So here we are. My first ever story here on .

I do not own any of the characters who appear in this story. They are all the property of their respective creators at DC Comics. I don't have much money, so suing me will accomplish little beyond bankrupting some poor sap. I'm morally against bankrupting poor saps, especially when I am that poor sap.

Enjoy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

DC Universe:

Super-heroes, Fairy-Tales, and Halloween Night

Part 1: Strange people in costumes.

There are many strange things in the world. Unsolved mysteries and unknown secrets that man still struggles to understand. Among them, is man's love of masks. His tendency to hide his true self behind another persona. Or perhaps, reveal normally unseen aspects of himself through this other persona.

There are primarily two reasons a man would wear a mask:

1) It's Halloween.

2) That man happens to be a superhero.

...

Right. So those are probably (underline)not(underline) the two reasons a man would wear a mask. At best, you could say they are two of the reasons a man would wear a mask. You can't forget bank robbers, actors, Clowns(Not that clown. He's nuts. Stay away from him), people who use beauty masks...

Right. Got off topic. So anyway, there are many reasons to wear a mask, but the first two mentioned are the only ones relevant to the tale that is about to begin.

And funny story, the two biggest players in this tale don't wear masks at all. At least not obvious ones.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The town of Binderville was nothing special. There was seemingly nothing to set it apart from any other city in the United States. It had it's own schools, its stores; it had it own police station complete with a stern but good natured sherif, and a slightly green deputy.

Friendly down to earth residents, farms, and it's own local traditions.

It had its secrets.

What it did have however; something no other town or city did, was an unequaled love of all Hallows eve. Halloween was well loved in this town, more so than any other holiday barring christmas. There was one reason for this.

Where most people celebrated Halloween for one day, the townsfolk of Binderville decided that one day simply didn't cut it. And thus, they dedicated the last 7 days October to dressing up in whatever costumes they had, and celebrated one of the most enjoyable times of the year. Whether you were young or old; man or woman; no matter what your job was, almost everyone took part. While some didn't dress up for the entire week, there were few people in the city who didn't slap on a Batman costume, or a Spacesuit, or dress up as a Cowboy for at least a day or two.

Through this tradition, this small town(which is still bigger than Smallville in case you were wondering) was well known in many parts of the whole country. Sometimes, people from out of town even showed up to join in on the fun if they had the time. It was all capped off with a huge Halloween carnival. One of the biggest events in this little town. Games, rides, the occasional show. The works.

But, this town had its secrets as well.

It was the final two days of the Carnival, and Halloween. Since it was also coincided with the weekend, this meant that in addition to the locals, numerous tourists had also stopped by to enjoy the festivities. Among them, was one very important out of towner.

Only a handful of people felt the sudden gust of wind, strong enough to blow off hats, and blow up skirts. an even smaller amount of people would wonder what had caused it in the first place. Only one girl knew the answer: She was the cause.

To the people nearby, she was just another tourist. They weren't wrong in a sense, but it was a serious understatement at the same time. For instance, where most people had arrived in Binderville by car, she...well, she had flown. Not by plane, or helicopter, or any other machine; she had simply willed herself off the ground as though gravity meant little to her. And to be fair, it really didn't.

She had many names: here on earth, she was first known as Linda Lee, but eventually became known as Linda Lang(She'd consciously decided not to call herself Linda Lee Lang. That was one L too many for her tastes). On her home planet(yes, we are saying she's an alien. Don't lose focus) she was known as Kara Zor-el. But to many people, she was best known as Supergirl.

Today, in this time and place, she would go by another name. This one wouldn't last long. At best she'd only keep it for a day or two. She had enough names and identities as it was. Why add in more confusion?

Since it was Halloween, she decided to do like the romans. A blue dress, a white pinafore, and black striped stockings. With her natural blonde hair tied back in an Alice band, she couldn't be anyone but Alice in Wonderland. For what she had planned, going incognito was a must, and even on a day such as Halloween, the classic S crest might draw too much attention even if they thought she was just a normal human wearing the costume. She needed to be sure she didn't stand out.

Like all towns, Bindeville had its secrets. In this case, the secret was disappearing people. For reasons she had not quite caught on to yet, this town kept losing people. Residents mainly, but lately, the occasional visitor would vanish like a puff of smoke. It was her cousin Kal-el(in his identity of Clark Kent) who became aware of it. He had become aware of increasing rumors of people disappearing, and with a little bit of research, he eventually found the common link: All the missing people had been to Binderville for its Halloween festivities.

Naturally, it didn't take long for the town to receive frequent visits. Clark Kent got up close and personal on the subject, interviewing the locals, asking all the right questions like the professional he was, while Superman scanned the town from the sky, looking for those microscopic clues that even the most detail oriented detective would miss(don't tell Bruce). Unfortunately, none of his efforts had borne any fruit.

"It;s not that anyone is lying about the disappearances or anything." Kal told her sometime later after another investigation of the strange town. "I could hear the heartbeats of every person I talked to, and no one was hiding anything. It's more like they either don't realize anything is wrong, or they don't care. The people seem to be in a daze when it comes to the missing people. Beyond that, there's nothing odd about the town. If not for the rumors, I might not have even known anything was going on."

From what information he'd gathered, it wasn't uncommon for people to disappear, but many of them had returned. Clark talked to those people as well, but got nothing out of them. They'd merely claimed they gotten too drunk, or gotten a bit lost, or some other mundane excuse. The returning people were enough to convince the Sheriff that those who stayed gone chose to stay gone. People still looked naturally. For as long as possible, but simply put, they were operating under the assumption that those missing did not want to be found.

Clark didn't buy that however. Something was very wrong in that town, even if the people living there were unaware of it. As it was drawing close to Halloween, when the disappearances always tended to take place, he'd decided it was time for another investigation, but while making preparations, disaster had struck.

The Injustice league... or the Secret society...or the Legion of doom(So many names. Why?) had chosen this time to strike. In a deep space station, they initiated a plan to bombard the earth with Asteroids unless their demands were met. It was a huge threat, even if the plan was rather simplistic. Large army of Super-villains that would require a large army of Super-heroes to combat. Kara was surprised when she realized Clark had swore in anger(a mild swear to be sure, but still not something she heard from him often) at the poor timing. If he missed it now, he might have to wait a whole year before he he had a chance to gather anymore clues. The disappearances always happened around Halloween, and no matter how many times he'd searched the town, he'd failed to find so much as a molecule that seemed out of place. The Halloween Week Carnival was the key. If he wasn't there then, then he feared more people would be added to the list of the missing.

That's when Kara had decided it was time to step in. Kal had done all the researching, so it seemed it was up to her to do the real investigating. Her cousin had been reluctant(He was never going to stop worrying about her. She was glad he cared so much, but it could be really annoying sometimes), but with the situation as it was, and with him about to head off into space, he realized he didn't have much of a choice. The world wouldn't stop moving even if Superman was gone. He ultimately agreed to let Supergirl handle it. It greatly helped that of all the people who would still be on earth that he trusted, Kara was one of the ones he trusted the most.

Which brings us back to the here and now.

"Well, I guess I should get cracking." She started scanning the whole area; X-ray vision; Telescopic vision, and Super-hearing. Every power she could use to investigate, and combined with her Super-speed, she could cover the entire town if need be, so the open lot where the Carnival was taking place would not be an issue.

"If someone so much as sneezes the wrong way, I'll notice it! I have to be alert! I can't miss anything that could be important!" Kal had trained her far too well for her to blow this. If people were disappearing, then it would be up to her to put a stop to it. She continued her initial scans of the Carnival, zooming in on anything that looked suspicious. Peering through walls; hearing every whisper with her ears, and looking out for the first clue that might lead her to the truth. Not a single iota of information, not one single detail would escape her perception.

Kara continued to think that, right up to the point where she walked right into someone coming from the other direction.

"Ow!"

She had no-one to blame but herself. Kal had told her numerous times that seeing and hearing what was going on miles away was useless if she couldn't pay attention to what was going on right in front of her. 4 years on Earth( one spent training, after which the next three had been spent actually being Supergirl) and that was just one lesson she still had trouble catching onto. But there were more important things to consider now.

"My head! Ow!" Kara grumbled as she looked at the person she had bumped into; a girl the same age as her. Said girl was against all logic, still conscious. As for Kara herself, her head hurt, and the collision had actually knocked her over. That did not compute. It may not have been the way she intended, but she had just found her first possible clue.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" The other girl's costume was unmistakable. The blue Gingham dress, with her hair tied in twin ponytails, and the shoes, which were silver as opposed to red(obviously a book fan). This girl could be no one else but Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz.

So Dorothy had literally run into Alice. Kara never heard of Rao having a sense of humor, but life was like that apparently.

"You okay?" Kara asked as she rose to her feet. She didn't have to act like her head was still ringing, because it was. She extended a hand to help "Dorothy"stand up.

"Yeah. My head hurts a bit, but I'm fine." She took "Alice's" hand and got to her feet as well. Kara noticed the other girl was eyeing her, as though she was trying to figure out something just like Kara herself was.

'Right. If she's suspicious of me too, then something is definitely up.' It was time to cut to the chase. Dorothy must have been thinking the same thing, but what happened next is not something Kara expected.

"You should just use your X-ray vision."

Supergirl blinked. "What?" She wasn't sure if she had heard that right, even with Super -hearing.

"I already know you're Supergirl." Dorothy said, matter of factly. "Just use your X-ray vision, and you'll know who I am." She spoke in hushed tones, clearly wanting to avoid anyone eaves dropping on them.

Kara continued to stare at her dumbfoundedly for a moment or two, before regaining her senses. 'Well, I was going to do that anyway, so why not?' Plus, there was something about this girl that told her there was no threat. With that in mind, she used her X-ray vision to see just who or what this girl was.

..."What?"

She couldn't help but blink again. What she had seen under the girl's costume was unmistakable. Another costume, one she had seen before, even if she didn't know the wearer personally.

"Captain Marvel?!" Supergirl uttered.

"Mary Marvel actually." The Brunette shrugged. " I wanted to be Captain Marvel, but apparently people found it confusing."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And that is the end of the first story. Reviews and any criticisms are welcome. I'll even take flames. At least it means someone is interested, and there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Now is the time where I find out if I'm a Rowling, or a Meyer.