Kate Todd.
Kara Zor-El.
Two lives, two realities.
Two young women, talented, ambitious, determined, highly regarded and respected, very much loved.
Stolen from their worlds and loved ones way before their time.
Norfolk, Virginia
"You did good, Kate."
"For once in his life...DiNozzo's right."
"Wow. I thought I'd die before I ever-"
BANG
A god-forsaken rock in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the multiverse
"I know what I have to do. And I need your cooperation."
"Anything you want. You can't possibly know what you've already done for me."
"When I move, take Superman-find the others...get out of this anti-matter universe as fast as you can. Now move, Light...MOVE!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, GIRL? YOU HAVE SEALED YOUR FATE!...NO! MY MACHINES! YOU HAVE DESTROYED THEM!"
"As I'll destroy you, Monitor. Your plans are finished! It's all over! OVER!"
"By the stars...they're locked in combat! ... I have to help you!"
"No! Go...GO NOW!"
"YOU TURN IN BATTLE, GIRL! THAT IS A FATAL MISTAKE!"
"Oh no..."
THOOOMMM
"KARA!"
Another multiverse
The anti-matter universe, 2001
"If we're going to take him down, we have to do it now."
Dozens of sentients took the fight to a being known only as the Anti-Monitor, a being hellbent on destroying all of reality for his own purposes. Milliions of worlds, hundreds of universes, trillions of lives, already gone, and the bastard was coming for more.
The remaning worlds' finest heroes drew the line, here, at its dead, lifeless citadel. And so far, they were getting their clock cleaned.
Still, some were getting through its defenses.
Supermen, Supergirls, Green Lanterns, Legionnaires, Captain Marvels, Captain Atoms, Batmen, Wonder Women, and on and on, made a hole straight to the villain's lair, to the machines that made it possible for him to...kill entire universes.
Their numbers dwindled as they got closer, but eventually a dozen made it to the machines:
Kara Zor-El, Supergirl, Universe I, an American hero, cousin to her adopted world's greatest hero, Superman
Kara Zor-L, Supergirl, Universe XXIII, one of the greatest heroes of the Union of Socialist States of America, and cousin to her adopted world's greatest hero, Superman
The battle went awry and both Supermen were taken out of the fight. Both Supergirls told their comrades to take their cousins to safety...they would finish this.
Supergirl I took the evil bastard on, to the point where her own life was in jeopardy if the fight continued much longer.
At the point she turned in battle...to make sure her cousin and his counterpart were safe...she should have died.
She didn't.
Her counterpart - Kara from Universe XXIII - took the fatal blow instead.
"KARA!"
The bastard's force beam tore through Kara's body. For all of her invulnerabilty, her training, she never had a chance.
She died instantly.
("Kara...please don't give up...you'll make it...please come back...you destroyed the machines...please...Rao no...")
Much later, in Universe I, Kal would tell Kara that his counterpart's screams of anguish still haunted him, even as he was grateful to God that He spared his own Kara's life.
Norfolk, Virginia, 2005
Two...two bullets...bounced off Kate Todd's forehead.
They should have torn through her skull and ended her life instantly.
Instead, they...bounced off. Like something out of a Justice League case.
Her own life was spared. But she had to suffer seeing another bullet tear through Tony's skull.
And see the lifeless bodies of Tim. Abby. Ducky. And Morrow.
It was just her and Gibbs, now. And this Jenny person that Gibbs knew from way back when, who now ran the agency.
Ari was on the move, and painting each of them with a target, and he had help.
Kate was never particularly devout, though she definitely was a believing Catholic. She knew she didn't deserve to have her head blown off on that rooftop..and believed that Tony, Tim, Abby and Ducky didn't deserve their fates either.
Why was God allowing all of this? And when would it end?
Metropolis, New Troy, June 2005
Supergirl surveyed the damage to her cousin's home city.
Although she had long adopted Chicago as her own home, Kara still assisted Kal on cases in Metropolis from time to time. Usually they prevailed against the bad guys; there may be property damage, but always, always, lives were saved, and there were no casualties.
Not today.
Starting with the destruction of the Metropolis Stock Exchange, Ari Haswari and Amanda Waller had orchestrated the greatest single-day act of terrorism ever on American soil, by far the latest in a string of atrocities that seemed to have no end in sight.
It made 9/11 nearly four years prior look like a picnic.
...Metropolis police estimate over 25,000 dead...
...several floors of the Daily Planet building now engulfed in flames. Metropolis Fire Department has the blaze under control but barely...
...GBS Network headquarters is...gone...
...OH GOD THE GBS BUILDING HAS COLLAPSED THE BUILDING HAS COLLAPSED
...GBS now broadcasting from New York under heavy security...
...this is Katie Couric, with continuing coverage of the attack on Metropolis...our affiliate there, WMPS, is now reporting that the body of famed photojournalist James Olsen has been found, burned, and a note attached to Superman allegedly from Ari Haswari...
Kara flew over the city, looking for the terrorists. There were only two.
Kal wasn't here; he had to take Lois, Perry, Cat, Ronald and the others to safety in the Fortress...as safe as it could be considering. She would have to protect it until his return.
As she flew over Centennial Park...the Woman of Steel spotted someone.
Was it him? Haswari?
It was...and he was being pursued. Four men, one woman.
NCIS.
The young woman...was Haswari's target, multiple times. Each time her aura had saved herself, and her teammates, and countless others.
Kate Todd.
She saved the kids in the school in Nebraska that Waller tried to blow up. That enraged Haswari, who tried - unsuccessfully - to kill her again, in Philadelphia.
In all of this...even when us superheroes despaired...they kept going.
Well, one of us was part of Gibbs' team, now. Two, if you count John Stewart's little brother. And three, if you count Kate.
If they can keep going, so can I.
July 5, 2005
Washington, D.C.
Kate had fought hard for six weeks, knowing that Ari Haswari was out to murder her and her teammates and every American and Israeli alive.
God only knew what got him to that point, and now the only thing that mattered was that someone had finally stopped him.
The bastard had somehow smuggled a 15-kiloton Israeli nuclear bomb into Leroy Jethro Gibbs' basement, lining it with lead, kryptonite and ricin and a host of other traps to keep out the remaining heroes and villains who weren't dead or in a body cast.
Maxwell Lord ended it all with a single shot to Haswari's head.
And now?
Kate had kept up the fight, valiantly. But now everything was hitting the fan...and for the first time in her life she felt nothing but soul-crushing despair.
She collapsed, in tears. Right in front of Gibbs' house.
Where were the superheroes?
Stan Burley laid in a hospital bed. They said he probably would survive the bullets to his stomach from Haswari.
The Navy SEAL - Marcus Stewart brother of the Green Lantern - and the JLA member Brian Corbett - that Jenny sent to help Gibbs's team were alive and right next to her.
But they couldn't get to the bomb. They couldn't save Gibbs.
Gibbs was the only one who could get into the basement, to defuse the bomb. At the cost of his own life.
Ari set him up perfectly.
And, even having stopped him, Ari was out for more blood.
Only this Max Lord guy that Brian knew had ended the siege.
It barely registered with Kate. Brian and Marcus were holding it together. Fornell was there. Is that Jenny? Why were there so many agents? Military? What's going on?
"Kate? KATE! AGENT TODD are you with me?"
"Director Shepard...don't yell at her. Please."
"Who the hell are...Superwoman?"
Jennifer Shepard stood aside, as Kara Zor-El dropped to a knee, and drew Kate Todd into an embrace.
The tears flew, and finally, it was all over.
Kara looked at Kate, and saw in her a kindred spirit, a survivor, a hero. A friend.
Kate's two teammates - Brian Corbett, Marcus Stewart - were right alongside Kate. This girl needs all the friends she can get right now.
Once it appeared that Kate came to her senses, Kara looked her right in the eye and spoke softly.
"Kate. Listen to me...you are here. You are alive. You have friends and family who love you. You have people looking up to you.
"Listen to me...I had a bullet pointed at my head too. A monster wanted to murder me, too. Someone gave her life for me...and I think about it every day. I don't know what all went on in that basement tonight...but Gibbs took the risk to put his life on the line for you, and Marcus, and Brian, and Stan. He's gone...and you'll think about him a lot."
"What was her name?" Kate asked, softly.
"Her name...was Kara. Like me," Kara said. "She was from...a different world. She took the shot intended for me...you know, I think about her a lot. She didn't deserve to die. Just as I'm sure all of those people in the last six weeks didn't deserve to die, either. Agents DiNozzo, McGee, Ms. Scuito, Dr. Mallard, Director Morrow. Agent Gibbs. They should have lived, as we did.
"Kate...we cheated death. We cheated the monsters who wanted to take the most precious thing in the world from us: life itself. And now we have an opportunity to make the most of our lives. We don't take it for granted, and we live it to the full. It's okay to cry, it's okay to mourn, and it's okay to remember the good times with the people we lost. We cheated death...but don't let it, the fear of it, cheat you out of living."
Nothing else needed to be said, at least between the two of them.
Kate Todd.
Kara Zor-El.
Two young women, with amazing lives ahead of them, and a newly-forged friendship that would last forever.