The Shape of Things to Come

9

Kara watched as Hank and Alex walked into the interrogation room. They both took seats across from her, and Kara rolled her eyes a little at the look on Alex's face. The disappointment big sister face had stopped working on her around her sophomore year of college.

"Ms. Danvers," J'onn said.

"Hank," Kara replied. "Alex".

J'onn nodded towards the kryptonite shield she'd sat on the table. "You care to tell us what that is?"

"Anti-radiation shield. It was fairly common tech on Krypton. Didn't take very much effort at all to adapt it for the wavelengths Kryptonite puts out. Took a bit more work to integrate it into the suit design, so I didn't have to wear it exposed. Making it strong enough to take a hit from a Kryptonian or a Martian... That was hard."

"Martian?" Alex asked, turning to look at J'onn. "Really? I haven't heard about-"

"They're extinct."

Kara shook her head. "Green Martians are nearly extinct. White Martians are still around. Not as tough as the Green ones, but still nasty customers".

"That's why you wanted the Kryptonite emitter," Hank said.

Kara shook her head. "No, I wanted the Kryptonite emitter so I could take a few Martial Arts classes without my sparring partners breaking their hands, just like I said. I already had a sample of Kryptonite when you gave me the emitter. I used that to develop the shield".

"Why build it at all?" Hank asked.

"Because the DEO might not always be run by someone with your background. Imagine a DEO with, say, General Sam Lane in charge. My cousin and I would be in cells inside of a week. In Project Cadmus the week after that".

Hank winced. "I see your point".

"I also thought it would help make my point about how you can't expect to keep the advantage Kryptonite gives you." Kara reached out and tapped the shield. "Fort Rozz must have had hundreds of these in their supply lockers."

"How do you know about Fort Rozz?" Alex asked.

"My mother put about ninety percent of inmates there, including close to thirty other Kryptonians. Not to mention some of the dregs of the galaxy. She also put away more than a few people who really didn't deserve the sentence they ended up with, but by the time she realized that even a five or ten-year sentence was about to turn into an eternity trapped in the Phantom Zone, she was too busy planning to save me and Kal-El to care".

"I didn't know it had followed me when I escaped the Phantom Zone. It was years before I found out that I only got out of the Phantom Zone because Brainiac 8, who's on your prisoner manifest as Indigo, managed to reboot my pod's drive system, and slave Fort Rozz's guidance computers to my Nav system, and lock out the guards' controls. She's also the one who opened the cells when the ship crashed".

"How do you know all of this?" J'onn asked.

"If I told you, you'd lock me in one of your cells. I'd offer to prove it, but unfortunately," she reached up and tapped the side of her head, "Kryptonian brain structure".

Alex looked back and forth between Kara and J'onn for a moment. "What are you talking about?"

"Not now, Agent Danvers," J'onn said.

"You know," Kara said. "This might be easier if we had this conversation somewhere else".

J'onn glared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. Follow me."

"Hey, Alex?" Kara said as she stood up. "Can you get me a cheese danish and a pack of Choco's out of the vending machine in the break room? I don't think Hank will let me go by myself, and all I've had today is two extra-large pizzas and a dozen pancakes".