2. First Flight
In which Supergirl provides taxi service and Cat Grant quotes poetry.
Cat Grant was taking a last look from her balcony before leaving when Supergirl dropped down beside her.
"Good evening, Miss Grant. How are you?"
"I'm well, Supergirl. What brings you here?"
"I hear you are going out to the DEO this evening. So am I. If you'd like to give your driver an evening off, I could fly you out. And while we're on our way, I could give you the details of how we beat the Kryptonians. And it's not as if I can't get back quickly if I'm needed"
"According to the President, it was you and your green friend who beat them."
"Yes, but we had help."
Cat thought about the offer for a moment. Then she called her driver and told him that he was free to go. She picked up her jacket, made sure her iPhone was fully charged, grabbed her backup and a charger, and turned to Supergirl.
"You do realize that you are giving me two stories, not just one? Not only 'How Supergirl saved Earth,' but also 'What it's like to fly with Supergirl.'"
"Call it my thank you for all your help."
"How do we do this?"
"Since the fireman's carry is aerodynamically unstable, I normally use one of two ways when I carry someone. You can go either in an arm carry or piggyback. The arm carry gives you more comfort but less speed, piggyback might be a little less comfortable for you but I'll be able to fly faster."
"I'll take the arm carry," said Cat.
"OK then, I put one arm behind your shoulders . . . the other one under your knees and here we go."
"Are you sure I won't be too heavy?"
"I don't know the upper limits of my strength, Miss Grant, but after picking up and carrying into space my opponents' headquarters – a Kryptonian space station that I'm told weighed in at about a million tons – I'll barely notice you," Supergirl said as she bent her knees to launch herself skyward.
At first, Cat felt as though she was in a fast moving elevator as the ground quickly dropped away. They kept on going straight up for what seemed to be a very long time. Then Supergirl leveled out to about a 30-degree angle and aimed herself inland.
"Why are we still climbing?" Cat asked.
"We don't want anyone on the ground to see where we're going. Director Henshaw is right to keep the DEO's location out of common knowledge. We still have some not-so-well-meaning aliens around."
Cat found herself relaxing more and more as she savored the strength of Supergirl's arms and reveled in the view around her. It was nothing like an airplane porthole, nothing at all.
The deep blue bowl of the sky was unmarred by any clouds. Almost without thinking, she muttered an old, half-forgotten poem.
"Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,"
Another voice joined hers:
"Where never lark or even eagle flew.
And while, with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space."
Both voices stopped at the same time. Cat continued: "It's so beautiful. Thank you for this gift, Supergirl. How do you know the poem?"
"I read it years ago, in high school. McGee got it right didn't he?"
"Yes, he did."
"Now you know why flying is my favorite earth ability. Do you remember the first part of the poem?"
"No, why?"
"Because he talks about many different kinds of flying. He 'danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings,' he 'joined the tumbling mirth of clouds' and he 'wheeled and soared and swung/high in the sunlit silence.' I can do all of those things."
"Can you do them now?" It was a request.
"Sure, but you'll need to hang on tight."
"I've got you," Cat said, and she put her arms around Supergirl's neck.
And suddenly Supergirl was dancing in mid-air, then she tumbled downwards for a few thousand feet in a roll that was gentle enough not to disorient her passenger. Then she spun around in a vertical circle and finished by regaining the height she had lost.
"Wow. Thanks again."
"You're welcome."
"There's something I've meant to ask you, Supergirl. That day in my office when I nearly fired my assistant . . . ?"
"Yes."
"You did something then that I've never seen you do any other time. Twice my assistant asked you to call her by her first name. Each time you came back with Ms. Danvers. Why did you do that?"
There was no reply for several seconds. Then Supergirl replied in a very serious tone.
"It was one thing to realize that I had to save that plane that first night. It was something else again to decide to come out as Supergirl and keep on helping others. As I went along, I've learned more about why I was doing it and how I had to go about doing it. That evening was one of my biggest lessons. I discovered that night that I couldn't call your assistant by her first name."
"Why not?"
"As you know, human beings are not equal in every sense. Skills differ, economic positions differ, social status differs and other things differ. But all people, and I include myself in this, are equal in at least one fundamental way. We all live lives of self-awareness, we can be frustrated, hurt or killed by tragic accidents, natural disasters or active evil. And every one of us eventually dies. So in that sense, we all equally share in the human condition. Now that night, I was talking to two individuals who are unequal socially. You're the billionaire executive, she's your assistant who probably lives paycheck to mouth every month. But what I realized that night is that when Supergirl's on the job, she doesn't meet people on the levels of the usual social distinctions we make every day. For Supergirl, every human is equally valuable simply because of his or her common humanity. It's that common humanity that calls to me for help, and it's that common humanity that I try to honor every time I respond. And so, I deliberately met you and your assistant on the same level of common humanity we all share."
"Not quite. You did not insist that we call you Ms. Supergirl."
"Supergirl is a job title. Calling me Supergirl is like calling a policeman "Officer." Besides, I have no right to demand anything of anyone on earth. This is your planet, not mine. I'm just happy to be here and help."
Cat winced.
"So you're humanity's servant? Cinderella to us stepsisters? Do you have a guilt complex?"
"No, Miss Grant, I don't have a guilt complex. I said I was happy to help. I meant that literally. When I can help people, it makes me feel happy. How do you feel when you've written a really good story?"
Cat thought for a moment.
"That this is what I was born for and it's great. It's like a shot of adrenaline in my heart. I'm so energized I want to sing, I want to dance, I want to shout with sheer joy, and do it all over again."
"I feel the same way when an injured bus driver thanks me for getting her to safety after she was trapped in an overturned bus. When you are that vividly alive, in that parallel moment, I'll bet you don't have any need to assert your social status to push yourself up or push others down. You're just too happy that you've done something great. Am I right?"
"Yes." Cat nodded. "I see what you mean."
"I thought you would."
"And since you mentioned how great you feel when you do your job how about telling me how you saved the earth?" She got out her iPhone and said. "Supergirl Interview 2"
"Certainly. You already know my opponents were Kryptonians. In fact, they were Kryptonian criminals who had been sentenced to life imprisonment on Krypton's maximum security prison, a space station we called Fort Rozz. Somehow the prisoners took control of the prison and landed on Earth. From there, they . . . "
It took Supergirl the length of the flight to give Cat the whole story and answer her questions.