Mystery and Murder in Leesburg Woods |
Summary: | A couple days after the incident in New York City, Miss Marvel heads to the coordinates passed along by the mysterious figure. When Power Woman spots that, she comes to check on things. Eventually, the two heroines call in Wonder Woman as a prelude to full League involvement. |
Date: | 2014-06-14 |
Related: | Everything to See Here - the trip to NYC; Heroes Twinkling in the Night Sky - League members discussing things leading up to this scene ; [] Linda and Mary leading up to this scene |
NPCs: | NA |
Scene Runner: | Linda Danvers |
Social/Plot: | Plot |
A dark, cloudless Saturday night. Mary made sure that Linda made it back to the school before curfew, and then changed into Miss Marvel. She's not used to having an entire League to help her with what she considers to be 'small' problems, so doesn't bother to report what's going on to the monitor. Seeing as this isn't something catastrophic on a global scale, she doesn't think to ask for help. She stays low enough to stay under the flight plans of commercial and military planes while also going slow enough to not break the sound barrier and scaring people with a sonic boom. She makes her approach to Virginia, passing DC and waving to the White House. Once she hits Leesburg she slows and finds her way to the coordinates. She's still a bit freaked about the creepy man(TM) but has to put those thoughts aside as she thinks of Linda. She finds the lake and looks, pulling a small flashlight from her belt as she makes her way into the cave…
On monitor duty, high, high above the Earth, Kara Zor-L is minding not her own business, but that of the entire planet. She's looking for anything that is going wrong. And that includes keeping a tiny bit of an eye out on a few important things, like a certain school in upstate New York. And the locations of her teammates. And when the location of one of her teammates gets near to another location she's keeping a very, very close eye on lately, Kara perks up. She runs filters and checks, to make sure that the signal she has is legit, and that Miss Marvel really has virtually /stopped/ within a stone's throw of those coordinates in Leesburg. And once that is confirmed?
Power Woman doesn't even bother with the Zeta Beams. She launches herself out of the Watchtower through the docking bay and propels herself in a fiery spiral down the gravity well, straight towards Leesburg.
Look! A shooting star!
Of course, Power Woman bleeds off the heat, and actually takes a dip in the ocean to get rid of the rest, before zooming over to that location and landing, sweeping the area with her senses as she does so to make sure nothing has yet been disturbed … and that she knows exactly where her teammate is.
"Miss Marvel? What are you doing out here?" she calls, tapping her comms to activate and direct her traffic. No need to shout, that way.
Miss Marvel blinks. "Here?" She stammers.. "What's here? My apologies, Power Woman. I'm just looking into something… for a friend. Is there an alert that requires my attention?" She still believes that Kara is on the Watchtower, on monitor duty.
Miss Marvel cringes as she seems to have been snuck up on by Power Woman. "Why is that? What kind of warning are we getting on this location?" Mary thinks she's smart, looking to learn the extent of knowledge of the area that Power Woman may have. "I received these coordinates from a… friend.. and was asked to look into what might possibly be here."
"Well. I received these coordinates from someone who is most definitely /not/ a friend." Kara responds. "And what I found here is … a very big problem, for someone I care about more than words in any language can say." The tall Kryptonian does not land; she's scrupulous about that, trying to avoid contaminating any evidence at the scene. "I had intended to speak with Diana about what I found here, and ask for her help. But if you are here … then I guess that elects you to help me. If you are willing." Power Woman sounds … severe. Not her usual good-natured, smiling self. She doesn't quite sound Batman-doom-and-gloomy, but it's still unusual for her.
Miss Marvel listens and nods. Perhaps Linda was right, with her fear of Power Woman being in New York when the coordinates were whistled. "I.." She tries to make a connection. There's something nagging at the back of Mary's brain. How does Kara know Linda, and why is she so important? Somehow that doesn't seem to be the more immediate issue, as the need to get to the bottom of this is paramount. "Of course I will. I can only hope that our goals are united."
"Well, my goal is to protect Supergirl, help her find the truth, and if possible find out as much as I can about the man who seems intent upon torturing her psychologically." Power Woman answers, floating closer to Miss Marvel. "I am curious, however: I know how I got these coordinates. But how did /you/?" Especially since not only was Miss Marvel not anywhere around there, but she hasn't mentioned having superhearing before. /And/ the only other person present with that swore she hadn't heard them.
That makes Kara wonder, more than a bit. Did Linda remember them when Kara read them off? But why would Linda offer those coordinates to Miss Marvel? This doesn't make sense.
"There's a crime scene in the cave. Two murders. And evidence there … leads to someone I want to protect, at least until I know more than I do right now." Power Woman admits.
Miss Marvel blinks and swallows. "I got them from L… Supergirl as well." She looks to Power Woman, recognizing the Kryptonian symbol. She cannot lie, and the Wisdom of Solomon tells her that this may be the better way to go. She stands, crestfallen as she wraps her arms around herself and runs a toe in the dirt.. "Aw nuts…" She says with a sigh. "You know me, and I believe I know you… Karen." She swallows nervously. "We both care about the same person and want her protected. You, being her cousin, and I, being her lover." She says, blushing, even in this older form. She owns up to it and stands straight. "The question is, where do we go from here?"
Kara … did not see /that/ coming. She blinks. Literally, she blinks. "By Rao …" she murmurs, shocked. She floats closer to the blushing woman who does, in fact, look /older/ than she is. Oh, Hell. "M — …" Kara stops herself from using that name. Not right away. "Seriously? I mean … I know your powers are magical. But … seriously?!"
Oh Hell.
Kara sighs. "OK. Rule 1: We never, ever, talk about you being her lover again. OK? Not when you're like this. I can't take that. Please? And Rule 2: We never, ever tell the rest of the team aout this." Because frankly, Kara /likes/ Ms. Marvel. And she does /not/ want to get into a discussion of whether or not a minor is allowed on the team, if her super form is over the age of majority.
Kara takes a long while to just breathe and let that go. Then she shakes her head. "OK. Listen. We /have/ to investigate this. But we cannot give any of the evidence we find to the authorities until we find the truth. All of it. Because what partial truth is here … would convict my cousin for murder in a heartbeat. And I think /that/ is why that … jerk … gave us the coordinates. He knows things about my cousin she doesn't know, and doesn't want to remember. But we're going to have to figure them out for her. Before her life is destroyed, and more than a few others along with it."
Miss Marvel raises a brow and just listens. "Agreed on Rule 1. I thought calling myself her girlfriend would've sounded even weirder coming from this body." She nods. "There's a reason why I keep my identity hidden. People wouldn't understand, nor would they listen to anything I have to say."
Shenods as Kara speaks of the evidence. "I know.. He also knew my secret… and a secret issue we've been having, butthat'snoneveryoumind." She says, waving the last part off. "I agree. I told her that we can't run from this. I promise to help you in any way that I can."
"OK. Problem is, I'm compromised, here. And so are you, though not as obviously. If we don't tell anyone, though, that doesn't mean your objectivity isn't still … lacking." Kara offers, frowning slightly. "That's why I wanted to bring Diana in on this." But now, she's not sure she can. Not and keep Mary's secret. Which she is now silently worn to uphold come Hell or the high waters. "There are two bodies in the cave. Six knives between them. One of those six has Linda's fingerprints all over it. The two bodies fit the profiles of two missing persons from Leesburg several months ago - perhaps a week before the first appearance of Supergirl."
Kara thinks about this for a bit, before she continues. "We need to document the scene, in excruciating detail. I can get the tech to do that from the stuff on the Watchtower. And I can build partitioned memory in a detachable unit, so we can lead all of the data, and keep it off the station except when we're using it. We'll also need forensic samples of everything, and we have to keep all of this safe. Like it or not, once we have the truth, we have to help those who lost these people bury their loved ones, and find justice for their loss."
Kara then mentions, "He was also making comments that implied he knew about me. If he knew about Linda, and you, and me … and was able to whistle ou those coordinates … he was not what he appeared. At all. And he's dangerous. Very dangerous."
Miss Marvel nods. "And if he knows all of this, he's much more than he seems, and may have a hand in what happened here." She looks around. "Before we go disturbing the scene even further, can you take a look around? I mean, you can see in other spectrums correct? Perhaps there's something that may be beyond the sight of average humans. Footprints, heat signatures, anything that may still be residual."
"I have. That's how I know what I know already." Power Woman explains. "I've also identified signs of Kryptonian DNA at the cave entrance, and signs of an extreme heat - far beyond even a major bonfire - near the bodies. No signs of an accelerant, however, which would normally be required to get a fire that hot." she answers. "Given your magical nature, perhaps you will be able to see or sense things that I cannot, but that's what I have so far."
Miss Marvel shakes her head. "I've got no extrasensory power. The best I can do is look at what we have and try to come up with a hypothesis, which typically ends up being the truth." She looks around the cave. "Do we know anything about how Linda became Supergirl? I'm already getting a creepy feeling from the pastor. Looks like he may've been luring young women here." She turns on her flashlight, attempting to go deeper in the cave. She knows Karen can hear her. "Perhaps the girl was his next victim.. Linda found out and tried to save her." She sighs.. "Though that is wishful thinking, it is still a viable theory."
The cave shows every sign of being a teen party sight. Empty beer cans. Cigarette butts. Old mattresses. Graffiti on the walls. But the graffiti is… strange. At first it seems to be nonsense. Just stylish squiggles. But staring at the spraypainted etchings for too long will make the skin crawl. However, Miss Marvel will see the truth of it. These are celestial writings somehow corrupted. Biblical scripture written in the language of the angels but changed to be profain and demonic.
"The young woman has also been stabbed six times, though no blades have been left in her. My supposition would be that she was killed first, the blades extracted, and later used on the pastor. I'm not sure that entirely supports a theory that the pastor was luring young girls here for any nefarious purpose. Then again, I can't say he wasn't." Power Woman offers, from her position outside the cave - best not to get too close. "Given the presence of Kryptonian DNA, I would honestly have to guess this may have been where Linda became Supergirl, but I do not know how. Neither does Linda. Her Kryptonian DNA is a familial match with me, but is actually a closer match to Jor-El than I am." Obviously, this is something Kara has spent some time worrying over.
Miss Marvel stops and gasps.. "Becoming more viable by the minute…. Kara… it's a sacrifice. I'm leaning towards the pastor being the perpetrator, but he may very well have been a victim as well." She looks around more, trying to fully decipher what the script is saying. "This script… Humans aren't supposed to know this…" She nods.. "Then how did the Kryptonian DNA get here in the first place? Was Linda part of the ceremony? Where they *looking* to merge the DNA with Linda?" She sighs. "I'm sorry.. I'm supposed to be looking for answers, not more questions."
Power Woman calls out reassuringly, "It's OK. These are all questions that need to be asked. I take it you can read that stuff on the wall? I cannot. But that's part of what is telling you what this all means. As for the Kryptonian DNA … I don't know. I don't even know of another source of that DNA, aside from myself, and /I/ didn't give up blood or tissue to make Linda even more my cousin than she already was."
After a bit, Kara speaks up again. "I'm afraid that we may have to involve Marvel Girl. Or possibly the Headmistress at the school. Linda has no memory of the change. And given she doesn't know who the guy was we met, and he clearly knows her, I'm forced to conclude that's not the only memories she's missing." And who better to hunt for missing memories than a telepath? "The only other possibility would be involving Diana. Her lasso supposedly can compel someone to tell the truth. Perhaps that could force her past whatever barriers have been erected in her mind." Besides, all that magic crap confuses Kara something awful. So let magic duke it out with magic, and leave the sensible physics of flying, super-strong women who can lift jets with their bare hands out of it!
Miss Marvel sighs and nods. "I say we talk to Linda first. She's going to fight us on this, every single step of the way. She doesn't want to remember any of it." She sighs, wrapping her arms around herself, already knowing the fight that will ensue once she sees Linda again. "Diana may be the better option, since it's not invading her mind.. Though I doubt Linda trusts her. Something has to be done." She makes her way closer to the mouth of the cave, and Kara. "There's no guarantee that what happened here is completed, or not continuing. We need to stop who.. or what… this is. And for good."
Miss Marvel's not the only one hugging and holding herself. Power Woman is in the very same pose, still hovering inches off the ground outside. "I don't want her to have to remember. She's already so angry. So upset. She still can't decide if she hates me." There's a sadness and vulnerability in Kara's voice that Miss Marvel, at least, has never heard from her before. "I don't want to hurt her anymore than she already has been. But I'm afraid for her. And I'm afraid that if this guy knows what she's capable of, and everything else he does, that he may be able to control or manipulate her, to make her a danger to herself or others. Or hurt her worse than she already has been. And I don't really know what to do about that." So used to always having the answers - Yay SCIENCE! - Kara doesn't do well when she can't find answers. Or when the answers she finds set her to doing things she doesn't want to do. Hurting or endangering herself is one thing. Hurting or endangering someone else, a friend or loved one is something else entirely.
Miss Marvel nods and reaches over, hovering herself so she can put a reassuring hand on Kara's shoulder. "She doesn't hate you… She looks up to you… Her problem is that she knows that she can't be you, and she feels like a failure because of it. Everything you do is perfect, even when you're being nice to her. It's just another twist of the screw reminding her that she's not perfect." She nods, t hinking. "But we have to do something… It will only get worse if we don't… And it's going to get worse before it gets better."
Kara snorts. "I'm not perfect. I know she thinks that. But I'm not." She sighs, lowering her eyes and her chin. "We were so close when we were younger. She's the closest thing I will ever have to a real sister. I want her back. I don't need her to look up to me. I need her to just … be. Just to be her, whoever that is, and stop hating me, or hating herself for not being me."
Miss Marvel nods and smiles softly. "I know that. She needs to know that. The two of you need to hash this out, whether it's by fighting or by talking, you need to get past this. I understand that the resistance is on Linda's side." She shrugs. "I do what I can." She swallows and turns serious. "Now what do we do about this?" She mentions the cave.
Power Woman shrugs those broad shoulders of hers. "I honestly have no idea. I know we need to do something. Those that lost those people deserve to know that they're dead. And they deserve answers. Somehow, we're going to have to investigate this crime. These murders. But doing so is going to put Linda at very real risk. Hers are the only prints. They may be on only one knife, but there are no real leads here to trace back to /anyone/ else. She has a record. That will be enough to see her pulled out of school, thrown in jail, and presumed guilty by the authorities. They're unlikely to even look for anything or anyone else."
Miss Marvel nods. "And we're not in jurisdiction. The UN doesn't have any pull here, so we can't put her in 'protective custody'. " She sighs. "We need to bring this to the League. This is bigger than us, and we'll need everyone's help. I know we're trying to keep Linda safe, but I don't want to mess this up. Perhaps there's a diplomatic way to deal with the authorities." She shrugs, not knowing much else to do right now.
Kara frowns. Diplomatic. That's the rub, isn't it? "I need to know one more thing. You. Personally." Damn, this is a hard question. Power Woman had, until today, only trusted one person outside her family with her secret. She has never been given pause to regret that decision. But now … Now that number is growing. It makes her uncomfortable. But doubly so, that she is considering an action that could threaten to do the same to someone else, who arguably has much, much more to lose. "I don't see a choice. I'm going to have to bring this to the League. And the truth of this case will be required. I can't tell her we need the League's help, and her help personally, without telling her … who I am. And who Supergirl is." Surely Mary can see where this is heading. "I will keep your secret, if you ask me to. But it will mean you will have to find ways to … lie. To Diana, and to the rest of the league, about your knowledge of this case, and your knowledge of and connection to Supergirl." And. She doesn't ask: can you really do that? That sounds judgy, and she has no place to judge another's steps taken to protect the secret of their identity.
Miss Marvel swallows and nods. "I need to keep my identity secret. If everyone knows that I'm really just a kid, then no one will believe me, or trust me, or allow me to do the job that I need to do. I.." She swallows. "I can lie. I don't like to, but it's for a greater good. I won't reveal anything about you. I can say I'm a friend of Linda's. I was there at the mall when she was attacked. We've been seen together in these forms. She sighs. "I don't take this lightly."
Kara floats forward and lays her hands on Mary's shoulders. "I didn't think you took it lightly. I wanted you to know that /I/ take your secret seriously. That I will protect it, and you, with everything I have. I just needed it to be your decision." She smiles sadly. "I trust you. I sponsored you to the League. And even knowing that you are a teenager, given these powers, I still trust you. I have faith in you." She sighs. "Thank you, for trusting /me/."
Power Woman takes a big, shuddering breath, and lets go of Miss Marvel's shoulders. "OK. Get ready." she murmurs to the other woman, and then she reaches up, tapping her earbud. "JARVIS, route communication channel to Wonder Woman. Diana, this is Kara. JARVIS can give you my coordinates and guide you to me. I need you, personally, here as soon as you can manage. I will wait, however long it takes. This is important."
[Justice League] Power Woman sends ICly, "JARVIS, route communication channel to Wonder Woman. Diana, this is Kara. JARVIS can give you my coordinates and guide you to me. I need you, personally, here as soon as you can manage. I will wait, however long it takes. This is important."
[Justice League] Diana says, "(IC) Understood, Power WOman. I am en route."
Miss Marvel nods quietly and backs away, letting her feet touch the ground. She reaches up to wipe any residual tears in her eyes and swallows as she steels herself.
When queried, JARVIS provides Wonder Woman with coordinates leading to a lake outside of Leesburg, Virginia. Also at those coordinates are Power Woman, and Miss Marvel. When Diana arrives, Kara is hovering about a foot off the ground, arms wrapped around herself, head down a bit, tapping her toes on the air. Miss Marvel is standing a bit away from Kara, on the ground. The air about them, emotively speaking, is tense and fraut with emotion, held in check. When the Amazon princess appears, Kara looks up, watching her on the horizon all the way in until she is within calling distance. She waits for the princess to land, and then does so herself.
"Thanks for coming." Power Woman offers, quietly. Subdued. Still tense.
It might have been impolitic for Diana to rush out on the Latverian Ambassadoer like that, but the man's ranting was really going nowhere. Also, the Princess was sure that the meeting would be rescheduled, hopfully with cooler heads being brought to the table. Once in her private chambers, she spins a few times, changing her garb from her day to day business wear to the costume of Wonder Woman in a flash. And then, Diana flies off and pours on the speed to the coordinates
When she arrives at the location, she can sense the tension in the air. And when she lands, she steels herself for what could be causing these two collueages of hers so much distress. "Kara, Miss Marvel … what is the matter here? If it is an emergency that requires the might of all three of us, it is a dire threat indeed."
Power Woman shakes her head, but keeps her eyes steadily on Diana. "This won't be about might, I'm afraid." she replies, stolidly. The tension, rather than abating now that the loving and supportive Diana is here, actually gets more taut. "We have a situation which will have to be handled with the utmost diplomacy and care. And finding the Truth of the situation is going to require skills and knowledge we do not have alone, and jurisdiction we just do not have." Good reasons to be bringing Diana to the scene, right?
"Before we get started, you're going to need to know something. I can't explain all of this without telling you, or I would. Not because I don't trust you … but because I've made it a point never to tell anyone about my secret. Until today, I could count on one hand the number of people who knew. My adoptive parents. And Moon Maiden. Recently … someone else. But since she discovered it on her own, there was nothing I could do except try to admonish her to keep the secret. Now … I have to trust you with the same." Power Woman takes a deep breath, then, before she continues. "My Earth name and identity is Karen Starr." It is, naturally, a name that even Diana, not born to Man's World, will almost assuredly recognize. "I tell you now, because the case I'm about to explain to you involves my cousin, Supergirl. And her birth identity: Karen Starr's cousin, Linda Danvers."
We pause here, for dramatic effect.
Miss Marvel walks over quietly, still considering herself a junior member of the League. Her face is dire as well, and allows Kara to give the full explanation. She then adds. "Linda was merged with Kryptonian DNA to become Supergirl. She's not a Kryptonian born. Due to the merging, I surmise, Linda has forgotten a large chunk of her life around the time of the merge. Someone has full cognisance of what happened, and guided us here. The evidence is circumstancial, but damning."
Sensing the urgency in her freind's tone, Diana simply nods at the revalation. She puts a hand on Kara…Karen's shoulder, smiling a bit. "I understand your reasons. And I take no offense that you chose to tell me only becasue you felt forced to. You are still my sister, Kara. And I will help you in any way that I can." Then Mary speaks up, and Diana blinks a few times, trying to sort that jumble out with her limited scientific knowledge. Still, there's somethings that she can understand, like part of the source of Supergirl's anger and issues. "I see. Missing so much of one's memory can be frustrating. And to suddenly find yourself with all these powers…that is a terrible burden to deal with." She takes a moment to gather all her thoughts up, organize them. "Alright. Does this have something to do with the attack on your cousin? Have we tracked down the assialant? Is that the person that lead you here?"
Karen - Kara - shakes her head, but she doesn't turn away from the hand on her shoulder. Right this minute, she could use all of the help she can get. "Nothing here connects - that I know of - to the attack on Supergirl at the mall."
Kara takes a breath, pausing, ordering her thoughts, and continues. "Linda and I - as Karen - were in New York recently. I went to take her out for a day, to get her away from the restrictions of being stuck at the school. I thought we could go to some art galleries and try to have some fun. While we were in the city, we had an encounter with someone, a man whose name I did not get. Linda somehow recognized him and felt threatened by him. She grabbed him, trying to get an answer. He … was not impressed." Kara pauses there, then continues. "He toyed with her, verbal sparring. What he said, how he said it, implied quite clearly that he knew who Linda was, knew things about Linda even she doesn't recall. And he implied he knew about her changes, and my identity." She doesn't mention Mary, or the implication that he knew of her secrets. "Eventually, I got Linda to let him go before the police became involved, and he walked away. When he did, he was whistling. Somehow, he managed to whistle while embedding a complex subharmonic vibration pulse. The pulses easily translated as a numeric cypher, to detailed GPS coordinates, to this location."
Kara pauses, then, to let Diana absorb everything, before she continues. "I came here that day, and swept the area. What I found troubled me greatly, but I hadn't figured out what to do about it. Supergirl apparently managed to also decypher the coordinates - or spotted them on my phone - and mentioned them to Miss Marvel. When Miss Marvel came to investigate, I noticed her coordinates here, and I came down from the Watchtower. We've both gone over everything we can find here, and we've decided that we have to elevate this to the rest of the League. But that has to start with you."
At this point, Kara leads Diana over to a nearby cave formation, and motions towards it. The cavern is not far from a lake in a state park and forest, just outside of Leesburg, Virginia. Inside is a setting that screams teenage hangout: old mattresses and blankets, empty beer bottles and cans, old condom wrappers, graffiti on the walls. The perfect place for teens to come and misbehave. Except that is one stares at the graffiti on the walls it seems to crawl like maggots feeding in rotten flesh. And then there are the bodies: two of them, several months old. One female, a teenager by the look of her clothing. The other male and wearing the frock of a pastor. The pastor has six knifes sticking out of his back.
"There is Kryptonian DNA here at the mouth of the cave. There's a seared burn in the stone of the floor of the cave there, created by a heat far more intense than anything without an accelerant. But no traces of an accelerant. The bodies match the descriptions of two local missing persons from around the time of Supergirl's first appearances, so supposedly close to the time of Linda's transformation. There is no other DNA evidence, or fingerprints, except: one of the six knives, and only that knife, has Linda's prints on it. The woman has six stab wounds as well. I presume they stabbed her first, removed the knives, and stabbed the priest later." Kara finishes describing the situation, and hangs back. She has seen it enough. Right now, she wants Diana to see it and take it all in with her own eyes.
Diana walks with her friend, nodding at the explanations. "So, this man may have something to do with your cousin's mssing memories?" She's not really a detective, that's the job of others in the League, but she's still trying to sort out the puzzle in he mind. And when the two women walk into the cave, Diana gasps at the sight. "Merciful Minerva…" she breaths. She may not be a full-on sorceress, but she recognizes the trapings of a sacrificial ritual. And even if she was unsure, the shifting grafiti seals the deal in her mind. but there's something not quite right here.
"This cave has seen other uses," Diana says slowly. "And frequent use, I would wager. How long ago did your cousin manifest these powers? And there has been no one up here since?" She other matter of evidence, that of the identified fingerprints, is rather troubling to Diana as well, and probably to Kara. "Just becasue her fingerprint is on the knife, that doesn't mean the she was directly involved, Kara. We still don't know what happened here, we are only making educated guesses. She could have used the knife in an attempt to escape the fate of this other poor girl."
The Amazon Princess thinks on this situation for a while. "We must see if we can identify this man that approached you and your cousin. I know she is an artist, could she draw a picture of him? Also, I think that the local police should be notified of this. They have a murder investigation on their hands here. The turth of this matter must be made known, whethere there are two victims here, or a victim and a dead assailant. And if these two are indeed both victimes, that means that the real murderer, or murderers could be out there still, planning on doing attocities like this again."
Kara doesn't interrupt. She lets Diana explore everything physically, and in her own mind, without trying to impose anything more of herself on this situation than she already has. But when Diana reaches the end of things, Kara sighs and nods. "I feel the same way, Diana. Those that lost these people deserve to know, and the truth deserves to come out. But if they find this scene as it is, the police will investigate no further. My cousin has a police record. She will be their only suspect, and she has no memories to dissuade them. I believe this is a setup. But I don't know the truth of the matter. What I do know is that if we go to the local authorities now, we will destroy lives. Linda's will be ruined. Her father's, given he is a deputy sheriff in this jurisdiction. Her mother, who is an assistant pastor in town. And any evidence we find and bring to the authorities will never repair that damage." The Kryptonian blonde grimaces. "We have to find the truth /before/ we involve the authorities. My only question is: is the presence of magic on those walls enough for the League to take this case?"
Other points were made, and Kara does eventualy address them. "I believe this man may have something to do with her missing memories, and quite probably with this scene, either in making it happen, or in staging it for us to find. Linda has had her powers for several months - since February, or there about. And I cannot imagine, especially with the warmer weather, that this place hasn't seen other activity. I do not understand how it hasn't been discovered and reported before now." As for identifying the man? "I'll sit down with JARVIS, and try to work up a digital sketch of his face. I don't know that it will help, at all. But I will try. Linda has been trying to ignore all of this, and I doubt she would willingly recall him to sketch him out." Though, of course, Kara will ask. Or let Mary ask, when she gets a chance.
Diana nods. "I do not like it either. In the myths and legends of my people, delaying or obfuscating the truth often leads to dire concequences later on. But I think if we present this as a mystical case and offer the services of the League, the sherrif might be willing to let us conduct the investigation as long as we keep him infomred. "At least, that's what Diana is hoping for. "Regardless, I think the first thing we need to do is to take as much photographic evidence as possible first. I know you want to keep this as private as possible, but I think Iron Man or Batman would be of an immense help here. We do not need to disclose the nature of Linda's relationship or involvement here to them…"
Diana thinks for a while, putting a finger to her lips. "Perhaps if we present it to out temmates as Linda having sought out Power Woman becasue she is being set up for this crime and has no memory. The girl knows the police will not believe her, so she turns to someone that she thinks can help. In fact, I have already gained a reputation for takign in stray women to help them and championing the cause of women who face injustice; it might be more plausible if we said that Linda went to the Themysciran Embassy in hopes that I would help. It certainly sounds better than her wandering around Metropolis and hoping to find Power Woman."
Kara's eyes go a bit wide as Diana's discussion of the problems grows to include actual discussions of planning and preparing for misleading others and half-truths or even untruths. She hadn't expected Diana was even capable of that. But she tucks that away as knowledge for another day. It /is/ the practical and practicable solution. "Alright. Photographs I can take care of. But multi-spectral scanning and such, Iron Man is going to be better suited to accomplish. If you're comfortable with that arrangement, that's what I'll put in my report when I ask for his assistance. Perhaps we should mention this to Green Lantern? His ring can do wonders in scanning as well, and I'm sure he would be eager - as a law enforcement officer himself - to step in and assist in a real case, from the ground up." That's Kara's opinion, anyway. "I'll see to it. Thank you, Diana." She will agree to letting the authorities know, since they have a plan to put forth the League to help the investigation, assuring Linda won't get railroaded.
Diana nods and smiles, giving kara a hug to comfort her. "We will get to the bottom of this. We will clear your cousin's name and hopefully give her some peace and closure. Tell her to stop by the Embassy in her normal form, if you wish to make the…story more complete." And now, Diana supposes there's nothgin left but to let the experts start making their investigations.