Kitchen Raid

[kara-zor-l.livejournal.com]

Karen Starr.

Kara Zor-L was using that name actively again. Just as she was actively setting up Starrware again. She'd let too much fall to the wayside in recent years, and now that she knew where she was from (and now that there was another Super version of her flying around), Kara needed to do more to give her life meaning. Part of that meant giving more to her personal life. She couldn't just be a hero. She couldn't just live in her costume.

She needed a life.

Granted, the Justice Society would always be a part of that life. They were, after all, family.

Which was why she was currently in the kitchen of the Brownstone, still dressed in her non-Power Girl work clothes, hunting for pie. Or cake. Something sweet.

Old Home Week in Gotham

[bigbadharv.livejournal.com]

The deadline's getting closer.   The Black Mask won't be allowed to collect on his ugly little scheme.

Luckily, the Riddler isn't nearly as difficult to track down as he once might've been, now that he fancies himself to be legitimate.  Harvey Dent has been through that particular self-delusion before.  It's only a matter of time before something unpleasant befalls Mr. Nygma and he bends back the other way.

Or maybe Harvey Dent's life is particularly cursed.

The meeting is set up in an office building no longer being used, thanks to the boom and bust economy going significantly bust lately.

Two-Face is sitting in the biggest office on the fifth floor.

Waiting for an old partner in crime.

Signs and Portents

[jla-galaxy.livejournal.com]

Magic is a very useful tool, as any magician can attest to. It can do many things. Turn lead to gold. Open portals and close dimensional doorways.

And, if needed, magic can conceal an entire spaceship from view even if it is leisurely circling the planet, well into the atmosphere.

The spaceship in question has not been used in a decade. A long period of abandonment in the frozen Arctic only preserved the machines for their master's eventual return. The last of the ice has been thawed, and the spaceship remains as technologically advanced as it was when first it came to Earth.

Within its depths, a horned figure examines a tablet, words inscribed upon the stone in green flame that lingers there still.

In rich, cultured tones, he speaks aloud, reciting the words from the stone.

"Brœðr muno beriaz
ok at bǫnom verðaz
muno systrungar
sifiom spilla.
Hart er í heimi,
hórdómr mikill
—skeggǫld, skálmǫld
—skildir ro klofnir—
vindǫld, vargǫld—
áðr verǫld steypiz.
Mun engi maðr
ǫðrom þyrma."

Finishing the inscription, the horned figure grins his anticipation.

From around him, a disembodied, mechanical voice speaks with a feminine lilt.

ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT THREE OF THE SEVEN VESSELS CURRENTLY OCCUPY THIS PLANET. KYLE ABBOT, CURRENTLY AFFILIATED WITH THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS, IS THE ONLY VESSEL THAT HAS CURRENTLY MANIFESTED. HE IS THE HOST OF FENRIR.

The alien has no eyebrows to raise, but his pupilless red eyes widen slightly in interest.

THE TWO REMAINING VESSELS ARE BEATRIZ DA COSTA AND TORA OLAFSDOTTER, THE SUPERHEROINES KNOWN AS FIRE AND ICE. BOTH WOMEN ARE MEMBERS OF THE METAHUMAN POLICE FORCE KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA.

Pulling his attention away from the scroll, the Overmaster makes his way to an enormous, pulsating throne and takes his seat.

"Fire and Ice. Both of these humans defied me openly upon my arrival on Earth. Worthy specimens for my collection by any definition. But they and this Kyle Abbot are three of the seven keys that will unlock... the ultimate weapon."

TARGET MATCHING SUBJECT PARAMETERS KYLE ABBOT DETECTED.

"Then let's get started." the Overmaster booms, and around him the biomechanical walls shift and reshape themselves into viewscreens, affording their master a complete panoramic view of the same scene from different angles: a scowling man with dark hair and lupine features facing off against a significantly older man, a man who carries himself like a master warrior despite his haggard features.

With a benevolent smile, the Overmaster looks down from his lofty throne, confident that he will be seeing the first vessel soon.