A man found wandering the streets late last night has been identified as superman. He appeared to be highly dehydrated, as well as having an altered state of mind. Paramedics assumed the man of steel was a citizen returning from a costume party when they were successfully able to insert an IV. Superman seems to have somehow lost his powers, and we do not know if this is temporary or not. What we do know is that in his prolonged absence many members of the criminal element are taking advantage of the situation. Super villains are out in droves, and even common people are rioting. The justice league has dispatched several of its members to help regain order here in metropolis. Among them are Martian Manhunter, Red Tornado, Captain Atom, and Doctor fate. Hopefully with their help we can regain control of our fair city. In other news Lex Luthor has made a commitment to help clean up the city and to do it in a way that won't leave us reliant on the justice league. This comes with much skepticism as many people believe that the CEO of Lexcorp was directly involved in the recent kidnapping and subsequent depowering of superman. Only time will tell. This is Vicky Vale subbing in for Lois lane here at the daily planet.
Kara woke slowly, not like a prisoner waking to the jailor banging on the bars of a cell, but more like a cat, taking a nap in the middle of a warm day. She slowly started taking stock of her surroundings only to find herself wrapped in utter darkness. As she started reading the various senses her body was feeding her Supergirl found herself surprised that she didn't really feel anything. She couldn't see anything. She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't smell anything. She couldn't taste anything. She didn't feel a thing. Complete sensory deprivation. As her senses became more acute she noticed she could actually feel some sort of headset fastened to her face, barely perceptible. While Kara didn't feel any restraints she couldn't seem to move her arms and legs. She had been cut off from everyone of her senses.
It was funny, when Kara had first landed on earth she felt overloaded by all her senses. She could see, or see through, almost anything, no matter how far away it was. Now she was wrapped in darkness. She could hear the sound of a leaf falling a mile away, now she was deaf, even to her own breathing. Kara could have felt the barest change of the atmosphere around her, even if almost nothing could hurt her or even make her uncomfortable. Now Kara knew that worse than any pain, the feeling of nothing was hell. Supergirl started breathing heavily, panicking, if she wouldn't be allowed to feel anything else at least she would be allowed to feel fear.
Supergirl felt a sharp pang in her neck and instantly could feel her body relaxing. Some sort of drug to keep her from getting too worked up. Lex's voice began filling her ears "now my dear, no need for you to start panicking" Lex assured her. Supergirl was grateful to be allowed to hear his voice, even if he was her captor. She was even more grateful for the following effect when the scent of cinnamon filled her nose. Cinnamon, the smell that helped Supergirl finally accept that earth could be her new home. Cinnamon that reminded her both of lazy Sundays spent at the Kent's and also of the luxury and warmth of her old home on krypton. Lex kept speaking "you will come to no harm as long as you are under my protection….. I hate that I have to keep you in there, but you will be happy to know that this training is for your own good, and for the good of our world" Kara felt a pang of resentment when Luthor said he was under her protection, but when he mentioned our world she couldn't help but soften. He was just a man trying to protect his home. A strong, powerful… Kara tried to shake her head, she wasn't about to let her mild attraction to the man change the situation. As soon as she escaped she was going to make lex pay for kidnapping her. Surely superman would find a way to get his powers back, and then he would tear down every building with an L printed on it from gotham to central city.
Lex apparently had kept talking when Kara had gotten lost in thought, she could hear him clicking his tongue as though her were disappointed. "hmmm I see that you haven't been paying attention… I am not mad at you, just a bit disappointed" and for some reason Kara actually was feeling guilty about not listening to her kidnapper "You know I don't want to punish you, but if you can't be good then I don't have a choice. Remember this is for you own good" Supergirl braced for some sort of punishment, an electrical jolt, some of the arcs of kryptonite energy lex used to weaken superman, something, anything. She was met with silence, no pain, no sound of lex's voice, the smell of cinnamon was even robbed from her, leaving a sore memory in its place. Kara had been left alone with nothing but her thoughts. She must have stayed like that for hours, or maybe it was just a few minutes? How could she tell, she had been robbed of anyway to tell time.
Finally her mask was filled with another smell. But this was not a nice smell like cinnamon, this was the smell of ash, and smoke, and blood and war. This is what it smelled like on Apokolips, the realm of Darkseid. Clarks voice slowly filled the microphones, but it wasn't Clarks usual good natured, playfully humorous tone. This voice was dark, and mean, this is how Superman talked to the worst of his enemies, how he talked to people that were going to feel the wrath of god and be left scarred by it. Lex was probably quite familiar with this tone by now, but Kara wasn't. "My name is superman, I was once known as kal-el on my home planet of krypton, I was sent from my planet so that I could live, while every other man, woman, and child died" Kara tried to bite back the twinge of resentment she always felt when superman gave this introduction, but with this particular tone and the smell of the worst planet in the universe polluting her lungs it sounded scary. Superman's voice continued "I allowed building and families to be destroyed due to my negligence" and Kara couldn't help but think of all the people who died while he was pretending to be Clark Kent, or how many people and how much damage was caused in the cross fire of his near weekly battles "I have shown time and time again that my mind is easily manipulated, that I am vulnerable to mind control and to other manipulation" what was Lex trying to do? What was the purpose of this sinister monologue? "During one such time I found myself working for Darkseid. And you had to come to try and save me. I was not mindcontrolled at the time, I had merely made a deal with the God of Evil, yet I still chose to use my godly abilities to crush your bones under my hand" Kara didn't need her sense of sight to be able to see superman standing over her on the fields of apocolipse "I chose to use my heat vision to burn you, I chose to hurt and harm you" the menacing voice continued as Kara was forced to relive the most painful day of her life "I chose, as the last surviving member of your race, of your family to turn my hand against you and leave you broken" Kara felt robbed, Lex could steal every other sensation from her, but not the feeling of her tears rolling down her face. "and after you were dealt with I followed my orders and marched on your new home. I brought darkseid's parademons with me and we laid waste to the earth until the united forces of mankind were finally enough to stop me" the voice was silent for a moment as Kara choked on her own tears, and the smell of hell made real "I may be superman, and I am the best the earth deserves, and I can choose at any time that is should burn" Superman's voice finished with a snide remark, the last few syllables floating in the air. The scent of apokolyps left Kara's mask and she was left to sob
Kara wasn't sure how long she was left to wait, but it wasn't long before she felt something new. Warmth, spreading around her body, it almost felt as if someone was sliding her into a cocoon, and she was met with a new smell, it smelled like Luthor. Just as his voice filled her ears "I am so sorry that you had to hear that….. If I had the power I would never have let him hurt you like that" Kara could barely process what the man was saying. Was he trying to suggest that he actually cared for her? "I had hoped that I could help you without exposing you to something so vile, but unfortunately time is short, and the earth does need a champion. The earth deserves so much more than that weak-minded fool, a fool who finds himself under the influence of a new tyrant every other Thursday. The Earth deserves and needs you" Kara hated to admit it, but Luthor was actually making her feel better
