"You really think that will work, Helena?" I asked.
Kate, Dinah, Helena, and I stood in the center of the Batcave, with Helena and Kate not wearing their Huntress and Batwoman masks respectively. Helena had a map of Joker's hideout rolled out in front of us she took from one of Bruce's database.
Helena nodded. "I know it will."
Dinah sighed. "So, let me get this straight: you want to have Harley get back into that jester outfit of hers, pretend to crawl back into his life as a henchwoman just to find out what his current schemes are?"
Helena smirked. "Someone's catching on."
"I gotta get back in that tight jester costume?" Harley whined from her cell, which was not very far from the center of the Batcave.
Helena turned her head slightly in that direction. "You do what we tell you to, Quinn!"
"Awh, c'mon!"
A scowl appeared on Helena's face. "No!"
Harley let out a groan. "But it squeezes in all the wrong places!"
Helena's hand balled into a fist. She slammed it against the map. "What about 'no' do you not fucking get, Quinn?!"
"Yer no fair, Hunty!"
Helena's forehead looked like it was about to burst a vein. "I..go..by..HUNTRESS!"
A frown drew on my face as my eyes widened.
"I say we get back to the plan," Kate said.
"I agree," Dinah chimed in.
Helena looked back at us. She huffed. "Anyways, we have Harley distract Joker and steal the scheme. Once we realize what his plan is, we have Wonder Woman come in from one of Vibe's breaches and use her Lasso of Truth on Joker to figure out how to cure the illness."
I blinked a couple times before a smirk replaced the frown on my face. "Oh, so now you believe in the Lasso of Truth."
"I saw what I saw when you used it on Harley," Helena explained, "and since Harley hasn't tried to escape..." She pursed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "I have to admit that she was correct."
"Otherwise she would've been back with Joker by now?" I added.
"Exactly." She chuckled. "For once, she can actually leave that deranged fucker."
I shook my head. "But Harley's correct. This is unfair to her."
Helena scowled. "So? She's a convict. Consider this her comeuppance."
"An ex-convict that was manipulated by madman, sister."
"If you are weak enough to get manipulated by the Joker, then you deserve what comes next."
"She is a person."
"And so were the people she terrorized with the Joker," Helena replied, "you know how much blood is on her ledger, Diana."
"Might I add that yours is not the cleanest, either?"
Helena scoffed. "I kill only to those who deserve it. I don't just axe anyone off when I feel like it." She cracked a smile. "It's funny that what you're saying is coming out of the same woman who snapped Maxwell Lord's neck on live TV fifteen years ago."
A scowled formed on my face. "He told me under the Lasso of Truth's influence that it was the only way."
Dinah rolled her eyes. "We're getting off topic. Are we or are we not using Harley as our mole?"
"No!"
"Yes!"
Kate shook her head. "We're never gonna find a middle-ground." She buried her face in her hands.
Far away, there was a crashing sound. I winced at the sound of metal grating against what sounded like rock. My teeth gritted at that screeching halt.
Dinah looked over at me. "Everything okay there, Diana?"
"I...I heard something."
Helena furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"
"It sounded like...like something crashed." My eyes widened. "I have to go."
Dinah gave me a small smile. "Go get them then, Wonder Woman."
I gave her a smile back before I flew out of the Batcave.
I flew over a hiking trail on the outkirts of Gotham. An alien pod had crashed at the site, with a long skidmark made in the dirt and gravel from where it had originally landed. I flew down toward the pod. The sleek design had Krypton written all over it. From what Kara had explained to me when I first met her, this was a perfect match. All but one thing: in black, thick letters, it read, "Property of the Legion of Superheroes".
I knitted my eyebrows at this. I went over to the front of the pod. The windshield was that of a one-way mirror. I frowned lightly. The others would need to inspect this with me. I ran over to the back and tried to pick it up. Intense pressure pounded down on my biceps as I tried to lift the pod up even the slightest bit. It would be impossible for me to fly this to the Batcave, and dragging would take far too long and make too much noise. I placed the pod back down on the ground. It landed with a loud tink. I sighed before tapping on the comms. "I found a space pod. It's too heavy to lift, even with my strength." I thought for a second. Then it hit me. "Send in Vibe."
Suddenly, there was a light blue breach that appeared in front of me. Vibe exited the breach before it blinked out of existence.
I smiled lightly. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."
He smiled back at me. "No problemo. I mean, who wouldn't want to help out Wonder Woman herself?"
I couldn't help but smile a bit. "Like your enthusiasm."
Vibe looked over at the pod. His eyebrows shot up over his goggles. "Oh, damn. What's this?"
I turned to the pod. "I'm not sure." I looked back at Vibe. "That's why I need your help."
"What's up?"
"The pod is made out of a metal that even someone like me can't pick up."
"Bruh," Vibe responded, "you can lift a tank!"
"This is no tank, I'm afraid," I said, "but this is why I need your help. I need you to create a breach to the Batcave so this can be further investigated."
Vibe nodded. "One breach to the Batcave coming right up!" Right then, a large, light blue breach appeared.
I looked over at Vibe. "Thank you." I went back to the pod. "Once I bring this to the Batcave, you may leave. I'll contact you if you are needed." With that, I pushed on the back of the pod, pushing it through the breach.
It was only seconds before I was back in the Batcave. I panted a bit once I stopped pushing it. Even for something as simple as that, it felt like I was moving a mountain.
"Whoa." Dinah ran over. "What is this?"
"I'm not sure." I walked over to the lid. A sigh escaped me before I turned to Kate and Helena. "Help me, will you?"
The two of them came over and helped me lift the lid of the pod open. Inside, a man of about twenty years old sat inside. His peach-colored eyelids were closed, with slight stuble along the lower part of his face. He wore a red bodysuit that had gold accents with a dark blue pair of boots and cape. On one of his hands, he wore a ring with a symbol that had the letter "L" next to a shooting star on it.
"That's not Lex's handiwork, is it?" Kate asked.
I shook my head. "Lex's insignia is different from this." I turned to the others. "But I don't have an idea as to what else this could be. All I know is that this pod came from the Legion of Superheroes."
Helena scoffed. "A likely story."
"It says it right on the side of the pod."
"For all you know, it could have just been an incapacitated enemy they fought and decided to shoot it back into the 21st century so that some other generation could deal with them. Hell, he could be the very thing that is causing the illness to spread at the rate it's spreading. That thing could be the source.
Kate went over to examine the man in the pod. "He doesn't look too pale." She looked back up at Helena. "I doubt that's the case."
"Well." Helena picked out an arrow from her dark purple gauntlet and notched it into her crossbow. "I don't want to take our chances."
My eyes widened. "Helena, don't!"
She fired the arrow toward the man's chest. It sliced through the air before ricocheting off and piercing one of the screens of the Batcave's surveillance monitors.
My jaw dropped at the sight.
"Holy shit," Dinah muttered under her breath.
Helena's eyes grew wide. "It's Kryptonian!"
Kate smirked. "That's what you get for trying to axe him off prematurely."
I went over and lifted the man out of the pod from under his arms. "Can one of you help him to the medbay of the Batcave?"
Kate came over and picked up his legs.
Helena frowned. "Well, we can't get him off of the hook. He can't avoid questioning."
"Who said I wouldn't?" I replied.
Helena followed us to the medbay. "It's just too suspicious, his way of coming. Think about it, he appears, in a spaceship, right as the illness gets worse. Do you not realize he could be the spawn of it and is just not showing symptoms?"
"Then he'll be our first patient."
Helena rose an eyebrow. "Are you implying that we'll have to play 'doctor'?"
"If the case requires it." I looked down at the man. I sighed as a thought crossed my mind. "And if he really is Kryptonian, we're going to need Supergirl on this."