Chapter 4: Super Villains

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

Going public as Superwoman definitely had its advantages, Kara thought. For one she didn't have to be so careful about not being seen anymore. Most people were really happy to see her, cooperated with her during emergencies, and most of the law enforcement agencies she had so far encountered in the various countries she operated in seemed pretty content to have her help out, too. Sure, there were inevitably some people who resented her, felt threatened by her, even some idiots whose main problem seemed to be her gender. Overall, though, being out in the open as Superwoman was working pretty well so far.

Except for one thing: the super villains.

It was a term Perry White had come up with, of course. Having written the first story about her, then following up with the interview she had given him, seemed to have turned him into the official authority for naming things. And since she was Superwoman, the super hero, naturally the new breed of criminals that seemed to pop up in her wake were now called super villains. She really didn't like the term.

Some people were blaming her for the emergence of super villains and sometimes she wondered if they were right about that. How many giant mutant apes had there been before she came? How many madmen turning children toys into murder weapons? How many killer robots and people turned into monsters by failed science experiments? Was her presence somehow provoking these things? There was no way to tell and she would not just stop helping people just to see if it might make the villains go away again, but sometimes she wondered.

For a time it had almost been fun, actually. Especially since most of the super villains were men. So many of them seemed to regard the existence of a super-powered woman as a personal affront. So they tried to defeat her using big high-tech guns or atomic-powered exo-suits, mutant abilities and sheer misogyny. And they were always so put out when she shrugged off their attacks, tore their toys apart and laughed at their antics.

Then, though, the more dangerous ones began to crawl out of the woodwork and it stopped being fun.

"What's the matter, broad? Too much man for you?"

Kara took a step back, hand involuntarily going to her chin. Her chin that hurt. Not much, granted, but given that she was supposed to be invulnerable, even a little pain was somewhat extraordinary.

"From what I can see, buddy, there is not much about you that's still man!"

It was what had attracted her to this bank robbery in progress in the first place. Not that she gave "normal" crime a miss usually, but in most cases the police was more than adept at handling things like bank robbers and petty thieves, so she tended to only get involved if things threatened to get out of hand and innocents were caught in the crossfire. But this particular bank robber was not usual. He actually was some kind of robot. Or a cyborg, more precisely, as a quick scan with her X-Ray vision had shown that his brain was the only thing about him that was still organic. Everything else was machine, covered by a crude rubber skin that would allow him to pass for human from afar, but would not fool anyone who gave him a closer look.

It was not her first robot. Ever since she had gone public as Superwoman, there had been quite a few robots. She actually liked going up against robots as opposed to humans, as there was no need for her to keep her full strength in check. After all, a blow from her could easily take a human's head off. Robots, on the other hand, she could tear apart with gusto and not feel bad about it.

This was the first one she had met with a human brain, though, which complicated things a bit. So she had approached, calmly walked into the bank, and asked him to surrender. He hadn't, of course. Very few of them ever did. Most tried to shoot her despite her being bullet-proof being common knowledge. This one here, though, threw a punch at her chin. A punch that actually gave her pause. It was a somewhat unsettling feeling.

"Still more than enough man to deal with you!" the metallic man said, rushing forward to hit her again. He was moving pretty fast, faster than a normal human, faster than one would expect half-a-ton of man-shaped metal to move.

Kara was no fool, though, and quickly dodged the punch at super speed. Only to notice that her super speed wasn't as super as she was used to. Still enough to dodge the punch, mind you, but she had planned to move a lot faster. Something was wrong. Something that was apparently connected to this metal man in front of her. Thankfully the human brain inside it did not seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"Stand still, you...," he began, but she was tired of playing and eager to discover the source of her problems. She quickly scanned his metal body with her X-Ray vision once more, her scientific mind quickly cataloguing the critical systems needed to keep his brain alive. There was something lead-shielded in the center of his torso, probably the power source, and the rest of the body seemed to follow a more or less human layout, too. Which meant that there was nothing in his arms and legs that he needed to survive.

Her first burst of heat vision took off the arm that had been swinging for her, which caused the metal man to lose his balance. Before he could regain it, she repeated the process and sheared off the second arm.

"Don't worry," she said, smiling. "I am sure 'tis but a scratch!"

"What?" he asked, confused. Man, did no one watch the classics anymore? She was an alien and knew more about this planet's cultural heritage than this idiot, it seemed.

While the guy was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he was now quite literally disarmed, Kara quickly fired two more bursts of heat vision and took off his legs just above the knee joints. The metal man crashed to the floor and tipped over onto his back.

"Shall we call it a draw?" she asked him, standing above him.

"You filthy B****!" he screamed, followed by many more profanities, but there was nothing he could do. Which gave Kara time to study him up close. Something about this metal man was weakening her, she was sure. She could almost feel her sense of discomfort growing with every step she took towards him. Scanning him with her X-Ray vision once again, she found nothing unusual in his construction, the only thing she could not get a good look at was his lead-shielded power source. She figured whatever powered him was probably radioactive.

"Not a good idea to take a look with so many people around then," she mused.

Several cops had approached by now, seeing that Superwoman had well and truly disarmed the bank robber who had shrugged off the bank guard's bullets just a minute earlier. They stared at the sparking stumps of arms and legs that clearly revealed his mechanical nature.

"What is that thing, Superwoman?" one of them asked, putting away the cuffs he had held in his hands. They were kind of useless here. "Another robot?"

"Not quite," she said. "There is a human brain in there, so I can't just reduce it to spare parts. Mind if I take it to S.T.A.R. labs for analysis? Maybe they can figure out how to render this guy harmless without killing him."

"Fine by me, Superwoman," the cop just said, taking out his radio. "I'll let the station know to pick up robot guy here from the lab!"

She gave him a grateful smile that seemed to make his day and quickly grabbed the impotent metal man under one arm. She almost winced, being this close to him was really, really uncomfortable, but she shrugged it off. Time to get some answers.

Taking to the sky, she shot across town to the building containing the local branch of S.T.A.R. labs. Since going public as Superwoman she had developed a pretty good working relationship with the research company, who specialized in analytics and reverse engineering exotic technology. The fact that K-Solutions was one of their contributors and a frequent cooperators was just a side benefit.

A few hours later she stood outside a radiation-shielded room and just barely managed not to show how sick she felt. The lead-lined glass window in front of her allowed her a good look at the source of her discomfort. A glowing green rock imbedded in the torso of the metallic man. She was sure that, had she been in the room, she'd be writhing in pain on the floor.

"We managed to trace his origins, Superwoman," the scientist next to her said. Dr. Emil Hamilton was someone she had worked with before, both as Superwoman and (though he did not know it) as Karen Kent, owner of K-Solutions. He was as intelligent a human as she had ever met, if a bit scatter-brained at times.

"A few years ago we received a patent from a Dr. Vale for a full-body prostheses. He called it Metallo. The idea behind it was to save the lives of patients whose body were far beyond recovery, but whose brains remained intact. It never went anywhere, though, as the good doctor could never find a power source strong enough to run it and small enough to fit inside."

"It appears that has changed," Superwoman said. "What is that thing powering him?"

"We don't know, to be honest. It appears to be a xeno-mineral, doesn't resemble any element found on Earth. It's probably from a meteor or something. Dr. Vale must have come across it by accident."

"Do you have his address? I'd like to ask him about it."

He shook his head. "Sorry, Superwoman, but I fear the good doctor is dead. The police have found him in his home a few days ago, beaten to death. They also found another body there, belonging to a petty criminal called John Corben. They said the body's head had been cut open and... well…"

"Let me guess," Superwoman sighed. "The brain was missing. I think we found it, along with the good doctor's murderer."

She looked at Dr. Hamilton, hoping the scientist did not notice the beads of sweat on her face. She really needed to get away from this stuff soon, but she could not just leave it lying around, either.

"Have you found a way to remove the rock from him without killing him? I'm thinking an unknown radioactive material like this should not be left in the hands… or chest… of someone criminally inclined."

Hamilton nodded. "Certainly not. Our engineers are currently adapting a generator to serve as a replacement power source. It will certainly be a lot bigger and not fit into his chest, but it will keep him alive until the authorities can figure out what to do with him. Then we can remove the meteor rock and hopefully do some further analysis on it."

Superwoman simply nodded, moving away from the window. "Please keep me posted."

Dr. Hamilton had indeed come through for her and let her know once the meteor had been removed. Superwoman had taken the time to search the premises of the late Dr. Vale, but had found no further traces of glowing green rock there. Once S.T.A.R. labs had stored the meteor away for future research, it had been the easiest thing in the world for her to quietly remove the container from there and spirit it away.

She felt a bit guilty about simply stealing the rock from S.T.A.R., but given its properties, she had seen no other choice. An analysis done by her far superior Kryptonian technology quickly revealed what she was dealing with. As incredible as it sounded, this rock was actually a radioactive piece of her lost home world Krypton. The only explanation she could come up with was that some pieces of debris had been caught in the wake of their ship and been brought along to Earth.

Which meant there might well be more of these rocks somewhere on the planet.

She had quickly sealed away the piece of Kryptonite, as she had started calling it in her mind. Her computers were programmed to keep a look-out for any sightings of glowing green rocks and alert her immediately. She would very much prefer if no one out there ever learned that there was a xeno-mineral out there that could hurt Superwoman. That could hurt Clark. No one was allowed to hurt Clark.

Thinking back, Metallo was the first time she had faced a super villain who had actually had the capacity to hurt her. If he had been smarter or even been aware that his power source was poisonous to her, taking him down could have ended up being far more difficult.

Yes, Metallo had been the first super villain capable of hurting her. Sadly he had not been the last.

Rudy Jones had originally been a janitor at a S.T.A.R. labs warehouse in Pittsburgh, before he had stumbled upon a canister with toxic waste. For some reason exposure to said waste did not end up killing him as one would expect, but instead it mutated him into something other, something monstrous. Something very, very dangerous.

This new creature, which quickly gained the name Parasite, was apparently capable of syphoning off the life energy of other beings simply by touching them, draining them to the point of death. On further consideration, Kara should have been a lot more careful in approaching him, but she had been more concerned with stopping him from draining even more people.

She had arrived at the facility just as he was about to drain one of his coworkers, so without thinking too much about it she flew in and tackled him away from his victim. She had only touched his skin for a fraction of a second, but a moment later she felt like someone had sucker punched her at super strength and she almost stumbled.

The Parasite, on the other hand, seemed to grow bigger.

"Wow, this is good," he said, looking at his hands. "I've never felt such power before."

Kara took a step back, now very much aware that this was one enemy she should keep her distance from and not slug it out at close range. Sadly the Parasite refused to cooperate in that regard. Moving at a speed that rivalled her own, he was suddenly right in front of her and managed to grab her by the shoulders.

"You glow!" he growled. "I want that glow!"

Kara felt like every single muscle in her entire body had turned to jelly. Where the Parasite's hands touched her, her skin burned like fire. Right before her eyes the creature seemed to grow even bigger and its eyes began to glow.

Pushing past the pain, she planted her boot against his chest and pushed off with all her remaining strength. They went flying apart, the Parasite crashing into a wall and being buried by rubble as the wall collapsed on top of him. Kara barely managed to remain on her feet. She felt weaker than she had ever felt in her entire life. It was not a good feeling at all.

"Need to end this quickly," she muttered. Thankfully she was standing right next to the warehouse's loading dock and the sun was shining in from outside. She could feel her strength returning, if slower than she would have liked.

"I want that glow," Parasite screamed, breaking free of the rubble. His eyes burned like fire and a moment later Kara had to dodge a burst of her own heat vision.

"Yeah, I can see why villains hate it when I use that power!" She quickly got back to her feet. "Okay, big boy! You want the glow? Come get the glow!"

She ran outside into the sunlight, the Parasite following her at a speed that was pretty close to her own. Thankfully she was still a bit faster and exposure to the sun made her faster still. Thankfully the area had been evacuated the moment Rudy had started mutating, meaning that there were no other people around. The Parasite ran after her and... no, he wasn't running. He was flying after her.

"This is getting ridiculous," she muttered, taking to the air herself to stay ahead of her foe.

"Give me the glow!" the creature screamed, far too close behind her for comfort. For the first time in a long time Kara felt the icy grip of fear, but she quickly pushed the feeling away. So that creep could hurt her by touching her? Big deal, she just had to make sure that he couldn't touch her, nor anyone else.

"Just follow the glow!" she yelled, flashing towards a construction site close by. The Parasite was directly behind her, using the power of flight he had stolen from her. Thankfully he didn't really have any clue how to use that power. So while she weaved through the maze of girders without any difficulty, the Parasite was not so lucky.

A loud series of bangs and a big cloud of dust later the Parasite was pinned beneath a huge pile of metal girders. Kara fired off her heat vision while he was still stunned, melting the girders down into a single metal mass, making it solid again with a burst of arctic breath that fixed him in place. Touching down a good distance away from the creature, she rested her hands on her knees and took deep breaths she normally didn't need.

"Okay, let's hope that his power fades as quickly as he gains it."

For a moment the huge mass of metal shivered and groaned, causing Kara to take a step back and shift into a fighting stance. Then the movement ceased, though, and Kara sighed in relief.

"Now I just need to figure out a way to get you out of there and into a prison cell without touching you in the process."

Beating the Parasite had been a chore and a definite lesson in humility, too. Strangely enough, though, Kara did not consider him her most dangerous enemy yet. No, that particular moniker was going to a man who did not have anything resembling super powers. A man whom the public at large certainly did not consider a villain, either. A man whose very presence made her skin crawl and not in a good way.

"Ah, Superwoman. I see the world's greatest heroine has saved the day once again!"

Lex Luthor was a man in his mid- to late forties. The very expensive suit he wore could not quite hide the fact that he carried quite a bit of excess weight. What little hair he had left was red, though he was almost completely bald. There was a charming smile on his face, but the smile never reached his eyes. His eyes were cold. So cold that she had to suppress a shiver.

Kara knew that Lex Luthor was the richest man in Metropolis and one of the richest men in the world, period. His public image was that of a philanthropist. He regularly donated to multiple charities, invested in the public infrastructure, and gave out stipends as if they were candy. He was a genius engineer, too, and considered one of the brightest minds of his generation.

There was another side to him, though. One that was only talked about in whispers, for no one wanted to be overheard. Word on the street was that no one crossed Lex Luthor twice. Rumors abounded about people who simply vanished after going up against him. Accidents happened to entrepreneurs that could maybe have become serious competition for him. All rumors and unsubstantiated accusations, of course. Officially Lex Luthor was Mr. Clean.

Case in point their current situation.

"Well, Mr. Luthor, I am sure you are happy to have this battle suit back once again," she said. "One shudders to think what might have happened had this terrorist gotten away with it."

Lexcorp had held a public presentation of their newest piece of military hardware, a suit of powered armor that was supposed to give a single soldier enough power to take on a battalion. The engineer in Kara could not help but appreciate the elegance of the design, it was a good five years ahead of just about anything else on Earth, possibly more. The fact that the suit allowed its wearer to fly, have enhanced strength and shoot laser beams could kind of be considered a compliment in a weird sort of way, too.

During the presentation the test pilot of the armor had suddenly opened fire on the crowd, blowing up several cars and injuring dozens of people. Thankfully there hadn't been any fatalities, but there certainly could have been, had Superwoman not been close by.

Somehow she got the feeling that it had not been a coincidence.

"We have found the actual test pilot tied up behind the stage," one of the policemen said, gesturing towards a man in underwear currently being checked out by paramedics. "Apparently someone slugged him from behind. Probably our perp."

Superwoman looked around, taking in the devastation of what had been a very short battle. The "terrorist" (she couldn't help but add the air quotes in her mind) had seemingly been concerned with nothing but causing as much panic and damage as he could. When Superwoman had arrived on the scene, he had immediately opened fire on her.

The battle had been over ten seconds later. She had been surprised by the suit's flying ability, otherwise it would have been five.

"I'll make sure he receives the best care possible," Lex Luthor said. "I take care of the people who work for me."

There was that look again. He was looking her up and down in a manner that could have been sleazy (and she knew sleazy looks), but was far too cold and calculating to be a simple matter of checking out her curves. No, Lex Luthor was not interested in her body, she was quite certain. His interests were of an entirely different matter.

"You seem to be suffering a string of bad luck recently, Mr. Luthor," she told him. "The battle suit today, that shipment of weapons I recovered a month ago, and I believe that experimental robot that shot up downtown was based on one of your designs, too, correct?"

"What can I say?" he simply shrugged. "When you have the best toys in town, there are always those who wish to take them without paying for them."

"Not to mention using them for criminal purposes," she added, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"The world is filled with bad people, sadly," he agreed, nodding. "But speaking of my recent string of bad luck, I will certainly invest in beefing up my security. As a matter of fact, I would be very interested in hiring the very best security one can find on this planet. I am a very generous employer, as I am certain you've heard."

She needed a moment to realize that he was making her an offer. Lex Luthor wanted to hire Superwoman. Then again, that was not really a surprise now, was it? She had gotten the distinct impression that his "string of bad luck" had in fact been a series of tests. Clearly someone was interested in what she could do, the extent of her powers. Not that there was any way to prove that, mind you.

"Are you offering to hire me, Mr. Luthor?" she asked, wanting to make certain.

"All the best people in the world work for me, Ms. Superwoman. And from what I have seen, there are few, if any, who are better than you."

Her first impulse was to laugh out loud. The second impulse was to sneer at him. Did he really think she would ever work for someone like him? Never mind that she was pretty sure he was involved in numerous criminal acts, she would never ever sell her powers to the highest bidder. She was about to tell him exactly that and then fly off in a bout of righteous indignation.

She didn't, though. Because quite suddenly she remembered a conversation she had overheard as a teenager back on Krypton. It had been roughly a solar cycle before the planet's destruction. Her uncle Jor had recently figured out what was going to happen and had gone before Krypton's ruling council, trying to convince them of the impending doom. They had laughed him out of the building. Afterward he had met with his brother Zor, her dad, and neither had been aware that she had been close enough to overhear them.

I think you went about this the wrong way, Jor. I believe you, never doubt that, but I know how you can get when you are absolutely convinced that you are right. You basically just threw the facts in front of them, facts you had to know they would have a hard time accepting, and got angry when they didn't immediately believe you, right?

You are a brilliant scientist, Jor, but you don't understand people. These people have been ruling Krypton for ages. They are used to always getting their way, always being right. They will not just accept something like this. They can't, it's too far out of their world view. It makes them angry and they will take their anger out on you.

The two El brothers had argued for quite some time, though in the end it had been academic. The Council was never going to believe Uncle Jor and so he and dad had begun working on their plan B, the escape ships. Only things had happened too fast.

Forcing her mind back into the present, she looked at Luthor again. He was an arrogant man, no doubt. A man very used to getting his way, either through money, charm, or intimidation. He had set up these tests without shedding a single thought about who might get hurt in the process and now that he apparently found her worth his while, he was going to buy her. The thought that she might not be for sale had probably never entered his thoughts.

If she simply brushed him off, she would no doubt make an enemy for life. She couldn't imagine a man like him taking rejection well. And while he was but a normal man, he did have access to a world of resources. He could make life very difficult for her in numerous ways and who knew how many people might be caught in the crossfire.

She could never work for him, of course. But maybe it was a good idea to, as the saying went, string him along for a bit? Just long enough to maybe find the proof needed to put him behind bars.

"I am not currently looking for employment, Mr. Luthor," she finally said, giving the man a big smile. "But I will keep your offer in mind."

His smile was fake, but not entirely. He had expected her to accept his offer, she could see that, and wasn't happy with her refusal. But the second part of her sentence seemed to have placated him somewhat. He fished a card out of his suit jacket and handed it to her, taking the opportunity to capture her hand in his. He bowed slightly and kissed the back of her hand.

"Let me know if you change your mind," he said, now smiling broadly again. "The offer shall remain open."

She inclined her head with a smile she hoped looked sincere, managing to slowly draw back her hand and not wipe it on her cape. Luthor turned around, walking away, and she looked at the card he had given her.

She would burn it with her heat vision the moment she was out of sight. Probably her glove along with it. Then she'd take a long, long shower.

End Chapter 4

Author's Note: While Superman has a lot of great A-class villains (Luthor, Brainiac, Darkseid, Mongul, Parasite, Mr. Mxyzptlk), I don't particularly care much for most of his more down-to-Earth villains like Toyman, Prankster, Silver Banshee, Hellgramite and such. So they will only be mentioned in passing here, if at all. Sadly Supergirl never did have any interesting villains, usually just borrowing some from her cousin.

As for Metallo, it always irked me a bit that he is considered to be such a danger to Superman. Sure, he's got Kryptonite, but he's also an Earth-built robot. If Superman would just keep his distance and slice him apart with heat vision instead of getting close enough to be poisoned, he'd go down in seconds. Much like Batman, Metallo being a danger to Superman utterly depends on Superman fighting really, really stupid.