Mon flew in with several stalks of corn he had stolen from a nearby farm. "Is this for Harvest Fest?" Kara wondered.

"What now?" Mon asked as he inhaled an ear of corn.

"I've noticed you've been more active as Superman," Mara remarked.

"Well, if you do ten heroic deeds in one week, you don't have to do any heroic deeds for the next ten weeks," Mon said smartly.

"That's not how it works," Kara scowled.

"This festival is just an excuse for people to sell useless shit," Kon said insultingly.

"Your adopted great aunt Martha...was really into this," Kara told him. "We're here to share our abundance with the community and get a nice tax write-off. I'm also hoping that being part of the community will reform you, Kon."

"Why the fuck do I have to go?" Mon asked.

"There will be loads of food like funnel cakes, fried curd, and chocolate bacon," Kara enticed him.

"Why the fuck would you put chocolate on bacon?" Mon questioned.

"Speaking of which, Elisa is a vegetarian," Mara brought up.

"I'm glad...your friend...has decided to come down to visit," Kara said suspiciously. "Look, all of you are going to love it. That's an order," she said to them all.

At Smallville High, Mara and Kon walked together to class. As per usual, Kon tested the limits of school free speech with his new t-shirt: I fuck on the first date. "Two essays in one night: what kind of bullshit is that?" Kon complained.

"You can write more than a thousand words per minute. It's not that hard," Mara said dismissively.

"Hey, Sara, they're really going all-out on this Harvest Festival shit," Kon said rudely as he passed by a booth.

"I know it's hokey but it gives this town a certain specialness about it. So, you guys going tonight?" Sara asked hopefully.

"We have been ordered to," Mara explained.

"Oh, that's weird," Sara frowned. "So, do you want to go to the festival together...with me?" she asked Kon awkwardly.

"From beginning to end?" Kon mocked.

"I'm not sure you know what it means to be together," Sara said uncertainly and then eyed his t-shirt.

"He would love to," Mara told her.

"Great, so we'll meet up beforehand?" Sara asked them.

"I'll text you when I know Elisa is coming," Mara said.

"Ah, your Metropolis friend," Sara recalled. "Okay, awesome, okay," she stammered and awkwardly walked off.

Mara gave Elisa a call as Kon listened in. "What are you talking about?" Mara frowned. "Elisa, we should talk about this later. Okay, bye."

Kon gave her an odd look as she got off. "That sounded...,"

"Just great," Mara sighed. "All this time, I thought she just wanted to be my friend. I didn't see the signs. Apparently, she's in love with me and wanted to make it official with me at Harvest Festival," she said subdued.

Kon gave Mara a hug. "I'm so sorry," he said sincerely.

"It's best I know now rather than later," Mara said wiping away a tear and then walked off.

At the house, Mon was stacking a bunch of belongings in a corner. "What are you up to?" Kara asked suspiciously.

"Just looking to get rid of all this useless shit and make this room my man-cave," Mon said.

"But these are Martha's things," Kara pointed out.

"Yeah," Mon said obviously. "It's what she would have wanted."

"Oh really?" Kara asked skeptically. "Look, you can have your damn man-cave and we can help the people of Smallville in the process."

"Okay, whatever," Mon said unconcernedly.

Kara got a call from Chrissy. "Hey, Kara, are you coming to work today?" she asked.

"I don't know, maybe. Why?" Kara asked arrogantly.

"Sharon Powell is here," Chrissy said.

"Not ringing a bell," Kara frowned.

"The woman whose son went missing in the mines," Chrissy reminded her.

"Oh, yeah, what does she want?" Kara asked.

"Well, her son is also here," Chrissy said.

"Shit," Kara realized.

Kara came by the Smallville Gazette pissed-off. "You don't remember anything that happened? I call bullshit."

"No, ma'am. I was going through the tunnel, reading my paycheck, and wasn't paying attention, I guess. I hit my head real good and then ended up in Stanton county," Derek said.

"They found him outside a church," Sharron added.

"Well, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, halleluiah, he was lost and now he is found," Kara mocked. "Do you have any idea how much this fucks up my narrative? You need to go back into that mine and fuck yourself up properly, so I can nail Edge's ass for real."

"Wait...what?" Sharon wondered.

"What about the phone messages you left your mom? What's that bullshit?" Kara asked angrily.

"I don't know anything about that," Derek said confused.

"You said the job wasn't what you expected. You sounded like a bitch," Kara pointed out.

"Well, the doctors say that a hit to the head like that, it may take some time for him to recover his memories," Sharon excused.

"Isn't that damn convenient," Kara said peeved.

"Mrs. Wayne, we're so glad for your support but I'm just happy my son is alive that all this other shit doesn't matter," Sharon said.

"Sharon, someone tried to kill your ass. Whatever Edge is paying you, I'll double it right now," Kara insulted.

"There's just no more story to tell," Sharon said flatly. "We just came to say thank you."

"Yeah, sure, you're welcome...now get the fuck out of my newsroom," Kara ordered.

"Thank you for your time," Sharon said awkwardly and took off with her son out the door.

"That phony story was too well-rehearsed," Chrissy accused.

"Well...no shit," Kara agreed.

At the Smallville Community Center, Sharon and Derek dropped off some clothes to share for the less fortunate. Of course, Lana was in charge of the operation being involved in virtually everything in the town. Derek was twitching uncontrollably like he was addicted to crack. "Couple bags of men's clothes," Sharon said placing the bags on her desk.

"Oh, great. We always get enough women's clothes but not enough of the men's. The homeless men have been forced to wear panties, skirts, and dresses for the last couple of years," Lana said appreciatively. "And welcome back to the living, Derek Powell. The Smallville Gazette reported you dead."

"I'll get more of the bags," Derek said awkwardly and walked off.

He went down the hall and entered a room with highly flammable blankets everywhere. He called up Leslie Lar as he had trouble controlling his heat vision ability. "Miss Lar, something's wrong. I feel...oh God!" Derek said as he fired heat vision into the ceiling of the room creating a massive fire.

At the house, Mon positioned a 50-inch plasma-screen TV in the living room. He reflected on how he had acquired it. Three thieves had broken into an electronics store and stole a large collection of TVs. Mon arrived on the scene, deflected their bullets, and beat the shit out of them while wearing a black hooded mask. He then proceeded to take the TV.

Meanwhile, Kara sensed the fire at the community center and zipped over still in her civilian clothes. She blasted the fire with her frost breath ending the fire and then took off before she could be seen by the firefighters. Kyle eyed the white powder on the charred wood. "Is that frost?" he wondered.

Kara came back to the house finding Mon drinking a beer. She eyed the TV with suspicion and turned back to Mon. "The donations at the community center have been destroyed."

"That's really too bad," Mon said unconcernedly.

"Sharon was there. Coincidence? I think not," Kara said accusingly.

"You should...look into this," Mon replied.

Mara and Kon entered the house at that moment. "You ready for pizza?" Mon asked enthusiastically.

"Fuck yeah!" Kon said excitedly.

"I'm not hungry," Mara said going upstairs.

"What's wrong with her?" Mon asked.

"Elisa revealed she loved her," Kon said.

"Nice," Mon smiled.

"I'll talk with her," Kara said walking off. "Mara," Kara called as she went upstairs.

"Kon had to announce it to the world," Mara said bitterly.

"He's just worried about you...deep down," Kara said knowingly. "So...do you want to talk about it?"

"What's to talk about? Clearly, Elisa loves me and is gay. I can't return her affection and I don't think our friendship can survive," Mara said.

"I'm sure it's just as complicated for her," Kara said.

"Are you taking her side now?" Mara questioned.

"No, when I was a teenage girl, I flirted with girls and even had a relationship with one for funsies. It was a joke that went way too far, and I ended up blocking my sister from achieving true happiness with her best friend. But that's ancient history," Kara explained.

"Perhaps you're not the person I should seek advice from," Mara said condescendingly. "I wish to be left alone," she said and went upstairs to her room.

That night, Kara walked up to Kyle as he was managing the community center fire. "What caused this?" Kara asked.

"Not sure but you know what's damn confusing: how it started and how it ended. Just damn peculiar," Kyle said.

"Anyone hurt?" Kara asked.

"Tom Mitchell. He was my best man at my wedding. He's the bravest man on my crew," Kyle said as he got emotional.

"Is he going to be okay?" Kara asked genuinely concerned.

"It's not looking good," Kyle said subdued.

"I'll get him whatever help he needs," Kara promised. "Have you seen this guy?" she asked showing a missing poster of Derek.

"I might have seen him in the back," Kyle said.

"I think he did it. I'm going to question him," Kara told him.

"Well, okay then," Kyle said and walked off.

Kara got a call from Chrissy at the Smallville Gazette. "What!"

"I think there's something off about Derek Powell," Chrissy said using her detective skills.

"Well...no shit. Get Sharon over to the Gazatte so I can interrogate her properly," Kara ordered and hung up.

"Miss Danvers," Captain Luthor interrupted her. He was wearing civilian attire and looked fairly ordinary except for a scar on his cheek.

"Holy shit," Kara said startled.

"Can I get you a cup of coffee?" he asked her.

At the diner, Kara and Luthor faced off. "What's your deal?" Kara asked him.

"I'm a reporter," he lied. "My name is Marcus Bridgewater."

"Sounds vaguely familiar. You associated with the mercenaries in Iraq?" Kara asked.

"I do business reporting, big tech. I have a background in engineering. I used to work at Luthor Corp.," Luthor said.

"You know, I have a black friend that is also into business reporting, big tech, and likes to engineer weird shit. He also has deep ties with Luthor Corp. I should get you two acquainted," Kara said referring to James.

"I'm glad you feel that way. Luthor doesn't have the best reputation," Luthor said.

"Well, that was the old Lex Luthor. He was an arrogant piece-of-shit that nearly doomed the world, got Superman killed, and was finally put down by Supergirl," Kara said.

"He was a man of many secrets," Luthor allowed.

"He sure was. He had this pathetic diary about how mad he was about Superman, his father, and the world. I read it whenever I want a good laugh," Kara smiled.

"Right...," Luthor said uncomfortably.

"So, what brings you to this shit-hole?" Kara asked.

"You. I'm a huge fan and after reading your piece on Morgan Edge, I figured there would be a bigger story here," he said.

"Finally some respect," Kara said pleased. "Wait...you trying to poach my story?"

"That's not my intent," Luthor said defensively.

"Kind of sounds like it," Kara said skeptically.

"I just want to be on team Kara," Luthor assured her.

"I've heard the same thing from countless beings from countless worlds that never measured up," Kara recalled.

"Well, you have Superman," Luthor brought up.

"Unlike Lois Lane, I didn't sleep with him," Kara said defensively.

There was a long awkward silence between them. "It's just you always seem to have the inside track," Luthor pointed out.

"Let's not jerk Superman off too hard. Supergirl is the mightiest hero on this planet," Kara said arrogantly.

"Is that a fact?" Luthor asked skeptically.

"Yeah, imagine the worst thing Superman could ever do and then multiply that by a thousand," Kara said wide-eyed.

"I see," Luthor said concernedly.

"So, what do you have on Morgan Edge?" Kara asked curiously.

"Nothing yet but I think I have found a way to look inside the mines," Luthor said lamely.

"Yeah, it's called a flashlight," Kara mocked. "Look, what you're suggesting doesn't sound very legal and someone with your complexion is going to be a big target for the local police here."

"I have my ways. They can't see me in the dark if I close my eyes," Luthor said smugly.

"Well, if you actually have something that isn't a complete waste of my time, call me," Kara said giving him a business card.

"Maybe we can split credit for the story?" Luthor suggested.

"Ha! That's a good one. You work for me now. I own you," Kara said rudely as she left the diner.

Kon approached his father as he made himself a ridiculously large sandwich. "I need to leave early to pick up Sara," Kon said to him.

"Nice," Mon smiled. "Is this a date?"

"Absolutely," Kon assured him.

"Remember, son, it's the danger zone, not the friend zone," Mon told him. "As soon as I saw your mother, I knew I was going to make her mine."

"Low experience points, Kon. This town is full of primitives," Mara said as she entered the kitchen.

"Mara, I'm sorry about Elisa," Mon said with false sincerity.

"I need to move back. I have to save her," Mara said seriously.

"As much as I would love to get rid of you two, we have to stick together for the time being," Mon rejected her. "I had to go through the same bullshit in Metropolis when I arrived on this planet."

"I'm not like you. I'm here to save souls. This town is already saved with a church every other block. I have to go back to Metropolis, the Sodom and Gomorrah of this country," Mara said passionately. "Look, the Luthors can hook me up with an apartment. I can stay with them."

"No, you're not going to stay with the Luthors," Mon rolled his eyes.

"Maybe, I'll just do it anyway," Mara stared Mon down. "You let Kon do whatever he wants."

"Not...everything," Mon said lamely and then tried to think of one.

"I'm leaving for the festival to say my final goodbyes," Mara said and walked out of the house.

Kon gave Mon an awkward look. "Go with her," Mon ordered.

At the festival, there were food and game booths. Kon and Mara walked together down the street. "Maybe she won't be showing up," Kon wondered as she didn't see Sara anywhere with his X-ray vision.

"She'll come," Mara predicted.

To ease his nerves, Kon met up with two guys and got himself a flask of alcohol. "That's the good shit," Kon complimented.

"Is that really a good idea?" Mara scolded.

"Yes. Now, I'm going to go off to find Sara," Kon said taking off with his two drinking buddies.

Mara scowled at Kon's vice and then ran into Elisa. "What are you doing here?" Mara asked spooked.

"I told you I would come by," she said awkwardly.

"But after everything I said to you," Mara said confused.

"I know now that you're not gay and that you have strong convictions. I respect that. I really do. I just want to be your friend if that's alright?" Elisa said to her.

"You want more than friendship," Mara said flatly.

"Yeah...but that's life. It's not a sin to just have these feelings, is it? I'm not going to act on them with you," Elisa said.

"I have to save you," Mara said seriously.

"And you're welcome to try," Elisa smiled.

Mara gave her an odd look not knowing whether this was typical human behavior. "You're a glutton for punishment."

"I don't pretend to know all the answers. Maybe, you're right after all. Maybe, I just need you to show me," Elisa said.

Mara gave her a good stare. "You just want to be around me, to gaze upon me, to hear my voice, to feel my touch."

"And you're trying to save my soul, remember?" Elisa pointed out. "Is your faith so weak that you have to throw me away and never see me again?"

"No," Mara said resolved.

Elisa offered her hand with a smile. "Shall we?"

"Alright," Mara agreed and proceeded to walk with her around the festival booths.

Kon finally met up with Sara already intoxicated. "I'm sorry I'm really late. I had to lecture my drunk-as-fuck father at home," Sara excused.

"I guess I can forgive you," Kon said as he ate meat on a stick. "I want to hear all about it."

"Not tonight. I'm not really into sad stories, right now," Sara declined. "What is that? You shouldn't eat something that's on a stick."

"I'll survive," Kon said confidently.

"Come on, let's go get some corn," Sara said.

"Sounds...great," Kon said apathetically as he followed her around.

Mon and Kara walked around the festival booths. "Mara wants to go back to Metropolis and be with the Luthors," Mon said casually.

"Did she really say that? She can't do that," Kara said outraged.

Kon and Mara walked up to them with Kon being less than sober. Kara stared down Kon. "Have you been drinking?"

"You need to in order to survive," Kon told her.

"Don't get smart with me. I can smell it off your breath a mile away," Kara scolded.

"Not impressed," Kon rolled his eyes.

"Go home right now before you kill someone accidentally," Kara ordered.

"I'll take him home," Mara assured her and took Kon away.

"Go faster...but not too fast," Kara told them. Kara then got a phone call from Chrissy. "This better be good."

Chrissy babbled for a good minute on how she found a random warehouse that had a machine capable of turning people into meta-humans. "Who is there?" Kara asked.

"Leslie Lar and Derek Powell," Chrissy said.

Kara hung up and turned to Mon. "They may be using some Kryptonite bullshit. Destroy the machine but I want Leslie Lar alive, so I can question her personally," Kara ordered him.

"Finally something to do," Mon said as he instantly disappeared.

In the warehouse, Mon as Superman crashed through the ceiling. "We are so fucked," Derek realized.

"What is this shit?" Mon asked of the machine.

"Protect the asset while I distract him," Derek said to Leslie and then flew up into the air.

Mon ignored Derek and kept his focus on Leslie. "Shit," she realized.

Mon pointed her hand at the machine to destroy it and her along with it. "Wait...this machine uses X-Kryptonite to turn people like us into people like you," Leslie said to him.

"So?" Mon wondered.

"Imagine countless meta-humans all with your abilities. Imagine all the battles and destruction that would cause," Leslie enticed.

Mon lowered his hand. "I'm listening."

Derek flew around Smallville roasting a few barns with his heat vision to get Superman to come after him. Instead, Supergirl flew at super-sonic speed to intercept him. She blew out the flames on the barns and continued pursuit. Derek continued to fire heat vision on the fields just as Kara blew them out. Finally, Kara punched Derek hard sending him through a farm silo destroying it. Derek quickly recovered and flew high into the air. Kara followed after him for the kill when a missile suddenly hit them both. The two plummeted to the ground from the red explosion.

Kara got to her feet unharmed while Derek looked a little shaky. "If you tell me about Morgan Edge, I'll get you the help you need," Kara offered.

"No one can help me," he said as his body shook uncontrollably.

"I know what you're going through. I grew up in a town just like this one swarming with meta-humans exposed to Kryptonite. Those that accepted my help got better and lived. Those that did not...died," Kara said to him.

He shook his head in defiance of her and then powered up his eyes for an attack. Kara vaporized him on the spot with her own heat vision leaving nothing behind. She then flew off just as Captain Luthor arrived on the scene with a pistol. He looked into the crater in the field and so nothing remaining of Derek. "Supergirl?" he wondered.

At the house, Kara was pissed-off with Mon. "Why did I have to go after Derek? What the fuck were you doing?"

"I was...securing the meta-human maker machine," Mon said lamely.

"You could have destroyed the machine and those two in a split second," Kara accused. "This isn't a game. I've seen what happens to a town when meta-humans are allowed to roam free. Good people are killed."

"But there is an opportunity to advance the evolution of this pathetic race, so we don't have to constantly protect it," Mon argued.

Kara glared at Mon but knew his true intention. Unlike her, Mon enjoyed the prospect of playing a game of whack-a-mole with these meta-humans. "Well, okay then."

Mara broke the tension between them. "I'm sorry for what I said. I want to remain here with the family."

"Oh really? What changed?" Kara asked.

"Elisa is here now," Kon grinned immaturely.

Kara gave Mara a look. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"I can save her and remain in this town," Mara said ambitiously.

"You can't change someone that doesn't want to change. My sister is addicted to women, alcohol, and is an adrenalin junkie. No matter what I said or did, I couldn't change her," Kara told her.

"Then, she's practice," Mara replied coldly.

"I practiced on people in Midvale all the time. It didn't end well," Kara said.

"The difference is that you cared about your friends," Mara replied. "Whereas I do not."

"Fair enough," Kara said. She turned to everyone. "No one is fucking leaving this town. No one," she ordered.

"We can fly? I mean, how can you stop us?" Kon scoffed.

"I can stop you," Kara said dangerously.

"Time for bed," Mon ordered before the house exploded from the tension.

Once they were gone, Mon sat on the couch lazily. "I'm still processing what happened to Derek. It's one thing to kill a faceless enemy, but he had a mother that begged me to save her son. Granted, she betrayed me by getting paid off by Morgan Edge but still," Kara mused. "He killed himself the moment he tried to fight me."

"What about the missile?" Mon asked.

"Yeah, that was weird," Kara frowned.

The next morning, Mon and Kara brought some junk from Martha's house to give away on the parking lot of the burned-up Community Center. "Good thing we waited a day or else this junk would have been ash," Kara said.

Mon handed the box over to Lana. "It isn't much," Mon said.

There was an awkward silence between them. "Thank you...that's so thoughtful to give away some of Martha's stuff," Lana said with false sincerity.

"Just doing what we can to replace what was destroyed in the fire," Kara said, proud of herself.

"Oh, you're not going to believe this. Morgan Edge heard what had happened and went ahead and replaced everything and then some," Lana said.

"Damn...it," Kara gritted her teeth.

"I guess he just wanted to help," Lana said brightly.

"It's not really being generous if you're the one responsible for the community center burning down in the first place," Kara said pissed-off.

"That's an interesting theory," Lana said as she took her daughter, Sophie, away.

Lana led Mon and Kara over to a bench with Martha Kent's name on it. "Martha was everything this town stood for. She was kind, generous, and fantastically in debt. She would often sit here talking and laughing with anyone who happened to be beside her. And though she physically is no longer with her, her spirit remains and she will be right here whenever we need her," Lana said.

The townspeople clapped as she finished. "Are you going to sit down?" Lana invited.

Mon frowned as he realized this ruse was going too far. Kara gave him a nudge to go forward. Mon slowly walked over to the bench and sat down as the townspeople clapped. "I'm going to be haunted for a thousand years for this," Mon muttered.

Earth-23-Several Months Ago...

Supergirl did her best against the might of the Justice League allied with Superman. The Flash punched her at incredible speed into the air where she was sliced through the back by Aquaman's trident. Aquaman then flung the mortally wounded Supergirl into the air where Wonder Woman proceeded to slice off her head with her blade. Supergirl's head fell at the feet of Superman and two other figures wearing suits. The one to his right was an old white man and the one on his left was an old woman with short blond hair. Superman's red boot crushed Supergirl's head as if it were made of glass.

Superman then turned to the old white man to his right. "You were right. It wasn't going to be easy to win her over but make no mistake, we will win the future," Superman said confidently.

"What about the others?" the old man asked.

"We will do it the old way. Prepare the armada," Superman ordered.

The old man and old woman bowed their heads to him as he marched off into the distance with loyal fans cheering the death of Supergirl. In the distance, Captain Luthor watched on horrified at what he had seen.

Author's Notes: Was it really that hard for Superman to destroy the machine and then go after Derek? Was it really that hard for Superman to punch Captain Luthor unconscious and then save the city from his spaceship. These sorts of poor-writing rookie superhero mistakes artificially prolong the narrative. With some slight differences, Superman and Lois is a carbon copy of Smallville with updated effects. For my Kara, it's as if history is repeating itself from her teenage years in Midvale. Mara and Kon have given me some fun opportunities to portray a religious zealot and amoral psychopath living under the same roof. I have to wait to see what happens with the cliffhanger here to see how it resolves.