Chapter 17: Chapter 17: First Mission

Eve POV:

Kara was settling in well in the mountain. She wasn’t on the team — not yet, at least — but this really was the best place for her to stay. Where else would you find a bunch of teenaged aliens and superpowered humans?

I had been conked out from mana burn for most of the past week from trying to break through to the 4th-level spells, so I had missed most of it, but Kara and M’gann had gotten pretty close. She had even allowed a telepathic connection by the end of the week, despite her initial reservations.

Kara also seemed to have had a massive effect on Conner. He had mellowed out after getting closer with Superman, but he still had some anger issues and seemed a little depressed most of the time. Now he was like a completely different person. After waking up from my mana burn knockouts, I would find him laughing with Kara and M’gann as they were helping her learn English.

The rest of the team also got along fine with Kara. Wally, of course, appreciated the presence of another beautiful girl, and her personality meshed well with Robin and Roy as well. Donna was ecstatic about having someone stronger than her to train with, and Kara was happy to have someone who wouldn’t break while she practiced controlling her strength in a fight. She had gotten pretty good at it during the week we spent in the Fortress, but combat situations were more challenging.

She had also joined the team’s training sessions. I was still the only one who could actually beat her since I had my magic, but the rest of the team appreciated having the chance to find ways of dealing with someone so overwhelmingly strong. Kaldur could damage her since his attacks were magical in nature, but not quickly enough to actually defeat her before she knocked him from the ring.

There had been a few bruises and even broken bones that I had to fix with ‘Cure Wounds’, but everyone was quick to reassure her that they were fine. Kara really didn’t like hurting people. She was determined to join us though, so she worked hard on controlling her strength.

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Everyone except Kara jolted to their feet when the zeta-tube announced Batman’s arrival. We had all been hanging around in the kitchen/living room absorbed in our own activities. I was practicing spells, Kara was reading her book, while M’gann and Conner had been in the kitchen baking cookies and Wally had been ignorantly third-wheeling them.

“What’s going on?” Kara asked. Her English had really improved. She still had an accent, but other than that she was pretty much fluent.

“Batman doesn’t make social visits,” Wally explained, his voice full of excitement. “If he’s here, then he’s got a mission for us!”

“Come on,” I said as she slumped back down on the couch with a resigned look on her face. “You live here, so you have the right to sit in on briefings at least.”

Her face brightened as she took my outstretched hand and followed me to the briefing room.

The rest of the team had been in other places around the base, so they met up with us in the hallway. Batman stood in his usual menacing pose wearing his usual menacing frown as we lined up to be briefed. He eyed Kara as we entered, but didn’t comment.

When we had all lined up, a screen flickered to life behind him and he began the briefing.

“This is Crescent Creek, Idaho,” he started without any preamble, and the screen showed images of a quaint, rural American town. “A few weeks ago, locals noticed strange things started happening. Unexplained lights and sounds, keys disappearing, that sort of thing.

“Until recently, it seemed like someone was doing harmless pranks, but it seems to have escalated,” he said as the screen shifted to show a car crash. “Broken windows, falling electrical wires. The last occurrence was a car crash where the brakes seem to have been severed. Only the driver had some minor injuries, but this indicates a trend. If it continues, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt or killed.

“Your mission is to go to Crescent Creek, investigate, discover what is causing these disturbances and stop it. Any questions?”

“Will we have full mission control?” Roy asked.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“You have the mission parameters,” Batman said. “How you complete it is up to you.”

“Can Kara come?” I asked, and all eyes turned to me.

“Supergirl is not a part of the team yet,” Batman said, using her new codename. But that wasn’t a ‘no’.

“Because of a lack of experience with Earth and her own powers,” I pressed. “This mission sounds low risk, and will most likely require more social interactions and investigation than combat. Since this team is aimed at training us, it seems like an ideal opportunity for her to gain said experience.”

“Granted,” he said, and I swear I could see a small twitch in the corner of his lips before he turned to Kara, whose eyes had widened. “Supergirl, you will observe and listen to your teammates orders. Do not act on your own initiative and avoid aggressive confrontations.

“Any further questions?” he asked as he turned to the rest of the group. When none were forthcoming he said, “Very well. Dismissed.” Before heading towards the zeta-hub.

“Eve!” Kara turned to me with a frown. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”

“Batman thinks you are,” I responded with a shrug and a grin. “In the end, it’s up to the team. And if you don’t want to come, you don’t have to. But I think you should come.”

“I see no issues,” Kaldur said. “Batman gave us mission control and permission to bring Supergirl.”

With our team leader in agreement, no one else had any objections either.

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“Here, put these on,” I said and handed Kara a pair of prescriptionless glasses. “Your disguise.”

“I don’t think a pair of glasses are gonna be much of a disguise,” Wally commented from beside me.

“You’d be surprised,” I retorted with a smirk, and Conner chuckled from his seat next to M’gann. Kara also smiled as she accepted the ‘disguise’.

M’gann had turned the bioship into a classic hippie van for our approach to Crescent Creek. Since Roy was the only one with a drivers licence, he was seated in the ‘driver’s seat’, but M’gann could control the ship-turned-van from anywhere inside.

We were all wearing civilian ‘disguises’, which was basically just ordinary clothes for most of us. I was maintaining ‘Disguise Self’, making me look like my pre-tiefling self. M’gann had done the same and changed her skin into a more human shade.

The trip through the Coeur d’Alene National Forest was pretty fun. After some research, we had decided to start off in Spokane and approach Crescent Creek as tourists. Since tourists didn’t typically travel in Martian space ships, it meant an hours-long drive before we reached our destination.

Watching Kara was more than enough to keep me entertained for the drive. Krypton didn’t have any forests, being mostly desolate outside of the cities, so this was her first time seeing this many trees. The childlike fascination in her eyes was priceless, and I found myself just staring at her with a smile for most of the ride.

Crescent Creek itself was exactly what we expected. An old mining town that had transitioned into a tourist trap as the silver in the ground ran out. In addition to the obligatory mining museum, an enterprising soul had decided to open a pinecone museum. Other than that, there were a few cozy restaurants and a motel for travelers.

We checked in to the creatively named Crescent Motel and split the rooms into boys and girls. The boys got two rooms since they apparently needed more space. We girls were more than happy with sharing two double beds. So far, this trip felt more like an actual road trip than a mission.

“Alright, first impressions?” Kaldur asked as we gathered in the room he shared with Roy.

“Nothing suspicious stands out so far,” Robin reported. “But I noticed a few people looked tired. More than you’d expect from a lazy town like this.”

“I’ve been keeping ‘Detect Magic’ active since we entered town,” I said. “There seems to be some magical activity around here. I’ll need a closer look at some spots to tell more.”

‘Detect Magic’ didn’t work quite like it did in D&D. Rather than just reacting to spells and magic items, I could see ambient mana. If I saw a magical item or a spell being cast, I would get an impression of what it did. Spells would also leave traces in the mana, so I could see it if a spell had been cast in the past few days — or weeks, if the conditions were right.

“People are worried,” M’gann noted. “Their surface emotions are a mix of worry and some actual fear.”

“I couldn’t hear much, but the people are talking in hushed voices,” Connor added and looked towards Kara before adding, “Did you hear anything? Your hearing is better than mine.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara responded, looking embarrassed. “I try to filter it out since it gets too loud if I don’t. But I’ll try to focus.”

“It’s fine,” Kaldur said reassuringly and put a hand on her shoulder. “No one expects you to master your abilities this quickly. Give it a shot, but don’t worry about it if it becomes too much.

“Alright.” He turned to the group as a whole. “Split into pairs and investigate. Remember, we are undercover as tourists. You know your own strengths — use them. Dismissed!”

Kaldur paired up with Roy and Donna got saddled with Wally while Robin preferred to move on his own. M’gann’s feelings were a bundle of nervousness and excitement as she got a ‘date’ with Conner. That left me with Kara, which I was more than happy with.

“So,” I turned to her as we were standing outside the motel. “Did Kryptonian education happen to include investigation as a subject? ‘Cause I’m a bit lost right now.”