1217/Of All The Earths, In All The Multiverse ...

Of All The Earths, In All The Multiverse ...
Date of Scene:	18 April 2020
Location:	Empire State Building
Synopsis:	Reunited and it feels so good.
Cast of Characters:	Helena Wayne, Karen Starr

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Helena Wayne has posed:
She'd looked at the photograph a hundred times. A thousand times. She'd run it through analysis software, even outsourced it to a contact she'd made who examined forgeries for a living. It had come back as real every time. She'd grasped at the simplest solution, of course. There were a lot of people in this world who looked like people she knew. Her mother and father, for one, had dopplegangers. She even knew her friend existed here too, though she'd resolved not to approach the Supergirl of Metropolis. But the woman in the photo? That wasn't this Earth's Supergirl. It was ... someone she knew.

So, here she waits. The Empire State Building's rooftop has been closed for the evening, and its surprisingly peaceful up here despite the chill. The device next to her is equal parts stolen lab equipment and Bat-taught ingenuity. She'd put it together carefully with a singular goal in mind, not really worrying if it only worked once. She activates it.

The noise is high. Too high to be heard by humans. So high that it's only really audible in the Kryptonian range of hearing. It's words, spoken in a dialect she only knew a few words. Words enough to be useful here. Kryptonian. Specifically, the form of the Kryptonian tongue spoken in her home universe.

<Kara Zor-L ... > it repeats over into the night air, <Kara Zor-L ... Kara Zor-L ... >

Helena sits there, no costume. Just her dark clothes and a heavy black coat. A scarf is drawn up around her mouth, leaving only blue eyes visible and her long, dark hair.

Karen Starr has posed:
    The photo is genuine. The metadata checks out, and there's enough digital evidence to suggest that it wasn't tampered with. Really, that speaks volumes to some degree, and some people that see it might have more than a question or two about it. Regardless, those questions aren't the ones that interest this particular detective in this instance. Instead, it's whether or not that person in the picture is who she thinks.

    It's not hard to pursue that particular lead. There's plenty of media showing Power Girl. One picture would lead to dozens of others, mostly candid. Not only is the appearance consistent- she appears to be exactly who Helena thinks.

    The woman arrives at the roof of the building from Helena's behind. Floating down from the sky with her arms folded, her nonplussed expression bordering on actual anger, but still within the realms of... Well, the kind of reaction you'd have to a practical joke you're not especially okay with but that you'll tolerate.

    "Okay Stark, the Statue of Liberty was fine, but honestly, you have to figure out a less aggravating way to do this. You have no idea what this sounds like."

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena already hears it in the voice. The research she'd been doing hadn't been able to pull up much in the way of clean audio, and she'd been dreading the sound of a voice completely unlike what she was expecting. But it was there. All of it. All the pieces together just like she remembered. She draws her lip between her teeth, staring down at the ground and taking the moment to compose herself. Once she's there, she turns around.

One black-gloved hand lifts to tug the scarf down from her face, revealing pale skin. She's older than she was when they parted. Several years. Not quite the fresh-faced young Robin she was. Her hair is a longer, and she seems a bit more sure of herself. The corner of her mouth quirks up into the ghost of a smile and she looks this Power Girl over in silence for a second.

"I've got a bit of an idea," she says, holding the strange cobbled-together device in her free hand, "I built it."

Karen Starr has posed:
    The moment Helena turns around and reveals her face, that expression shifts. Nonplussed turns to rage. For the split second that it's visible on her features before the action she takes becomes more extreme, the red glow in her eyes and that expression of rage is the stuff of nightmares. You don't have to be paranoid to fear it.

    There are those who have argued against metahumans in terror of the -idea- of someone like her having an expression like that.

    Immediately she disappears, in the blink of an eye moving from a languid position in the sky to -right-there- mere centimeters- or fractions thereof- from Helena's face. The crimson from her eyes is the only light in the area, and with one iota less control it would reduce much more than just Helena to a vapor.

    Looking into those eyes, it's easy to miss the gloved hand balling into a fist, already drawn back for a punch that would reduce the building Helena is standing on to rubble. It's also easy to miss the other hand, wrapping around one's throat.

    "How -dare- you?" the fury in her voice is so lightly restrained that the idea of what she's capable of in this state is only speculatory.

    It makes sense- especially to someone as astute as Helena. That Hel could be alive is so impossible a concept that of -course- she'd think that this was some horrid ruse, meant to torture her before the assault began. One last twist of the knife before this universe is destroyed, too.

    There is, though, one rational cell left in the ball of anger that is her entire brain right now. This single iota of rationale keeps her just sane enough that she zooms in on the cells of the woman's face. Behind the red of her heat vision leaking from her baby-blues, those pupils narrow, and hone in not just on the cells, but the organells, the nucleus... And the helical ribbons within. In an instant she reads that twisting rope, and it's a pattern she's read before.

    The red is gone. The raised fist drops. There are tears beginning to form. The other hand relaxes and drops itself from the neck it had been holding just tight enough not to strangle.

    "By Rao, Hel- How-"

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena maintains her cool. The world they are from is a dangerous one, and she has faced down terrible things before. Perhaps nothing quite so terrible as a Kryptonian spurred, but she trusts her friend. Trusts her enough to at least check before she acts. So, outwardly, Helena simply stands there with an impassive look on her face as Power Girl closes the distance between them, raises her fist, and seethes with rage before ...

There. She knew it. A faint sigh of relief escapes the dark haired woman.

"The same way you did, I'd guess," she says softly, not moving out of range. Staying just where she was, "The portal. The light. The noise. Then here. Here five years ago, to be more precise."

After a moment she lifts a gloved hand, placing one on Karen's cheek and the other on her shoulder should she not move away. She draws her thumb over her cheek bone, tilting her head to examine her carefully. She can't simply look at her genetic structure, but she has her own ways of reading the fundamental elements of a person.

"I thought you died ... "

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen's hands tremble- something that isn't particularly common. Though she'd just been touching Helena, her fingers come up to seek out the other woman's face. What she does is in some way just as graceful, and in another not. The level of control required not to apply too much strength to the pressing fingers that contact the side of Helena's face, as if just now she had to make sure that she was real.

    "I- I tried to stop it, I couldn't- I just watched it... Tear you apart. I didn't even get to- and then I was here. I -saw- you die, there was nothing left."

    There's a pause, and despite the glove, Karen palms the whole of the other woman's face. There's still this... Light shake. "I woke up on a beach, there was so much blood, and everything was different, but the same, but- but you weren't there. You weren't anywhere. I looked, all the safehouses- everywhere I could without running into them, and... Nothing."

Helena Wayne has posed:
"The beach," Helena says quietly, as though the words have some great, hidden meaning to her, "The beach. I - on Puuwai? That's where I woke up, too."

It's clear she doesn't want to let go of her friend, terrified that she might just cease to be if she did. Her hands move from her face, shifting to run through her blonde hair and trail the tips of her thumbs against her foreheads. She shakes her head, blue eyes downcast for a second in a look of guilt.

"I looked for you," she continues, almost pleading, "I did. I really did. But it's been years. I - eventually I just thought the same thing. I thought you'd died, or just ... gone somewhere else. I tried to settle down here but I couldn't. I started traveling. Like dad did, and - "

A pause and then, without warning, she wraps her arms around Karen and draws her into a tight hug. Affection may not be a normal thing amongst the Bats, but even their stoicism has limits.

"God, I've missed you every day."

Karen Starr has posed:
    There is a small sigh, this sarcastic scoff that Karen lets out. The grip that Helena finds herself in might be more aggressive than she was ready for, pulling the woman in tight and giving her this... Squeeze, as if she might just puff into smoke at any moment.

    "Of course you'd end up in Hawaii, you lucky bitch." Really, it's a term of endearment. "I ended up on North Sentinel Island missing the back half of me. Hostile natives, at -night-." Admittedly, part of that is an exaggeration. Not... By as much as would be comfortable, but an exaggeration. Karen took the full force of the blast trying to save Helena before they were both shunted out of their home universe. She'd paid the price for that.

    "I've missed you too. God I've- I've put together a company, I've been trying to get back. Nothing's working. I've been here... Wait, years?" she asks, pulling from the embrace to hold Helena at arm's length.

    "I've only been here a year."

Helena Wayne has posed:
"A year?"

Helena's brow furrows, leaning back a little herself when Karen does the same. She scrutinizes her carefully. Kryptonians under a yellow sun don't exactly show their age, and a year isn't a great deal of time. Still, she can't help but run her hands over Karen's face a little more.

"It was 2015 when I got here," she explains, slowly, "I borrowed a little money from Not-Dad and set myself up. I looked for you but the you I found wasn't even here yet. Then when she showed up, she was so young. Younger than me. So I thought maybe you couldn't be here since I'm the only one of us without a version of me here. There goes that theory, I guess."

"It kind of figures you'd end up in the spotlight," she offers a small smile, "I always thought you kind of liked all those people looking up to you and giving you attention."

Then, because she has to, she prods at the empty circle at the front of Karen's costume.

"I didn't think you liked attention this much, though."

She stifles a laugh.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen nods. "Yeah. A year. It was just into 2019 when I got here." she drops her hands from Helena's face, realizing momentarily that by now, she's just... Feeling that the woman is there, and it is no longer especially useful.

    "I haven't- I haven't interacted with her. Been avoiding it. Staying busy, and staying away. She's... Yeah, she's me. Showed up not long ago, but she's showing up way earlier in... Her's wouldn't have been as old. Probably ought to try and... I don't know, give her what I got. I'd have been run over without him, even with all the -training- he arranged."

    She sighs, and then Helena makes her comments, "I mean, yeah, there were- I had to work it around to structure it right. I was planning on stitching a shield in, and then I just couldn't bring myself to do it, and started procrastinating, and then before long I had to wear it like this, and found that when people stare they're off-guard, so some things are easier- it's. Complicated, is what it is." That all sort of comes out in this... Stream of speech, that she doesn't seem like she'll let be interrupted.

    "But, anyway- It's... I'm really, really happy you're here. Now when I figure out how to get us back, I know we'll both be there."

Helena Wayne has posed:
"Back?" Helena finally lets go, letting her arms hang loosely at her side for a second before she crosses them. The audio device is discarded, clattering to the ground now that its usefulness has been expended.

"I - is there even anything to go back to? My dad always taught me to play the hand I'm dealt and not spend any time trying to change the unchangeable. Whatever it was that sent us here, we don't even really know where it came from let alone how it worked."

She waves a hand, as though dismissing that thought.

"You've got a company here," she carries on, reaching to pull her smartphone from her pocket and holding it out with a little half-smile, "A girlfriend, too, by the looks of it. Hell of a choice, by the way. My dad would have an actual conniption. But my point is, maybe we can get back but ... I'm not wasting too much of my time on it. I'm settled in here."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen looks, momentarily, a mix of hurt and somewhat angry- not the kind of nearly righteous fury that she had before, but the sort of interpersonal rage that doesn't usually end in violence.

    "I don't know. But I have to find out. I can't just -let- it end that way. Maybe it's... Maybe it already has, but I'm not- if whatever that was killed Kal, then there's nothing that'll stop me from tearing it apart. Even if I have to find a way to punch energy to pieces."

    Her arms fold. Helena hasn't been particularly made aware yet, considering how covering the Shield was back home, how unfair that is.

    "I've got..." she exhales, "I've got a lot, here. But I can't just- I can't just give up. Harley would understand, she'd probably even... Come with, if I were going to let her." Then, there's this little chuckle, at that.

    "Yeah. I didn't even really see it coming. I was just... I felt like she'd been ripped apart. Then, to see her trying to put the pieces back together, alone- I couldn't just let that sit, either. It came out of nowhere." She's smiling now, though, staring off into the void for a moment or two.

Helena Wayne has posed:
"Helping people wherever you can," Helena says with a sigh and a faint smile, "Why am I not surprised? That's how we met."

She doesn't bother to recount the story further. It's one neither of them will likely ever forget.

"I'll be honest," she continues, "When I said I'm settled in here? That's - well, it's not saying much. All my moneys in private investments - I didn't try to start a new Wayne Enterprises or anything. I don't even really have a new identity. I can't really be a Wayne here, so I've been calling myself Helena Dubrovna. It's one of the aliases mom used to use."

She sighs, looking down at her feet: "Don't be mad at me. I'm - I'm not saying you shouldn't try. I'm just trying to do what I can do here. That's what they'd want me to do, I think."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Power Girl offers a shrug, and unfurls her arms to flex a bit, something that- now that she's wearing a costume without sleeves- is -also- severely unfair. "I can't help myself. Comes with the territory of hearing, well... Everything."

    There's another sigh following that. "Yeah. I thought about -just- being Power Girl, but I had to find a way to put together a lab to get back home. That required more infrastructure, and before long I was putting together technology in every humanitarian market... And much of that is Kryptonian in design. Luckily there isn't anyone that could recognize it who's interested in taking any of it apart."

    Karen's eyes can't bring themselves to linger on Helena for a few seconds, "I'm not mad, I... Just need to try this. There's always got to be a way to stop it, to fight it back, or... At least learn what happened."

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena pointedly casts her eyes downward, looking at the ground instead of Power Girl. She draws her lower lip between her teeth and chews on it thoughtfully, looking at the ground and drumming her fingers rhythmically upon her elbows.

"I'll help you," she suggests, her tone affectionate despite looking away, "If there's anything I can do to help. I owe it to you. I should've found you sooner. A year is a ... it's a long time to be alone in the world."

Finally, she looks back up to make eye contact. Only for a second before she turns away again, looking out through the cage that surrounds the observation deck at the city glittering around them.

"I missed you."