NATIONAL CITY
The doctor was explaining his initial findings to J'onn, James, and Alex, "There is no evidence of cranial trauma, no exterior physical sings or symptoms at all. We'll need to put her under a red sun lamp to do a CAT Scat and MRI."
J'onn and Alex both nodded their agreement, and Kara spoke up, "What's a red sun lamp? I mean, how is the color of a light bulb going to help them find out if something is wrong with me?"
"Something is wrong with you, Kara," her sister tried to explain. "You have some form of amnesia. As far as you know, you haven't been feeling unusual at all the past few days?"
"As far as I know things have been a-ok on my end."
James spoke up, "Kara, do you remember where you work at?"
"Sure, CatCo."
"Right. I'm your boss."
"Cat Grant is my boss."
"Cat hasn't overseen day to day operations in a couple years."
"Wow, guess I do need a little help. What'd do you say your name was?"
"James Olsen."
Kara turned to J'onn, "And your name again?"
"J'onn Jonzz."
The doctor returned with the lamp. "If you'll just lie down in bed, we'll turn this on and let your body start soaking it up to prep for the scans." Kara swung from a sitting position on the exam bed to a prone position, and the doctor turned on the tv and gave her the remote. "Something to occupy your time."
Kara surfed through the channels and stopped on a news report showing Superman in the Pacific helping residents of an island escape the ash and lava flow of a volcano that had just erupted in the past couple hours. "I'd sure like to meet him some day. Wouldn't it be cool to interview Superman?"
The occupants of the room exchanged looks that seemed to add worry by the minute.
SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND
Superman rushed people into cars and buses, and then proceeded to lift the vehicles and fly them to safety out of the path of the spewing lava. Super breath extinguished house fires; super speed and strength formed trenches in the ground and strategically placed large boulders to slow the lava flow and redirect it away from the highly populated areas of the island. He flew up to get a bird's eye view of the island and his work, ensuring he had accomplished everything within his power to keep the island's residents safe for the foreseeable future. He wasn't going to try and stop the volcano from erupting; that was just nature taking its course. The lava flowed into the ocean and transformed into laze, a gaseous and corrosive cloud of evaporated sea water and sea salt. Superman flew at super speed in a circular motion around the cloud; forming an artificial tornado which would carry the harmful gas up and away from the island.
He returned to the island to meet and greet the people, and to see if any had sustained injuries too serious for the local hospital to handle. Satisfied that everything was under control, he gave a smile and wave as he went up, up, and away. He enjoyed flying over the ocean, using his x-ray and telescopic vision to watch marine life below the surface of the Pacific. His sightseeing was interrupted by a telepathic "phone call" inside his head. "Superman."
"J'onn. What's up?"
"When you're done with volcano duty, I'd like Clark Kent to stop by the DEO. Something is wrong with Kara."
"I'm already on my way. See you in a few minutes." Superman increased his speed to mach level, creating a sonic boom. His thoughts turned from volcanoes and whales to concern for his cousin; and why J'onn had requested him to show up in his disguise as mild mannered Daily Planet reporter, Clark Kent. He sped toward Metropolis to pick up his normal clothes, and then back across the continent to National City. He landed at DEO headquarters, and redressed to hide his Superman suit. He walked into the med bay and saw Kara soaking up the radiation from an artificial red sun. She turned and greeted her cousin with a smile and wave.
"Kal! What are you doing in National City? Should CatCO be concerned that its competition is in town?"
Clark was thrown off by the use of his Kryptonian name, but smiled at the joke. "Uh, just visiting my favorite cousin. Heard you weren't feeling well."
"I'm feeling fine." She waved a hand at Alex, J'onn, James, and the medical staff, "they're the ones that think something is wrong with me."
Alex walked over, "Sorry to break up the family reunion, but I need to speak with Clark."
"Who's Clark?"
Concern just kept piling up on everyone's mind. The doctor spoke up, "She should be ready for the scans by now." The medical team wheeled Kara's hospital bed over to a CAT Scan machine with a special modification (shared by the on location MRI) that would simulate the radiation of a red sun. Krypton had a red sun; and while radiation from a yellow sun gave Kryptonians such as Clark and Kara their powers, red solar radiation removed the powers and made Kryptonians into normal mortal humans.
Clark joined the trio. "What happened?"
James explained, "She showed up at CatCo this morning and everything seemed fine. A few minutes later I saw her drop to the floor having what looked like a mini seizure."
J'onn added to the conversation, "From what we can tell, she has amnesia; but it's very selective. She doesn't recognize myself or James; but she knows Alex. She doesn't remember ever meeting Superman, but obviously knows you."
"But she called me 'Kal' and doesn't know who Clark is."
"I've never seen anything like it. Have you?"
Clark shook his head. "She was wearing her Supergirl uniform under her regular clothes when you brought her in, wasn't she?"
Alex explained, "Yeah, and when we put her in the hospital gown she had a confused look on her face; like she didn't know why she was wearing her uniform."
The four of them carried on their discussion, and passed theories and possibilities back and forth; but gave the doctor their full attention when he came to them and invited them over to look at a computer monitor showing the results of the CAT Scan and MRI. "The CAT Scan x-rays confirm no physical damage or trauma to any bones; but the MRI shows something on her brain." He pointed to the image he wanted them to see, "this appears to be some kind of virus or parasite. It's sporadically placed around her brain."
Alex was the first to speak, "Could that sporadic placement be the cause of the selective amnesia?"
"I think the virus is the cause of the amnesia, and my theory agrees with your hypothesis of the sporadic placement being responsible for the strange amnesia case; but I can't give a conclusive opinion since it's something I've never seen before."
"Any ideas for treatment?" Clark asked.
"What kind of anti-viral medication do Kryptonians take?"
"Good point."
"For now, let's see if her natural immune system can kick it back, or at the very least keep it from spreading. Getting her cells to absorb extra yellow solar radiation may help; but we don't know if this is contagious. I think it would be best for now for her to be quarantined here, and we can use the solar lamps to artificially feed her cells."
"Sounds like a plan," James spoke up, "but I gotta back to CatCo. Keep me in the loop." James could focus on little else besides Kara's condition on his drive back to CatCo. He walked into his office, and plopped heavily into his desk chair with an arduous exhale. He checked his desk and found the list of assignments that had been handed out for the day. He browsed the list with little interest: National Jr. High Science Fair in town, fundraiser for one of the hospitals, city council meeting, and on the list went. It held nothing he needed to directly oversee. He reclined his chair, and his thoughts once again returned to Kara.
Julie Sideras had been assigned her first task as CatCo intern. She was accompanying one of the regular jr. reporters to the National City Event Center to cover the National Jr. High Science Fair. It wasn't exactly front page material, but she was willing to start small. She had the determination and intelligence to climb the ladder. Her name would be headlining cover articles in no time. She looked around at the different banners which informed patrons which schools and cities were represented in the various booths and tables. She saw a couple for the local National City middle schools, New York City, Buffalo, Chicago, Phoenix, and on the exhibit hall stretched. She held her head and winced. The headaches were returning. She took a breath and moved on. She was not going to let a headache ruin her first day. She continued looking at the banners; recognizing several more cities.
The students were busy showing off their exhibits and explaining the purpose behind them. Judges kindly nodded and shook their heads to indicate they were following along with the explanations, and a few took notes. Colleges and universities were present to explore the talent of the upcoming generation, and place their own recruitment booths throughout the exhibit hall. Julie's head throbbed as she continued to walk around and view the different booths. She stopped and held her head again, and reached into her handbag for another aspirin. Her head seemed ready to explode. Suddenly, the same experience she had earlier at CatCo happened. Pressure built, and then escaped in a wave. She took a breath. Whatever that was that kept happening, it brought relief. She put the aspirin back in her handbag and continued walking. She didn't notice the lone occupant of the booth she had been standing next to. He grabbed his head, and dropped to his knees. The banner attached to his table informed passers by of his representing a school from Philadelphia. One of the chaperones rushed over. "Billy! Are you ok? What happened?"
