In the end, Ian had no way of knowing what had happened to the Flash.
High above the ground,
in the freezing wind,
Kara finally could not hold back anymore once they had climbed high enough.
"What are you even doing? Were you trying to make sure everyone knew you'd committed the grave crime of robbery?"
Ian, however, felt completely justified.
"Come on. I saw a reporter. Be a reasonable aunt, okay? It's not like I've got your magic glasses. I have to do something to protect my identity and my privacy."
"A boy as handsome as me? Give anyone two minutes and they'll figure out who I am. By then it won't just be my dad. Even your real identity would get dug up."
That was a hard point for Kara to argue with.
"..."
She still found the whole thing ridiculous.
"You carry stockings around with you?"
She was starting to think Ian was more professional than a veteran criminal.
However,
"Are you kidding me? I'm not some creep. Why would I carry that around? I just know how to adapt on the fly. I dug through a passenger's suitcase after it got tossed open."
"And before you start projecting, Aunt Kara, let me make one thing clear. When I found it, it was still sealed!"
Ian yanked the stocking off his head.
He did not throw it away.
Instead, he dug through the pocket with the hole in it and tied the stocking around his waist. Kara's words had reminded him of something. Carrying a few small tools on him at all times was never a bad idea.
"We need to head north."
Pulling out his map, Ian prepared to start giving directions. This time, Kara, who had originally intended to take him straight home, did not stop him. After talking to the reporter among the passengers, she had begun to suspect Ian was not just talking nonsense in the middle of some delusion.
"According to my investigation, this wastewater plant looks the most suspicious. It was only built last year, and it was put right next to a water treatment facility. Anyone who's studied city planning knows that makes no sense."
Ian pointed all over the map.
"Aren't you not even in high school yet? What city planning could you possibly know?"
Kara sounded deeply skeptical.
Ian, on the other hand, sounded righteous.
"I've played Cities: Skylines. Do you have any idea what the title of five-star mayor is worth?"
He was not trying to show off, so after explaining himself, he pointed to the map again.
"Here, Aunt Kara. Fly this way."
He resumed navigation.
Unfortunately,
"Touch the back of my head and see if I've somehow grown eyes there."
Kara was exasperated. She might have a super brain, but that did not mean she memorized the maps and layouts of every city in the country.
"No Kryptonian telekinesis either?"
Ian frowned.
Kara looked completely baffled.
"Wait, what? Is that supposed to be a thing?"
The term Ian had just used was completely unfamiliar to her. She became even more suspicious of the sort of knowledge Clark had been teaching his kids. Had Clark, after spending so long on Earth, somehow mutated into something more advanced than her?
"Fine, then I'll just hold the map in front of your eyes."
Ian acted while speaking, full of disappointment. It looked like, among aliens, Ultraman still came out on top.
"You're not holding it in front of my eyes. You're slapping it over my face. Give it here."
Kara really could not take it anymore. She snatched the map away and checked the direction herself.
"My arms are short."
Ian answered as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
"..."
Kara once again felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
She was fast.
Ian had not even finished calculating how much experience he could gain by jumping from this height before Kara had already arrived at the wastewater plant marked on the map.
Boom!
She landed almost vertically.
Kara touched down in front of the rusted iron gate of the wastewater treatment plant. Ian promptly jumped off her back and, with practiced ease, pulled the stocking back over his head.
"..."
Kara found that deeply difficult to process.
She rubbed her temples hard and gave up on trying to talk him out of it. Walking toward the plant, she pushed open the twenty-foot metal gate with one hand.
The hinges let out a harsh metallic groan.
The sound resembled some kind of anguished wail.
Inside the gate, the sharp reek of disinfectant mixed with sewage hit them head-on. Kara instinctively wrinkled her super-sensitive nose. Ian clamped a hand over his mouth and nose too. His voice came out muffled through the stocking, carrying a note of stunned disbelief and sounding lower than usual.
"Ugh... this smells like someone boiled durian with a pile of old gym socks."
He always had the strangest metaphors. They were vivid enough to make people feel as though they were right there with him, while also making them wonder how on earth he came up with them.
More than a dozen workers in orange uniforms were busy throughout the facility. When they noticed the suddenly arrived Supergirl and the boy with the stocking over his head, they all paused and looked over curiously.
Even so,
none of them came over to ask questions. Everyone just kept doing their jobs. If not for seeing Supergirl, a face usually reserved for television, these hardworking men likely would not have bothered paying them any attention at all.
After all, work was more important than celebrity sightings. Over in Metropolis, Supergirl was only mildly interesting.
"Well?"
Ian asked. It was not that he was not nervous.
But with the death-immunity buff still on him, his nervousness also came mixed with excitement. He had a strong feeling that he was going to gain a whole lot of levels here.
"Let me take a look."
Kara raised a hand, signaling Ian to wait, and focused her vision. Her x-ray sight swept across the entire plant.
Filtration pools, settling tanks, disinfection equipment...
Everything looked like it was functioning normally.
"I don't see anything wrong."
Kara withdrew her gaze and looked at Ian in confusion.
"If it's not here... no, that can't be right. My super wisdom is telling me this place is definitely suspicious."
Ian frowned and raised the phone in his hand.
"It's also a LexCorp property. That's basically every red flag stacked together."
Ian shook the information he had just looked up, though Kara's first reaction was focused on something else entirely.
"You have the exact same phone as me!"
Kara sounded astonished.
She was just about to say this might be the bond of blood ties.
Unfortunately,
"I don't even have my own phone. This is yours. I borrowed it."
Ian blinked, and Kara's smile froze on her face.
"I knew it! That's why I felt you patting around on me earlier!"
Kara only realized it now.
She was speechless all over again.
At last, her eyes shifted to the information on the phone.
Metropolis New Concept Wastewater Plant. Fully owned LexCorp subsidiary. Projected to process 70% of the city's industrial wastewater for free.
That headline made Kara's eyes flicker.
LexCorp's reputation in superhero circles had always been rock-solid.
Even steadier than Boeing's, in fact.
"You're right. Luthor doesn't do anything for free. He always has some kind of angle."
Kara decided she should take another, much closer look at this place.
Ian wholeheartedly agreed.
"Exactly, exactly. I'd even bet on it. If Luthor is out here taking on social responsibility with zero ulterior motive, I'll go next door to Gotham and hire the Joker as my therapist."
He sounded perfectly righteous.
In response, Kara only gave him an odd look.
"Why does that sound more like a reward for yourself?"
It was clear that after spending half a day with him, she had moved beyond mere prejudice.
"????"
Ian's face flushed red.
He got a little angry.
Just as he was about to launch into a vigorous rebuttal,
"Ugh... ugh..."
A burst of violent retching interrupted them.
Not far away, a thin worker suddenly dropped to his knees, both hands clawing at his throat as choking noises rasped out of him.
His coworkers immediately rushed over.
"Mike! What's wrong with you?"
Concern poured out of his friend.
But the worker, Mike, did not answer. He suddenly vomited up a mouthful of dark green sludge that splattered across the concrete.
Even worse,
the half-digested chunks of food hissed the instant they touched the ground, corroding straight through the cement and sending up thin streams of black smoke.
"No!"
The workers who had just been worried for their friend, along with the others nearby, all turned pale with terror. They scattered in all directions like an exploding ant nest.
"It's happening again! The same thing that happened yesterday! It has to be some kind of contagious disease!"
Someone shouted in panic, abandoned work entirely, and bolted for the gate.
He looked completely terrified.
"What's going on?"
Kara tried to grab one of the workers and question him.
But...
"Contagious disease! A really terrifying contagious disease! Superman got infected too!"
The worker only managed that terrified warning before struggling desperately to get away from the "patient."
Kara could only let him go.
"Sir, are you all right?"
She did not have the lozenge Ian wanted to see, but she still delivered the standard line as she carefully approached the kneeling worker while staying on guard.
At that, Mike lifted his head.
"Help me!"
The man's voice was hoarse and desperate.
His eyes had already turned into a cloudy white. Beneath his skin, something green seemed to be moving.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more, but all that came out was an inhuman howl.
The transformation was happening extremely quickly. Green energy erupted inside his body. It was twisted, terrifying, and carried a horrifying corrosive effect on living tissue and genetic structure.
"The worker will never bow!"
The man roared.
The line sounded strangely familiar to Ian.
(End of Chapter)
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