The Last Daughter of Krypton - Earth 1 Ep. 11
Kara Zor El flew silently over the devastated areas of Kansas that were damaged by the tornado outbreak. As powerful as she and Kal El were, some human lives had been lost. Twenty to thirty humans had died from events directly related to the volatile storm front. There was nothing left to do now except painstakingly search through every square yard of the area within the group of twisters' paths. She and Kal El could certainly use their x-ray vision to locate any potential survivors.
Kal El had told her a number of times that she shouldn't feel bad, even they couldn't save everyone. That didn't mean that they should give up trying. It was a fact that any number of humans could die at any time under any circumstance. Sometimes humans brought disaster on themselves by ignoring the weather warnings, being careless within their daily lives, or some just having a run of bad luck.
Something in the skies ahead caught Kara's attention. There was a reddish glow behind a patch of clouds. The sun was beginning to come out but that should have had no bearing on these anomalous light streams. She decided to investigate. Kara cautiously circled around the freakish clouds. She flew high above them to gain a different perspective. The reddish light shafts streamed upwards into the outermost layers of Earth's atmosphere. Kara followed their trajectory.
Like a moth led to the flame, the Supergirl flew into one reddish ray. Immediately she felt the color drain from her face and became weak. Kara felt like she was suffocating as she lost power, lost altitude, and began to limply fall towards Earth's surface far below her. She tried to scream for help, but no words were uttered. Kara saw the Earth spinning around her as she rapidly approached the ground.
Suddenly, something interrupted her fall. She had been caught. Kara was barely aware of her surroundings. "Hey K Girl! Snap out of it!" Laura Lake's frustrated voice echoed in Kara's mind. Gold Wing, a new Meta Human, had been trying to help out with the search for survivors. She'd spotted the reddish glow and the ill-fated flight of the Supergirl from the ground. Laura had the ability to access the Speed Force, similar to Central City's Flash, Barry Allen. Her alertness had saved Kara from a nasty fate.
Gold Wing sped Kara back to the Kent Farm in Smallville. She placed her in bed, and called Clark Kent. Superman zipped over to see what happened. "Laura? Thanks for helping Kara." He said worriedly as the Supergirl lay motionless, staring blankly at them. "Kara? What happened?" Clark asked as he felt his young cousin's head. She was burning up with a fever. He x-rayed her body thoroughly, and thankfully saw no obvious damage. She glanced at him, but was unable to respond.
"Kara, can you move at all?" Laura asked her friend. Supergirl lazily moved one arm up and down and slowly turned her head from side to side. "I have no idea what's wrong with her." Gold Wing admitted. "It's like she's stunned or something. Maybe if we let her rest for a while she'll be alright." Laura suggested hopefully. "I'll get a cold washcloth and some ice water for her." She added as she zipped into the kitchen and returned almost instantaneously. Clark pressed the cold compress on Kara's forehead. Laura helped her drink some of the water as well. Gold Wing related the harrowing story to Clark. "You saw these strange reddish rays, too, but they didn't affect you at all?" Superman inquired.
"No, but then again I can't fly. The reddish glow was visible from the ground, and some streaks of light reached the surface. They didn't seem to affect anything else except Kara." Gold Wing informed him. Clark and Laura headed into the living room to let Kara rest. "I'll give Dr. Emil Hamilton a call." Clark volunteered. "It's not as if we can just take her to the hospital." Laura nodded. "I'm going to speed back to the scene and see if anything comes up." She said. "Okay, but be careful." Clark urged.
Gold Wing accessed the speed force and stayed in the speed vortex to observe the reddish rays. Her visual perception changed quickly. Water droplets seemed to freeze in the air, birds seemed to stop motion in mid-flight, and the dust particles whipped up by the still unstable air mass pelted her. Based on past experiences, Laura was faster than a normal human by far, but not as fast as Barry, Kara, or Clark. She promised that she would one day match their speed, but for now she did the best she could.
The reddish glow was still in place, but now it was no longer obscured by clouds. Gold Wing circled the streams of light without directly contacting them just in case. The reddish orange beams appeared to burn the molecules within them. Laura likened it to water molecules being evaporated by heat, similar to sticking a cup of water in a microwave, or boiling water for coffee or tea. The particles entrapped within the beams bubbled and popped. The ground below them seemed unaffected.
This was interesting, but yielded no more useful information. Laura spied an old empty beer can next to a tree, presumably blown there by the advancing storms. She scooped it up, while in the speed vortex, and carefully placed it within one red beam. The can loaded up with the red glow. The beer can sparked like it had contacted an electrical field, yet the grasses, weeds, and flowers continued to be unaffected.
Gold Wing retrieved the can, and accidentally touched one edge of the beam with her hand. She felt a brief tingle, but quickly withdrew to a safe distance. Laura released from the speed force and ran at a normal speed, slowing to a stop. She still held the can, and her hand had suffered a slight burn. Her skin was now red and dry, as if she'd gotten sunburned. She rubbed the affected area but suffered no other noticeable effects. The inside of the can had been partially blackened, however this solved nothing.
Gold Wing zipped back to Smallville, can in hand. She checked on Kara first. The Supergirl slept peacefully in her bed, and Clark was still seated in the living room. He'd just gotten off the phone with Dr. Hamilton. Laura had barely been gone for a few minutes. She relayed the story of her minor burn, showing him the blackened beer can. "This simply raises more questions." Clark confided.
"Dr. Hamilton is on his way here to examine Kara. I offered to fly him here, but he said that he had some quick research to complete first." Clark x-rayed the beer can. "The inside of the can has been scorched, so whatever the red beams are can affect metal, in this case, aluminum. Your hand was burned, but other than that you seem fine. The can was also damaged by the beam, though the disruption of its structure wouldn't be obviously visible to the naked eye. In short, the inside of the can is now deformed. So why isn't the outside affected, to say nothing of your hand, or the surrounding plant life?"
Gold Wing ran her burned hand under some cool water, and drank a quick cocktail mix of her Loracite mineral and some orange juice just for precautionary measure. Clark x-rayed her hand and gave a good description of what he'd seen.
"Your cells have been slightly damaged, but they are regenerating quickly." He assessed. Gold Wing tried to ignore the fact that Clark was holding her hand as he analyzed it. She had to remind herself that Clark was Lois's guy now, and she hadn't really been in the running for his affections. That thought alone depressed her, but Laura chastised her thoughts. 'I just have to get over all this'. She mused.
Within a few more minutes, Laura's hand had regained its natural color, and stopped stinging. They waited patiently for Dr. Hamilton to arrive. He came by about an hour later, and quickly went upstairs to visit Kara. Clark had retrieved a bluish green crystal from their hidden stash of Kryptonian information crystals which in effect were equivalent to humans' USB flash drives. He placed one in his hand. The crystals that Kara had brought with her in her spaceship were specifically keyed to Kryptonian DNA.
Dr. Emil Hamilton had given both Kara and Clark thorough examinations recently. He could only do so much with Earth's limited technology, but he was able to record their basic body functions like heartbeat, respiration, pulse, blood flow, brain activity, or weight variations. He matched Kara's current state with their Kryptonian norms. Kara's heartbeat and pulse were a bit high, but he assessed that Laura's original assumption had been essentially correct. Kara acted like she'd been stunned, or in human terms, she had suffered a slight concussion. She appeared to be a bit dazed.
In Kara's bedroom the activated crystal played a type of three dimensional holographic display in the room's center. Kara was awake now, and sluggishly viewed the information. Jor El's image appeared at about one quarter of his actual size. "Father, can you explain this to us?" Clark related the experience to the interactive hologram. The image pretended to listen to his question.
"This situation could possibly be explained by the consolidation of concentrated gamma rays that are projected by being within the influence of a red gas giant star. For Kryptonians, the red sun would counteract the enhancements given to us by being close to Earth's yellow star. In summary, the red gamma rays are not life threatening to Kryptonians over a short period of time, but serve no possible advantage to us, and could possibly be harmful to us over a lengthy period of time." Jor El's image informed them then stood silently waiting for any further inquiry.
"That makes sense." Dr. Hamilton agreed adding: "Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes can appear as rare red lightning bolts, and are usually found in the domain of nuclear explosions, solar flares, supernovas, or during volcanic eruption plasma bursts. Pilots have reported enigmatic red bursts of energy called red sprites which sometimes resemble bright red jellyfish. Their appearance is caused by a rapid separation of electrical charges. All recorded red sprites merely lasted a few seconds. What if something is causing these concentrated bursts of terrestrial gamma rays or TGR?" he asked at his analysis's conclusion.
"Could it be something or perhaps someone?" Clark put in. "You mean like someone is using gamma rays as a weapon?" Laura caught on quickly. "Sure. I suppose that's possible." Dr. Emil agreed. "As far as I know, control of TGR is beyond any Earth scientist's mastery of technology."
Clark frowned. "This theory is pretty out there, but I don't have any better explanation than this. What if someone mastered the control of TGR and purposely used it against Kara?" Laura sighed. She didn't like where this line of thought was going.
"We already know that there are over fifty five thousand inhabited worlds in this galaxy alone, to say nothing of multiple Earths, and otherworld dimensions." Clark continued. Dr. Emil gulped. "Did you say fifty five thousand inhabited worlds?" he parroted.
Jor El's image spoke up again. "Kal El is correct. In Earth's home galaxy there are approximately fifty five thousand four hundred inhabited planets. Each one would likely have achieved a unique state of technology based on its individual needs. Some would be more advanced than Earth or Krypton, and others would likely be less advanced, like agrarian cultures that may not have achieved space travel."
"I get that, but what would be the point of an alien creature attacking Kara, and presumably Clark as well?" Gold Wing inquired. "Well, there are the usual motives of vengeance, prelude to conquest, or simply evil intent." Dr. Emil rationalized. "There's one other possibility." Kara finally sat up in bed and felt good enough to talk. "What if the gamma rays were there by accident and I flew into them?"
"Do you feel any better, Kara?" Dr. Emil quickly measured Supergirl's pulse, and listened to her breathing patterns which were still ragged but within their Kryptonian standards. "I guess I'm okay." Kara replied and stood up unsteadily. "I do feel like I ran into a brick wall though."
"Are these gamma rays still out there?" Dr. Emil inquired. Laura nodded and related her brief experiment, showing him the damaged and slightly melted can. She also had him check the burn on her hand which was now nearly fully healed. "Let's head out to the site and see if we can come up with anything." Clark suggested. "Are you up to it, Kara?" he asked his still lethargic cousin.
Dr. Emil chose to drive out to the area which was about forty five minutes from the Kent Farm. Kara flew slowly after making sure that she had no other long lasting effects. Superman trailed her, matching her flight speed, and Gold Wing briefly accessed the speed force to accompany them. Naturally, the red beams of light were no longer there, which added to their suspicions. If the alleged gamma rays were a natural occurrence, they'd guessed that the anomaly would still be in the vicinity.
The group was unable to do anything more. Dr. Emil took some soil samples of the surface area that both Kara and Laura described. He placed the samples in some test tubes, vowing to have his science colleagues test the soil, foliage, and any water remnants that they'd come across. Clark carefully scraped some soil samples of his own. He and Kara could run them through the analysis programs up north at the ice fortress. Gold Wing grabbed a few samples for her friend Tim Servo to analyze at his college campus science laboratory. 'The more eyes on this the better', she thought.
What occurrence could be so powerful that it could knock a Supergirl out of the sky? Laura mused as she sped back to Falcon Claw. After everyone left, Kara and Clark stood in the barn loft window overlooking the fields behind the Kent Farm. "Kal? Do you remember that night in Hobb's Field, where we caught the alien species digging into our farmland?" Clark nodded.
"Sure. We assume that nothing has happened since then, regarding any further contact. You're thinking that the Night Visitors have returned." Clark recalled as Kara pointed to the darkening Kansas sky. "Bingo! What if the red beams are related to them?"