Lex led the woman inside the Fortress of Solitude and then to the host of crystals. The woman looked over the crystals expertly and began programming the machines. Instantly the face of Jor-El appeared as a hologram before her.
"Jor-El," she said upon seeing him.
"Is he your father?" Lex wondered.
"No, my uncle. He was responsible for the creation of our colony. He saved many lives but unfortunately not his own," the woman said.
The woman listened to Jor-El's speeches about the Earth, her powers, and what her cousin's purpose had been. When she was finished listening to her uncle, she shut down the machine and turned to Lex. "My name is Kara. I will finish the work my cousin began."
Lex Luthor and Kara struck a deal to assist one another for the next year. The two traveled to many countries including the poorest of the Third World nations. Lex taught Kara the politics and economics of the individual nations as they toured the world. Kara dressed in casual human clothes keeping her alien identity a secret. In return for Lex's assistance, she used her X-ray vision to lead him to large deposits of precious metals. With some strategic partnerships with mines around the world, Lex was soon becoming a rich man. Kara also assisted Lex with technological advances; Lex Corp was born.
But during their travels, Kara became disgusted with the evils of the world. She saw the wars, murders, rapes, human trafficking, the use of drugs, and corruption in every country she went to. On many occasions, she desired to act righteously against these evil men, but Lex repeatedly suggested she learn the issues from all sides before acting on them.
During this time, the relationship between Lex and Kara became strong. As Lex had claimed, she could not find another man more intelligent than her companion. She had no knowledge at the time that the man she was with had at one time tried to kill her cousin twice. Finally the time had come for Kara to visit her cousin's grave in Metropolis.
Lex and Kara came to Metropolis and managed to keep a low profile. When Kara found her cousin's grave in the middle of a large memorial, she looked at a statue of Superman. She stared at Superman's uniform with a cape behind him.
"I want to be like him. I want to solve your world's problems," she said.
"Well, to solve the world's problems it requires many intelligent men to come together and form a plan…,"Lex babbled.
"No, the time for meetings and intelligent men is over. I will do what my cousin was not able to accomplish. I will make the world leaders listen to what I have to say," she said.
"What if they refuse?" Lex asked.
"Then I will pass judgment upon them," she pledged.
Lex smiled in amusement as he considered the possibilities. Kara then cocked her fist as if to break the grave open. "Wait, what are you doing?" Lex protested.
"I must retrieve my cousin's body so that I may revive him," she said.
"Revive? How?" Lex asked.
"I know a technique that may be able to reanimate his tissues. I must try," she said.
"Humans don't appreciate people breaking into graves especially this one," Lex told her.
"You're right. You will do it for me," she said.
That night, Lex assembled a team of "associates" to help him open Superman's grave and retrieve the body. When they had managed to deactivate the security systems, they broke open the coffin and found Superman's broken dead body. Despite his wounds, his body was perfectly preserved. Lex winced upon seeing the body.
"Put him in the bag and let's get out of here," Lex ordered his men.
The men placed Superman in a body bag and carried it away in a van. To cover up the evidence of a break in, the rest of the men worked to clean up the mess. When they were done, no one would tell that anything had happened. The van with Superman's body was taken to a warehouse where Kara had constructed a tank filled with a liquid solution.
"You have him?" she asked.
"Yes, it wasn't easy to get through the security system," Lex told her.
"That is why it was necessary for you to retrieve the body," Kara said pleased by his success.
The men took Superman's body and opened the body bag. Kara peered in and gave a strained look as she looked over the beaten body. "Place the body in the tank," Lex ordered his men.
The body was put into the tank where he was placed in a standing position. "The solution will preserve his body and heal his tissue damage. Then I will have to discover a way to restart his brain," Kara said.
"How can you restart the brain? It's dead," Lex pointed out.
"A Kryptonians brain does not suffer brain death like humans. It can be reanimated, but the process is difficult. I will need more tools to assist me," Kara said.
"What do you need?" Lex asked.
"I need a team of Earth's best scientists and advancements to your medical science. I cannot do this on my own," she said.
One Year Later
Lex Corp. was hosted by a large skyscraper in Metropolis and was composed of tens of thousands of employees worldwide. Lex Luthor had managed to use his brilliant intelligence for the good of mankind; his company had advanced the fields of medicine and technology to a significant point. Lex Corp. was on the verge of becoming a monopoly in the technology field. Although Kara provided the leadership to develop these new technologies, Lex knew when and how to sell and buy stocks, collect government subsidies from politicians, and manipulate partners.
With a dramatic increase in cures and a technological revolution of Third World countries, Lex Luthor's image had been completely rehabilitated. The President of the United States even declared that if any prosecutor tried to charge Lex, he would be immediately pardoned.
However, when something seemed to good to be true, Lois Lane was on the case. With Clark not around, Lois had to do double shifts on her assigned work and her own investigation of Lex Corp. She was determined to bring him down. Most curious was the young blond woman at Lex's side.
Her name was Linda Lee Danvers, but nothing else was really known about this woman. There was no place of birth, age, national identity, or any information related to her existence. Lois was determined to find out more about this mysterious woman.
One night, Kara looked at the window of Lex Corp. and saw the many skyscrapers of the city. She seemed to be in a trance with her eyes closed. Lex came to her side as she reflected on the noises of the city. She could hear the angry voices of humans throughout Metropolis "I want to reveal myself to the world," she said.
Lex nodded realizing this day would happen eventually. "Do you want a suit like your cousin's?" Lex asked.
"No, I prefer a more traditional suit. One that is black and silver," she said softly.
"I know a tailor who can be trusted with this," Lex told her.
Kara eyed Lex and then walked over to a large globe hosted in the middle of the room. "Where should I go first?" she wondered as she spun the globe.
Lex extended his finger towards the globe and stopped it from spinning; it landed on a Central Asian country. "Very well then," she smiled at Lex.
Lois walked down the streets of Metropolis with a newly bought coffee. Since Superman had died, she had stopped smoking but that only made her pick up other habbits. Suddenly a black blur rocketed across Metropolis created sonic booms across the city.
"What was that?" Lois said aloud.
Supergirl sped around the planet to Central Asia in her new black and silver uniform. She wore tall black boots, a black skirt with a silver belt, a black cape, and the S crest was in silver on her black uniform. Her speed decelerated as she approached her target; the clouds flowed around her.
Supergirl plummeted down to Earth creating a small crater in the ground. She was at the palace of a dictator who had made himself president for life. An old Soviet style leader, the dictator used the military to oppress his people. With ease, she tore the palace's gates off earning her an immediate response by the military and police.
Alarms sounded off as Supergirl approached the palace without fear. Armed guards pointed their weapons at her as she approached. "Stand down," she said in their language.
The guards didn't move but two of them ran towards her to arrest her. She easily subdued the two guards knocking them to the ground unconscious. Immediately the guards fired on her. The bullets hit her from different angles but had no effect on her. She shook her head in annoyance; her blue eyes turned red. Beams of light caused their rifles to explode in their hands.
The tanks then became active but her eyes sliced through them like butter. Those foolish enough to physically confront her were quickly sent to the ground unconscious by her restrained blows. She then made her way into the palace where she was ambushed by more guards. Unaffected by their weapons, she went down the halls searching for the dictator. After a complete search, she heard the blades of a helicopter outside.
The helicopter containing the dictator took off in a desperate attempt to flee. Supergirl shot off towards the helicopter and easily caught up with it. The helicopter turned around and fired at her, but the missile merely exploded in her arms. In turn, she broke off the blades off the helicopter and guided the helicopter down to a group of protesters who had come to realize what had happened.
"Who are you?" one of them asked her.
"Call me Supergirl," she told him.
Lex Luthor read the Daily Planet with amused interest as he saw several reports of Supergirl's crusade against injustice. The Burmese military was in ruins with all of their fighter jets and tanks destroyed, the Sudanese militants were literally frozen in the desert, and dictators across the world were collapsing from her strikes.
Kara entered Lex's office as he continued to read the paper. "Very good work," he complimented her.
"All according to schedule," she said.
Kara had her list of strikes in a rigid schedule so that Lex would know which nations to divest from right before a Supergirl attack. It had to be carefully scheduled so that no one would realize that Lex Luthor was involved in insider trading. Lex was not much of a humanitarian, but he was making ridiculous amounts of money by way of Supergirl's foreign trips.
"You are certainly making news. Nice work on that Iranian nuclear reactor," Lex noted. She had completely destroyed it.
"Nothing can hide from my eyes."
"Except lead," Lex reminded her.
"It is difficult to see through lead, this is correct," she admitted.
"You are doing what the United States could never do on its own. You are changing the world for the better," Lex said.
"One day, Earth will be as peaceful and wise as Krypton," Kara expressed.
"As I recall, they didn't head your uncle's warning in the end," Lex reminded her.
"Yes, the council was too proud," Kara allowed.
"How is your progress on Kal-El?" Lex asked.
"Its slow but I think I am making progress. Why? Are you so eager for another battle against him?" she asked amused.
"Of course. We never finished our duel," Lex said.
"As I recall, he won the duel when he landed you in prison twice," Kara said mockingly.
"Best three out of five," Lex smirked while smoking a cigar.
"That will kill you," Kara lectured.
"Care for a puff? It's not like it can hurt you," he offered.
She shook her head disgusted much to Lex's amusement. Taking a remote from his desk, he turned on a large television screen showing a dozen dictators in the world. Kara watched the screen curiously and then turned to Lex.
"Their overthrow will work towards world peace," Lex pointed out.
"These leaders also oppose your corporate expansion," Kara recalled.
"Of course. They're anti-capitalism. Capitalism spreads freedom and increases wealth," Lex argued.
"On Krypton capitalism didn't exist. The government was run by specialists," Kara said.
"Well, humanity isn't perfect yet. In the meantime, capitalism is lesser of the two evils," Lex allowed.
Kara stared at the figures on the screen. "Put it on the schedule and I will take care of them."
