MetaGirl Z

Part 1: I Don't Want to Be a Hero…

"Come on! Close you stupid… raahh!" It was no use, I had grown out of this bra too. I threw it on the pile with the others and continued to search through my closet full of junk. Oh… who am I? Yeah, I guess that is kind of important. But now your first impression of me is just gonna be me talking about my boobs. Story of my life, I suppose. Let's start over! I'm Zoe, nice to meetcha! Okay, now where was I?

I dug around the closet until I came across the biggest one so far. "An E? Am I seriously up to an E?" I thought back to when my mom had handed me that bra and how she joked about the future. Saying, "It runs in the family, so you better keep it as a backup!" Well damn, who knew I'd reach that point so fast? I threw it on, periodically making eye contact with my cat Claire as I desperately struggled to secure the clips in the back. "Oh don't give me that look!" I said, exasperating as I finally managed to get them closed. "You try having a random growth spurt at 18, then I'll watch YOU fail at this." Claire put her head down smugly and continued to watch me flail around.

Believe it or not, having an abnormally large rack for a high school student wasn't the weirdest thing about me. In fact, aside from the occasional back pain and having boys gawk at me and whisper to their friends, it was about the only thing that made me feel normal. You see… I was born with super powers. At least that's what my best friend Mika called them. Then again, she was the comic book and manga geek out of the two of us, so she'd know. I guess that's what happens when you make friends with the Japanese transfer student. "Absorb the nerd culture, Z!" That's what she'd always tell me. Maybe I should have listened. Then I'd probably have a better understanding of myself...

At least I knew I wasn't alone in the world. I'd watch the news at night and see people just like me. But that's where the similarities ended. It seems like all the ones with these powers either took up lives of crime, knowing they could get away with it, or used them to help fight against those who were misusing them. I didn't want any part of either. In fact, Mika was the only other person who knew my secret. Life was stressful enough without jumping into the public eye and wearing some ridiculous outfit to hide my identity. But being a redhead with a mild case of freckles made me want to do that anyway sometimes. Hey, at least I was skinny! One less thing to cross of the list of possible taunts at school.

Now that I had found a bra that didn't crush my tiny body into itself, I removed it, dressed down into my jammies and arranged my clothes for school the next day. As I made the life-altering decisions of what would match, my phone buzzed and the picture of Mika, with her long black pigtails, silly smile and dual peace signs popped up on the screen. It was a little late for her to be calling, so I picked it up thinking it might be something important. "You've reached clothes-folding extraordinaire, Zoe!"

"Z! Turn on the news! Channel 6! They're talking about Superman!"

"Ugh, again with this? I told you I'm tired of hearing about all this crap!"

"It's not that… They're saying he's quitting as the protector of Metropolis…."

"R-really?"

I jumped onto my bed and flipped on the news. Just as Mika said, all the headlines were about Superman going into retirement after decades of protecting the city of Metropolis. The news lady giving the story sounded upset and, honestly, a little scared. After all, there may have been a bunch of "heroes" living there, but none of them could hold a candle to his power. I was even a little scared myself. Metropolis was only a few cities away from my own and with all the crazy, otherworldly things that have happened there, it made me uneasy to think it could all come this way. "So what does this mean for-?"

"Can't-talk-gotta-go-need-to-listen-'kay-bye!"

Mika cut me off and abruptly hung up. I sighed, curled my legs up and continued watching as the news lady went on. "Superman, one of the most well-known 'metahumans' and one of Earth's mightiest heroes has just publicly announced his retirement as the savior of Metropolis. No reason was given for this sudden decision and he quickly made his ascent before anyone could get a word with him."

I may not have followed the whole superhero thing like Mika did, but I did get a little choked up knowing Superman wouldn't be around anymore. He'd been protecting us all for so long, years and years before I was even born. Who knows, I might not even be alive if he weren't there to protect my family in the past. It was like seeing your favorite TV show go off the air after you'd spent your whole life watching and getting to know the characters as if they were a second family. But I think technically being a metahuman myself made it that much harder. Sure, there were other heroes like Wonder Woman and Batman. Then of course the mutant metahumans like Wolverine and Rogue. But losing one made me feel more alone than usual, especially since my powers of flight and strength were so similar to his.

I turned off the TV and fell backward onto my pillow. Of course my boobs hit me in the face like they did every other night. I turned to Claire, who had just jumped onto the bed with me. "I bet everyone's gonna be talking about this tomorrow, huh?" She meowed in response. I pet the one white spot on her dark brown fur and she began to purr at me. "I'm really glad I never told anyone else about my powers… I'm shy enough as it is without a camera pointed at me. I cuddled up to Claire, pulled the covers over my head. "I don't ever want to be a hero, Claire…." I zonked out pretty quickly, holding her in my arms..

The next morning I awoke to the smell of bacon radiating throughout the house. Good old mom. For a single mother, she sure had a handle on the whole parenting thing. I'd never be crazy enough to be up that early and have breakfast done by 6 am. If I didn't have to be up myself I'd probably forget 6 am even existed. I groggily dressed myself, got ready and wobbled down the stairs. In the kitchen I found my mother humming while mixing pancake batter. Next to her at the table was… "Mika!?"

"Oh, hi Z!" Mika said with a mouthful of toast.

My mother turned around. "Hey there, sleepy head! Mika came by wait for you so I figured I'd get breakfast started."

"It's too early for Christmas…." I said, still half asleep and oblivious to what my mother had actually said.

"Z," Mika began. "I still can't believe Superman quit. Why would he do something like that knowing it's putting the city in danger?"

"Oh, come on, hon," said my mother. "If things get bad enough I'm sure he'll still be around to help out. He's just not going to be dealing with the minor crimes. Probably leave that up to Batman or the Titans. They're not all relegated to one city after all!"

Even though I was born into a world full of superheroes, it always seemed odd that we all discussed it as if it was such a normal thing. Maybe because I never really cared enough to pay them any mind as a kid. Or maybe it was because I only discovered I was a metahuman less than five years earlier. It's not like I was exposed to it in real life before that. Mom didn't have any powers and dad… Well, he died shortly after I was born But of all the things mom mentioned about dad, having powers was never one of them. In fact, it always made me question where mine came from in the first place. I was never exposed to radiation like Spider-Man. No natural mutations in my family history either. Maybe powers skipped a bunch of generations?

I finally started to wake up and join to the conversation. "So, Mika, didn't they have these heroes back in Japan? Y'know, Goku vs. Godzilla or something?"

"Zoe! Racism!" My mother shouted.

Mika laughed. "I know it's a joke, Ms. McCree. But those are just characters, Z. It'd be crazy if they were real!"

"A Saiyan fighting a giant lizard monster is crazy, but an alien superhuman from Krypton openly quits as savior of the planet and that's totally normal?"

"You're talking to the girl who's country specializes in vending machine panties and tentacle rape hentai!"

My mother finally chimed in as she put the pancakes on the table. "As much as I love discussing porn with my teenage daughter, I think we ought to keep the breakfast table strictly for eating breakfast."

"I second that!" I said jokingly. "Besides, tentacles are old news. I'm all about hermaph-" Mom glared. "Eat your pancakes…."

As Mika and I walked to school, as usual, we talked about the things we could usually only talk about in private. Mostly about my powers. It was a borderline obsession with Mika, especially since she was the only one who knew. I felt terrible. It must have killed her to keep a secret like that, but she was great at putting on a poker face about it. Our chat came to an abrupt stop when Mac, the third and oftentimes pain-in-the-ass musketeer of our little group, caught up to us. He was the quintessential "average" guy. Spiked hair and modern clothing, balanced out with extremely nerdy glasses and love of sci-fi junk. He was a good guy… when his attitude didn't need an adjustment.

"Mika! Looking lovely as ever! And D… more voluptuous than ever!" Mac always called me "D" as a joke about my breast size. "Yuck it up, asshole." I said under my breath while covering my chest. He hugged me from behind. "Aw, you know I'm just playing around!"

"I'll have you know they're Es now! So your stupid little nickname doesn't work anymore!"

"… You're right. E doesn't roll off the tongue as well. Damn!"

Mika pushed Mac aside and rushed in front of me. "They're really Es!?" She shouted loudly. I looked around and noticed a few neighborhood people stop and look at us. Of course Mika didn't take notice and began to fondle me in public. I froze up and felt my face turn red and hot as Mika went a mile a minute.

"That's amazing! You're so lucky! Japanese girls almost never get this big! Unless you count Fuko Love or Hitomi Tanaka! They're HUGE! Y'know, the gravure models that became porn stars! I wish my boobs were that big!" I grabbed Mika's wrists and took her hands away.

"Can we have even one morning where we don't discuss boobs or porn!?" Mac laughed hysterically as the neighbors awkwardly went back to their morning routine.

After we finally got to school, the place was abuzz with talk of Superman. "Geez, can you believe this crap?" I said.

"Hey, it's pretty big news," said Mac. "Not everyday we lose a hero."

"We lost Michael Jackson. He was a dancing hero."

"Yeah, and the world went absolutely bat-shit insane, dude."

"Point taken."

It was clear that people had really idolized Superman. He stood for goodness and decency in a world that ultimately lacked it. He was more than just security for people, he was an extension of what they strived to be. All heroes were in some way… Well, most of them. But I never saw it that way. The less my life revolved around my abilities, the better.

Mika and I shared both homeroom and our first two classes together. Mac was in my third, so by that point I could brush off his annoyingness with thoughts of whatever Mika and I talked about. As we left homeroom and headed to our math class, I felt a strange sensation in my stomach. It was a warm, almost sad feeling that radiated through my body. I began to feel sick, but I tried my best to keep Mika from seeing it. She had a weird tendency to overreact and worried too much when I got sick. Part of being a best friend, I guess, because I'd probably get the same way… If she ever got sick, that is. The pain got worse but I tried to ignore it and pay attention in class.

As Mr. Downs, our teacher, droned on, I started to lose focus. Was I about to pass out? I tried to keep myself alert but something wasn't right. The pain got worse and gradually reached my head. It started pounding and I felt like I was going to be sick. Mika looked over at me and noticed the look on my face.

"Z, what's wrong?" She whispered. I got up slowly, feeling a little dizzy and disoriented. Both the class and the teacher stopped and stared at me. "Zoe? Are you alright?" Said Mr. Downs. My body felt like it was on fire and I started to lose consciousness slowly but surely. I could still hear Mika yelling out to me. "Zoe! Hang on! Stay with me! Z!"

The last thing I heard was an explosion…

Author's Note: Well, it's certainly been awhile since I've had the opportunity to write anything so I hope I'm not rusty! But I'm sure the question on everyone's mind is probably the same. "How is this a Power Girl crossover?" Well cool yo jets, my friends. It'll all become clear within the next few parts. Feel free to leave some constructive criticism where you see fit. But be gentle! I'm still getting reacquainted! ^_^