Chapter 5: In the Spotlight
Life for Mew after that point took a turn, for both the better and the worse.
Turns out that some lucky photographer had taken a picture of both her and Kara flying through the city to drop off Mrs Lane. And with Superman, and by association, Supergirl both being the hot topic after the attack, it wasn't hard for the image to reach the news.
It was only a small mercy that the image was mostly pushed to the side in favor of spurring the people to hate Superman, but enough people had taken notice that she was getting stared at when she was out in the city. Unfortunately one of the people who did notice was her landlady, and kicked her out of the complex.
Turns out that a shaddy apartment complex didn't enjoy having people who were friends with heroes around, but Mew was able to handle both that and the stares in stride. Unlike the rest of the city that was stewing in media driven fear, she had something to look forward to.
Going onto patrol with Kara, and from how her friend was acting, she was enjoying it as well.
"Alright, listen up," Kara said in a parody of a drill sergeant and she paced in front of Mew. "Metropolis might seem all bright and shiny, but it has a truly sinister underbelly full of all kinds of wackos and villains that can only be rivaled by Gotham." She dropped the act to look at her. "But seriously, do not go there. Both the villains and the hero in charge are a bit crazy."
"Roger," Mew gave a mock sault, causing Kara to grin and nod her head. "So, what's the plan for today?"
"Er, well," Kara grinned a bit sheepishly. "There never really is a plan. We just kinda fly around the city as a deterrent for criminals, and if we see a crime happening, we stop it. But that doesn't always happen."
"Hey, that's fine with me," Mew didn't really have an issue with that, just meant she spent the day hanging out with a friend. "Lead the way Kara."
"It's Supergirl right now," Kara corrected her friend. "While in uniform, we use our hero names… are you sure you don't want to get a costume?" She asked, indicating how Mew was wearing her casual clothes. "Unless they are magical or something, I don't think they'll be much help in a fight."
Mew could only raise her eyebrow at that comment before motioning at how little protection Supergirl's outfits actually provided.
"Hey, I'm bulletproof," Kara put her hands on her hips in defiance.
"Then if they start shooting, I'll hide behind you," Mew joked before she floated into the air. "But trust me, I'm tougher than I look." With a sigh, Kara knew she wasn't going to win this argument, and flew up into the air ahead of Mew to lead the way.
xXx
As it turned out, Kara was right about how little crime actually occurred in the city on average. All they did for most of the morning and into the afternoon was fly around the city and just be seen by the public. It was over all a rather boring experience that was only mitigated by their own small talk.
Kara had been regaling Mew with a story of her own heroics against an Electric using villain named Livewire when the only noteworthy thing of their day occurred; a car crash. Yep, really living up to the heroic live style.
Kara was the first on the scene with Mew following just behind. A semi-truck had lost control and was forced to jackknife it's truck, resulting in two other cars getting hit as well. Other than some body damage to the vehicles, everyone else was fine. Kara had helped un-jackknife the trusk and get it to the side of the road with the other two cars so that traffic could continue.
"Yeah, I'm real sorry about that," The truck driver apologized to Kara for the upteenth time as she put the truck down. "It was like the car just, woop, and I was sideways, ya know?"
"It's fine," Kara gave the man an understanding smile.
"Don't care what them folks on the radio say you and your kind ain't monsters," The driver said as he waved goodbye as Kara's departing back, not seeing the smile become a bit more forced at his words.
"I'm not a monster," She muttered under her breath as Mew joined her as they flew away from the crash.
"Um, yeah, you're Argoan," Mew looked at her friend in some confusion at her words. "Why would someone think you're a monster?"
"Just some idiots," Kara said with a bitter tone. "They are trying to tell everyone that me and Clark are the bad guys, that we are monsters to be dealt with."
"Don't let it get you down," Mew shrugged as she flipped over to fly on her back in a lounging position. "I've been called a monster plenty of times in the past." Kara slowed down in her flight for a moment before catching up.
"You never really do talk much about your past," She suddenly brought up. "And when you do, it is always done so vaguely." At the look that Mew gave her, she then added. "Yeah, I know I was being the same, but that was because of this whole hero business and Clark, I didn't want to give any secrets away that weren't mine."
Mew hummed in thought about this.
"Alright, ask me a question then," She offered. "It can be about literally anything about me and I will answer it wholly and completely until you are satisfied."
Kara had to think about that for a moment and decided to ask the most recent question she wanted to ask.
"Why would someone call you a monster?" As far as she could tell, Mew didn't really seem like the type to be called a monster. She could be a bit much to handle at times and a touch frustrating, but nothing that would deserve that name.
"Ah, you ask a question and one not easily to answer," Mew looked thoughtful as she tried to think of the best way to put her thoughts to words. "Well, you see-" The rest of words were cut off by a distant BOOM, causing both of them to turn their heads in that direction.
A few blocks away they could see smoke beginning to rise into the air before being followed by three more explosions. Kara was off faster than Mew to the disturbance, but Mew simply teleported over the spot.
It was not hard to find what was causing all the ruckus as a heavily armored truck with some modifications to add extra shielding around its body and a plow to ram it's way through the street's traffic. The explosions were caused by a pair of two men who were hanging on the side of the truck chucking grenades out behind them.
Dropping down quickly, Mew landed on the hood of the truck, keeping herself low to remain stable as it continued to push cars out of the way. The front windshield was heavily armored as well, only a long open slit stretching across it was allowing the driver to see anything outside of the truck's cabin.
A blur of movement to her left told her that Kara had also arrived, followed by the shout of one of the grenadiers getting grabbed and flown away. With her taking care of the explosives, it was up to Mew to take care of the truck.
Pressing her hand against the hood, she used Metal Claw to coat her hand in steel claws that she used to pierce through the metal and take a hold of the engine block. She cringed a bit at the heat coming from the thing as she touched it, but clenched her hand around the closest chunk and ripped it out.
The engine let out a high pitch squeal as it began to sputter and steam began to trickle out of the hole before the truck was forced to come to a stop. The engine was still being revved up, but could only chock and splutter, showing the drivers desperate attempt to keep going.
"Hello, driver!" Mew called out over the engine, waving at the slit with her metal clad hand holding twisted metal pieces of engine."Can you please come out, I think there is a problem with your car."
It was at this point that Kara reappeared and landed on top of the truck's cabin, having already taken care of the other grenadier.
"Not bad…" She trailed off, realizing they never really discussed a name for Mew. "...you."
"Not a hero, don't need a name," Mew said as she dropped the metal scraps and dismissed the Metal Claw. "I'm just Mew, a friend helping out." That just caused Kara to roll her eyes at the simple, yet accurate, description.
Reaching down, Kara grabbed the edge of the truck's cabin and peeled it back like a can of sardines but frowned at what she saw inside. Standing up from her spot, Mew leaned over and saw why; the cabin was empty. There was a series of wires leading to where a steering wheel should have been, and they connected to a confusing mess of computer parts.
Feeling that something was wrong, Mew jumped off the hood of the car and made her way to the back of the truck and Kara followed as well. Without a word, Kara pressed her fingers into the cracks between the doors and pried them apart. Just as it was wide enough for them to get in, a cloud of green gas suddenly billowed out, leaving the two girls coughing and backing away.
The cloud of gas burned their eyes and nose as they were forced to retreat, but Kara began to feel weird as she began to stumble and fell to the ground in a dazed state.
"Get her," A voice shouted from the back of the truck, but neither could see him through the stinging smoke. What followed the command was the sound stomping approaching them and someone grabbing Kara.
"Hey, let go of me," She tried to defend herself against the attackers she could see, but her strength just wasn't there to fight back. Her words were soon muffled as someone put a gag in her mouth as she was pulled away.
"Kara?" Mew called out in panic, feeling like someone had sprayed her in the face with a Repel. Lashing out at random, she only swung at the smoke, but their assaulters didn't seem to have the same problem as received a blow to the side of the head that sent her to the ground in surprise.
Growling, Mew decided to shift into something that didn't need a pair of eyes; a Zubat. Beating her wings quickly, she managed to generate enough force for a Whirlwind and disbursed the cloud from around the truck. But by the time she shifted back to her Kanto form, both the attackers and Kara had disappeared.
"Ka-Supergirl?!" She called out as she stood up, looking around for her friend in all of destruction. The truck was empty and there were just too many people still milling about on the sidewalks for her to see where the attackers went, more interested in watching than running from the crime scene.
Knowing they were going to be no help, and time was of the essence, she shifted again, this time into a Mightyena. Ignoring the shocked gasps of the onlookers, she sniffed the ground around the back of the truck, having to keep from gagging at the horrid smell of years of car exhaust and the lingering smell of the green smoke.
Her nose felt terrible by the time she finally found Kara's scent, but couldn't waste time. Racing forward, the onlookers stumbled back as she made her way to and through the crowd, following the scent of her friend. The attackers had managed to get some distance, but she was definitely faster than them and managed to find where they were only two blocks away just as they slipped into a warehouse.
After the ambush, Mew knew she couldn't just rush into the building this time around. Running along the side of the building, she stopped at the first window she could find and hopped up onto her hind legs and leaned against the wall to get a good view of what was going on inside. The building was swarming with men in military uniforms, all heavily armed and on a constant vigil. She was even spotted, but was thankfully dismissed as just some stray dog.
Moving around to two other windows, Mew was finally able to spot Kara being tied down to a gurney by men wearing gas masks. Her friend was trying to fight back, but was just unable to put enough power to do so. Where had all her super strength gone?
A pair of doctors soon approached the men, and Mew couldn't hear the words that were spoken but they began to cart Kara away. Knowing that she didn't have long before she lost sight again, Mew backed away from the window a few feet before shifting into something a bit more… destructive.
xXx
Kara could only thrash against her restraints as she was wheeled away by the men in coats. She had no clue who those men who attacked or or who was taking her away, but whatever they had put in the gas had weakened her. Thinking back to the color, she was starting to believe that they had made some form of Kryptonite gas.
It was all a setup. They had planned for either Clark or herself to show up to the crime, which was why they were just causing mindless destruction, and then gas them. A small part of her knew it was good that they had caught her and not Clark, but it wasn't much of a comfort. She was still caught and being taken away.
To make matters worse, she had no clue what had happened to Mew in the struggle. For all she knew, her friend might be really hurt.
The men had just taken her to a loading ramp where a truck was waiting, she glared at the very same driver she had saved earlier there.
One of the men began bark orders to get her loaded up into the truck, with mentions of Red Sun Lights when everything went pear shaped.
For them.
A piercing roar suddenly rolled across the warehouse, shaking the glass window frames and causing everyone to stop what they were doing. There was a deafening moment of silence that followed the cry of… something before a wall of the building exploded inwards as a creature burst through.
It almost looked like a T-Rex she saw in that one movie, but smaller and with a frill around its neck. The soldiers around the warehouse stared at the small dinosaur for a second, stunned as well but that proved to be a bad idea as it whipped its body around and caught two men with it's tail and sent them flying.
That snapped them out of their stupor and they began to open fire on the dinosaur, but their bullets only seemed to be doing minor damage to it as it continued to rampage through their ranks.
It was after a quarter of their forces were taken out by the random cretaceous intruder that the men at her side decided it was time to take her and run. They had begun to load her into the back of the semi when the dinosaur let out another roar. The men looked back at it and their eyes grew wide as the Rex was charging at them.
"Drive! Drive the damn truck!" One of the men shouted in a state of panic, banging on the side of the truck to try and get it to go, the others closing the door of the truck, hoping to buy some time. Kara could feel the truck moving forward and turning, but did not make it far before a thunderous crash impacted the side of the truck and the truck's trailer began to tip.
There was a single moment as the men still inside tried to fight the pull of gravity till everything crashed sideways.
Then silence, all that could be heard was the groaning of the men injured inside the trailer and and the broken equipment settling against the ground. Kara herself didn't escape unharmed from the trip, as she suffered some bruising from the crash and loose equipment hitting her. She was really missing her near invulnerability.
"Is it gone?" One of the men said as he stood up shakenly, his gun already in his hand. A few others did the same as they looked around, waiting for something. Another man suddenly spoke up. "Wait, hear that?"
Everyone in the trailer fell silent, and they did hear something. A deep thudding that was moving along the fallen trailer, it was the Rex's footsteps. It was doing something, but none of them could figure out what.
Then with the sound of metal being shredded, two claw marks appeared on what used to be the roof of the trailer. Panicking, the men took aim and began to pepper the area with bullets. When they paused in their firing, they waited to hear for something else.
The thudding began to move again, a shadow blocking out the light the bullet holes were letting it as it passed over. It then made a second hole, but none fired this time, either realizing it was hopeless or confused by what it was doing. The rex could be heard moving again, and this time the rip was near Kara, letting sunlight hit her face for a moment before it was blocked off by a shadow.
Kara looked up at the hole and locked eyes with the dinosaur, their blue eyes meeting each other.
The dinosaur gave out a loud roar that shook the trailer before it reached forward with it's jaw and ripped out a large chunk of the metal lining of the truck. Now, face to face with the Rex, Kara wasn't too sure what to think; was it an ally or a new enemy? As it stuck it's head through the hole and opened it's jaw, Kara believed she found her answer.
But instead of biting down on her, the jaws took hold of her gurney's frame and began to pull her out. The men, realizing that as well began to bark orders and started to open fire, but it was too late as the head had already pulled away, taking Kara with it.
With Kara in it's mouth, the Rex began to make its way away from the downed truck and away from the warehouse, taking a winding path through the city block. It was a few minutes later, when Kara could start to feel her powers coming back that the Rex put her down. Deciding to see if she was now strong enough, she pulled at her restraints and they broke easily off her wrist.
Doing the same with the ones on her legs and removing the gag, she stood up from the gurney and looked at her 'savior'? The Rex towered over her, but didn't make any aggressive moves at her.
"Well, thanks… I guess?" Kara tried, not sure if it could even understand her. "Never thought this would happen, kinda surreal to be honest." And did she imagine it or did the Rex roll its eyes.
It was then that the Rex began to glow white, it's form seeming to shift and become smaller. Kara had to hold out her hand to cover her eyes from the blinding light. But just as the light began, it ended, and standing where the Rex was was now Mew.
"So, want to explain to me what all that was about?" Mew asked with a raised brow, motioning the way they had just come from. "I didn't see anything special about those guys, yet they managed to over power you. What happened back there?"
"I…" Kara tried to speak, but was still processing what just happened. "You can turn into a dinosaur?" Her mind was a bit stuck on that piece of information.
"Kara," Mew raised her voice, cutting through her stupor. "You, weak, why?" She said shortly.
Blinking as she processed the words, Kara frowned at herself.
"It was a trap," Kara said bitterly. "They used some kind of Kryptonite gas on me. Kryptonite makes people like me and Superman just normal people, so I couldn't over power them." She explained in a rather clipped manner. "Since when can you turn into a T-Freaking-Rex?" Mew looked at her oddly at the name before realizing what she meant.
"Remember how I said I used to be called a monster?" Mew rhetorically asked before she continued speaking. "Well, there's your answer. I can transform into a number of forms that have been labeled as monster." She shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Mew, that's amazing," Kara exclaimed, causing Mew to puff up in pride at that. "So you can like, turn into these big monsters and beatdown criminals whenever you want."
"Well, they aren't all that big," Mew corrected, but didn't really mind. "But, basically yeah. I originally planned on it being this big reveal when we came upon some real criminals, but I guess rescuing you works as well." That caused Kara to frown at the reminder of what just happened.
"I don't know why they were trying to kidnap me," Kara had a troubled look on her face as she looked up at the sky. "But it can't mean anything good. We should tell Clark about this as well." She said before she took to the air, Mew following behind.
xXx
"Damn it," One of the scientists swore as him and a number of others were forced to go through the wreckage caused by Mew, trying to find any salvageable equipment. The whole operation was a bust, as they had failed to capture the Kryptonian like ordered.
He had already been chewed out by their boss for their failure over the phone, but how were they supposed to know that the girl had a T-Rex rescue party waiting for her. But they didn't want to hear excuses, they wanted results.
The man was just about to step past the hole the monster made when he caught sight of something, just out of the sunlight. A small red pool of blood.