coast was clear, when the last close call was barely a memory. They didn't have time to stop to make a drop when they were busy running, anyways.

It was ironic, the fact that he hadn't even really noticed the yellow sun, as he descended to the lush, green planet in the shuttle alongside the specimen, a capreolid. He'd double-checked the landing site and departure window, but the autopilot was capable of handling everything, even down to opening the crate to release the capreolid at the carefully chosen site. So he spent the ride mostly looking at the view display to see the planet grow ever-larger.

Then, the hatch had parted open, letting in golden sunlight. A blissful moment of wonder. Before, alarmingly, the light set him alight with a strange buzzing where it touched his skin. The noises and swimming vision--overwhelming. The disorienting sensation of being completely disassociated from his body, like suddenly the ground had fallen away from beneath him, leaving him untethered, adrift.

There was a gentling, a touch. J'onn. And Kal was taken out of the moment suddenly, the memory slipping back into the depths of his mind.

Kal felt J'onn search through his mind, a gentle but sure hand rifling through his memories. This time, Kal didn’t fall back into the moment as if reliving it when J’onn paused to look through a memory from today, just moments ago. Distantly, he heard himself and Barry laughing, delirious with relief. And the subsequent dread and sick-weakness. The burning fever from the sunlight.

He felt the black thinning. The slow, warm black enveloping him was swept away, leaving Kal feeling a stiff mattress underneath him and the quiet beeping of machines.

"--really think that'd work? On the way over here..."

Kal slowly registered the voices near him, around him. He was still hearing in triplicate, and now he noticed another baseline whine in his ear that was irritating, bordering on painful.

"I was able to observe the effects from his memories. I believe that while there are additional effects, the yellow radiation would help treat his sudden sickness." Kal recognized J'onn's voice; deep and resonant, it was somehow different from when he'd heard it in his mind.

"I don't know. He's been exposed to it before, and it didn't sound like it was fun." That was Barry, being a voice of reason. Hal and J'onn said something else.

Wait. Kal thought slowly. Were they really discussing-- He felt the bed jolt and skew, someone disengaging the wheel locks. Things were moving too quickly without anyone to consider his opinion.

"The ship." His voice was quiet and scratchy. The voices around him stopped talking at his quiet croak. "Bring me--" he coughed, "back to the ship. The Caretakers--"

"Kal."

A pair of hands--Barry's--were on his shoulders, not quite pushing him down, but not helping him as he tried to sit up.

"Kal, Batman is trying to hail the ship. But it's--" Impossible. Or near it, Kal finished the thought. When their defenses were at maximum while they were sitting targets for weeks on end.

"We're just trying to find a way to help you."

Kal shook his head, then stopped when it made his head spin and hurt with a pulsing ache. "I just-- be fine," he managed woozily.

His eyes were cracked open enough to see Barry cut a look at Hal and J'onn, and Kal felt his hands move away. The pounding in his head and the whining in his ears had him clamping his eyes shut again. Kal pressed his cheek into the stiff pillow and ignored the men's whispers above him.

"Damn." Someone--Hal--swore under his breath. "His blood O2 is dropping."

It was all the better that he was laying down, because at some point his head filled with fuzz again, his stomach tying itself in knots. Through the static, Kal might have heard steps, mechanical whirring, the buzz of electricity, his own shallow breaths, the whisper of a cape.

"--no luck yet, but getting through their scrambler will take a bit." Batman. He must have come in at some point. "Status?"

"Not doing too hot."

Kal squeezed his eyes shut, dizzily realizing he'd started to sweat again at some point. The room went back to spinning and closing in around him.

"Kal. Kal?" someone said. A hand touched his elbow, and a wave of nauseating pain washed over him. Kal heard someone cry out weakly. He barely had any strength, and it was all he could do to turn his head away from that touch and the pain. The hand drew away quickly, but Kal almost wished it hadn't when the pain stayed regardless.

"His O2 is still dropping. Pulse is spiking, 160, 172, getting close to 200. Body temperature dropping--"

There was further commotion, but Kal couldn't hold onto any one sound or thought long enough to really hear it. Even the sharp whine in his ear and the pain was starting to fade, and some part of him recognized that wasn't a good thing, the reason why slipped away before he could remember it.

Kal. The same deep voice of J’onn, bringing a breath of clarity back into his mind. You must let us try to help.

Help. Help meant sunlight and so much noise and the sensation of his skin buzzing and the vertigo. Kal didn't like it. But when now was pain and feeling like he couldn't breathe and his insides eating at themselves and darkness. He didn't have much to lose. Or much of a choice.

Yes. Kal thought, or projected, hoping J'onn would understand.

He must have, because Kal felt something like a warm touch wrap around his mind, at the same time as he distantly felt the cot jolt and rattle. They were moving him.

Kal could feel it as soon as the light touched him. But somehow it wasn’t the terrifying feeling from his memories. Maybe it was J'onn's doing, his presence in his mind softening things.

The waves of chills and burning were replaced by a bone-deep warmth. Slowly, he felt the weight give up squeezing on his lungs, deep breaths a new possibility. Kal wondered where the cacophony, where the weightlessness was, and he discovered he felt them too, but like from the other side of a glass barrier. The glass barrier in the form of a warm mental touch.

Yes. I will help you. J'onn's voice said. And Kal was thankful for it.

***

Kal didn't know how long it had been, but when he opened his eyes, he found that only J'onn was with him. He was still sprawled on the cot wheeled into the center of the observation deck. The yellow star had moved beyond the view of the window, granting a reprieve to Kal. The buzz under his skin faded to a low hum, still present like a live circuit in him, but surprisingly, it was not painful or uncomfortable.

"I should--" Kal coughed to clear the rasp out of his throat. "Thank you." He realized he felt weird trying to talk to someone while lying down and pushed himself up. His arms didn't tremble or give out under him, and Kal was surprised to find he didn't feel any weakness at all.

"I'm sorry that I was in a position where it became necessary." J'onn's tone was flat, but Kal thought he sounded sincere nonetheless.

"Well, he looks like he's doing okay."

The voice was inflected as if in a low whisper, but it sounded as clear as a shout. Kal immediately turned to look towards the voice. Things were still too loud, and there was the annoying whine in his ear.

Barry, Hal, and Batman were standing at the entrance to the hallway, maybe looking uncertain about if they were allowed to enter. Kal glanced at J'onn, whose expression and mind were unreadable beyond vague amicability. The three men filed in and stood in an awkward conference by his bed. Barry smiled reassuringly, Batman seemed to be looking at Kal studiously, and Hal had his gaze turned towards the observation windows.

Feeling like he should say something, Kal cleared his throat, wincing a bit at how loud the sound was. "Sorry to have caused such a fuss. That's, um, never happened to me before." Kal could only manage a weak laugh.

"We're just glad you're okay," Barry said, and from beside him, Hal gave a slight nod of agreement. "But you really worried us, there."

Hal remarked, "Barry was getting some radiation readings from the stuff. Might be hazardous, so we put it in containment." He furrowed his brow. "If it's something like radiation poisoning, you really shouldn't be cleared so quickly."

At the mention of the probe, a jolt of realization struck Kal. He swung his legs over the side of the bed before he was stopped by Barry, who blurred and was suddenly standing directly in front of him, his arms outstretched as if to physically stop him.

"Woah, there. What's the rush?"

Kal looked around and realized everyone else was tensed in anticipation. Barry was still in his way, and Kal tried to scoot off of the bed around him.

"Where are my things?" he asked. "I need my datapad."

He probably needed to get to the shuttle to get a signal, but maybe he'd be lucky. He had to warn the Caretakers, though hopefully they already knew. He stopped in his tracks when he remembered suddenly about the blackout box and the entire reason he had left the ship in the first place, "Wait, hsir, the ophiokus."

"In the lab." Batman spoke, suddenly, after being a silent shadow for the other two. "Flash informed us about the previous situation. And considering the contents of the container it's being kept in a stable and secure location in the lab."

Thank Rao. On top of everything, he couldn't even do his job right. But at least he'd escaped dooming an innocent life by his own carelessness by the grace of the League members.

"I really appreciate all the effort. I should get back to the ship." Kal's left foot met the floor, and he looked for a gap to slip past Barry. "How long was I out? The knock-out gas is only good for a couple of hours, so I should really get going. The box is only for emergency transport under sedation, if--"

"Okay, wait. What's this really about?" Hal's voice interrupted Kal's rambling. He looked up and saw Hal's frown and Barry's brown furrowing deeper and even more concerned. He really didn't have the time (or the desire) to do this.

Batman stepped in front of him, blocking his path. "I think before we can let you go in clear conscience, we need to understand what just happened. If your life is in danger--"

"It's not," Kal interrupted. He met Batman's eyes, the scowling white lenses, and when his vision flickered he thought he saw a flash of piercing blue, there and gone. His rubbed his eyes, they stung and ached in his head. "It's not me that's in danger. I need to--I need to talk to the Caretakers. I need to get back."

Kal looked up and saw the others looking between each other wearing grim-confused expressions, having some sort of silent or--not unlikely with J'onn here--mental conversation.

"All right." Barry was the one who broke the silence. "I'll grab your things and meet you--can you contact your ship from your shuttle?"

"Yes," Kal confirmed. When Barry sped off, Kal could almost follow him with his eyes, which seemed wrong somehow.

***

They were now inside the shuttle, Kal stood in front of the controls, with the others standing to the side. There was an awkward and somewhat tense silence as they waited for the channel to connect. Kal checked again for any message on his datapad even though he knew there wouldn't be anything. The ophiokus seemed to be doing fine in the cooling chamber that would hold and lower metabolism to reduce stress and extend effecacy of sedative.

On the way to the hangar, Batman and J'onn had fallen in on either side of him and matched Kal's pace as Hal led the way through a different set of metal hallways. His balance still felt off, but he could walk without help, even if he needed to consciously place each foot on the floor in front of him. Kal had ignored Batman's gaze on him when he winced at the feeling in his ear of the airlock pressurizing, but he firmly hadn't acknowledged it. As promised, Barry had been waiting for them at the shuttle, the loading ramp still down from when Kal had left in such a hurry. Next to the shuttle, there had been another ship, a dark, streamlined craft that hadn't been there before, presumably the ship Batman and Hal had been using.

There was a chime from the controls, and Kal's eyes snapped back to the display.

"Kal-El?"

Xelex's voice buzzed over the channel as soon as the connection was established.

Kal let out a tense breath. "Xelek," he said without preamble. "There's a situation."

"I am registering several maydays and transmissions from the Watchtower." The video feed came into resolution, and Kal watched Xelek's light spin rapidly. "There are medical emergency codes. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Xelek." Which was probably true. "That's not why I called--"

"You aren't wearing your radiation suit," Xelek observed, cutting Kal's very urgent message off.

"Xelek," Kal said exasperatedly. "I said I'm fine. This is urgent--"

"We were the ones to remove the suit." Apparently, Batman was not disinclined to interrupt him either. "It was the best course of action, and we are fairly certain Kal-El is in no immediate danger, at least physically." Kal looked askance at Batman, but he appreciated the support.

"Very well." Xelek's tone said they did not miss what Batman left out and would not be forgetting about it anytime soon. "What was your message, Kal-El?"

"Like I was saying. There's a situation." Kal took a breath before saying the next words. "It's Brainiac."

Kal felt three sets of sharp eyes on him, now that he was finally giving up the information. He kept his eyes trained on Xelek's rapidly whirling light on the feed.

"I don't know if he's close, or if he even knows we're here. It's some sort of probe. Hal and Batman brought it back."

"Are you certain?"

"It's unmistakably his," Kal said gravely. "It's his symbol."

There was a slight but noticeable pause before Xelek spoke. "This information requires a recalculation."

Kal's own head had been spinning with recalculations since he saw the probe. He didn't have to have finished them to know what would inevitably happen next.

There was dead air over the channel as Xelek's processor spun over the dreadful knowledge Kal had handed them. Inside the shuttle was also quiet, but Kal could almost hear the questions from the others.

Seemingly not satisfied with the painful silence, Batman's low voice cut in. "The probe's material was also exhibiting some sort of radioactivity."

Kal didn't appreciate Batman tactlessly broaching this subject that Kal had been planning on handling delicately with Xelek later. Much later. When this Brainiac business was long behind them. So maybe never.

"The reaction it caused was the reason for the previous attempts at hailing your ship." Batman summarily ignored the sharp glance Kal cut at him. "Removal of objects and all possible contaminated materials, in addition to treatment, seemed effective."

Now that he was paying attention, Kal did notice the lack of the distinct ozone scent that clung to recent space-farers. He and Hal both must have changed into different uniforms as well, during whatever containment process they did for the probe.

"Treatment?" Xelek repeated.

Never try to sneak one past a bot if you wanted to stay discreet, it would only call more attention to it. This was not something they had time for right now. Kal seriously considered closing up the gangway and heading back for the ship. Hal could take the other members back, probably.

J'onn, apparently, chose to ignore Kal's mental shouts of Abort! Abort!, because he decided to supply his own helpful commentary.

"It was at my discretion to try the hypothesis that yellow sun radiation could be beneficial. Kal-El was nearing critical condition, and using my psyching powers, I gathered enough supporting evidence from Kal-El's own memories that I deemed it a reasonable risk."

Kal wanted to hide his face in his hands. He hoped J'onn was getting obliterated by a barrage of distressed psychic waves, or whatever it was he could sense.

"Kal." Xelek's tone was deceptively cool. "You said you were fine."

"Well. I seem to be now." Kal decided his tactic was avoidance until he was at least a kiloparsec from this particularly nosy star system. "I'm grateful for all the help. And now I want to get back to the ship and find out what Brainiac is up to."

J'onn's pyschic barriers must have been formidable, because he continued in much the same manner. "Kal-El seems fine for light activity, but he is still experiencing adjustment to enhanced sensory input and secondary effects of the solar treatment."

There could be no words for this betrayal. Kal wouldn't be letting J'onn poke around in his mind, memories or otherwise, going forward. If he could help it.

"I'll come back to the ship right away. I'll help with plotting a new course." Kal realized that he had no experience in ushering out unwanted passengers from a shuttle in the most polite way possible.

"I agree that it would be best if you return to the ship, at least to assure you are truly in good health." Xelek's tone was pointed. "But it is too soon to determine our next move. I would like to learn more about this probe." Kal thought the next move was obvious, but he had to admit there were a lot of questions in his head to do with the probe.

"And can I see the ophiokus is secure in the shuttle." "There will be room to accommodate another in the enclosure." Xelek made a whirring sound audible over the channel, which could be considered a sigh. "Though we were so diligent about not increasing their numbers."

Barry made a curious sound, and Kal looked over to see him absent-mindedly scratching his shoulder. "That's a good point. How do you keep their numbers in check, especially if you have that incubator in the lab?"

"Well, they are more prolific than we'd like, and it's difficult to control invertebrate reproduction." Kal felt the conversation was veering off-course but couldn't resist answering the question. "But in the case of the ophiokus, it was assessed as most practical to maintain their original purpose, of providing sustenance for the pstirn."

"I feel like I definitely should have been able to put that together." Barry scratched his shoulder and shrugged with a small smile. "Guess I saved this one from certain death, right?"

Kal's lips twitched into what he could manage as a smile. "A true hero." After a moment, Kal turned back to the screen. "So I'll come back, with the ophiokus, and we'll figure out how this probe fits into what Brainiac is up to."

"This Brainiac." Batman spoke, looking directly at Kal. "Who is he? Is he a threat?" The last part was said with an air of resolve that Kal didn't know what to make of.

Kal shook his head "It's nothing you have to worry about. We'll get out of your way and leave you out of it."

"So you've dealt with him before?" Batman pushed with that same self-sure tone and a deep frown.

"We try not to." Kal started booting up the pre-flight checks. "Like I said, we'll keep you out of it. This isn't your problem to have to deal with."

Xelek's voice spoke on the channel. "On the contrary, perhaps this is an opportunity for us to learn from and help each other."

Kal's hands stopped on the controls as he looked at Xelek in disbelief. "Xelek, what--"

"Lantern, do you know anything about this Brainiac?"

Hal sounded almost as startled as Kal when Batman turned to him all of a sudden. "Not off the top of my head, but I could ask." He hesitated before adding, "but really, Spooks. The Caretakers have always had their own way of dealing with things for as long as I've known them. Maybe there's a reason why."

Kal was surprised to find he agreed with Hal on this. Maybe he'd been wrong to label him as 'aloof' and should reconsider. "Yes, Hal is right. We have our reasons for dealing with our own problems."

"Well, it seems the Caretakers seem to think there might be something to be learned from collaborating." Xelek, the traitor, whirred at Batman's words. "Stale ideas make for bad strategy."

"You should always listen to Batman about strategy," Barry said, nodding sagely, but a barely restrained grin betrayed him. Kal was baffled at how this could be anything to smile at.

"We shouldn't even be discussing this," Kal started to say, but he could tell no one was really listening to his extremely sound reasoning.

"If this Brainiac is anything like Starro," J'onn started, and Kal was suspicious at where this was going. "It does not seem right to leave you to stand to face him alone."

Kal shook his head. Sure, they'd faced Starro the Conqueror once, but they hadn't fled from Brainiac for years on end. "No, you don't understand. There's no pushing back and fending off Brainiac." He took a deep breath. "He's after me, and he won't stop trying to get us. The best way to deal with him is to not stay in one place long enough for him to find us."

"Well, if this probe means he knows your here, it's partly our fault for asking you to stick around for so long helping us out," Barry reasoned. How could he not know this wasn't something to be reasoned with, Kal wondered.

"Stay," Batman's voice said, and something in his tone held both an order and a promise. "Stay, and we'll figure out what this is. We won't let this Brainiac get whatever it is that he wants from you."

Kal didn't even have to look at the screen at Xelek to know he was utterly outnumbered in this. The Caretakers had never been the one that elected their constant running, after all.

These people were fools, Kal thought. They had no idea who Brainiac was or what lengths he would go to in order to get what he wanted. And it was foolish to go along with what they said, no matter how powerful and brave and intelligent they seemed to be.

But something traitorous inside him also wondered if this kind of insane optimism and stubbornness was what led the Justice League to fight for days on end to fend off the Conqueror and--impossibly--actually accomplish it.

Chapter Text

"Try it again?" Kal ducked his head, backing out of the small compartment.

The loud whirring stopped as the vacuum switched off, and Kal worked his jaw to try to get the numb feeling out of his ears. He resented the fact that the noise bothered him so much when it never had before.

There was a click, and below, Krym's light spun as it processed the data. "No change in noise."

"Damn." And here Kal had been hoping that vacuuming intake vents would at least do something. He didn't blame the Caretakers' avoidance of the task when even his nose tickled from the dust, and he didn't have cooling fins to worry about. "Have you checked the klystron? I can take a look at it next."

Krym chirped something in response, but Kal didn't catch what it was with his head too filled with trying to concentrate on what might possibly be interfering with their scanner, despite the vacuum's whirring still echoing in his ears. He took a step down and shook his head, trying to clear it, but it only made him dizzy.

His foot reached down for the next rung on the ladder, and suddenly the world lurched around him when he stepped on air. Kal felt his stomach lurch in vertigo, and his arms flailed as he fell, failing to grab onto anything that would help. There was half a second where he realized he had very far to fall and would have at best a terrible sprain. His foot met the ground, and Kal's breath left him in a gasp, preemptively bracing for the pain. But it never came, and instead all Kal did was stumble backwards lightly, as if he'd only tripped over his boot dragging over a seam in the ground.

There was a whirr as Krym treaded over to him. "Kal-El. Are you alright?"

Kal looked down at his booted foot. Still pristine, as spry as if he hadn't fallen from over a meter. "Yeah. I'm, I'm fine."

"Perhaps," Krym’s light spun softly, "it would be best if you take a break for now. You've done enough here. I will continue running diagnostics and will be sure to let you know if there are any updates."

Kal gave Krym a weak smile. "Yeah. Maybe that's a good idea." The Caretakers didn't really treat him as if he were fused silica anymore, but they still fussed over him like protective yrmit when they were truly concerned about him. "Let me know if I can help with anything."

Krym beeped in affirmation, and Kal watched as they turned back to tread over to the control hub. Kal sighed, rolling the vacuum over to its designated corner, and he spared one last glance at the transceiver equipment before stepping out into the corridor.

The door whirred closed behind him. Kal stood in the doorway and stared at his scuffed boot until he thought he saw a glimpse of his metatarsal. His eyes started aching in his head again. Kal scrubbed his hand over his eye socket before heading back down the corridor towards his quarters.

When the red light in his study washed over him, he felt a bit steadier. It was familiar, and maybe it was the comfort of it that soothed him slightly, the near-infrared a bit warmer than the corridor.

Strange to think he was back in his study just like any other day, when yesterday he'd stepped off the ship for the first time in several years.

He didn't regret leaving to help Barry with the, at the time, urgent situation. But Kal admitted he could have done without everything that followed. It was all so confusing.

Years of being terrified of being caught out in a yellow star system again, and it had been the radiation from the yellow sun that had cured him from the definitely more threatening effects of the probe, whatever it did to him.

And the probe, the physical reminder that Brainiac was always close behind them. Kal wished that was the most significant outcome, but if he was honest with himself, it was nothing they hadn't been aware of. It was a fact of life that would never change. Like that the Caretakers (and Kal) never left the ship, that Brainiac would always be close behind, and that they would always leave at the first shadow of Brainiac's pursuit. But of those three facts, only one was left standing after the day's events.

Upon his return to the ship, the Caretakers had been insistent that Kal go and rest, but he’d begged off of it.

"At least until I see the ophiokus is alright," he'd reasoned.

Of course, Xelek hadn't let Kal do anything but wait on the sidelines, but he'd never been allowed to handle the ophiokus directly anyways, so that was no different. Only once Xelek had declared the animal was in perfect health, did Kal feel a small part of the tension in him release. He'd even stayed to watch from the other side of the polarized glass as the ophiokus, still sluggish and slowly recovering from the tranquilizer and chilling chamber, joined its kind in the enclosure.

He'd had to slip away before Xelek caught him lingering in front of the viewing window, though. Kal wondered why they didn't just black out the viewport if he wasn't allowed to look into it. But he and the Caretakers knew it was for the best that he have a slightly hazardous window, rather than his curiosity causing him to actually get incapacitated from sneaking a peek without any safeguards.

He'd made sure that his own careless mistake, letting the ophiokus slip out without even noticing for several days that a larva was missing, hadn't caused the creature any harm. And earlier this morning, Krym had given him the status of the newest ophiokus, that it had joined the flock without issue and was doing well in all ways.

And yet, sitting in his study, in the warm, red light that had always been his home, Kal didn't feel much better than he had when he'd retired to his room the day before. He still felt different and changed. Unfamiliar, like he was a stranger in his own sanctuary, and a night's rest hadn't lessened that feeling.

Kal felt the ache behind his eyes throb again and squeezed his eyes shut. Rao, couldn't he even have this?

"Computer. Turn off lights." Kal didn't know if he was only imagining that he heard the electronic switch actuating.

He slowly opened his eyes, gaze directed at his hands, which laid flat on his desk. Even in the darkness, he could make out every wrinkle on the back of his hands perfectly. Even the lights in the nearby tanks were turned off, but the gentle burbling of the water now seemed too loud in his ears, when they used to be soothing background noise.

It was unfair that something so simple like leaving the ship to help someone left him reeling with remarkably unexpected consequences.

It was unfair to keep the corydo and the astacid in darkness because of his state.

Kal stared down at his hands, daring his bones and blood vessels to show themselves, he'd glimpsed them on accident before. His staring contest with his hands only left him with his palms sweating and a kind of low burning heat in his eyes. Kal jerked his head to the side and squeezed his eyes shut. He clenched his hands in his lap. He could feel the fine-woven fibers in his tunic straining and tearing, each snap of a fiber like a pop of plasma with his trembling hands pressing almost painfully into his thighs.

Krym had been right to send him away, even if it was out of concern. Kal knew he was nothing but bumbling around being a nuisance.

Ding. There was a chime before a voice spoke from outside his door. "Kal-El," Xelek said. "If you are otherwise unoccupied, I would like to evaluate your condition."

He breathed a calming breath before replying, "Be right out."

Kal opened his eyes and stared down at the blackened, hand-shaped scorch marks singed onto his desktop.

Yeah, maybe he had done enough here.

Chapter Text

"Arrival in 10 minutes." The voice from the control hub interrupted the quiet inside the shuttle.

Kal looked down at his hands which were clutching his datapad in front of him like a flimsy ptera-vis shield.

In some ways it was funny how the last time he was on the shuttle leaving the ship, he had been sick with nerves, covered head to toe in his radiation suit and polarized visor. But now he was practically naked in that all he was wearing was his usual tunic, armed with just his datapad and nothing else.

Maybe if Kal had been thinking with a level head, he'd have brought at least a handheld microscanner. But here he was, equipped with his old-gen datapad, like the backwater fool he was. Come to "help" investigate the enemy probe by bumming off of whatever instruments the Justice League might have to spare. It was probably worse than if he hadn't bothered to make the trip over.

Though, his eyes were doing weird things that made him feel like maybe he didn't need a microscanner after all, as he lost himself studying the previously invisible web of scratches on the surface of his datapad.

Maybe there would be a tiny message scratched onto the surface of the probe. Yes, so very likely.

And he would only even be helpful if he could actually see things consistently, and didn't look straight through the thing he was trying to look at.

---

Xelek had brought him back to one of the examination rooms to do a basic evaluation. As if this were just his periodic exam, except it had only been 3 months since his last.

"Your vitals and bloodwork seem normal, according to your baseline on-record. Temperature is slightly elevated but within acceptable range for your Kryptonian physiology."

Kal nodded slightly. That was good. He recalled the rapid beeping of the machines, before, in the Watchtower's medbay.

"Ocular and aural function are elevated, but difficult to determine the extent."

Kal had struggled focusing on the display, with its text and shapes. He'd been able to make out even the smallest details from where he sat on the chair, but when it came to seeing the chart and not the walls or the electric wiring behind those, Kal knew his long pauses trying to focus his eyes on the right plane didn’t go unnoticed by Xelek.

Not to mention the incessant whine that grated on his nerves and made it impossible for Kal to think clearly.

"I think there's something wrong with my translator." He shook his head slightly. "It's been making this sound ever since--" Ever since he'd gotten near the probe. "It might be from the--the radiation, or something." It could have fried the delicate sensors in the device.

Xelek whirred in acknowledgement. "If their detection of radiation was accurate, that might be possible. In any case, I advise you do not risk exposure by going near the probe."

Xelek's light spun slowly, and the visual test display flickered off. Kal looked down at his boots and got a very up-close perspective of the dust from the vents that still clung to his instep.

"Perhaps," Xelek said. "You might return to the Watchtower."

"What," Kal blurted reflexively. His head snapped up to look at the Caretaker before amending, "I mean. Why would I?" They had just told him to stay clear from the probe. This would put him in arm's reach of the cursed thing.

"I am aware the station has many accommodations for enhanced individuals." Xelek treaded back towards the door. "They might be better-equipped at helping you adjust. Despite the proximity to any hazardous materials, I believe you might benefit."

"I'm fine." Kal was fine. "I don't need to adjust. Or any help, even if I did." And he didn't. "Besides, you said to stay away from the probe. I can help here, figuring out what Brainiac is up to."

"Krym recommended you be prevented from working at heights." Oh, that rust-bolt Krym had sold him out. "And earlier it seemed you were not comfortable in your quarters."

"I was just...resting," Kal said, knowing it was a weak excuse. He never had the lights off unless he was asleep. And sometimes not even then, if he had fallen asleep at his desk while occupied with something.

Xelek continued. "However, if you are feeling improved, perhaps an even more effective way to be of use is to collaborate with the Justice League on a joint baseline scanner link."

Kal squinted at the Caretaker. "A joint baseline system?" He had no idea what Xelek was talking about.

"In light of the Justice League's development and interest in enhancing their detection system for Starro with our own technology, it seemed prudent that we might join our resources to potentially set up a more robust detection system." The examination room door whirred open for Xelek. "I am going to the bridge to perform a secondary diagnostics, but I have sent to your datapad some schematics and information that might be useful for the project."

"Alright, but if I'm going there, I'm definitely checking out that probe," Kal called after Xelek, but the Caretaker was long gone.

Kal picked up his datapad when it chimed and saw he'd received a packet of the files. He sighed and left the exam room, heading off towards his study.

In the corridor, Kal walked past an old room that always remained closed. There was nothing in there to see, it was as pristine as the other parts of the ship.

Except for one conspicuously repaired panel, a patch bolted onto the outer wall. It had purposefully been left unrepaired. A memorial, or perhaps more of a monument.

Here, where the Collector had finally met his end -- no match for the strength and rage of the double-crossed Czarnian hunter. Kal had sometimes thought to himself how terrible if it would have been if the Czarnian had never inadvertently freed the Caretakers from their original master.

But now for the first time he wondered, if his new abilities gave him the power to lay ruin to the ship like the Czarnian... Kal found that thought even more terrible.

Perhaps if that ever happened, the shoddily-patched hole in the ship's wall would open and suck him out into the vacuum of space.

---

Kal had told Xelek that he was going to find out what was up with that probe.

Xelek wanted him to stay away from it and they'd let him go with the pretense that he would be helping upgrade the Watchtower's scanners, as a way to try to keep him busy. But Kal had to know what that terrible probe was for. Even if Xelek was right and the thing was dangerous to him, he needed to find out what Brainiac was planning with it.

But upgrading the scanners to be more robust wouldn't hurt, either.

Kal opened the files Xelek sent on his datapad. They were more detailed scanner upgrade schematics, plus notes on related theory and ideas on how to further improve the system. There was also info on the Watchtower capabilities, which must have come from Barry at some point.

Kal considered the things possible with the sheer power of the station, perhaps a remote tether could convert the system into an even larger receiver.

He resented the fact that the bait was working.

Kal was brought back by the lurch of the shuttle. Kal grabbed the handrail, squeezing it in his grip, as a feeling of vertigo overtook him when the shuttle entered the Watchtower's gravity field and switched over from artificial gravity. The shuttle landed with a gentle settling and a soft metallic thud.

Once landed, Kal's stomach flopped back into its proper place, and he let go of the railing, wiping his hand on the front of his tunic. He moved to stand, but his eyes caught and skittered back over to the rail. On the otherwise smooth, metal handrail, there was now a series of suspiciously finger-shaped indents molded onto its surface.

Rao, had he done that? He turned over his hand and only saw still slightly clammy-soft skin. Kal ran his fingers over the bent railing. He tried pressing harder into the ridges, trying to smooth them back just as he had made them, but the metal now felt as hard and rigid as it was supposed to. Hsir. He scrubbed his thumb over the now-permanent marks once more in vain. The entry ramp let out a mechanical whine as it lowered slowly, and Kal finally gave up on the telltale handrail.

He stepped into the hangar just as a flash of green flew past. Kal turned to look, and he found the green figure had slowed down, Hal Jordan's eyes meeting his.

"Greetings, Lantern Jordan," Kal greeted politely.

Hal dipped his chin slightly, saying, "Kal-El." before flying through the atmosphere field and out of the hangar.

A perfectly pleasant and not at all awkward exchange between them, by all accounts. The first time it was fruit toulul, the last was radiation poisoning. Kal hoped his embarrassing episodes in front of Hal Jordan couldn't get any worse than that.

Kal let out a resigned sigh and looked around, spotting the same door to the labs he had entered the last time he was here. But before he was even in range to activate the door, he felt a familiar presence press up against his mind, moments before J'onn's semi-solid figure phased up through the floor in front of him.

"Kal-El. I thought I felt your presence. What brings you here?" J'onn spoke aloud.

Kal was a bit surprised that the other man hadn't initiated a mental link right away like when they'd first met the last time. Though, perhaps that was unfair, given that they'd first met in very different circumstances.

"I'm, uh." It was at this point that Kal realized he hadn't come with a clear strategy. "I, the Caretakers-- thought I'd come to--" even better, all the reasons he'd had for coming were tangled up within each other and hadn't been that entirely clear to begin with, "--to help," Kal finished lamely.

J'onn nodded, his somber expression unchanging, as if what Kal said had made even an iota of sense. "You are conflicted."

"Did you read my mind?" Kal asked a bit hesitantly. That couldn't be a rude thing to ask if the other person was completely capable of it, right?

"No." J'onn's lip twitched, and Kal thought he spotted an amused twinkle in his red eyes. "Even without using my abilities, it is clear that you are."

"Oh."

"If you would like to join me in meditation, perhaps it will help clear your mind," J'onn offered, and Kal nodded in acceptance, thinking it couldn't hurt.

He followed behind J'onn as he led the way, and Kal briefly wondered if J'onn would phase through the entrance like he had done with the floor, until he just activated the door as usual, waiting for it to slide open before stepping through. Kal hurried to follow. J'onn led them through the familiar main corridor leading past the lab and through the observation deck, and then through a less familiar series of hallways and turns before arriving at an unassuming room.

The door slid open to reveal a very plain room with almost no furniture. Kal followed J'onn's lead as the other man sat on one of the thin cushions on the floor, finding a cushion to sit on nearby.

"Meditation," J'onn began, when they were both situated, "can be any number of things."

Which was incredibly vague and abstract, Kal couldn't help but think. J'onn's lip twitched again, and Kal felt a small rush of anxiety that he was reading his mind. Is that what meditation would mean right now?

As if reading his mind, J'onn reassured him, "I am not trying to read your mind. However, I cannot help but hear your thoughts if you are thinking them quite...loudly. As you are."

"Sorry," Kal apologized.

"There is no need to be. This exercise will help you better control such things." J'onn then closed his eyes, and Kal wasn't sure what to do but to follow suit.

He wondered if this was some sort of religious thing. Kal had heard of and read about such cultural practices, but the Caretakers were never programmed to practice any culture besides its utility in effective communication.

Despite that, with Kal they had made a discernable effort to educate him on his Kryptonian heritage. The Caretakers had been the ones to raise him speaking the Kryptonian language, and they’d taught him whatever they had gleaned from his escape pod or had in their database about his native planet.

And from the Green Lanterns, he had learned that he was the only remaining Kryptonian. Not that Brainiac ever let them forget that fact.

Kal was pulled back from his thoughts by a wave of empathy, coming from J’onn. He blinked his eyes open to see J’onn offering him a small smile. He wondered if J’onn ever felt alone, too. He didn’t look like the other human members of the League--less than Kal did, at least.

“Now,” J’onn said gently, closing his eyes once more. Kal did the same. “One method of meditation is to practice mindfulness.” It sounded like a fake word to Kal, the way his translator garbled through it. “Being present in the moment, aware of now, inhabiting your body.”

Kal was now very mindful of his translator still whining in his ear. He kept his eyes dutifully closed.

“Observe your body, sensations, your thoughts, the space around you,” J'onn continued in his low, flat voice.

"Observe everything without judgement. Your senses, the thoughts that rise to the front of your mind, let them pass through your mind like a passing cloud or drifting river. Take note of them and let them go gently, instead of trying to push them away completely."

At first, it was nearly overwhelming--the sheer volume of sensations that were coming into his head when he stopped to observe them all. He took note of the soft cloth under his fingers. The constant, harsh whine in his ear. The occasional flicker of light and shapes seen through the backs of his eyelids. The cool, dry air of the room as it brushed past his skin.

Kal didn't attempt to suppress them, instead letting all of it flow into and through him. The separate threads fought for attention and dominance at first, leaving him feeling like he was being dragged through a torrent. But after a bit, all of the simultaneous noise and sensation began to blend together more harmoniously. Standing in the midst of it felt more and more effortless, less like he was being pulled under by a current and more like he stood on a bank looking down into it. The restless energy ebbed to a quiet murmur. The harsh whine in his ear only a faint presence in the back of his mind as opposed to pounding at his attention like a hammer.

"Very good." There was a rustle of fabric, and Kal blinked his eyes open to see J'onn getting up from his seat on the floor. "I sense that you may be in a better state now."

Kal blinked some more to clear the blur from his eyes and moved to stand as well. His hips and legs felt loose and edging towards a bit numb, as if he had been sitting for a long time. He realized they had probably been at this for longer than the few minutes he'd first thought.

"Oh, um," Kal cleared his throat. "Thank you for taking the time to help me. I'm not sure I was a very good student."

"I was happy to share my practice with you." J'onn gave him a kind look. "And I believe you are a quick learner. I hope this gives you some tools you might find useful."

"Yes, well--" He didn't really know what to say.

Kal didn't feel like he had really done much except for sitting and trying not to let his head drive him crazy. If there were tools in there somewhere, he didn't know where to look first. Maybe it was a psychic thing, for everything to be so abstract and perplexing.

"Perhaps you would like to join me in the future."

He found himself nodding. "Alright." It wasn't so bad to sit in a quiet room with J'onn, after all. And even if whatever he was trying to teach Kal didn't stick, it couldn't hurt.

J'onn seemed pleased with this and gave him a small nod before turning towards the door. Resolved to the fact that he'd nodded his way into a psychic training regimen, Kal seriously questioned how he'd gotten to this point as he followed J'onn out the door.

However, once he stepped out into the hallway, Kal saw no sight of J'onn. He turned to look in both directions down the gray hallway but saw no sign of him. The other man was apparently capable of phasing through solid walls and floors, so Kal was probably going to have to get used to this sort of thing.

Kal started back down the hallway they had come from. Datapad back in hand, Kal realized he'd neglected to mention the actual reasons he'd had for coming to the Watchtower with J'onn, instead letting himself be guided through some kind of relaxation ritual. He sighed as he let his shoulders fall. And now that he'd been essentially left alone on the station, he was even more useless than he'd thought.

Kal turned a corner and was surprised to find a familiar shadowy figure coming into the hallway from a side-corridor.

He stood there dumbly for a moment before remembering himself and politely greeting him. "Hello, Batman."

"Kal-El." Batman wore a quizzical set to his lips.

He was probably wondering what Kal was doing here. Alone. "I came in with J'onn," he explained. "He was showing me a practice called 'meditation.'"

Batman gave a low hum as he resumed his walk down the hallway. Kal moved to keep pace with him. "I suppose he would. Did you find it useful?"

He shrugged. "I suppose it did help with some of the, um, sensitivities I've been dealing with."

"J'onn mentioned," Batman glanced at him with a tilt of his masked face, "that the treatment might have left you with some enhanced abilities."

Kal thought of the crushed handrail on the shuttle in the hangar. "It seems so." He didn't supply anything further, and they walked along each other in silence.

"The... creature you retrieved," Batman broke the silence unexpectedly, "It was returned safely?"

"The ophiokus," Kal offered. "And yes, it was unharmed and joined the others in the proper enclosure." He decided to be more forthcoming in return for the gesture and continued, "Xelek and the other Caretakers are working to do some calibrations and other work to figure out how the probe was undetected. I'm afraid I wasn't much help with some of the effects I still have." He looked down at his datapad. "So Xelek suggested I come here to help implement some collaborative improvements."

Batman listened quietly as Kal spoke, and it was a few moments before he said something. "I think it's an effective use of your time to help combine our resources. I meant when I said we will help you with this Brainiac." The other man paused to consider something before continuing. "And as to your...sensitivities. We have plenty of rooms and facilities here on the Watchtower. Should you be interested in utilizing them."

Kal stared at Batman. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind?"

Batman glanced at him. "I wouldn't make the suggestion if I did mind. Obviously." The slightly exaggerated tone he affected made Kal fight a grin. "Although," Batman gave a considering hum, more to himself than Kal, "if you would also be interested in assessing the extent of your...side effects, we have plenty of testing and training equipment on hand for that sort of thing." He could hear the other man begin mumbling something to himself, but it was too quiet for his translator to pick up.

Kal realized they had stopped and looked around to see they were standing in a curved corridor with several doors spaced evenly along it. They had stopped in front of one of the doors.

"This room is free for you to use if you would like," Batman said. "As well as any of the other facilities on the Watchtower. Though, try not to get lost."

A thought occurred to him. "Did Xelek ask you to do this?" Kal asked, mortified by the idea.

"No," Batman said. The other man was difficult to read with his mask, but of what Kal could see he couldn't detect any deceit or unease. "Though I find it interesting that you would think so." Kal didn't know if he imagined the slightest curve to Batman's lips before the man turned in a sweep of black cape and walked back down the hallway.

So now Kal found himself standing in what was probably a guest quarters, half regretting all of his choices that brought him to this point. Kal realized that, with the door closed behind him, he could barely hear anything at all. It wasn't the background awareness that he'd felt since the session with J'onn, but the room must have had some kind of dampening effect, because there was an almost complete absence of noise. It was strange, but also a relief, now that he realized how much effort he'd been spending not to pay attention to it.

It also made him realize how loud his translator was. He removed the small earpiece, and his shoulders eased in relief.

He looked around at the admittedly generous space. Closest to the door was a small seating area, and a bed was situated in the far corner.

However, Kal's attention was occupied by the most notable feature of the room--a wide viewing window along the back wall. Once again, Kal was amazed by the luxury afforded to have in place such large viewing windows in every place they would fit.

Perhaps this was a normal thing to have on permanent space stations. He wouldn't know, as he'd never been on one before. In fact, Kal had never spent any significant time away from the ship. Which made being here all the more strange.

Kal lowerd himself to sit on the edge of the bed and looked out into the dark expanse littered with glittering distant stars. Strange to think that of all of them, he should find himself at this one.

Chapter Text

It was strange to wake up somewhere that wasn’t his quarters.

There was no hum from the ship’s engines, nor the usual dim, warm glow from the lights. The air on the Watchtower was cool and dry, and Kal tried to swallow around a scratchy patch in the back of his throat.

The room on the Watchtower had all of the furnishings Kal would imagine a station like it would have. Perhaps a little short of the standard fare he’d seen on the few other vessels he’d been on, but not bad given that Earth had barely broached faster-than-light travel and had limited contact with the wider galaxy. And certainly more spacious than Kal’s own quarters. Kal puzzled with what he assumed was the faucet fixture, its peculiar design quaintly regional, until he managed to convince it to dispense water.

His stomach growled, and Kal looked around the clean but sparse room, deciding that he would need to venture outside eventually, anyways. Kal settled his translator back into his ear, grimacing at the noise, and he stepped out into the hallway.

He was only half-certain that what Batman had said about getting lost was only a joke, but Kal tried his best not to get too turned around. He followed the hallways Batman and J'onn had led him through the previous day, retracing their steps (but allowing for short detours when he got the urge).

The Watchtower was mostly empty. It was possibly due to the time, which Kal had no real grasp on even though the ship had adjusted to match the local time once the Caretakers had determined they would be staying for longer than just a couple of days. And it was also possible that the League members were kept busy with the still-ongoing recovery efforts on Earth.

So Kal wandered a bit aimlessly around the empty station. In doing so, he concluded that there was, a lot of space on the Watchtower. Remembering the several other doors in the hallway next to his own room, Kal wondered if the place was built with a lot of people in mind. So far, he only knew of four members of the Justice League, but surely there were more. And if there were more humans like Barry or Batman, he imagined they might be welcomed to join.

Kal found himself walking past the lab and toward the hangar, before deciding that puttering around in the shuttle was not much better than sitting around in his guest room. He detoured down the arterial corridor that led to the large observation deck next. Retracing that path from the lab, it was certainly a different experience, now that he wasn't half delirious and half on his deathbed.

The hallway was strictly utilitarian and unadorned, but it gave the impression of grandeur in its own way. And especially when it opened up into the still shockingly extravagant observation deck. This time, Kal could see out of the large windows and onto a glittering black sea of stars.

Very slowly, the gentle curve of a dimly glowing horizon gradually came into view, and Kal noticed the deck itself was rotating slowly. The planet below was slowly coming into view, and it would soon take up the entirety of the viewing window.

Kal suddenly realized how exceedingly perfect the timing he had been. If, two days ago, Hal's arrival with the probe had been pushed just a few minutes in either direction, then this very viewing window wouldn't have even been in a position facing the star, right as Hal and Batman had been dragging Kal through the room to the medbay. Lucky, or unlucky. Depending on how you wanted to look at it. But considering the fact that Brainiac's probe would have almost killed him with its radiation either way, perhaps Kal would admit that it was luckier than not.

From somewhere, Kal heard a clatter and a soft curse. Sniffing, he realized he could also smell some sort of sweet aroma, presumably coming from the same place as the noise. Following his nose, which had apparently also become as keen as a long-necked Capreolin's, it led him to what looked to be some sort of pantry or kitchen.

The sight that met him was of Barry frantically catching brightly colored pellets and dumping them in an overfilled bowl as they scattered across the counter haphazardly, in near danger of falling off the counter.

Barry was also slipping some of the pellets he picked up into his mouth when he noticed Kal standing in the threshold. "Morning, Kal." He chewed and swallowed. "Calorie tablet? They taste like skittles."

Kal walked over and got a better look at the colorful pellets. "What's a skittle?" he asked Barry.

"It's a type of candy," Barry explained, sweeping the remaining pellets into his hand and dropping them into the bowl. "Sweet and sour, with some artificial fruit-flavoring added." He held a yellow pellet out to Kal.

He took it. "Well, it sounds good." Kal turned the round and slightly glossy pellet in his hand, before putting it in his mouth.

The flavor almost hurt his tongue when he bit down on the pellet. Sweet was an understatement. The brightness of the sour acid flavor curbed the sheer magnitude of the sweet flavor of the pellet, and a cloying synthetic fruit flavor promptly coated his tongue. The flavors bombarded his tongue, and Kal was certain this wasn't just because of his enhanced senses--he'd eaten a normal meal without much fanfare when he was back on the ship.

Kal didn't know if he was able to control his face very well, his mouth mostly overwhelmed by the intense experience happening inside of it. "What is this?" He didn't know if he liked it or not. But he had always been partial to sweet things.

"It's a specially formulated calorie tablet I developed with Batman," Barry said, chewing on one himself. "A portable and calorie-dense snack. For emergencies or long missions. But it's also almost indistinguishable from a skittle." He swallowed on his mouthful. "Do you like it? Here, have some of the other flavors. We even made some new ones."

Kal held out his cupped hand to receive the various colored tablets.

"Taste the rainbow, as they say."

Kal picked a blue pellet and popped it into his mouth. "Rainbow?" This one tasted like a concentrated Omja berry.

"It's a natural weather phenomenon on Earth. A big arch made of refracted light, very colorful."

The crunch of a green pellet between his teeth resulted in a burst of sour-sweetness that stung his tongue in a strangely pleasant way.

"Taste the rainbow," Kal said, nodding thoughtfully. Such a fascinating (delightful) food. He wondered if there was a way to bring some with him back to the ship. Perhaps incorporate it into his meals, or a new dish.

"That's right," Barry said, swallowing. "B said you're staying here for a bit. How was meditation with J'onn?" He huffed a laugh at Kal's bewildered expression and explained,"he ropes any poor soul he can find into meditation. It's like the Martian national pastime." Barry picked up the significantly less-full bowl of pellets and placed it in the center of the countertop. "Only B ever really joins him, but he's either been holing himself up back home or glued to his battlestation since the attack. So I figured once you weren't busy, J'onn would have nabbed you at least once."

"You don't enjoy the practice?" Kal asked, curious now that Barry had experienced it.

"Well, it does sometimes help me brainstorm when I'm stuck on a case, and sometimes I did feel like maybe locking into the speed-force was a little easier afterwards." Barry tipped his head to the side. "But it's a lot of just, sitting there. When I could be doing other things. I actually found something called active meditation, but J'onn calls it a bunch of baloney."

Kal decided to gloss over the references to things he didn't really understand. Translators weren't all-powerful. "So you find it does help with your powers?"

"In some ways. But I'm more of a hands-on type of learner," Barry admitted. "I remember what it was like being new to my powers, it must be hard on you. If you feel up to it, what do you think about trying them out, getting a handle on them?"

"Aren't you busy?" Kal asked. "Batman offered me a place to stay, but you shouldn't feel like you have to treat me like a guest. I can handle being left to my own devices."

"Believe me, I'd much rather be here than head back to the bureaucratic mess I've been elbows deep in the past however many hours it's been." Barry rubbed at his temple. "Plus, I won't be doing much, I'll just be showing you around the gym, let you do all the hard stuff."

Kal considered this and nodded with a shrug. "Sure. If you really don't mind."

Barry shot him a grin and led the way through another long set of hallways until they arrived at a room with a large array of equipment. He walked over to a wall with hooks and shelves holding several smaller devices. Barry took off his gloves, placing them on a nearby bench, and Kal followed suit, unfastening his long mantle and draping it over the bench, placing his gauntlets on top.

"I don't want to be held liable for injuring a civilian," Barry began, "so I can't let you do anything crazy." He handed something over to Kal, who took it. "Here. We'll start simple."

Kal turned the item over in his hands. "What's this?" It looked like if someone had taken just the handle from a pair of cutters. Looking more closely, there seemed to be an additional display module built into the hinge mechanism as well.

"It measures your grip strength," Barry explained. "Squeeze the handles as hard as you can, and the readout will tell us how strong your hand is in pounds. You can also use it as a training device, too, if you set the resistance manually."

"I, uh, don't want to break it," Kal said. He remembered the finger-shaped dents he'd made in the shuttle's hypersteel handrail.

Barry smiled at him reassuringly. "Don't worry. Batman has me stress-test all the equipment when we were designing it--you'd be surprised at how fast just friction and rapid small-force impacts can wear something down. Plus," he added, "Diana would have broken it already if it couldn't hold up. She can swing tanks with her lasso."

"If you say so." Kal looked down at the handle. It certainly didn't feel very special, not all that weighty in his hand. Tentatively, he gave it the barest squeeze. And when the device didn't let out a precarious creak, he squeezed a little harder.

It wasn't that Kal couldn't control himself most of the time, like when he'd picked up individual calorie pellets with Barry just moments ago, but he obviously didn't have a good grasp on when he was exerting force and when he wasn't. As was made apparent, if he was taken off-guard, he could slip up and crush hypersteel with a misplaced grab.

"I told you it wont break," Barry reassured him. "And even if if did, B would only be excited to make a new one." He watched as Kal gave a few more uncertain squeezes before saying, "You know, I can remember coming into my new powers and having to learn how to control them. And it is frightening, knowing everything you're capable of, how dangerous you can be." Kal didn't even know half of what he might be able to do, and it scared him already. "But once you know your potential and your limits, it's much easier to be aware of what you're doing. At least, easier than if you left yourself open to be caught off-guard because you never learned and just locked yourself down."

Kal looked down at his hand gripping the device and could imagine more than dented railings in his future. Collateral damage, if he couldn't learn his limits or how to control himself.

When the handle still didn't let out any concerning noises, Kal actually tried to put a good amount of force into it. The display lit up with digits, and Kal didn't really know what the local units were or if it was a comparatively large number.

Barry glanced at the reading when Kal handed the device to him, and his eyebrows rose. "Wow, you could probably give Diana a run for her money."

Kal had no idea how much that was, but he could take a guess from the reaction. "So that's... a lot?"

Barry let out a chuckle. "Way more than me, at least. I'm only maybe slightly above average." He gestured behind him. "My main machine is the runner." Kal looked in the direction he indicated and saw a platform with some sort of harness attached to it. "But B is trying to get me to do my strength and agility work. Honestly? I think he just likes knowing he's better than me at those." With another impressed glance at the reading, Barry set the device down on the bench. "Speaking of, what brought you to stay over here anyways? It's not a long ride back to your ship. Or," he paused to consider, "was it something else?"

Kal grimaced and let out a breath. "It wasn't anything... bad. I was just feeling kind of useless. And like I would break something."

"I have definitely broken my fair share of things. Not to be taken lightly with new powers," Barry agreed.

"I also fell off a ladder," Kal admitted.

Barry huffed in amusement. "Yep, that'll do it." He hummed consideringly. "Let's see. If balance is an issue, we can put you on the balance board."

Kal followed Barry over to an open area of the room, and he watched as Barry brought over a platform with a rounded bottom. He set it on the ground and rested a foot on the board.

"This one is pretty simple, yet deceptively challenging. And not too hard, even for a civilian." Barry demonstrated standing on the unstable platform before stepping back to let Kal try.

It didn't look too hard. But Kal placed a foot on the board and immediately felt how unstable it was. The rounded bottom was some kind of deflated half-sphere, and its malleable texture made it feel even more wobbly. He tried stepping fully on the thing a few times and only managed to wave his arms wildly before getting back off.

"Take it slow," Barry suggested. "Try to focus on controlling where you put your weight. Trust me, I was pretty bad at this too. 'Stabilize your core, stay light.' That's all B kept repeating. I had no idea what he meant by it," he said with a huff. "But I guess he'd know what he was talking about. He could be a tightrope walker, stands on that thing without a wobble. No sweat." There was a sound like the scuff of a boot, and Barry turned his head towards the door. "Speak of the devil."

Kal was busy trying not to flail too much or fall on his face. When he finally stumbled off the platform, he turned and saw Batman's shadowy figure sweeping into the room.

"Hey, B," Barry greeted. "Got tired of staring at screens all day?"

Batman stopped near them. "I see you two have found each other. Kal-El." He turned and nodded slightly to Kal, who returned the gesture, before the other man turned to address Barry. "Flash. I wanted to talk with you about that inter-city pilot program."

"Right. I have some-- Kal you're doing great, keep it up. We'll be right over here if you need us," Barry said before picking back up the conversation with Batman. The two of them moved a away to resume their discussion, which Kal assumed had something to do with the recovery efforts on Earth.

Kal looked down at the gently rolling platform. He was reminded that Barry wasn't just here so he could be waiting to catch Kal, he was just taking a break from much more important duties. Kal would be fine by himself, and he wasn't going to be defeated by a wobbly board.

He put a tentative foot on the board. What was it Barry said? Control his weight. Stay light. Kal didn't move too quickly as he put both his feet and his full weight onto the platform. The first wobble made his stomach flip, but Kal tried to make sure his weight was distributed evenly over both feet. He still wobbled, but didnt' feel like he was going to fall off. Controlled? Maybe.

What was next? Stay light? Kal didn't know what that meant either. He bent his knees a little more, but it didn't make him feel much lighter, though it didn't worsen the occasional wobbles either.

He glanced over and saw Barry and Batman still talking. He looked down at his feet and wondered how he was supposed to become any lighter with the station's artificial gravity.

A thought occurred to him. Maybe it was more of a mental exercise, like the metaphors from J'onn during their meditation. Kal let his eyes fall shut. Light. He wobbled. Stay light. He was just amazed he hadn't fallen off the board yet, especially with his eyes closed. He didn't feel like he was wobbling so much anymore.

"To tell the truth, I think that's cheating," Barry's voice said from nearby.

Kal opened his eyes, and it took a moment to reorient himself. Somehow, Barry and Batman were below him. Kal blinked and looked down to see that his feet weren't touching the board at all. He realized he was somehow suspended a good meter off the floor.

His stomach flipped, and he realized he had no idea how to get down. "Um," he said.

Maybe he could... jump down? Kal found that he didn't have much of a choice in the matter, as he had already started drifting downwards. Thankfully, his descent was slow, despite being unsteady and each little jerk making his heart leap into his throat. When he finally met the ground, he stood unmoving for a few moments, looking wide-eyed at the other two men.

Batman hummed. "Some sort of gravity manipulation," he said aloud, a finger tapping his chin.

"Yeah," Barry huffed. "He can fly."

"That explains my ankle," Kal said to himself. Namely, the lack of severe sprain.

There was a beeping noise, and Barry quickly looked at his wrist.

"Darn. That's my alarm," he said. "Going to try to get my 8 hours before I head back down to Central. Can you believe I have to come all the way to space to dodge calls from the mayor? B, please don't fix the reception issue, it's been a real lifeline."

With a wave to the two of them, Barry was gone in a blur.

Kal looked around and saw the balance board still rocking slowly. He bent to pick it up, and he saw Batman pick something up from the bench. Kal put the board back where he thought he'd seen Barry take it from. He saw Batman holding the grip-strength handle and frowning slightly at the display, before he placed it in its proper place on the rack.

Kal was replacing his gauntlets when Batman turned to him.

"It's good you were able to work with Barry. His perspective is valuable when it comes to handling emerging meta abilities," Batman said in his gruff voice.

That was one way of putting it. "Yes, apparently he's good at bringing out this sort of thing," Kal replied.

"Hn," Batman hummed. "It's good to see he knows how to use other equipment after all." His lips pressed into a line that might have slanted upwards if he squinted.

Kal realized he was staring and looked around the rest of the large room. "Barry mentioned you had a part in designing the equipment? For you to put so much effort into it, you must also have some... exceptional abilities as well?"

Batman let out a sound that could have been a snort and started towards the door. Kal followed. "The abilities themselves won't make you exceptional. It all depends on how you utilize what you have."

Which was as straightforward as a beam of light passing by a black hole. Kal was tempted to let out a snort of his own as he silently followed Batman back out into the hallway.

Batman seemed determined not to illuminate any further. "You're also looking to learn more about the probe, correct? Would you like to see it?" Kal nodded. "This way." Apparently, Batman didn't share Xelek's opinion that he should stay away from the probe.

The room Batman led them to was down another set of long hallways, but Kal was at least aware they weren't anywhere near the hangar or the lab.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw the probe. This second time Kal was seeing the probe, it was on the other side of a viewing window. He didn't feel any different.

Kal realized he'd stopped in the doorway and stepped further into the room to stand near Batman, though still not very close to the window. "Is it safe?" he asked.

Batman's lips pressed into a serious line. "Perfectly. There's lead shielding in the walls, and this window is made of leaded glass. I would never have brought you here if there was any risk of exposure." Of course not. "And after further observation, we found that the probe itself was not the source of the radiation," Batman said.

"How so?" Kal looked at the probe. He noticed Brainiac's symbol no longer glowed that sickly green.

"The vessel itself is still contaminated by the radiation, hence the shielding. But the source was an unidentified radioactive crystal, which was being used as its power source," Batman said. "The crystal was removed and is being stored in a separate location," he added, "Due to concerns that it might cause trouble for our other equipment, as well as for sensitive individuals."

Kal met Batman's flat, white lenses and surprised himself when he found a small smile rising to his lips. In front of Brainiac's harbinger, of all things. There was a moment before Batman turned back toward the viewing window.

"Our suspicions were correct. It looks equipped to transmit powerful long range signals," Batman continued. "But since we intercepted it, it's been completely inactive. We only discovered it because it showed up as a blip on our scans. And no offensive capability to speak of, excluding the radiation."

A probe with offensive capabilities. As if Brainiac would be so crude, Kal thought. "I still don't know why you're helping us," Kal said to the other man. "You've seen firsthand how ruthless these megalomaniacs can be. You should have sent us on our way at the first warning."

"That's what you usually do?"

"Yes. There's nothing else to do when it comes to Brainiac," Kal said without hesitation. "And the Caretakers are fools for not leaving me behind. It's me that Brainiac wants." Perhaps Brainiac would have put him in a tiny red-lit room of his own, just as well.

"And what makes you think they'd want to abandon you?" Batman asked, as if he knew anything.

Kal huffed. "I'm just some baby they picked up off an escape pod." And it was true, he was. "They would be right to."

Batman hummed in that unreadable way of his, before saying, "If I recall, they said themselves that they think of you as one of their own."

And that, Kal had to admit, was true as well. He had been there there to hear it himself, after all.

Kal swallowed thickly, and he winced when the pressure of the motion against his eardrums made the whine of his translator all the more piercing. He saw Batman take a half step forward, and Kal shook his head, shaking off Batman’s concern along with the ringing in his ears. "No, I'm alright. It's just my translator. It's been making this noise the past few days."

Batman stood motionless where Kal had stopped him, and after a moment's pause he said, "I could take a look at it, if you'd like."

The man had doomed his entire system to subjugation under Brainiac, so Kal figured he might as well. "Sure," he said.

"I shouldn’t be long, if the technology is similar enough," Batman said, taking a seat at a crowded but neatly organized workbench. "Feel free to come back later."

Kal removed and handed over his translator, but didn't take him up on the offer, instead taking a seat adjacent to the workbench. He looked around and assumed this was the workshop Barry had mentioned Batman holing up in.

Batman didn't pay him any mind as he began. He started by turning the small earpiece over in his hand, carefully expecting the body. He reached for a box to his side and dug through it for a tool, mumbling to himself under his breath.

Kal realized he couldn't understand a word, with his translator now in Batman's hands. Still, he sat and watched Batman hold various tools up to the device, occasionally talking to himself in indistinct murmurs, and Kal let the man's smooth, low timbre in the incomprehensible, alien language wash over him.

There was a limit, though, to how long he was willing to sit on the side being useless so after a while, Kal stood from his seat. Kal left the room and retraced their steps back to the gym, only taking one or two wrong turns, which he categorized as short detours.

He didn’t really have a plan for what he would do, maybe try to puzzle out some of the various complex pieces of equipment on his own. But once he entered the room, Kal ended up gravitating towards the opposite wall, where mats were laid out on the floor in an open area and, of course, an astoundingly large viewing window to the outside.

Kal found himself once more looking out at the unfamiliar stars, and it was an indeterminate amount of time later that he felt someone come up next to him.

"It is a sight like none seen on Earth."

Kal turned to his new companion and saw the woman was also gazing out the viewing window, the gold of her headband and armor glinting in the dim starlight. She turned and smiled at him warmly.

"Brother, I'm glad to finally meet you." Her voice was warm and rich, like the light in her eyes. And most startlingly, when she spoke Kal could understand her completely.

After a speechless couple of moments, Kal finally managed to ask, "Are you Kryptonian?"

"No," she answered, a hint of regret tingeing her voice. "But it is one of my many talents to be able to speak your tongue. I heard we had a guest and wanted to welcome you. I am Diana."

"That was rude of me." Kal shook his head lightly at his own foolishness. "I should have introduced myself first. I am Kal-El. I've received a very warm welcome from everyone on the Justice League." A glint of gold caught his eye, and he saw a glowing, golden rope hanging at her hip. "Diana. I've heard of you from Barry," he admitted.

"Oh?" Her eyes twinkled with mirth. "And what does he say of me?"

"That you're strong." Kal shrugged, a bit embarrassed. "Not much else. He was showing me around here, to see if maybe it could help with some new... abilities I've acquired." He hesitated, before continuing. "It's been a bit daunting. Along with everything else going on"

Diana nodded. "I have had my gifts for many years, but even so, leaving my sisters and home for a new world was the most difficult, as well as the most wonderful." She smiled kindly, and Kal wondered if the comforting feeling of it was one of her gifts as well. "I think it is very admirable of you to face the new challenges set before you."

"I've been getting lots of help from everyone," Kal said, not deserving all of the credit. "J'onn has also been helping me."

Diana chuckled. "Well, J'onn has his ways," she said as she waved a hand. "But his still waters are his own; sitting in a quiet room isn't exciting in the slightest. I say, embrace your gifts and let them excite you, like a flame." Her energy was infectious.

Kal remembered something from before, "Batman told me that abilities themselves won't make you exceptional."

"And I agree with him on that." Diana nodded. "I wasn't given my gifts to make me special--I was bestowed with them to better serve and bring peace to the world. And the fire of that promise burns within me always." The last part she said with a light in her eyes like a pulsing star.

Kal considered her words as the planet slowly came into view before them. Kal thought that if he tried, he would be able to look closer, to see the clouds and storms, to see the Earth cities, to see the people living in them. Perhaps somewhere amongst them was Diana's home and her sisters. But right now, he looked out the viewing window, taking in the entirety of the vibrant planet below.

Kal turned back to Diana and met her small smile with one of his own. She held out a hand, and when he gave her his, she clasped his wrist in a warm, strong grip.

"I'm glad to have met you, Kal-El. Welcome to Earth."

"Likewise," he said, truly meaning it. "And thank you."

They both stood there for a while longer, a comfortable silence between them, until the planet was out of view.

It was then that Kal remembered. "Ah, I need to get back to Batman."

"Best not keep him waiting," Diana said with a small smirk. "He can get impatient. Or 'cranky' as Hal puts it."

Kal couldn't begin to imagine what that might look like on Batman. "Yes, I best not."

Diana walked with him to the door and said a quick goodbye as she turned down the hallway in the opposite direction. Kal retraced his steps once more and this time managed to make two fewer detours on his way back to the workshop.

Kal found Batman in much the same state as before, though he now had some sort of datapad before him on the workbench and was studying something on its display. The moment Kal stepped through the door, Batman detected his presence and turned to look at him. He gestured toward Kal's translator which was on a small tray on the workbench. Kal heeded his silent gesture and took the small device, placing it back in his ear.

Batman wasted no time and began speaking once the earpiece was secured. "Your translator is a bit different from the Lantern-based comms equipment we use, but I was able to make some good guesses at what fixes it might need. Give me two days."

It took a moment to readjust to the translator, but Kal could immediately tell there was something different. "It's already much better." The whine wasn't completely gone, but it was much quieter. And there had been other extraneous noises that Kal hadn't noticed were there before until they were gone.

"Don't thank me yet," Batman said in a voice that was too toothless to be gruff. "All I did for now is put in some dampeners to eliminate some of the extra interference that I assumed you might be sensitive to if your senses are heightened as you said." It sounded like much more work than Batman let on. "Like I said. Come back in two days, and I'll have something for you."

Batman turned back to studying whatever was on his datapad.

"Thank you," Kal said to the man's black-caped back.

The gauntleted wave he got didn't feel like much of a dismissal, and it made something like a smile settle on Kal's lips. He figured he’d have to see ‘cranky’ some other time.

Chapter Text

Passing two days on the Watchtower was not a boring affair, it seemed.

Between J’onn, Barry, Diana, and Batman, there was hardly a time when Kal felt alone on the space station.

And Barry had been right, J'onn did seek Kal out for more quiet meditation sessions in the room. Of course, every time he did so, Barry somehow seemed to be scarce. Despite feeling unsure if he was making any progress, whatever that might look like, J'onn's small pleased smile at the end of their sessions told Kal he must at least be doing something right.

There were also times when several of the League members happened to be on the Watchtower at the same time and ended up gathering together. This was how Kal currently found himself an open ear for Barry to vent about the difficulties he was facing in his home of Central City.

Barry had pulled back his red cowl to reveal flattened golden hair, and while the League members had been getting more and more casual around Kal, he hadn't expected the the show of trust. He'd almost been surprised Barry wasn't wearing a second, smaller mask underneath his cowl. Kal glanced at Batman, whose slight frown held more resignation than rebuke, and realized he didn't even know the other man's name. Maybe that was more Batman's style than Barry's.

"I can't believe they've been letting 5th Street sit for weeks. Weeks. Blocking access to people's homes and businesses, and majorly backing up traffic because the city council and the transit authority can't agree on how to fix an intersection."

Barry was running his fingers through his hair and making the strands stick up haphazardly, having spent the better part of twenty minutes bemoaning the needlessly complex and petty bureaucratic obstacles that were taking up the bulk of time now that the most urgent recovery efforts were dealt with.

From beside him, Kal nodded in sympathy, and Barry continued.

"It's the most ridiculous thing I've heard. They can't decide between two ways to fix the road, so they're just. Not fixing it at all."

Kal knew there was something to about budgets and project schedules, but most of what Barry had said went over his head. So he tried his best to be supportive with the barest of context.

"I can't say the Caretakers have seen quite the same situation, but I'm always surprised by how much infighting can get in the way of a decision that all sides agree is important." Kal distantly remembered one such occasion. "There was one very contested permit, something about the cultural importance of copta wool..." He stopped himself when he soon remembered how long that particular line of conversation could go.

"In my experience," Diana began, looking amused at the rumpled mess of Barry's hair, "the best way to to get two groups to come to a decision quickly is to go ahead and do something they both dislike. They will soon learn their differences are not so great when faced with a far worse alternative."

"While I usually don't condone such direct interference in local affairs in the absence of an emergency," Kal could almost feel the sigh Batman let out from beside him. "I agree with Diana that an action to kick-start a resolution would be beneficial. Either option seems to be acceptable, and any sort of decision being made would be preferable to the current stalemate. And would alleviate unnecessary hardship from the affected civilians."

"Maybe a parley is in order." J'onn seemed happy to supply his own thoughts on the matter as well. "A mediated discussion may give them a much-needed chance to connect more meaningfully." He added, "or perhaps a chance to propose that the Justice League can 'help' directly. An option that I've seen to be peculiarly unpopular amongst Earth localities."

Batman's short hum sounded almost amused. "Perhaps volunteering Green Lantern to direct traffic in the meantime would be an acceptable proposal."

Had that been a joke? Kal thought he caught a fleeting glimpse of an amused twitch to his lips and playful blue eyes before it was gone, and Kal was left blinking, wondering to himself if he hadn't imagined everything after all.

"I'll have you know that there's good reason I'm barred from traffic duty." A new voice came from the other end of the room. "I'm much too distracting to drivers and pedestrians alike with a whistle between my luscious lips."

They all turned towards the entrance to the canteen, surprised at Hal's unexpected arrival. Except for Batman, who calmly gave off the impression that he'd noticed their newcomer long before.

"Hal!" Barry stood from the table with a grin, his hair still a tangled mess. "You said you wouldn't be back until tomorrow!"

Hal came to stand beside the table the five of them were seated at, reaching out to ruffle Barry's hair even further and snickering when Barry let out an indignant noise.

"Hal," Diana greeted warmly. "How was your patrol? I hope all went well?"

"Yeah, well," Hal said as he perched on the edge of the table. "I was coming up empty in terms of actually finding anything, so I finished earlier than expected. Which is a good thing, I guess. I did have time to consult my ring in the downtime. There's still no word on Starro, at least since we last saw him. And this Brainiac guy. There's not much on him either, except that he's wanted and slippery as an eel. Wanted for a whole laundry list, but mostly kidnapping charges, from whole cities to rare species. All," he cut a quick glance at Kal before continuing, "taken before extinction, or self-destruction. Endlings, in other words."

Kal knew all this, yet hearing it said aloud and laid out so plainly made his stomach twist.

"Wait," Barry said, oblivious to Kal's intestinal acrobatics. "Does that mean Brainiac could have stolen the entire Indus Valley Civilization?"

"I mean. Not like they carved ‘CROATOAN’ on a tree, so I guess we can't rule Brainiac out." Hal scratched at his neck with a dubious expression. "Last he was seen was in Sector XXX, but that was three months ago. So in short, no bad news, but no good news either. And we should still keep an eye out for Starro in case he still has a taste for terra nostra."

That reminded him. "Actually," Kal said, turning to Barry. "Xelek just got back to me with some new correlation sets that might help clean up the baseline on your scanners here."

“Did he already get through the stuff I sent over?" Barry sat up in his chair with raised eyebrows. "That's great! I'll put them in today if you’re around later.”

Kal nodded in response. Of course, it didn't require any consideration since Kal was always 'around' these days.

Hal turned to Barry, his lips set in a hurt pout. “I don't see you asking if could be around. I got my radio merit badge, you know. I know my way around that stuff.”

Barry wrinkled his forehead. "I thought you said you never made it past tenderfoot?"

Hal scoffed quietly. "I was really into all the badges and projects and stuff." He tossed his head. "I just didn't really go through with any of the stupid rank requirements is all," he added with a sniff.

At that, Barry burst out laughing. "Oh my god, you were absolutely just kicking it at the kiddie table because you couldn't bother reading the handbook, weren't you?" To which Hal let out an indignant--but not very dignified--noise.

The rest of them watched the exchange play out, Diana and J'onn looking on amusedly, while Batman let out a subvocal sigh. Kal watched the two men bickering with a bit of amused interest and mostly blissful ignorance, the cultural cues and context flying far over his head.

However, even their most long-suffering audience gradually lost their interest and began dispersing. Kal suddenly realized that he and Batman were the only ones still there when the other man stood with a quiet scrape of his chair.

"I believe I promised you a fix for your translator, if this is a good time," Batman said, turning to Kal.

Kal looked over at Hal and Barry and saw that the squabble had devolved into silent gesticulation and batting eyelashes. He turned back to Batman. "Sure." He stood to follow Batman out of the mess.

"Is that normal?" Kal asked when he chanced a glance back as they were leaving and saw a particularly contorted expression on Hal's face.

Batman let out a quiet grumble. "Never ask for normal with those two in the same room." Clearly, he had some strong feelings about the pair.

They walked to the same workshop, and Kal saw there was already a spread of supplies laid out on the workbench.

"If you would," Batman said, holding out a hand. Kal removed his translator and dropped it into his upturned palm.

He watched, curious, as Batman opened up the device and began methodically disassembling it into tiny parts. He didn't seem to mind Kal watching over his shoulder, not showing any sign that he was uncomfortable or telling Kal to leave and come back later, like the last time. Batman's large hands were surprisingly delicate in their work with the tiny components of the earpiece, using tiny cutters and tweezers to precisely excise parts and replace them with new ones. He connected the translator to a handheld console, into which he entered a flurry of commands.

With a final beep from the machine, Batman put Kal's translator back together, and when Kal took it back from him, it looked the same as before. Kal put the device back into his ear, and furrowed his brow in confusion when he couldn't hear anything at all. Had something gone wrong?

"Um, are you sure this is working?" he asked with an uncertain look at Batman, braced for an unintelligible reply without the translator.

"Perfectly."

Batman's low voice spoke directly into his ear, and Kal nearly jumped in surprise. Kal sent a wide-eyed look at the other man, who wore an undeniably smug expression.

"I also took the liberty of patching you into our comms channel," He explained. Batman pressed a finger to his own ear, and suddenly his voice was back to being a more decent distance away."So that you have a better way of contacting us."

"Oh. That's--" Kal let out a strangely tense breath, "--actually really useful." He paused, finally taking in how completely undetectable the device really was now. Even if he focused and tried to extend his hearing, there was only the slightest fizzle of electricity. "This is incredible. Thank you."

"It was no problem," Batman said. "Metahuman abilities always create a nice challenge, especially when it comes to modifying equipment."

"So you aren't a-- metahuman?" Kal asked.

Batman let out a quiet huff. "No. I'm not."

Kal hadn't expected that. "Isn't it difficult?"

"Hm." Batman hummed. put down the tool in his hand before turning to look at Kal. "It depends on what you're asking."

"Last time, when I asked why you were helping us despite everything. You seemed so sure. Like you didn't have any doubt in the choice," Kal said. "I just don't understand how, if you aren't a Green Lantern. Or intangible. Or--" he made a gesture, "directed by the gods."

"Well, I certainly don't do this because it's easy," Batman said with a tilt of his head. "Nothing is certain, not even if we could defeat Starro again if he returned. Or someone else, like Brainiac." Kal sucked in a breath. "But I also don't operate on doubt, and it's why I'm a part of the Justice League."

Batman sat back in his chair. "Plus, this team needs a strategist. Or else our headquarters would be somewhere like Cincinnati. Instead of a strategically advantageous location that isn't corrupted by things like politics and capitalism. Like space."

"The Watchtower is a very nice facility." Kal wondered what Cincinnati was. Batman didn't seem to have a high opinion of it, at least. "So the location of the Watchtower was a practical choice? A satellite seems like more work logistically," he said, realizing just now how true that was. Especially for a planet-based team like the Justice League.

"Perhaps you recall Barry's laundry list of troubles caused by politics." Kal did and winced slightly. "Surprisingly, there are far more logistical advantages than disadvantages. I myself am very familiar with many of them." Batman added with a sniff, "One unexpected benefit from the chaos wreaked on Earth's infrastructure and society by Starro is that there are many less appearances that need to be made from Bruce Wayne, which I couldn't be more fine with."

Kal nodded in understanding until another unfamiliar word caught his attention. "Bruce Wayne?" he asked, puzzled.

"Unfortunately, it is the tiresome product of my living in Earth society," Batman said with a reluctant grumble. "Which Alfred tirelessly enables."

The answer left Kal profoundly confused, and wondering if his translator really was malfunctioning. Until he finally puzzled through the vague context and narrow misdirections, to finally arrive at the surprising conclusion that Bruce Wayne was his civilian identity.

"It's actually quite refreshing to find someone who doesn't care about Bruce Wayne." In the long moment that it took for Kal to wonder why Batman had so much disdain for... himself -- the other man had resumed talking. "Hal and Barry, predictably, are insufferable about the fact. And you'd think Diana would be much more mature about it all, but she considers social events fair game," he said with a petulant huff, which Kal found strangely endearing.

"How about J'onn?" Kal asked, thinking of his calm demeanor. "He doesn't seem the type to care about your... social standing."

Bruce grimaced. "You'd be surprised at how easily fame can corrupt."

"J'onn is famous?" Kal asked in surprise.

"No," Bruce said in a chilling tone. "It's much worse." Kal held his breath, wondering what could be so terrible. "He pimps Bruce Wayne out for Chocos," he said grimly.

"...Chocos?" Kal asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to know. Perhaps Chocos were something unspeakable, like Cincinnati. More shocking, though, was that apparently J'onn used Bruce's identity to... solicit such things. Kal was getting more confused by the second.

"A confectionary sandwich made of highly processed and unhealthy components," Bruce explained off-handedly, before resuming his tirade. "There have been countless campaigns for Valentine's day and Halloween that pop up on social media for years now. Every single conceivably food-related holiday," he said with unexpected fervor.

"I keep shutting down the accounts, but I suspect he's made new ones in advance. And I know it's him. The trail always leads back to a P.O. box in Gotham."

"Oh," Kal said uncertainly. "You're sure it's J'onn?"

"Yes!" Bruce said with vehemence. "It's can't be anyone else. Who else would have the means--and the motive--to impersonate me, while also having access to private details of my life to trick fans into sending the things by the boatload?"

To that Kal had no answer, except the fleeting thought that if J'onn really was willing to go so far, that Chocos must be a fine delicacy indeed.

Ding.

There was an unfamiliar chime in Kal's ear. He looked around in surprise until he saw Batman move to tap a finger against the side of his cowl, and Kal mimicked his movement, tapping his newly modified translator.

"Kal?" Barry's voice came clearly through his earpiece.

"Barry?"

"Hey, it worked! Not that I doubted you, B," Barry added quickly. Kal thought he saw a smirk flicker across Bruce's face before it was gone without a trace. "B said he'd patch you into our comms, so I thought I'd test it out. Wanted to check if you were free to do the scanner work. I was going to head over soon."

"I'm available," Kal said. "I can meet you there."

"Sounds good." The line shut off with another chime.

Kal thought he remembered the way to the equipment room. He turned to Bruce, who had also been on the line. "We could go together. If you wanted to help, too," he suggested.

"Hn," Bruce hummed. "I suppose it'll be worth the trip."

He was very much Batman when he stood with a sweep of his cape, and Kal wondered what Bruce Wayne would be like.

The two of them walked down to the equipment room together, and they found that Barry and Hal were already inside when they arrived. Hal rolled his eyes when he saw Bruce was with Kal, but Barry waved them both over to the control terminal.

"Just got finished setting up," Barry said. "Should be good to go."

Kal reached into his tunic and brought out a datastick, which he handed over to Barry.

Barry waved the datastick in front of Hal. "If you would."

Hal rolled his eyes again but nonetheless raised his fist toward the terminal, projecting an interface with his ring. "I knew you only keep me around because I'm useful."

Barry plugged in the datastick and got started on adjusting the calibration with the new values from Xelek.

"I don't see how plugging in a bunch of numbers is going to make our scanners any better," Hal said, peering over Barry's shoulder.

"This is just something to tune our base calibration," Barry explained. "We're going to start setting up the big stuff, too. Kal has more of the details."

Kal nodded. "Yes, what Barry's doing right now is just some minor adjustments to your current equipment. In the datastick I just gave him, there's also additional configurations that will allow the scanner to directly communicate with the ship." He pulled out his datapad and opened the schematics. Bruce leaned over to get a better look. "With some minor hardware adjustments as well, you should be able to create a baseline between the scanner on the Watchtower and the scanner on the ship. Doing this would increase the resolution and sensitivity of your detection system."

"So basically, we'd be combining the data from both scanners, and it'd be the same as if we had a massive satellite dish," Barry chimed in.

Hal looked between them and shrugged. "It sounds like you two are having fun." He elbowed Barry, who yelped. "I thought you said you weren't a rocket scientist."

Bruce hummed. "If this works, it would add a lot of new capability to our detection and tracking systems without much modification."

"Exactly." Kal grinned. "And if you could tap in other receivers, like another satellite, you'd be able to create an even more robust array."

Bruce hummed again, looking at the datapad and Barry's inputs on the terminal with a thoughtful expression. "We'll have to look into the possibility of a new orbiter in the future." He stroked his chin. "But there are some backdoors I think can be easily tapped into, in the near term," he said almost to himself.

Kal watched as Bruce pulled out his own datapad and started typing. After a bit, he paused for a moment before muttering to himself and typing something else in a flurry of taps. He didn't look up when Barry made a triumphant sound.

Kal turned back to the terminal and saw Barry rub his hands together, shooting a grin at Kal.

"Went through without a hitch. Now," Barry said, circling to kneel at the back of the terminal, "I think we should have enough slots in our I/O module for the tether." He ran his hand along the back panel before springing back up to his feet. "I'm gonna need something to open this up. Be right back," Barry said, before disappearing in a blur.

Kal looked around and realized there was no sign of Bruce either, the man had left the room at some point, unnoticed.

"Oh, yeah, Spooks is long gone," Hal said dryly.

Hal rounded the terminal and held out the datastick to Kal, who took it with a small nod. Kal slipped the datastick back into his tunic, and there was a moment where neither of them spoke.

Hal cleared his throat. "I'm, uh, sorry if I ever made you uncomfortable."

Kal turned fully to blink at Hal in surprise. "You've never done anything to make me feel that way. You've been nothing but professional." He glanced at the door, wondering if Barry needed any help? He'd been gone for... not even a minute. now.

"No," Hal grimaced slightly, "I know I've been unfair towards you. And I definitely crossed some lines." Kal had no idea what Hal was referring to. "I was thrown off when I first worked with the Caretakers and saw you. The way you were on that ship, in that enclosure." He shook his head. "I knew the Caretakers were trusted. But you looked so human, like some kid. So I stuck my nose where I shouldn't have, and by then I felt like I had definitely overstepped. I thought it was better that I took a step back, keep a respectful distance. Kilowogg and the other Lanterns checked in with you, assured me you were in good hands."

That was, huh. Kal took a moment to process that. "I never knew that," he said, with a thoughtful frown. "But I don't hold it against you. I guess I appreciate that you were concerned." He added, "If I was in a bad situation, that would have been the right decision."

Hal sighed. "But it wasn't. And that's a good thing." He rubbed a hand to his jaw before saying, "All this to say, I'm sorry if I swung too hard in the other direction and sort of, um, avoided you, too. Barry told me off for it. So you can thank him for noticing."

Kal had tried not to take Hal's standoffishness personally, but now that he knew it wasn't anything he had done, it felt like a silly thing to worry about.

"I guess if you really didn't like me, it'd be pretty obvious," Kal said, trying for light. "Like with Bruce--Batman."

Hal's slack-jawed expression had Kal trying not to laugh. "He told you?" Hal asked incredulously. "It took me years. Years. And being strapped to a bomb. With the rest of the League unavailable. And he told you after, what? Two months of meeting you?" Hal fisted his hands in his hair. "That asshat. That... that absolute pillbug."

Kal bit his lip to hide his smile. "He's not so bad?" he offered. "He's very kind."

"Kind?" Hal looked at him with wild eyes. "He's on my ass all the time about the stupidest things, like paperwork. I mean, that stuff doesn't even matter, since we don't have audits. Except internal ones. By Batman." He huffed loudly. "See? What do you even talk about?"

"We have some mutual interest, I guess," Kal said, not too defensively. "He was very committed to our joint collaboration for Jarro. And now with Brainiac's probe."

"Ugh," Hal groaned. "He nagged me about that Jarro thing for days."

"Really?" Kal asked, curious.

"Yeah, well, I was an idiot for mentioning you guys were in the area and might know something about that Starro spore, because he was like a dog with bone. Classic helicopter parent, that guy."

"Huh." Kal hadn't known Batman had been so interested in the collaboration from the start. Though, he wasn't familiar with the term Hal had used. "I think, if that means he's a very dedicated caregiver," he said with a furrowed brow, "I don't see why it would be a bad thing."

"Of course you wouldn't," Hal muttered darkly. "I swear, he's some sort of demon. Meant to torture me in particular. There's no other explanation for why everyone else thinks he's a decent guy, he has them under his thrall. His devilish--demonic charm."

"What's a demon?"

"You'd understand if you saw his cave. There's no reason for any normal person to skulk down there all the time like he does." Hal lowered his voice and looked over his shoulder like Batman might appear.

"A cave? A natural underground structure?" Kal asked. "I'm sure there's a good reason he chose one for his base. I've heard that the ecology of caves is a fascinating branch of study."

Hal shot Kal disbelieving look, then narrowed his eyes in consideration. "You know," he said, stroking his chin. "Now that you know our sun isn't dangerous for you, there's no reason you can't go down there yourself."

"Go where?" Barry came back into the room in a burst of sparks. He held up a toolbox. "Found it. You guys get along?" he asked, giving Hal a meaningful look.

Hal glanced at Kal and grinned at Barry widely. "Like gangbusters. Was just telling Kal he should give Spooks a visit planet-side. Maybe do some spelunking, meet the bats."

"Hal, you know how much B lectures us when we use the transporter 'on an unofficial basis'. You can't just go around inviting other people for him. But," Barry said, turning to Kal with a bright expression, "I think it'd be great for Kal to be able to visit Earth while he's here."

Kal frowned a little. "I don't know," he said hesitantly "I wouldn't want to overstep."

Barry waved his free hand. "Don't worry so much. I'm sure B would think it'd be good for cultural exchange, or something. Also, as B would say, 'Enough chit-chat, boys. Back to work.'" He dropped the toolbox next to the terminal and dug through it. "This should be easy. In and out."

With the help of some tools, the panel came off easily, and Barry laid on his back to look up into the terminal. He shined a flashlight up into the depths of the instrument and squinted.

"Good news, I can see we have a few slots open. But I'll need to move some stuff, and I can't quite see far enough in there," Barry said.

Kal looked at his datapad again. "You should only need 3 adjacent slots. Is that feasible?"

"I definitely see three open. Not adjacent, though." Barry sighed and started to shuffle back out of the space. "I'll have to look at the manual so we don't mess with anything important."

"Wait," Kal said. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the terminal until the outer casing faded away. He saw the maze of components and wires inside, as well as the module that Barry's flashlight was shining at. "Three adjacent, right?"

Barry hummed in affirmation and reversed course, reaching back into the instrument.

"On the left, there's a single connection, black wire, that leads to a," he squinted, "rectangular module with a spinning rotor."

"That's the intake fan. Shouldn't matter if I move it." Barry's fingers found the wire and carefully unplugged it before connecting it back to a different slot. "Hey, I think that's good." He slid back out and grinned at Kal. "Nice work. X-ray vision coming in handy."

Hal whistled lowly.

Barry dusted off his back and began closing the panel back up. The last bolt stubbornly resisted going back into its socket. He grunted as he tried hammering it back in, but it wouldn't move.

Barry wiped his brow and looked back at Kal. "Hey, while you're already practicing, how about some heat to help this along?" He held up the stubborn bolt with pair of tongs and held it up for Kal.

Kal shook his head but could help a small smile. It might have been a mistake to let Barry to learn about his 'heat vision.' The man was perhaps overly excited about the (very) inconsistent ability. To Kal, it felt like a dangerous thing to emit infrared radiation with the very same parts he used for vision, but it was a fascinating overlap.

Kal closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. He focused intently on the metal bolt. He still didn't have a good grasp on how to trigger the radiation, and it took a lot of trial-and-error to get it started.

Eventually, the small metal piece began to glow faintly, and once he saw that, Kal quickly closed his eyes. He heard the loud clanging of Barry striking the piece again, and when his eyelids fell cool again he opened his eyes slowly.

"Good job." Barry made a gesture with his fist and thumb.

Kal looked at the panel and saw the bolt in place, slowly cooling and losing its glow. Next to it, there was a slightly scorched outline. He grimaced. Clearly, he still needed a lot more practice.

From beside him, Hal muttered under his breath, "Damn, laser vision."

Chapter Text

At the moment that blinding light engulfed his vision, Kal could already tell he would regret his decision.

Mostly, Kal regretted not taking to heart Barry's warning, which Diana had waved off flippantly, with the promise that 'it is only a moment, a warrior can bear anything for one moment.' He'd clearly forgotten that he was far from a warrior. It had given him pause when Hal and J'onn had mentioned that they preferred to make the trip flying. But, again, he'd cast his better judgement to the side with their enthusiastic reassurances.

Never again, Kal told himself as the light faded and the world solidified around him. His stomach flipped and twisted itself into knots. He would follow cold, hard logic next time, instead of being swayed by mere platitudes. Clearly, Kryptonian biology was not compatible with dematerialized transport technology.

Blinking away the bright afterimages, Kal heard the faint beeping of an alarm and immediately tensed, searching for the source of the sound. After the very memorable lesson he'd learned in the near past, he now knew better than to ignore even the quietest and most innocent alarms. After a few moments, there was a soft sound of footsteps before the alarm quickly shut off, and Kal relaxed as he figured the warning had been heeded. Hopefully, there were no lethal ophiokus in the cave.

Once his eyes adjusted to the low light, Kal finally looked around at the transporter platform's surroundings. The dim cavern was lit with sparse, diffused light sources, the walls rough and almost slick-looking with their rounded stones. The air was cool and slightly humid, but it carried a freshness that was scarce in the recirculated and sterile air that was a constant in space.

Kal took a few tentative steps off of the transporter platform and onto the uneven stone floor, when a familiar low growl rang through the cavern.

"Whoever that is, how many times do I have to say that transporter use is strictly for emergencies? And never, ever come unannounced." Bruce added in an even more threatening tone, "And if that's you, Hal. I'm not afraid to fight dirty and use my yellow contingency. Last time was the last straw."

Kal tried to bite back a grin as he walked along the dimly-lit path, which opened up into a larger chamber with soaring ceiling. He took a moment to admire the peculiarly pointed rock formations on the ceiling and listened to the chitter of the small creatures among them.

"What yellow contingency?" Kal asked to the figure hunched over a desk set in front of a massive array of digital displays.

Bruce immediately straightened and spun around in his chair to face him. Piercing blue eyes met Kal's, and he realized suddenly that the other man wasn't wearing his cowl. The black mask that normally covered his face was pushed back, and Kal was able to fully see for the first time the sharp angle of his jaw, his slightly furrowed brow, and tousled black hair. And unlike the flat, white lenses of the cowl, Bruce's eyes were bright--bright with intelligence, emotion, life. If this was Bruce Wayne, Kal didn't know why he would want to hide him from the world.

"Kal," Bruce said, finally, his words delayed by his surprise. "I wasn't-- How did you come here?" He looked around as if Hal would step out from behind a rock pillar.

"The others thought it would be a good idea to come see Earth while I was here. They assured me you would appreciate a visitor, but it seems they misled me." Kal couldn't help a smile, and he glanced around the larger cavern. "I've always wanted to see a cave formation, but I suppose your base isn't representative of the typical ecology."

The area was more brightly lit and had various pieces of equipment occupying nearly every space. There were several large vehicles, multitudes of workbenches, as well as laboratory equipment, and displays with what Kal could only assume were memorabilia.

Bruce looked around the cave as if he was seeing it for the first time himself, and his blank expression as he did so was singularly charming to Kal.

At the sound of footsteps echoing throughout the cave, both of them turned to see an older man making his way down into the cave from a set of stairs.

"Alfred," Bruce said with a scowl. "I thought I made it clear that you shouldn't come down here when the alarm is triggered. It could be a dangerous situation."

Alfred seemed unbothered. "Well, I'm afraid your lack of response was more concerning. I thought I made it clear that I would treat the absence of a response code as an immediate emergency, and not as an 'all clear' like you foolishly insist." He added, glancing at Kal, "As it is, seeing as the other members of the Justice League pop in frequently, I figured a harmless and friendly ambush was most likely."

Kal took a step forward and cleared his throat before carefully enunciating, "Hello. My name is Kal-El. I come in peace."

A pleased look tinged with amusement took over Alfred's face. "Very nice to meet you, Mister Kal-El. I am Alfred Pennyworth," he said with a slight bow. "I'm glad to be assured that Master Bruce is in friendly company."

Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but Alfred cut in before he could say anything. "I know how embarrassed you get in front of your friends, so I will make my leave and make sure to send the dumbwaiter down with refreshments for you and your guest."

With another small nod at Kal, which he politely returned, Alfred turned on his heel and disappeared back up the stairs. When Kal looked back at Bruce, the other man was still locked in a confused silence, and his gaze remained on the stairs where Alfred had gone.

After another moment, Bruce turned to Kal, still with a confused set to his brows. "Why do you sound like... that?"

Kal laughed nervously. "I had the others try to teach me, but that's all I managed to learn. Is my pronunciation bad?"

"No," Bruce said, his brows somehow furrowing deeper in confusion. "I mean. It's actually very good. But I didn't think any of them are even that good."

"Oh." Kal brightened. "Well, I found that the Caretaker's ship had picked up some stray broadcast media from Earth, so I tried studying those as well."

"Well, that explains it." Bruce muttered quietly, probably to himself, "Wouldn't be out of place narrating the Martian invasion. Though a little on the nose."

Kal left the other man to his thoughts and took the chance to peer around. The massive workstation behind Bruce had a dizzying amount of continually updating text, as well as several video feeds, and the desktop before it was littered with papers and various tools and electronics. This was obviously the most utilized space, but the adjacent workbench seemed to be a near thing, with tools and scraps strewn about. Out of the corner of his eye, Kal saw a bright glint of green.

In one of the clear displays to his left, was a small crystal that was smaller than Kal's palm. It glowed with the same sickly green of Brainiac's symbol on that eventful day. Kal's sharp breath had Bruce snapping his head towards him.

Kal's eyes didn't leave the crystal. "Is that...?" His voice trailed off, but it was obvious what he was asking.

"Yes," Bruce said, standing. His cape still swept after him as he walked toward the glass box, and Kal followed hesitantly. "This is the crystal battery I told you about. It's inactive and very low-tech, almost primitive, as far as technology goes; just the inherent radiation as a power source," he explained. "It's behind a double-layer of leaded glass, which I made sure of. In case of civilian proximity," a quiet cough, "by which I mean Alfred, of course."

Kal couldn't help a smile at the thinly-veiled remark. Feeling more secure, Kal let himself look closer. "It's kind of pretty," he said, seeing the steady light from the crystal and the way it refracted off its many sharp facets. "When it isn't killing me."

Bruce hummed lowly in response, and the two of them contemplated the terrible crystal in silence.

After a few long moments, Bruce cleared his throat, and Kal looked to him to see Bruce looking off to the side, not quite meeting his gaze.

"Would you," he paused before continuing, "Would you like to meet Jarro?"

Kal brightened and nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course."

Bruce nodded and led him over to an area crowded with mostly laboratory and medical equipment. And Kal wondered where he would even keep an enclosure for the small spore before he saw it.

They came to a stop at the far wall, and Kal looked up at the massive tank built into the solid stone of the cavern itself. The tank's size was incredible, especially considering it housed such a small individual. The water inside the tank sloshed with artificial waves, and lush plants upon the sloped shore grew up towards the bright light fixture above.

"This is... remarkable," Kal admitted. "I can say that I was definitely wrong when I first doubted your commitment and ability to care for Jarro."

Bruce's eyes crinkled in a soft smile. "Look," he said, pointing towards a spot in the shallows.

Kal followed his finger and saw the small, pink spore flouncing happily in the gentle tide. Bruce approached the glass wall, and the spore immediately swam closer, pressing a single pink arm to touch the glass. Bruce mirrored the gesture with a gentle finger against the same spot, and Kal felt something warm spread across his chest at the sight.

After a moment, Bruce turned back to Kal and gestured at a nearby table. “My behavioral studies have been progressing well. And as you can see, I've found it's easy to become overly indulgent with the reward items.” Kal saw that the table held an assortment of small items. He recognized the brightly colored calorie pellets. His eye was immediately caught by another item.

"Is that a Choco?" Kal asked. He went over to the table and bent over for a closer look at the black and white layered confectionary that Bruce had described.

"Yes," Bruce replied. "While jelly beans were well-received, more testing and offered selection revealed that Chocos seem to be most preferred."

"I thought J'onn embezzled them all?" Kal looked back at Bruce, who wore a slightly weary expression.

"Well, whenever I bust J'onn's operation, I can't just leave the Chocos I find," Bruce explained. "Even if he does make off with the lion's share of it, I've somehow ended up with a metric ton of the stuff from my raids."

Kal hesitated before asking, "Can I try one?"

"Knock yourself out," Bruce grumbled.

Taking that as permission, Kal picked one of the Chocos up from the plate and inspected it, before he took a careful nibble.

Oh. He took a larger bite, and then the rest of it. Kal soon found himself swallowing his mouthful and licking the crumbs from his lips.

"That was delectable," Kal exclaimed in a reverent whisper.

He almost didn't hear Bruce grumble to himself. Something along the lines of, 'Damned aliens and their Chocos.'

Kal was eyeing the remaining confectionaries on the plate, when a strange ringing sound filled the cave. "What's that?"

Kal looked about, searching for the source, and found that the sound was emanating from the crystal. The green crystal was letting of a hauntingly resonant sound. As if it were the string if a musical instrument that had been plucked by a finger, or a sheet of flawless metal that had been struck with a hammer.

"Jarro?"

Kal turned at Bruce's urgent voice and found him with both hands pressed against the glass and a concerned look on his face. Kal looked into the tank and saw the once lively spore was immobile, spread out along the sandy shallows. Its single eye was glowing red.

"What's wrong?" Kal asked, realizing this wasn't normal.

Bruce's tone was tense. "I don't know. I've never seen him like this before."

A different shrill noise rang through the cavern, and Bruce immediately pressed his finger to his ear, which Kal mirrored.

"Gotham, we have a problem." Hal's voice came over the comm line, but his light words belied a tense undertone.

J'onn's voice joined the line. "Yes, a problem. Unfortunately, we have confirmed that the updates to the detection system are operating as planned."

"We're picking up a bogey right outside the Kuiper belt. It's big and it's coming in fast."

"Starro?" Bruce bit out the question with a tight jaw.

"Uncomfirmed," Hal answered. "But it doesn't match the signal we profiled from last time."

Hal's words made Kal's stomach sink into a pit that was growing ever larger inside Kal. He saw Bruce glance over at him. His expression plainly worried.

Rao, Kal thought, nonsensically. He was so expressive without the cowl covering his face.

"We're heading there now," Bruce said, before ushering Kal in the direction of the transporter.

Kal remained silent, though he followed at-pace, knowing nothing he said could save them. Kal only had a moment to regret that he had to dematerialize so soon, especially with the growing pit in his stomach, before the blinding light overtook them.

They materialized in the control room and were met with the room already a flurry of activity.

"Man stations!" Bruce barked out as he rushed to attend his own position.

Kal found the chaos was a perfect backdrop to slip away. He spared one last glance back, at the friends he had found, at the Watchtower, its metal halls and decadent windows, before he turned towards the hangar and made for it at a brisk pace.

"Kal!"

Kal whirled around suddenly at Bruce's voice and saw the man standing motionless at the end of the hallway. His scowling black cowl was back on, but Kal could almost see the expression he might have worn underneath it. There was something that clenched in Kal's chest as he turned away once more, and this time he didn't let his feet touch the ground as he made for his shuttle waiting in the hangar.

Kal allowed himself one last glance back as the shuttle's ramp lifted close. Through the walls and wiring of the Watchtower, he saw Bruce finally turn back to join his teammates once more.

Kal initiated launch on rote muscle-memory, and the moment he felt the Watchtower's gravity field fall away, he took a shuddering breath. He shouldn't be surprised. This was how it was always going to end. They had never planned to stay forever. Maybe longer, but now it was too soon, they weren't ready to face Brainiac. Though it was a contradiction to say anyone could be ready to face Brainiac.

He opened a channel to the ship.

"Xelek, this is Kal. Do you read me?"

"Kal-El." The video channel connected with a flicker, and Xelek appeared, light spinning rapidly. "Leaving the Watchtower on the shuttle is unwise. It--"

Kal cut Xelek off. "Yes, I know it leaves me vulnerable, but the ship is already close enough from establishing the baseline connection. I won't be helpless for too long. And it'll give the Justice League the time they need."

He pulled up a second display to show the scanner reading. Kal’s heart stuttered when he saw the looming shape of Brainiac's massive dreadnought already within close range. Kal held his breath as he watched the scanner closely. He saw the slightest change in trajectory of Brainiac's ship and let out a shuddering breath even as alarms blared at him that a tracking beam was locked onto the shuttle.

“Kal,” Xelek warned.

“I know,” Kal replied, biting his lip. The shuttle’s low-powered engines were already burning at full throttle, and all he could do was watch the shape indicating Brainiac on the scanner slowly approach, as the shuttle made a painfully slow path back to the ship.

Suddenly, a grating static filled the shuttle, and Kal heard the terrible noise echoed over the channel on the ship with Xelek.

“Kal-El.” Brainiac’s terrible voice, all harsh and edges came from all around, and the pit in Kal’s stomach grew cold. “The little Kryptonian, and let me not to forget your little Caretaker guardians.”

Kal tapped at the controls, scrambling to throw another layer of scrambling to the channel with the ship. He hoped that would shield them at least temporarily from Brainiac’s hacking.

“How much power do we have?” Kal asked grimly. “Can we go to a warp?”

Xelek whirred in response. “Full power. Sufficient to perform jump and cloak maneuver.” That had shaken Brainiac from them last time, it would have to be enough.

“Initialize warp sequence,” Kal told Xelek. “I want to be able to jump as soon as I'm in the hangar.”

Kal cast another glance at the scanner and felt alarms go off in his head when he saw Brainiac's ship slowing, letting him gain headway. Something wasn’t right.

A chilling laugh reverberated through the cabin.

“Did you think that I couldn't simulate what a measly handful of rusty domestic processors would come up with?” Brainiac's mocking tone slid like oil through cooling fins. “After your quaint little cloaking trick last time, I decided that toying with you any longer would be prolonging unnecessary suffering. I made sure to cast my web nice and wide, so you’d have no chance to slip through. Who would have guessed,” he mused airily, “that fool Green Lantern would bring my web straight to you?”

“The probe,” Kal breathed.

He felt an even deeper sense of helplessness settle in him than ever before with Brainiac’s words. They’d been completely powerless to prevent this, he realized. This time, Brainiac had finally decided that he was done toying with them, and he’d laid an inescapable trap. As easily as he would pluck whole cities from dying worlds, he’d decided there would be no more letting Kal escape. No matter if Hal and Bruce had brought back the probe, if Kal and the Caretakers had left as soon as they’d known, Brainiac would have found them and finally taken what he wanted.

“Run all you want.” Brainiac chuckled with a jangle of discordant harmonies. “I’ll have no trouble trapping you in my net again. Once I pick up a nice souvenir from this sector. I have you to thank for connecting me with a fellow... collector.”

He wasn't chasing the shuttle anymore, Kal realized suddenly.

“Such a shame. How without beings like us to lead with a firm hand, whole worlds end up falling into ruin in a vicious cycle of self-destruction.”

Kal watched in horror as, slowly but unmistakably, the hulking mass of the dreadnought reversed direction and turned back. Back towards Earth, where another large warship was advancing towards the Watchtower.

When Kal touched his finger to his ear, a barrage of noise filled burst through as he tapped into the League’s line. And amidst the background chaos of beeping alarms and warning readouts, Bruce’s voice carried above the noise.

"I don't care if it puts us at a disadvantage,” his resolute growl rang in Kal's ear. “I don't want him to set a single suckered tentacle on Earth."

He scrambled the channel again, and when Brainiac's distorted laughter finally cut off, Kal turned back to Xelek on the video feed.

“I have to go back,” he said grimly, swallowing dryly. It would all be the same, if Brainiac would come find them again anyways. “I can't just leave the League to face both of them. I understand if you--”

Xelek cut him off. “There is no question of leaving you behind. It is against our mission as Caretakers to ensure the wellbeing of all that come under our care without fail.”

Except Kal knew that wasn't true. He'd always known there were limits to the Caretakers’ rules--do no harm was trumped by do least harm, protecting one was trumped by protecting the ship and the collective. But he had never begrudged the Caretakers for going beyond their original purpose, or for taking their lives into their own hands.

“Okay,” Kal said softly.

“According to my calculations, it is the most strategic to utilize your momentum to change course, which will allow you to arrive sooner.” Xelek’s light spun. “Warp sequence is underway but the ship will take some time to change heading.”

Kal caught onto what Xelek was implying. “I can utilize the warp field to increase the shuttle's velocity." He pulled up the controls to adjust the shuttle's trajectory accordingly. "I should be able to sling back in the direction of the Watchtower before Brainiac can get there."

Kal couldn't believe they were doing this. "Hopefully it works." He looked up at the video feed with a grateful smile. "Thanks Xelek. For doing this."

Xelek whirred. "Good luck, Kal-El. We will not be far behind you."

Kal saw one last flicker of Xelek's light before the channel was cut, as the shuttle entered the ship's jump radius. There was only the slightest tug of inertia as the shuttle used the pull of the ship's warp field and changed direction while gaining significant speed.

On the display, the shuttle traced a shallow arc toward the Watchtower, and soon enough, the shuttle shuddered as it re-entered the Watchtower's gravity field, perhaps a bit too quickly. Kal was skidding down the ramp as soon as it lowered.

Before he even made it to the airlock, however, he nearly crashed headfirst into Bruce, who was storming out into the hangar like a furious shadow.

They both stopped in their tracks, startled at meeting the other so unexpectedly.

Bruce frowned tightly, "I thought you were--"

Kal interrupted him. "I couldn't run away," he confessed, "and leave you all to face Starro and Brainiac alone."

Bruce made a protesting noise, but Kal shook his head. "And it would all be the same anyways. If Brainiac captured me now or after helping Starro defeat you."

"Kal, it's fine. You should get inside," Bruce said quickly. But he didn't make any motion to head back toward the airlock himself.

And Kal suddenly remembered that Bruce had been leaving when they'd nearly collided. He looked around the hangar and spotted the small cruiser that Bruce and Hal had taken to retrieve the probe.

"Were you about to go out on that thing?" Kal asked Bruce incredulously. "You couldn't possibly hope to do any real damage against a dreadnought class ship with that."

"Kal, it doesn't matter," Bruce bit out. "You should get inside, it's not safe here."

Kal glared at him. "There has to be a better plan than for you to throw yourself out there as phaser-fodder."

There was a flash of green light just outside the atmosphere field, and Kal turned to see Hal flying towards Starro's ship. With his ring, he threw up layers upon layers of fences and barricades, but they broke apart all too easily against the ship.

"I'm not going out as phaser-fodder," Bruce argued. "I'm going to be a distraction. Starro's shields are impervious to additive energy, but J'onn is manning the psionic cannons we devised for this purpose. I just need to give him a better opening."

Bruce moved to slip past Kal, but Kal took another step to put himself between Bruce and the cruiser.

"I didn't turn around to come back and hide inside or watch you get turned into char, either. There has to be another way."

Kal ignored Bruce's bared teeth and looked back at the slow but steady advance of the conqueror's ship. Indeed, the shields seemed to erode Hal's constructs until they shattered. Hal's frustrated curses came over the comms. There were small flashes that burst against the shields, which Kal realized must be from the psionic cannons.

He narrowed his eyes. There. In the aftershocks of the cannon blasts, there was an almost imperceptible flickering of the shields before they solidified once more.

Kal turned to Bruce. "Does this atmosphere field let energy pass through? Electromagnetic radiation in particular."

Bruce nodded hesitantly. "It does. Why?"

Kal was already walking towards the wall of energy. "I think I can give J'onn that opening."

He saw the flickering after every impact from the psionic beams; they were having an effect, just not enough of one.

Kal closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. This would be a bit harder than heating up a metal bolt, but it was worth trying. The alternative of doing nothing and letting Starro trample them on his way to Earth wasn't much better.

Kal carefully watched the slowly approaching ship. Blast. Flick. Flick. Flick-flick. Repeat.

He counted the rhythm and closed his eyes, intently focusing on the heat on the back of his eyelids until it was almost burning. Kal felt the blast of the psionic beam leaving the ship and opened his eyes.

Blast. Open-close. Open-close. Open-close-open-close. Repeat.

He followed the pattern twice more, hoping he was actually doing something and didn't just look like he was trying to blow away the ship with his eyelashes.

Kal stopped when he heard a loud whoop over the comms. "That's right! You got him good, J'onn!" Hal exclaimed. He heard Barry and Diana join in on the cheering.

Kal opened his eyes to see Starr's ship halted in its approach. Its shields were only the barest flicker now, and Hal was constructing an oversized chain, presumably to apprehend it.

But before Hal could fasten a similarly giant lock to the chain, the ship jerked abruptly, the space around it warped and lensed, and the ship vanished with the distinctive silent 'snap' of space-time from a warp jump.

Unless Hal and the League wanted to spend an impossible amount of resources and time to finding where Starro had jumped to, he was as good as gone.

Kal turned to find Bruce looking at him with an unreadable set to his lips. "How did you know that would work?" he asked. Kal thought it was a good thing that at least he didn't sound upset.

"I didn't," Kal admitted. "But I figured that it would be just as good as your plan to act as a diversion. Anyone would be distracted by direct, unshielded laser-fire."

The set to Bruce's lips wasn't happy, but it wasn't displeased either. Bruce looked out at the space where Starro's ship had just been. "We'll have to make sure we're better prepared if he decides to return."

"Sorry to break up the party. But Brainiac looks like he's up to something."

Kal looked up at the mention of Brainiac, and just as Hal had said, the hulking dreadnought which had remained quiet on the sidelines during their barrage on Starro was now sluggishly orienting itself toward the Watchtower.

"What's he up to?" he heard someone ask. Just as a glowing sphere of light began forming at the ship's helm.

"Brace for impact!" Bruce barked into his comms, and all Kal could do was press himself against the hull of the shuttle, as he saw the sphere of light coming directly towards them.

Suddenly, a yellow blur materialized out of nowhere, and Kal watched in horror when the Caretaker's ship put itself directly in the weapon's path.

"No," Kal gasped, as the blast hit the ship's flank. There was a flicker as the ship's shields went down, and the pit in his stomach grew cold.

Beep-beep.

The sound of a channel connecting chirped in Kal's ear, and his heart jumped into his throat when he heard the familiar whir of the Caretaker's fans.

"Xelek?" Kal asked anxiously.

"Kal-El." Xelek's ever-cool voice answered. "I merely wanted to assure you that we are unharmed, lest you worry."

"I can't help worrying when you take a proton canon head-on! You have to get out of there," Kal urged. "You don't stand a chance with your shields down."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Hal said over the comms.

Twin bolts of blue and green struck Brainiac's ship almost simultaneously. A terrible screech rang out from all the nearby transceiving equipment before it cut off abruptly when a green bubble immediately enveloped the entirety of Brainiac's ship.

The bolts had been J'onn and Hal, Kal realized.

Even though Starro had slipped away, Hal had neatly detained Brainiac. Apparently, he'd learned that simplicity won over style when making his catch.

"Well, even if Starro skedaddled out of here, looks like we did nab one of them. Good timing, J'onn!" Hal towed the giant bubble behind him. "I'm going to take this guy in. Man, I bet even all of Spooks' money wouldn't be enough to post bail, " he remarked. And with a wave and a grin both Hal and Brainiac were gone.

***

In the aftermath of the skirmish, which had lasted less than a day and left no trace other than a small puncture in the ship's outer panels, things were oddly quiet. Thankfully, even Jarro had been unharmed, his behavior returning to normal once Starro had fled.

"I never thought I'd say this, but space battles are way better than the ones on Earth," Barry had remarked. "So much less cleanup. And politics."

And he'd been right.

There was little else that needed doing, other than redoubling the efforts to get fully functional detection and defense systems up and running as soon as possible. They'd learned not to let victories lull them into security in a hard lesson, so while the battle hadn't resulted in much in terms of collateral damage, the League used its fresh presence in their minds to drive preparations for any future encounters.

On the Caretaker's ship, as well, efforts were already underway to repair the damage caused by taking the blast from Brainiac's canon.

At Bruce's request, Kal showed him the damage from their encounter with Brainiac.

"Luckily, the blast only caused damage in this area, which was already being unused." Kal led Bruce along the corridor and stopped in front of the now doubly-scarred wall panel.

Bruce looked around at the deserted section of the ship. He leaned closer to inspect the black charring of the metal. Remarkably, the blast had pierced the hull less than a meter away from the visible patch that repaired the damage from the Czarnian.

"What do you plan to do now?" Bruce asked, glancing at Kal over his shoulder.

Kal thought. "Well, the ship isn't in terrible condition, and the Caretakers are equipped to make the repairs. It'll take some time, but things should go back to normal fairly soon."

Bruce hummed quietly. "I suppose they should be."

There was a mechanical noise from behind them.

"Kal, Batman." Xelek treaded down the corridor towards them.

"Please, call me Bruce."

Xelek whirred in response before turning to Kal. "Kal, I wanted to talk to you, if you have time."

Kal furrowed his brow and felt a small thread of worry at the unusual request, but he nodded his head. "Sure, I have time. Bruce just wanted to see how things were going over here."

There was a whirr as Xelek opened the panel on their front and held out a jagged white crystal.

"I thought it would be an appropriate opportunity to give you this."

Kal took the crystal and marveled at the perfect clarity of the mineral. "What is this?" he asked.

"This was sent with you in the escape pod we first found you in." Xelek's light spun. "According to the information were were able to decode, it is a kind of seed. Its purpose was to build you a home on whatever planet you were to land on." Kal's eyes widened. "There was no use for it on a space vessel like ours. But if you were to choose to stay on Earth, I think it could be of great use to you."

Kal looked down at the crystal, then back at Xelek, understanding this represented a choice to be made.

He knew Xelek wasn't trying to get rid of him, but they must have understood as well as he did how much Kal would want this. How he'd wanted a place to have an anchor to, a place to call home. And the friends he'd found here, on Earth, only led to an obvious conclusion.

Bruce was silent beside him as Kal looked down at the crystal he clutched tightly in his hand, staring at it as if would give him any answers.

"Xelek I--" Kal started to say, but his words failed him.

How could he even voice such an impossible decision? One part of him keenly wanted to see what life on Earth could bring if he chose to stay. But on the other hand, all Kal had ever known was the Caretakers, the ship, the animals, and the thought of leaving it all was unimaginable.

Xelek whirred before he spoke again, "And before you start telling us to leave you behind again. I believe that Hal transported Brainiac to Oa, where he is being held."

Which was true. Hal had updated the League that he had arranged for Brainiac to be detained in a secure location until his trial and, in all likelihood, conviction.

“Thus,” Xelek continued, “if Brainiac truly does not pose a threat any longer, there is also no urgent reason to leave. And though the Caretakers were created for an itinerant state of being, there’s no reason we must limit ourselves to it.”

Kal looked at Xelek wide-eyed while the Caretaker said their piece.

“So you would... be alright with staying? What about the ship?" he asked uncertainly.

“With the majority of our current residents having a permanent status, the change might be welcome,” Xelek said simply. "The seed structure seems like it should be able to accommodate the ship as well, as an option.”

Bruce cleared his throat from where he stood to Kal’s side. “If you would like help finding a suitable location to stay or for the seed, I’d be happy to offer my assistance.”

“Indeed.” Xelek made a mechanical sound of agreement. “It is something to consider,” Xelek said to Kal before treading off back down the corridor.

Kal looked after the Caretaker, feeling a bit dazed. He hadn’t expected Xelek to offer to do something like staying on Earth, with Kal, in some sort of crystal fortress or whatever kind of structure would come from the mysterious seed.

When he met Bruce’s eyes, who was wearing a faintly supportive expression, Kal responded with a small smile. He was feeling tentatively hopeful about this new idea. How had he never considered the possibility that the two things he wanted might not be incompatible after all?

Kal bit his lip. “I’ll have to think about all of this.” Bruce nodded with a solemn expression. “But I was thinking. About what Diana told me, about her gifts being meant to serve a larger purpose. It sounds like a nice idea. I mean,” Kal added, “if we decide to stay on Earth. And after everything is settled--with the Caretakers, and the animals, and the ship. Just the ship repairs will take a while.”

Bruce hummed. “Well, if you do choose that route, my offer stands. And I’ll be generous enough to expand that offer for any other assistance you might need.” Bruce added, “To expedite your joining of the League, of course. We’re always in looking for trustworthy individuals to join our ranks, and your interview was exceptional.”

Kal smiled, understanding exactly what Bruce was truly saying even without his translator to tell him. “That would be perfect.”

FIN