Chapter 32: Chapter 16.1

"’Better than the Bat’, huh?" Kara lifted an eyebrow at that, she had only been vaguely aware Detective Chimp existed in the DC universe and had no idea what kind of ma… animal? He was. "Well, you’ll understand if I don't just take your word for it?"

 

Bobo just shrugged as if he didn't care, and maybe he didn't.

 

"What does the Bat want from me anyway, sending someone with superpowers like you?"

 

"And how do you know I have powers?" Kara asked, brimming with curiosity and trying to come up with a way to test the chimp.

 

"Alright, guess we're doing this then," his large hand grabbed the bottle and he took a swig, whipping his mouth with a hairy arm, he leaned forward. "I could smell grass and farm animals as soon as you entered the room; it's far too recent of a smell for you to have come from anywhere near here the conventional way."

 

"That means you either flew, ran or teleported here, I could see you arrived from the direction of the cemetery, yet there isn't a paved path between the graves and yesterday was a rainy day, since your boots aren't completely covered in mud, I tend to think you're capable of flight."

 

The chimp released the bottle and put a hand under his chin.

 

"There's some kind of field around your body disrupting the refraction of light, yet I can still smell you. You aren't floating above the chair and you're wearing metal, which means you wanted protection when you entered the building, but your shield doesn't fully block ‘mundane’ particles or protect against physical objects, even metallic ones.”

 

"It’s possible that the field blocks bullets and other such kinetic projectiles based on the speed they’re moving, but why would you use such a specific shield when you could block far more and be far safer with a more generic protection?"

 

"The most logical explanation is that this shield blocks a particular form of attack, probably mental, magical or a unique weakness. Given that you're paranoid enough to activate it before even meeting me, but equally unworried about the protection not blocking physical attacks, I would say you don't fear them."

 

"Following flight and fearlessness towards bullets, the most likely complementary power would be super strength. And since you aren't carrying a weapon, you believe you’re strong enough to face any human you may encounter without one. You could arguably do this with martial skill, yes, but your overall movement and posture nullifies that notion almost outright."

 

"A slight bulge in your clothes indicates a mask of some kind, but you aren't wearing a costume under your clothes, even a temporary one, and your body doesn't match any of the well known heroes. You're clearly new to the business, but since the Bat himself sent you here, you’re probably a heretofore secret relative of one of the League's members… most likely Superman, Wonder Woman or the Martian."

 

Lying back against his chair, the chimpanzee looked at her with a smug smile to which Kara could only respond with a sigh.

 

She had to get better at hiding things if there were people like this just running around in DC.

 

"Impressive." She said and thought about her situation.

 

Had the chimp approached her of his own accord, she'd probably be getting really paranoid and would start to consider silencing the guy, but she was the one looking for help.

 

It seems like Batman couldn't directly help her so he sent her to someone with a similar skillset. She could use that, particularly against people like Luthor or Queen Bee, both of which hid behind the law to block the League’s actions, investigation and public exposure was the most straight-forward counter.

 

As soon as she got out of here she'd have to do a more in-depth search on Bobo, but she decided to outline about her goals without revealing too much of her hand.

 

"Alright, I'm creating a team, people who can be discreet, but hold their own in case they're discovered." She began while watching the chimp’s reaction.

 

"Hmmm… the Bat finally decided he’d had enough, did he?" Bobo said and scratched his face. "Must be annoying, having to keep to the charter."

 

"More like, I decided I’d had enough, and Batman agreed with me." Kara answered, frowning at him, the chimp nodded, conceding her point. "The way I see it, it's not that the League is unwilling to deal with the problem, just that it's best they don't have to… problems like this one could easily spiral out of control and set their cause back by decades."

 

"Alright, and how exactly are you thinking of… dealing with those problems?"

 

"I'm not looking to form a team of cold blooded murderers. Arresting people will always be the preferred option." Kara sighed and thought about the situation. "But I don't want the law stopping us from doing what's right."

 

"No boy scouts then, do you already have anyone in mind?" 

 

"I already have a member, and maybe two more, but I could use your help looking for some of my candidates." She said and squinted her eyes. "You can find people, right? It’s not just pretentious presentations of your logical prowess?"

 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a fully trained private eye." The chimp pushed himself up and pulled a pack of cigarettes from under his seat, then put it in a pocket in his chest for easy access. "Want to give me a hint as to what we'll be dealing with?"

 

So, Kara started talking, she didn't tell the chimp everything or even every name, that would require more trust than just a referral, but she did talk about the Light, a cabal of supervillains working and manipulating things from the shadows.

 

Detective Chimp had questions, a lot of questions, eventually, she ran out of things she was willing to divulge without doing further research on the hero.

 

From the look on his face, Kara had no doubt he got far more from her than she did from him. But then again, she couldn’t really be blamed for having a lot of trouble judging his reactions since he was, well, a chimp.

 

"I'll start asking around." He told her when they were done talking about the team and its goals. "Something like that doesn't start from nothing."

 

"You sure you want to risk it before I get the team ready?" Kara asked with worry, the Light were quite capable of silencing the chimp. “I can only provide so much protection by myself.”

 

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"Kid, I've been doing this for a very long time and if there's one thing I have learned, it's that criminals don't like being controlled." He took a drag from his second cigarette and blew it towards the fireplace. "The fact these characters have stayed hidden for so long means there's some powerful people involved, but it also means their minions will be all the more eager to backstab them at the first chance."

 

"Well, at least take this." She handed him one of her drones, "squeeze it and it'll send a signal to me with your location."

 

The chimp rolled the little metal ball between his thick fingers and brought it close to his eye, critically looking at all its little details, then shrugged and put it in his pocket together with the pack of cigarettes.

 

"Hah, it’s not like I'll go around asking for this Light of yours by name, Kid, I'm sure the bastards won't say anything about a shadowy secret organization, but they'll still be eager to point me at their Bosses in hopes of stealing their places."

 

With their meeting concluded, Kara shook the chimp's hand and made her way down the stairs. Alice's door was closed and Cain was nowhere to be seen.

 

Kara swore there was something watching her inside the house, but, even with her improved senses, she couldn't find anything.

 

Feeling goosebumps starting to rise on her skin, she hurried out of the house. The sun had just set and the lights on the street were already on, but the cemetery itself seemed much darker than the hour indicated.

 

The feeling of being watched vanished, but she still hurried to follow the path out of the damn place, her steps becoming faster and faster as she walked.

 

"Leaving so soon, Miss Kara?" Said a voice from her side causing Kara to jump up in fright and turn around.

 

She had been focusing on the house so much that she hadn’t been paying attention to the rest of her surroundings.

 

Cain appeared from between the graves, a small smile on his face and a shovel in his shoulder.

 

Kara's eyes narrowed as she saw old, dried blood on the shovel, but she couldn't tell if it was just some animal blood. He did interact with a heroic detective fairly often so it probably wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked.

 

"Yeah, I don't think the house likes me very much." She joked.

 

"It likes collecting stories," Cain said while looking back at the house. "Maybe tell it a story next time you come?"

 

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, and hoped it would never come up.

 

Finally, Kara left the property and released a sigh of relief. She walked a few blocks away from the place before finally deactivating the beacon on her leg.

 

Then she pulled out her phone and started watching the images recorded from her drones.

 

Despite its looks, the thing pretending to be an old woman really was acting as a nurse and housekeeper to the woman inside the room.

 

Her devices still managed to start mapping the house, but, despite how long she had been talking with Detective Chimp, they just weren't done, and the information they had gathered made no sense.

 

Kara tried to retrieve the drones, but, as they followed exactly the same path they used to explore, they ended up in new rooms in the house.

 

After waiting for ten minutes Kara was forced to order them to self-destruct, only then did she release the breath she had been holding.

 

Magic, she hated magic.

 

Kara started walking again before releasing a frustrated sigh.

 

No, she didn't hate magic, it was actually incredibly cool. But, as a Kryptonian, things would be so much easier if it didn't exist.

 

Getting into a little coffee shop, she ordered a cup of it and started looking at the information on her phone again, deciding if she should approach her next meeting or ditch it for another day.

 

She was confident she could escape in case things went sideways, but this recruit was a powerhouse, and hadn’t always been on the side of the angels.

 

Also, as Detective Chimp just showed, her identity was far too vulnerable.

 

She had planned to appear as just a normal human, someone completely independent from her heroic persona but, if Detective Chimp could determine she had powers with a simple glance…

 

Not like there’d be a lot of detectives on his level, at least if his claims of matching Batman had any validity but the concern remained.

 

In the end, she decided to go. She didn’t know if she’d have any chance of another meeting if she ditched this one, and the man wasn’t only a powerhouse, but also provided incredible utility. She’d just have to wear her mask while there and hope it was enough for the time being.