2013-05-23 - Kara and Tim Do Lunch

It's Noon, and the isle of Manhattan is bustling with it's citizens heading for lunch, business-style or otherwise. At a streetside cafe on the ever-fashionable Fifth Avenue, Tim Drake is sitting and waiting for his own lunchtime companion to appear. It's been a long year for him, not having much contact with his friends and teammates, so he was more than happy that Kara agreed to a casual lunch in Manhattan to talk and catch up. While he's waiting for her to arrive, Tim's checking out ad listings for Manhattan apartments on his smartphone, occasionally sipping at a Coke.

Kara Zor-El slides into the seat. "Sorry I'm late..." she says as she skootches in. "It's been really busy today. Got back here as fast as I could - hope you weren't waiting long, Tim?" she mentions. Well, she was a minute and a half late. Apparently it's been really, really busy - she didn't even wear the glasses and her hair's just... the way it usually is instead of in the pony tail. Figures - she really hates wearing those glasses. She says so whenever she has them on. "Somali warlord." she says, as if that pretty much explains everything.

Tim chuckles and shakes his head. "No worries. You do the stuff that you have to do. And it's not like I've never been late before because of an emergency on the job." The waiter comes over to pour Kara a glass of water and take any drink order from her. He also does a double take; a combination of 'where did she come from?' and 'isn't she? nah...couldn't be.' After the waiter leaves, Tim continues. "So, how have you been? Besides running all over the world to keep everyone safe?"

Kara Zor-El makes a swooping motion with her hand. "Mostly flying more than running." She pauses. "I'm okay. Decided to put off the whole 'going to college' thing though." She thinks, then says, "And there was a little problem though - needed to let you know about it." When the waiter comes over and looks at her for that uncomfortably long time, she orders a coke and then waits until the waiter stops looking at her. Yeah she's not Supergirl, she's just an attractive blond teenager. Move along. This is why she needs to remember to wear those stupid glasses.

"Some sort of major player attacked Diana - beat her up pretty badly. She's letting the League know about .. her. i think it's a her at least. She... it.. whoever... took Diana's lasso and Diana thinks Circe might be involved." She pauses. "Also it sort of made me go a little um... berzerk. Very temporarily." She shakes her head. "Anyway thought I should let you and the others know. Diana's working on finding where she teleported to. She sighs a bit then smiles a bit. "How about you? What are you up to?"

At that news, Tim switches off the smartphone and puts all his attention on Kara. "Nothing important. Is Diana going to be okay? How about you? Are you okay with everything?" He's leaning forward, concerned not just for Wonder Woman, but for his friend.

Kara Zor-El nods. "She'll be fine. And there was this other Amazon there... um... Grace. I didn't get her last name actually. I almost really hurt them both." She thinks about the fact that her first action whenever she loses it tends to be to attack her friends, then shakes that thought. "I'm okay though. I mean I wasnt hurt or anything. It was just - I really don't like how often I ... go all rage-y like that." She smiles a bit. "Thanks for asking though. Oh... and Dedrick's still busy with his parents' company... I feel like I haven't seen him in over a week." Dedrick Jones, aka Vanguard - one of the newer Titans and Kara's boyfriend. The second one she's had since coming to Earth (the first one was a Tamaranean who went evil and Kara had to stop).

Tim chuckles and shrugs. "I know how busy dealing with a family business can be. I know it's rough, but just because he's busy, doesn't mean he doesn't care about you. Sometimes, guys get so wrapped up in small details, they miss a big clue when it comes to their girlfriends. I know *that* all to well, too." Tim smiles at Kara, but his heart isn't quite totally into it; Dedrick should be the one reassuring Kara, not Tim. "Anyways, I'm getting settled into New York. Should have an apartment by next week or so. Then Connor's going to move into the spare bedroom and we'll be all set for college." Another smile to Kara. "Are you getting ready to do the college thing too?"

Meanwhile, off at one of the higher-priced jewelry stores on Fifth Avenue, a figure in a long dark trenchcoat walks in, collar turned up and fedora hat covering his head. "The security guards look nervous, and the attendant asks, "Can I help you, sir?" The figure looks at the attendant, and a hollow voice replies, "Yes. I think I'll take one of everything..."

Kara Zor-El shakes her head. "I was - I was really wanting to go to college? But I just don't think it's going to happen. I mean, first I put it off because I didnt want to take a scholarship from someone, and now that I have a lot of money..." (Editor's Note: Kara sold a piece of Kryptonian technology to Batman for 1 million dollars plus an apartment building in Metropolis) "... I feel like I don't have any time for it. Plus I'd want to go as me. Not... you know... secret identity me."

The guards at the jewelry store draw their guns and the attendant pushes the alarm button. But smoke is rising from under the robber's trenchcoat, quickly filling the store with a choking gas. The guards and workers slump down, overcome by the knockout gas. With an evil chuckle, the robber starts to collect the jewelry from the display case...

"It's your choice, Kara," Tim says with a reassuring smile. "Your friends will stand by you. But, just speaking for myself, I'd hate to see you miss out on an opportunity to live your life fully..." Tim is interrupted by a series of beeps from his smartphone, alerting him to the activated alarm. "Man..." he sighs. "Trouble." Tim stands up and starts looking for a place to change in seclusion.

Kara Zor-El smiles and shrugs a little. "Besides it's not like I really need to learn all that much in college, though I would love to have the college exper-" then she stops mid-sentence, looking off in a direction. "Yeah... silent alarm went off about 6 block from here." She peers at something. "Jewelry store robbery." she says, getting out of her seat. "Dinner and a show?"

"Never a dull moment, is it?" Tim pulls out his wallet and tosses down a couple of $20s to pay for the water and soda they were drinking, then quickly makes his way out of the cafe and towards an alley. And elderly, mustachioed man seated at the cafe whom Tim pushes past harrumphs at the jostling. "Kids today..."

Kara Zor-El whispers to Tim, "Meet you there." She runs out of the diner.... then superspeeds back to change into her uniform and gets to the jewelry store in the next few seconds, flying down in front of the jewelry store and coming in. "I hope this is because you're very late for a new watch for Father's Day, because otherwise, you're all in a whole lot of trouble."

The robber in the store turns around to face Kara. Smoke starts to billow and swirls even more around him. "Ah...the so-called 'Supergirl'." The crook laughs in an evil, melodramatic tone before tossing off the trenchcoat and fedora. The smoke rises to obscure the robber as he makes his introduction. "But even a Girl of Steel is no match..." From out of the smoke, a villain dressed in a green body suit with a flowing purple cape emerges from the smoke. And his entire hear seems to be encased within a giant crystal ball filled with swirling mists. "For MYSTERIO!"

Kara Zor-El pauses as she sees Mysterio appear from the smoke. "Um...." followed by an awkward pause. "The most mysterious thing is that I'm going to ask why you have a fishbowl on your head, actually." She puts one hand on her hip.

Kara Zor-El has GOT to read the Oracle Files 2.0... she didn't know who Abomination was either, and now doesn't know who Mysterio is.

Mysterio sneers from behind the fishbowl...crystal ball..whatever. "Such a rude child. No appreciation for artistry." The villain stands facing Supergirl, arms raised up as if to cast a spell. "Perhaps you'll learn some manners after THIS!" Suddenly, a lightning bolt shoots out of Mysterio's gloved hands, arching out towards SUpergirl.

Meanwhile, Robin is back in the alleyway, running towards a fire escape while tugging one of his boots up. "So not fair," he mutters while leaning up to clamor up on the fire escape. "She's gonna have this fight wrapped up by the time I get there..."

Kara Zor-El gets hit by the lightning. Now, Kara's been hit by an Apokoliptian Neural Pain Net. She's been hit by megajoules of electricity from Livewire. Those hurt. This - not so much. More irritating than anything else, like a joy buzzer. "Hey!" she says as the lightning hits her. But she's unscathed. "Was that supposed to hurt?" she says as her eyes glow red.... Then she peers closer - no sounds of a heartbeat, no breathing - just a voice and the charge of electricity. She starts looking at him with various other types of vision - electromagnetic vision, microscopic vision, etc.

Well this is unusual, she thinks. Almost like he's not actually here. She tries to see what this source of the lightning is, though.

"Perhaps you are a more impressive opponent than I gave you credit for," Mysterio admits. He spreads his arms, and 6 other smoke clouds appear, each one containing a Mysterio. "Try this on for size.." they say in unison, all launching blasts of electricity, fire, and other destructive energy. Of course, by now it's obvious to Kara that each Mysterio is only a small drone the size of one's fist, cloaked in a three dimensional hologram. The other drones were apparently running an invisibility cloak before switching to 'Mysterio Mode'

By now, Robin has swung over to the roof of the jewelry store, getting ready to swing down and in. "So, to you already have him under wraps, Kara?" he asks into this communicator tuned into the Titan's frequency.

Kara Zor-El murmurs under her breath into the communicator, "No... he's not actually here..." she says as she's blasted by all manner of destructive energies. But considering she took a nuke just last week from terrorists trying to blow up the Metropolis Hydropower Plant, it's still about as effective as the initial lightning blast. She plays along just long enough to talk to Robin via the communicator, under her breath, "I think this guy's remote controlling a bunch of drones with cloaking and holographic technology. But I don't think the signal is very strong so he's probably nearby. Can you track the signal? It's operating at 12.765 megahertz."

Once Robin can do that, she plans on using her heat vision to pinpoint each of the drones.

"On it.." Robin confirms. He types the information onto his wrist computer, then launches a sneak program to access a couple of cell towers for triangulation of the signal."I'll have it for you in a few seconds..."

"Curse you, child!" Mysterio rants at SUpergirl. "What does it take to dispatch you?!" The Mysterios move into an encircling position, then start to unleash alternative payloads of tear gas and smoke.

Kara Zor-El raises an eyebrow as the drones try tear gas and smoke. Which might be effective if the Kryptonian teenager needed to do stuff like... breathe. Rather than let the civilians deal with smoke inhalation, she inhales, sucking in the tear gas and smoke, then turning to the door where she blows it outside. She murmurs, "Got anything yet?" before turning back to the Mysterios. "Obviously it take a LOT more than you are prepared for." She tries to keep him talking, not letting him know that she knows this isn't the real him. Or that Robin is triangulating his location. "Why are you robbing jewelry stores? Couldn't you do something legal that could make money with your skills?"

"Bingo!" Robin says as the search result comes up with a hit. "Looks like he's...about 20 feet under you?" The Teen Wonder jumps off the roof to catch a lamp-post, then slides down to the ground. "Check for a sewer line or some other kind of tunnel. I'll grab the civilians." Robin rolls in through the doorway after Kara removes the gas. He tosses out a spread of flash pellets at about eye level for the Mysterios...

And down below store, manning a laser drill that's cutting through the floor of the jewelry store's vault, the real Mysterio curses as the flash pellets burn out the optical sensors on his drones. "You brats are far more of a headache than Spider-Man ever was..." THe whole robbery seems to be a bust now, so there's one thing left. The criminal special effects wizard pushes a button on his gauntlet, then takes off running down the sewer line.

Back in the jewelry store, the drones begin to humm in a pulsing manner that grows in intensity...

Kara Zor-El's eyes glow red again, and she fires several shots of heat vision at the drones while their sensors are incapacitated from Robin's flash bangs, incinerating each of the drones with precision. She says to Robin, "Got it." she says, looking down at the ground with x-ray vision and spotting where Mysterio is running off to. "You're right. He's in the sewers. Step back a second..." Then flies up a bit and straight down, spinning as she does so, drilling through the floor, the pavement beneath the floor, and several feet of steel-reinforced concrete. But she makes sure not to land in the sewer, floating above the ... whatever it is on the floor of the sewers, and takes off flying after Mysterio to try to pass by him and get in front of him.

"Paramedics & police are on the way already," Robin informs Kara. With the drones down, Robin stoops over some of the wreckage to gather souvenirs. The wailing of emergency vehicle sirens grows louder, and when the police have arrived, Robin jumps down the hole to follow Kara and Mysterio.

As Supergirl flies after Mysterio, numerous traps go off: Lasers, explosions, flame jets...all of them holograms. Not that they would hurt the invunerable Supergirl, anyways. Mysterio keeps running, heart pounding from the effort, and fires blasts or energy from a wrist blaster at his pursuer. "No! Stay back!" Even with the hollow resonance of the crystal dome over his head, Mysterio's fear can be clearly heard.

Kara Zor-El suddenly speeds up and is a blur as Mysterio is firing at her from behind. Too bad for Mysterio she's now in the path where he's running towards, hovering slightly over the ground, arms crossed as he runs into her. "You know, I was thinking about what you were saying to me through your little robots up there. You're right. I guess we are more of a headache. Speaking of which..."

Kara takes her finger and thumb and flicks her finger at the domed helmet of Mysterio.

The impact of the flick sends him flying backwards, shattering the dome, revealing Mysterio's true face, disgraced special effects master Quinten Beck. The criminal falls to the ground, unconscious from the force. He's all ready to be delivered to the cops.

About this time, Robin comes running up, showing far less signs of physical exertion than Mysterio did. "Please don't tell me I just ran through a sewer for nothing..." Robin smirks at Kara, only pretending to be annoyed that Mysterio was captured quickly and easily.

Kara Zor-El smiles apologetically as she floats there. "Sorry Robin... You'd think with a name like 'Mysterio' he'd have some other sort of mysterious powers to handle a hit." She pauses to look at Quinten. "Now I see why he wears the fishbowl though. He's not winning any modelling contests any time soon." She smiles at Robin.

Robin smiles back, shrugging. "No problem. He's not exactly a major threat, just generally tricky. Anyways, go on and fly him back to the cops; they're all set up at the store. I'll take the service exit and get these drone bits to Oracle for analysis." The Teen Wonder smiles apologetically. "Rain check for lunch and catching up? Kind of the standard routine for super-heroes, after all."

Kara Zor-El nods and leans over, picking Mysterio up by the scruff of his collar. "Yeah. Definitely raincheck. You know, maybe while you're at it you could let me know if Oracle has any information on someone called 'The Tall Man.' I stopped this huge scaly hulking guy (Editor's Note: See the Log: A Devastation for Abomination) and a bunch of terrorists from destroying the Metropolis Dam with two nuclear missiles a week ago, and apparently they were hired to do it by some guy they only knew as 'The Tall Man.'" She hoists Mysterio up, using her free hand to pinch her nose. "Super-sense of smell not great to have in the sewer."

"Regular sense of smell not great to have here, either," Robin counters with a chuckle. "I'll ask Oracle about this 'Tall Man'. Terrorists with nukes sounds like something Batman and I should follow up on." Robin calls up a diagram of the sewers on his wrist computer and gets ready to head for a near-by exit. "Take care of yourself, Kara," Robin says with a light smile. "And if you need anything, or just want to...you know...talk. You know how to reach me."

Kara Zor-El smiles. "Definitely." She floats down and gives Robin a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Oh and you NEED to see my new apartment. Seriously. I found this store called IKEA and it has all sorts of great furniture which I furnished it with."

It's something Robin is probably aware of - not too long ago, Kara decided she didn't want to have to rely on the trust fund that Diana and Bruce set up for her, and instead sold Batman a piece of rather advanced Kryptonian technology in exchange for 1 million dollars and an apartment building in Metropolis. She knew it was worth a lot more, but she just wanted enough so, to quote 'she would never have to worry about buying clothes or doing stuff fun again' without having to rely on other people.

"Sounds good," Robin says with a nod. "Catch you later, then, Supergirl." And with a swirl of his cape, Robin runs off to the sewer exit. Then onto his stashed clothes. And then...a shower. Sewers always require a long shower.

Kara Zor-El flies off with Mysterio, dropping him off at the police station before heading off back to Metropolis to partake of a shower as well. Invulnerability might make her bulletproof, but she's not invulnerable to sewer smells. As she flies off, she murmurs, "Every single time I'm in New York, I swear..."