Chapter Text
Koriand'r opened her eyes, feeling disoriented. There was a pounding in her head and a throb in her shoulder.
She looked around and saw her sister, eyes closed next to her. There was smoke all around them.
Komand'r had tried to smoothen the landing but they had crashed, she realized as she straightened up with difficulty.
Koriand'r reached for her sister, tapping her shoulder. Komand'r opened her eyes with a groan.
"Fuck," Komand'r hissed, as she assed the state of the ship. She tried to reboot but nothing was working.
While the black-haired girl continued to fuss with the ship, Koriand'r looked around. She opened the pod and was hit with sunlight, already feeling it being absorbed by her body.
There was no being around, only trees but it seemed they had destroyed some in their landing. She made a mental apology.
“Kom,” the red-haired girl said, as her sister was still cursing, “we arrived on the right planet. We can convince him to help get a ship. Or we will have to fly, it will be taxing but at least, we are at the right place.”
The black-haired girl huffed and turned to her sister. “Fine. Let’s find the Kryptonian.”
It turned out, finding the Kryptonian was harder than they had anticipated. They had heard he was the planet’s protector but they kept asking people but no one seemed to understand.
They quickly found that exchanging tongues, or kissing as they called it on this planet, caused more confusion as it was an act of intimacy, as one of the female earthen explained to them.
“Kom, I don’t think we should keep exchanging tongues…” Koriand'r started but her sister did as if she didn’t hear her and shoved her tongue in a male’s mouth.
“Until one of them tells me where the Kryptonian is, I will continue,” Komand'r said, pushing the male she had exchanged tongues with to the side. “Clearly those humans don’t understand what we are saying.”
“Excuse me,” one person said behind them. It was the companion of the human Komand'r had exchanged tongue with. “When you say ‘Kryptonian’, do you mean Superman?”
“Superman?” The red-haired girl repeated.
“Yes. He’s a superhero here. He comes from the planet Krypton but most don’t know this information unless you are a super-fan…” The human’s cheeks turned red.
“Yes!” Koriand'r exclaimed happily. “We are looking for the last son of Krypton! Do you know where to find him?”
“The Hall of Justice is your best bet.” Sensing the sisters’ confusion, the human added: “It’s the Justice League’s building. It’s in Washington DC. But then again, it’s super hard to meet a Justice League member… unless you’re in danger and you don’t want to fake danger. Trust me.”
Koriand'r blinked at the human, unsure what all of that meant but happy they finally had a clue.
Komand'r smiled viciously. “So how do we get to ‘Washington DC’?”
Finding their way to Washington, to the Hall of Justice, was easy.
Getting to see this ‘Superman’ was not that easy.
“I am sorry, the League does not see fans,” the woman at the desk said.
“We are not fans!” Komand'r shrieked for what sounded like the thousandth time.
The woman wouldn’t budge, her pleasant smile never wavering.
“Fine,” Komand'r said then took the woman by the throat. People around started shouting in fear as she fired energy to the ceiling.
“Komand’r! What are you doing?” Her sister cried out.
“The Kryptonian, he is a hero. Clearly, he will see us if he doesn’t want his servant manhandled.”
“Komand’r, sister, we came in peace! To ask for help! We cannot-”
“Stop right there!” Someone said behind them.
They both turned to see three people, a female and two males. The female and one of the male had a mask on and they all wore different garments that other humans were wearing.
“We want to meet the Kryptonian,” Komand’r said, her voice commanding the room. “Bring us to him, and this human will have no harm.”
As much as Koriand'r didn’t want to fight, put herself in position in case of attack. They didn’t seem impressed by Komand’r’s demand and seemed ready to fight. Even if she didn’t approve of her sister’s method, she wouldn’t -couldn’t- let them hurt her.
“Where are you from?” The man in a mask asked, his voice soft amid the tension.
“I said, we are here to meet the Kryptonian!” Komand’r repeated, squeezing her fingers on the poor woman’s throat.
They didn’t need more than the one without a mask moved and water ejected from a pipe slapped Komand’r’s arm, releasing the woman in surprise.
The woman fell and the female with a mask jumped to take her out of the way.
Komand’r smirked, the twisted smirk that always made her sister uncomfortable. “Fine. You’ll be my prisoner then.”
With a war cry, she launched herself to the one without a mask.
He seemed to control water as Komand’r blasted with her star bolt.
The man with a mask looked at the red-haired girl. She couldn’t decipher his expression but his posture seemed to relax.
“You don’t want to fight,” he stated.
“No. My sister…” she glanced at Komand’r. “We need to speak to the one you call Superman. I am sorry for all that she caused but we need help-”
She didn’t finish her sentence that she felt a presence behind her. On reflexes only, she turned, eyes glowing and prepared to fire when she noticed the female pointing an arrow at her.
“Artemis, wait!” The masked man shouted.
The female, Artemis, didn’t release but kept her arrow on Koriand'r so she kept her green energy prepared.
“Please,” the masked man said, his tone a little more alarmed now, “you said you need help. Just tell us who you are and we’ll try to help.”
From the corner of her eyes, she saw Komand’r ready to make a fatal blow to the man without a mask.
“I am Princess Koriand’r of the planet Tamaran,” she yelled causing her sister to falter, eyes enraged looking at Koriand’r. “And this is my sister, Crown Princess Komand’r. We need to speak to the one you call Superman. Our planet depends on it.” She lowered her hand, making the star bolt’s energy disappear and turned to look at the masked man. “Please.”
“Kori!” Komand’r screamed, the man on the floor forgotten.
“Kom, we came to ask for help. They will never help us if we fight them,” Koriand’r pleaded.
“We just need the Kryptonian. We don’t even know if they know him!”
“Actually,” the one with a mask interrupted, a small smile forming on his lips, “we do know him. And talking to us will go way smoother than fighting us.”
Artemis went to the man on the floor while the masked man slowly approached the sisters.
“You can call me Nightwing,” he said, “this is Artemis and Aqualad.”
“We don’t care,” Komand’r replied and Koriand’r winced.
“You should care. We know Superman.”
“And where is he?”
The three looked at each other.
“We need to know if you are telling the truth,” the man, Aqualad, answered.
Komand’r scoffed. “I will not talk unless it is with the Kryptonian.”
“I will,” Koriand’r offered. Her sister glared at her. “I told you, Kom, we do not need to fight them. We need help.”
“Weak,” Komand’r scoffed but Koriand’r didn’t let it deter her.
“Ok. Then follow us.”
The three took a few steps ahead as Koriand’r followed and Komand’r almost dragged her feet.
Koriand’r took the time to look at the one who introduced himself as Nightwing. He was tall for a human, just a few inches below her and Kom. He had square shoulders. Hair that went to the bottom of his neck. Sharp thinking. A cute smile.
She wondered what he looked like without the mask.
They entered a room that the door menacingly locked as soon as they entered.
Komand’r looked at her with annoyance.
“Just… in case,” Nightwing said.
Two more people entered the room. One was green but of a female human form -a Martian perhaps- but the other…
“The symbol!” Koriand’r exclaimed as she saw the crest on the male. “Kom! They had told us to look for the symbol!”
“Are you Kryptonian?” Komand’r asked.
The man looked uncomfortable. “Partially.”
“Oh!” Koriand’r exclaimed happily. “Are you the son of the Superman?”
The man cringed. “It’s complicated.”
Koriand’r tilted her head in confusion.
“I’m Superboy, a clone of Superman and a human…” he sighed. “It’s complicated.”
Koriand’r opened her mouth to ask so many more questions but Komand’r interrupted. “I do not care. I want the full-blooded Kryptonian. Not an imitation.”
Superboy growled at Komand’r, his stance ready but the female Martian put a hand on his arm. “I’m M'gann. I am a Martian.” She paused. “Could you please tell us why you are looking for Superman?”
“Where is he?” Komand’r asked instead.
“We won’t tell you unless we know more.” She paused yet again. “I don’t know if you are aware but Martians have telepathic abilities. I can just… peak into your mind… if you would let me.”
Koriand’r paused at that. She glanced at Komand’r who was still in a defensive stance; ready to fight her way out if need to be.
And while Koriand’r wasn’t scared of a fight, helping her planet was more important. She took a step forward.
“As you wish. You can… peek my mind.”
M'gann smiled at her. “I will project your mind to my friends, so we all have the information. Are you okay with this?”
She couldn’t help the glance at Nightwing but quickly focused her eyes on M'gann and nodded.
As M'gann initiated the connection, she told Koriand'r in her thoughts, "You can show us what you want to show but we will feel the emotions so lying is practically impossible."
Koriand'r nodded but couldn't let any words out of her mouth. Instead, she focused on the reason why they were on Earth.
She let the images talk for themselves, starting with the first attacks of the Gordanians when she was 12 years old and the confidence her people had that they would be able to face the invaders.
Without meaning to, she showed Komand'r and her being hidden in Okaar. It wasn't part of the big picture, but it felt important to show that her sister and her weren't there for most of the war. They had been sent to train and control their powers.
She switched to when they were called back to the palace, she freely made them feel her wariness, how she was never able to even say goodbye to her baby brother when they shoved her in a ship. The fear and hopelessness when she realized she had been sold; that her family, her parents, her planet had sacrificed her in the hope of peace.
It was weird, to feel all those emotions and yet to feel someone trying to soothe her within her mind. She tried to not focus on the Martian, M'gann's feelings of comfort and focused on the story.
She continued with the days of not knowing what would become of her, her captors not bothering to look at her unless it was to sneer.
She emitted fully the relief she felt when she saw her sister fighting the Gordanians to save her. Then as they escaped, they freed others, the one that had been in the next door cell had told them about the legend of the last son of Krypton on Earth, known to be powerful enough to save planets from Darkseid.
She let them feel the determination when Komand'r and her decided to search for this Kryptonian, knowing that going back to Tamaran without a plan would cause more harm than good. Not knowing if her family, her people, would welcome her but believing in Komand'r's words that there had to be another way to regain control.
M'gann gasped as she broke the connection. Koriand’r felt the tears that had escaped her eyes. She glanced at her sister who was looking at them wary. She pushed the trail of tears and took a step closer to her sister.
“We know it is… foolish to think one Kryptonian could save us. But we need help, any help to save our planet.”
The five looked at each other and Koriand’r wondered if they could speak to each other telepathically.
“Superman… is off planet right now,” Nightwing started slowly and didn’t flinch at Komand’r offended “What?”
“But we can help you,” M'gann continued. “There are members of the Green Lantern Corps in the League so we can see what they can do.”
“We are not in the Green Lanterns jurisdiction,” Komand’r said, which felt like the first useful piece of information she offered.
“Still,” Aqualad continued, “we will see with them if there’s anything we can do to help. Some of the league members have… encountered Gordanians in the past. We can find a solution.”
Koriand’r peaked up at that. “Really?”
Nightwing smiled at her. Her heart skipped a beat. “Really.”
“For now…” M'gann looked at the others, hesitating.
“I have to go, I have classes tomorrow,” Artemis said. She looked warily Komand'r and her expression remained guarded towards Koriand'r. “Keep me updated.”
Without more, she left the room. There was a beat of silence.
“I will contact the League,” Aqualad said and also left.
The three left still looked at each other.
“Oh please, just tell us which prison you’re going to put us in,” Komand’r said with a roll of eyes.
“Actually, you’ll be coming with us. At our place.” M'gann looked at Koriand’r. “We want to trust you. Can we?”
Koriand’r almost said yes but glanced at her sister. “We… will do our best to be worthy of your trust.”
M'gann and Nightwing smiled while Superboy still seemed uncomfortable with the situation.
Komand’r stayed eerily silent.