Family Name 8

“I can’t believe that Kara is giving us a personal tour of the Tower.”Sam said. Lena smiled at her friend. Looking at Ruby Lena couldn’t tell who was more excited mother or daughter. They both looked like they were seconds away from squealing in happiness. Lena regretted she wasn’t able to take pictures of their reactions but Kara had politely told her that no cameras or phones were allowed in the building. She explained that the no phone rule wasn’t because she didn’t trust them it was because their phones could be hacked and the Super Friends didn’t want anyone knowing about what they had in the Tower. Lena completely understood and was touched that she, Sam and Ruby were trusted with such sensitive information. It was rumored even government officials weren’t given access so it showed how much faith Kara had in them not to reveal anything.

“Do you think she is going to be wearing her Supergirl suit?”Ruby asked.

“I think it depends on if she was doing Supergirl business before we got here.”Lena wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Kara in her suit. It was skin tight and showed off Kara’s body in detail. Kara’s body being one of her favorite things to look at.

“Where do we meet her?”Sam was very excited to get to spend the day with Kara.The fact that she invited Ruby as well made Sam extremely happy because it would have broken her daughter’s heart if Sam and Lena had gotten the chance to see the Tower and possibly meet the Super Friends and Ruby didn’t.

Lena checked her watch.”We are about ten minutes early.”

“Do you think we will get to meet Alex Danvers?”Ruby asked.

“I don’t know who we will meet.”Sam really hoped Alex was there because after Kara, Alex was Ruby’s favorite Super Friend. That was because Alex was a human who fought along side Supergirl. Alex was a role model to humans proving that you didn’t need powers to be able to do good in the world.

“It sounds like someone is coming.”Lena perked up when she heard the beeping she associated with a number pad followed by the front door to the Tower opening and a man dressed in robes with the Super Friends symbol on the chest.

“Hello, I am here to escort Lena Luthor, Samantha Arias and Ruby Arias though security.”The man said.

“Just Sam is fine.”Sam told him.

“Follow me please.”The man walked back into the building causing the trio to hurry after him. Once inside he led them to a large room with metal walls.”Please stand in the circle.”

“What is this for?”Lena asked.

“This is to scan your bodies to see if you have anything on you or in you that isn’t allowed in the Tower.”The man told her.

“I see.”Lena wasn’t sure how she felt about such a comprehensive scan but understood why they had such extreme security measures.

“You are all done. Now please make your way to the elevator and someone will meet you when it gets to your destination.”The man said.

“Thank you.”Lena made her way into the elevator with Sam and Ruby following behind her. Looking around she was confused to find no button to push to tell it what floor they wanted to get off on. Before she could ask the man what to do the door closed and the elevator began moving.”What the heck?”

“Should we be worried that we don’t know where it’s going?”Sam asked.

“I think it will be fine.”Lena was sure that it was safe. As the elevator stopped and the door opened revealing Kara Lena was proven right.

“Hello everyone and welcome to the Tower.”Kara greeted the trio.

“Supergirl!!”Ruby exclaimed in excitement.

“Hello.”Kara held out her hand.”You must be Ruby. Your mom has told me all about you.”

Ruby ignored the hand and threw her arms around Kara.”You’re the best!!”

“Ruby, let Kara go.”Sam was very embarrassed by her daughter’s actions.

“It’s alright.”Kara was used to being hugged when she met people. Especially children.

“Are you wearing your Supergirl suit because you just got back from a mission?”Ruby asked after she pulled out of the hug.

”As a matter of fact I did.”Kara told her.

“What were you doing?”Lena looked Kara over but didn’t see any wounds or damage to her suit.

“I was stopping some smugglers from bringing in weapons into National City harbor.”Kara had been concerned with what she had found. They were the same kind of weapons the bank robbers she arrested had and Kara feared that there was going to be a trend of the weapons being used in crimes in the future.

“Thank god you were able to stop them.”Sam didn’t want to even imagine what the consequences of having a bunch of illegal weapons would be on the public.

“Rao did give us his blessing today.”Kara said.

“Who’s Rao?”Lena asked.

“Rao is the sun god my people worshipped. It’s under his guidance that I live my life.”Kara explained.

“You worship a sun god?”Lena didn’t know that much about alien religion and had never heard of Rao before.

Kara nodded.”All of my people were followers of Rao. We had temples built in his honor all over the lands and even some built to float in the water. On certain holy days the entire planet would refrain from working and would spend the day in the temples or participating in various ceremonies related to Rao. We had a day similar to what you would consider Christmas were we would decorate our homes and exchange gifts. The royal family would hold a large feast and invite the citizens to eat with them that day.”

“I like the idea of everyone getting a day off of work.”Sam didn’t think that humans would be willing to let that happen. They didn’t care about fairness even for their own cultures.

“Because Rao was sun god on holy days you were expected to be outside enjoying the very sun he blessed the planet with. To not do so was a direct insult to him and could earn you punishment.”Kara told her.

“That seems a bit harsh to punish someone for not worshipping your god.”Lena said.

“It would seem that way to you but Rao was a big part of my culture. He was held in higher esteem than the royals. So an insult to him was an insult to my society.”Kara didn’t see anything wrong with punishing those who disrespected Rao. He was the reason they all existed and he was the one who judged them in the afterlife.

“I see what you are trying to say but I personally think that a person shouldn’t be punished for not worshipping a god. That is kind of forcing your religious beliefs on them and then getting mad that they don’t fall in line.”Lena didn’t think it was morally right to force someone to practice religion.

“I think you and I will have to agree to disagree on this.”Kara understood Lena’s point but the human had never experienced Rao’s influence like Kara and the rest of the inhabitants of Krypton had. If she did she would know why it was so important to respect the god.

“Let’s change the topic off of religion.”Sam found learning about Kara’s culture fascinating but didn’t want to start a fight over it. Religion was a touchy subject no matter who you were and Sam didn’t want Kara to feel insulted by any of their comments.

“Good idea.”Kara waved her arm behind her.”Now I promised a tour so let’s start with Winn’s favorite room.”

Ruby rushed to walk by Kara’s side.”Who is Winn?”

“Winn is a member of the Super Friends. He is shy and doesn’t like attention so he stays out of the spot light. That doesn’t mean he isn’t an important member of the team however. Winn is incredibly smart and we rely on him to run the control center during missions.”Kara told her.

“Is he an alien?”Ruby asked.

“No Winn is human.”Kara was proud that she had two humans as members of the Super Friends. It showed that she was willing to work with them and made the public trust her more with them thinking that the humans would report any bad deeds she was involved in. Not that either Alex or Winn would ever betray her it was just what they let the public think.

“How does someone become a member of the Super Friends?”Ruby asked.

Kara smiled at the obvious attempt to get future employment.”There is no set rules to become a member of the Super Friends. The current members I just came across and thought they would be a good fit.”

“So you don’t have to go to school or have a certain job to become a member?”Ruby asked.

“Don’t get any ideas you are going to school.”Sam wasn’t going to let Ruby miss out on an education for a chance to become a superhero. Especially because she doubted that Kara would let her daughter join the Super Friends.

“Your mom’s right. You need to go to school and work hard. A good education will go a long way to securing yourself a better future.”Kara didn’t like when people got it in their heads they wanted to be a superhero. The job was dangerous and without the proper recourses they were more than likely to get injured or in extreme cases killed. Kara had many times spoken out about doing it but it didn’t stop all the want to be vigilantes who thought just because they put on a suit they were invincible.

“But what do I need to do to fight crime like you do?”Ruby asked.

“You can fight crime by being a lawyer who is responsible for putting the criminals I stop in prison.”Kara told her.

“Yeah but that boring.”Ruby said.

“I think it’s exciting actually. I mean yes myself and my team capture the bad guys but it’s the lawyers who are the ones that get justice. Their job is a lot more important than mine because it is on them to build a case and make sure the criminals are held accountable for their crimes.”Kara was being truthful. She thought that lawyers were the real heroes.

“That’s a very good point. Lawyers really are the ones that get justice for the people.”Sam liked that Kara was steering Ruby away from the idea of being superhero and pushing a safe office job as an alternative.

“I’ll think about it.”Ruby said.

“You do that. Now are you ready for Winn’s favorite room?”Kara asked.

“Yeah.”Ruby replied the excitement back in her voice.

Kara pushed a door open and ushered the trio inside.”This is Winn’s private arcade.”

“Holy shit.”Lena had been told that Kara had set up an arcade for Winn but expected it to be a small room with a couple stand up games and maybe a tv with console or two. That wasn’t the case at all. There were dozens of stand up games, a huge screen covering one of the walls, couches and chairs that reminded Lena of the ones that were in Kara’s office when they met her at the club, and a large room in the middle of the floor with what looked like golden walls. Lena wondered if they were actually made of real gold. She wouldn’t be surprised as she was starting to realize that Kara was extremely wealthy.

“Lena language.”Sam scolded. She was also overwhelmed with the room but didn’t want her daughter to hear Lena cursing.”What do you think Ruby?”

Ruby eyes were wide.”This place is amazing!”

“Winn has given me permission to allow you to play with anything in the room.”Kara didn’t really need Winn’s permission but wanted him to feel like he had ownership over the gift she gave him.

"I don’t know where to start.”Ruby mumbled.

“What’s that room?”Lena pointed to the golden walled room.

“That is a virtual realty gaming system that I created for Winn.”Kara told her.

“Like with the VR goggles that are out on the market?”Sam asked.

“There are no goggles involved. You simply put on some sensors and go in the room were you are immersed in which ever game you pick out to play. It’s programed to change environments for the games so when you go into a library bookshelves and books appear in the room with you that you can touch and read or when you are battling an enemy in a rocky terrain rocks appear in the room that you can stand behind or sit on if you wanted.”Kara explained.

“Solid injects appear in the room with you?”When Kara nodded Lena was even more flabbergasted.”How is that possible?”

“I used my knowledge of advanced technology to create the program.”Kara had based it on the technology she used on Krypton to train for the military. They used it so that soldiers could learn how to adapt to different locations and scenarios.

“Can we try it?”Sam didn’t want to miss out on experiencing it as she doubted she would get the chance ever again.

“Sure what game kind of game do you want to play?”Kara asked.

“What kind of games are there?”Sam didn’t want to play a violent game.

“We have action, adventure, mystery, puzzles, basically anything you can think of.”Kara had created a new game for Winn every time they celebrated one of his achievements as that was the thing he asked for as a gift.

“I think I want try a puzzle game.”Sam figured that wouldn’t be to hard.

“Alright let’s get you ready.”Kara picked up a bunch of pieces of metal from a shelf.”I’m going to have to put these on you.”

“Thanks.”Sam was very confused by the metal ring that went around her head and the bracelets that went on her wrists and the ones that went on her ankles.

“There you are all set.”Kara said.

“Shouldn’t I have a suit or some kind of gloves?”Sam thought she would need something to track her movements.

“You don’t need that kind of stuff for this system.”Kara told her.

“I see.”Sam didn’t but she would trust Kara.

“You need to stand in the center of the room and wait for instructions. When you are done playing ask out loud for access to the door. After it appears you can leave at anytime.”Kara held the door open for her.

Sam looked around not seeing anything but an empty room.”Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.”Lena was going to take her turn after Sam.

Kara shut the door and pointed to a monitor on the side of the room.”If you guys want to watch what she’s doing it will be up on the screen soon.”

“I want to play one of the stand up games.”Ruby said.

“You can pick out anyone you want.”Kara told her.

“Thanks Supergirl.”Ruby rushed off down an aisle of games.

Kara chuckled at her enthusiasm.”Ahh to be young again and find such simple things exciting.”

“Hey I’m not young and I think I’m even more excited than Ruby about trying out the virtual realty room.”Lena knew that this was just the first piece of equipment that she was going to geek out over.

“Winn, Alex, Nia and Alex’s girlfriend Kelly still get excited about it and it’s been here for over two years.”Kara was happy that her friends got so much joy out of one of her inventions.

“Are you ever going to release it to the public?”Lena predicted if Kara did she would make a lot of money off of it.

“I’m not sure it would be affordable for people to buy based on the materials used to make it.”Kara said.

“How much would one of them cost to make?”Lena asked.

“A rough estimate would be about 50 million dollars.”Kara told her.

Lena winced at the price.”I can see why you say it wouldn’t be affordable.”

“Kelly is a phycologist that works with ptsd victims and has shown an interest in using one for exposure therapy. I’m thinking about donating one to her clinic but I’m worried it wouldn’t be used exclusively for the purpose I donated it for.”Kara was planning on speaking to Kelly about it but hadn’t gotten the chance yet.

“Well even if it was used to play games it might be something positive for her patients to experience as I doubt a lot of them find a place they are comfortable enough to let down their guard and enjoy themselves.”Lena thought that the system could do a lot of good for people suffering from mental illness.

“That’s a good point. The other problem I see is that I am the only one who can create the simulations and I’m not willing to train anyone else to do it. The technology is to far advanced to let the public know how it works. That means it will be a project that takes up a lot of my time.”Kara wanted to help but she was already stretched thin with everything else she had going on in her life.

“Couldn’t you train one of the Super Friends to do it?”Lena asked.

Kara shook her head.”They don’t have the knowledge to even begin to understand how it works.”

“Maybe I can help you then.”Lena offered.

Kara thought about Lena’s background.”I think it would be safe to train you to make the programs. It wouldn’t be that hard with your level of genius and designing the different programs wouldn’t expose you to any advanced technology.”

“Then I am totally willing to help you on this project.”Lena was a little bummed that she wouldn’t see how the machine was created but was happy that she would be able to help people. That and having her name attached to something so groundbreaking would do wonders for her reputation.

“You just have to finish cleaning up the mess at your company before we can move forward.”Kara wasn’t going to let Lena work on anything with her until L-Corp cut ties with all the people that were helping Lex and Lionel.

”I am getting there but it’s a long process because I want to make sure I look at every employee.”Lena wanted to leave no stone unturned. Not only because her partnership with Kara was on the line but because she truly didn’t want to associate with anyone who thought it was ok to do what Lex and Lionel had done.

“Has Winn been helpful?”Kara asked.

“Very helpful. He has been able to uncover records that I couldn’t even find and I have access to the entire company’s system.”Lena knew that she wouldn’t have found a quarter of the stuff she found without Winn’s help.

“Winn is a very smart man. That’s why I offered his help.”That and it made Winn feel like he was pulling his weight as a member of the team. Something that he some times felt he didn’t do. It didn’t matter how many times Kara or the others tried to reassure him Winn’s low self esteem caused him to feel like he wasn’t good enough.

“It’s to bad I can’t keep him on once the investigation is over. He is a magician when it comes to computers.”Lena would happily give Winn a job when this was all over.

“You can make him an offer but I doubt that he would be willing to leave the Super Friends.”Kara knew that Winn would never leave the team. He was extremely loyal to Kara and would never go even if Kara told him to.

“I don’t blame him. If I was a member of your team I wouldn’t want to leave. Especially to work a corporate job.”Lena knew she wouldn’t want to give up a place amongst the superhero team doing the good work they did to be stuck behind a desk all day monitoring a bunch of people’s computer use.

“The four of them are happy here.”Kara said.

“I know Winn’s story but how did the other three come to join the team?”Lena asked.

“Dreamer came to the bar to find work. After finding out her story I gave her a job, a place to live and health insurance. She used that health insurance to complete her transition into a woman. I was her biggest supporter and held her hand through every step of the process. During that time we became close and when she was fully healed she begged me to let her join the team. Eventually she wore me down and I let her join.”Kara hadn’t wanted Nia to put herself in danger but after realizing the woman was going to suit up with or without her permission decided it would be better for her to be on the team where Kara could watch her than on her own.

“I think it’s really brave of her to be so open with her transition story.”Lena had felt proud when Dreamer had revealed to the public that she was trans woman. It brought so much respect to the LGBTQIA community having a one of them doing so much good and being a positive role model.

“She wanted others to see that it was ok to be proud of who you were.”Kara knew that Nia went public with her story in hopes to make the public see how being trans was normal so they wouldn’t kick anyone out their family for being that way.

“She’s done it.”Lena said.”How about Alex? Winn said that her parents didn’t want her to work with you.”

”No they did not. As matter fact they still have full blown arguments about it.”Kara had to play meditator many times between the trio to get them to calm down.

“How did she convince you then?”Lena asked.

“Just like Dreamer she wore me down. Her methods involved less pouting and temper tantrums though. She would actually keep a police scanner on her at all times and show up to crime scenes and jump in to help out. After realizing that she wasn’t going to stop I let her join so that she would have proper equipment to protect herself.”Kara still remembered the panic she felt seeing Alex try and fight an alien without any kind of way of actually defeating them.

“Who designed her suit?”Lena had always wondered how Alex’s suit was made.

“I did. It’s a design based on what the elite members of my planet’s military wore.”Kara told her.

“What kind of capabilities does it have?”Lena was sure there was more than she had seen.

“It can deflect most weapons including alien ones, it’s temperature controlled, has an air filtering system that can protect her from air born toxins, has it’s own supply of oxygen, is waterproof so she can stay underwater for at least four hours at a time without having to surface and a couple other things that I would rather not make public.”The only ones who knew how Alex’s suit worked were Kara and Alex. It wouldn’t be safe for others to know because they could adapt their attacks to overcome the defenses.

“Four hours is a long time.”Lena didn’t even think anything on the market could protect someone underwater for that long.

“It would be longer but I didn’t want to make the suit bulkier.”Kara said.

Lena would have to think about how that was in detail later.”All that’s left is Martin Manhunter.”

“His story I’m afraid is his own to tell.”Kara knew J’onn wouldn’t be comfortable with other people knowing his history.

“I see.”Lena was now even more curious about the man’s background.

“Anyway it looks like Sam is having a good time.”Kara could see the questions Lena was holding back and wanted to change the subject off of J’onn.

Lena looked at the screen seeing Sam holding some type of cube that had bright glowing symbols on each side while looking at a wall with similar symbols on it.”What is she doing?”

“It’s a puzzle that involves decrypting hieroglyphics to open the box she’s holding to get unlock the next puzzle.”Kara explained.

“I’ve never seen hieroglyphics like that before.”Lena had studied many ancient languages but was unfamiliar with the one on the screen.

“I’m not surprised. They are written in my home world’s language.”Kara told her.

“That’s the written language of your people?”Knowing that Lena wanted to take a closer look at the puzzle.

Kara nodded.”It is.”

“Does anyone but you know how to read it?”Lena asked.

“I’m sure there are other races that are familiar with it but I have yet to find anyone who reads or speaks it.”Kara also didn’t advertise where she was from because she didn’t want to be targeted by any enemies Krypton might have had. As the only known survivor she was extremely vulnerable to anyone who knew her weaknesses.

“Do the Super Friends know it?”When Kara shook her head Lena felt a sense of sadness at the fact that Kara had no one to speak her native language with.”So you have no one to speak your native tongue with?”

“No living beings.”Kara had her AI to speak to in Kryptionian but she wasn’t going to tell Lena that. The AI being something that she had never told anyone about nor was she planning on it.

Lena had a feeling that Kara was holding back the whole story but she didn’t want to push.”How you ever thought of teaching someone?”

“It’s a very difficult language for others to learn and I honestly haven’t met anyone who wanted to put in the effort.”Kara told her.

“I would be interested if you would be willing to teach me.”Lena would be more than happy to learn Kara’s language.

“We’ll see.”Kara wasn’t going to promise anything because she wasn’t a hundred percent sure that trusting Lena with the identity of the planet she came from was a good idea.

“Just let me know.”Lena was disappointed that Kara hadn’t agreed but figured that she would ask again when they got to know each other better.

“Sam is very smart isn’t she.”Kara said as she watched Sam unlock the final side of the box.

“There is a reason she is my CFO.”Lena replied. Watching the room Sam was in change into what looked a person’s study Lena was amazed when Sam took a seat and opened a desk drawer. Kara had told her that the room would create soldi objects but it was still incredible to see. Looking over at Kara Lena wondered if she was lonely. It seemed that she kept a lot of her culture to herself and Lena didn’t understand why if Kara was the last surviving member of her race. If Lena was in her position she would want to honor her people and make sure they were remembered. It made Lena think that she hadn’t been told the whole story. Kara was the crown princess of her people. She out of all of them should have wanted her culture to live on. Something was keeping her from telling everyone and Lena didn’t think it was just that Kara felt bad about her family’s involvement in the destruction of her planet. Lena held back a sigh when she realized that she was likely never going to find out the answer to any of those questions. Focusing back on what Sam was doing Lena decided to think about it later and just enjoy the day at the Tower. It wasn’t everyday that you got to spend the day with a superhero in their secret hideout and Lena didn’t want to dwell on depressing subjects.