SUPERGIRL SEASON 6 AU: THE GREAT SWITCHEROO

CHAPTER EIGHT

THIS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR... POWERGIRL

"...Aaannnndddd that's how all of this came to be," said the imp from the fifth dimension.

Lena couldn't believe her ears. All these horrible events had been because an imp named Mxy made a bet with her deranged brother. Alex, meanwhile, looked as if she wanted to pull out her gun and kill Mxy right then and there.

"Mxy — how could you do this to Kara?" Alex shouted. "You should have come to us first! Then Kara could have been prepared!"

Mxy sighed sheepishly. "I would've, but then the deal would've become null and void. The whole point is to prove that pure goodness can overcome any type of evil. You know... like a person's inner nature overcoming their environment."

"I know what Nature VS Nurture is, Mxy!" Alex snapped bitterly.

"Hey, if I hadn't had done this," said Mxy, "Darkseid would have already invaded the earth! I chose Kara because she is... or was the Paragon of Hope! I never thought that Lena would actually turn out better than her!"

The apartment suddenly went quite as everyone's eyes turned to Lena. Lena knew why: they were expecting her to have another angry outburst. But nothing like that happened. Lena merely sighed herself and said, "He's right. I was never meant to be a hero. My life was so screwed up that, I guess, I was always meant to be a villain. Now, the world will fall first to Kara and then to Darkseid if I let this keep happening... if I keep pretending to be Supergirl."

"Lena... what are you saying?" Alex asked in disbelief.

"I'm saying that everyone else in this room is a hero," said Lena sadly. "But I'm not. Every time that I try to do the right thing... I screw it up. We all nearly died tonight because I was Supergirl instead of Kara. You will all be better off without me by your side." Lena then shot out of the apartment window and into the night sky.

She flew to the roof of the CatCo building and cried. Somehow, someway, she knew that this was all her fault. She had failed Kara, Alex, Nia, and Brainy. She had even been forced to watch her psycho brother die trying to kill everyone again. Lena wished that the body swap had never happened.

"Uhm, Lena?"

Lena turned around and saw Brainy landing on the rooftop. "Did you pick the short straw?"

"Short straw?" asked Brainy in a confused voice. "Oh, you mean to reference the outdated term of drawing straws to do something deemed rather unpleasant."

"Wow," said Lena dripping with sarcasm. "You really are a genius."

"Well, I am a twelfth level intellect," said Brainy proudly, unable to catch on. "But, no, I wanted to come here and see you. You needed to hear something extremely important."

"Yeah," sighed Lena. "What's that?"

"That you are being, as Nia calls it, cray-cray," said Brainy fiercely.

"You just said 'cray-cray' and I'm the one who's crazy," said Lena bitterly. "Sure."

"But don't you see why?" Brainy asked stubbornly. "You have suffered through such a great travesty of a childhood by being a Luthor, but you overcame that darkness every single time you needed to. You helped to stop the Daxamite invasion, you helped save Samatha Arias from being overtaken by a world killer, you even tried to kill your brother to protect the world and your friends! Yes, sometimes you fell in your own darkness, but you never gave up on the hope of becoming something better than your — your heritage! Something pure! A force for good! Even in these past few months where you got to have the life you always wanted, you were ready to give it up to save Kara's life. You are a hero, Lena. And just because no one ever expected you to be one doesn't change that at all."

"But I keep failing to save Kara," Lena started to cry. "And if I can't save her... how can I save the entire world. I have all of these powers now... and... well, Luthors have never been good with power."

"Power doesn't have to be a bad thing," said Brainy. "Power can used for good and kindness when used properly. And you have proven that a good majority of the time you will use every power at your disposal to save as many lives as possible. You can prove that having power a truly good thing."

"But — but I can't keep pretending that I'm Supergirl," said Lena. "It's just something I'm not. It isn't me."

"Then don't be Supergirl," said Brainy smiling slightly. "Be who you are! Be a — a — a Powergirl!"

"Powergirl?" Lena smiled halfway through the last of her tears. "Did you just come up with that on the spot?"

"Do you, uhm, not like it," said Brainy embarresedly. "Because I rather thought —!"

"No, no, Brainy — I love it!" Lena threw her arms around Brainy, hugging him tightly. "You're a good friend, Brainiac 5."

"And so are you... Lena Luthor," said Brainy smiling too. "Oh, Sprock! I almost forgot that I made you a knew suit. One befitting a Powergirl!"

"Really?" Lena asked excitedly.

"The question is... are you ready to wear it own your first mission?"

"I'm Lena Luthor," she replied. "I was born ready."

When Lena and Brainy had finally returned back to Kara's apartment. Everyone stared at her in shock. But then Nia smiled happily and said, "Oh my gosh! Lena, you look incredible!"

Lena had cut her hair shorter into a pixie cut and was wearing her new super suit. It was colored pure white with blue gloves and matching boots as well as a red cape. There was no crest on this one though, but Lena liked it better that way. She smiled at all of them and said, "Thank you. Now, I think that it's time that we bring Kara back home."

But before any of them could say another word — the entire earth shook violently. Then, the skies outside shined blood-red. "What the hell?" Lena asked in shock.

Mxy looked as though he was going to be sick. "Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no!"

He and the others looked at the window and saw a black planet orbiting up in the atmosphere, spurrting out fire.

"That is Darkseid's homeworld," he said nervously. "That is Apocalypes! Did I forget to mention that we are on a bit of a timetable?"

"How much time do we have left?" Alex asked him.

"Two hours."

"That's okay," said Lena as calmly as she possibly could. "Because I know where Kara is going to try and launch Myriad."

"Where?" Nia asked.

"The only place with enough processing power to emit a fifth dimensional signal," said Lena. "The Fortress Of Solitude."

Alex and the others all stared at Lena in shock. She smiled. "Hey, just because I didn't retain my genius IQ in this swap, doesn't mean I didn't gain a little... Kryptonian knowledge. Come one, this looks like a job for... Powergirl!"

Kara woke up in the icy tundra of the Fortress. She had passed out again. The cancer was eating her away. She might even only have a few hours left to live. ...NO! She refused to give up! She would never stop fighting. Not until the world was saved. Kara walked over to the control panel and activated the Myriad program. The countdown then began, Myriad would finally launch in thirty minutes. Kara could still see the red skies outside, along with the fiery black planet. It must be Darkseid. Time was almost up. Then, the Fortress alarm sounded as Lena and the Superfriends arrived on the exterior. Kara did a double take.

"Oh, good Rao," she snarled. "What did she do to my — her hair!"

TO BE CONTINUED...