Friday, Friday...

Friday was somewhat uneventful for Kara, she did her class work and exercised as a mere mortal in the Gym, practicing her fighting techniques and building her resistance while she was at her weakest, so she could be better able to handle anything that came her way.

“Hay Kitten,” Selina said walking up from the vehicle bay, “How was your night with my little margay? Was she a tiger in bed? How does she stack up to your hacker friend?”

“Selina,” Kara said while trying to block the interactive fighting droid, “Are you really here for kiss and tell?”

“No,” Selina said, “Right hook.”

Kara looked for the right hook, only to get slammed with a left hook on her right and be knocked out of the ring.

“I came to see that,” Selina purred.

“Greetings Miss Kyle,” Alfred said as he exited the elevator, “I have your Flight details Miss Kara.”

“Thanks Alfred,” Kara said spinning on the floor before pulling herself with some gymnastic moves, “When do I leave?”

“Departure time is Five-Thirty this afternoon,” Alfred said, “Care for a spot of tea Miss Kyle?”

“If you have some ready,” Selina smirked.

A beep came from the main terminal of the “Bat-Computer” as Dick had named it. Kara hit a button and opened the video chat program. Barbara Gordon’s face appeared from her room at her apartment.

“Hay, is Bruce around?” Babs asked.

“Oh his way,” Alfred smiled.

“Well I used the back door into the State Police permit database and it seems Doctor Quin is packing,” Babs said.

“What? She is a tranny?” Selina tossed out the joke.

“No,” Babs ignored the bad joke, “Says here a Ruger LCR in .357 Magnum. And in the notes she qualified for the permit with .38 Special ammo.”

Just then the elevator opened and out came Bruce and Jason, who was holding a tray of tea things. Alfred rushed over and took the tray from Jason.

“So it appears the Doctor is carrying the old ‘Dragnet Special’,” Alfred noted.

“Doctor?” Bruce asked.

“Quin,” Selina filled Bruce in.

“What’s the Dragnet Special?” Jason asked.

“.357 Magnum Snubnose loaded with .38 Special Plus P hallow points,” Alfred said.

“Wait,” Jason said, “Didn’t the firearms trainer said not to mix ammo types?”

“Normally,” Barbara said, “But .357 was built of .38.”

“What?” Jason asked.

“In the 1890’s a new round called thirty-eight special was introduced,” Barbara started, “A few decades later there were experiments in making them more powerful.”

“More Power, arf arft,” Alfred intoned in his sardonic voice.

Bruce started making barking noises.

“Cool it Toolman, Carry on,” Selina turned from Bruce to the Webcam on the terminal.

“Ok, well some of the early production guns blew up with the new powder and heavy bullets, so they just lengthened the case, all the rim and bullet is the same,” Barbara said, “That way you couldn’t stick in old revolvers that couldn’t handle the pressure.”

“Que Freddy and David’s duet,” Selina said.

“They also slapped a new name on the round to be different and stand out,” Barbara said, “Three-Fifty-Seven Magnum.”

“Well for decades until the mid-nineties,” Bruce said, “The most common pistol for police was a .357 Magnum revolver. Many departments would issue them with the lighter thirty-eight loads. Detectives would get issued pistols with an inch-long barrel. Those were sometime called Dragnet Specials after the TV show about detectives.”

“Ok,” Jason said, “But Doc Quin strikes me as more a cartoonishly large revolver or something like a sexy super modern combat tupper-ware.”

“Anything else from the databank?” Bruce asked.

“Doctor Jacobs renewed for his forty-five auto,” Barbara said, “Killian got denied because of her drug charges.”

“Noted,” Bruce said.

“What else did you get?” Jason asked, “What does Crane have in his nightstand?”

“Nothing, legally…” Barbara said.

“Legally…” Jason said, “That guy just strikes me as a serial killer waiting to happen.”

“Not everyone who has the potential ends up becoming one,” Bruce said.

“Tea?” Alfred said as he offered Selina a cup of tea.

“I need to get ready,” Kara said, “I have a flight.”

Kara went upstairs.

*

The trip to the airport was anti-climatic, Alfred drove her to a terminal for private jets, she walked throw the airport scanner and put her purse on the conveyor belt for the x-ray machine. She was cleared and walked on to the corporate jet and was in Metropolis in less than forty-five minutes. Getting off the plane was just as simple, right until she walked into the room with Nasty Luthor.

“Oh look,” Nasty’s vile voice pierced the noise of the private terminal, “It’s Wayne’s little pet Zorel.”

Kara was about to respond, but another voice called out. One that caused everyone to stop and back away.

“No need to be petty Natale. Now go and get on your flight,” Lex Luthor intoned with a firm but even voice that left no one wondering about his disappointment in Nasty or his authority, “I would like a friendly word with the lovely young lady from Gotham.”

“Yes Uncle Lex” Nasty said demurely.

Nasty walked off and her uncle walked up to Kara.

“Greetings Miss Wayne,” Lex Luthor said as he stepped forward.

While Nasty had been wearing a gaudy loud silk print top that looked like Polock Jackson had made it while on meth and booty shorts, Lex looked the part of the responsible corporate man and leader. He wore a neatly tailored black tweed suit with a white cotton button down shirt and an emerald green tie with a gold Lexcorp logo tie clip on it. Kara felt underdressed next to him in her white leather jeans, silk blouse and white leather suit jacket. Kara extended her hand to shake Lex’s.

“Hello mister Luthor,” Kara smiled.

“Please,” Lex said as he took Kara’s hand and shook it briefly, “This is a friendly social meeting, call me Lex.”

“Hello Lex,” Kara said slightly unsure.

“I assure you I have heard all sorts of nicknames for me when people think I am out of earshot,” Lex said, “I am fairly sure Bruce as a few for me.”

“Have you met Jason?” Kara asked.

“Red head? Young man Bruce took in recently?” Lex asked and saw Kara nodding, “Not in person yet.”

“Well he is the snarky one,” Kara giggled slightly.

“Let me guess, a number of variations on ‘Baldy’ I am sure,” Lex ran his hand over his hairless head.

“Yeah,” Kara shrugged, “I am sure you will hear plenty when you meet him. He tells these things right to your face.”

“That actually sounds refreshing. What brings you to Metropolis?” Lex asked.

“Bruce is doing a big media blitz in DC tomorrow so Lucius and Bruce thought it would be good for me to do some smaller meetings here in Metropolis to see how well I put what I am learning in class to use,” Kara smiled.

“Yes,” Lex said with his trademark thoughtful drawing out of the word, “My people informed me of Bruce’s trip tomorrow, it will be very beneficial. And they are right, theory is very different from practice. I have seen many top graduates fail to apply their textbook lessons to real world situations. Tell me, are you going to have dinner with your cousin? I guess that is what I would call him.”

“My cousin?” Kara asked, actually caught off guard.

“Clark Kent,” Lex said.

“Clark…” Kara muttered unsure how to continue.

“I suppose calling him your cousin is unfair,” Lex said, “But he is your countrymen, your birth country as well as your adopted country.”

“What,” Kara stammered, “How…”

“I have a very good memory and I remember all of the publicity Bruce did to try and find someone related to you,” Lex laid out the logic, “right after he had a meeting with a police investigator from central city, he stopped offering the bounty on reuniting you with your family. Now there were a few irregularities in mister Kent’s adoption by the Kents, but being a foreign adoption explains that naturally. Paperwork in a foreign language can be bothersome for local officials to translate… Shortly after Bruce’s meeting with the Central City police he arranges for interviews with Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Mister Kent publishes and exclusive interview with ‘the girl from no-where’, an interview not conducted in English.”

“So you think Clark is my cousin,” Kara finished the thought.

“Perhaps cousin is too strong a word,” Lex said, “Mister Kent has a fairly clean police record but Miss Lane has gotten him detained by the police a number of times, if Miss Lane got them detained in Central City, and they did a DNA swab at the police station, that would be the comparative sample.”

“Well,” Kara said, “You are not wrong… about any of it. Clark came from the same hometown as I did originally. There aren’t many of us left and there is nothing to go back too… I just never heard anyone else call us cousins before.”

“Well...” Lex smiled.

“You really had someone look into Clark’s adoption papers?” Kara asked.

“My security branch has teams of, I guess you would call them detectives,” Les said, “I see a report on everyone I am expected to meet with to reduce the surprises. I like doing interviews with Mister Kent, he is honest if not always favorable of me in his work.”

“And yes, I am having dinner with Clark and Lois. It is supposed to be off the record,” Kara rolled her eyes.

“I look forward to reading Lois’ write up on it tomorrow morning,” Lex grinned, “Enjoy your stay in Metropolis Kara. Mercy.”

Lex bowed his head and turned to walk toward the exit. Behind him the Amazonish shadow stepped forward. Mercy looked at Kara and handed her a card.

“IF you have any troubles in Mister Luthor’s city,” Mercy smiled like a viper, “Please let us know and we will try to smooth them out as much as possible.”

Kara took the card. It had a phone number on the back and the Lexcorp logo on the front. Kara looked around and thought for a second.

That had been less creepy than expected… Although she wondered just what cards Lex Luthor was holding that he didn’t show. Kara put the card in her pocket and went out to the Wayne Enterprises car.

*

“So have you and Kal talked about having kids?” Kara asked, “Are you going to go the old school fashion or use a bio gestation pod?”

“Hay now,” Lois said, “Wait, what was that about bio gestation pod?”

“Ask Clarke,” Kara said knowing it would cause Clark trouble.

Lois stopped shoveling fried rice on to the plate and looked at Kara. Kara smiled like an imp.

“How did it go with local branch managers?” Lois asked.

“Swimmingly,” Kara noted sarcastically, “Half of them were too disappointed that I wasn’t in a latex catsuit to engage in the conversations.”

“You sowed that persona yourself sweetie,” Lois said.

“That is what Selina started with all of Gotham,” Kara countered, “I just adapted Kryptonian fashion.”

“Right, so what does the rubber princess of Gotham wear when she wants to show off her sexy underwear?” Lois prodded.

“Hate to disappoint you but I just have black granny panties,” Kara said, “One time Babs got me a thong that said ‘Fri’ on the front and ‘Day’ on the back band… Alfred tossed it them in the fire the first laundry day after I got them.”

“Alfred does strike me as a buzzkill,” Lois said, “So what is all this stuff about ‘Rogaks’ in Gotham?”

“Lexcorps made machineguns to enter into an army trial,” Kara said, “There are a number of knock offs of the Lexcorps design now in Gotham.”

“Tell me more about them,” Clark said as he walked in the room buttoning up a clean shirt, “What do you know about their manufacture?”

“From the sneak peaks I got with my better than twenty-twenty eyesight,” Kara said, “They were probably made on the same original tooling, but they skipped all finishing steps that add the last 10 percent that costs fifty percent of the cost.”

“Sounds like Bill Ruger before he died,” Lois noted.

“Yeah,” Clark said, “I remember that article. Published like two days before he died wasn’t it?”

“What? Kara asked.

“Before you came to earth,” Clark said, “Bill Ruger made his money and name firearms.”

“One of his flagship products was a knock off of an army rifle and his thing was to make them affordable for everyone…” Lois said, “It was said he did it by skipping the last ten percent, the polishing.”

“How much do you know about guns?” Kara asked.

“Basic stuff from the farm,” Clark said, “We had to use them every so often for various reasons. I am not an expert, but I know the rules of safety.”

“You would think being the General’s daughter I was an expert,” Lois said, “But I never owned one. I did get training on the basic military spread.”

“Bruce got me training, but it is tough as hell in Connecticut,” Kara said.

Clark walked around and grabbed a bottle of milk from the refrigerator. He poured himself a glass and gestured an offer to Kara if she wanted a glass.

“I have orange soda,” Kara said.

“Don’t take it personally,” Lois said, “Most people weren’t raised to drink milk with every meal Smallville.”

“So Lex thinks were are family,” Clark said.

“Not exactly,” Kara said, “Well from what he say in public, he thinks we came from the same people if not the same family.”

“And what doesn’t he say in public?” Lois asked.

“That is the question isn’t it,” Clark said.

“So,” Kara changed topics back to the firearms questions, “Where does Lex make his guns?”

“The declared plant is down by the canals,” Clark said.

“So let’s have a look…” Kara said.

“Did you bring your gargoyle suit?” Lois asked.

“No,” Kara furrowed her brow.

“Let’s sit down,” Clark said with a sigh.

The three sat down at the kitchen table and Kara waited for the rest of the information on the building. Lois picked a piece of orange chicken with her fork and bit into it and then pointed in the general direction.

“Tell ‘er the ‘istory,” Lois said with her mouth full.

“Long story short,” Clark said, “The building was built during the gun boom of the Great War, if the place ever is partly wrecked the whole place has to be demolished in place with all the lead paint in that place. I can’t see past the third decade of paint on the walls.”

“If you want to see inside that place, it’s black pajamas and balaclavas,” Lois said swallowing the chicken.

“I could get a troll out here to shut the place down,” Kara thought aloud.

“As much as I hate what Lex makes there,” Clark said, “He only sells those to the US government and US police… and the city needs the jobs.”

“Don’t call in your girlfriend to shut down the computers,” Lois said, “There are no internet connections…”

“I would have turned Jason loose for twenty minutes…” Kara shrugged and scooped up a spoonful of rice.

Kara relished the looks of terrors in Lois and Clarks’ faces.