Chapter 111: In a Blaze of Power

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.

Earth orbit

Kara had celebrated her 41st birthday a few weeks ago. In reality she was probably closer to 43 or 44, given the amount of time travelling she had done, but it was far too much of a headache to keep track of all that. So 41 she was and had celebrated her birthday with all her many friends and family. Due to her alien physiology, never mind the rejuvenating effect of her solar-charged powers, she still looked like a woman in her late twenties. Which would probably become a problem sooner or later in terms of keeping up her human identity.

Right now, though, she had far bigger problems than not looking her age.

Shooting up straight, Kara achieved escape velocity and reached Earth orbit within a matter of seconds, straightening out her course to speed towards her objective.

"Do you have visual confirmation, Superwoman?" Batman's voice came over the com.

"Still behind the Earth's curve, but... yeah, I see it now. Scanning!"

Using her enhanced vision, Kara zoomed in on the massive object that remained stationary in the L1 Lagrange point between Earth and the sun, roughly 1.5 million kilometers away. The artificial satellite was the size of a small city, and its massive solar receptors had a span that could have enveloped a medium-sized country back on Earth.

"Solaris station is still where it is supposed to be," Kara reported in. "I can see a massive build-up of energy in its main capacitators, though."

"As we suspected," Batman remarked. "Batwoman, do we have eyes on Luthor?"

Barbara Gordon had ditched the 'girl' part of her superhero name a few years back and had passed it on to her ward Stephanie Brown.

"The Luthor the police tried to arrest in Metropolis was a doppelganger. I am currently tracking the real one in Los Angeles and should have him apprehended within the next ten minutes."

"Tell everyone to keep an eye out in case that's another Doppelganger," Kara cautioned. "Everyone else handling their parts?"

"Wonder Woman has taken down Metallo in Nevada," Batman told her. "Superman is battling the new Amazo droid in Australia. Flash and Kid Flash have recaptured most of the Keystone Rogues with help from Red Tornado. Batwoman, Green Arrow, the Hawks, and Black Canary have cornered the Parasite near New York harbor. Adam Strange and Captain Atom have dealt with the Cobra attack in Brussels and are just mopping up. The Martian Manhunter is dealing with the jailbreak at Stryker's and Sandgirl, Supergirl, and Aquaman have repelled Ocean Master's attack on Atlantis. The Teen Titans are on standby in case something else comes along."

"Okay, keep me posted!"

Kara accelerated towards the Solaris station, her mind going a mile a minute. It was certainly not a coincidence that, after many months with no major threats, more than half the super villain population of Earth had started making trouble all at the same time. Luthor was behind it, that much was certain. After maintaining the mask of a redeemed businessman for the better part of a decade, Luthor had finally shown his true colors once again.

"For the last five years," the bald genius had said during his worldwide broadcast fifteen minutes ago, "the world has enjoyed an unprecedented surplus of energy thanks to the Solaris station that was built based upon my designs. Well, dear citizens, your time of plenty is now over. The sun that has shown so brightly upon you all will now be your doom."

With a smirk he had added. "And remember: Superwoman made me do it!"

Breaking out of Earth orbit, Kara streaked towards the Solaris station. A part of her was busy reprimanding herself for even allowing that thing to come online in the first place, but some of the smartest people on Earth (herself included) had gone over the designs a dozen times before the construction had even begun and they had found nothing. Somehow Luthor had outsmarted them all.

"The moment we have Luthor," Kara ordered, "squeeze him for any and all information on what he has done to Solaris, just in case I cannot figure it out on my own."

"Will do, Superwoman. Be careful!"

Two minutes before Luthor's transmission, all contact with the Solaris station had been lost. Straining her enhanced senses to the utmost, Kara could spot the maintenance crew currently on duty, all of whom were crowded in the station's control room and, from the look of things, pushing any button they could find in the vein hope of regaining control.

"There is a crew of six on the station," Kara reported. "I will try and get them into the escape shuttle."

Kara decelerated and matched speeds with the Solaris station. None of the airlocks would open for her, unsurprisingly, so she quickly headed to the one farthest away from the command deck and tore it open. Atmosphere escaped with a howl that broke the silence of space, but Kara was inside a second later and used a burst of heat vision to weld the door back into place.

"I'm inside," she reported, but there was nothing but static on her com now. Even from here she could feel the enormous energy build-up at the station's core, the excess EM-radiation making her skin tingle. She had to wrap this up fast.

Speeding through the corridors as fast as she could, she reached the command deck.

"Superwoman, thank God," one of the crewmen said upon seeing her. His nametag read 'Sinclair'. "We have no idea what's going on here. Everything went haywire from one second to the next."

"I know," she merely responded. "We're getting you out of here first, then I will deal with whatever is going on."

"I don't think we have time for that," the commander of the crew said, standing in front of the main control screen. Her nametag read 'Sheridan'. "The emitter array just reconfigured by itself. The station is preparing to transmit all the stored energy in one big pulse."

"That will overload the receivers in Earth orbit," a third crewman said.

"It's not aimed at the receivers. The array is targeting the moon."

Kara internally cursed. Of course, what better target for a solar-based weapon? Solaris was basically one huge energy converter. The gathered sunlight was converted, and its transmitter array then focused it into a tight beam that would be received by the orbital receivers circling the Earth. From there it would be beamed down to the surface, using a form of wireless energy transference patented by K-Solutions. If the beam's focus was widened, though, it could shower an entire hemisphere with dangerous radiation. It might cause some minor damage to the Earth, but most of it would be filtered out by Earth's magnetic field and the ozone layer. The moon had no ozone layer, though, and its magnetic field was barely worth mentioning. What it did have was Tranquility Base, which had grown into a small city in recent years, housing more than half a million scientists, astronauts, engineers, and support crew, not to mention their families. A solar flare of this magnitude would kill them all.

"Get to the escape shuttle," Kara ordered the crew. "I will take out the array!"

Waiting for just a second to confirm that they would follow her orders, Kara accelerated to super speed once again. The Solaris station was a concentric design. The actual solar power converter was in the center with the array that would transmit the converted energy to Earth situated around it. Then came several concentric rings containing the auxiliary parts of the station such as quarters, docks, repair shops, communications, the command deck, and the likes. Further out were several rings containing energy accumulators of massive size, which were responsible for storing the converted power before the transmission to Earth. And finally the entire massive structure was surrounded by a staggeringly large array of solar receptors which captured the sunlight.

Kara aimed for the transmitter array. Destroying it would prevent the fatal release of the energy towards the moon and it was also the part of the station most easily repaired. Whatever else was going on in the station could be handled after the immediate danger was defused. Before she could smash through the transmission array, though, Kara suddenly bounced off a force field.

"What in Rao's name...?" Kara needed several seconds to bring her flight back under control, having spun away from the station from the force of the impact. Focusing her super vision, she now saw the distinctive wavelengths of a very powerful force screen that enveloped the central converter and the transmission array.

Kara went through the station's design plans in her head. There was a force field generator, of course, to protect the station from debris, but it was nowhere near powerful enough to even slow her down. There was no way that Luthor could have modified it that way, not without her noticing. This went beyond a simple computer malfunction; someone had done some massive modifications to the station without anyone noticing.

A side glance showed her the escape shuttle was now detaching from the habitation ring of the station and accelerating towards Earth. Which, come to think of it, would soon put it right into the line of fire if Solaris really unleashed a wide-range energy beam upon the moon.

Calculating, Kara figured she did not have enough time to smash this powerful a force field simply through brute strength. Taking but a moment to decide, she flew back inside and to the command deck again, accessing the computer.

"Luthor must have snuck something in here," she muttered, even as she worked. "But a mere virus or something could not have physically modified the station itself. A force field that powerful... no, definitely not Earth-built. It must be... dear Rao!"

The screen suddenly came alight with three discs assembled in a V-shape.

"Greetings, Kara-El," the emotionless voice hailed from the speakers built into the command deck.

"Brainiac!" Kara hissed.

Los Angeles

Lex Luthor was not really trying to escape. That did not mean, of course, that he planned to make things easy for whomever of Superwoman's toadies was tasked with bringing him in. The Doppelganger in Metropolis had been put in place over six months ago when he had begun to prepare for his masterstroke.

Currently he was inside an empty warehouse, rented through a chain of four shell companies, and was preparing a high-powered speed boat for departure. Again, he did not really think he would escape permanently, but the chase was half the fun, was it not?

Looking at his watch, Luthor was rather certain that Superwoman had discovered Brainiac's involvement by now. Well, Brainiac 1, he should specify. While he had assisted in Superwoman's effort to take over part of Brainiac's network - which had created the disappointingly benign half-alien, half-computer being known by the hilariously unimpressive name Brainiac 2 - he had always known that parts of the old Brainiac would survive. Its very nature made it almost impossible to destroy. He knew that Superwoman and her ilk had dealt with several of the Brainiac nodes in the years since, but they would never destroy all of them.

The simple plans were the best, he mused. Everyone had expected him to somehow construct some elaborate, highly complicated scheme when he had introduced the designs for the Solaris station. He knew they had gone over the plans dozens of times, trying to find whatever hidden mechanisms or booby traps they believed he would install. There had been nothing, of course. It had delayed the construction of the station for over a year because they were all convinced there had to be something there.

No, Solaris had been perfectly on the up and up. Keen superpowered eyes had been on the station for the entire construction time. At least two separate members of Superwoman's Justice League had been on watch for the entire first year the station had been running. All for nothing, as there had been nothing wrong with it at all. Everything had run smoothly.

Inevitably, the scrutiny began to lax as no threat materialized. And it had only been less than a year ago that Luthor had finally acted. Again, something very simple. Just a few lines of code, slipped into the latest software upgrades for the Solaris stations computers. Not a virus, no. Something far simpler. A backdoor. The code opened a port and tuned it to a very specific frequency that Luthor had memorized years ago during his short and rather unsuccessful team-up with a certain Kryptonian AI.

For all intents and purposes he had hung a large sign on the Solaris station, inviting Brainiac into its systems. And from there it had all been terribly easy. The hardest part had actually been to organize all those maniacs, madmen, terrorists, and assorted riffraff to time their attacks right. Well, he had a lot of experiencing making stupid people do his bidding.

Luthor was wrenched from his thoughts when a black object hurtled through the air and embedded itself into the steering console of his speed boat. He had a moment to recognize it as a bat-shaped throwing knife of some kind before an electrical discharge caused every fuse on the boat to blow.

Looking up, he saw the expected dark shape with a bat symbol on its chest. But it was the wrong silhouette.

"Oh please, really?" he complained. "Not even the Batman himself, but the sidekick?"

Any further complaint was silenced as a heavy combat boot impacted sharply against his chin.

Solaris Station

Now that she knew what was going on, Kara easily spotted the Kryptonian crystal-tech generators that projected the powerful force screen around the station's center. There were also some modifications done to the station's transmitter array, she saw, also using crystal-tech. Given the crystal-growth rate, just a few tiny seed crystals smuggled aboard a few days ago would easily have sufficed to grow them.

"What are you doing here, Brainiac?" Kara asked, hoping to buy time.

"I believe our last encounter made that clear, Kara-El," Brainiac replied. "You have abandoned the Kryptonian ways. You have betrayed your heritage. You aim to destroy Kryptonian culture."

"There is no more Kryptonian culture," Kara reminded him.

"I am the sum total of Kryptonian culture. You betrayed me. In order to protect the legacy of Krypton..."

"Meaning yourself," Kara growled.

"... the only option left to me is to destroy you and your family. Once you are out of the way, I can grow a new Kryptonian race from your DNA and those of the humans, like I did with the Cadmus specimen."

Getting tired of the speech, Kara stopped listening and focused on the computer in front of her. The overload was in progress, the energy blast would be released in less than a minute. It would overtax the station's systems and disable it, probably destroy it, but that would be of little avail. Given the distance, every single human currently on the moon would receive a deadly dose of radiation roughly six seconds later. There was no way to crack the force field in that short a time. The only thing she could do was to make sure that the blast never reached its target.

Smashing her way out of the command deck, Kara quickly circled around the station. The central hub was shielded, but Brainiac obviously did not care about any of the other station components. Such as the huge reflective surfaces of the solar receptors.

Tearing through the support structures, she tore a huge solar sail free of its moorings and pushed it forward. She could only accelerate so much without tearing the flimsy construct apart, but forty-six seconds later she had managed to position it directly in the firing line.

Three seconds later the Solaris station released a tremendous beam of concentrated solar radiation. To the people on Earth, it looked like a second sun had risen.

Los Angeles

Just about every cop in the local police department had been distracted by the light show in the sky. Their attention was brought back to terra firma, though, when a shadowy figure threw a battered and tied-up man to the ground before them.

"This is Lex Luthor," a deep, female voice said. "Arrest him!"

Following Luthor's broadcast, a court had issued a warrant for his arrest in record time, especially once it became apparent that the Solaris station was truly malfunctioning and had become a danger. Two cops quickly pulled him to his feet and manhandled him inside.

Luthor merely chuckled, not caring about his split lip or busted nose.

"I did it," he laughed. "I finally did it!"

None of the policemen and -women knew what he meant. Batwoman, however, had a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

1.2 million kilometers from Earth orbit

The Solaris station's escape shuttle had bridged about a fifth of the distance between the station and Earth when space behind them exploded into brilliance.

"The station has fired," Sinclair yelled.

"This crate's shielding will never protect us from the radiation," Sheridan remarked drily. "We're dead!"

The crew waited in silence as the seconds ticked by.

"We are still alive," one of them finally voiced the obvious.

Sheridan checked the shuttle's crude sensor suite. "There is something between us and the station. Something huge!"

As the rest of the crew gathered around her, the image on the screen showed a dark shadow, the rest of the universe behind it so bright that even the image almost blinded them.

"That's one of Solaris' solar panels," Sinclair said, amazed. "Superwoman must have moved it."

Even as they watched, though, the shadowy disc of the solar sail was coming apart at the seams.

1.4 million kilometers from Earth orbit

Within ten seconds Kara realized that her plan was not going to work. The reflective surface of the solar panel was diverting some of the energy pulse, but not enough to keep it from being damaged. The beam was too focused, far more intense than normal sunlight, and the panel couldn't handle it.

There really was just one other thing she could do to save half a million people from death, but it was a long shot. The Solaris beam was really just sunlight, though in a highly concentrated form, and her body was a biological solar battery. The width of the beam was far wider than her, though. She would never be able to 'catch' all the radiation with her body.

She could already feel the enhancing effect of the onslaught of solar energy on the other side of the crumbling panel. She felt her power levels growing and that gave her an idea. Her supposed invulnerability was really a skin-tight force field that surrounded her body at all times, generated by her solar-charged cells. She was able to extend that force field somewhat, enabling her to lift objects far larger than herself without tearing them apart in the process. This ability had mutated in Kona, enabling her to use a tactile form of telekinesis.

Something she had never tried before, though, was to extend her force field beyond herself without contact with another physical object. Well, there was no better time to try it than right now. Focusing on the energy she always felt tingling over her skin, she concentrated on pushing it outward, imagining herself ten times bigger than she really was. She spread her arms to help visualize it, imagined extending that protective energy farther and farther out.

Kara closed her eyes, every fiber of her being focused on protecting the innocent lives behind her, when the solar panel finally broke apart and the full power of Solaris' beam washed over her.

0.7 million kilometers from Earth orbit

Superman pushed his speed to the utmost, even though his body was already battered from a long and painful fight. Professor Ivo's latest Amazo droid had been scarily powerful, its ability to mimic the powers of its opponent highly effective. Thankfully the mad scientist had not yet managed to build a droid that could fully copy the powers of a Kryptonian, but he had come closer than ever before. Thus it had taken Superman much longer than he had anticipated to finish it off.

By the time he finally made Earth orbit, the Solaris station was already firing on the moon.

"This is Superman calling Tranquility Base," he shouted into his com even as he accelerated further. "Radiation wave imminent! Seek shelter immediately!"

He knew it was probably too late, but maybe a few fortunate souls could make it to a shielded bunker before the entire Lunar surface was sterilized. His super senses quickly told him, though, that something was blocking the lethal solar shower.

"Mom?" he yelled. "Mom, can you hear me?"

There was nothing but static on the com, though, so he did the only thing he could and pushed forward. As he came closer, he could see debris from what appeared to be a solar panel. When he finally spotted his mother, though, he almost came to a stop in sheer amazement.

Superwoman was hovering at the center of a bright blue disc of energy, her arms and legs spread outward, and his enhanced senses easily identified the phenomenon. It was his mother's own bio-electric aura, the force field that was the source of their invulnerability, grown to gigantic proportions. The solar blast from Solaris was battering against it like a flood, but all the energy shattered against the immovable object in front of it. Almost like water going down a drain, all the destructive energy that Solaris had unleashed was being sucked in by the center of the bright blue shield.

A distant flash of light, almost insignificant compared to the spectacle in front of them, signified the destruction of the Solaris station as its overtaxed systems finally gave up. Seconds later the energy wave ended, the onslaught of light ceased, and space became dark again.

Mere seconds passed before Superman was at his mother's side.

"Mom?"

Her entire body crackled with energy, even as she drew her force field back in, and she raised a hand to stop him from coming closer. He could see that the com piece in her ear was wrecked, probably overloaded by the electromagnetic pulse, but he understood what she needed to do regardless.

Superwoman's eyes lit up like miniature suns and twin beams of energy were unleashed, cleaving space in half as his mother vented all the excess power she had just absorbed. More than half a million kilometers away, the remains of the Solaris station were all but vaporized by the twin beams. Good riddance, Clark figured.

Finally the energy spectacle ended and Superman came to his mother's side. There was still energy crackling over her body, but the nimbus was quickly fading. She quickly motioned towards the distant speck of the escape shuttle, telling him to make sure that it was okay.

With one last look at his mother, assuring himself that she was doing fine, Superman sped off towards the shuttle. Still, he could not help it. Something worried him. Something was wrong.

Private Journal of Kara-El

I have run the tests three times now and the results remain the same. Ever since I shielded the moon from the Solaris blast, my strength has nearly tripled. I have manifested a new superpower and others may follow. That is the good news. The bad news is that all of this results from the mass exposure to solar radiation from Solaris. A critical level of radiation, more than even my cells can handle.

It seems impossible that a mere machine can do such damage when I have absorbed the power of a sun god - two, actually, but who is counting? – without any permanent damage. Since I very much doubt that there was some sort of divine component to it that protected me, I can only assume that

Brainiac did something to the radiation, somehow modulated its bandwidth or frequency to make it toxic to a Kryptonian's cells. No way to find out, I fear, given that there is nothing left of Solaris to analyze. I only know that, by the time I managed to release all that energy again, the damage was already done.

Apoptosis has begun. Cell death. Even without the instruments of my Fortress, I can see it. Like tiny fireworks beneath my skin. All of my cells are over-saturated with solar radiation. Bursting from within. It is increasing my power to unbelievable levels. And it is killing me.

I calculate that I have maybe six months left, give or take. And then I will die.

End Chapter 111

Author's Note: The plot idea of Kara dying due to an overdose of solar radiation is adapted from Grant Morrison's brilliant All-Star Superman story from 2006. To me one of the, if not THE, definitive Superman story (though without a Supergirl, sadly). Go and read it if you haven't already. To be honest I am not sure how sound the science behind this whole chapter is, but I hope the dramatic tension makes up for it.

Solaris station is, of course, a nod to Solaris, the Tyrant Sun, from DC One Million (who also appeared in All-Star Superman). I had originally envisioned Solaris (created by Luthor) as the final villain for this story, but eventually decided against it. I still wanted to have Solaris appear, though, even if it was just as a non-sentient energy station. And crew members Sinclair and Sheridan on a space station? I love Babylon 5.

Up next: What do you do when you are the most powerful being on Earth and have but six months left to live?