Back To Krypton

Chapter 32

Alura transports them to a small building close to the edge of Kandor, just a few miles west of the city. It's surrounded by farming fields, most of which are becoming barren by this time with the impending doom of the planet forever inching nearer.

The conversation on the journey there is incredibly stilted, perhaps from the shock of everything going on. For Kara, it's seeing her mother alive and well for the first time since she was just a young girl. For Alura, it's seeing her daughter all grown up whilst knowing there's a twelve-year-old version of this very woman waiting at home in Argo with her father. For Alex and Lena, it's pure awkwardness from being in the same space as the pair of them.

It becomes clear very quickly that this is some kind of agricultural research facility, one that is for some reason, empty. One would think that the council would be doing everything they could to keep a place like this running constantly since they are fully aware of what's coming, even if they aren't willing to tell the public.

Alura leads them to some kind of stable to secure Bolt into and give him some kind of medical treatment for his wounds where the panther-like animals clawed at his legs and wings when they were trapped in the ship.

When they round the corner and they head inside the stable, they see a familiar winged beast.

"Hey Swoopy, how are you, buddy?" Kara joyfully moves to pat the head of the other H'Raka, the one that Nia, Kelly and Esme had, meaning that they are inside, safe and sound, exactly where Alex needs them to be. Exactly where all of them need them to be. They have a whole heap of questions and they have a lot of confusion surrounding everything but at the very least, they know that their group is safe.

Alura can't seem to take her eyes off Kara, watching the way she's interacting with the H'Raka and her gentle nature towards what many would believe to be a dangerous, ugly animal. Her daughter is instead enamoured, filled with love and intrigue, exactly what she's always wished for her to grow up to be. She might not know how Kara being here is possible but she's getting the feeling that she and Zor-El must have done something right to have a daughter like her.

Alura is the one to take a look over Bolt's injuries once he's been put into one of the pens in the stable, his head harness attached to a ring on the back wall so she can be certain that he won't instinctively set her on fire for hurting him accidentally in the process of trying to check him over.

She carefully hoses off all of the tree sap from his legs and is almost astonished by the state of his legs. They are very obviously badly cut up and he has some pretty gnarly-looking scratches but what's strange is the rate that he is healing. His cuts have scabbed over well and look like they have been healing for several days rather than just a few hours, it's remarkable.

"What is this stuff?" Alura grumbles to herself, mostly just in awe.

Lena, having overheard Alura's quiet question, jumps in to answer. "It's tree sap from one of the trees in The Scarlett Jungle. The giant snake thing broke a bunch of trees and when he ran, he got covered in it. The Rebellion use this to heal wounds from the plants from the forest but if what it's doing to Bolt is any suggestion, it could be used for a whole lot more than it currently is.

"Incredible," Alura mutters. "It has healing properties that are really quite fascinating. Are you sure this is naturally occurring? I've never seen anything like it, nor seen any record of it, although not many dare to venture that far into The Scarlet Jungle, you can see the reason why in that ship you were aboard."

Lena nods. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, we didn't go in there for fun. We had a goal in mind and we're lucky we made it out alive, that's all thanks to you." Lena looks over towards where Alex and Kara and surrounding Swoopy, greeting the other H'Raka with lots of fuss and attention. He's the favourite now they have learnt what a coward Bolt is, Bolt has really earned his name.