[Kate Caryington]This is how it all started...

Somewhere under the pale moon and slightly away from Gotham’s dark backstreets, a car stopped. The woman who left the old and decrepit vehicule was rather tall and lovely. Non chalantly, she lit up a cigarette and looked up the sky to see the familiar bat sign up there.

Why? She wondered. Why would one single man stand against all the evilness lurking downtown? Did he truelybelieve he could make a difference? No single man could unless he was a superman or a hero with magic powers…

Katherine “Kate” Caryington slide her access pass in the security lock and the first door unlocked. Confidently, she walked inside the airlock. It felt like being in the mouth of the Devil for behind that second door laid Arkham Asylium and there was her office. Kate was a rather brilliant behaviour analyst, meaning she was here to evaluate the Asylium’s patient by simply looking at them. There was only one thing her degree never prepared her for. Here patients and doctor alike were completely nuts!

Suddenly Kate realised something was wrong. She was still locked in the airlock between the inner and outer securitydoors. Litting up a cigarettte with what was left of the previous one, she knocked on the door’s bulletproof glass.

“Joe?” She shouted for the guard on duty.

Joe never answered or simply moved from his chair for he was already dead.As a devil popping out of his box, a so-well known grinning face suddenly appeared.

“What do we have here?” The Joker asked.

Out of surprise, Kate stepped back. Her stiletto heel snaped and she fell down on the ground, her ankle painfully twisted. That was a good joke for the white-skinned and green-haired criminal. He burst out laughing. It was the laugh of a completely insane man and was absolutely not funny at all.

“Not again!” Moanned Caryington as she looked at her broken shoes.

“Indeed again!” The Joker said between two burst of his malicious laugh. “Now! Now! There seems to be a slight problem as you’re locked out and I’m locked in. How about we exchange our places, my dear doctor?”

“How comes you’re out of your cell, Joker? And how comes you’ve reached the main door with all these new security measures?”

Joker sighed and looked up to Heaven. “Why so serious?” He asked with with a bored and disappointed voice.

“Just answer my question and I’ll consent to be somewhat less serious.”

Kate clearly understood what he wanted. She was in the airlock and she had to swipe her access card as well as the guard on duty. Until then the door would remain locked. Now if she’d managed to make him talk it might give a little time to the security to come and get him.

“If I tell you, you gotta promise you’ll open the door!”

“How do I know you’re not going to butcher me like this poor Joe?”

“Please, doctor! Don’t be so rude! Joe had it coming for I politely asked him for his access card and he refused to hand it over. I don’t slaughter people on a whim, it’s part of a greater plan: the Great Joke! I just helped Joe reconsider his part in the plan since he didn’t want the original one.”

“Who else did you… help? Who got you out? Fincher?”

“Nope!” He said with a laugh as he enjoyed playing riddle alike any other game.

“Korzevsky? She was looking strangely at you. Maybe she thought you’d offer her a place within Gotham’s crime as a thank?”

Joker stopped laughing for he only liked games where he’d win. Others weren’t so funny. “Well… Well… It’s a smart doctor that we have trapped here! The lovely doctor Korzevsky offered me a hand to get out.”

That’s when he proudly showed the doctor’s forearm. There was blood dripping from it as it had been freshly cut or maybe just teared out. Caryington greet her teeth and closed her eyes as she tried not to puke all over the airlock.

“As I like to say:” The Joker started. “We’re all one bad day away from insanity. It looks like the day has come for you, my dear.”

“So what? You gonna kill me? I feel much safer with a bulletproof glass between the two of us. I don’t see a reason to open you the damn door. See that as a new game!”

“You won’t spend your whole life here nor will I stay locked in, Doc’! I’ll get back in my cell but the game as just started. Who laugh last laugh longest!”

Once the Joker had disappeared, be he gone back in his cell or trying to escape through another exit, Caryington staid in the airlock for a long moment. She only agreed to leave when the GCPD’s SWAT arrived and surrounded the whole building. Two of the heavily armed guys walked her away to one of the black armored trucks. There were police officers there, most of them caring very little about her.

“Miss Caryington?” Asked a woman. Caryington analyzed her behaviour quickly and decided she was worth an honest discussion. “I am Inspector Montoya. Do you have a moment for me?”

“How long do I have?”

“With my questions? Not long, I’ll let you go as soon as possible.”

Caryington closed her eyes for a second. When she tried to lit herself another cigarette but her hands were shaking too much for her to grab one. “How long before this guy gets out and come for me?”

“Oh!” Montoya tried to find a polite answer and found none. “Honestly? Not much. I’d recommand you leave the town as fast as you can and you never come back. Go as far as you can or make peace, this guy won’t let it go.”

“How far will be far enough?”

“Mars! But if you can go there, he’ll be able to follow you!”

“So? I die?”

Montoya shrugged. There was no way of saying this politely. If the Joker had decided to stalk the analyst or to go for her, there was no way she’ll escape him. “I can’t tell you what to do. I’d go as far as I could or I’ll grab my gun for a last stand.”

“Would that save me?” Caryington asked doubtfully.

“Surely not but with a gun you could make sure to die painlessly. If this guy grabs you… I don’t want to imagine what kind of ‘joke’ his insane mind could come up with.”

Kate laid back on the reclining chair, decided to enjoy a quiet sunny afternoon in Smallville, USA. From the open window of Granny Caryington came a wonderfully poetic smell. It drove Katherine back to a long gone time when she used to be a nice little girl with bunches and a huge smile all over her cute face.

“Are you really going to spend your whole afternoon by doing nothing?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll use some of that time to gulp down your marvellous blueberry and cherry pie, Granny!”

“No, you won’t, young girl! The pie is for dinner!”

Life in Smallville was quietly and slowly going on. Nothing had changed over the time except that the Barns sold their farm and moved back in the south. The only thing that had changed was herself, she felt like corrupted by her life in Gotham. Kate didn’t tell the old woman what had suddenly and unexpectedly decided her to take an early vacation in the family farm.

She was again and again going through her options for the future. Hiding here was no solution. The Joker would be coming for her and Katherine had better be ready to welcome him. But how the hell on Earth could one single simple woman face the most notorious criminal ever. Even super heroes like Batman had hard times with him. The subcompact Glock 26, she was carrying was surly reassuring but Caryington had no doubt about it: it might save her from petty thugs but not from a criminal mastermind alike the Joker.

Is that how Batman started his heroic career? Learning to defend himself or was his story a sad and sorry one? Only few people might know and this anyway wouldn’t save her. Even the Dark Knight couldn’t protect her unless he’d keep a constant watch over her or the Joker.

“Don’t you have an appointment this afternoon?”

“Yes, Granny!” She shouted from afar. “I’m going around five and a half. I’ll lazily take a nap until then!”

Granny Caryington didn’t make any comment as she knew her grand-daughter very well. She had watched over her since she was a cute little girl abandoned by her depressive mother and a father far too busy with his work. Kate could try as much as she wanted to hide it but it was plain and obvious something was wrong… really wrong. Walls were very thick and anyone could hear the moan of a scarred little girl during the so quiet nights. That has always been true and it still was, even if the little girl was now almost thirty. Not to mention her screams when she woke up. Looking through the window at her sleeping grand-daughter, Granny Caryington truly hoped it wasn’t something to be afraid of but life had taught her better.

At that moment, something unexpected happened. It all started dozens of kilometres away up in the sky. To be more accurate we should say 22,300 miles away, in space, abroad the JLA watchtower. Who could have guessed Lex Luthor would someday travel through time to warn Superman and his friends of the terrible fate awaiting Earth? Who could have guessed he’d arm Earth to face an incoming invasion from space. A future threat but not too distant in the future, he said.

Luthor then unleashed thousands and thousands of Exobytes. Nano machines no bigger than a fly and those spread away across countries. They started to attack random civilian and uploaded their DNA with superpowers. Kids, businessmen, house-wives started to turn into heroes by thousands and thousands. Thugs, convicted, murders started to turn into super-vilains...

When she woke up, Kate felt great. Not just great. She felt greater than great! Her mind was clear of all her fears and problems. She was quiet and at peace. The Joker? Let him come! When she arrived in her bathroom starting to ready for her afternoon at the shooting range, she realized something was wrong when she faced the mirror.

Since when did she have these dark tattoos all over her body? And her eyes were… dark and sinister looking! What had happened? Was that a nightmare or a trick from the Joker? Kate should have freaked out, shouldn’t she? Her only concern at the moment was that her pale pink lipstick wouldn’t match her new eyes colour. She looked at the clothes she had intended to put on. Light blue jeans, oversized white T-Shirt, old trainers: those sucked quite a lot. She tossed these away and walked to her room to get something decent.

It turned out to be quite a scene as Caryington successively took and throw away every single piece of clothing of her wardrobes. Scene could have been quite funny and would have perfectly fitted one of these romantic comedy film. You know? The moment where the heroine search her whole wardrobe what she’ll put on for the first date with the handsome hero.

“Kaaaaaate! You’re going to be late!”

“No worries, granny! Situation is now under control!”

Kate travelled back to Gotham the same evening without trying the pie. Something drove her back there. A sudden urge that she couldn’t understand. Once more she should have freaked herself yet she didn’t. She followed her instinct to the GCPD’s headquarter and realised quite quickly there were more costumed heroes out there. Something had indeed happened to the whole world and she was barely one within thousands of newly transformed people. Iconic heroes had gather and tried to help and organise the flood. Some wanted answers and very few like her knew there were no answers in here.

What she had become she didn’t know but what she could and should do with herself, Kate knew perfectly. An era of her life had finished and another one had started. Caryington darted out of here in her tight black dress. She jumped out of human’s reach and helping herself with the building’s stylish decorations, she climbed up its roof.

She squat down on the ugly gargoyle and extend her mind to search the city’s dark alleys and gloomy backstreets. She finally heard it. A whisper gone with the wind. A desperate cry for help that Caryington couldn’t resist. Her future wasn’t there nor where the answer but duty called. She dashed forward in the gap between buildings and let herself glide to the next building.

Keeping up her amazing pace, Caryington jumped between skyscrapers with unnatural ease and grace. The closer she got, the stronger and warmer was she feeling. There was a mind in her mind and its words were nice and pleasant to ear. Where those words or thought? Didn’t matter! Was that her own excitement or the Overmind’s? That wasn’t clear but she had to go… He was just there behind that tall wall and he wanted to see her so badly… Maybe it was her?

She leaped across the stonework surrounding the manor and she was welcomed by a heavy suppression fire. She jumped on the left and on the right, closely dodging a myriad of bullets. Gangsters, those were low-life gangster. Caryington started a gracious but lethal ballet to shoot her opponents and she didn’t stop until it was all over.

Half a dozen of corpse laid around her… deader than dead! It should have bothered her but it absolutely didn’t. Not even a little bit! What made her feel awkward on the other hand, was the hole in her heart and mind. The Overmind was no longer here with her.

It surely looked like he wasn’t in the old and decrepit manor. It had been forgotten by mankind eons ago. Caryington anyway walked in but very carefully as the whole building threaten to crumble and collapse at any moment. Eyes closed the young woman opened her mind and tried to find any clue on the Overmind’s whereabouts.

The old manor was indeed empty and too quiet. Nothing there but dust, shattered furnitures and memories of a past long gone. This brought up new elements to Kate’s thoughts. First and most obvious one, Overmind was not here and if he had it wasn’t physically. Second whatever or whoever he or she was, it also meant he was powerful enough to willingly send her here. Had he done so from afar or… or has he been stalking her and used the shootout as a diversion to flee?

“Was that a test or a trap?” Caryington thought while lighting up a cigarette. “Or is that a message?”

Nothing she had been forced to do here was against her will. Who was the Overmind and what where his plans for Caryington remained rather obscure for a couple weeks.

Next days went on quietly. Caryington remained on alert for any sign from the Overmind but nothing happened. She even started to wonder if she wasn’t becoming insane. Had she been poisoned by the Joker in some strange way? The further she thought about these last days, the more her past didn’t make sense. It was more like she’d became a night butterfly, her past as a caterpillar didn’t make much sense. Caryington also tried to contact the Overmind with her mind hoping to touch his mind as he touched hers. Whether he heard her or not, he never replied.

Caryington stood up in the middle of her dinner. Enough was enough! She no longer wanted to wait for his whim. Whoever he was he had promised her he’d give answers and he had to keep his end of the bargain. She was decided to go out there and search for clues. She’d track him down all over the world if she needed.

As soon as she was ready, she walked on her balcony and jumped over the security rail. Alike and insect, she glued herself to next building’s wall and crawled up in no time. Where now? Weapons! She would need weapons to fight off whatever she’d encounter out there. Easiest and simplest way to get those was to leap down in the dark and gloomy back alleys of Gotham City. Here thugs were more heavily armed than Spec Ops soldiers.

Kate landed on the ground as delicately a gentle and delicate caress. She rose on her feet, putting on black-coloured glasses. Thugs were there as she had sensed. Two of them wielding AKs and the last one was… what was he doing in the filth behind the huge and green skip? He was anyway bent over a dead corpse.

“Hey! Look what we have h…” One of the AK wielder said.

He never had time to finish his sentence nor the dirty thoughts he had when he saw Caryington’s pale skin. She put a bullet in his head without a warning. The last of the AK wielder immediately opened fire and Kate had to jump back but the man was dead before her boots hit the ground.
Caryington knew there was something wrong about the last of them, he was too large to be human anymore. He looked over his shoulder revealing a face twisted by sheer madness, there was blood all over his face. He stood up zipping up his pants and looked at Caryington in a freaky and perverse way.

“You’re never put those dirty hands on me, freak!”

“I don’t need my hands to eat you, sweet broken angel. I shall tear your wings and taste your sweet…”

Caryington tumbled backwards as he started to charge and caught him right under his chin. That doesn’t stop him from laughing and shouting awful and perverse things. He got back on his feet and charged once more. He was one tough son of a b… and bullets didn’t seem to affect him. Caryington was anyway not out of options, a single gesture of her hands and the skip flew away, smashing the cannibal rapist against the wall. Not much was left but a red pulp splattered all against the wall and floor.

“Game over!” She said and turned back toward the two corpses.

The AKs weren’t in pristine condition but the guys had Colt 1911 and .45ACP bullets. Kate took the handguns without remorse, they wouldn’t need those now, would they? She looked down at their victim for whom it was too late. Corpse couldn’t be identifiable without a full forensic team and investigation.

Caryington turned back and climbed the building’s front at an amazing speed. She sat on the top of the highest gargoyle and took in the wretched and rotting city. She closed her eyes and extended her mind inch by inch in all directions. She didn’t felt much besides the corruption of the town and the rare and faint dots of justice upholders. No sign of the Overmind! The young woman reached further and further until it became harder and painful. She started to have headaches. It felt like fingers creeping inside her skull and fiddling with her brain.

She gritted her teeth and tried to push her scanning further but was thrown back by an unexpected resistance. She flew back five meters as if hit by a car at full speed. Pain became unbearable, like the fingers were trying to tear her eyes out of their sockets. Caryington shriek of pain as the unexpected force hammered her mind again and again. For how long had she been assaulted? She couldn’t remember. She opened her eyes when it was over. She had huddled up like a scared little girl who saw a monster hidden under her bed.

“Are you okay?” She was laying in the arms of a rather muscular blue-haired guy, dressed with black leather jacket and Union Jack T-shirt.

“Feels like I’m gonna puke out my guts.” She mumbled.

“Yeah, I read that clearly in your mind. Just don’t puke over me. Sorry if I hurt you but there ain’t no nice way to severe the telepathic connexion between you and your aggressor.”

“Means I owe you my life, right?”

The guy gave her a cool and confident smirk that seemed rather out of place in Gotham’s dark night. “At least your sanity! Feel any better? I’m shielding your mind from anyone’s else touch.”

Caryington nodded a thank and tried to sit up but she was completely exhausted. “How did you end up here?”

“Well I heard your telepathic distress call and I came as quickly as I could. Sorry if it took some time.”

“Thanks for that and I mean it!”

“Don’t worry I happened to be around. Want me to get you somewhere safe?”

When Caryington woke up on next day, she felt rather tired and exhausted as well bored. Phone and door bells were ringing in the same time and it echoes in her brain as if she had the head near a cathedral’s bell sounding the alarm. Reminded her when she used to be a blissfully ignorant psychology student getting drunk during Saturday’s evening parties.

She first grabbed the phone to hear granny Caryington. Katherine had some though minutes before she started too understand what her beloved grand-mother said. Not helping at all, she was trying to put on grey trousers and an oversized sweat-shirt and walking to the door where her visitor was still ringing. That one was more determined than a tax office employee.

“Hold on, granny. Gotta open the door!”

Which she eventually did. There stood a UPS delivery guy who almost shouted at her. “Good evening! I got a delivery for you. Please sign here and here.”

“A delivery? I’m not expecting anything!”

“Well, lady… There’s a delivery anyway! So either you take it or I’ll go back with it. I spend enough time ringing and I’m getting late for my other…”

“Okay! Okay! Gimme that thing!”

Katherine grabbed his paper and pen, signed, took the package and slammed the door on the guy’s face without a thank or an apology. Carelessly she threw her unexpected gift over the sofa, grabbed the phone and walked to the kitchen, with as much energy as a zombie.

“Granny? You there?”

“Of course, Kate. What was that?”

“UPS delivery, probably these work files I requested six months ago.”

“Well… Six pm is indeed a good time to wake up and get to work!”

“Don’t mention it! Too much work.”

As Katherine had left her grand-mother in a sudden urge, this one didn’t know about the tattoos, new hairs style and colours nor had she heard of Caryington’s new abilities and powers. This was a secret Kate intended to kep in order to keep her grand-mother safe.

“How’s your patient now? The one that forced me to eat the whole pie.”

“Not very well, I fear! He wouldn’t be in Arkham otherwise, would he?”

“I saw in the newspaper that thousand of people recently turned out to have superpower. I hope it doesn’t make you more and more busy.”

Kate bit her bottom lip. She hadn’t gone back to work and for a second there, all those lies disturbed her. More accurately it bothered her she wasn’t bothered a bit. Deep in her heart, she knew she was lieing for a good reason: granny’s safety. The less she’d knew, the safer she’d be.

“All these freaks will end up in Arkham sooner or later. Probably to keep on going back and forth… very alike our current residents.”

“How many times did I told you not to call anyone a freak, young lady! I thought I taught you respect of people whatever they might look alike or be.”

“Excuse-me, granny! Some of them are utterly insane and the world wouldn’t be worse without them.”

“Those people’s completely changed. Whoever they were is lost to them. How would you react in such a situation?”

Kate remained quiet as she started to wonder if granny Caryington wasn’t suspecting something. Her question was anyway excellent. How did she reacted? Kate was driven by her search of answers and she already murdered people who stood in her way. Evil people but whoever you killed, murdering was still murdering. Not to mention she almost died in that telepathic assault.

“I’d want answers. Maybe I’d try to do some good with such powers though.”

“Good! I see there is still hope for you. Maybe you should get such answers to advise your patients at best. You should have learned that in the university.”

“I did. It’s just…” Caryington let out a long and bored sigh. “Teaching good and evil in a place like Gotham is almost impossible. Everything is black or from a dark grey. Oh before I forget, I’ve been invited in Metropolis next week so don’t try to call me.”

“Metropolis? Is he a handsome and charming gentleman?”

“Who?” Kate asked not following her grand-mother on this one.

“The man you’re going to meet, darling! It still isn’t to late for you to find a nice mand and make yourself a better and happier life than the one you’re having in that gloomy place you lived in.”

“Oh, granny! Not again! I’m heading there for work not on a romantic date. I’ll have a tour of Stryker’s Island Penitentiary.”

“Such a shame!” The old woman replied with a hopeful voice. “Now if you see this Superman, give him a kiss on each checks from me. Alright, I’ll let you get ready to work!”

About an hour later, Kate was sitting on her Sofa, looking at that mysterious delivery. Two coffee, a shower and an aspirin definitely helped her get hundred percent awaken. It, on the other hand, didn’t solve the main question: what was so urgent that UPS woke her up. Not able to ponder about it and out of curiosity, she unwrapped the box to see a letter and a package.

Was that a mysterious lover? This would be so romantic but Caryington had no love interest nor did she knew anyone interested in her. The letter was rather short and had been printed from a computer.

“Sorry I couldn’t be there yesterday. I hope these will be enough of an apology. Please be careful in the future.
“the Overmind
“PS: I strongly advise you to make that travel to Metropolis.”

An apology gift? That was nice and pleasant. Maybe this Overmind guy was handsome, smart and rich. Knowing her luck he was maybe nice but probably neither rich nor handsome. Curiosity and impatience grew in Caryington who felt quite silly in her anxious teenager role. She opened the box to see two huge revolvers. Colt .357 Python, silver-plated with golden decoration and fine engraving all over their 8-inch long barrel. These engraving were ords in a language she did not understand.

Kate felt rather disappointed, she had hoped for something else. She had no clue about what she had expected but it was definitely not guns. She wanted answers more than she ever wanted guns. “These will come in time.” She thought realizing in the same time somebody thought that for her.

Metropolis was exactly as Kate reminded it.: huge and impressive. Gotham was nothing but a gigantic pack of building trying to free themselves from its own dark and gloomy streets. Metropolis wasn’t! It was about huge, bright and shining buildings rising for the sun. One shouldn’t misunderstood it as both cities were as dangerous.

Old memories of better days came back in Caryington’s mind. Years spent in Metropolis’ university, studying for her degree in psychology. Kate smiled and decided to take a few hours off on the campus. She sat on a table, under the sun, at this nice little café where she used to revise and enjoyed a quiet moment. Students were all around her, complaining about their incoming exams as if Earth fate was in the balance.

Soon she started to ponder about what was to happen.She had to find Superman and deliver him a message from the weirdo who saved her. How could one find the most famous and illusive man on Earth? No doubt many people wanted to talk to him yet very little knew how to.

Caryington had to time to think about this in the train between Gotham and Metropolis. She could just sit on top of the highest skyscraper and wait until she’d spot him or go to the nearest police station.

Batman would have been easier to contact for there was a bat-signal illuminating the sky that could lure him out of his batcave. Such a shame there was no supersignal or supercave. Police stations on the other hands were rather numerous.

Fifth precinct station was the closest one and Caryington headed there. It was crowded with officers, policemen and superheroes and none of them had time to stop and chat with her. Caryington decide dto sit down and wait until someone decided she’d be waiting long enough. Her idea work yet she had to wait a long time that seemed to her like several hours.

“What can I do for you, human?”

Question was asked by an alien rather ugly evenwith his black and green spandex uniform. If he had looked in a hurry to go somewhere else, he had stopped suddenly as he was passing by and before Caryington could say a single word, he squinted his six horrible eyes and asked.

“Do I know you by any chance? I got the feeling we’ve already met and I can’t remember where…”

“I don’t remember seeing an alien before. I am doctor Caryington from Arkham Asylium. I am here to meet Superman yet I don’t have an appointment with him.”

The Green Lantern officer stopped a MPD agent that was passing by. A few moments later, he mentioned Caryington to follow him into a more quiet and private office. He sat on one side and Kate on the other. He abruptly asked before any of them was indeed sat.

“Do you have any telepathic ability, Doctor?”

“Since less than a week, yes! Now I haven’t been using these to get your attention.”

“Something told me to stop and I can clearly sense you have already been touched by this exact same mind. It shall be a very powerful one to force me to stop. This mind isn’t unknown to me though. I have already sensed it elsewhere. "

Caryington was getting slightly bored and annoyed by this talk. She just wanted that costumed freak to call in Superman so she could go back to hunt for answers.

“I’m not the only telepathic-powered abnormality around I guess and I have been in contact with a few others already.”

The hideous alien stroke his horrible chin obviously sceptical about her answers. “Fact is just arrived on Earth a few moments ago and I shall not recognize you or this entity. Unless...”

Kate’s muscles suddenly clenched and her nerves were itching. She lost control over her own body, which had turned into an immobile statue-like state. When her eyes opened, they were all white and sinisterly glowed.

“The Overmind!” The Green Lantern exclaimed. “I thought I had destroyed you.”

“You have only destroyed one of my worlds, Green Lantern. This is insignificant!” Caryington’s voice had turned into something cavernous and unearthly. It would have been perfect to use in an horror movie like the exorcist.

“I can see where this is going. You’ll want to turn this female into one of your breeding queen, rise an army of thousands telepathic hunters and will try to take control over the Earth, right? I will not let you destroy this world or any other.”

“You should not speak of what you cannot understand nor should you stand in my way! This is a war you cannot win. This human has a message for the alien you call Superman. Bring him and let her go.”

The Green Lantern officer laughed out loud. “Let you go? I fought you over sixty three worlds and I will not let you get this one. Not on my watch!” He said hammering each word. “This human will be jailed in Stryker’s Island until you’ll free her from your perverse and manipulative grip.”

“I do not want to fight you, Green Lantern! Summon the Kryptonian and let us go. As a token of good faith, I will let go of that female but don’t lure yourself, she is mine as your world is.”

Caryington felt like she just woke up from a nightmare, with her mouth feeling all furry. It was weird to be freed from the little mind prison where the Overmind had pushed her when he assumed control. She had listen to the whole conversation and she even saw brief images, fragments of memories which lasted less than half a second.

Green Lantern were good guys and this one’s concern would have been disturbing if Caryington hadn’t felt the warm and comforting presence of the Overmind. It felt like he gently and protectively clasped her around the shoulders and there was no place for deception in her relation with the Overmind, Caryington knew it. “Do not worry, my lovely little larva! I shall watch over you and you shall become my Queen!”

Caryington smiled until the Green Lantern caught her in a green-beamed fist and brought her down to a high-security detention cell. She remained quiet warmed by the faint presence of the Overmind.

The detention room was rather small and completely shielded in some invisible way. Caryington knew it as she felt the empty hole in her mind where she’d expected to find him. She kept on thinking he would get her out one way or the other. The young woman wasn’t alone for the Overmind surely had other agents on Earth or at least the one who shipped her who shipped her the guns.

She slept a few as she had nothing else to do and she thought about what she’d heard. The Green Lantern Corps was made of defenders of the intergalactic peace. This one had seemed quite unshakable in his believes. This was obviously personal for him and she could understand. The Overmind had said he took control of his planet after all. Maybe he had a family there. What had happened to them?

“Hey!” She shouted when she saw some kind of green guy. “Don’t I get to see a lawyer?”

“You may. Do you have his name and phone number maybe?”

This made Caryington smirk as she had no idea where to find a lawyer specialized in evolution abnormalities and freaks.

“You’re a mutated human or some kind of alien?”

“I am a Martian.” He answered politely.

“This should do the trick. I hereby appoint you my lawyer. We’ll discuss your fees once I’m out of there.”

Was he amused or just curious? He anyway walked closer to the shielded window and gazed at her. “What have you done to end up here?”

“I politely asked one of these Green Lantern guy to arrange me a meeting with Superman. He locked me in as I’m a bloodthirsty alien invader about to devour the entire galaxy and enslaved whatever is left.”

“So it’s you’re the Overmind’s puppet. I expected you to look more wicked and evil.”

“Oh, please! I’m no puppet.”

“That’s not what Sak’tur said.”

“What do you know besides what he told you? Can you feel me in as to what’s gonna happen?”

“I only know what he told us. The Overmind is a telepathic entity, which control various species of Sector 673. Sak’tur and the Green Lantern stationed there drove him away.”

“The Overmind said he took control of this Sak’tur guy’s world. Can’t this bias a little his thinking?”

“He is a powerful telepath and I couldn’t read his mind. I for sure know he is hiding something from us. Your words anyway make sense. What about this message for Superman? Is that a message from your Overmind? I suspect he’s smarter than coming here to laugh on Superman and the Green Lanterns.”

“I’ve been sent here by Manchester Black. Purple hair, Union Jack T-shirt…”

“I happen to know him even if I wouldn’t consider him as a friend. It’s surprising he’d send you to Superman. These two aren’t best friends around you know.”

“I was in no position to read his mind when he found me but I happen to know a lot about human behaviour and body language. He wanted someone else to convey his message maybe because he knew Superman wouldn’t listen to him.”

The Martian stepped back and paced around for a few moments. “How do I trust?”

Kate shrugged off the answer. “Come in and read my mind if you can. I’m out of the Overmind’s influence and I am simply me.”

“A fair offer! I will confer with a friend and shall get back to you as soon as possible.”

The Martian Manhunter was a man (or more precisely a Martian) of his words. He came back after about twenty minutes with Superman. Both JLA members looked awesome once together. Caryington noted Sak’tur was surprisingly absent.

“I didn’t expected to see you any day soon nor did I expected you to bring Superman along.”

“I couldn’t stay out of this, Mrs Caryington. At least not after hearing two different stories from the Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter about you.” Superman was as calm as his friend and they looked much more comprehensive than this Sak’tur fellah.

“Thank you for coming.”

“Don’t rejoice too fast. We haven’t decided what we’ll do with you. There are questions that need an answer first.”

Kate nodded for this sounded fair to her. It always came back at unanswered questions. “So? What’s scheduled?”

“Three things.” Superman started in a tone clearly saying it was not open to negotiations. “First I want to ear that message you got for me, second the Martian Manhunter will scan your mind without the interference of your Overmind.”

“Last thing will be to attempt contact with the Overmind. After that we will make our decision regarding your case.”

Kate remained silent as she know it was her best chance to get out there. “Manchester Black wanted me to tell you was sorry for the turn of events. This message seemed genuine to me, that didn’t sound like a lie. My grandma also sends her regards. Don’t bother searching your memories for her, I suppose you don’t know any of Smallville humble farmers.”

Two things appeared on the Kryptonian’s face. A smile of concern as she mentioned Manchester Black and joyful smile as Caryington mentioned her grand-mother. He seemed to somehow believe there was something funny and ironic in what she said.

“You’ll thank your grandmother and will give her my regards. As for Manchester Black… I’m surprised to ear from him as he’s dead and for quite some times now. Could that be an impostor?”

“I don’t know. I did never hear about him until he found me.”

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Now if you don’t mind, we will lower the shield for a second to let the Martian Manhunter step in for the scan. Shall I expect any trouble from you?”

“You shall not.” She answered with a negative nod.

As soon as the shield opened, the Martian stepped in. They reactivated the shield right away but it was enough time for Kate to feel the warm pulse of the Overmind seeking her through the universe. It was a delicious sensation and Kate immediately extended her mind’s arms to reach him. She suddenly felt nothing but the emptiness of his absence. Caryington gritted her teeth as she felt pain through her whole body, like someone tried to tear out both her arms. She instinctively backed against the wall as a hurt and wild animal ready to bite.

“Don’t try anything foolish, Caryington!” Started Superman.

He was stopped by the Martian Manhunter who raised a hand. “It is not what you think, I’m in no danger!”

He gave Kate a few seconds to accept her temporary loss and recover her mind. It has been much more painful that when they put her in.

“Yes, it has been! I felt your mind reaching out for him as the shield was reactivated. The sudden disruption of your minds connection caused the pain.”

Kate shook off her head and wiped her tears. Pain remained though, like ice encasing her mind. “I feel so empty and defenseless away from his arms.”

“I understand, Kate. I feel the strong connection between the two of you. Your power is still very raw and untrained and it may hurt you more than it shall serve you. I will need you to think of me as a friend and open the door of your mind. It shall make things easier and less painful.”

Slowly the Martian Manhunter extended his powerful mind toward Kate’s. A door materialized in her mind as soon as he knocked. Thinking of him as a friend was way more complicated than she thought it could be. Every step she made toward the door was harder and harder. Her flat slowly appeared and she realized she didn’t want him in to search for all her secrets. He knocked again at the door but she didn’t manage to walk any closer.

“Is the door opened, Kate? Can I walk in?”

“No you cannot! You don’t have the key. My flat is locked, one’s never too careful in Gotham.”

“I see. It is not really your flat but a projection of what is in your mind. Home is usually showing a search of peace and safety. With discipline and training you could choose in which place you’ll want to ‘receive your guests’. You could make it a sunny beach on the sea side for example.”

As he spoke Kate saw her flat blur, becoming half the the flat, half her childhood’s room in Granny Caryington’s farm. She closed her eyes, took a deep breathe and tried to get hold of herself. Peace and quiet… and as the words formed in her mind, the scene changed becoming the far end of the Caryington’s farm, where stood the cherry tree and the blueberry bushes where.

“A nice and quiet place where you feel safe and at home.” The Martian manhunter was standing there but staying at a polite and respectful distance.

“I used to come here and pick up the cherries and berries for Granny’s pies.”

“I can sense their smell and remember how wonderful they are. The scanning won’t take too long.”

Kate nodded and waited quietly for a moment. As it was getting longer, she decided to chit-chat with him. “Do you like what you see?”

“It’s very interesting and quite similar to what I expected to find. You are a rather good person yet I can see you’re one to do wrong things for good reasons. It’s why I’ll really want to meet your Overmind. I can also sense clearly how devoted you are to his cause. A simple and unconditional loyalty like this is impressive and believe me it takes quite a lot to impress me.” He stopped watching the cloud lazily flying through the clear blue sky to face her. “I have seen what I wanted to.”

The next second they were back in the MPD station staring at each other. Superman was watching them and he needed a simple nod from his friend to know it was all in order. They once more opened the shield and Kate stared at the wall. Somehow it looked like she was huddling in the arms of an invisible man.

“What is this?” Superman asked.

“Something very complicated, their mind are closely connected. It’s like your identities as a simple man and as a super-hero had been ripped away. I can clearly sense this is only one step and their minds are to intertwine even more in the months to come.”

“So they are… melding back?”

“Not in the sense you have in mind. They are barely connecting together, think of it as a computer and its screen. Both work separate but they need to be together to have any use.”

Caryington turned to face the two men, with her eyes glowing white. “We are here!” The Overmind said with his inhuman voice.

“Who are you?” They asked.

“We are the Overmind. We are countless worlds and our intentions are not hostile toward the world under your jurisdiction, Justice League.”

“I can sense a door to his mind and I’ll try to go there.”

Superman nodded as he watched his friend disappear in this unknown mind. Even without telepathic abilities, Kal-El could feel the incredible power behind the creature.

The Martian Manhunter was with Kate standing in near the cherry tree. The Overmind was nowhere to be seen but both heard him pretty clearly. “We shall join you in a moment.” He said as a strange and almost disgusting chitinous thing started to crawl all over Caryington. Once again, she should had freaked out as the creature started to spread all over her body, yet she didn’t.

Of course this wasn’t real but inside such a powerful mind things could became to real and dangerous. As soon as the bio-armour covered her whole body, Earth shrunk under their feet and they travelled in space at an incredible speed. Sun disappeared and they left the milky way in less than a second. Their travel stopped in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing to see but stars by billions.

“Amazing!” Kate said and she looked around her seeing the universe revolve around her.

“Impressive, Overmind! But where are you?”

Somehow stars moved yet Kate and the Martian knew clearly they hadn’t moved in space. It seemed like… like this whole galaxy laying in front of there eyes looked at them.

“We are the Ovemind!” The galaxy said, slowly bending over them.

Kate smiled and she extended her arms to hold the galaxy in a fond embrace. She looked rather silly, just like a teen on her first date. Slowly the galaxy and started to take a humanoid shape.

“We welcome you at home.”

“So you are a… galaxy?”

“We are the common mind that consist of every single being of every planet of this galaxy.”

The Manhunter looked at the Overmind as he started to understand everything. Sak’tur was right to be afraid of its power. There was nothing that could be done to destroy such an entity, expect destroying the whole galaxy. This one was counting in billions of stars and maybe Quadrillions of inhabitants.

“What do you want from us?”

“We want that human, Martian and you shall not interfere. We want her as much as she wants us.”

“What do you want her for? Sak’tur seemed prone to believe you’ll use her as a Queen to breed you an army of…”

“You do not believe that and you are right. Time is infinite for us. We shall engulf your galaxy in our infinite peace. Do not worry this operation will take thousands of years and will be a long process.”

Still mesmerized by this close contact and the impressive spectacle, Kate ‘smiled’ a question. “What did we do to Sak’tur’s World?”

“It was decadent! Rotten and destroyed by its main hosts' industrialisation. We attempted to save it. We extended our arms to nurse both the planet and its inhabitant. Most of them welcomed our wisdom and guidance. In ten, years we had saved the whole planet but this did not pleased everyone.”

“What did our enemy do?”

To answer Caryington’s question, images started to appear all around them. Most of them didn’t require any subtitle but the Overmind said it anyway.
“War! A nuclear war that devastated their own world. They condemned their own kind to death, slaughtered whoever we ‘manipulated’…”

“I see… What about Sak’tur in all this?”

Images changed and clearly showed Shak’tur, haranguing hostile mobs, starting riots, stealing the codes for the nuclear arsenal, fleeing the destroyed world. “Why did we let him go, love?”

“Sak’tur found outer help in his war… The Green Lanterns, he deceived them into believing we are hostile. We didn’t want to start a war with the Lantern Corps. We wanted our worlds to be free and at peace.”

“And what shall we do about him?”

“Nothing! We do not want war with the Green Lanterns.” Images from Sak’tur being beaten to death, shot down, strangled or having his throat cut appeared. The Overmind turned his attention toward Caryington. “He is a murderer and Justice shall be done but not by us, my lovely larva.”

The images once more changed to show a young little Caryington, with her cute bunches. She looked like six or seven, sitting on an over-sized chair, swinging her feet in the gap. She smiled, while twisting the lock falling over her adorable face. Her whole body, except for her head, was cover with the same kind of insect-like bio-armour.

“You are just a child and you barely understand the situation. Do not worry for you shall be us soon and you will understand everything!”

A few moments later, Caryington was back on Earth and she shot off on the top of the police station. She dashed forward to reach the next skyscraper façade and climbed it quickly. Freedom! She could feel it all around her so many direction to pick from. She’d reached for the higher possible. Distance was insignificant on the intergalactic scale but Kate felt closer to the Overmind.

“Wherever you are, we are still with you.”

Hanging on top of Metropolis, Caryington smirked. What direction to choose now? Gotham! She should get back to Gotham, this is were her life was. Two green arrows shot by at supersonic speed, they slowed down and came to stop in front of her. This was a human Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter.

“Kate! I believe you’ve never met, the Green Lantern.”

The black-skinned man nodded at her, with this Justice League air. Caryington instantly understood which Green Lantern officer he was. “We wanted to find you and let you know we’ve arrested Sak’tur and he shall answer for his crimes.” The man said.

She blinked twice and her eyes started to glow white as the connection with the Overmind strengthened. She smiled at the news. “We are therefore in your debt, Justice League. You shall call us to fight along you for Earth’s sake.”

“And so shall we.” The Green Lantern said.