The Lady of Batmanor swept her cape aside in a dramatic flourish. "Your reflective tricks are not going to help you escape this time, Mirror Master!"

The man clad in orange and green laughed. "I have some friends who might argue with that." He tilted a mirror set against the wall, and seemingly through the glass came a pair of immense men built like sumo wrestlers. "Tweedledee and Tweedledum will keep you occupied for a while, while I make my escape."

"Well, aren't you a hefty pair." The Lady narrowed her eyes. "You know what they say, the bigger they are … "

Tweedledee scoffed, and the pair advanced menacingly. The Lady ran to the side wall, grabbing hold of the rope sash from a velvet curtain. She clambered up and pushed off the side wall, her feet striking soundly in Tweedledee's stomach, knocking him against his brother.

"Pow!" came a delighted roar from the audience of teenage girls watching the stage show.

The Lady paused briefly to wink at them, and then narrowly evaded Tweedledum's grasping hands, and did a sweeping kick which knocked him on his rump. "Bam!" shouted the crowd.

Tweedledee lunged for her next, and the Lady quickly pulled the rope sash down from the wall, wrapping it around the pair so they were tied together. With one hand on each of their skulls, she knocked them together in an efficient gesture which made both of them crumble to evident unconsciousness. "Biff!" came the chorus.

She wiped her hands together tidily, and stepped forward to the edge of the stage and bowed low, and the audience erupted into cheers. She slipped off her cowl, revealing the blonde locks of Debbie Danger. "Thank you all for coming," she said, and stepped aside as one of the technical support crew untied her opponents, who also bowed deeply and waved, smiling. "And thank you for watching 'The Lady in Batmanor' on the BBC. I'm going to take a moment, and then I'll be back to answer questions and sign autographs."

Applause followed her backstage, and her best friend Jenny Brown came up to greet her. "Good show as always, Debbie," she said, giving the other girl a hug. Jenny had short brown hair and glasses, a definite contrast to the glamorous Debbie.

"It's just nice to have everything run smoothly," Debbie replied. "I'm glad you were able to come along on this tour. It always means a lot to me to have you around."

Jenny laughed. "Someone's gotta keep you out of trouble!"

In the audience, Sally Norris turned to the blonde girl next to her. "Well that was certainly exciting. Do we have a show like this every Friday?"

"No chance!" Susie Sullivan laughed. "You just had good luck, getting this big presentation in your first week."

Sally nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I'm glad I had you to show me around. I'd have been pretty lost otherwise."

Susie smiled, and then looked at Sally speculatively. "Do you have a partner for the computer lab assignment due Monday?"

"Uhhh …. " Sally said peevishly. "I was hoping the deadline might get put off because of the show?"

"No luck," Susie said, and braced a hand on a crutch to pull herself to her feet as the auditorium began to empty out. "Meet up with me later, we can be partners."

Jenny Brown, overhearing, walked over to the lingering pair. "Well hey, Debbie and I have our own assignments to be working on. Being in show business doesn't mean that we get to get away from school! You two can show us around, and we can keep each other company while we work."

Sally's face broadened into a bright smile. "That would be braw!"

Later that evening, teams of boarding school girls worked in the school's computer lab. The room was kept dim but not dark, with only half the overhead lights on, to maintain a 'sleepover' atmosphere. Susie and Sally worked on one machine, Debbie and Jenny on another, and three other girls Judy, Emma, and Tracy on a third.

"Judy, this assignment is doing my box in," Emma whispered.

Judy rubbed her forehead. Susie and Sally eavesdropped in addition to doing their own work, and smirked slightly, while Debbie and Jenny focused on their own work.

"I know," Judy whispered back. "I can't believe the program crashed again. Let's try again … we'll run the sample inputs one at a time and try to see what's making it choke."

Tracy sighed. "I can't believe this is taking us all night."

Susie and Sally cupped their hands as they whispered to one another.

"Should we give 'em the trick you figured out, of converting everything into base 8?" Susie asked.

"Nah," Sally replied, "let them figure it out on their own."

Jenny slid off her chair and rose to her feet. "I'm hungry, anyone else want anything?"

Susie nodded emphatically, "I'll take anything. Do you know where the vending machines are? Second door to the right and straight on 'til the end of the hallway."

Debbie stood up and stretched. "I'll take care of it, Jenny. I'm getting stiff sitting at the computer like that, and you're always shouting me."She meandered around, eventually finding herself standing before a row of vending machines. She ran her index finger over one of the machines, trying to make up her mind, when off in the distance she heard a crash.

Debbie was in the process of turning a corner to investigate the sound, when she saw a heavy-set white man in his 30s inserting a hand through a broken glass door panel, and reaching around to open an exit door from the inside handle. He had short, slightly curly hair, and deep frown lines.

Debbie's eyes bugged out. "Omigosh." She ducked low instinctively, and scampered back to the computer lab. "They're after me. No. Stop that. They're after the computers I bet. Crumpets!"

Debbie re-entered the computer room and gone directly to where Jenny was sitting. She put a hand on her shoulder and looked terrified. "Jenny … Jenny … "

Her friend looked confused. "Debbie? What's going on?"

"There's … there's someone …" Debbie pulled at Jenny's arm, trying to get her to stand up, and whispered back, "We have to get out of here!"

The other girls in the room started to notice, and began to look confused and alarmed.

Susie hobbled over. "There's someone trying to break into the school?" Debbie nodded emphatically.

"Judy," she told the other girl, "can you lead them all out the back gate? I know of a place where I can hide, and maybe I can find a way to ring the police."

Sally shook her head emphatically. "We can't just leave you here!"

Susie made a dismissive noise. "I'd just slow you down. Now go!"

As the other six girls tiptoed out, Susie returned to her seat. She opened up a secret lead-lined compartment in the handle of her crutch, removed a glowing green rod, and inserted it into a space inset into her chest. None of her classmates knew how badly hurt she had been after she'd been struck by that car, years ago. The government had rebuilt her as a cyborg so she could work for them as a secret agent; her artificial limbs, eyes and ears kept her at maximum human physical condition, the crutch only being necessary to maintain her secret identity, but by inserting a rod of sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide with fluorine into her bionic systems she gained the abilities which justified her codename: Supergirl.

Once the other girls were out of the building, Jenny spoke up. "We better scatter," she whispered, "you three girls get back to your dorm and clipe to the headmistress, Debbie and I will head to our trailers and see if we can track down our security guard." Moments later, silently using the cloak as a cover in the darkness, the dark knight damsel headed back to the school.

Supergirl stepped out of the hallway, arms folded before her, into the path of the intruder. "I think you had best stop now," she said, "before you break any more laws."

The man blinked at her, surprised, and threw his head back and laughed. "Listen to the wee expert," he said, and reached out for her. She took him by the wrist with a steel-hard grip, and effortlessly tossed him backwards.

The man rolled to a stand, and then hunched his shoulders. The lower half of his face began to extend, his ears became more pointed, and his nails extended to claws. Hair began to sprout over his body until he began to resemble nothing more than some wolf-human hybrid.

"Well," said Supergirl, "that was unexpected." She barely had time to brace herself when the beast sprung at her, and she discovered his feral strength rivalled her own.

Supergirl struggled to minimise damage to the school, but her opponent attacked her savagely, his claws tearing at the synthetic flesh of her limbs and raising sparks on the metal beneath. She knew that she could not sustain indefinite damage, and that she could very well end up as crippled in actuality as her secret identity seemed to be.

"Bad dog!" came a voice from the hallway, and Supergirl's eyes widened to see a teenage girl in the garb of the Lady of Batmanor.

"Debbie Danger, what are you playing at?" Supergirl shouted, and was equally surprised to see the finesse in the other girl's approach as she unleashed a series of kicks against the beast's sides.

The wolf creature distracted, Supergirl increased the pace of her own attack, and soon the two of them had their opponent on a retreat. They stood, panting from the exertion, as their opponent turned and bolted from the door. Supergirl set off after him, when the door was blocked by another girl wearing a gas mask. "Who … " she barely got the chance to say, when she felt the muscles in her body seize up. She glanced over to the Lady of Batmanor, and saw her similarly fall.

The girl strode in, peering at the both of them, and then removed her mask to reveal the face she knew as Sally Norris. "Don't worry," she said, "it's not fatal, it only temporarily disrupts the nerve impulses which control movement. I had hoped my cousin Joseph would have been able to run this errand for me on his own, but apparently he needed help."

The wolf creature disappeared into the back of the school. "You surprised me, Susie … and you too, Miss Danger. I think I'll have to have Joseph bundle you both up and take you to my lab, so I can get a better sense of what makes you both so unusual. And since we're soon to be so very much closer, I think it only fair that we be properly introduced. My name isSaoirse Nikola … you may have heard of my great-grandfather, Dr. Antonio Nikola? No? A shame … his name was once feared all through the world. I'll have to do my best to … ah!"

Joseph returned, carrying a stick on which were engraved a series of Chinese symbols. He presented it to her then scampered back outside. Saoirse turned the stick to and fro, admiring it. "Hidden here for so long," she said. "It took me years of research to find it. This will allow me finally to fulfil my ancestor's ambitions and take control of the Tong of China. Once that's done I'll be able to fulfil the rest of his plans, and then the name of Nikola will be known and feared worldwide once again."

She gasped, as Supergirl rolled to her feet. The girl's head still lolled to the side, but she advanced inexorably. "What are you playing at?" Saoirse asked, backing away. Supergirl scowled, as much as her face would allow. She knew she was no longer human, and the nervous system which ran through her body was made of metal, not flesh. She was still able to operate her limbs through force of will. As fast as quicksilver, she lurched forward, tearing the stick from Saoirse's hand and striking her on the jaw with one powerful fist.

She scooped up Saoirse Nikola and the Lady of Batmanor to carry them outside.

Afterwards, the two crimefighters sat on the rooftop, watching as government agents escorted the criminals into a security van. "Max Mercury will find a good place for them," Supergirl said, using her superior's codename. "That's a shame, I … I really liked the old Sally."

"Thank you for trusting me with all this," the Lady said.

"I trust you … after all, I know you have your own secrets, too … Jenny Brown."

The Lady's eyes widened, and she slipped off her mask. "How did you know?"

"My strength and speed aren't the only things which are advantaged," Supergirl said with a smile, "my eyesight and hearing are, too. It's pretty tough to hide anything from me. once I have time to actually pay attention."

Jenny nodded. "Nobody else in the cast or crew knows I'm a karate expert, and I suspected my skills would be helpful in solving this problem as they had so many before. I'm pretty content to hang back and let Debbie take all the credit. She loves to be in the limelight and I don't, but for all that she's a good friend to me."

Supergirl kicked her feet. "I feel like a lost a friend in Sally, but I think you'd be a truer one. It's nice to meet another girl who is unusual, kind of, in the way I am."

"I bet you have all sorts of adventures I could help out with," Jenny beamed at her. "I don't know if I'd want to join up with the government like you are, but if Supergirl ever needs any future help from the Lady of Batmanor, you can count me in!"

Supergirl extended a hand and the two clasped hands firmly, making a deal. "The baddies out there won't know what hit 'em!"

NOTES:

Susie Sullivan was the star of the DC Thomson strip "Supergirl" which appeared in Bunty; I have presented her as fairly close to her original source, although the Metallo touches are mine (her actual codename was 'Quicksilver,' and her government contact's codename was 'Mercury').

Jenny Brown was the star of the DC Thomson strip "Supergirl" which appeared in Judy, completely unconnected to Susie Sullivan; I have presented her as fairly close to the original source, although the renaming is mine. 'The Lady of Batmanor' is a reference to the Detective Comics story in which Bruce Wayne visits Scotland and becomes "The Lord of Batmanor."

Saoirse Nikola was inspired by Kim Newman's character Sally Nikola, who is the daughter of Guy Boothby's character Dr. Nikola. 'Sally Norris' was the name of an adventurous DC Comics policewoman from the 1940s.

Judy, Emma, and Tracy were all title characters from DC Thomson titles.