Part 3: Devil in the Details
#
Karen Kell was sitting at her desk in the Daily Planet staff room, looking to all the world like she was busy typing up her latest article. In her short stint with the paper the young woman had become quite well liked among the staff, even if she was a bit distant at times. She was always friendly and helpful, had a smile for everyone, but did not take part in any of the social activities that occasionally took place. She lived in her own world, it seemed.
Her own world was, in fact, what kept Kara's thoughts busy right now even as she was absentmindedly typing up Karen Kell's latest article, something about the new permanent space station. For a moment her thoughts interposed a picture of the Justice League Satellite over that of the ISS-1. Damn, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep her thoughts compartmentalized and focused on business instead of being overwhelmed by that ever-growing feeling of homesickness.
Working for the Planet gave her access to all kinds of resources to aid in her research and she had made good use of them this past month she had been here. It had actually begun when she had met one of the Planet's senior reporters a few days after being hired, a reporter by name of Lois Lane. Kara had been so surprised by the appearance of the woman she knew as her cousin's girlfriend (at least that was what she probably would be if he ever got around to telling her how he felt) that she had spent a full minute sputtering in confusion as Lois just gave her an amused look. Kara had covered by saying something along the lines of knowing someone who looked almost identical to Lois.
Being naturally curious Lois had asked who this supposed doppelganger was and, playing a hunch, Kara had given her the name Kent. Unfortunately Lois had never heard of anyone by that name, neither male nor female. A short check of the records had also told Kara that no Clark Kent worked or had ever worked for the Daily Planet, either.
Despite that disappointment she was glad to have met the female reporter. Apart from her being a genuinely nice person, seeing Lois had caused Kara to research in a different direction after her ongoing failure to find out anything worthwhile about the crimson clouds. She started looking up all the people she remembered from her world, hoping that one of them might be able to help her.
Jonathan and Martha Kent had been farmers in Smallville, Kansas and had both died some years ago, just like at home. Their deaths had been later in life than Kara remembered it from her world, though, and they had never had children, neither natural nor adopted. There was also not a single record of a meteor or anything of the sort coming down over Smallville within the last hundred years.
There was a Bruce Wayne in Gotham City, quite a few years younger than the one she knew would be in 2003, and his parents had been killed right before his eyes when he was eight. Today he was one of the top profilers for the FBI's violent crimes taskforce. His vast fortune had gone into several foundations and enterprises. There was no trace of the foppish playboy she remembered from her own world, nor did she find any reports or even urban legends about a Batman.
Barbara Gordon, arguably Kara's best friend among the hero crowd back home, had also been in the employ of the FBI for quite a few years, having been recruited directly out of college. Several years ago she had been involved in a raid gone sour and apparently left the FBI shortly afterwards due to a crippling injury. Her current whereabouts or occupation eluded Kara.
Hal Jordan was a former test pilot, now a congressman whom many saw as a top candidate for the presidency within the next ten to fifteen years. He was married to one Carol Ferris, owner and chief executive of Ferris Aircraft, the nation's leading aircraft manufacturer.
Barry Allen was heading the CSI division of the Central City Police Department.
Ray Palmer was a professor at Michigan State University.
The sole record she found when looking up the name Diana Price was that of a former army nurse who now lived in South America with her husband. They had two children.
Practically all the people she had known at home existed in this world, at least those that had actually been born on this planet. Granted, there was a curious shift regarding birth dates and such, most of them seemed to be about the same age she remembered them to be despite this being eighteen years in the future, but she had seen something like this before in the differences between Earth-1 and Earth-2. That was probably just some sort of natural shift between dimensions.
What troubled her more was the fact that none of these people who so resembled her friends and colleagues back home had turned into superheroes. Kara shook her head. Maybe the fact that someone or something had (deliberately?) cut off her access to the time stream and other dimensions had made her paranoid, but it seemed a little too much in the way of coincidence that all these people existed, yet had somehow managed to dodge the circumstances that would have made them superheroes.
She knew that most of them had become heroes through chance. The lightning bolt that had made Barry Allan the Flash could just as easily have struck elsewhere or not at all. If she remembered right Hal Jordan had been given his ring by a dying alien who had crashed to Earth. Maybe it did not crash this time around. Ray Palmer, the Atom, had fashioned his size-changing technology from a meteor that contained a fragment of a white dwarf star. Maybe the white dwarf had never come to Earth. Bruce Wayne had decided to become the Batman after a bat crashed through his window. Maybe the bat had veered off at the last second.
Yeah, all maybes. Becoming a superhero had been a question of being in the right place at the right time for many of her friends and colleagues. What were the odds, though, that she was stranded on a world where every single one of these chance events had not taken place? There were dozens of superheroes in her world and apparently not a single one here. All just chance? She refused to believe that.
If something or someone had manipulated these people into not becoming superheroes ... maybe if she talked to them she could find something of a common thread. Maybe that could lead her to the person or persons behind her stay in this world. Yes, she was probably grasping at straws, she was aware of that. Why would someone manipulate a whole world for the sole purpose of leaving her stranded here? Maybe the whole idea of putting on tights to fight crime had simply never come into fashion here and even those who had superpowers kept them secret, out of the public eye. That could be all there was to it. Still, it was the best plan she could come up with.
Maybe she could schedule some interviews. Her next article for the science insert could be about forensic sciences. Get an expert in Barry Allan. Maybe consult one Ray Palmer for some of the underlying science. Talk to Bruce Wayne on how much a profiler could tell from forensic clues.
Kara was starting to hammer out the details of this new plan when something caught her attention.
"This is the Daily Planet," Perry White barked loud enough to be heard all across the bullpen, "not the bloody tabloids."
The editor-in-chief of the paper, also a familiar face from her own world, could be seen getting into Lois Lane's face behind the door of his office. After his initial outburst he continued in a somewhat lower tone, but Kara's enhanced hearing had no trouble making out the words. They immediately piqued her interest.
"I can't believe someone like you would ask me to print this trash, Lois."
"It's news," Lois Lane retorted, not looking intimidated in the least. "We have half a dozen witnesses who swear that they saw a figure dressed as a bat. We have four criminals in the hospital, beaten to a pulp by parts unknown. They, too, described a masked figure resembling a bat. The Gotham Police Department has put out a warrant for this vigilante."
White grumbled, but Kara was barely listening anymore. A figure dressed as a bat? In Gotham City? Beating up criminals? She quickly sifted through her assembled files until she found Bruce Wayne. Was it possible? Had he become Batman after all, somehow keeping it secret? Had the idea struck him just recently?
Kara made a face. It still did not make any sense. Why just him and no one else? Why now? Well, there was really but one way to find out, wasn't there?
#
Kara waited until late evening to make her way to Gotham, figuring that the Batman (if it really was him) would not be out working until well after dark. The city looked like she remembered it, all high sky scrapers with a mildly gothic design. Downtown was buzzing with night life, all neon lights and pretty colours, but just as many dark shadows for the predators to prowl in.
She made a quick flyby past Wayne Manor, sprawled majestically on a hill overlooking the city. Her x-ray vision found the caves beneath it, but they were completely dark and empty. As was the manor itself, actually. Not fallen to ruin or anything, but clearly uninhabited. She certainly would not find any Batman there.
Seeking out one of the higher rooftops within the city, Kara perched down and concentrated on her senses. Her vision powers would not do her too much good, there were just too many places to hide in a city this big, not to mention quite a bit of lead. Her hearing was another matter, though. Screams was what she was listening for and she did not have to wait long. There were a lot of them in this part of town.
Some statistic suggested that a crime occurred in Gotham about every thirty seconds and Kara quickly found that this was not exaggerated. Within the next hour she observed no less than five muggings, one attempted rape, and three break-ins. She always waited until the last possible second, looking for a hooded figure springing from the darkness, but no such luck. She ended up foiling all of these crimes herself, making sure to move at such speeds that no one caught even a glimpse of her.
Finally, though, she spotted something.
It was another mugging, the sixth of the night for her. Two young men had cornered an elderly couple, threatening them with knives. Kara watched from a nearby roof and was about to intervene when she saw something else. Something moving in the shadows just behind the two muggers. A smile appeared on her lips and she settled down to watch.
The two criminals never knew what hit them. The fight, such as it was, lasted about six seconds before two unconscious bodies dropped to the ground. In a swirl of cape the hooded figure quickly cuffed them, using plastic straps, and told the couple to get out of here. All of this left Kara enough time to take a closer look at this 'Batman'. For a moment a puzzled frown appeared on her face, to be replaced moments later with another, broader smile.
The moment the couple was out of sight she zipped down into the alley and came to a stop directly in front of the masked vigilante, hovering about five inches above the ground. The figure started, looking at her as if it was seeing a ghost.
"I don't think we were ever properly introduced," Kara said. "I'm Supergirl. You're Huntress, right?"
The daughter of Earth-2's Batman just stared at her.
TO BE CONTINUED
#
Karen Kell was sitting at her desk in the Daily Planet staff room, looking to all the world like she was busy typing up her latest article. In her short stint with the paper the young woman had become quite well liked among the staff, even if she was a bit distant at times. She was always friendly and helpful, had a smile for everyone, but did not take part in any of the social activities that occasionally took place. She lived in her own world, it seemed.
Her own world was, in fact, what kept Kara's thoughts busy right now even as she was absentmindedly typing up Karen Kell's latest article, something about the new permanent space station. For a moment her thoughts interposed a picture of the Justice League Satellite over that of the ISS-1. Damn, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep her thoughts compartmentalized and focused on business instead of being overwhelmed by that ever-growing feeling of homesickness.
Working for the Planet gave her access to all kinds of resources to aid in her research and she had made good use of them this past month she had been here. It had actually begun when she had met one of the Planet's senior reporters a few days after being hired, a reporter by name of Lois Lane. Kara had been so surprised by the appearance of the woman she knew as her cousin's girlfriend (at least that was what she probably would be if he ever got around to telling her how he felt) that she had spent a full minute sputtering in confusion as Lois just gave her an amused look. Kara had covered by saying something along the lines of knowing someone who looked almost identical to Lois.
Being naturally curious Lois had asked who this supposed doppelganger was and, playing a hunch, Kara had given her the name Kent. Unfortunately Lois had never heard of anyone by that name, neither male nor female. A short check of the records had also told Kara that no Clark Kent worked or had ever worked for the Daily Planet, either.
Despite that disappointment she was glad to have met the female reporter. Apart from her being a genuinely nice person, seeing Lois had caused Kara to research in a different direction after her ongoing failure to find out anything worthwhile about the crimson clouds. She started looking up all the people she remembered from her world, hoping that one of them might be able to help her.
Jonathan and Martha Kent had been farmers in Smallville, Kansas and had both died some years ago, just like at home. Their deaths had been later in life than Kara remembered it from her world, though, and they had never had children, neither natural nor adopted. There was also not a single record of a meteor or anything of the sort coming down over Smallville within the last hundred years.
There was a Bruce Wayne in Gotham City, quite a few years younger than the one she knew would be in 2003, and his parents had been killed right before his eyes when he was eight. Today he was one of the top profilers for the FBI's violent crimes taskforce. His vast fortune had gone into several foundations and enterprises. There was no trace of the foppish playboy she remembered from her own world, nor did she find any reports or even urban legends about a Batman.
Barbara Gordon, arguably Kara's best friend among the hero crowd back home, had also been in the employ of the FBI for quite a few years, having been recruited directly out of college. Several years ago she had been involved in a raid gone sour and apparently left the FBI shortly afterwards due to a crippling injury. Her current whereabouts or occupation eluded Kara.
Hal Jordan was a former test pilot, now a congressman whom many saw as a top candidate for the presidency within the next ten to fifteen years. He was married to one Carol Ferris, owner and chief executive of Ferris Aircraft, the nation's leading aircraft manufacturer.
Barry Allen was heading the CSI division of the Central City Police Department.
Ray Palmer was a professor at Michigan State University.
The sole record she found when looking up the name Diana Price was that of a former army nurse who now lived in South America with her husband. They had two children.
Practically all the people she had known at home existed in this world, at least those that had actually been born on this planet. Granted, there was a curious shift regarding birth dates and such, most of them seemed to be about the same age she remembered them to be despite this being eighteen years in the future, but she had seen something like this before in the differences between Earth-1 and Earth-2. That was probably just some sort of natural shift between dimensions.
What troubled her more was the fact that none of these people who so resembled her friends and colleagues back home had turned into superheroes. Kara shook her head. Maybe the fact that someone or something had (deliberately?) cut off her access to the time stream and other dimensions had made her paranoid, but it seemed a little too much in the way of coincidence that all these people existed, yet had somehow managed to dodge the circumstances that would have made them superheroes.
She knew that most of them had become heroes through chance. The lightning bolt that had made Barry Allan the Flash could just as easily have struck elsewhere or not at all. If she remembered right Hal Jordan had been given his ring by a dying alien who had crashed to Earth. Maybe it did not crash this time around. Ray Palmer, the Atom, had fashioned his size-changing technology from a meteor that contained a fragment of a white dwarf star. Maybe the white dwarf had never come to Earth. Bruce Wayne had decided to become the Batman after a bat crashed through his window. Maybe the bat had veered off at the last second.
Yeah, all maybes. Becoming a superhero had been a question of being in the right place at the right time for many of her friends and colleagues. What were the odds, though, that she was stranded on a world where every single one of these chance events had not taken place? There were dozens of superheroes in her world and apparently not a single one here. All just chance? She refused to believe that.
If something or someone had manipulated these people into not becoming superheroes ... maybe if she talked to them she could find something of a common thread. Maybe that could lead her to the person or persons behind her stay in this world. Yes, she was probably grasping at straws, she was aware of that. Why would someone manipulate a whole world for the sole purpose of leaving her stranded here? Maybe the whole idea of putting on tights to fight crime had simply never come into fashion here and even those who had superpowers kept them secret, out of the public eye. That could be all there was to it. Still, it was the best plan she could come up with.
Maybe she could schedule some interviews. Her next article for the science insert could be about forensic sciences. Get an expert in Barry Allan. Maybe consult one Ray Palmer for some of the underlying science. Talk to Bruce Wayne on how much a profiler could tell from forensic clues.
Kara was starting to hammer out the details of this new plan when something caught her attention.
"This is the Daily Planet," Perry White barked loud enough to be heard all across the bullpen, "not the bloody tabloids."
The editor-in-chief of the paper, also a familiar face from her own world, could be seen getting into Lois Lane's face behind the door of his office. After his initial outburst he continued in a somewhat lower tone, but Kara's enhanced hearing had no trouble making out the words. They immediately piqued her interest.
"I can't believe someone like you would ask me to print this trash, Lois."
"It's news," Lois Lane retorted, not looking intimidated in the least. "We have half a dozen witnesses who swear that they saw a figure dressed as a bat. We have four criminals in the hospital, beaten to a pulp by parts unknown. They, too, described a masked figure resembling a bat. The Gotham Police Department has put out a warrant for this vigilante."
White grumbled, but Kara was barely listening anymore. A figure dressed as a bat? In Gotham City? Beating up criminals? She quickly sifted through her assembled files until she found Bruce Wayne. Was it possible? Had he become Batman after all, somehow keeping it secret? Had the idea struck him just recently?
Kara made a face. It still did not make any sense. Why just him and no one else? Why now? Well, there was really but one way to find out, wasn't there?
#
Kara waited until late evening to make her way to Gotham, figuring that the Batman (if it really was him) would not be out working until well after dark. The city looked like she remembered it, all high sky scrapers with a mildly gothic design. Downtown was buzzing with night life, all neon lights and pretty colours, but just as many dark shadows for the predators to prowl in.
She made a quick flyby past Wayne Manor, sprawled majestically on a hill overlooking the city. Her x-ray vision found the caves beneath it, but they were completely dark and empty. As was the manor itself, actually. Not fallen to ruin or anything, but clearly uninhabited. She certainly would not find any Batman there.
Seeking out one of the higher rooftops within the city, Kara perched down and concentrated on her senses. Her vision powers would not do her too much good, there were just too many places to hide in a city this big, not to mention quite a bit of lead. Her hearing was another matter, though. Screams was what she was listening for and she did not have to wait long. There were a lot of them in this part of town.
Some statistic suggested that a crime occurred in Gotham about every thirty seconds and Kara quickly found that this was not exaggerated. Within the next hour she observed no less than five muggings, one attempted rape, and three break-ins. She always waited until the last possible second, looking for a hooded figure springing from the darkness, but no such luck. She ended up foiling all of these crimes herself, making sure to move at such speeds that no one caught even a glimpse of her.
Finally, though, she spotted something.
It was another mugging, the sixth of the night for her. Two young men had cornered an elderly couple, threatening them with knives. Kara watched from a nearby roof and was about to intervene when she saw something else. Something moving in the shadows just behind the two muggers. A smile appeared on her lips and she settled down to watch.
The two criminals never knew what hit them. The fight, such as it was, lasted about six seconds before two unconscious bodies dropped to the ground. In a swirl of cape the hooded figure quickly cuffed them, using plastic straps, and told the couple to get out of here. All of this left Kara enough time to take a closer look at this 'Batman'. For a moment a puzzled frown appeared on her face, to be replaced moments later with another, broader smile.
The moment the couple was out of sight she zipped down into the alley and came to a stop directly in front of the masked vigilante, hovering about five inches above the ground. The figure started, looking at her as if it was seeing a ghost.
"I don't think we were ever properly introduced," Kara said. "I'm Supergirl. You're Huntress, right?"
The daughter of Earth-2's Batman just stared at her.
TO BE CONTINUED