Fate/Heroes - Chapter 35

Gray decided to leave the discussions there for the night. The questions coming from Robin were starting to get more and more invasive, and after having his sėxuȧŀity questioned by Kid Flash, the Pseudo-Servant went back to his room and retired for the night.

He didn’t go to sleep straight away and neither did he go out and patrol New York, but rather installed Caster and created several shikigami to observe the members of the Team to make sure they didn’t try to spy on him or leave listening devices around his penthouse.

They did have both Batgirl and Robin on the Team, both of whom were trained by the best detective on the planet. Despite their lack of powers, their physical prowess was top-tier for a normal human, and their investigative skills were top-notch.

Batgirl, or Barbara as she preferred to be called, helped Miss Martian and Artemis take Supergirl, Aquagirl and Wondergirl back to the room that Gray had let them stay in, leaving no listening devices or cameras in his penthouse whatsoever.

Dick, the boy wonder and the first iteration of Robin, left several listening devices around his penthouse, all of which were disposed of by Gray’s shikigami, flushing them down the toilet with absolutely no remorse.

Caster, despite her lack of physical strength in close-combat, excelled in the creation of shikigami, talismans and seals, eastern-style magecraft. Onmyoudou, houjutsu and various other Japanese magecraft were all available to Gray, and he made sure to make use of said magecraft, in the creation of his Workshop.

“At least I didn’t have to clean any any messes Kara or the others made…..”.

Gray awoke, and with his enhances senses, smelt no alcohol pervading throughout the house, nor the faint smell of gastric juices usually accompanied by someone throwing up.

Besides the fact that he’d have to clean it up, he was sure that Cassie, Kara and Mareena would be a lot more embarrassed than he would, especially if he moved said mess into their guest room.

Gray’s penthouse was three floors if you included the rooftop pool and helipad. The first floor consisted of his lounge room, kitchen and dining area, with two bathrooms and two bedrooms, in which the members of the Team stayed in.

Gray himself slept on the second floor. There was another lounge area upstairs and two more bathrooms on the second floor. Their were four bedrooms on the second story, one of said bedrooms was used to hold all of Gray’s money and treasures, and had ample sealing placed on it.

It was a nice house to say the least. Large and open with plenty of storage space.

The twenty year old yawned a little as he exited his room and went down the stairs into the kitchen. Despite his initial thoughts, no-one from the rest of the Team was up yet, and the entire first floor was completely desolate.

Gray could hear the heartbeats of the teens in his two guest rooms and suppressed his superhuman senses and went up to the rooftop, sitting in one of the sun chairs by the pool.

Harlem, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn…. all had minor disturbances, but none were life-threatening so the Pseudo-Servant turned them off.

Gray heard footsteps coming up from behind him, and the sound of a sliding door opening made him raise an eyebrow and smiling slightly.

“A little early considering you weren’t fully yourself yesterday. How are you feeling?”.

A beautiful ċhėstnut blonde haired girl with sky blue eyes and a face more red than a tomato stepped through the sliding door. Wrapped around her upper body was a small but heavy blanket that shielded her from the cool summer morning. Although Kara didn’t need such protection due to her Kryptonian physique, it still comforted the girl to feel embraced by the warm blanket.

The beautiful girl sat down on the sun chairs beside Gray, pulling the chair closer towards him so that there was almost no gap between their chairs.

The Pseudo-Servant raised an eyebrow as the Kryptonian sat down in the chair beside him as she smiled at the older male.

“Why’d you come out here Kara? Don’t you and your little Superfriends have missions to go on?”.

She girl gave a cheeky grin as she looked at Gray.

“Maybe this is the mission. To find out this strange spear wielding hero in New York City. How do you know that I’m not playing you?”.

Gray rolled his eyes at the younger girls words and listened to the faint echoes of cars and chattering dozens of floors below him. Both him and Kara possessed superhuman senses, hearing being one of their strong points.

The pair sat there in silence, Gray with a content and relaxed expression on his face, and Kara had a slightly embarrassed one.

“Is there something you need Kara? Something that needs my attention?”.

The Kryptonian looked even more embarrassed for a moment before pressing her index fingers together in a shy manner. Rider made some inappropriate comment in Gray’s mind, while Caster’s voice reprimanded the Greek Hero, saying that her husband would never cheat on her.

Letting out a deep breath Kara looked at Gray, her expression serious with any red from her cheeks gone.

“I was wondering what the me from the other world was like. You obviously knew us from your world, and showed a degree of closeness that wasn’t from just a common friendship. I have to ask…. were we close?”.

Gray grew still for a moment before sighing, the tone caused Kara’s expression to falter a little.

“I have to let you know Kara that I’ve met several versions of you. Not just one”.

“So you’ve been to more than one universe?”. She asked.

“The one I’m most familiar with is an older version of you. She was roughly 22 and I saw her become Supergirl at that age. She wasn’t like you, and didn’t pick up the superhero gimmick straight away. She also left Krypton at age 13, getting trapped in the Phantom Zone like you for 36 years”. Gray spoke without a hint of closeness in his voice.

“And did you know her very well?”.

“Sort of. She worked with an organization called the DEO with J’onn J’onzz or Martian Manhunter as its Director. She wasn’t named Kara Kent either, in this world her name was Kara Danvers”.

The younger Kara widened her eyes at the revelation that Martian Manhunter was a close friend of another version of her. The J’onn J’onzz of this world was her cousins friend. She knew Miss Martian but had very few meetings with the older Green Martian.

“Another version of you escaped Argo City after the fall of Krypton. Argo City was saved by some strange dome technology but then latter captured by Brainiac. You came to Earth to warn your cousin who fought him and lost”.

“Kal lost to Brainiac!”.

Kara’s eyes widened at even the thought of her older cousin losing to the second-deadliest enemy of the Justice League. In this universe they won against Brainiac, although the villain didn’t keep Argo City trapped in this strange dome technology of his.

“There was another universe where you named yourself Powergirl in order to make yourself more distant from your cousin. You had short hair and a uniform that well…. made you look good”.

The girl reddened slightly and her imagination ran wild at Gray’s words.

“Another where a clone of you was made, just like with Superman and Superboy. They called her Galatea. And in the original universe with Kara Danvers, exposure to Black Kryptonite created Snowbird, a Kaznian version of youself”.

Kara’s eyes widened at the thought of someone with her exact face with a monotone expression talking in an accented English. The sixteen year old giggled at the thought and Gray smiled at her happier expression.

“I saw this different universes, but never stayed for very long. They didn’t feel like home after all….”.

Gray’s fragmented memories came to mind, or tried to at least and only memories of the battlefield came to mind instead. An image of him completely covered in blood as he watched arrows rain down from all sides flashed through his mind, a sad feeling came from Caster.

The teenage Kryptonian saw the melancholy expression on the young man’s face and she felt a sinking feeling in her ċhėst. The girl reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving Gray a small smile.

“I hope you stay Gray. I don’t think you’re a bad guy and even Conner, M’gann and Kaldur agree with me. They really support your views on alien/human equality”.

Gray gave the girl a thankful smile before hearing a loud bang echo from his kitchen, sighing a little as the sound “WALLY!”, resounded throughout his penthouse. Artemis’ voice sounded as though she wanted to neuter the speedster, thankfully she didn’t use any of her arrows to do so to the protégé of the Flash.

Kara giggled at her teammates actions and looked up at Gray’s figure walking away from the poolside towards the kitchen downstairs, a sad sigh left the girl’s lips.

“Stupid Earth and their stupid laws….”.

The meaning behind her words only she knew.