stands_for_hope | The Not Quite Justice League in... The Bee's Pleas!!!

The moment Jarvis had said they were needed, Jim was up, ignoring shoes, halfway ignoring clothes. He had his pants fastened but was still pulling on a shirt when he walked in--

And he was immediately at Clark's side, unafraid but far from unconcerned. "Jarvis told me," he said, voice forced into calm. "We'll get her back." He crouched, hand on his shoulder. Hydra had crossed a dangerous line. Yes, Zola was necessary to deal with, but this was his family. Nobody messed with his family.

Jim's hand on him steadied him more than anything else could have, had him finally breathing in and out, and if he leaned into the touch like he wanted to let all his weight go, Jim certainly understood. Steve and Diana walked in a moment later, Diana's face a promise of death to those who had acted against Lois and Steve...

Steve looked little better.

"Did he tell you the details?" Clark asked quietly, "Sandy here has more. He said he had a vision."

Sand nodded and stepped forward.

"I did. Some of the details won't become clear until we start acting, but the most important part was that she wore a red cloak with your symbol on it. Figures in skull masks with tentacles, an obvious reference to HYDRA, were attacking her while she struggled to stay silent. And there was... buzzing. Like a thousand bees."

Clark's face went hard.

"Queen Bee. Leader of Bialya."

Sandy nodded, as that was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"The rest of the JSA is currently patching themselves up, but... a friend is on the way."

"...They're trying to get to you through her," Jim said softly. "And it's a perfect weapon." He could see it. He could feel through it. "If Queen Bee's involved, then anybody who's attracted to women can't go in."

And that was, honestly, most of them. Unless.

"I'll go."

"We are all going to go," Diana said with a lift of her head, "and we will deal with the wiles of the Queen of Bialya when the matter comes to a head. I cannot believe that whatever power she holds is stronger than the bonds of sisterhood, family, and love that we hold."

Steve agreed with a firm nod.

"I'm not sitting around here while my niece is going through who knows what."

Sandy's attention was taken by something out side of the building, a flick of white out the window. He walked over to the opening and stuck his arm out, waving for whoever it was to come in. Dithering on the point wouldn't help anyone. If she'd come, she was going to help. If she was going to help, she was going to meet him. If she was going to meet him, she might as well come in.

Steve noticed Sand's strange behavior and walked over to look out the window himself and found himself facing an extremely muscular woman in a white outfit with a... very interesting design and a familiar red cape. She smiled at him, threw off a salute, then floated through the window looking at Clark.

Clark turned... and blinked as he took her in. She, on the other hand, swallowed hard and her eyes started to sheen.

Rao, he looks so much like him. So much like my Kal...

Then her head went up as Sandy gestured to her.

"May I present the current chairwoman of the JSA: Powergirl."

Jim stared - just for a moment, but he stared, and then he offered his hand. "Nice to meet you. They call me Firebrand."

And the house of Am's seal was unhidden on his arm, his shirt still not on. Clark was more important. Saving Lois was more important. His scars were just scars and his arm was his arm.

"I'm his brother."

Clark just stared at her, stared as he took in what his eyes were telling him, what he could hear and feel.

Another Kryptonian. She was Kryptonian. And if her physiology didn't say it, her focus on his chest, on the seal that sat on Jim's arm, told him that he wasn't just tricking himself.

The woman herself took his hand, her eyes widening somewhat as she took in that the stone that made up a part of his arm was in fact sunstone, before she nodded her head in greeting.

"Kal-L?" she asked quietly of Clark, turning to look at Jim. "And you are... you wear the seal of M."

Clark was about to nod, but he heard the slight difference, the inflection of the name.

"My given name on Krypton was Kal-El, of the House of El. My father was Jor-El. My brother, Jim, is an adopted member of the House of Am. You're--"

The woman nodded, taking that in, something in her accepting it before she held out her other hand to shake his. He took it.

"Kara Zor-L," she said with a faint, somewhat brittle smile. "It's complicated but... hello, cousin." She tilted her hand to Sandy. "I'm here to help."

"...Wish we could've found you in happier times," Jim said. "This is Steve. Seems like you recognise him. And this is Diana, Princess of Themyscira. Over there is Tony Stark, Keith Orbit, and Mike Knight."

Mike raised a hand in greeting, reminding himself that face was higher than ... keyhole. He needed to behave, he was with someone he was interested in.

"We need to get Lois back," Jim went on, insistent, "and any help you can give is welcome."

She noticed Mike's attention, and crossed her arms. It didn't help. She probably knew that, which was why she was smirking. Then her attention went back to Jim.

"Hard to miss Captain America in a room. And Diana," she nodded in greeting, "I've heard about your mom but I never got to meet her. Either way, it's an honor."

"Greetings, sister," Diana said with a bow of her head that made Kara smile.

Clark looked over at her and breathed in deep before pointing to the screen.

"The woman there is my... she's deeply important to me. She's also Jim and Steve's niece, and Diana's-"

"Sister," Diana said firmly. "My sister in all ways that matter."

Clark nodded in agreement before turning back to Kara.

"From what we've been able to piece together from witnesses and Sand's vision, she's been taken by Queen Bialya in alliance with HYDRA, more than likely trying to get to me. From what Sand's said, she's still alive, but we all know that's just a matter of time. We need to find her and we need to get her out of wherever she is."

"Then it sounds like they know you might be coming," Kara observed before glancing over at Sand, "but they probably don't have any idea about me. Two Kryptonians hit harder than one."

"Powergirl is also insurance against a possible problem that could be caused by Queen Bee's abilities. Obviously, you are not immune. She is.

"And judging by what happened with Kendra, you're not either, Sandy, so I'm assuming you're going to be doing recon and staying out of the way?"

"That's correct."

"Good. You can introduce me to the boyfriend when we get back."

...it was a damn good thing he was wearing a mask. No one could see him blush.

"They took her - probably because she helped me once, too," Jim said, "so they'll be expecting me. ...But they probably don't know what their own training did to me." His smile was bitter. "So I'm going. Just give me time to armor up and I'm ready."

"I'll stay here," Tony said, "and Keith will, too - we can probably help with troop movements, especially since we've got a ... secret weapon. As long as he doesn't mind us borrowing his skills."

"Not at all," came the tenor voice from one of Jarvis's speakers. "I was rather waiting for you to ask."

Powergirl nodded and looked to Sand.

"Sandy, you get going to Bialya and see if you can figure out which military installation they've decided to keep her in. I'd put even money on them using something near the palace or even the palace itself, if Queen Bee is involved. I've never had to deal with her here, but I tangled with HIVE more than once before I came here."

Sandy gave a brief nod before patting Mike's shoulder and disappearing into the floor. Clark turned to his family and friends, who were heading for the elevator.

"We're going to get suited up. We'll be back up in a few minutes. Hopefully, Sandy or Eddie will have something for us then," Steve explained. Clark gave them all a somewhat-sad smile before agreeing with a bob of his head.

"If we can get enough of an idea of where she might be, we should be able to find her from there. We'll have to be careful, though, since they almost certainly are going to be armed with kryptonite."

Powergirl made a face of obvious displeasure at the mention of the stuff.

"Wonderful."

"Don't worry," Jim said before the elevator doors closed. "I have bullets."

And this time, he wasn't going to skimp on using them. Anyone that stood between him and Lois, he was going to hit them in the head with anti-armour rounds without hesitation.

Mike nodded just a bit. He didn't blame him at all. But he said, "Okay, Kitt, can you give me Hydra movements since the UN attack?"

"Already plotted."

Mike pulled out his phone and looked at the display, considering. "...Not much movement," he murmured. "No wonder we didn't notice. They must've already been in place."

Clark's hands curled into fists and out of fists before Kara made her way over and put her hand gently on his arm.

"We'll get her back. Sand's good at what he does. Really good. And considering it's a desert country?"

Clark let out a short, hard laugh at that before giving a quick nod to let her know he was settling out. Seeing the hand on his arm, he looked up to give her a smile and anyone watching would see how that smile made something in her crack.

"So you've been tangling with HYDRA?" she asked with a glance over at Mike and Tony.

"It's not really something I could avoid, but the work needs doing anyway."

"Too right."

"Yeah," Keith said. "It's... It's kind of my fault..."

"Oh, please." Tony rolled his eyes. "You didn't start this. Eddie found Zola, but if he hadn't, more hell would've broken loose and it would've been worse than what we had happen today."

"We had missiles coming at us, Tony."

Clark shook his head firmly.

"Tony's right. You didn't start this, Keith. Lois and I got on HYDRA's badside months ago when we exposed their presence here in Metropolis and dismantled their insurance funding scheme. Not to mention the time we destroyed their installation south of Queensland Park."

"Yeah but us doing this might've stepped it up." Keith shook his head. "I dunno. Who knows which one of us is right. Either way, I'll do what I can, even if I can't go."

"We all are - it's just kind of... Well." Tony laughed once and smirked. "If anything's shows that superheroing's a sausage party at the moment, this is it."

Powergirl raised a very skeptical eyebrow.

"Maybe that you know. Some of our girls would argue that with you, though."

Sand's voice came out of a communicator on her wrist. "The important part, however, is that we should be able to handle things... and we've got Courtney, Jennifer, Maxine, and Jesse on reserve."

He paused, as if to consider for a moment.

"Maybe not Maxine." After all, her epic girlcrush on Courtney (and Kara, to a lesser degree) wasn't any kind of secret.

"Todd?" Kara countered. The silence in answer spoke to how he felt there. Todd was gay, but he had his own issues well outside of that which made his inclusion questionable, not to mention that he served as the main security for the brownstone.

"Let's hope we don't need it. Going silent."

Edited 2014-11-04 00:35 (UTC)

"...Wow, so many people for me to be intimidated by," Keith muttered before leaning forward and touching Eddie's case. "Okay, let's do what we can do. Eddie, give us a probability scan with what information we have, including anything Kitt will give you."

And like that, Eddie started humming, calculating, quiet and intent. It was an odd, almost subaudible, digital sound, and Keith waited patiently.

Kara looked sideways at Keith and gave him a wicked littles smile.

"If it makes you feel better, Jesse's married and Courtney's got two boys already vying for her affections."

She puffed a piece of her hair out of her way.

"The best I've got going for me is a superpowered stalker."

"Yeah, that's, uh." He laughed once, shaking his head. "All a woman has to do to intimidate me is exist. Eddie, how are we doing?"

"Probability calculation is difficult with so little information. I have only discovered two percent of the possible outcomes."

"Any good outcomes?"

"Yes."

"...At least there's that."

Clark settled into a seat while they waited for the others to return and for the intel to come in. But he nodded along.

"She's strong. And fierce. And she's going to make them fight for everything they try and get from her."

He closed his eyes and let his head fall into his hands.

"Which is half of why I'm worried."

"Futures are unclear," Eddie said-- but Keith was trying to shush him.

"That's... supposed to be... Ah hell."

Kara walked over and settled beside Clark, putting her hand gently on his arm. It was clear it was as hard for her to offer him sympathy as it was for him to take it in this instance, but she kept her smile on.

"She sounds like one hell of a woman. Lara would definitely approve."

"You actually... knew my mother?"

She nodded before leaning back into the seat. "I grew up on Krypton. At least for a few years. Then I was sent here."

"I--"

"Unlike you, who were sent as a baby, I'm guessing?"

Clark nodded.

"Well, I'm not sure if the Krypton I know is anything like the one you came from, but... I'm glad, circumstances aside, that we get to figure it out."

He gave her a tired smile as the elevator doors opened.

Jim walked in in full armor - but without his goggles and mask just yet. He was bristling with weapons, as ever, his expression having gone flat and cold. He was ready. As much as he knew Steve hated it when he let this side of him, this forced side of him, take over, right now, it was necessary.

Steve was looking pretty hard-hearted himself, his shoulder squared and his eyes full of war. Diana had eschewed her usual outfit for something that looked distinctly more Amazon, which had Kara raising an eyebrow. It looked... well, it matched some of the old pictures of Hippolyta that she'd seen at the brownstone.

Clark was already dressed for the occasion but he gave Jim a hard-to-read look which said, all at once, 'thank you' even as he regretted that his brother had had to pull that part of himself out.

As he stood, Sand reappeared.

"I've been able to narrow it down to three possible installations, given the intelligence I got a look at and the parameters we'd discussed. I also got some solid times that we may be able to check the satellite footage on."

He walked in and typed in the name of a particular base which was situated on the outskirts of the capital city, not terribly far from the border with Qurac.

"But judging by the time that the neighbors saw the attack, as well as the paperwork surrounding transfers and transport at the base, I determined that she's more than likely being held there."

"How did you know when that happened? I didn't think I gave a time."

Sand tilted his mask.

"You're not the only one who can speak Arabic. And I was trained as a detective."

"Be nice, Sandy."

"Sorry, everything comes out harsh in this thing. Fact of the matter is, you've got a base practically made to keep out superheroes with lead coverage, granate, explosive self-defenses, and more than a few HYDRA goons waiting for you with kryptonite-based weaponry. From what I could see, the guns are all energy-based, so if you can avoid the blasts, you should be all right. But you also have to stay away from the guns."

"And Queen Bee? Do you think she's there herself? Will we have to deal with her supposed abilities?" Clark asked, worried that he'd be turned against his brother and his teammates.

"Possible, given it's proximity to the capital, but unlikely if we wait a couple of hours, since she's due to give a press conference tomorrow morning which, for us, would be... two hours."

Clark shook his head.

"No waiting. At least... I won't be waiting. I understand if you would want to wait..."

Edited 2014-11-04 01:46 (UTC)

"I'm not waiting," Jim said simply.

While Sand spoke, Eddie pulled up the location and put it up for all to see, zooming in until he could get a clear image - and Jim approached it thoughtfully. "I have enough grenades," he said, "to take out the kryptonite gun sites. If I could get backpack charges, I could get us through the wall. Explosions would trigger their own, leave them defenseless, and my own force field should keep me secure until we're inside."

"And maybe," Tony said, "I could just do a quick fly-by and destroy them with a few blasts. Can't get the wall, though. And maybe we should ask Keith's precognitive computer just what's most likely."

Keith looked chagrined. "You weren't supposed to hear that."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject