The rest of that week was incomparable; so naturally, it had to end in physical and emotional pain.
From Wednesday to Saturday, we spent our time training. Although Cassie had provided me some Amazon training, I found that Diana's tutelage was far more complete.
"Kara, when Cassie and Barbara fly at you this time, pick one of them to catch and throw her at the other one."
Taking her words to heart, when the two flew at me, I grabbed Barbara by her outstretched arms and spun her into Cassie. Both girls went flying into the padded wall behind us. "Excellent," Diana purred from where she stood below us, before tossing me two weights, "Now, attach those to your belt and do it again."
Somehow, she had enough connections to get us an afternoon alone in a fully operational gym. The minute we arrived, she had caught me in a weight harness, and as the day progressed, she tossed me more and more to attach. I was almost out of hooks.
The moment the weights were secured, Cassie and Barbara flew at me again.
"Girls, this time I expect recovery, if possible." Diana's instruction meant I would really have to go all out on Cassie and Barbara. I didn't want to break Barbara, so I decided to grab Cassie instead, hoping that her arms would hold up to my all out throw, and that she would at least cushion Barbara when they hit the padding. In that brief moment, the girls were almost on top of me, I flew forward to meet Barbara, then feinted and grabbed Cassie when she changed direction, using her momentum to spin her more easily and more powerfully into Barbara; at the last moment, however, Babs put her wrists together, and when she and Cassie collided, both rolled over themselves and stopped their flight to hover a few feet from the wall.
"Quick thinking, Barbara; I'm glad to see your reflexes are developing for Aegis—it will be one of your best defenses. Kara, that was an interesting ploy; it provided you with not only your own force, but Cassie's power as well. However, as you can see, it also gave Barbara time to utilize Aegis. You must be faster." She stood back and pointed to the ground, "One-hundred and fifty, all five, go,"
We hit the ground in push-up position, and started off lightning quick rounds of push-ups, sit-ups, scissor kicks, then sit-ups and push-ups again. This happened every ten minutes or so; before, when I would have been dieing in P.E. at the thought of so much exertion, now I reveled in it. Barbara had lived this for nearly ten months; Cassie had lived this for years—if they could do it without breaking down, so could I.
"Good," Diana judged when we were standing at near attention only a few moments later, then handed me two more weights, "Now we'll switch to hand to hand."
"Wasn't that what we were doing before?" I asked; I had been catching punches all day.
"In a manner of speaking, yes, but now we'll be on the ground." Before I could open my mouth, she handed each of us padding, "It is just as important to know how to fight on the ground; if an enemy grounds you, then you must still be able to fight."
"Most Amazons don't even fly," Cassie added, strapping on her helmet, "I'm still kinda new to the whole flight combat thing."
"Which is probably why Kara caught you so easily," Diana smiled, "Don't worry, Sister, we'll get you there." She put a hand on Babs's shoulder, "Barbara had the same problem."
"When I told Alfred that I was flying, he could hardly believe it," She grinned.
I can only imagine what Dick and Bruce would think, I thought to myself. I didn't dare say it out loud. I could still remember what happened when Cassie mentioned Dick; I couldn't have her going back there now.
"Ok," Diana said, "Cassie on this side, Kara on this side," I moved to stand where Diana motioned. "Now, we'll start with defending punches; Kara, hit Cassie as hard as you can."
"Where?" I asked.
"Anywhere," she smiled.
I shrugged and threw a punch at Cassie's stomach. In the blink of an eye, she had my wrist firmly locked in her hand and in the following moment, I was on my back, unsure if the stars I saw were from Cassie and Diana or my reeling brain.
"Did you catch that, Kara?" Diana asked calmly.
"Not quite," I said, rubbing my head.
"I suspected so. Barbara, take her spot, and when Cassie flips you, recover."
Cassie gave me a hand up while Barbara took my spot opposite her. Once I was standing comfortably by Diana, Barbara launched herself at Cassie, fist first. Even though they didn't slow down, when I actually fought to focus on their movements, it was like I was watching a high-speed camera feed. As Babs got close, Cassie's hand shot forward and closed around her wrist; Cassie stepped back, and pulled the hand holding Barbara to her stomach while twisting it up. Barbara twisted with her arm, but faster than Cassie was encouraging, so that instead of landing on her back, like I did, she landed on her feet, and pulled her captured arm down, pushing Cassie to the ground with it.
"Very good," Diana started, but Cassie was determined to win. Still holding Barbara's arm, she rolled away from her opponent, causing Babs to roll over with her, allowing Cassie the chance to straddle Babs in an attempt to pin her. Babs wouldn't have it either, however, and managed to rock back just before Cassie got over her, effectively pushing Cass off and allowing Babs the chance to lock her legs around her waist. Her secure hold let her accomplish the position Cassie had attempted. Cassie was stronger though; she caught Barbara's hands and wrenched the redhead off her waist, directing Babs's flight so that she landed facing opposite Cass. Cass pulled Barbara's arm behind her, then pulled ever so slightly more until Babs finally tapped out.
"Excellent work, girls!" Diana clapped, "You just gave Kara a lot to process though."
My mind was still reeling, taking in each of the exact movements, trying to calculate just how far I would have to take it if I was at full power.
"Well, Kara, if you think you're ready…" Her voice was suddenly drowned out by an ear-splitting tone. I cried out and grabbed my ears, stumbling backward into a stack of barbells.
I saw Babs yell something, and she was at my side a moment later; I could barely hear her yells above that unending beep. I had to go stop it, I had to shut it down—anything to get it out of my ears. I stood up, hand still firmly clamped, and shot out of the gym.
The noise was so loud, and so unchanging, I thought for sure that it would be impossible to find the source, at first. But when I started flying toward the Daily Planet, it became almost inexplicably louder. I flew toward it, and found that the beep was coming from the roof of the newspaper headquarters. I hovered above the globe, just able to see the two people standing on the roof.
One figure stood with her arms crossed staring out into the sky; I knew her long black hair in an instant; Lois Lane was waiting for my arrival. Next to her, a red-haired figure I had never met before stood with his hand on his watch; it was the source of the tone. I felt a hand on my shoulder; I turned to find Barbara, Cassie and Diana floating in full gear behind me. I pointed to the man on the roof. "Watch," I said, trying not to yell, seeing as they clearly couldn't hear what I heard, "Stop his watch!"
Cass and Babs looked confused, but Diana looked down to the roof, taking in the two figures waiting impatiently on the rooftop below. Diana nodded, and motioned for the two girls to follow her down. A moment later the blaring tone ceased, and I landed on the roof behind the globe, so that I could listen without them seeing me.
"…is Supergirl?" Lois asked, "I know she exists, we all saw her yesterday."
"How can you be sure it wasn't just me?" Cassie retorted, arms crossed, "I'm an out-of-towner."
"Oh please," Lois clearly wasn't in the mood for damage control, "For one, you're all 'out-of-towners', I shouldn't have seen any of you, and I shouldn't be seeing any of you, for that matter; secondly, there were two blondes, one of which clearly wore the same logo as Superman. While you're at it, tell me where he is."
"Superman is currently on League business," Wonder Woman answered, emotionless, "As for Supergirl, for all I know, she's on the other side of the world, trying to get away from that watch."
The boy—really, that's all he was, he looked almost my age—folded his shoulders forward and stuck his hands in his pockets. Lois scowled momentarily, clearly annoyed that her plan worked back on her. "Can you call her here?" she asked.
"Why should we?" I knew the tone in Babs's voice; it was the one I used to use when people used to mess with her. She was the protective one this time; how weird.
"Because she's never been in Metropolis before; no one has even heard of her before Wednesday. Rumors are running wild and we want to get the facts." Lois spoke through gritted teeth; she hated having to show her hand. Diana grimaced, feinting a sideways look, while Babs looked at me. I shook my head frantically; there was no way I could survive an interview without Clark.
Somehow, Babs passed the message to Diana by merely clenching her fist; Diana looked back at Lois and locked eyes with her.
"Wait until Superman returns. Supergirl is still finding her place here, I don't think she'll be comfortable doing an interview without him by her side."
Damn, Diana was good.
Lois ran a hand through her hair, clearly unhappy with the verdict. "Fine, we'll wait; but if someone else runs the story first, so help me,"
"You'll what," Babs answered, eyes narrowed, "Break up with Superman? Run another 'award-winning' article about how troublesome superheroes are? Try to turn the populous against us? Good luck! If there's one thing I know, it's that as long as evil has access to superhuman devices, it will use them, and the only ones who can stop it and ensure your lives are even moderately safe are the people like us. If you try to turn against the super heroes, the only thing you'll have are super villains."
Never, not once in my lifetime, had I ever heard such statements come from Barbara's mouth. She simply radiated truth; her eyes just dared Lois to fight her. "Fine," Lois finally snapped, clearly in a corner, "Come on, Jimmy,"
The sheepish boy quickly followed the frustrated Lois, uneager to anger his boss any more than my protectors had. Once Lois and Jimmy were safely gone, and I was certain they had gone down the stairs, I floated out from my hiding spot.
"We should have seen that coming," Diana frowned, "I didn't stop to think that you hadn't been in the news before yesterday."
"It's ok," I said, hugging myself and looking back at where Lois left, "More than anything, I'm worried about her finding out about my identity."
"Do you know her?" Diana asked.
"Uh," I said, "My cousin works with her; she was one of the people who stayed with me in the hospital."
Impossibly, Diana's frown deepened, "That does make it harder. At least we bought enough time for you to figure it out; you'll even have Superman back to make it easier." I tried to smile at the thought, but I had a feeling Clark would be just as resistant at the idea of an interview as I was.
"Ah well," a mischievous smile flickered across her lips, "In the meantime, we'll just keep up with your training," from her side, she magically produced another set of weights. I looked down and realized that I had flown out of the gym with my harness still on. "And you'll be carrying Babs."
I took a deep breath, then met Diana's gaze, "Bring it."
My in-depth training continued through to Sunday, which I was quite happy about; I'm not sure how fast muscle is supposed to develop, but with the level we had been working at since Thursday, I had developed some tone on my legs and arms. My strength had increased slightly as well. In those days, we had also ended up in the news a few more times, taking out several bank robbers, a few kidnappers, and even a group of terrorists. On Sunday, we were on our way to the gym, for we had determined that Diana and Babs wouldn't leave until Clark returned, and therefore we had no reason to take a day off, when I felt it.
It was an odd sort of rumble; I had the distinct feeling that it was announcing the arrival of something much worse. The four of us landed on the roof of a nearby skyscraper, and as the other three quickly changed into their costumes, I paused, with my shirt in my hands, staring out into the desert surrounding Metropolis. Only a few months ago, I had flown out there with Clark to find Dr. Hamilton and an answer to my powers. Now I stared out at the dirt, trying my hardest to stare into the heart of it; I was hoping to pick up any kind of movement that might tell me what was coming.
It moved faster than I could see. One moment, I recognized the white dot on the horizon, and the following moment, the sonic shockwave hit me as it blazed past, shattering windows and releasing a cacophony of car alarms. A pain-filled howl filled my ears, and I pushed myself up to try to find the source.
It, or rather, he was hovering in the middle of the airspace above Metropolis, with his hands clamped over his ears. I pulled my shirt on over my sports bra and flew towards him, suddenly sure that I had to. "Kara!" I heard Babs yell behind me, but for once, I ignored her call of warning. The creature, however, didn't; he turned in the direction of Barbara's voice, and I nearly fell out of the sky.
He was the spitting image of Clark.
No, I thought a moment later, he was a younger Clark, as if plucked from the high school pictures I had seen countless times on the walls of the Smallville house of my aunt and uncle. But this version's eyes were blood red with only black pupils; when his pained gaze landed on me, he quickly turned to anger. An equally red beam shot out of his eyes and hit my chest square on the Super shield. It sent me tumbling backwards and lit what remained of my shirt on fire; I didn't have time to worry about the fire, however, as the sudden blast of wind that accompanied my bizarre opponent's appearance eliminated the heat. His fist came at me faster than Cassie's or Barbara's, and yet I still managed to catch his fist; when I tried to send him flying, however, he remained perfectly static; instead, he pulled me to him and closed a hand around my throat.
"Stop!" I gasped, "Please…I'm…like…you!"
The young Clark yelled in anger and tightened his grasp on my throat; when I tried to pull out of his grasp, he started punching me, as if he was merely holding up his punching bag. Each blow drove home; I was beginning to believe that not even Clark was strong enough to hit as hard as this new Clark was hitting me. I saw a blur of black and red, and two lassos closed around his torso. An electric shock came from seemingly nowhere, causing both me and the monster to scream, before he let me go.
Suddenly, it was eight months ago, and I was falling out of the sky. Fear gripped what little of my mind I had left, but my throat was so crushed, I couldn't scream. I felt my body going limp, as if it believed that this end was better. My vision started to blur, and even when I felt my body jerk as someone grabbed my wrist to stop my descent, I only saw enough to register bright red hair.
"Babs," I croaked, "The desert…Dr. Hamilton…"
"Don't worry," She might have said, "I'll find him, I promise."
Barbara's P.O.V
I flew back up to Diana's level, cradling a broken and bleeding Kara in my arms. "Wonder Woman," I hated how long her name could be sometimes, but I didn't dare reveal anything now, not in the face of a possible android. Diana looked up, and her eyes grew large in shock.
"She said something about Dr. Hamilton," I yelled, "Do you know anything?"
Diana grimaced, but when the monster nearly pulled her lasso from her hands a moment later, she, for once, looked as though she was at a complete loss.
"Fly out to the desert, straight west," she cried, "He's at S.T.A.R. Labs. Don't you leave until he helps her—don't let him win."
"Trust me," I don't know if Diana heard me as I flew away, or if I was trying to talk to Kara, but I spoke nonetheless, "I'm not that easy; not anymore."