ALL NOVEL Chapter 54.2
Really, keeping a stock of green kryptonite was only smart. Yes, it was extremely rare and valuable, but almost any powerful enough villain could get it if they wanted and, if some clone or enemy kryptonian suddenly appeared, it was best to have it available.
Golden kryptonite was MUCH rarer and, since she could easily create more if necessary, destroying any she found was really for the best.
Kara hurried inside her workshop, with a quick command, she had one of her bots take the stone out of the box and put it on a metal platform before activating the machine. With a loud ‘thump’ that seemed to shake the entire moon base, the hammer pulverized the stone and then dropped the remains into a chemical bath, slowly dissolving the remaining dust.
She watched until the small particles were completely gone before grabbing the box and leaving the workshop to enter the base’s storage. There, lining up the walls, several of her devices floated within dimensionally locked fields.
It had been a pain to get those things working. At first, they had remained locked in place regardless of the Moon’s movement, almost tearing her base apart before she deactivated them and spent hours adjusting their configuration.
But she had managed to correct her mistake and now they were just about the most secure way of keeping her treasures safe.
Kara walked by the remains of Evil Eye —the first villain/monster she had killed—, Vortigar’s heart, Klarion’s arm, her own supply of kryptonite and stopped in front of the small piece of green kryptonite Kal had lent her. She had only turned a quarter of the meteorite gold, leaving the remainder in storage for later use.
Deactivating the dimensional lock, Kara considered the glowing rock and wondered —did Luthor keep a pebble of the stuff in his pocket like in some universes?— lifting her control panel, she typed for a few seconds, adjusting her radiation field until the tip of her finger was excluded from the protection.
Immediately, she started feeling a slight numbness on the exposed skin, the effect growing stronger the more she approached the rock until, only a few centimeters away, she actually started feeling some pain.
Reactivating the dimensional lock, Kara stepped back, her finger immediately recovering… So, she really was from a different dimension, this world’s kryptonite still affected her, but at a MUCH weaker level.
Kara remembered most versions of Superman being immune to kryptonite from different Earths, but Ultraman had been able to snort kryptonite from different universes to grow in strength.
What made it effective or not? Did the distance between dimensions relate to how effective the kryptonite was?
Sighing, she made a note to test that before growing a crystal armchair from the floor and sitting down in the middle of the room. Turning part of her outfit into a cable, she connected her computer to the box.
Only a minute later, she deleted the code that gave Dexter access to the box and just… stared at it.
What now? She still had 1 hour and 35 minutes to waste.
Kara… didn’t have further use for the container, but it was still a pity to just get rid of it. Slowly, she tapped her index finger against the arm of her seat in thought, a small smile appearing on her face.
The box WAS awfully overdesigned, its defenses could only be better if she had used kryptium and, while its aesthetic design didn’t look fancy, that could be easily changed.
With a smirk, she started working, attaching a few crystals, some golden details, and other doodads. In short, making the box look as important as she could.
Inside, she put a tracking device, one of her micro portals to transfer the signal and the biggest dimension-shattering bomb she could fit.
In the center of the room, she grew a crystalline pedestal, putting the box in a place of honor, protected with the same dimensional lock, but she changed the color, making its shimmering effect have a golden hue.
The security features didn’t protect the container any better than the rest of the room but, Rao, it certainly looked like that was the case.
Satisfied, Kara stepped away from her trap and nodded. The arrangement wouldn’t fool someone like Luthor, but plenty of villains did enjoy employing dumb muscle.
Hopefully, anyone that stole it would be unable to open the box for long enough that she could track their location but, if not, it would still be one hell of a surprise.
Eventually, she made her way toward the Fortress, arriving a few minutes later since she had killed a little too much time trying to find a way of detecting dimensional frequencies.
Kal was already there, waiting for her at the front entrance while staring up at the night sky, a steaming mug in his hand. Taking a deep breath, she approached him.
“Hot chocolate?” he said, offering her a second mug.
“Thanks.”
Grabbing the mug, Kara took a quick sip of the boiling liquid and felt the heat spread through her limbs. For a minute, she just stood there beside him, looking up at the sky and trying to see if she could locate the Watchtower from down here. —she could, if she squinted just right it looked like a tiny grain of rice.
“Please, tell me you didn’t find another clone,” Kal spoke first, his voice only half joking. “I really think two is enough.”
“Not yet. Give it time.”
“God, I hope not. I mean, I like the boys, but the farm has only so many rooms.”
Kara snorted, taking another sip of her chocolate, finally, she spoke. “You remember how I asked to take a look at your rocket?”
“Sure, did you find what you were looking for?” He asked, briefly blasting his mug with heat vision to keep the temperature high even in the freezing air.
“No, that’s the problem. For years I worked directly on the hyper-drive, I made all the adaptations, re-designing it from the ground up. Yes, Father and Uncle made some adjustments, but the design should be mine, only… yours isn’t anything like what I came up with, there are no signs of my work in it.”
“And yet, the Fortress activated for me, it has my father’s configuration and recognized you as my cousin…” Kal trailed off in thought. Taking another sip of his mug, he fully turned towards her. “You think there was an accident? That, somehow, one of us ended up in the wrong universe?”
“Yes, me. I hate to say it, but Jor-El’s hyper-drive is better than mine,” Kara managed to stare into his eyes as she spoke. “Also, the kryptonite I got from you barely affects me. It’s not from my Krypton.”
“I… see,” he said, his eyes staring into her own. Finally, he released a long, slow breath, wrapping an arm around her neck and pulling her head closer until Kara rested her forehead against his chest. “It’s alright, this doesn’t change anything between us, you’re still my family.”
A wave of relief washed over Kara, before she could stop herself, she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed, her hands bunching up his suit. “Thank you.”
Resting his chin on the top of her head, Kal patted her back for a few moments, letting Kara gather herself for a minute or two before speaking again. “Alright, what do you need from me? Knowing you, you’ve already started trying to find our missing cousins, how can I help?”
“I-I can’t really do much about my Kal at the moment, I’ll need a way of opening a dimensional portal, as well as a way of locating my own original dimension, it’ll take time.”
“And the missing Kara?”
Kara pushed herself away from him, taking a few steps back and wiping her nose on her sleeve. Sucking in a breath, she refocused. “There are a few options. She could have never left Krypton, suffered a similar accident as my own, or even still be on her way right now.”
“The Fortress expected her to raise me. Presumably, that meant she was sent away from Krypton like me, and you said Jor-El’s hyper-drive is better than yours. Can you trace her path?”
“Yes but…” Kara trailed off, her mind working overtime.
Krypton, far more often than not, was an isolationist society. Be it for religious, xenophobic, or cultural reasons, leaving the Rao system is nearly always forbidden, that’s the reason her father had worked on the hyper-drives in the first place.
But, in this dimension, Jor-El worked on the drives himself. What are the chances they could build and launch two rockets without interference or detection from the authorities? What if her counterpart’s rocket had been unable to leave Krypton?
In her own dimension, her uncle HAD launched Kal’s ship first, but she had still been able to escape shortly after. Still, it was entirely possible that the authorities had reacted faster here, especially if they were already on alert and not preoccupied with the planet exploding ahead of schedule.
Kara doubted this dimension’s Zor-El would have just given up, not if he was anything like her own father so, how could he escape? Wait, didn’t her version from the Arrowverse end up in the Phantom Zone?
“Fortress, I need all the information you have on the Phantom Zone Projectors. Do we have any in storage?” she asked, her voice excited.
“I apologize, Miss Zor-El,” The Fortress AI materialized behind them, his head bowed. “Given your recent discoveries, I’m afraid I’m unable to provide that information unless Master Kal-El renews your access.”
“I do, Kara has full access to the database and everything else,” Kal said.
Kara couldn’t help smiling at how fast he answered, no hesitation in his voice.
“Very well, I’ll transfer the information directly to your personal computer,” the hologram said while lifting his head. “Unfortunately, according to the database, only two projectors ever left Krypton before its destruction. Of the two, one was obliterated by a member of the military guild in a recovery mission and the last one’s location remains unknown.”
“Do you have a list of inmates?” Kara asked.
“I have public records of those sentenced to the Phantom Zone, but the true list is only stored on the projectors themselves,” the AI said.
“What exactly IS the Phantom Zone and what does it have to do with our problem?” Kal asked with more than a little hope.
“It was a separate dimension where kryptonian criminals serve their sentences. The name does a good job of evoking what it’s like there,” Kara said. “If Kara couldn’t escape Krypton, it's possible Zor-El hid her there.”
Now, even with instructions, could she build one of the damn things? The projectors were one of the most advanced things Krypton had ever created. Did Jor-El even send their blueprints here?
No, she would do it, even if she had to work from just the theory.
“Good, you’re smiling again,” Kal said, turning to follow her back into the Fortress. “Don’t worry about tracking the path, I’ll ask one of the Green Lanterns to investigate Krypton. And, Kara, you’re the one that made me accept this new family, don’t even think I’ll let you off the hook just because you’re not from this dimension.”