Post by HoM on Sept 23, 2015 16:33:00 GMT -5
TEN YEARS AGO, THE DAY SUPERMAN LEFT EARTH:
High above Earth with her breath held, Kara Zor-El watched the world slowly turn. Her cape floated ever so slowly behind her in the vacuum of space and she contemplated the size of her adopted home, and the life that led her there.
Kal-El always had it easy, she thought. Only a few months old when his rocket landed on Earth, Kal grew into his powers under the care and guidance of his adoptive parents.
Kal didn’t know what it was like for her, even if he tried to understand what she’d been through.
Kara was fifteen years old when she was rocketed away from Argo City and the death of Krypton. She landed on a jungle planet, and survived there for two years before Kal found her and bought her to Earth.
Kara returned to that world after a week, and found the lush jungles replaced by ash and charcoal after an alien race stripped it of all its natural resources in her absence.
Kara Zor-El had lived three lives so far, and now it looked like she’d need to start living a fourth.
Fragments of ice drifted away from the corners of her eyes, and she had to blink them away to clear her vision.
Kal-El was gone. Superman was gone. Now it was just her, the last daughter of Krypton, alone on a planet she barely understood.
Mere hours ago, aboard their orbital Watchtower, the heroes of the world came together and tried to comfort her. Wonder Woman told her to be brave. Batman told her to never give up hope. Green Lantern told her to hold her head up high, and the Flash gave him a dirty look. If Kara needed anything, they would be there for her. She remembered smiling and thanking them, before departing the satellite under her own steam and with one deep breath.
Instead of returning home-- and what was home, really? -- Supergirl took a seat on an old satellite that spun in the orbit of the Earth and wept ice crystal tears. She screamed and thrashed, almost comfortable that this moment of release was better served off-planet than on, and then began to contemplate the first nineteen years of her life.
What did life have in store for her next?
Supergirl headed toward Earth, uncertain of the answer.
SUPERWOMAN: FOR TOMORROW
Issue One: "Step Up"
Issue One: "Step Up"
HoM / WALSH / HOWARD
FOUR MONTHS LATER:
“THE JUSTICE-- LEAGUE-- MUST-- DIE-- !“
If the punch had landed on the chin of any other person, their head would have crumpled under the sheer force of the blow. The maths was simple. If you took Superman’s powers and multiplied them by Wonder Woman’s, you ended up with a punch capable of breaking a mountain into pebbles at the least. Throw in Aquaman’s powerset, the Martian Manhunter’s, even elements of the Flash’s friction-proof aura and the martial prowess of the Batman, you’d have a blow capable of breaking worlds.
Thankfully, the punch didn’t land. Thankfully, the punch thrown was directed at Supergirl, and she was not in the mood to be punched in the face.
“You need to stop this,” said Supergirl, grappling with the Amazo unit above New Zealand. Some criminal cartel from the Land of the Long White Cloud had purchased the robot off the meta blackmarket, activated it without programming specific directives, and the result had been chaos.
Diablo Blacksmith, the old aboriginal magician, had gathered a handful of Australia’s heroes to takedown the rogue Amazo, but the majority of his team had been defeated, and they currently lay strewn across the volcanic outcropping below. Betty Clawman was unconscious, the second Captain Boomerang’s super-speed had being violently been removed, while Tasmanian Devil’s back had been scorched by Martian vision. Dingo had been the last to fall, but even her enhanced physiology could stand up to the onslaught of Professor Anthony Ivo’s greatest creation.
Thankfully, Supergirl had arrived, and she was battling Amazo high above the fallen heroes below.
“I AM-- PROGRAMMED-- TO DESTROY--!” howled the Amazo.
Supergirl deflected heat vision with her own, froze energy constructs with blasts of her arctic breath and dodged super-speed punches with her own innate abilities. She was reluctant to resort to simply punch her way out of this situation, as old style Amazos had a tendency to detonate on deactivation. She had to try something different. She locked eyes with the robot and began to speak. “Not necessarily…”
“NOT-- not necessarily--?” replied the Amazo. He relented just a tad, even as he gripped Supergirl tight.
Supergirl nodded slowly, her actions drawing the Amazo unit in. “You have access to the abilities of the original Justice League-- not just their powers-- but the knowledge of how to use their powers-- so there’s a psychic element to that, isn’t there? Probably using the abilities you’ve taken from the Martian Manhunter?” There was an undercurrent to her voice, a tone that nobody listening would be able to hear, or place. When she spoke, the Amazo unit listened, despite its original programming to destroy.
Amazo stuttered an answer. “Psychic connection-- not necessary-- but provides optimum power usage--”
“Then you’re not just programmed, you’re choosing not to be good. You’re capable of so much more. You can be more than just the sum of your parts. Wouldn’t you prefer… to be better? To stop fighting?” Supergirl smiled, her eyes still wide and her voice still making that curious echoing sound. “You could be the first Amazo to transcend your programming. To evolve. How does that sound? Why don’t you try something no one else in your position has ever done?”
Amazo released Supergirl suddenly. “I-- have to-- think-- “
“Let’s do that then,” said Supergirl, as she rested her hand on the robot’s shoulder. “Shall we take a seat down there and think for a while?”
“I would-- like that-- “
“Just relax down there for a while, and we’ll figure out what we can do next, okay?” said Supergirl.
Supergirl floated down toward the ground with Amazo, who sat down on a rocky outcropping and shut down his power cells. “Thank you-- Superman-- nnnn-- #“
Supergirl’s eyes opened a bit wider, and then the Amazo went into diagnostic mode. As she took a seat next to the robot, the heroes from nearby Australia roused, and headed over. She removed a panel from the side of the Amazo’s head and began to sing gently.
“How did you manage that, Supergirl?” asked Tasmanian Devil, who eyes up the Amazo as it pondered its place in the universe.
“A combination of things,” said Supergirl, taking a break from her song. “Thanks to my Kryptonian biology and the yellow sun, I can reach a pitch with my vocal chords that’s effectively like speaking in wireless transmission, directly to a computer’s CPU. As I was talking Amazo down, I was reprogramming his violence centres. That, combined with the subtle, calming optical effect I can create with my eyes got us here.”
“And, ah, what are you doing now?” asked Captain Boomerang.
“I could ask you the same question, Owen. Aren’t you supposed to be in San Francisco with the Titans?”
Owen Mercer pouted. “I, ah, wanted to see my dad. He’s in prison over on Fort Denison in Australia. Uh. You’re not going to tell on me, are you?”
“Of course not,” said Supergirl. She sang a few more bars in a melodic tone unlike any gathered had heard, and then smiled, contented with her work. She closed the Amazo’s head panel and looked over at the others. “When this unit wakes us he’ll no longer be encumbered by Ivo’s programming. You treat him nicely and he’ll treat you nicely. Are you all right to speak to the authorities?”
“Of course, Supergirl,” said Diablo Blacksmith, brushing off his top hat with the cuff of his suit. “You fly safe now.”
Supergirl smiled. “Thank you.”
Sightings of the Girl of Steel were frequent over the next few months. Never in one place for long, but wherever she was good deeds were done. No disaster went unnoticed. Volcanic eruptions were stymied by ingenuity and with speed. Waves had their legs cut out from under them so they dissipated before hitting shores or worse. Hurricanes were reduced to passive rain clouds and tornados were unzipped at the root. Fires put out, floods drained, tectonic plates pulled back from the brink.
The Girl of Steel did good work, exclusively, never stopping, barely resting, just flying from one point to another, energising herself between events with exposure to the Earth’s beautiful Sun. The work she did was an attempt to fill the hole she felt in her stomach, but nothing ever could. All the lives she saved, the disasters she prevented, it did nothing to alleviate the feeling inside her that nothing would be okay ever again, no matter how much she did, no matter how many times she was asked. The world kept turning without Superman. Months had passed. And she didn’t know--
“You look busy.”
Supergirl was over Australia, and the familiar voice pulled her out of her head. She turned, and the sun made the costume worn by the woman who spoke to her blindingly bright. Kara squinted, but the woman floated so that she was in front of Kara, and the sun behind her, so she became clear.
“Oh,” said Kara. “Hey.”
“That’s all you’ve got for me?” said Power Girl. She smirked, amused by the situation. “You’ve been giving the community the silent treatment for nearly four months now, Kara. ‘Hey’ doesn’t really cut it, especially with me!”
“I’ve… I’ve been busy,” said Kara. She looked up and began to rise away from Power Girl. “It doesn’t stop… I have to…”
Power Girl’s hand clasped around Kara’s shoulder, not tightly but with enough force to stop Supergirl from departing as intended.
“Hon, of course it doesn’t. That’s just the way of things. The work we do, all the good, it’s never enough, but all we can do is what we can, and know that it’s our best.” She sighed and then let her smile return. “C’mon, you look like you’ve not eaten anything in months. Teenage bodies needs ice cream and boys to pine over! I know a great place in Queensland. Liquid nitrogen ice--”
Supergirl turned away, raising her hand to cut Power Girl off. “I can’t.”
Power Girl wasn’t having any of it. “Kara. Look, I was the one who told everybody to back off, because I knew that you needed space. But I also know that you aren’t going to stop unless someone tells you to, and tells you hard. I know this because I know you like I know myself because we’re the same person.”
Kara couldn’t dispute the raw ingredients behind that fact. Ten years older, sure, but Power Girl-- Kara Zor-L-- was once the Supergirl of Earth-2, cousin of a Superman who lived to see a whole new generation of heroes develop and surpass him. What would Kal-L think of the disappearance of his Earth-1 counterpart?
I’s not like Power Girl could ask him. A fluke of her arrival in this dimension left her unable to return to Earth-2 for long. She didn’t get home often. Sometimes you could see it in her eyes, during the quiet moments. The rest of the time she was bright and beaming, projecting a level of control very few could muster, but for those moments…
“I can’t be here,” said Kara. “I’m needed out there.” She gestured into the ether. “I can hear an earthquake beginning to--” Karen held onto Kara’s arm as she pulled away to fly. Stopped in mid-air, Supergirl turned to her fellow hero. “What are you doing?”
“Listen again,” said Power Girl.
“Karen, please, there’s--” Supergirl struggled, but Power Girl had a firm grip and ten years of solar exposure on her. “Power Girl, there’s--”
“The Justice Leagues. The JSA and the All-Stars. The Titans and the Outsiders. Hell, there are a half dozen teams kicking around that I don’t even know the names of and they’re all out there, doing good. You don’t have to do this alone. You don’t have to fight every battle.”
“I can’t stop, else people will die. You know what it’s like, hearing every single bad thing in this world, nothing bad ever ends unless we stop it.” Supergirl concentrated, the sound of tectonic plates shifting-- and then easing, as the ringing energy signature of a Green Lantern knitted the earth back together, preventing the shift that caused tremors to spread and crack across the land.
“You’ve been rushing from one place to the other stopping disasters, but there are others who can do that too,” said Karen. “You’re not the only cape in this game and you don’t have to take it all on. You’re not in this alone and you never were. And really…” Kara grimaced. “… Do you think your Kal-El would want you to live like this? Because I sure as hell know mine wouldn’t.”
“But I don’t know what else to do,” snapped Kara. “I thought… I thought I could just be but there’s all the noise, everything happening… I was going to… to run away… but where could I go? It’s not… it’s not in our makeup… I even… even thought about staying in Kandor, but that’s… that’s literally shrinking away from the world. I just… I don’t…” She looked up at Power Girl, tears in her eyes. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Both our Kals were more than the costumes they wore. They lived two lives to their fullest, Clark Kent and Superman, and in both lives they were doing the best work they could, no matter what. Kal would want you to live. Not wait for the next disaster. So why don’t we find out what’s waiting for you on the other side of this? Together?”
Supergirl looked at Power Girl’s outstretched hand and swallowed down her tears. She pushed the hand away and embraced her parallel universe doppelgänger, and let herself relax for the first time in four months.
“Y-you mentioned ice cream?” mumbled Kara, her head against Karen’s shoulder.
“I mentioned the best ice cream,” replied Power Girl. “C’mon!”
SMALLVILLE:
“How are you, Ma?” asked Supergirl. At her cousin’s insistence, Kara thought of Ma Kent as someone she could always go to if she needed to talk. Martha herself acted like a mother, and sometimes that just what Kara needed. “I’m sorry I’ve not been around.”
“Oh, honey, you don’t have to worry about me,” said Martha Kent. She wiped her brow as she took her latest pie out of the oven, and Kara couldn’t help but notice the numerous other pies on wire racks all across the kitchen. “Clark’ll be back when he’s back, and you’re a busy young woman, you needn’t ever think twice about checking in on me. Young Connor pops over every other week, always terrified he’s going to find me dead, I’m sure.”
“Ma-aa…” said Supergirl, shaking her head. “I don’t know how you can juggle all of this. The store, being den mother to so many super-powered adolescents…”
“You raise Superman, you can claim to have written the handbook,” said Ma. She breathed in above the pie and smiled. “Mmm. Rhubarb. Would you like a slice?”
“Isn’t it too hot?” said Kara.
“Oh, we both know that’s never stopped any of our family,” said Ma. “John would always sneak a slice as soon as I took it out the oven. Burnt the roof of his mouth every single time, but he never complained. And it sure as heck won’t bother you!”
“I can’t say no to you,” said Kara. “Seems like everyone’s offering me desserts nowadays…”
“Sweets are good for the soul,” said Ma, serving up a slice. She took a small jug of cream out of the fridge and placed it next to Kara’s plate. “So, you’ve not stopped since Clark left. Why is that?”
“Superman has big shoes to fill, and there’s… there’s an expectation, I think, to live up to that. And I’m trying, but it’s… it’s exhausting.”
“You don’t owe the world anything,” said Martha. “Neither did Clark. You do what you think is right and that’s it. That’s all anybody can be expected to do.”
“You sound like Power Girl,” said Kara, shovelling a spoonful of pie down. “But I don’t think it’s as easy as that.”
“Karen’s a lovely girl. I just wish she’d let me sew her a new costume,” Martha shivered, “the one she wears right now can’t be comfortable. Either way, it is as simple as that. Do what’s right for you, and the rest will come naturally. I understand that you don’t want to let Clark down but let me tell you what Clark’s greatest fear was,” she sighed, “my boy was terrified that for all his good intentions, he might one day go too far. That he might let his powers change him. It’s why he forced himself to live two lives. One up there, and one down here. He was so terrified that if he stayed Superman all the time, he would become the closest thing to a god-on-Earth, and that the next step on that would be to become a despot.”
“I never knew…” said Kara. “But this is Kal-- Clark-- we’re talking about. How could he be worried about that?”
“How can you worry about letting him down? You’re a wonder,” said Ma. “But you know what he always said to me? And I swear,” Ma put her hand on her heart, “it’s like he was channelling his pa, god rest his soul. Clark said to me ‘if you want to be grounded, you occasionally have to land’. You need to land, Kara.”
“I never thought about it like that… but… Ma… do you think I can live up to his example?”
“You already do,” said Martha. “Every single day you wear that costume, you do him proud. But if you’ll allow me… I have been thinking about something new on the costume front…”
“You want to get rid of the skirt, don’t you?” said Kara.
“Maybe,” said Martha, mischievously. “It’s not very modern, is it?”
NEW YORK CITY:
“Where are you going to stay?” said Karen Starr. Being the founder and CEO of Starr Industries afforded her a lot of leeway with how to spend her time, and she’d thankfully found a more than capable COO she trusted to make decisions in her absence. She hoped she hadn’t developed an air of dispassionate disconnect between the work the company did and herself in the eyes of the employers, but with the life she led, it’s not like she had a choice. “I know you were based in Smallville for a while, but the world’s so big, and I know I never wanted to stay cooped up in one place for too long.”
“Ma has been so good to me, but, but I feel like I’m a reminder that her son is gone. She would never say that, but people wear their hearts, their feelings, on their sleeves. Especially in Smallville. Connor has already moved out, he’s staying with Robin in Gotham at the minute.”
“I’m sure Batman approves of having a super-powered teen flitting about Gotham,” said Karen, a wry smile on her lips. “But what about you? Where are you staying now?” said Karen.
“Splitting time between not sleeping anywhere and the Fortress in the Andes. Neither feel... feel real… or… mine. They’re his. Metropolis is his and I’m just his layabout cousin. How did you break free of it, Karen? How did you make it all yours?”
“I didn’t break free of anything! Disregarding the fact I fell through the multiverse to Earth-1 and therefore had nothing but the clothes on my back, I went out and built something. I built Starr Industries from the ground up. Start-up money made from crushing coal into diamonds and technology dreamed up in here,” Karen tapped her temple, “I didn’t have a Kal-L to help me and my mind was frazzled after my fall, so I didn’t want to team up with any of the heroes on this world. I didn’t even know who I was! But even after all that, I made something. Even if it did mean falling in with Powers, Inc for a couple of months when I felt up for it. I got over that quick enough.”
“So you’re thinking I should strike out? Try something new?” Kara smiled slowly. “Are you looking for a sidekick? Power Girl Girl?”
Karen laughed loudly, boisterously, “I don’t think there’s room in this reality for two Power Girls, Kara. Take what you have and run with it, fly with it, do what feels right to you. No one else can tell you what to do, but they can give you the opportunity to try different things. That’s actually why I invited you here. Oh! And also to tell you to never join a team that Booster Gold is a part of.”
Kara chuckled and shook her head. “And here is?” She looked around the room Karen had led her to. Across from the wall of plant life was a desk, a simple typewriter next to a pad of paper. The wall opposite was a computer bank that looked Kryptonian in nature, but with a few technological deviations that were strictly human. Karen’s own work? She recognised aspects from Brainiac’s own Coluan technology, mapped to Kryptonian designs. How curious…
“This sanctuary is a piece of Kryptonian technology from Earth-2 that my Justice League sent to me. I can’t go back home and stay; my vibrations are all off thanks to how I arrived, but this place gives me some respite from the outside world. A place to think.”
“I was going to say-- I can’t hear anything,” said Kara. “When we’re outside there’s that constant--”
“-- Buzzing,” finished Karen. “Yeah, this place projects a null field, nothing gets in that I don’t want to hear.”
“It’s beautiful,” said Kara. She considered a scarlet leaf from the comically overlarge plant hat took centre stage in the first wall she noticed. “Peaceful.”
“But we can’t stay here forever, not even if it’s all of those things,” said Karen. She held up her hand, and blue light moved around its outline until a door appeared from nowhere.
The two women stepped through, and they arrived in an empty office. Kara squinted, her microscopic vision searching for some identifier of their location. Before she could find one, Karen cleared her throat, aware of what Kara was doing, because she’d be doing the exact same thing.
“We’re in Ivy Town,” said Karen. “I’m opening up a new office here, due to the proximity to the university. Some great academic minds are more than happy to accept a pay cheque to do what they love for the betterment of mankind, so it made perfect sense. I also know you’ve blitzed your way through every test and university entry process on the planet. When I landed, I did the same thing out of boredom. I bet it took some massaging to make your transcripts make sense, but you’ve got your pick of universities, colleges-- higher education is your oyster.”
“What are you saying?” said Kara.
Karen shrugged. “What do you want to do, Kara?”
“I don’t know, I, my,” Kara faltered. “I really don’t know.”
“Find out,” said Karen. “I’ve got branches all over I’m opening up. Use one of them and get out there. Listen, I’m an expert in Superman not being around to help out. You got it better, because we’re sisters, and so you’re gonna let me help you out. Because that’s what sisters do.” She landed an arm around Kara’s slim shoulders and hugged her. “Got it?”
Karen took a set of keys from her bag, and held them up. “I have a place in uptown, empty, never lived in, and it’s yours if you want it. A completely clean slate and a guaranteed fresh start. You can be whoever you want. No strings. Anywhere you want to go, you can go, and I’ll help out in any way I can. And I will never tell you what to do, but I will offer as much support as humanly possible.”
“‘Humanly’?” said Kara.
“Ah, you know what I mean. What do you say?”
CAMP K (A SECRET LOCATION):
As the elevator went further and further down, Lena Luthor bristled in discomfort as her ears popped with the pressure change. They’d been riding down for the last fifteen minutes, and the General next to her stood straight next to her, without saying a word.
On the doors numerous signs were etched into the metal: ‘No Solar Powered Beings’, ‘No Kryptonians’, ‘No Metahumans’. Each sign was accompanied by a symbol, a red circle with a line through it. She smirked, imagining some graphic designer working for the military having to come up with relevant images for each sign.
The screening process had been gruelling. Psychic readings, psychological tests, physicals; anything they could think of to ensure that Lena wasn’t going to break her father out of this hole in the Earth.
“You’re asking me to go down there!” Lena had explained. “I don’t even want to see him!”
Even though Lena explained that Lex hadn’t seen her for years, that he’d actually refused to see her when he was back on top of the world (and prior to his final fall from grace), the government agency that approached her still wanted to utilise her as an asset.
“You have to ask him one question,” said the faceless leader of the Global Peace Agency. “Can you do that?”
“I’m not my father,” Lena tried to explain. “Why would he tell me anything? Why would he ever tell me the truth?”
The faceless leader of the Global Peace Agency had bristled under that question. “You’d be surprised what a father would do for his daughter.”
Unceremoniously, the elevator shunted to a stop, and the doors slowly opened. Red lights shone down on the walkway that was erected over a deep pit. At the bottom of the pit crackled green and red flames, and the heat was sweltering as it rose up past them. The soldiers who stood at either end of the walkway were wearing protective clothing and were alert and ready for anything.
The walkway led to a spherical, transparent cell that contained a single man: Lex Luthor.
Glancing down at the flames below, Lena couldn’t help but be curious. “What is that, General?”
“This is Camp K, Ms Luthor,” said General Sam Lane. “The kind of place you’ll end up if you make the same kind of decisions your father did.”
“I’m nothing like my father,” said Lena, matter-of-factly.
Lane smiled and Lena hated him for it. “I knew your grandfather and I know Lex. Sufficed to say, I’ve never met a Luthor that doesn’t turn out rotten. I just hope we don’t have to accommodate you here in the future. For your sake.”
Lena smiled and tilted her head at Lane. “I’m going to love disappointing you.”
Lane promptly turned and headed back inside the elevator. “I don’t know how you managed it, but you have your visit, Ms Luthor. Don’t waste it.”
Lena approached the cell tentatively, unsure of what the sight of her father would do to her. She thought she could take whatever he threw her way, a whole lifetime spent building up a wall that was difficult for anyone to pierce, but in her experience blood always found a way to get through.
When Lena finally made it to the seat the army had set out for her, Lex turned and smiled.
“Hello, Lena.”
Lex had grown a thick, red beard, and his body was strong and muscular. His cell was blank apart from a bed and a toilet. The conditions were appalling to Lena, but after the stunt he’d pulled in STAR Labs in the science cell they kept him inside previously, the army weren’t about to allow history to repeat. It was almost funny.
Superman left the Earth, and Lex experienced what could only be described as a massive breakdown after he realised his greatest enemy was finally gone. He hacked STAR Labs’ systems, commandeered their satellite arrays from the tablet they’d foolishly allowed him to use-- of course Luthor wasn’t going to be stopped by a lack of Wi-Fi-- and tracked Superman’s trajectory out of the solar system.
With that done, Lex opened the door to his cell and went walkabout, security finally locating him in the telescope array, upgrading STAR Labs’ quote / unquote ‘paltry’ technology to match his needs.
“Where in the universe did Superman go?” screamed Lex Luthor, as they dragged him away.
While Lena didn’t agree with the conditions, she did understand. Her dad was the world’s greatest supervillain, after all. Nothing would change that, not even the PR campaign Luthor ran after his last imprisonment, “I swear to dedicate my immense intellect and resources to the good of humanity!” or some such.
Lena smiled as she remembered the statement Professor Emil Hamilton made to the media when Lex was taken away from his STAR Labs’ cell: “Once Mister Luthor understands that this world does not revolve around him, he is more than welcome to contribute to our efforts to propel humanity into the next century and beyond. Until then, due to his ego, we will have to part ways. I only hope that someone with an intellect as immense as his-- and I say that with no shame-- comes to realise that his efforts are better served toward improving the world rather than damaging it.”
“Hey, dad,” said Lena. She sat uncomfortably, and the feet of the chair dragged against the metal as she tried to arrange herself. “Umm. How have you been?”
“I’m enjoying the peace and quiet,” said Lex. “When I am extradited from this situation and returned to STAR Labs, I’ll have a surfeit of concepts ready to drag the world into year one of a brand new era. Lex Luthor, the greatest hero the world has ever-- and will ever-- meet. Year Lex, if you like.”
“You really think you’ll be allowed back at STAR Labs?” said Lena. “I mean, you keep insisting on breaking out of the prisons they put you in, that’s not exactly… good business sense, is it?”
“Oh, Lena. So naïve. There’s an open door policy for someone like me at STAR. Nothing can keep me from them for long, not even our world’s so-called ‘heroes’,” sneered Lex. “For example, I have plans for a cure for neurological deterioration that Emil Hamilton might be interested in… it’s not like he’s getting any smarter.”
Lena sighed. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”
“Genius such as ours is a privilege, Lena. You shouldn’t be squandering it on… whatever it is that you do. Now, did you have something you wanted to ask me?”
“It’s about Superman.”
Lena watched her father clench his fists and could see his mind begin to work behind his eyes. “Oh? Has the alien returned from his vacation yet?”
“You’re the one who sent him out there!” said Lena. “What is it you said?” She cleared her throat and put on her best Lex Luthor impression: “Go! Look out there! Among the stars! That's where you'll find your-- Omega Man!"
The two soldiers on guard stifled laughter, but a sharp look from Lex silenced them.
“Are you trying to get a reaction out of me, Lena? I thought you’d grown out of that,” said Lex. He turned away and casually dismissed her with a finger. “But yes. An educated guess from the smartest person on the planet. Me.”
“I thought you were just lying to get rid of him. But he went. On your suggestion. Did you really expect that to happen? That he’d trust you?”
Lex said nothing.
“Did you send him out there to die, dad?” said Lena.
“Superman isn’t dead,” said Lex. “I would know.”
Lena nearly laughed. The audacity of her father. The sheer arrogance. “It’s been a few months, dad. I’m just--”
Lex raised his hand to silence his daughter. “When the alien dies, I’ll know. Because it will be at my hands. When he reveals himself to be the threat to the world he most assuredly is. But no. He’s not dead. He’s just gone. A vacation from all the ants, an excuse to get away from the society that must make him sick to his stomach.”
“Wh-what?” said Lena.
“Imagine being as powerful as he is. A living, breathing solar battery that can crush your skull with a gentle flick--” Lex violently tapped the edge of his cell. “--if not, of course, for the so-called all-American values he claims were instilled in him from his youth. He claims to be human in every way it counts, but our value systems must be different because he is nothing but a cuckoo, hiding amongst the masses so we don’t suspect he’s a threat to humanity’s very existence!”
Lena couldn’t help herself. She began to laugh, placing her head in her hands.
Lex stood in silence, until Lena looked up, and shook her head.
“Ten years, dad. Ten years this obsession has ruled your life. ‘Superman this’, ‘Superman that’, and all the time in-between, you shipped me from school to school, kept me out of your life, and out of Metropolis. You neglected me, without laying a finger on me or saying a word. No hugs, no ‘I love yous’, just your sick obsession with a hero who never did anything that you said he would. I don’t even know why you hate him anymore! One day it’s because he’s an alien, then it’s because he’s a threat to the Earth, but I think we all know that it’s because he’s better than you.”
Lex didn’t respond.
“Oh, now you shut up about him? Now you don’t have anything to say? The great Lex Luthor, without a word on the subject of Superman! Quick! Guards! Call the doctor.”
“Lena,” Lex approached the wall of his cell, and the guards levelled their weapons at him as he moved. “I worked very hard to get to where I was the day Superman arrived in Metropolis. I earned every single thing I had, because I am a human being and that is human nature and the American Dream.”
“Even then, I was denied my birth right, so I built an empire out of nothing and bought LuthorCorp out from under my father and made it mine and no one else’s. I made Metropolis into a true city of tomorrow, through blood, sweat and perseverance. Provided jobs. Infrastructure. And what happened when Superman arrived? With all his powers and no real effort other than the fact he is who he is, never having had to work for anything in his life, he becomes Metropolis’ favourite son.”
Lex shook his head wearily and then continued.
“I made myself. I had hoped you would make yourself too, but you’re soft, Lena. I was too easy on you. Donnelley?” One of the guards outside his cage took a step forward. “I want to speak to my lawyer. Could you arrange that for me when you finish your shift, please?”
“Yes, sir, Mister Luthor,” said the guard.
Dismissing his daughter with a wave, Lex took a seat on his bed. “Lena, you are every bit your mother’s daughter. And I am so very disappointed in you for that.”
Lena sat perfectly still for a moment, and then smiled, everything falling into place like it never had before. She spoke slowly and softly, her plan very matter-of-fact: “I’m going to ruin your name, dad. Every bad thing Lex Luthor ever did, I’m going to do something brilliant to make up for it. When people hear the name ‘Luthor’, all they’ll remember about you is that you were a mad old fool who died in a hole in the ground because he was a monster, and they’ll remember me as someone who was good. Better than you ever were on your best days of faking.”
“I sincerely doubt that. I predict I’ll be back in STAR Labs before the end of the year,” said Lex, as he knelt down on the floor and began a set of press-ups.
“And I’m going to love disappointing you, too,” said Lena, before she swiftly turned around and headed back toward the elevator shaft. The doors opened and an officer stood waiting for her. Without a word, she got inside and waited for the elevator to reach the surface. She was shaking with anger, her foot tapping on the floor of the metal compartment, and the officer was kind enough not to mention it.
The checkpoints took an inordinate time to go through, almost longer than it took for Lena to go through on her way in, and she felt her insides harden as she pushed all the bad feelings down. She wasn’t going to show anyone the weakness she suddenly felt after the words her father had spoken to her like a weapon.
Finally, after going through all of that, Lena was outside in the pouring rain. She trudged out toward the car park and reached her car, then let out an almighty scream that caused the MPs nearby to look up in shock and aim their weapons at her.
“I’m fine!” said Lena, trying to hide the fact she was crying. “I’m fine so please don’t shoot me.”
“I think you’ll be okay,” said Supergirl, as she descended from the sky, her cape wrapped closely around her body to keep the rain off her. She smiled at the soldiers, and they went about their business in the compound.
“What are you doing here?” said Lena.
“I heard you scream, so I thought I’d see if you were okay,” said Supergirl.
“Yeah, that doesn’t smack of the truth though, does it?”
Supergirl blushed. “To be honest with you, the Global Peace Agency asked me to keep an eye on the compound in case you tried to break your father out. The Weatherman of the agency is… paranoid. Especially when it comes to Lex Luthor.”
“Honesty is good,” said Lena, sniffing. “Did you hear everything that happened down there?”
Lena took a cigarette out and tried to light up in the rain.
“Camp K is designed to contain Kryptonians. The whole place is insulated against my powers, so even if I tried-- and I promise you I didn’t-- I wouldn’t have been able to hear,” said Kara. “I sometimes wonder if I would even know if my cousin got home, especially if people like those who designed this place got to him first.”
Lena’s zippo clicked ineffectually in the rain, and she grew increasingly agitated. Supergirl’s eyes glowed red and the end of the cigarette sparked to life.
“You might be glad to know I only saw one ridiculously complicated cell down there today,” said Lena as she looked at the lit cigarette between her fingers then back to Supergirl. “Just my stupid bloody father and his even stupider megalomania.”
Lena shuddered then couldn’t help but burst into tears. Kara hugged her before she could think twice about it.
“I don’t know why my dad hates me,” whispered Lena. “I thought that with Superman gone he might be my dad again but he’s a monster. He never loved me and I don’t understand why I care so much.”
“Because he’s your dad,” said Kara. “That’s the thing about family. We love them even if we don’t want to. Even if we’re told not to.”
Lena pulled back, and wiped her tears, her mascara smudging across her eyelid and running down her cheeks.
“Well, at least I get the last laugh. Ever since they took him down I’ve been engineering a hostile takeover of LexCorp using a number of shell companies. I finished this morning. The company is now mine, and all my dad gets left with is one lawyer who was really rude to me on my seventeenth birthday.” Lena tore the cigarette in half without taking a drag. “Guess dad took his eye off the ball.”
“I hope this doesn’t mean we’re archenemies,” said Kara. She smiled warmly, and the rain started to lighten. “I feel like you could really mess up my life if you wanted to.”
“Nah, I think us being friends might piss my dad off just the right amount,” said Lena. “Do you want to grab a coffee and talk about my messed up childhood?”
“Why not?” said Supergirl. “I have a few stories of my own.”
METROPOLIS:
“Isn’t this weird?” said Supergirl, as she sat opposite Lena in the coffee shop. She motioned outside.
“Nah, not if you don’t think too hard about it,” said Lena, sipping her coffee. “How’s your Earl Grey?”
The crowd outside the coffee shop formed quickly, people taking photos and recording videos of the strange sight on their smart phones. They wanted to know what was going to happen next, half-expecting the two women to start fighting.
“Good, thank you,” said Kara. “I don’t get to do this kind of thing often. Or at all. It’s nice.”
“Yeah, my dad kept me out of the public spotlight when I was growing up. When I took charge of my own public identity, made people realise that, yes, Lex Luthor had a kid and basically kept her locked up under the stairs for the first eighteen years of her life, these kinds of diversions became fewer and far between.”
Kara was shocked. “Lex, he didn’t--”
“Oh, no, no, sorry,” Lena laughed, “boarding schools in Europe. Fake names. A Grade-A security team. By the time I grew these,” she clutched her chest dramatically, “no one knew who I was. The world forgot Lex had a daughter.”
Kara blushed. “That’s mad!”
Lena reeled back laughing. “You think that’s mad? My dad is Lex bloody Luthor! Have I got stories for you!”
“And I want to hear--” Without warning, Supergirl vanished in a gust of wind, leaving Lena confused in the café and a hastily scrawled left in front of the redhead.
“Superheroes,” said Lena, a smile on her lips as she took a sip from her coffee.
On the other side of the city, a young girl about to be hit by an out of control eighteen wheeler was shielded by the body of Supergirl, while the hero stopped the vehicle dead in its tracks with her right hand. Holding the truck up with one hand and with a blast of precision heat vision, Supergirl shut off the engine, and put it down carefully.
“Hey, are you all right?” asked Supergirl. She scanned the child and saw no injuries, but she smiled reassuringly none the less.
“Y-you’re not Superman,” whispered the girl.
“No, I’m not,” said Kara. “Is that okay?”
“Y-you’re like me, or my mommy,” said the girl, a smile forming on her face. “Like a super woman.”
Supergirl was about to ask the child her name, but a ringing noise filled her ears-- she looked around, unsure of what it meant, before realising that it came from her pocket, a hypersonic signal keyed to be heard by Kryptonian ears. She took out her cousin’s Justice League communicator and put it to her ear. “…Hello?”
“Kara, this is Wonder Woman. It’s time we talked,” came the voice. “We await your presence on the Watchtower.”
Supergirl had never heard Wonder Woman so serious, but she thought nothing more of it. She looked down at the girl she’d saved moments before, and then at the gathering crowd. “You stay out of trouble now, you hear?” She paused and thought about what Kal would say. “And make sure you look both ways before you cross the road!”
“Sure!” said the girl.
With one almighty leap, Supergirl broke atmosphere and her momentum kept her going. She didn’t think about flying, she didn’t shift her mass to allow her to move through the skies-- all it took was the immense strength in her Kryptonian body and she soared toward the Justice League’s orbital Watchtower.
Back on Earth, every television, every computer monitor, every phone and tablet, suddenly went dark. A black screen appeared, and then three dots formed in a triangle, one at the top and two at the bottom, and a mechanised voice began to speak. “Prepare for the end of everything you know. The Justice League is mine. The world will be next.”
Kara let herself gently bump into the airlock and with no fanfare she input the code that would allow her entry into the hall of the gods.
Upon her arrival, she noticed that the emergency lights had been activated. She heard the wheeze of the recently deactivated main generator, and could feel the weak artificial gravity against her skin. The walls of the Watchtower were somehow x-ray opaque-- when did that happen?
“Hello?” said Supergirl.
Kara’s greeting was met by a lightning fast barrage of punches, each landing harder than the last. The momentum being built by the attack was staggering and if not for her own immense powers she’d had been on her knees, but that didn’t stop the experience from being an irritant. She took a super speed step back but the attack continued, so instead of retreating she pushed forward, a gust of breath sending her attacker clattering back against the bulkheads.
Her attacker pulled himself up, his face covered by a mesh of metallic substances. Three circles covered his mask, obscuring his features, but even though his costume was polluted by what Kara could see was a weave of alien nanotechnology, it was clear who had unleashed their fury--
“Flash!” said Supergirl. “What’s going on?”
The Flash darted toward her, but Supergirl slowed her senses so that the world moved in slow motion. The runners who accessed the Speed Force could get up to impossible speeds, beyond what any Kryptonian was capable of unaided, but a standing start and the influence of the nanotechnology made his movements sluggish.
Supergirl reeled back her fist and threw a colossal punch that she pulled at the last moment, a half centimetre away from the Flash’s face. Skin didn’t meet skin, but the force unleashed was like that of a compact hurricane, and the speedster was knocked out instantly.
Supergirl went to work on the nanotechnology infection. Rapid, freezing cold bursts of air from her lips froze the circuitry, which adapted instantly. Strobing her heat vision, the infection began to spasm. She had to hold the Flash in place as he seized up, but she couldn’t let the thing holding onto him remain untouched. Because she knew who this was. She knew what had its claws in her friend.
“Let go of him,” growled Supergirl. “Let go of him, Brainiac.”
“I am unable to comply, Kara Zor-El,” grated the mechanised voice that rang out through the Watchtower. “Protocol demands that this unit locates the most powerful sentries this un-bottled world has to offer and subjugate them, before miniaturisation begins.”
The words stabbed at Kara. The thing that took her home, that shrunk Kandor and scarred an entire world with its action, this thing-- this monster-- Brainiac had arrived.
The Flash shrieked as his body rejected the nanotechnology infection, a thin cloud of sparkling dust expelled from his pores as his body sloughed off the pain it had experienced. His eyes locked with Kara’s, and he gripped her arms. “h-h-he’s in the s-systems, h-he’s b-been w-w-waiting.”
“He always does,” said Supergirl, rising to her feet. “You can’t have this world, Brainiac.”
A flickering, emerald construct formed around Supergirl’s body that she easily shrugged off. Staggering down the walkway, wearing the same nanotechnology mask that the Flash had, was John Stewart, Green Lantern of the Justice League. His constructs wavered in strength, and Kara could see the hero battle back against infection with his immense will. The Flash passed out behind Supergirl, who took steps toward the Green Lantern.
“I lay dormant within the Watchtower’s systems after my last altercation with this marked world’s protectors. With Kal-El’s departure, I reactivated and began reconstruction of my primary programs. The Justice League are the first to fall. This planet will bear the mark of Brainiac.”
“I don’t care,” said Supergirl. She repeated the procedure that worked on the Flash with Green Lantern, but she was repeatedly thrown back by green, alien constructs. Each one that landed splintered on contact, and she could feel the intensity of the attack increasing. Brainiac was increasing his hold on the hero, so it left her with no choice. The attacks stopped suddenly, and John Stewart looked confused.
“I can’t let you use this today, GL. I’m sure you understand.” Kara held his power ring in her hand, and a split second later she closed her fist and tapped him unconscious with one flick.
Wonder Woman’s lasso wrapped around Supergirl’s neck and she was yanked back, her breath snatched away from her immediately. The pain was immense, magic rope biting into her flesh. She turned and saw Diana, the most beautiful woman she’d ever met, corrupted by Brainiac’s influence.
“Not you too…” said Supergirl. “…I don’t know if I can beat you…” She cursed the effects of the lasso.
“I am all. I am broadcasting across all frequencies. The entire world will watch your demise.”
“Stop talking!” growled Supergirl. She grabbed at the lasso and wrenched Wonder Woman forward into a punch. Dazed, but not out, Diana made to counter attack, but Supergirl was having none of it. She spun around in a tight circle then catapulted Wonder Woman through the most fragile parts of the ship.
“No,” said Supergirl, catching her breath and rubbing her reddened throat.
“No?” repeated Brainiac.
“You don’t get to win,” said Supergirl.
Kara Zor-El began to fly through the corridors of the ship. The Justice League were the greatest heroes the world had ever seen but they were under the influence of an immense alien intellect belonging to a force that catalogued worlds, solar systems, entire universes just so he could call himself the keeper of all knowledge.
Who was on the active roster of the Justice League? thought Supergirl. The Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman for sure, but who else?
Kara didn’t know who she’d have to face to save the world today, but she had to hold back any emotions about the act. If Brainiac could control the Justice League, then the entire planet would be at risk. What if he unleashed his nanotechnology armada across the world? Infected not only the populace at large, but the Justice Society? The rest of the world’s heroes?
Supergirl reached a computer terminal and began to type furiously and whistle quietly. She needed to get into the right systems before Brainiac caught up with her and what she had planned. Before she could finalise her intended procedure, the wall behind her transformed into a hand and grabbed her-- the liquid metal body of Cyborg had snuck up on her, no heartbeat or intake of breath for her to keep track of.
“K-Kara,” stuttered Cyborg, unable to resist the influence of Brainiac but with some cognisance of what was happening. “Y-you need to shut me d-down, I can’t c-control m-myself!”
“I know,” said Supergirl, straining against his grip. At that moment, Wonder Woman re-joined the fight. A half dozen heart beats filled Kara’s ears, in addition to her own. More corrupted heroes were zeroing in on her, and she could hear a curious sound from the tech labs, something… growing?
Wonder Woman wrapped the lasso around her fists and went to choke Kara, but Supergirl head butted backwards, catching Diana on the nose. She knew that the Amazonian princess wouldn’t fault her attack. Even though Kara had learned to survive on an alien jungle planet, it was Diana who had taught her a number of martial arts… but if there was one man she could thank for the dirty attack she was utilising now, it would have to be Batman.
With Diana staggered behind her, Kara clapped her hands together and Cyborg’s face exploded backwards, liquid metal spreading like water across the back wall. Supergirl reached back toward the console she was working on and completed the reprogramming of the Watchtower’s systems, and Cyborg and Wonder Woman vanished immediately, as did the rest of the Justice League who had nearly arrived to the fight.
On Earth, with the fight streaming on every platform known to man, crowds cheered. Lena Luthor smiled as she watched the battle unfold on her phone, and the patrons of the café roared as the Justice League were taken out of the fight and Supergirl continued to move through the Watchtower, heading toward the tech lab.
Brainiac’s voice continued to speak over the Watchtower’s comms system. “What have you done? I cannot access--”
“Save yourself some processing power,” said Supergirl, wiping her brow, “I just captured the entire Justice League in the transport buffers. I’ve locked the entire system down and created a password you’ll never crack, so you can’t drag them back out to fight me. I’ve taken away your superhero army. Now it’s just you and me.”
“I have access to every piece of technology in a hundred mile radius. My pirate signal has infected all of Earth’s systems thanks to the Justice League’s own emergency broadcast system. I am inside the world. And the world is Brainiac.”
Kara arrived in the tech lab and saw Brainiac’s newly formed body speaking in unison with the comms system. The new body was large, bulky and entirely mechanised. Purple under armour gave way to chunks of emerald metal, all made of the same unbreakable metals used to construct certain areas of the Watchtower. There was a hint of Luthor in there, and Kara wouldn’t have been surprised if Lex had a hand in this somewhere.
“You didn’t have to do this, Brainiac,” said Supergirl, “you could have left Earth, left this universe, and just… gone away. You’re a mad old system and you deserve to be shut down for good. And I love,” she chuckled, “I love how you waited for my cousin to go away before pulling this. Because no matter what, at the end of the day, you are a coward.”
Brainiac stormed forward and swatted Kara aside with all his might.
“I am afraid of nothing. I am not afraid of your cousin. And I will never stop. I will overrun all technology the world currently utilises and turn it against the sentient population. I will become all. I will reach transcendence. You will never defeat me, Kara. You are not your cousin. You are barely a speck in this system. You just wear his mark. You do not--”
Having taken Brainiac’s best, Supergirl smiled and without a word punched a hole through his chest. She watched the sparks fly from his mouth. “It's not about the name I share with my cousin. It’s not about the symbol on my chest or the example I follow.” She kicked him back and his metallic hide groaned on impact, a shoe print on his chassis. “It’s not about me. I know that now. It's about the deeds we perform and the good we do. I'm not here to replace my cousin-- I'm here to honour him, to do right not only by him but by the people of this world. And you? You don't scare me anymore. You don't intimidate me and I won't be defeated by some arrogant computer program.”
On Earth, the teeming masses cheered as Supergirl stood defiantly in front of Brainiac on their screens. Lena punched the air and then realised how dorky she looked, so she quickly exited the cafe and headed back to Lex Towers, a place she knew she'd have to rename sooner rather than later. Instead of worrying about that right now, she kept her eyes on her phone, watching the girl she met an hour or so before fight incredible odds.
Back on the Watchtower, Brainiac’s cracked face plate made it look like he was scared, but he wouldn’t have designed a body capable of showing emotion, even if it was possible for him to experience them. When he went to punch her, Supergirl sheared off his arm with heat vision, and continued.
“So you have two choices, Brainiac. You either release your hold on the Justice League now and leave-- I'll give you a head start as a courtesy-- or I free them from your influence myself and I destroy you, right here, right now. The choice is yours. Make it quick. Your continued existence depends on it."
Brainiac pulled himself to his feet but remained silent, calculating the current scenario before him. Kara could see electrical impulses run through his central processing unit, and began to measure in her head how much heat vision she would need to complete excise it without alerting him to the fact. She could try using her voice to reprogram him, but it would push her voice to the limit, and she wanted to punch him really, really hard instead. Finally, Brainiac began to speak: “I would never debase my--”
Bored, Supergirl grabbed a hold of Brainiac and the two of them shot out of the Watchtower. Auto-sealant prevented atmosphere leaking out any second longer than it needed to. The entire Watchtower shook as it went through emergency procedures, but almost immediately fell back into silence.
As Supergirl and Brainiac hurtled through the solar system, the alien automaton’s head cracked open and tendrils lashed at Kara’s head repeatedly. She shrugged off the attack, burning the tentacles away with laser-precise glares, pushing her powers to their very limit.
Thousands of miles were traversed in seconds, millions not long after, until the two enemies impacted a small planetoid with atmosphere, a plume of dust rising up from the crater that formed when they landed.
“What is this place?”
“Welcome to the Circus Maximum,” said Supergirl. “Testing ground for the Justice League.” She cocked back her fist and grinned. “Where we get to cut loose.” She punched Brainiac into the ground and the planet cracked. “I don’t really get to let loose often. I can’t.” She followed her enemy down through the flesh of the planet, punches shattering Brainiac’s body. “But I’ve wanted to do this since I was a little girl.”
Barely held together, Brainiac grabbed Supergirl’s head and she pulled him off, holding his body aloft at the bottom of the miles deep hole they’d created. “So, any last words?”
Back on Earth, the computers began to howl. An alien virus rampaged through every system, and even the most secure networks began to fall into line with the intelligence that now infected them. It wouldn’t be long until everything humanity had built would be taken away from them. Lena cursed as the elevator she was inside stalled.
Sparks flew from Brainiac’s mouth. “I have already won. My broadcast is inside every computer. Every system. This body will soon be destroyed. My new body will be humanity. And I will--”
Without any more words, Supergirl smashed the Brainiac unit’s central processing unit and then rushed back to the Watchtower as his nanotechnology wave washed across the world. Brainiac’s final act of spite would doom the world, unless she could do something drastic.
Supergirl accessed the emergency broadcast systems and utilised the same dirty hack Brainiac used to spread his virus in the first place, and with one great breath she began to speak faster than she’d ever before, sending a wireless signal with her vocal chords into the operating systems of not only the nanotechnology, but also any systems already corrupted. She was speaking so fast she could barely remember what was being said, but the bulk of her words were focused on reprogramming, undoing damage, and making sure that nobody was hurt in the process. Secure networks were built back up, databases returned to their proper place. When every trace of Brainiac was expunged, Supergirl staggered back, blood dribbling from her mouth, and she returned the Justice League back to the Watchtower, leaving the nanotechnology taint immaterial in the buffers.
“Wh-what?” started the Flash. “My God, Kara-- Supergirl-- are you okay?”
“I… think… I lost… my voice…” said Supergirl, her voice a raspy whisper. She handed John's power ring back to him, and he immediately scanned her body.
“Her vocal chords are shredded,” said Green Lantern. “What did she do?”
Wonder Woman looked around the wreckage of the Watchtower all around them, and then up at the monitors that replayed the events of the last hour. “I think Supergirl just saved the world.”
”I’m… thinking about… changing my name…” said Supergirl. “I’ll… get back to you… on it… though…”
CAMP K (A SECRET LOCATION):
“Did you hear the news, Mr Luthor?” said Bannatine, one of the guards.
Luthor said nothing as he looked up at the uniformed soldier. He had been meditating, and the dreary voice of the man outside his cage had yanked him out of his Zen.
“Oh, sure, ha,” said Bannatine, “Superman’s cousin just saved the world from Brainiac. They’re calling her Superwoman now, the entire world saw it-- crazy stuff. They’re saying she’s the world’s greatest hero.”
Luthor pondered that for a moment, and then a wicked expression moved across his face. “I best get to work then,” said Lex Luthor. “Can’t be having that, can we?”
METROPOLIS
Linny Goss was telling anyone who’d listen about the time Supergirl had saved her life. The same day, of course, that the evil alien robot had tried taking over everyone’s computers. She talked about how cool Supergirl was, then she apologised, tripped over herself, and called her Superwoman. That’s what they were calling her now. Superman’s cousin, Superwoman.
Linny was so excited that she wasn’t looking where she was going, and she accidentally bumped into a tall, dark haired woman, who smiled at the sight of the apologetic child.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah! Sorry! I met Superwoman! She’s the best!”
“Oh, yeah?” said the brunette. “I think she’s pretty cool too.”
Lauren Goss caught up with her daughter and shook her head. “Linny! You need to stop rushing around like that!” She turned her attention to the woman. “I’m sorry, once she gets going-- hey, do I know you?”
“Me? I don’t think so. I’m Linda,” said the brunette. She tipped her glasses down her nose and then back up again. “New to town.” She smiled, crouched down to shake Linny’s hand. “It sounds like you had a really exciting day, but you know what Superwoman would say?”
“What’s that?” said Linny.
“Look both ways before you cross the road,” said Linda with a wink.
THREE YEARS LATER:
SECTOR 2813:
Sector 2813 was once the home of one of the most scientifically advanced civilisations known to the universe. Through an act of pure malice performed by one their greatest military minds, the civilisation was doomed, their planet’s core detonated and billions died.
Baby Kal-El escaped aboard a rocket ship aimed for Earth, fired by his parents Jor-El and Lara.
Krypton’s murderer, General Zod, along with the scores of criminals trapped within the Phantom Zone, survived due to their punishment-- trapped in a ghost dimension.
Argo and Kandor were whole cities abducted from the face of Krypton by the deviant computer program Brainiac, shrunk down and stored in bottles. Kandor survived the process. Brainiac experimented on the residents of Argo City until none survived.
But before Brainiac could truly get his mechanised claws into the heart of the city, Kara Zor-El was rocketed away from Argo by her mother and father, the scientists Alura and Zor-El. That fateful launch resulted in her landing on an alien jungle planet, where she lived for two years until her cousin Kal-El, now a grown man, found her.
Today was the culmination of three years’ work, and the assembled women could not have been happier.
“We did it,” said Superwoman, stood upon the reformed world named by its new inhabitants as New Krypton. “After all this time, Krypton lives again.”
In the canyon below, the capitol of New Krypton swarmed with its residents, learning that when you enlarge a world under a yellow Sun you’re gifted immense powers. Prior to enlargement, Power Girl and Superwoman had fused Kandor and Argo together into a large cityscape capable of housing the Kryptonian survivors as they spread out across the face of the world. City seeds were prepared for new urban areas, but until then, the city nation of Krypton had risen.
Kara Zor-L, Power Girl, stood beside her Earth-1 self and beamed. “Yup. It’s pretty damn cool.”
“I’m just as excited as the two of you, but can we just bask in this moment for a bit longer?” said Lena Luthor, the green and purple environmental suit keeping her protected from the alien elements that swirled around them all. “I mean, this is something not even Superman could do, and you-- we-- us-- I my God, we bought Krypton back.”
Kara Zor-L smiled. “I like you, kid. You talk a lot. I ever tell you that?”
“For the past two years, Karen. Ever since we went into business together,” said Lena.
Power Girl shrugged. “Thought so.”
“Oh, Kara-- Karas-- I can’t begin to tell you how much all of this means to us,” said Councilwomen Thara Ak-Var, as she floated up to the two heroes. “We thought we would be stuck in the bottle forever!”
“Thara, it’s our honour,” said Kara. “The terraforming devices are wrapping up their final cycles, and then New Krypton will stand as a monument to everything we once thought lost-- we’ve even reseeded the Scarlet Jungle and forged new Jewel Mountains!”
“Harder than it sounds, sure,” said Lena.
Thara embraced Kara tightly and grinned. “I didn’t think it would be possible.”
“It was a team effort,” said Power Girl. “Not only you and the survivors, but with Lena’s resources and efforts and the fact that the Green Lantern Corps located a suitable planetoid for the terraforming devices to do their work-- we used holographic memory traces in the resonant atomic structure of the cities themselves to reshape the world. It took a while, but we finally built devices sophisticated enough to perform archaeological forays into ambient molecular memory and reconstruct the landmarks of Krypton and I’ve talked myself into a coma, sorry.” She grinned. “I’m excited.”
“I’m just glad you accepted the assistant of the surviving members of the Science Guild to help. A new world, our own, outside those glass walls,” said Thara. “Krypton lives.”
“We’re more than happy to stick around for as long as you need, until you’re settled,” said Superwoman. “But what’s next? Now that you’re back in the universe, what’s your plan? I know we’ve discussed it briefly but this is unknown territory for us all.”
“And I can think of a dozen applications of the technology we’ve developed here that will benefit the world back home, I can’t wait for that press conference. Suck it, dad,” said Lena.
“I admire your excitement, but… but Krypton is back,” said Thara. “I’ve spoken to the other Guilds and we intend to communicate with our long lost brothers and sisters of Daxam, and discuss reformation. And then… and then…” She trailed off, sheepishly.
“What is it?” said Power Girl.
“Once the construction is completed, we intend to begin the Phantom Zone appeals.”
“What?!” said Kara.
“Ohhh, wow, okay,” said Lena. “I’m going to check the status of the terraforming in the southern hemisphere. Vathlo, right? Call me if you need me…” She rocketed off, leaving the Kryptonians to discuss this new development.
Thara pushed on. “There are many in the Phantom Zone who have been imprisoned well beyond their initial sentences. I’m not saying we release Zod-loyalists--”
“I…” Superwoman turned, her heart pounding. “Maybe you should.”
“Kara?” said Power Girl.
“Zod’s military wasn’t entirely made up of lunatics and sociopaths. I know for a fact he used brainwashing techniques to fill out his ranks. Maybe we need… maybe we need to figure out how to undo that and then… then we’ll really be the society we need to be. That Krypton was supposed to be before Zod ruined it.”
“This is about Kru, isn’t it?” said Thara. “Your cousin, Kru-El.”
“The Hound of Zod?” said Power Girl. “The madman who came to Earth, nearly killed Superman and ruined Metropolis?”
Kara nodded. “My cousin. A beautiful, funny, ridiculous man who, in the hands of General Zod, became a monster.”
Thara looked around quickly, ideas forming in her head. “I’ll speak to the Medical Guild. As you know, all we’ve done in the years since Brainiac imprisoned us is work. Collaborated. Survived. The advances in mental health alone could work wonders. I’m glad you’re on board with this, Kara.”
“They’re Kryptonians, after all,” said Superwoman. The wrist band she wore began to whizz and buzz and she turned to Power Girl, whose wrist band was making the same sounds. “Terraforming is complete. Who wants to explore a brand new world? And make sure Lena hasn’t fallen into one of the Three Sisters?”
THREE DAYS AFTER THE FORMATION OF NEW KRYPTON:
Kara and Lena walked through the portal connecting New Krypton and Earth that resided inside the Fortress of Solitude. Kara had long combined the Antarctic Fortress with the one in the Andes, preferring the jungle-based sanctuary. She preferred life to the cold sterility of al-El’s home-away-from-Metropolis.
Lena spoke first. “I can’t believe it, but we did amazing work. And Kara-- I don’t think Karen will mind me saying this without her, but we couldn’t have done this without you and your drive. Your heart. Remember that. With that little engine in your chest, you can achieve any--”
Images filled the arrival room, greeting the two women with a sight the two of them could hardly believe. A figure taller than most buildings trudged through Metropolis, until it was cut down by a solitary figure clad in emerald and purple armour. The footage fast-forwarded as three days’ worth of news bombarded their senses.
“Oh, no,” whispered Lena. She felt the floor of her chest collapse in shock, and she nearly doubled over in horror as she realised what had happened in the world in her absence.
News footage showed Lex Luthor defeating a glowing, red figure and being cheered by the citizens of Metropolis. Anchors informed them that the thing was the Red Sun, a being imbued with the stellar remnants of Rao. Without Luthor’s efforts-- and in the absence of Superwoman-- the entire world could have ended. There were talks of a full presidential pardon. All crimes in his record being stricken, instead of him simply being remanded in STAR Labs’ custody. They were going to let him go.
One network had a graphic read: ‘LEX LUTHOR, MAN OF TOMORROW?’ while the Daily Planet online feed read: ‘SUPERVILLAIN SAVES CITY; HAS LEX LUTHOR TURNED A NEW LEAF?’
“H-how long were we gone?” said Lena. “How long?!”
“Seventy two hours,” said Superwoman. “Three days. I need… I need to speak to Lois. Lois’ll know what’s happened. What this… what this all means.”
“My dad is a monster. He was always a monster. And I love him because he’s my dad but he can’t be out in the world, he’ll do something awful,” said Lena. She was sobbing. “I can’t deal with this. I can’t--”
“Lena, listen to me,” said Kara, “You’re my best friend. I will always be there to help you through anything you need me to help you through. But for all your talk about my heart? Yours is twice as big. You can handle anything the world throws your way, and your dad being out there is nothing compared to some of the stuff we’ve been through. Last year when my powers mutated so I had to wear the energy harness for twelve months? My entire body transformed into energy? You helped me get through that. You’ve made good twenty times over for the bad your dad conceived. We will figure. This. Out.”
Lena watched holographic projections of her father smiling, and couldn’t help but sob at the idea of him being a free man, once and for all. “Not again,” she whispered, “not again…”