Chapter 34: Not Found

Lucas looked at the two ‘Kara Zor-Ls’ glaring at each other and felt a cold sweat behind his back.

Anyway, let’s escape first.

“Right...get along now. Bye!”

“Ah! Lucas! Get back here!”

Ignoring Kara shouting at him, Lucas left and returned to the Wayne Manor.

Phew...Karen should be okay there with Kara around. Even though Kara acts like that, I’m sure she wouldn't abandon a fellow Kryptonian...probably.

Lucas sighed and walked to his room to rest.

These days, even though he doesn’t really do anything big, he is surprisingly pretty busy…

As he walked to his room, he saw his brother just leaving the hidden elevator to the Batcave along with Dick Greyson.

Robin must’ve come to look for Batman after his recent failure in the mission for some advice while I was looking for Wally.

Lucas thought so and greeted them.

“Hey. Wally’s back in the base...but I suggest you don’t return there immediately.”

“Oh, Uncle Luke! You’re back! Hm? What do you mean?”

Dick asked.

“Uhh, things happened and there is another Kryptonian there. She’s a doppelganger of Kara from another world so...well...they’re getting along…”

“...”

Dick tried to recall Kara’s strength then thought of duplicating another version of her who is just as strong.

If those two are together…

Dick’s face paled and he looked at Bruce as he asked.

“B-Bruce! Don’t we still need to track down Mad Hatter!? I’m going back to the cave!”

Seeing Dick retreat back to the Batcave, Lucas clicked his tongue.

Sure enough, this kid is so quick to understand.

Anyway, there aren’t any missions for them at the moment so they are free to do what they want.

Bruce raised a brow at Lucas and asked what happened.

Lucas explained to him regarding Karen and her amnesia as well as him already asking Caitlin to look into what world she might’ve been.

As soon as they know which world she belongs to, they can just go to that world and Karen should start remembering some things. It shouldn’t cause any issues.

“Well, I’ll tell Clark about her as well. That guy’s probably gonna be over the moon once he finds out there is another Kryptonian.”

Lucas nodded and didn’t mind.

Just as he was about to go to his room, Bruce asked.

“By the way...have you seen my extra cowl? I can’t seem to find it anywhere in the cave.”

Lucas flinched upon hearing that.

“N-nope. I was out the whole day. Didn’t see it.”

Damn! I forgot to take it back with me! That Cisco still has it!

...Well, I’ll just take it back from him later when getting the results of Karen’s world.

Lucas quickly left and went to his room.

Closing the door behind him, he sighed and slumped on the bed.

He closed his eyes and started to enter the dreamworld.

After a few hours, he felt something beside him and hugged it thinking it was a pillow. But after touching it, the sensation felt...different…

Lucas groped a few times and a thought appeared in his mind.

Instantly, his eyes opened wide!

“My, it’s been a long time and you’ve become so naughty, Lucas.”

“L-Lena!?”

Surprised with the sudden appearance of Lena before him, Lucas backed out a bit but bumped into something else behind him.

A pair of slender arms hugged him from behind.

Turning around, he saw another familiar face.

“Thea!?”

“Hmph! Now you remember us!”

Hearing the dissatisfaction in her tone, Lucas showed an embarrassing smile.

Even though he had been back for a few days, he hasn’t actually visited these two yet which made him embarrassed.

They probably knew that he was alive from their brothers or maybe Barbara told them...anyway, it was indeed his fault for not looking for them.

Looking at the sad expression on Thea, Lucas sighed and hugged her back.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come to find you two sooner.”

“...Hmph! We know you’re busy. We’re not mad...but you could’ve at least dropped by to say hi!”

Lena smiled wryly seeing Thea act like that and also hugged them.

“You have no idea how much Thea cried when you were gone. She even tried to go back to drugs you know? Of course, me and Barbara stopped her.”

“L-Lena! No need to tell him that!”

Lucas sighed in relief when he heard that.

It was a good thing that they had become great friends. He didn’t want to see Thea wasting her life like that again.

“Right, I heard you guys started a company?”

“Yep! Lucas Enterprise!”

“...”

Lena proudly said which made Lucas not know whether to laugh or cry.

Why did they have to use his name!? Isn’t that embarrassing!?

Thea smiled at Lucas teasingly.

“You should come by sometime. We even made a bronze statue of you in the building!”

“...Please give me a break…”

A bronze statue...I’d rather die than go there.

If I go there, I will die from embarrassment!

Then, Lena started to whisper in his ear.

“Are you still busy?”

“N-no…”

“Time to get busy then~”

What followed next...well, you know.

…

Back in Starlabs.

Barry and Cisco just returned and found Caitlin in the cortex.

“Hey. You’re back. Where’s Iris?”

“Yep! The Turtle has finally been caught! Iris went back home earlier.”

Barry slumped on a chair completely exhausted.

In order to take down the Turtle, he had really pushed himself a lot. That damn ability of him to slow everything around him had annoyed Barry.

Thankfully, he managed to pull through and defeated him.

“How’s Lu-...uhh, Prime? He’s back as well?”

Caitlin rolled her eyes at him.

“I know who he is too. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Who’s what? What do you mean?”

Cisco asked.

“Prime. Anyway, there’s something I need you to look into Cisco.”

Caitlin didn’t pursue the topic anymore and showed the frequency she took from Karen to Cisco.

“Can you check and see which Earth this frequency might belong to?”

Cisco looked at the frequency then back to Caitlin.

“Well...I can try it. Give me a sec.”

Cisco started to work on the computer to cross-check with his database regarding the various frequencies in the multiverse.

When the results came up, he frowned.

“...Where did you get this?”

“What’s wrong?”

Cisco turned the monitor to Caitlin and showed him.

“It says here this is from Earth-32.”

Caitlin looked at the display and her eyes widened.

Barry also took a look and showed a serious look.

“Is this real?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how...or why...but it says here that Earth-32...no longer exists!”

Right, just as Cisco said. His database could indeed check that the frequency was from Earth-32. But it's no longer getting signal from that earth...It was as if it was erased from existence!

Cisco felt his powers and tried to vibe to that earth but there was also nothing.

“I can’t feel that world as well even with my powers!”

Barry turned to Caitlin and asked.

“Where did you get this?”

“I…”

Caitlin was still in shock at the thought of an entire universe disappearing but she still told them about Karen.

After learning about what happened, Caitlin dialed Lucas’ number and called him.

“Caitlin? What’s up? Did the results come in?”

“It did but...it’s not what we expected.”

“...I’ll go there. Just a sec.”

On the other side of the phone, Lucas ended the call and looked at Lena and Thea who were both exhausted on the bed.

He kissed the two of them before leaving.

“I need to go now. I’ll see you guys later.”

The two of them nodded and went back to sleep. They were too exhausted to move…

Lucas smiled wryly at their behaviors and ran out as lightning trailed behind him.

On the way, he passed by Bruce who was about to eat a donut and grabbed it on his way.

Bruce looked at his empty hand and his face twitched a few times…

He glanced at the box on the table and it was also gone…

THAT DAMNED LUCAS!!!

Lucas laughed as he ate the donut while carrying a box of donuts on the way.

Sorry bro, this speedrunning really burns a lot of calories!

In a few seconds, he was already back in Starlabs in Central City.

“Donuts?”

“Whoa!”

Cisco was shocked to see another speedster suddenly appear in front of them.

His jaw dropped as he saw the face of the man who just appeared.

“Y-y-you…! It’s you!”

Naturally, Cisco has recognized Lucas as the one who had arrived here earlier.

“You were a speedster as well!?”

“Yes and no. Alright. What did you guys find?”

Cisco was still surprised so Caitlin explained the matter to him and showed him the data on the monitor.

Lucas frowned as he heard their findings.

“...What do we tell Karen?”

Caitlin sighed and asked.

It was possible that out of the entirety of Earth-32, only Karen managed to remain alive…

That kind of thing...would she be able to handle the news?

Lucas was also deliberating whether to tell Karen the truth or not.

For one, Lucas didn’t like to lie to her concerning her homeworld. She has the right to know what has happened.

But it was also true that not telling her will make her more at ease...but then until how long will they have to lie to her?

White lies are still lies. And the truth will always come out one way or another.

After some consideration, Lucas decided to tell her the truth.

“Thanks for telling me this. Cisco, can you send me a list of the known worlds you have? I just need some reference regarding the multiverse. Also, send me this data on my phone.

“O-okay.”

Lucas thanked Caitlin and the others again and went on his way back to Mount Justice.

It didn’t take long for him to find Kara and Karen still bickering in Kryptonian language while watching a series on the TV.

Raven was there sitting with them but was quietly watching and acted as if she didn’t see the two of them.

Kid Flash was still cleaning the place.

Wonder Girl and Aqualad are sparring each other in the training room.

And Miss Martian is showing Static around the place.

Lucas walked towards the lounge where Karen was and stood in front of the TV.

“Lucas! You came back! Now explain what this is all about! Why did you bring this woman here!?”

Kara asked while glaring at Karen who simply snorted and crossed her arms.

Lucas’ face was serious and looked at Karen without minding Kara.

He hesitated for a moment before sighing.

Tapping on his phone, the screen on the TV changed the display and showed the data Cisco passed on him.

“Hm? What’s this?”

Raven frowned seeing the show she was watching get cut off.

On the display, there were two words in the middle colored red.

[NOT FOUND]

On the upper left corner showed Earth-32.

There were also other data noted below the display and a string of frequency shown as well.

Lucas looked at Karen and spoke in Kryptonian language as she still couldn’t understand English.

“Are you familiar with the multiverse theory?”

“...Somewhat.”

“Then you know that each world has a specific frequency...and that people from that world would also have similar frequencies...right?”

Lucas paused for a moment in order to not shock her too much.

At this point, Karen could vaguely sense what he was about to say but didn’t want to believe it.

“...We found which world your frequency belonged to…”

Lucas looked back on the data shown on the display.

“Earth-32...this is your home.”

“...What does that say?”

Karen gritted her teeth as she prayed she was wrong.

“...Not found...it means...your universe is no more…”

Karen’s face started to pale.

Even though she couldn’t remember...the feeling of losing your own universe could still be felt in her heart...

“T-that can’t be...right? I mean...how is that even possible!?”

“...We don’t know. We’ve tried to breach through that place already but it's no use.”

Lucas was sure that Cisco must’ve tested it already as this data was really unbelievable.

So for him to say that this was the case...meant that he tried it already and failed to breach through.

Karen’s body shook.

“I...then what am I supposed to do…?”

Not knowing what to do, Karen left for her room to be alone.

Lucas sighed and removed the display on the screen.

Kara was no longer angry and looked at Karen’s direction with worry.

She had felt what it was like to have her home planet be destroyed. Now, Karen had just heard that apparently, her whole universe was gone!

To be the lone survivor of a whole universe...Kara couldn’t even begin to understand how that must’ve felt like.

She looked back at Lucas and asked.

“Is this...why she’s here?”

“...Before, we still didn’t know where she came from. All we knew was that she was from another world and that her memories have been blocked. I was thinking of letting her stay here first while we check where she came from...alas, we didn’t expect the result to be...like this.”

“...”

Kara fell silent for a moment before standing up and looked for Karen.

Lucas hoped Kara would be able to pull Karen out of the darkness.

In the lounge, Raven didn’t understand what was going on as they were all speaking in Kryptonian so Lucas had to explain to her.

After hearing what had happened, she also felt sad and stopped lazing around.

She walked to the training room and started to train harder as well.

There are a lot of things that they didn’t know about in the world.

Surprisingly, destroying an entire universe was even possible...they were still too weak.

Raven felt that she could no longer afford to keep lazing around. She needs to get stronger if she wants to be able to protect those close to her.

Only by becoming stronger...will they gain a fighting chance.

No matter how small it may be.

At this moment, a beep sounded from Lucas’ phone.

Looking at it, he could see the Batcomputer had sent him a message.

Garfield Logan has been found.

Lucas looked back at Karen’s direction and left.

It was time to go fetch Beast Boy.