The Midvale Girls

The further adventures of the teenaged Alex and Kara Danvers

Metamorphosis

Chapter 8

The external door of the ship closed as soon as Alex was outside. Immediately, Lyle dropped the barrier which had been protecting Kara at the back of the cabin.

"Kara," he said while holding a small device in her direction. "This is one of our standard communicators. Put it in your ear and we will be able to converse while you're outside."

Kara accepted it with a nod of thanks. After inserting it into her right ear, she asked, "Can you bring up a map to orient me, so I know where this cavern is relative to here? Just in case."

Lyle stared at her for several seconds, as though debating whether giving her that information was a good idea. Finally, he nodded and turned back to the control station.

In only seconds, a large eight foot diameter hologram filled the space between where Kara was standing and the door. It gave a detailed three-dimensional view of the terrain with the ship and the cave entrance clearly highlighted. Kara walked around it and took it in from all angles until it felt like she had every intervening hill and valley memorized.

"Thanks, Lyle," Kara said as she stepped over to the door. Silently, the door melted away.

As soon as the door was open, Kara could feel the invigorating rays of the sun. Instantly, she could feel her special gifts begin to return. It was a six foot drop to the ground and she managed to levitate down without crashing, but it left her feeling noticeably weaker. She definitely would need some time in the direct sun to be fully restored.

"How long has Alex been gone?" Kara asked to the empty air. The question was as much a test of the communicator as a serious query. It definitely hadn't been long enough for Alex to have completed her mission and be on the way back.

"It has been four minutes, twenty seconds," replied Lyle.

Alex swept her gaze around. The surrounding purple jungle reminded her of one of the places they had visited on Sedenach when her family had been there on vacation when she had been nine. Well, except that Sedenach had a red sun just like Krypton and therefore she hadn't had any special powers there either. It made her wonder why she had never heard about Kryptonians having special abilities under a yellow sun until she had actually arrived on Earth. The Milky Way galaxy did seem to have a much higher percentage of yellow suns than her native galaxy. It made her wonder about the other twenty-six known and explored galaxies.

As her superhuman vision returned, she used it to study the surrounding jungle in more detail. She saw many small creatures hidden within the vegetation. Some of them were analogs of reptiles and insects, but some didn't seem to have any direct corresponding type among either Earth or Kryptonian life. While she wasn't yet certain what she wanted to do with her life, although there seemed to be a high probability of following in her cousin's footsteps, she was certain she had no desire to end up a botanist. Studying the local wild life quickly lost its charm.

Of course, a lot of that may have had to do about her concern for Alex. She knew her adoptive sister was brave, but she also knew she had never done anything like what she was attempting now. She was very worried that something bad was going to happen to Alex and she wouldn't be able to do anything to help.

"How long has it been now?" she asked, when she couldn't hold off any longer. She hated to be like the little kid repeatedly demanding 'Are we there yet?', but she couldn't stop herself.

"It has been twelve minutes, thirty-eight seconds," replied Lyle. "You have to be patient, Kara. Things always take longer if you have to do them covertly."

That had sounded like a line from another old movie, but Kara wasn't in the mood to try to call it up from memory. She just wanted to see Alex come flying over the nearest hill so she would know the other girl was safe.

Her strength fully restored, Kara wondered about lifting into the air above the spaceship. That wouldn't technically entail getting any closer to the cavern where the Eye was located. If she climbed to a thousand feet, she should be able to see over the intervening terrain all the way to the distant cavern entrance. It was only ten miles and she knew she wouldn't have any problem zooming in on the cave entrance. If she did that, she could see the instant Alex exited it and give Lyle a head's up. Surely that would be a prudent precaution given the potential danger. Still, she probably should clear it with Lyle, so she didn't end up pissing him off.

"Ah, Lyle, do you see any problem if I were to fly up to say a thousand feet, as long as I stay directly over the ship? That wouldn't bring me any closer to the Eye, but would allow me to keep watch for when Alex reemerges from the cavern."

"Ah, I guess that would be okay," replied Lyle after a couple of seconds. "But keep an eye out for flying predators; we don't want to attract them to our immediate area."

"Okay, great," said Kara. By the time the words were out of her mouth, she was already over a hundred feet above the ship and rapidly climbing; she didn't want the boy to change his mind before she got a good look around. The holographic map had given her a rough feel for the area, but it still didn't compare to looking things over with your own eyes.

It was sort of exciting flying here, she quickly decided. Back in Midvale, she could only risk flying at night to reduce the chances of anyone seeing her. And she rarely had a reason to fly this high. So flying high and in daytime were both relative novelties.

Since this wasn't something she did often, she wasn't great at estimating her altitude. But the surrounding hills seemed to be taller than she had guessed from looking at the map. She was certain she was closer to two thousand feet above the ship before she was able to see what felt like ten miles in the direction of the cavern.

Even though she had a rough idea of where to look, at a range of ten miles it left a lot of potential locations for the entrance. It took her almost five minutes of scanning to spot it. And then it wasn't quite what she had been expecting. The entrance seemed far too regular and rectangular to be a natural feature. Then she realized the two large rock outcroppings at each side of the entrance were actually overgrown statues. The entire thing looked decidedly manmade, or whatever the correct term was for something built by an alien race.

She was tempted to scan the area with her x-ray vision, but then thought better. If Lyle was worried about the Eye noticing the electro-magnetic emissions of the ship, then it was even more likely to notice a powerful x-ray pulse from her - not that she was even certain if that was how her x-ray vision worked. Was she just able to see in the x-ray range, or did her eyes produce a pulse of x-rays to illuminate things like how bats emitted high frequency sounds to paint their surroundings? There was so much she still didn't understand about how her gifts worked. But this was definitely an occasion for a better safe than sorry approach.

However she decided the risk of using her x-ray vision should be low as long as she was looking at least ninety degrees away from the entrance to the underground facility where the Eye was located. She scanned off to her left and right. Everywhere she looked, she saw the ruins of a vast city beneath the overlying jungle. She had never been to the jungles of Central America, but she had seen documentaries on TV about how archeologists used aerial radar sweeps of tropical jungles to find evidence of long lost Indian civilizations.

Then, whether it was something in her peripheral vision or some sixth sense, she abruptly flicked her gaze back to the distant entrance to the underground complex. She was just in time to see the green exo-suit Alex was wearing come sweeping out at high speed and then abruptly rotate in mid-air and begin firing energy bolts back towards the entrance.

Nearly simultaneously, Lyle shouted through her earpiece, "Kara, we need to go. You need to get back onboard NOW!"

But Kara didn't even consider returning to the ship. Alex was obviously in trouble and she had to help.

"I have to help Alex," Kara shouted in reply as she raced forward, driving herself even harder than when she had had to race to save Alex from Sheriff Collins.

A whole stream of some kind of creatures was emerging from the opening, even as Alex continued firing at it. They were green and definitely larger than the suited Alex. It took a moment before Kara realized they looked like giant versions of Earth flies. They hadn't had any insects quite like those back on Krypton and they were rare in Midvale. Then she remembered Lyle's description of the planet's major predators. These had to be a variation of the Dralgo he had mentioned, although those were supposed to have orange bodies and pink wings while these were completely green.

As Kara approached, it was obvious Alex was mostly ignoring them other than dodging left and right to avoid being hit by them and was instead aiming her fire at the upper edge of the opening. It took only a second for Kara to reach the conclusion the other girl was trying to collapse the entrance. What could be coming that was even worse than the creatures already buzzing around, she wondered. Then she realized the flies were still steadily streaming forth; there had to be thirty out in the open by now, so Alex might just be trying to block the entrance to prevent even more of them getting out into the open.

As soon as she thought she was close enough, Kara added her heat vision to the suit's energy bolts. Actually, her fear had been jacking steadily up and it had been hard to keep from letting her heat vision loose too soon. But now, under their combined onslaught, the roof of the chamber quickly collapsed in, blocking the exit and the stream of creatures. Of course, that still left the near forty that had already emerged.

Kara could start to feel the effect of Alex's Kryptonite suit as soon as she approached within seventy-five feet. Therefore she quickly backed away. But as she moved, she wasn't paying enough attention to her surroundings and one of the giant flies smashed into her from the back. She went hurtling through the air in a direction away from Alex. Then she was hit again and then a third time. It was happening so fast she didn't have time to recover.

While she was still careening helplessly around the sky, another of the creatures came straight at her from the front. She knew Alex was off in another direction, so she directed the full force of her heat vision towards it. The creature began to glow an even brighter green for a few seconds and then simply shimmered and disappeared. No gore. No rain of body parts. It simply vanished. It wasn't at all what Kara had been expecting when she hit it with her heat vision.

But rather than wasting time trying to figure out what it meant, Kara turned her heat vision to the next nearest creature. It, too, shimmered and disappeared after only a couple of seconds. Quickly, Kara targeted the remaining creatures as fast as she could turn her head and focus her heat vision.

Alex was simultaneously blasting others with the suit's lightning weapon. In less than a minute, all of the creatures were gone.

"Alex, are you okay?" called Kara while maintaining a one hundred foot gap from the other girl. She assumed either Alex would hear her through the communicator or the suit could pick up her voice.

"Yeah," replied Alex through her earpiece. She sounded a little short of breath. "I made it to the Eye and touched it, but nothing seemed to happen. I had just given up and was getting ready to retreat to the ship when I was attacked."

"What were these things?" asked Kara. "The way they just shimmered and vanished when I hit them with my heat vision, they weren't like any creature I've ever seen."

"They appeared to be some kind of energy constructs created by the Eye," replied a new voice over the channel. "And I don't think we better hang around to see what it tries next."

Alex began racing away in the direction towards where the ship had been. Kara automatically started to follow. It took a moment for her to realize the new voice had to belong to the suit.

It couldn't have been more than five seconds later when there was a titanic explosion behind them. If they had been on the ground, it definitely would have knocked them off their feet. As it was, it sent the two girls careening through the air.

When Kara managed to glance back, she saw something huge emerging from the ground beyond the cavern entrance by simple brute force. Like the artificial Dralgo, this was also green, but it was far, far bigger. She simply hovered in the air staring at it as more and more of it emerged.

"Kara, we've got to go!" screamed Alex through the communicator.

Kara just continued to stare. It was the scariest thing she could imagine. It was a flame dragon and no way could it be here.

Flame Dragons were native to Krypton and they were the biggest, baddest alpha predators on the planet. They were six hundred feet long, could fly at three times the speed of sound, and their flaming breath could burn through a foot thick Kryptonium barrier – the hardest, densest material found on Krypton.

Then a second one began to emerge from the ground.

"Holy Shit, holy shit, holy shit!" whispered Kara. And that seemed to be enough to break her paralysis. She turned and raced away.

"Alex, they're flame dragons. We have to get out of here."

"What the hell are flame dragons?"

"They were the biggest predators on Krypton. I saw one once on an excursion with my father. You wouldn't believe the amount of protection that is required to get within a mile of the creatures. They super-fast and their dragon fire will burn straight through almost anything. I have no idea how a pair of them could be here." Kara knew she was almost babbling, but she couldn't help herself. Flame dragons were simply the scariest thing she could imagine.

"They are not real," explained Buffy in an annoyingly calm voice. "They are just another energy construct of the Eye. Remember how the Eye can subvert a person's mind? Well, it must have read your mind and knew this was one of the things you fear the most."

The lead dragon was still at least a mile behind them, but it released a belch of green fire in their direction. Instantly, a wide swath of the jungle burst into flames.

"The dragon fire looks perfectly real to me," shouted Kara. She put on another burst of speed as adrenaline coursed through her system however the dragons still seemed to be gaining on them.

They continued to race forward. They reached the spot where Kara was certain the ship had been, but it was nowhere in sight.

"Lyle, where are you?" shouted Kara. "We have flame dragons on our tail and we need to get out of here now!"

"I needed to try to get out of range of the Eye. While it was dormant, ten miles seemed like an adequate precaution. But it didn't seem like enough now that it is definitely awake. I'm currently a hundred miles ahead and still accelerating away."

"At my best speed," interjected Buffy, "The flame dragons will overtake us before we can reach the ship."

"Then I'll have to try to slow them down while you and Alex get clear," said Kara determinedly.

"Your odds are much better if you take Alex and I run interference," stated Buffy calmly.

"How are we supposed to manage that?" asked Kara. "If we stop long enough for Alex to get out of the suit and then for you to get far enough clear that I can approach her, they will definitely be on us."

"I can eject Alex while in mid-air. You just need to catch her."

"What?!" screamed Alex. Buffy was proposing to just dump her into freefall?

"I'm ejecting her in three . . . two . . . one."

The front of the suit hinged open and Alex tumbled out. Buffy hadn't even slowed to a stop and she was left tumbling wildly through the air. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the suit seal back up and then arc into a hard turn and head directly back in the direction of the flame dragons.

Alex was tempted to curl up in a tight ball, but forced her arms and legs out until she was spread-eagle. She had been barely two hundred feet above the trees when Buffy had kicked her out and she needed to use her body to slow her rate of descent as much as possible to give Kara time to reach her.

Kara had pulled slightly ahead of the suit and was well over three hundred feet away when Buffy had made her abrupt announcement. She had barely begun to turn back when Alex was sent tumbling through the air. At least, she had the other girl in sight and didn't have to waste time searching for her.

Kara raced back even as the flame dragons continued to race forward. It was going to be close, especially since she couldn't grab Alex while moving at full speed without potentially killing her in the process.

Even though Alex was still tumbling, her spread-eagle position had slowed it enough that Kara managed to swoop in and wrap both arms around her sister's chest and pulled Alex's back tight against her front. Then she raced off to the side as fast as she could force herself to move. They would have been within range of the flame dragons' fire within three seconds and she couldn't have come to a complete stop and then gotten headed back on course in that amount of time.

Making a long sweeping turn allowed Kara to keep an eye on the suit and the dragons. The suit headed straight towards the nearer one and launched lightning bolts and a plethora of other weapons in its direction. But it was like a gnat going up against a flamethrower. The dragon fire swept forward and engulfed the suit. And it was gone.

Kara got herself pointed towards where she thought the ship would be located and forced herself to fly as fast as she could. At first, even that didn't seem like it would be enough to get away from the dragons. But then she remembered Clark once explaining how he could shift his time perspective when he needed to go even faster and how he had once crossed the entire width of the United States in under three seconds when he had had to stop a nuclear missile launched by Lex Luthor.

She had no idea how Clark had done it, but she had no idea how she could fly normally either. So she just tried reaching deep inside herself and willed it to happen. And just like that she was accelerating at a seemingly impossible rate. In less than two seconds, the flame dragons had been left so far behind their six hundred foot bulks had dwindled into complete invisibility.

She was grinning madly even though it seemed inappropriate after the Kryptonite suit had willingly sacrificed itself to let her and Alex get clear. But, damn, she had never realized she could fly this fast.

Then she abruptly began worrying that she would overshoot the ship. Quickly, she turned her attention forward and used her powerful telescopic vision. The ship would have been difficult to spot except its great speed compared to its surroundings made it stand out clearly.

"Lyle, we'll reach the ship in a couple of seconds. Can you open the door?"

And almost before the words were out of her mouth, she had caught up to the still accelerating ship and was flying in formation a bare five feet from where the door should appear.

A couple of seconds later, the door opened and Kara maneuvered inside. The entrance had morphed from the previous times they had used it. Now a small chamber was located on the inside. Once she and Alex were inside, the outer door closed and then the new inner door began to open. Of course, she immediately realized, Lyle couldn't let the outside air, which was flowing by the ship at thousands of miles per hour, blast directly into the interior, so he had configured an airlock.

"Alex, are you okay?" Kara asked as soon as she lowered her to the floor and released the grip she had been maintaining.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for catching me," Alex replied while she turned around.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Kara, her eyes going wide.

"What?" demanded Alex, a sudden jolt of fear passing through her as Kara's eyes darted back and forth.

"Your hair . . . your eyes."

Alex grabbed her hair and pulled it forward. It was mostly its usual brown, but one streak was a brilliant blue.

"What about my eyes?"

"They're . . . they're the same shade of blue as the streak in your hair."

Alex's eyes had always been brown.