Chapter 62: Tales of the World's Finest
Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman and Wonder Woman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.
Smallville, Kansas
Behind the Kent family barn, two women stood facing each other. Their hands interlocked, they strained against each other with power far beyond what their forms should have been capable of. Beads of sweat shimmered on their foreheads, not caused by the sun high up in the sky, but rather by the sheer force they were bringing to bear.
"Ready to quit, sister?" Diana asked, grinning fiercely.
"Funny, I was about to ask you the same!" Kara replied.
With her powers fully restored and a few days of rest in the sunlight under her belt, Kara had wanted to make sure that everything was back in working order. And what better way to do it than to spar against the one woman in the entire world capable of matching her strength. Well, maybe not matching it one hundred percent, but Diana came closer than anyone else. Clark might one day be just as strong or stronger, given the rate his powers were growing as he neared adulthood, but right now Diana was still her closest match.
It frustrated Kara a bit that she still couldn't quite figure out how Diana's powers worked. Sure, she had met a few of the Olympians during her journey through time, had witnessed their tremendous abilities, but how a blessing from what basically amounted to ancient superhumans could endow an Amazon with near-Kryptonian abilities... well, she still didn't get it.
It grew even more frustrating, she mused, once she realized that Diana could increase her strength. Right now, with her bare feet digging into the soft ground of the Kent farm, Diana seemed even stronger than usual. Her friend called it the blessing of Gaia, the ability to draw strength directly from the Earth itself. All Kara knew was that it worked. Braced against the naked ground like this, Diana actually matched her strength.
"It seems your strength is back up to its normal levels," J'Onn said, observing them. J'Onn was currently wearing his 'Cousin John' face and was actually playing a game of tag with Clark. So far Clark was not having much luck, despite his greater speed. The Martian Manhunter's shape-shifting ability, though, allowed him to move in ways no normal humanoid could. Plus he did have the ability to become immaterial, too.
"That's cheating," Clark complained, once again failing to tag a ghost-like J'Onn, who simply laughed.
Diana and Kara finally let off, moving apart. "I can only agree," Diana said. "Your strength is as formidable as it ever was, sister."
Kona was sitting beside them, idly playing with the golden lasso that Diana had given her for safekeeping during the spar. Kara grinned as she saw one end of the lasso twirl up into the air, animated by Kona's telekinetic ability. She knew her daughter had become fascinated with the magical artefact ever since she had first touched it during the battle against the sand doppelganger. Maybe it was simply because it was the one object so far that did not blow up once she used her telekinesis on it.
"Looks like the World's Finest are back in business then," Clark said, landing beside them.
"World's Finest?" Kona asked.
"Oh, that's the name the press gave to the two of them back when they were pretty much the only superheroes around," Clark explained to her.
"You make it sound like that was decades ago," Kara complained, wiping off sweat. "It was only a few years."
"I have been meaning to ask," J'Onn interjected, "how did that name come about?"
"It was the thing in Washington," Kara replied.
"You are so eloquent, dear sister," Diana laughed. "Yes, the 'thing' in Washington."
Seven years ago – The Thing in Washington
"An army of the dead?" Kara asked skeptically.
"I know you still have trouble believing what your science cannot easily explain, Kara," Diana replied over the phone. "But it's true and I really need your help. Ares is marching on Washington as we speak."
"Of course I will help," Kara replied, using super speed to put on her costume. "I'll be there in a minute."
Kara spent most oft hat minute trying to figure out what kind of scientific phenomenon might be responsible for creating creatures that appeared to be the walking dead, but couldn't really think of anything. As it turned, out a minute was more than enough for a huge army of monsters, demons, and undead warriors to arrive in Washington DC and start spreading havoc. Military units were also present, but hopelessly outclassed against creatures that just shrugged off bullets and simply got up again after being hit by tank rounds. So Kara tabled any further scientific analysis for now and exploded into action.
The next few minutes were a frenzy as Kara moved through the city at super speed, helping out wherever she could, her thoughts being mostly on containment at the moment. The undead warriors were the least of her problems, as they were basically just humans armed with antique weapons, their only advantage being that they simply didn't stay down, no matter how badly hurt. The bigger creatures were more problematic, as some of them were strong enough that blows from them actually hurt. Still, Kara quickly managed to corall them around the Washington Monument.
"Well met, sister," Diana said, arriving at her side. "If you can keep his army busy, I can deal with Ares."
She pointed towards a huge mountain of a man, easily three times as tall as a human, clad in ancient-looking armor. His eyes were glowing and lightning seemed to crackle around his eyes. His eyes fell on Superwoman and for a moment there seemed to be something almost like recognition in them, but then they focused on Diana with intense hatred.
"You sure you can take him?" Kara asked.
Diana unsheathed her sword. "It's what I was born to do!"
Then the battle commenced. Kara took on an army comprised of thousands upon thousands of zombies, monsters, and demons, while Diana slugged it out with a god. All the while a few brave representatives of the media were lurking in the shadows, filming the whole thing.
"Viewers at home, I am still not sure what it is we are seeing here," one of the reporters said, "but I am confident to say that our world's finest heroes are on the job."
The Present
"Did the two of you have many adventures together?" Kona asked, twirling the lasso around.
"Quite a few," Kara replied. "Those first few years after I went public and Diana arrived from Themyscira, it seemed there was some kind of thing every other month."
"Oh, remember that time in Kaznia?" Diana asked.
"I remember you being pretty sweet on that princess. What was her name? Audrey?"
Diana sighed wistfully. "Yes, Audrey. She was… sweet."
"Yeah, and while you were deailing with her... sweetness... I had to deal with that brute Vandal Savage."
"Which you enjoyed, sister, admit it!"
Five years ago – That Time in Kaznia
"Do your worst, alien," Vandal Savage said, grinning despite the blood running down his face. "You and your friend might have ruined my plans for now, but I am immortal. There is nothing you can do that will cause me lasting harm."
What had once been the ancestral castle of Kaznia was in ruins. The huge military machines Savage had built to launch his campaign to conquer the world were shattered. His attempts to portray himself as a benevolent ruler whose hand was forced by circumstances had failed. But the bastard was still laughing after an entire castle had collapsed on top of him.
"Immortal, eh?" Kara asked, smiling. "Let's test that theory!"
She grabbed him and a moment later they were miles up in the sky, the wind rushing past them.
"You think a drop from this height will kill me?" Savage laughed. "Think again!"
"Drop? No, I was actually thinking of the other way," she pointed upwards.
"Other... what? No!" For the first time, Savage looked slightly worried.
"You're immortal, right? So you should be fine if I just throw you roughly in that direction." She pointed again. "If my aim is true, you should probably hit Titan in about a year or two. If not, well, there is a good chance you'll hit one of the planets in the Vega system in about, oh, 10,000 years, give or take. But hey, you're immortal, right? No skin off your back!"
"Uh," Savage grunted. "I... I demand to be tried under Kaznian law!"
"Really?" Kara asked him, grinning. "I'm sure if I asked Princess Audrey, she wouldn't mind me sending you into permanent exile. She didn't seem to be your biggest fan after everything you did to her and her country."
Savage grumbled something under his breath.
"What was that?" Kara asked him, despite having heard it very clearly with her super hearing.
"Please don't throw me into space," Savage finally forced out.
The Present
"You wouldn't really have thrown him into space, right?" Kona asked.
"No, of course not, but he didn't know that."
"You are doing great with the lasso, Kona," Diana said. "You are using your telekinetic abilities with it?"
"Yeah," Kona replied, smiling brightly as she twirled the lasso around herself. "It's amazing. Usually the things I use my TK on blow up. But the lasso just... doesn't! It's great!"
"Well, I would think so," Diana replied, smiling as well. "It's made from the girdle of Hestia and utterly indestructible. Nothing can damage it."
"Nothing, really?" Kona asked. "Not even mom?"
Diana's smile grew even wider. "No, not even your mom. As a matter of fact, once upon a time your mom…"
"Oh no!" Kara interrupted her, growling. "We are NOT talking about the thing with the lasso! EVER!"
Diana just laughed, while Kona looked confused.
Six years ago – The Lasso Incident
"I don't want to break your toy," Kara said.
"You won't, believe me," Diana replied, gently tying her lasso around Kara's shoulders. "And it's not a toy!"
"You do know I can lift ocean liners, right?" Kara asked. "Snapping a piece of golden rope, no matter how supposedly magical..."
"It's not supposedly magical," Diana interrupted her, drawing the lasso tight. "It's a gift from the gods."
"So you keep telling me," Kara nodded. "So... I won't get intro trouble with your supposed gods for breaking it?"
"Please stop using the word 'supposed', sister. And no, you won't get into trouble, because you won't be able to break it."
"We'll see!"
"Yes, we will! Ready?"
Kara rolled her shoulders, the golden rope tight against her body. "All set!"
"Okay, then! Try and break it!"
Solar-charged muscles, enhanced by a force field capable of defying gravity itself, strained against a deceptively thin rope made of what looked like spun gold. The look of smug confidence on Kara's face slowly began to fade as the rope refused to snap, replaced by one of puzzlement.
"Problems, sister?" Diana asked, smiling.
Kara grunted in response, increasing her effort. The very air around her seemed to ripple, the ground beneath her feet began to crack, but the golden rope refused to give.
"This is impossible," Kara complained.
"I told you, gift of the gods!"
"It doesn't make sense! No matter how strong the material, it's too thin to be this strong!"
"It's not the material," Diana reminded her. "It's the magic of the gods!"
Kara scoffed. "There is no such thing as..."
"Tell me, Kara," Diana interrupted her. "If you had your pick among the Amazons, whom would you take to your bed?"
Kara's eyes widened. "What? Diana, I...," she trailed off, the golden rope starting to glow as if aflame. She closed her mouth with a snap, clearly trying to fight against the compulsion. The rope burned brighter, though.
"I… I…," Kara stammered, "I... damn it, Diana, I would pick Philippus, okay? Philippus!"
"Really?" Diana raised an eyebrow, amused. "Why her?"
Kara's face was so flushed Diana briefly feared her cheeks would burst into flames. "I… she looks like someone sculpted a goddess out of dark chocolate! I would like nothing better than..."
Diana laughed and with a flick of her wrist uncoiled the lasso from Kara. Her friend stumbled back, looking mortified and embarrassed.
"I hate you," she muttered, the blush on her face still in full evidence.
"You were the one who wanted to test yourself against my lasso, sister," Diana told her, smiling. "And never fear, your secret is safe with me."
"Not like it will ever happen," Kara muttered. "Damn woman avoids me like the plague."
The Present
"I am NOT telling you, Kona," Kara stated. "And don't look at Diana, either!"
"It's no use," Clark chipped in. "I tried to get them to spill what mom said under the power of the lasso for years. Neither of them ever speak of it!"
"Some things are not meant for young ears," Diana said, chuckling.
Taking her lasso back from Kona, who reluctantly parted with it, Diana fastened it back onto her hip.
"Cookies are done, everyone," Martha called out from the farm house. "Come and get them before they get cold!"
Clark and Kona were off in a blur of super speed, J'Onn following them only slightly slower. The Martian had developed a severe sweet tooth since being adopted into the extended Kent family and could never resist Martha's baking.
"Why are you so adamant about not telling them about that, anyway?" Diana asked in a low voice as she and Kara followed the others at a more sedate pace. "It's not like they don't know about Philippus and you. Would revealing that you were attracted to her even before your trip through time be so terrible?"
Kara smiled, shaking her head. "Not really. I mean, it was kind of embarrassing back then, but by now it's mostly habit. Clark has built this up into such a mystery in his mind, though, the truth could be nothing but a disappointment now."
Her face darkened for a moment. "Also, I don't really want them to inquire about any other times I might have been under the influence of your lasso."
Diana simply nodded, hugging her friend and sister close.
Six years ago – The Other Lasso Incident
Ever since she had first met Kara over a year ago, Diana had considered her a sister-in-arms, a very close friend, as close to being family as a non-Amazon could be. During their adventures in Man's World, she had mostly followed Kara's lead, as she was the one with more experience in that world and a far more established presence. Kara usually acted with confidence bordering on arrogance, especially in her Superwoman persona, but her warm demeanor nicely counterbalanced that.
All of this caused Diana to overlook the fact that Kara was basically still a child, especially by Amazonian standards. She was 22 years old, an adult by the laws of both Earth and her lost home world, but she had been forced to grow up much too fast, had been robbed of a large part of her childhood. All of which Diana didn't really know yet except in the broadest of terms, but that was about to change.
It had started innocently enough. Kara had been on a visit to Themyscira. They had gone swimming together, had relaxed on the beach, and were now back in the room Kara had been given for her stays on the island, putting their clothes back on.
Knowing that Kara had been kind of stressed lately between the requirements of her multiple identities, Diana asked a perfectly innocent question.
"How do you feel, Kara?"
There was a gasp from Kara and Diana turned around, wondering what might have caused it. Her eyes quickly took in her friend, standing there, arm extended. A moment later Diana noticed that she was holding her golden lasso in her hand, probably having been in the process of giving it to her.
The golden rope flared up brightly, tightening around Kara's hand, and Diana remembered one of the first lessons she had been given upon receiving the lasso: at times the truth is a far, far more dangerous weapon than any other, especially when prompted in such an open, non-specific way.
"Kara," she began, hoping to stop what was coming, but it was too late.
"I am scared all the time," Kara whispered, her eyes wide.
Diana was shocked by those words. Kara, scared? Her uber-confident, self-assured friend? Scared? How was this possible?
"Every minute of every day I fear that the ground will collapse underneath my feet," Kara continued, her voice almost as if in a trance, the glow of the golden lasso illuminating her face. "I can feel even the tiniest tremor in the earth. I can feel it every time the tectonic plates shift, and I must force myself not to have a panic attack. I need to tell myself over and over again that Earth will not explode like Krypton did. But I am so scared, Diana! I am scared that all those bits of happiness I have found, all the good I have achived, all the people I love, will be snatched away from me in an instant. So scared that I will lose everything all over again!"
Diana finally managed to move, taking the golden rope out of Kara's hand. She threw it away into a corner of the room, the golden flames dying out, and Kara all but collapsed in front of her, only Diana's arms keeping her upright.
"I am sorry, sister," Diana said, hugging her close. "I am so sorry!"
She could feel Kara nod against her shoulder. "It's... it's not your fault! Never should have picked up that damned lasso!"
Moving back to hold her friend at arm's length, Diana smiled at her. "I cannot even imagine how deeply Phobos has sunk his hooks into your heart, dear sister! But I do know how much I admire you!"
"What?" Kara asked, confused.
"You are so strong, Kara! To have lost so much, and still finding the courage to start anew! To make new friends, new family, even though you know better than anyone how fragile it all is, how quickly it might be taken away! Surely even the bravest of gods could not match that kind of valor."
Kara hiccupped, something between a sob and a laugh, and Diana hugged her close once again.
"You know what I'm scared of the most?" Kara whispered a moment later.
"You can tell me, if you wish."
"I am scared that everything will vanish. All over again, everything taken from me, swept away as if it had never ever existed in the first place. And I will be left behind, again. Surviving when everyone else dies." Kara sobbed, her body trembling. "And then I'm so angry at them for just leaving me! And I... I hate them for forcing me to live while they get to die along with everyone else."
Diana didn't know what to say. She had never experienced this kind of loss, this kind of pain. So she did the only thing she could do and held on, allowing her friend, her sister, to unburden her soul.
"Never fear, my sister," Diana said, holding her tightly. "You are not alone!"
The Present
"Do you still tense when the ground moves?" Diana asked, whispering.
Kara smiled wistfully. "I don't think I will ever not be scared of what might happen. But... it gets easier every day." She grabbed Diana's hand, intertwining their fingers. "Especially knowing that I have my sister here to steady me when necessary."
Diana nodded, squeezing her hand. "The World's Finest stand together, sister mine! Always!"
End Chapter 62
Author's Note: I've come to realize that, while I have established Diana and Kara as being best friends and my world's World's Finest, there have been relatively few scenes with just the two of them and even less actual adventures with just the two of them. So here we remedy that a bit. Also, a lot of people have asked me to write the flashback scene where Wonder Woman demonstrates to Kara that not even she can break the Lasso of Truth (mentioned in chapter 52).
Diana's ability to draw power from the Earth itself is one of her lesser-known abilitites and hasn't really been showcased much, but she has used it in Wonder Woman (Vol. 2) #30. The flashback with Vandal Savage and Princess Audrey references the Justice League cartoon episode "Maid of Honor", though in my universe it was an adventure with just the World's Finest, not the entire League. The battle against Ares is inspired by the final battle of the animated Wonder Woman movie from 2009. Ares remembers Kara from their brief meeting in chapter 29.
Up next: the Great Luthor-Brainiac Team-Up.