The time of the superhero had was winding down. There people who found the they did more harm than good. Many of the heroes that had lived in their world from another had departed. Many of the other Earth born superheroes had decided to call it quits. There was so little left to fight for when the people felt they no longer needed them.
Lex Luthor had been put away, The Joker executed and many other villains locked away deep underground. All of these things came from the efforts of a single man's actions. The man's name was Isaac Keller who was slowly taking over the social consciousness of the world. He was in every government meeting and had heavily influence over the President of the United States.
Isaac Keller was a very tactical man. He often wore the same thing to set himself aside from anyone else. His hair had just enough length to brush back off his head. He always wore sunglasses. His signature was an all white suit with a red tie. No matter the occasion he never differed from his choice of clothing.
He led the idea that people humanity could save itself. He rallied supporters on the idea that they could thank superheroes for all they have done. He also brought up that these superheroes will not always exist. Keller was slowly putting the world into a state of mind that they could live better if they learned to defend themselves and thus the military and nations began to do so.
This did not work however for some superheroes like Superman and Batman. No matter how much the world pushed back, they kept pushing forward. They were hopeful that they could still make a sizable difference. If they felt like they couldn't, why would they do it?
In National City Kara Danvers had made the transition into a normal life for herself. She missed the days of flying around and fighting crime. Each time she looked up and saw a crime in progress the new police force was there much faster than she expected them to be. They weren't as fast as she was but it felt like it was time to accept that this was the world they wanted.
As she walks into her office she finds someone was waiting for her. "Clark!" Kara said with a happy smile.
"Hey Kara." He greets her and they hug one another.
"What are you doing here?" Kara asked.
"Something's happened. I wanted to talk you about it in private." Clark said. Kara nods and leads Clark to the roof.
When they get to the roof Clark takes out some photographs he had been hiding in his suit jacket. Kara takes them and looks them over. Her eyes widen in surprise as she sees Oliver Queen's home being raided and he was arrested. They had his suit, his bows and everything he owned as the Green Arrow.
"How could this have happened?" Kara asks.
"I spoke to Bruce about it. According to him, Isaac Keller tipped off the forces," Clark said and crosses his arms. "Now that the people have lost faith in us, I think he's rounding us up and if we fight back..."
"We look like criminals..." Kara concludes and Clark nods.
"We can't let this happen! What do we do about Oliver?"
"I'm going to find Diana and speak with her. He's going to need a good lawyer," Clark turns to go.
"Wait, what can I do to help?" Kara asked.
"No," Clark turns back to her. "You got out for a reason. It's safer this way. I only came to warn you to watch out for him," Clark says before looking from side to side and taking off.
"Clark!" Kara calls out to him. She couldn't follow, she would definitely be missed if she ran off.
Kara could barely focus on her work for the rest of that day. The only things she could see were the makings of people praising Isaac Keller's actions. The story of Oliver's arrest had yet to be made public. It was strange how well they could keep the arrest of Star City's former mayor from the public. Kara decided that this was going to too far.
She was going to put the suit on one more time and find out what was really going on. That night she gets on her Supergirl suit and flies off to Washington. She stays high enough in the sky that she not be noticed. She uses her X-ray vision to find Mr. Keller as he leaves and gets into his limo. She begins to follow over head.
They were going much further out of the way than she expected them to go. Where were they possibly going? She continued to follow them until they arrived at what appeared to be a very ordinary looking house. This must have been Isaac's house. Though Clark might scold her for this she decides to use her X-ray vision to look inside. As she does she finds there was a tube going toward the ground.
"Is that an elevator?" Kara asked herself.
She looks down further to see a secret facility underground. In hindsight Kara felt like she should have seen this coming. Her first instinct was to call Clark but he had his hands full. Since so many Superheroes were out of commission, he was taking on an extra work load. She decided to this on her own. She surveys the area, no secret passages underground to a lair had only one entrance. There had to be escape exits. She found two that led out closer to empty fields.
Kara follows her instincts to the escape exits and forces one of the hidden passage doors open. She floats down into the hole and overs the hole back up. Kara makes her way into the facility. Everything inside was white and clean looking. She felt like she was trapped in a windowless Apple store. She looks around until she makes eye contact with a camera.
"Crap!" She says as an alarm goes off. The rooms and hallways flashes red. Even though the alarm was annoying, the red was a nice change in color. The walls come down to lock her inside the room. A hissing sound comes from the vents and sends in a toxic smoke. Kara leans back and then thrusts herself forward and bursts through the wall locking her inside. She flies through the facility with her X-ray vision until she crashes through the wall into the biggest room in the facility.
"Ms. Danvers, I thought you had retired," Isaac says. Isaac was standing in front of a large device was a portal behind him.
"You-" Kara stops herself from asking how he knew her name. It was like confessing to anyone watching. "Who are you? Who are you really?"
"I come from a place far from here. I come from a place where you are a myth, just like all others like you. I prey on fear and loss of hope. I also enjoy a good cup of coffee in the morning."
"What?" Kara asked taken off guard by that last part.
"Of all my years and my travels. Human invention has never made anything for useful," Isaac said. Kara tilts her head trying to figure out how to respond.
"Why did you have Oliver Queen arrest? And if you know the identities of others, why haven't you gone after them?"
"I've not gone after you because you gave up the suit. The Green Arrow decided to put the suit on one more time in order to stop a hostage situation," he explains.
"That's ridiculous... You arrested him for suiting up to do something good?" Kara asked.
"The age of the superheroes has ended," Isaac says.
"I don't understand... People loved us before you came along. People had hope before you came along. I don't understand... I've never even heard of you and yet somehow you came out of nowhere and changed everything!"
"You want answers," Isaac deduces.
"Can you at least give me that much?" Kara was desperate for them at this point. She was willing to play along if she could just find out why.
"All of your answers are right here," Isaac lifts a bag then lights it on fire.
"No!" Kara shouts and rushes at him irrationally. Isaac steps to the side with the bag out and he tosses it at the portal. Kara was unable to stop her forceful flight toward the portal. She catches the bag before slamming into pavement. She groans in pain as she hits the ground holding the bag. She hears a loud horn blowing at her from a truck.
"Move it, freak!" The truck driver shouts at her. She'd met a lot of rude people but he talked to her as if she was just some idiot who fell into the street. Kara politely gets to her feet and steps off the busy road. She reaches into the smoking bag and pulls out a book.
"What is this?" She reads the title. "DC Fall of the Heroes. Green Arrow #1..." She reads allowed. "What?" Kara opens the comic and reads through what she can as many of the pages were bent. It showed Oliver putting on the Green Arrow costume again and saving the hostages before returning home. That night his home was raided and he was arrested for vigilantism.
"Who made this? How did they make it so fast?" She asked herself as his arrest only happened last night. She opens up to the back of the comic where the credits were. She didn't recognize a single name. She then realizes that people weren't as super excited to see Supergirl standing on the street as she expected.
"Excuse me," A police officer steps up to her.
"Oh! Hello officer, is there something I can help you with?"
"I don't think so," He says. "But I think I can help you by telling you to do something about that smoking bag. You could hurt yourself or someone else."
"Oh, there's no chance of that happening," Kara smiles.
"Yeah, and why's that?"
"Because... I'm Supergirl?" Kara was flabbergasted at how ignorant the cop was.
"Sure you are," He responds and takes the bag and stomps it down to be sure there was no fire remaining. He picks it back up and tosses it in the trash. "Take care of yourself, miss," the officer walks back to his post.
Kara was absolutely bewildered. She couldn't go flying back to her house in broad daylight so she needed to get some clothes. It was awkward enough to walk around as Supergirl but more awkward to buy clothes as Supergirl. She hoped no one could figure out her secret identity by tracking her clothing style. Kara walks all the way back to her apartment complex to find a McDonald's.
"What the what?" The confusion continued as she made her way inside. She waits in line before she got to the front. "Hi," Kara greets.
"Hello, what can I get for you?"
"Actually I had a question..."
"Joy," the cashier responded. They got a million stupid questions a day but nothing like this.
"What happened to the apartments that used to be here?" She asked.
"You lived in a McDonald's?" She asked Kara.
"What? No! There was a big apartment complex that used to be right here before it was... this."
"This McDonald's has been here since the 1970's..." She answers.
Kara stares at her puzzled. She turns and walks away having no idea what was happening. She quickly takes out her cell phone and dials Clark's number.
"Hello?" A soft voice answers the phone.
"Clark! Thank God, what's happening?"
"Clark? This is Lauren," she answers.
"Lauren? This isn't Clark Kent's number?" She asked. She hears a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone.
"You know what I'm getting really sick of these calls," she said in a frustrated tone. "I didn't ask for my assignment, okay? Leave me alone. Goodbye!" she hangs up on her.
"Lauren?" Kara says looking at the name on her phone still reading; 'Clark.'
Kara goes looking around until she finds a library with public computers. She had to get a library card while carrying the Supergirl costume in her bag. She gets on Google and looks up both Lauren's name and the phone number associated with him.
She reads the wikipedia page she finds on the man. She was first an independent website blogger before she finished college and began writing for television. she felt he had hit in big when she began to write for Superhero TV shows until she was made to work on the comics instead. There was so much continuity it was almost impossible to keep the fans happy.
At the moment there was a DC Superheroes relaunch event happening to reset the DC Universe. It went through a phase called "Fall of the Heroes" where all of the heroes would be either taken down or kill before a reality shifting relaunch. Lauren Helms was originally writing for the Huntress comic book series but due to the poor sales of the Supergirl series he was taken off of the Huntress and made to do her series. He was willing to do it until he was forced into the "Fall of the Heroes" phase. She knew that this series was going to bring a lot of backlash and she wasn't prepared for what they would do to him for destroying Supergirl. Everything in the page to that point seemed to come from interviews she was doing about the project.
This was raising far more questions than answers. Kara was able to use her phone number to track her location through Google. She found her apartment and decided to head that way. She wasn't sure what to do or what to say she when she arrived she knocked on the door and went with it. A girl look around the age of just out of college opens the door.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
"Hi, I may have called you earlier thinking you were Clark. My name is Kara and I need your help," Lauren shuts the door on her face immediately.
Kara decides to go with a different approach. Lauren sits back on her couch in frustration. She watches the news as she hears a tapping sound on the window of her loft. Lauren turns toward the window see Kara outside. Lauren practically chokes on air when she sees that. She stares at Kara's big smile. Lauren very cautiously walks toward the window and opens it up gently. She peaks out the window to see that Kara was standing on air. "How are you doing that?"
Kara floats away from the window to show her that what she was doing was real. She floats back to the window and climbs through into her loft. Lauren stares at her on her way in.
"Hi," Kara begins again. "I may have called you earlier thinking you were Clark. My name is Kara and I need your help." Lauren nods in head in disbelief before moving to the bathroom to get something for her head. Kara explains her situation while Lauren gets her headache medication. Lauren swallows three pills with a large gulp of water then wipes her mouth and stares at Kara.
"So let me see if I get this straight," Lauren walks back into the living room and sits.
"Where you're from, you, Superman, Batman and everyone else are real?" She asked.
"As real as you," Kara answers.
"Holy crap! Does that mean Ironman is real too?"
"Who?" Kara asked.
"Never mind," Lauren answered. "So this guy tricks you into going through a portal where you ended up in our universe?"
"Where our stories are apparently comic books," Kara says. "But some of these Supergirl comics didn't happen. I should know," she says looking through Lauren's collection.
"That's because the DC Universe has different earths."
"Come again?" Kara asked. Kara knew about the existence of other universes but never thought about doppelgangers.
"Yeah, there are a few different ones. There's the one you are now as one of the last Kryptonians. There's also one where you're an Earth born angel, another where you've turned evil and there's even several where you have a leotard instead of a skirt."
"A leotard?" Kara can't help but blush in embarrassment over the idea.
"I think it would great on you," Lauren says then Kara looks over at her. "I mean, yeah, you could consider all types of outfits as Supergirl and I'm sure they'd look great!" Lauren covers.
"Thanks," Kara responds.
"Do you have a place to stay?" Lauren asked.
"Not really... My apartment in this world is the site of a McDonald's... National city doesn't even exist in this universe."
"On the bright side neither does Gotham," Lauren tries to lighten the mood. "Sorry... You can stay here as long as you to!"
"I don't want to intrude..." Kara said.
"My roommate is Supergirl. That sounds like a bad fan fiction waiting to happen," Lauren responds. "Come on, stay with me."
"Alright, thank you," Kara was relieved to have a place she could stay for now. Kara didn't know the first thing about this world. How different was it from her world? Are there really no superheroes?
"Lauren, what can you tell me about the "Fall of the Heroes" series?" Kara asked.
"It was an editorial idea, they wanted to reboot the DC Universe again but instead of making a grand scale thing they decided to darken it all by wiping out the heroes and making it hopeless. Superhero movies are dark, the shows are dark and so are the comics," Lauren said.
"If everything is made to look so bad, how are people left with any hope things will get better?" Kara asked.
"They don't..." Lauren said. "That's why these things are happening. There aren't enough comic readers left with hope that things will get better. The hopefulness and fun of the past is being wiped out for darker stories which is fine until they lose their soul of what a superhero story should be. There should be hope..."
Kara looks at the comics in her hand from their current series; "If these comics effect or influence my world then doesn't that mean if hope returns to these people and the people of DC that means that things could change in my world."
"Theoretically, our worlds are connected through the comics," Lauren speculates. "If people can learn to look up to superheroes again then things will get better." Things were finally making since about how Isaac Keller was able to come from this world and use his influence to change her world.
"Let's bring home back," Kara said.
A few days later a plane flies over international waters. It was late at night and most of the passengers were asleep. The pilot watches the quiet skies having a fair ways out before they got to their destination. And then suddenly without warning the entire plane begins shakes violently and they hear a loud crash. Everyone wakes up screaming as the pilot and his co-pilot see that the plane was severely damaged. They had been hit by some kind of explosive device from below and they were losing altitude quickly.
The pilot tries to keep it steady during the commotion as the co-pilot calls in what had just happened. The pilot stirs up but the controls were unresponsive. He stares at his hands gripping the handles while nothing was happening.
"I can't do anything..." He says under his breath. They were on a nosedive with the ground below. There were families in the back coming come from vacations over seas with children. All he could do was watch in horror as the ground got closer. All he could think to do was give one last bit of hope to everyone on board.
"This is your pilot speaking..." He says trying to speak calmly over the frantic screams behind him. "We're going to make impact soon. Hold on tightly to yourself and your children. May you all be safe." He says knowing there was no surviving on his end. As they began to get closer they felt another bump rock the plane. But this time it began to make the plane turn right side up.
The pilot breathes heavily as he sees what's happening. He grabs the handles on last time and tries to navigate. Now that they were steady enough he was able to guide the plane. He had no idea what was holding them up but he was preparing for a crash landing. When they got close to the ground they felt the impact of the plane with the ground as it slides but the plane stayed in tact. Eventually the plane comes to a stop...
The pilots were shaking but other than some whimpers there was silence. It began to click that they were all alive. As they noticed the people began to rejoice. They embraced one another with happy tears. Even the pilots embraced one another after the scare.
The flight attendants open the emergency exit for everyone to slide down as the plane began to burn. Rescue workers' sirens were heading in their direction. "Mommy!" A child shouts and points up. Everyone looks in the direction to see a shadowy silhouette floating overhead with a cape flying in the freeze. After everyone is out it flies away but not before a few people take pictures.
A couple of days articles were being printed and released on the internet being called the; "Angel of Flight 117." Lauren looks over the story in the newspaper instead of looking it up on TV or the internet. Writing about reporters made her more interested in the written words on papers.
"They're saying that they believe that an actual angel was there and guided the plane down. No one got any real pictures. People point out the cape and thinks its a superman photo shop. They don't even think the plane crash happened on the internet."
"Good to know that trolls exist in every universe," Kara answers. "I can't believe that would happen."
"It's not the first time," Lauren said.
"What?"
"They basically flew over an active war zone. Those people have little regard for those they hurt. Innocent civilians die every day out there..." Lauren said then remembers who she's talking to. "But you can't do anything about it."
"But people are dying!"
"It's a war zone," Lauren said again. "If those people found out that Supergirl is real and she's picking sides. The U.N. Backlash would be astronomic!" Everyone would point their fingers and weapons at the US if they found out they had something like Supergirl on their side.
Kara looks down at her glasses in her hands and looks at her own reflection. How could she look at herself if she let people die? She had spoken to Clark about these things. If people are to war then they can't get involved in such things. They can't have a side, it's not their place to decide who wins. They aren't Gods.
For the next few days Kara kept her existence as secret as possible as she stayed away from the war zone. Kara returns home one day and turns on the news. The first story talks about a fad going around as people dressing up as clowns and terrorizing neighborhoods. The children were afraid to go outside, go to school and never went outside to play out of fear. Kara couldn't believe the things people go away with in this world without superheroes... Police officers had no basis to arrest the clowns if they hasn't actually committed crimes.
The next story came up abruptly interrupting the other one. In the war zone a school bus had been blown up. That's when Kara found out the truth. Lauren walks in shortly thereafter.
"The war zone is in a residential city..." Kara said to Lauren. "Isn't it?"
"Yeah..." Lauren didn't think Kara didn't know. "People live there but that's where most of the fighting and attacks happen."
"Did you know about this?" Kara asks pointing at the photos of the school bus.
"No..." Lauren says looking at the television. "That's so awful..."
"Children did, Lauren... they innocent in all this... And I wasn't there," Kara was on the verge of tears. "I can't..."
"Kara, what are you thinking?" Lauren asked and Kara walks to the door.
"I can't do nothing anymore. This world might have superheroes... but it deserves them.," Kara says before leaving the apartment.
In the war zone America continued its war on terror in the backyards of the people they went to prevent from attacking the United States. A team of two soldiers walks through the streets as a jeep nearby explodes. It was just far away enough that the force blew them back but didn't hurt them. An opposing soldier opens fire on them as they take cover behind another vehicle. The American soldiers hear the sound of a crying child.
A little boy was caught in the middle with his head down in the middle of the street with bullets flying overhead. Their enemy soldiers shooting over the little boy to get at them not caring at all about the child's safety. Using the child to lore the Americans out.
"Bobby, cover me, I'm going to get him!"
"No way, man! Its a trick and you know it! You wont get anywhere near that kid!" He grips his arm, "I'm sorry! You know there's nothing we can do..." Bobby as heartbroken as anyone to say they'd have to watch another child die.
"I CANT JUST LEAVE AL ITTLE KID OUT THERE TO DIE! ENOUGH KIDS HAVE DIED TODAY!"
"AND MORE WILL DIE TOMORROW! THROWING YOUR LIFE AWAY FOR ONE WON'T SAVE ANYMORE!" He yells before they hear what sounds like a plane having soared overhead. Both of them grip the vehicle that they were using as cover. They expected the next sound to be an explosion from a missile launched by a drone.
They look up to see a silhouette hovering over their heads making a shower over the sun. The soldiers on both sides look up as it slowly descends gracefully like an angel. Kara appears in full view of everyone including reporters camera and news stations reporting live in 'safe' areas that could see her from their broadcasting positions.
Kara lands in the middle of the street bending down on one knee. She opens her arms to the little boy with a loving smile. The little boy slowly lifts himself up and then runs into her arms and embraces her tightly and she does the same. "You're safe now," she assures as she floats into the sky with him in front of everyone watching. She flies away making her intentions clear in front of the world. When battles broke out she would return for the innocent but she would not participate in battle. The war was between the soldiers but the innocent were her duty to protect. She had revealed herself as real to the world and there was no going back.
Every news station was exploding with the news of an actual real life 'Supergirl' appearing to save a child. There were news station speculating her involvement in the actual battle and whose side she is on. Other networks talking about how she chose to save a foreign child meant that she was on the side of the terrorists. It was an explosion of opinions in every direction. The place there was the most support came from people. People noticed she had saved a child and that was all she did. Comments on the internet from news stations went out of their way to defend the actions of Supergirl and hope that she continues to protect the innocent.
The President calls for Supergirl to come to Congress to speak with them if she really is out there and all of this was real. Supergirl lands on a high building in New York City and watches the world around her. This was a world that needed her more than her own and she knew that now. These people needed someone to inspire them in their dark and sometimes tragic lives. The superheroes of this world were written about to inspire but they were no longer doing that they way they used to.
"What took you so long?" Kara turns around to find Clark as Superman.
"It took a while for me to properly have time to look for you. When I find the portal device, I asked Bruce and Barry to look into fixing it up so that we could get over to this side."
"It's good to see you," Kara smiles.
"But?" Clark could see it coming.
"But... I think this world needs me," Kara says and looks out. "This world influences ours. They need hope in order for our world to have hope in us again."
"That's very noble of you, Kara... I'm going to miss you." Clark walks up to her and hugs her. Kara hugs her back.
"I'll be back someday, when this world is ready to stand up again."
"There's one last thing," Clark offers her another comic book. "Check the credits."
Kara opens it to the credits to find a very unnerving credit; "DC Comics Editor and Chief: Isaac Keller."
"He's responsible for all of this," Kara said. "I'm going to take care of this. As long as it takes."
"Good luck," Clark says and rubs her arm then hands her a device that she could use to communicate with them cross dimensionally, "I have faith in you." Superman looks up and takes off.
"Goodbye, Clark..." Kara smiles then turns around at the world around her and lets her cape flap in the wind. Earth Prime was now her world to protect.