Something Superman Missed

 The conversation here in the D.E.O. of Earth 21 was mentioned a total of five times in the 8 chapters of this story. But has never been shown...because it has never been written. Until the last week of 2024. None of this ever took shape in my head before now. Later on, when the Dining on Ashes story arc begins, Superman mentions this conversation to J'onn. But we have never actually seen it. So I'm proud, excited and strangely  content that at last we see how These 3 first met each-other. The first time Nikita and Kal-El of Krypton, met Mon-El the former prince of Daxam in my sprawling Earth-21 D.E.O. Odyssey.

Superman is questioning a newly arrived/newly captured D.E.O. prisoner who he is convinced is responsible for a recent attack on a US senator. His passion is fueled in part because he saw the effect that intruder had on one of his friends. But is not actually listening to him or even wanting the answers he is demanding. His attitude is "Daxamite you are" "Daxamite why did you do this?" And so on. Then he says something to the effect of 'the D.E.O. won't believe you any more than I do.” At which point Nikita steps forward with a very rare and VERY scary angry face.

“That's enough Superman!” Nikita near-barked at the Kryptonian. Who turned around with surprise and more than a little confusion. “We have no more reason to be suspicious of him than we do of you. Daxamite or Kryptonian, the D.E.O. has no particular opinion of either one of you. If you're going to speak as one of us, make sure it's something that would actually come out of our mouths.” She walked up to the cell that contained their latest alien guest and began typing something into the console. “Guilty until proven innocent has no place at the D.E.O. Not anymore anyway.” She sounded almost bitter, and she realized it. “And by the way, you're not one of us. You are the D.E.O.'s closest alien ally but still an ally of the D.E.O. Not a part of it. We do not share you're particular prejudices about each other. I can say unequivocally that as far as Director Jo'nzz is concerned you leave assuming the worst about someone the instant you walk into the door of this facility.” 

“What are you doing?” Superman asked in a puzzled voice.

“I'm getting him out of that cell.”

“You don't have the authority...”

Nikita chuckled. “Actually, I do. You don't have the authority to stop me.” Nikita tilted her head, up. “C.A.T. Two-three-one-seven-four-six-one-one oblique oblique. Enable.” The force-field powered down. “Come on out.” Nikita instructed the prisoner.

“I don't understand.” The man in the cell pondered. “You're actually letting me go?”

Nikita looked caught out. “I can't let you out of this facility. You'll have to speak Director Jo'nzz about that. But there is no reason on the face of this planet -Earth- for you to stay in this cell. Come on, I'll take you to my compartments.” Nikita turned to Superman. “You assumed he's responsible for these attacks because he's a Daxamite. The very fact that he's a Daxamite makes it impossible. I never thought I'd say this to someone wearing that crest but open your damn eyes.”

“Okay, now I'm really confused.”

“The crime Kal-El is accusing you of was perpetrated by either a Kryptonian or Infernian. It involved heat vision. While you have a Kryptonian's strength and speed under our yellow sun, you do not posses any of their other incredible abilities, like heat vision. During the attack, I collapsed. Superman as he's known here on Earth was with me, and rightly guessed the attacker was responsible. Except only Infernians and White Martians affect me in such a way. It's a physiological response by body has to the very presence of either of those beings. It's physically impossible for you to be responsible for any of this.”

“Whoever you are...” The stranger began. “I don't want to get you into any trouble.”

“As far as trouble with him,” she pointed to superman “that's my own damn fault and I'll take it. If you mean with my superiors...” Nikita turned back to Superman. “When J'onn asked me to join the D.E.O. I gave one condition. If I actively believe a prisoner does not belong in this cell, I can act on that belief without asking prior permission. It is literally a condition of me wearing this uniform... Such as it is.” She continued, looking at her loose fitting black top and its longer-than-regulation sleeves.

“Something else is troubling you.” Superman observed.

“Two things. Among my people introductions should come before almost anything.” She pointed to the center of her chest with her right hand. “My name is Nikita, I'm Xavallen. You?” She indicated the former prisoner.

“My name is Mon-El. I'm the former prince of Daxam.” They looked at Superman.

“The two of you would call me Kal-El. Most people on Earth know me as Superman.”

“The more troubling part is the self-defeating blindness of 'do you have anything to say for yourself, anything' and then continuing to talk as if you'd given him a chance to answer. I think he would have had something to say for himself if he wasn't talking to a brick wall. I know I would have.”

“I keep forgetting.” Kal-El said, his voice much weaker than it had been.

“Easy thing to do, we never told you. I understandably do not like to think about it.”

“I'll have to ask J'onn. Will you let him know I'm alright to talk to?"

“He doesn't know.” Nikita insisted fiercely. “I mean, he knows the basics, we went through the timeline fo everything the first time we even met but if you want to know why this is all so personal for me, why it burns me to see you falling into the same trap, I never told him. You'd have to talk to the man whose FACE J'onn is wearing for that.” Nikita motioned Mon-El out of the room. He followed her silently.

"Okay this is stating the obvious but, they know you're an alien.” Mon-El observed.

“Yes.” Nikita replied simply. “Human looking alien who prefers reading a book and sharing knowledge to picking up any kind of weapon. The rest of this conversation should wait to be said in private.”

“Can't argue with you there.”

Nikita turned a corner and suddenly they seemed to be at a dead end. She simply turned to the door at her left. Pressing her four fingertips against the pad next to the door she addressed the air. “One-one-four. Seven-point-two.” The door slid aside.

“Does everything here work on a numerical system?”

“No. Only things requiring my participation. They're number sequences from my personal past, things that don't have any meaning to anyone else.”

“So not only would no one else ever use them, no one else could ever guess them.”

“Exactly.”

“I'll make us some coffee. It's a pretty cool way to clear your head. Take a seat.”

Mon-El noticed the blue couch, the short but wide table that spread along it and the two seats in the far corner. He sat down on the floor in front of the table, facing the sofa. “I don't suppose you could pour me a glass of ale instead?”

“I'm not against it. But J'onn will be coming soon to check on you. Clearing fuzz out of your brain is more advisable.” Nikita rummaged around in her kitchenette for supplies. Soon the coffeemaker was gurgling. She came out carrying two narrow white mugs and a tall thermos. Setting the objects down she smiled at her guest. “Mon-El, in case I didn't make it clear, you are most welcome here. Certainly as far as I care.”

Mon-El took the hint and pulled one of the chairs up to the table and sat down. “J'onn,” Mon-El began. “Same man as director Jo'nzz?”

“Yeah. And that's as good a starting point as any.” Raising her glass. “To friends and family may whatever 'God' may be keep them safe and hold them in his hand.”

“Cheers to that.” They clinked mugs and drank.

“I've been an agent of the D.E.O...the Department of Extra-normal Operations for about three years now. But when I was first brought in through its doors, I was considered an 'enemy alien'. No particular reason for it, except the answers I gave didn't make any sense to Hank. A man named Hank Henshaw was the director of the place at the time. He thought the only reason I looked this human is because I was trying to fit in. Kept trying to get me to show him what I really look like.” She held her hands to her face. “This IS what I really look like. He couldn't figure any reason for me to have lived on Earth for more than 50 years without telling anyone I was an alien, except espionage. In the 50 years I had been on Earth I told exactly two people that I was Xavallen. One was an alien himself. The other a good man who used to work here. I had no reason to tell Hank Henshaw a damn thing.”

“What changed?”

“The director, J'onn Jo'nzz, he's an alien himself. And a shape-shifter. When Hank Henshaw died J'onn assumed his identity. We've spent the four years since trying to reform the D.E.O into something better than what I found. I have never felt more 'Henshaw'd' then I did when Superman was talking to you. And I serve under a man wearing his face.”

“Deus. No wonder this was so personal for you.”

“This is literally the first time I've really talked about it. I don't even talk to J'onn about my time here before. But there is something, there is one memory I should share with him.”

The door chimed. “Come in.” A black man in his mid forties, well built with short-cropped hair entered the room. A holstered weapon hung at his side. It could not be doubted he was a person of authority, and preparedness.

“I take it this is our latest alien visitor?”

“Yes. But introductions should come first.” Nikita replied.

“My name is Mon-El; I'm the former prince of a planet called Daxam.”

“I am J'onn Jo'nzz. I'm the director at the Department of Extra-normal Operations.”

“From what Nikita tells me you're a fair-minded man and patient. I hope you will be patient with me.”

“I'll do my best.” J'onn answered with a soft smile. “We'll put you in guest quarters for now. And I will tell you up front you will not leave the D.E.O unaccompanied. Do you you understand and accept this?”

“Does leaving with Nikita qualify as 'accompanied'? If so I have no problem with it.”

“Nikita, was everything above board?”

“I can honestly say I don't understand the question.”

“I am not concerned with how much of our operation he knows about. I'm wondering how much of your history you've shared with him.”

“If I didn't know you, I'd think you were jealous. But to answer your question, or rather the reasoning behind your question: I trust him as much as I trust Winn, as much as I trust Kal-El, as much as I trusted you when I first met you.” J'onn took half a step back. “And if you look at the past 28 minutes of my memories, you will see the extent to which that is true.” She nodded sagely. J'onn put his hand to Nikita's temple. A few seconds later his eyes snapped open. Nikita regardeed J'onn with dreadful seriousness. „eemaanadaaree hamesha zaroori hai. jo zaroori hai (eemaanadaaree) vah vyavsayik ya apratyaashit ho sakata hai, lekin kabhee bhee naasamajhee nahin hotee.“

J'onn mentally translated her words. Honesty is always necessary. What is necessary (honesty) may be unprofessional or unexpected, but is never unwise.

"I understand that." He turned to Mon-El. "Excuse us for a moment."

"What was the memory? I saw the mention of the memory. What was the memory?“

"I will tell you about it...when the memory itself is the focus of the conversation. It's when things changed. Hank decided he could trust me to a certain point, and I decided how much I would do for Jeremiah, that I would literally do anything to protect him. Although it turned out I wasn't very good at that part.“ Nikita said with self-directed contempt. “You know, someday you're going to tell me what happened.“

"I don't understand. You were there. You did everything you could to protect Jeremiah from me. I gained at least one friend that day because of you.“

"But I don't know what happened to him! I know he died that night. And given how you talk about him and the fact that I saw Henshaw's body, he probably died saving you from that monster. But I don't know what happened to him. I was a little busy being unconscious.”
“You...You don't...”

"J'onn I know Jeremiah didn't survive that mission. That is ALL I ever knew.“