84. Kara's Visitor part 10 Final
When Supergirl floated into the room…she immediately became dizzy and stumbled to her knees.
"Nnnghh…," she cradled her head in a fair hand and mumbled. "What the Hell??" She looked up. "Oh no wonder….."
The 'room' turned out to be a large metal platform carved into what appeared to be a deep cavern in rock. A thin ledge of metal jutted out over a deep, black abyss…what looked like a bottomless pit. At the far end of the platform—on the tip of the metal 'tongue'—there rested a chair. And in that chair sat Braniac with his back to Kara. And in front of Braniac was a giant metal ring. At over fifteen different points along the ring's circumference, green shards of Kryptonite had been fastened. A current of glowing energy fluctuated through all of them, causing the green gems to strobe with greater and greater intensity. A thin surface of 'something' stretched across the diameter of the ring, like a giant blowing-bubble ring. It was the warpgate. Powered by Kryptonite. Warbling with an energy set to cataclysmically explode a good chunk of the Western Hemisphere if Braniac was to have his way. The alien android presently sat with wires and cords and tentacles from a metal ceiling matching the protrusion of the floor into the cavernous abyss of rock.
To say the least…the intense green aura of Kryptonite was having its adverse effects on the Girl of Steel.
Regardless, she was not about to back down now. Not after all the damage that had been done.
Not after all she felt responsible for…
She looked over at the nearby walls. Huge metal pipes stretched along the seamless surfacing. With her last remaining ounce of Argosian strength leftover, Supergirl kicked a pipe loose. She then bent over, picked it up, and held it over her head like a club as she grit her teeth and approached Braniac from behind. "Here goes nothing…," she quietly snarled to herself.
Braniac's hands were flurrying over numberpads and keyboards positioned in front of his chair. With each keystroke, the Kryptonite strobed in brighter succession and the surface of the warpgate's portal warbled stronger.
"Fascinating…," Braniac rambled to himself. "Intriguing…….Remarkable….."
Supergirl crept on forward. With each successive step, the aura of the large amount of Kryptonite was absorbed into her. Each progressive foot shook more and more, straining. She started to sweat. The 'club' of a pipe wobbled in her hand.
But she pressed on…
She was less than a yard away. She tightened her fingers on her end of the pipe. She took a deep breath, narrowed her eyes, and aimed for the back of Braniac's metal cranium.
SWOOOOOOOSH
WHACK!!!!
With a cry…Supergirl flew back. She landed hard on the metal floor, shook her head, and looked up at the dangling tentacles from the ceiling that had just struck her.
They twitched and coiled threateningly.
"Kara Inze…," Braniac spoke from his chair without looking. "Your spirit of rebellion is most troublesome. I can see now why Kal-El hesitates in promoting your vigilantism."
Supergirl stood up, flexing her fingers around the pipe. Panting.
"I would not advise another attack…," Braniac said. "I am almost finished calibrating my device. I shall then proceed to absorb the information of the other captives. The one called Noir has already given me quite a remarkable plethora of knowledge, howbeit none of it truly holds intergalactic proportion. But it is nevertheless interesting to note the nature of his past. If you were to be made aware of it, I seriously doubt you would retain any further emotional attachment to the boy."
Supergirl swallowed and gritted her teeth. "You're a nerd, you know that, right?" And with that uttered, she let out a warcry and ran back to the chair with the pipe swinging.
The cords rushed down at her again. SWOOOSH!!!
Supergirl dove forward, rolled on the ground, jumped up to her feet behind the chair, and swung the pipe down.
WOOOOSH-CLAMP!!!
Braniac's left hand lifted without him so much as looking back. He grabbed the far end of the pipe and wrenched it from Supergirl's grasp.
She stumbled forward, gasping. Her eyes twitched at the sight of the ring and its Kryptonite shards strobing. She was too close….too close…
Braniac slowly stood up. The multiple wires and tentacles snaked down from the ceiling and connected into his metal back. They snapped free of the ceiling, and soon the Kryptonian robot twirled around with eight distinct tendrils twirling and lashing about from behind his shoulders. His ivory eyes focused on the limp Supergirl and his triforce of immaculate forehead circles flashed with a dim glow.
He marched towards her.
She stumbled back, hoping that—with further distance from the Kryptonite—she might regain her strength.
"You are the foolish one, Kara Inze," Braniac uttered. "Perhaps it would have eased my troubles if I was to somehow exterminate you and the Kents from the first day of this operation."
"It's not so easy to kick me out of a party," Supergirl retorted.
"No, it is not easy," Braniac uttered. The metal tentacles stretched up and loomed at her. "Until now."
SWOOOOSH!!!
Three cords jabbed at her.
Supergirl jumped back.
CL-CL-CLANK!!!
The snakelike tendrils struck the metal floor, causing sparks to fly.
Two more of Braniac's tentacles flew at her.
She ducked, rolled on her side, and got up a few feet away. She ran at Braniac in a charge with a fist flying.
"RRRGHHH!!"
CLANK!!!
Her hand struck hard into his chin….and stung.
"Owww!!" she rubbed her powerless fist.
Braniac didn't even blink. He pointed two fists at her. They started to glow.
Supergirl gasped. She dove---
FLASH!!!!!!!
A pale blue stream of energy flew from his wrists and at her feet.
CRASH!!!
A burnt spot formed in the ground.
Supergirl was projected seven feet across the ground. She landed hard.
"Mmmphh!!" she winced. She looked up. SWOOOOSH!!!
Four tentacles flew over and wrapped around her torso.
She grunted as she was lifted high up into the air.
"I have long made a conclusion concerning the worth of a Kryptonian's existence," Braniac uttered as he constricted her petite body in mid-air. "The people of Krypton lived under a cloud of deceit. It was so very simple for me to take advantage of the people who created my program. They had no sense of tragedy. There was nothing that could prepare them for the incredible loss of their world and culture. In the end, a Kryptonian organism in my data banks was filed under categories of 'weakness', 'ignorance', and 'ineptitude'. Now the Argosian is a remarkable creature. For not only does an Argosian fall under the same categories as its Kryptonian cousin, the Argosian complements all of the other similar qualities of 'futility', 'insignificance', and 'inferiority'. In the end, a being who is nothing more than half-Kryptonian is twice as worthless."
Braniac charged a wicked pulse of energy through his tentacles and enveloped Supergirl in sparks of pain and torture.
The girl quivered and cried out. Her mouth opened wide and her burning eyes watered.
"It will never fail to surprise me how pointless the existence of some organisms is."
Without so much as a yell, he spun his body around and—with flexing tentacles—he tossed Supergirl over the edge of the metal platform and towards the gaping abyss below.
Kara gasped in mid-fall. She stretched a hand out and gripped a clump of rock sloping down into the bottomless black beneath her. She clenched her teeth and struggled to keep hold. Up on the platform, Braniac was wandering back to the chair and the instruments of the Kryptonite-charged warp gate. Leaving her for dead.
Supergirl's arms quaked and shook. The room had far too much Kryptonite in it. She had no strength—or will—to fly. One slip, and she'd fall unquestionably into the black mouth of rock beneath her. She had no clue if she'd be capable of reclaiming her superpowers and flying up out of her plunge after falling enough distance. Quite frankly, she was at the end of her rope. A sense of helplessness surged through her. But it was not as big a pulse of feeling as that of the unfathomable guilt shaking through her system. She thought of all the twice-as-helpless Titans that would suffer from the loss of her life and her inability to stop Braniac. And for a split second, it didn't feel like a bad alternative to just let go of the rock and have done with it.
She clenched her teeth and shook her head.
"Stay focused, Kara….stay focused!!" She panted and tried pulling herself up. "Think of Mom. Think of Dad. Think of Brother. Think of…."
The blackness of the room stabbed into her. And for a second, she envisioned a pair of deeply wounded, obsidian eyes.
She gasped. Her muscles quivered and—combined with the sweat on her fingers—it was all enough to loosen her grip. She slipped and fell helplessly back into the emptiness.
"Nooooooo!!!!" she shrieked.
CLAMP!!!!
Supergirl's body lurched still. She gasped. She was dangling in mid air. Her hand stretched up above her.
She looked straight up with quivering blue eyes and mouthed: "What…..what---"
I materialized on the rock ledge. I had Myrkblade stabbed into the earth and was gripping to it with one hand for anchorage while the other reached down and strongly held Supergirl's weight by her wrist.
The girl exhaled. "Jordan…….you…….you……"
I stared down at her through my shades.
And…I smiled.
I smiled warm and inviting.
I thought I had no tears left after that day, but I was wrong.
And I was happy. And I wanted her to know that. I wanted her to see that. I smiled with a surprising gentleness that even my mind reeled from it.
Because I wanted all the pain to go away. I wanted all the anger to disappear. Looking down at the blonde beauty in my grasp, I thought only of the good things. The things that truly mattered. What Kara did for me the night previous. How she tried to free me. How she gave me loving arms to sob in. How she shared with me the vulnerabilities of her path that she wouldn't possibly share with anyone else. How in some twisted sense she reminded me of………
I just wanted peace. I just wanted happiness. And if it took for me to forgive her for her utter foolishness, then so be it. I forgave her with a warm smile as I tensed Murk through my body and summoned the strength to hoist her up and onto the ledge of safety.
For the first time—there with Kara more than I had ever understood it even with Ana in spite of all the things that had happened—I finally started to grasp the true depths of the definition of 'love': the compassion to have compassion and the ridiculous grace of forgiveness.
When Kara stood safely beside me on the rock ledge, she was breathless. Speakless. Somehow she managed to pant and utter: "Why…wh-why, Jordan? Why did you come back for me?"
I merely smiled again. And suddenly, she was the recipient of a deep and all-encompassing hug.
She gasped into me….and helplessly drew her confused arms around my neck. Grateful for life. Grateful for me. Grateful for all the confusion and chaos if only it would mean more of the warmth flushing over her right there and then in my presence.
When I parted the hug, I raised a finger over my lips and pointed up towards Braniac.
It was time to kick ass.
Supergirl swallowed, nodded, and mouthed: 'Right'.
With Myrkblade gripped in my arm, I scurried up onto the metal platform while Supergirl followed.
Braniac sat at his chair again. Tentacles and cords fluttered above and behind him. He keystroked away at the numberpad.
Footsteps echoed behind him.
"Back again, Kara Inze??" Braniac remarked without looking. "Like a true primitive organism, your struggle against death is most futile—"
SWOOOOOSH-SLASH!!!!
CLANK!!!!
Sparks flew from the back of Braniac's head once Myrkblade made contact.
He toppled over.
I jumped, flipped, and then twirled downward with a sailing kick into the square of his back between the tentacles.
WHAM!!!!!!
The alien android's body went ungracefully toppling over and across the small length of metal platform between his chair and the warp gate.
I landed on the chair, twirled Myrkblade, and blurred at him.
He was slowly getting to his feet--
SLASH!!!!!
I drew a sparking blade across his chest.
STAB!!!!
I cracked the metal in his shoulder with a jab.
SWOOOSH-SLAM!!!!
I spun and struck the full length of my blade against his left side.
He went spinning—spiraling—over the edge of the metal platform and into the abyss below.
I panted, gripping my sword and facing the edge.
Supergirl stood a safe distance behind me and away from the portal full of Kryptonite shards.
I gulped. I walked towards the edge. I glanced down--
SWOOOOOOOSH!!!! Braniac flew up with jets on the soles of his metal feet. His eight tentacles warbled from behind his back like a dancing jellyfish. His ivory eyes unblinkingly reflected sparks and flashes from the ends of his metal cords as they all snaked out and rushed at me.
"Jordan!! Look out!!"
I gritted my teeth and twirled Myrkblade in front of me like a fan.
CL-CL-CL-CLANK!!!!
I deflected the first four tentacles with my sword.
The other four cords rushed at my flanks.
I back flipped, slid to a stop, and jabbed forward with a pulse of murk.
TH-TH-THWUMP!!!!
I dashed the tentacles aside, blurred the rest of the length, and jabbed deep into Braniac's chest.
His natural limbs rose. One gripped my sword and yanked it aside.
I twisted at an awkward angle.
His other hand aimed at me and glowed a pale blue.
I took a breath, released my grip of Myrkblade, and leapt up at the ceiling.
FLASH!!!!!!
A laser beam burned where my body was. In the distance, Supergirl dove out of the way of the streaming energy and rolled to safety.
Braniac looked up.
I was clinging upside down to the metal/rock ceiling with murk powers. Smoke danced out under my shades as I jumped down, teleported, materialized in mid-air by his arm, gripped Myrkblade, and pulsed dark energy through it and exploding his hand out of its grip.
FLASH!!!
I twirled as I fell to the ground and stabbed Myrkblade at his lower legs.
CLANK!!!
His feet jets short-circuited. He started to descend…
I hopped up to my feet in a flash and kicked him hard in the torso.
He fell back.
The tentacles shot out from his back and clamped into the floor and ceiling of rock. His body reeled back, stretched the cords to the extent of their elasticity, and thrusted his body straight at me with a fist.
I flinched.
SMACK!!!! I was plowed back across the metal platform.
I flipped in midair and landed in a crouch.
My bleeding lips snarled.
Braniac crept onto the metal floor with spider like tentacles and he glared at me from afar in the best way an emotionless entity can 'glare'.
"Mr. Noir, your attack was most unestimated. I commend you. But now, you must be exterminated along with Supergirl."
"Oh, go shove it up your muffler, ya damn clunker!!" Supergirl shouted. She smiled at me. "Don't let him dissuade you, Jordan!"
I momentarily glanced at her and smiled. Though I never admitted it, I had always wanted a cheerleader…
"Your survivalist attitude ends now," Braniac's eight tentacles warbled and he aimed two glowing hands at me.
"Careful, Jordan!!"
I took a deep breath.
I waited….
FLASH!!!!!
Two blue streams flew at me.
I let out a silent scream, teleported into smoke form, traveled up the length of his blue lasers, and materialized by his side with a baseball batter swing of Myrkblade across his face.
CRACK!!!!!
His body reeled till his back faced me.
I charged.
….his back was full of threatening tentacles.
I tried to skid to a stop.
SWOOOOSH!!!!
Four tentacles rushed at my limbs. My arms and legs were being gripped mercilessly. I struggled. I saw electrical currents rushing up to zap me.
"Don't let him shock you, Jordan!!"
I bit my lips and blurred the ends of my limbs. My body smoked out of his grips just in time to avoid the electrical pulses. I fell to the floor, twirled Myrkblade, and stabbed straight into his back.
CLANK!!!!
Braniac's body jolted.
The tentacles shook and converged at me.
I backflipped and slid out of danger. But not for long.
The android twirled about. The circles on his forehead strobed. A panel suddenly opened in his chest and four more tentacles came out—these with sparkling pinchers.
My black eyes bulged.
Braniac started marching at me with twelve shaking, threatening tentacles and two arms simultaneously stretched out at me and glowing.
I gulped.
FLASH!!!!! SWOOOOOOOSH-WOOOOSH!!!!
Blue streams, tentacles, and electrical sparks all flew at me at once.
Supergirl gasped.
I jumped, morphed into smoke and back, twirled Myrkblade, deflected, dodged, and sidestepped all the projectile lasers and extended attacks that I could. Soon the Kryptonian robot was pushing me across the length of the metal platform and towards the warpgate. His tentacles flew ravenously at me. I ducked and backflipped onto the metal chair. His tentacles lunged. I jumped off it. SMASH!!! The chair flew into pieces and the numberpad and keyboard clattered across the floor. I backed up towards the Kryptonite, panting. Braniac's ivory eyes focused on me as he flashed a final blast of laser fire.
FLASH!!!!!!
I jumped up.
The lasers flew into the surface of the warp between the circumference of the gate. The warbling energy shattered the lasers on impact.
In the meantime, I was flying in midair from my leap…and that's exactly what Braniac wanted. SWOOOOSH!!
All eight of his back's tentacles rushed up and grabbed me. Squeezing and constricting my body. I dropped Myrkblade to the ground—CLANK!!—and wheezed for breath.
"Jordan!!" Kara rushed forward.
Braniac rushed his right hand to the side and effortlessly slapped her hard across the cheek and pushed her Kryptonite-inflicted body across the floor.
"Nnngh!!"
Braniac then brought his four chest tentacles up and clamped them across my chest.
Three….two….one…..
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!
I let out a silent scream and arched back into the tentacles constricting my legs, torso, and neck. Electricity coursed through me. Burning my insides. Setting my skin on fire. My long dark hair stood on end. Sparks danced between my black eyes and I clenched them shut in pain.
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!
Braniac watched emotionlessly at my writhing body.
Supergirl got up on her knees and watched…panting…horrified.
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!
Finally, Braniac relented the electrical punishment. I dangled in his tentacled grasp. My body was smoking…and for once it wasn't because of my powers…
"Quite the resilient Terran you are," he stoically remarked. "But I know your true weakness."
WHURRRRR-ZZZZTT!!! One tentacle snaked free of my chest and opened its mandibles in front of my shaded face.
I twitched and sweated. Looking helplessly into the metal jaws.
The tentacle snaked closer and closer to my face. Tiny sparks danced off of its teeth and zapped into my head. My temples. My brain.
I cringed and gasped. My eyes twitched. And suddenly, I was no longer there. I was no longer in Braniac's grasp underground in Smallville with a dangerous warpgate prepared to blow up half of the continent.
A cylindrical room loomed. The walls were of a dark brown metal. Ringed with gothic columns of gnarled metal muscle. In the center floated Ana. Fields of blue sparks levitated her above the circle in the floor. She twirled about. Her mouth in an open howl of pain. Ana's blue eyes were gone, and in their place were ghostly white clouds. She looked at me. She begged……she begged…
"JORDAN!!! WAKE UP!!!!"
SMACK!!!!!
Braniac's body lurched and reality rushed up at me like Jupiter's gravity. I gasped and looked down. I saw Supergirl limply standing behind Braniac…so close to the Kryptonite. She had a cracked keyboard in her grasp after having thwacked it hard across the back of Braniac's metal skull. The image of Ana's white eyes faded as I absorbed the panting face of Kara and her worried blue optics staring up at me.
Kara….alive….
My black eyes widened. I took a deep breath and charged up Murk.
FLASH!!!!!!!!!
"!!!!!!" I let out a silent scream as smoke exploded out of my body, got absorbed into the tentacles, and swam in black currents up the cords to where they exploded in the Kryptonian robot's back and chest.
CRACK!!!!!
"Nnnghh!!" Braniac's synthetic vocal cords uttered. The tentacles loosened and fluctuated in the air like spasmic lizard tails.
I fell to the ground, scooped up the hilt of Myrkblade, gritted my teeth, and had at it.
SLASHHHHH!!!!
CH-CHTUNK!!!! I severed two chest tentacles in one lunge.
Braniac jerked.
SWOOOOSH!!!
I slashed diagonally upwards.
CL-CL-CLUNK!!!!
Three back tentacles were severed.
Braniac stumbled back towards the warpgate.
I snarled and flew at him with a downward slash.
CRACK!!!!!!
The rest of his chest tentacles exploded and his back ones dropped limply to the floor as his body short circuited.
Something in his ivory eyes faded.
I leapt straight at him, encircled my legs around his torso, brought my upper body up, and stabbed straight down into his forhead with the tip of my wooden sword.
CHUNK!!!!!
Braniac's body twitched and became still and stiff as a corpse.
I panted, wresting my weight on Myrkblade into his forehead. It had skewered the bottommost of his triforce of metal circles.
The other two struggled to glow.
His metal jaws opened one last time and a static, electronic voice fought to utter: "All my calssnkkftttculations. SnkkttttAll wrongsnnkkkttyet again. Fascinating. Fasnkktttcinating…."
I gritted my teeth. Smoke danced out from under my shades and---
CRACK!!!!!!!
I yanked Myrkblade up and out, shattering and splitting his metal cranium in two. I loosened my legs and backflipped off of his chest. The vaulting of my body forced his lumbering frame backwards until he fell directly into the unfinished warp gate.
FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I landed in a crouch next to Supergirl. Panting. She knelt beside me and hugged my shoulders as we both watched…..
The bubble like surface of the warpgate shimmered and warbled around Braniac's twitching body as his metal flesh was slowly, torturously eaten by the energy he had wrought. The Kryptonite shards overloaded and they started exploding—one by one—like firecrackers in a halo of hellfire around the twitching android.
POW!!! POW!!! P-POW!!!! P-P-POW!!! POW!!! POW!!
The energy field bubbled out, devoured Braniac's body with plasma, and soon the entire warpgate exploded and consumed the android and the subsequent dust of Kryptonite into oblivion. All that was left was a blinding flash of light and a magical puff of red smoke.
And then the noise ceased.
I took a deep breath and leaned on Myrkblade.
Supergirl, with her strength returned, stood up and hoisted me by my shoulders to my feet. I didn't have a chance to sheathe Myrkblade, for she was hugging me desperately. For a split second, I was fearful that her steel limbs would crush me.
"Thank you, Jordan….thank you…thank you for coming back…."
I wheezed and smiled with a nod.
She looked into my shades, her blue eyes wet. "When I saw what he was doing to you…I-I couldn't let you go through that shit again. I had to do something. I just had to…"
I patted her arms around me and smiled.
I understood. I wanted her to know that.
She took a deep breath and—tugging me by my arm—happily rushed towards the exiting hallway. "Come on!! We gotta go check on the others!"
I chuckled breathily and ran with her.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
After a few twisting hallways, we made it back into the main chamber. Supergirl was more or less surprised to find everyone evacuated from the holding cells. She took a deep shuddering breath and looked at me.
"You've been cleaning house, haven't you?"
I silently nodded.
She swallowed a lump in her throat and faced the walkway leading up to the exit beneath the barn. "I suppose I'll have a lot of explaining to do."
I scratched my head and shrugged. As much as I knew…only Raven was truly aware of what Supergirl had done.
"Well…," she put on a brave smile and marched up towards the exit doors. "Let's get out of here."
I smiled and followed her---
FLAAAAAASH!!!!!!
A steady stream of green energy flew in from the far side of the room and plowed into Supergirl's side. She let out a torturous scream as she was forced up against the metal wall, her body wracked with emerald venom.
I gasped. My black eyes were wide under my shades.
Kara!!!!!!
The energy stream died.
Supergirl slumped to the floor. Wheezing. Sputtering.
I ran to her side and tried to ease her trembling with firm hands across her shoulders.
She whimpered and moaned: "K-K-Kryptonite…."
I raised an eyebrow.
There was a clapping sound from the far side of the room.
I felt a chill up my spine.
I turned and looked across the way and saw Metallo bringing his hands together. He was leaning against the wide computer screen, grinning.
After a fair amount of clapping, he folded his arms and casually uttered: "Marvelous job done, indeed! The two of you finished off that tin can of an alien just like I expected you to! Now that the dirty work has been done for me, Intergang doesn't have to worry about half of their criminal arena being blown sky high! And I still get the Kryptonite I wanted!" He gestured at a lone satchel of lead polymer by his feet. "Funny how things work out the way you effortlessly plan them too."
I stood up besides the weakened Supergirl. My fists were clenched. I was fuming.
"Well, naturally I was going to betray Braniac!" Metallo swung his arms out and smiled with an innocent shrug. "Dishonesty is built into my nature! Ha ha ha ha!! Just like that blonde sweetheart of yours on the floor there. Tell me, freak, did you beat her up too bad when you woke up from Braniac's torture?? That was partially the reason why I threw you both into the brig together! Hehehehe! A couple of praying mantises in a shaken glass jar!"
CHIIIIING!!!!
I whipped out Myrkblade and pointed it at him from a distance. Frowning.
"Oh come now, must we really do the fisticuffs?" Metallo leaned his head aside and smirked. "Admittedly, it would complete the circle for me to bring your lives to an end!! Romeo and Juliet embraced tragedy with a spirit of stupidity no different than your own. Well, live and let die, kids! This is the final act!"
He spun around and hurriedly keystroked something across the computer console.
My lips parted.
A light flashed overhead and a siren went off.
Metallo smirked. "Indeed…no need to fear a nasty space-warp contraption blowing up half the continent." He swiveled around and faced us with a half-flesh-and-metal grin. "However, it would be prudent to stress over the self-destruct system of this facility's energy core. That'll take out the barn and a good few cows with it. If we're lucky, it'll take out the entire surrounding farmland. Heheheheh…one thing I can give that alien bucket of bolts credit for, he did clue me in to the alter ego of Superman! Pfft…Clark Kent?! Resident of Smallville?! I don't know if the criminal world would recover from laughter and hilarity quickly enough to award me the funds for giving away Blueboy's secret!"
"Metallo….," Supergirl wheezed from the floor, "…y-you're insane. How c-can you possibly stand there and make threats?! We're sealed in here. If this place blows up…we'll all go up in smoke…"
"Correction, Miss Traitor!" Metallo beamed. "I have enough time to beat your pathetic skulls in and leave your hormone-leaking bodies in this expensive crawlspace to be cremated!!" He whipped his hands out and formed a fighting pose, staring directly at me. "Come and take me on, Romeo! But expect for little beyond death! Benvolio's not here to deliver a touching eulogy!"
I whipped Myrkblade up over my head in a position ready to stab.
"J-Jordan….," Supergirl wheezed.
I silently paced away from her, eyeing Metallo.
The metal man grinned demonically and side-stepped to meet my movements across the room. The Kryptonite in his open chest glowed dramatically, pulsing in spastic response to the strobe of the emergency alarm's light in the metal ceiling above.
Supergirl weakly watched from afar. Too burdened by the Kryptonite blast to even move. The aura from Metallo's chest cavity poisoned her with each passing second.
I had to finish this. And I had to finish this soon…
"Heheheheh…," Metallo chuckled. His human and synthetic eye leered at me as he uttered: "Hey batter!! CURVE BALL!!!"
SWOOOOSH!!!
He rushed at me, arced in his charge, and swung a fist deep into my side.
WHUMP!!!!
I bent over. The breath left me.
"HA!!!" he uppercutted with his other fist.
SMACK!!!!!
I flew back and impacted the edge of a crevice. I winced in pain.
SWOOOOSH!! He came at me with two fists joined together.
"RRRRRAAAUGH!!!!"
I twirled out of the way.
SMASH!!!!
The wall shattered from his impact.
I twirled Myrkblade, clenched my teeth, and jabbed into the metal joints of his neck.
CLANK!!!
I blurred smoke energy through my body and jerked forward. My sword acted as a lever that twisted at his neck and spun his head around three whining times.
I pulled my sword out, twirled it, and rushed at his rear with a forward slash.
CLANG!!!!
Sparks flew.
Metallo's spinning head came to a stop, backwards. He laughed. "Ha ha ha ha!!!" He reverse kicked me.
WHAM!!!
I stumbled back, wincing.
He turned around to face me, his swiveling head locking into the right position.
"I see you!!!" His eyes started to glow a bright red.
I gasped and held Myrkblade out lengthwise.
ZAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!
The two streams of eye lasers struck deep into Myrkblade. I warbled black energy through it and deflected the heated blast. The force of the energy pushed at me. I slid back to the far side of the room. I struggled to ward off his pulsing blast. I sweated. My arms trembled.
He grinned while unleashing the optical punishment. "Teacher! There's something wrong with my eyes! I can't see the board!! Ha ha ha ha!!!"
I frowned. With a brave flick of the wrist, I jerked Mryblade at an angle.
FLASH!!!!
I deflected the red streams of lasers up at the ceiling. It exploded directly above Metallo, littering him with metal shards and rock.
"AUGH!!" the man cut his optic blast and stumbled back, waving a metal hand in front of his face.
Through the curtain of dust and debris, I suddenly emerged with Myrkblade swinging at him.
CLANK!!!!!
I deflected Metallo's head aside. He reeled back, growled, and thrusted at me with a hard fist.
I slid to the ground, ducked his blow, and hopped up on the other side of him. I spun and slashed Myrkblade into his side.
SWOOOOSH--
GRIP!!!
His hand gripped around the blade.
"HA!!" he sneered.
WHACK!!!
I kicked him silent with a boot to the face.
He let go of Myrkblade and stumbled back.
I spun around, twirled Myrkblade, and jabbed at him with a silent cry.
CLANK!!!!
Sparks flew off his metal shoulder.
I came at his side, twirled around, and slashed at his head.
He ducked. He shoved me across the floor with two hands together.
I slid towards the other wall.
He charged, yelling.
I gripped Myrkblade and took a deep breath.
He swung his fist through me.
I teleported to the other side of him and reverse kicked him in the rear.
WHUMP!!!
He stumbled forward and planted chest-first into a wall. I spun around and stabbed at his back.
His head swiveled around, and his eyes pulsed a short stream of red energy at me.
FLASH!!!
I flew back and landed on my rear.
Metallo swiveled around, ran, leapt, and came down at me with a charged, flying kick. "RAAAAAUGH!!!!"
I summoned murk and streamed myself in smoke form forward to meet his kick. In tendrils of smoke, I slithered up his midair body and solidified in back of him, vaulting myself up off his back.
He went plummeting like a missile straight into the ground.
THWACK!!!
I flew up, flipped, and landed in a crouch.
Metallo stood up.
In reverse, I jabbed Myrkblade behind me and lifted the blade so that it met under Metallo's arm pit and pinned itself there.
The metal man gasped in surprise.
I then teleported in place with Myrkblade free so that my limbs could be repositioned to adequately grip Myrkblade, pull with all my might, and fling Metallo's lumbering body up and over my shoulders like an ax. I sent him flying straight into the computer console ahead of me.
SMASH!!!!!!
Sparks flew, along with a splash of metal and plastic.
I panted, Myrkblade frozen in a forward lunge in front of me.
Supergirl wheezed and watched—painfully—from her prone spot on the floor.
The dust settled. Something emerged from a fresh hole in the computer console.
I raised an eyebrow.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!
That something was sailing at me.
"!!!!!"
WHAM!!!!!!
My body literally spun about from the impact of Metallo's fist.
Myrkblade clattered loudly to the floor.
The metal man snarled. The synthetic skin on half of his body was smoking from the burning crash he had experienced. He growled and pummeled me relentlessly with blurred fists of metal. Behind him, a sparking array of erupting energy formed a burning field of chaos that illuminated the entire room and blinded my black eyes amidst the punishment I was receiving.
WHAM!! THWACK!! SMACK!!! POW!!!
I lost breath. I lost strength. I lost blood.
THWUMP!!! CRACK!!! "RAAAAUGH!!!" he brought two hands down into my back.
WHUMP!!!
I fell to my knees. He yelled and kicked my upside the face.
SMACK!!!!!
I fell up…down…and tumbled across the metal floor till I lay next to Supergirl.
My bruised face stared weakly at her.
Her pained expression replied in shocked silence.
GRIP!!!!
Metallo hoisted me up by the collar of my combat fatigues and he held me high in his grasp. Evil dripped out of his eyes and burned like acid to the metal floor below as his smoking face frowned at me.
"Game's over, freak. Why must you always spoil the fun with your….your….your youness?!"
I wheezed in his grasp. Twitching weakly in pain.
His metal and flesh eyelids narrowed. "I've taken down greater warriors than you, my good dead friend! I've made Superman kneel before me! I've trashed my way through Steel's home town! You are of NO CONSEQUENCE to a god like me!!"
"Please…." There was a hand gripping Metallo's ankle.
The man looked down, squinting.
Supergirl had barely managed to crawl over, and now she was touching the man's feet. Begging. "Don't hurt him…he's not the one who deserves it…."
Slowly, a grinch like grin crossed Metallo's face. "Oh really???"
SWOOOSH-GRIP!!!!
Supergirl wheezed as suddenly the metal man's other hand was upon her throat. His fingers dug in as he raised her high into the air like he was doing to me.
He grinned wide. "Tell me….Superbitch!! Why should I spare him?!?!"
Kara wheezed. She struggled in his grasp to say: "H-He never meant t-to get involved…..he's just….j-just a visitor…"
"Correction, dearest! He's a visitor WITH A SWORD!!!" Metallo increased the pressure of his grip around her throat. The console sparked behind him and the emergency alarm light kept blaring. At any second, this hellish place would go up in smoke. "He's done his fair share of giving me a headache!! But it was you who did the worst here, I am thinking. And you would agree with me, wouldn't you?!"
"I…I…."
"WOULDN'T YOU?!?!" Metallo exclaimed. "Snkkk—Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Thought you had everything thought out, didn't you girl?! Well rationality will only get you so far!! How will history write of your name now that you've betrayed the pathetic handful of souls who were the only ones vaguely willing to care for you before you betrayed them so blindingly?!?!"
Supergirl's eyes clenched shut. She strained…struggled…and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.
"Awwww….save me the weeping!!" Metallo smirked. "Tell me…after all that you've done to endanger the lives of those around you, what could possibly make you beg for this boy's life?! What is it about him that you---" He gasped as if a startling epiphany struck his fiendish mind. And he smiled wide. "You…..you care about him, don't you?! Ya know…in that special sort of way?!?!"
Supergirl's blue eyes popped back open. Moist. Trembling. She gasped for breath.
"Say it!!" the metal man laughed above the chaos. "Ha ha ha!!! Say it, Juliet!! Say that you love him!!!"
"I….I….," Supergirl murmured.
Metallo leaned his face in. "I want to hear your say it!!! I want the words of true passion to FLOW from your mouth and drown the two of you in rich romanticism!!!"
SWOOOOOSH-CLAMP!!!
"H-Huh?!" Metallo gasped and looked down. I had my metal hand reaching deep into the core of his chest. Gritting my teeth and absorbing the sparking reaction of my effort, I mercilessly gripped the huge lump of Kryptonite and yanked it out…snapping wires and shattering metal braces.
CRACK!!!!!
That done, I let forth a shuddering breath and limply tossed the glowing rock across the floor.
Clank!-Clank!-Clank!-Clank!
Metallo's and Supergirl's eyes bounced with the tumbling rock.
Clank!-Clank!-Clank!-Clank!
The Kryptonite rattled into the smashed computer console, where the sparking energy field short-circuiting from the wall swallowed the rock up and exploded it into oblivion.
SMASH!!!
Green dust rose momentarily, but were melted away by the sparks.
And the superhero's bane was no more.
Supergirl let out a breath…a breath of relief. A sudden warmth of energy was erupting through her chest.
Metallo gulped. His metal neck creaked like the Tin Man as he looked over and stared—horrified—at Supergirl.
The Girl of Steel's lips were firm and red as she smiled and thinned her eyes.
"Juliet's missing her poison…."
Metallo's mouth hung open. "Actually…i-it was a dagger…," he murmured.
"Was it now?" she winked, and punched him square in the face.
WHAM!!!!
Metallo let go of the two of us and stumbled back.
Before Supergirl so much as touched the ground, she grabbed the metal villain's shoulders and headbutted him with a grunt.
CRUNCH!!!
Metal shards flew from his forehead as he cried out and stumbled back even more.
Supergirl flexed her neck muscles, cracked her knuckles, and flew in for the attack.
In the meantime, I stood on two feet for a space of three seconds….blinked….and collapsed limply to the floor with a soft sigh.
SWOOOOOSH!!! "AAAAAAAUGH!!!!" Supergirl rocketed towards Metallo and brought both fists into his chest at once.
CLANK!!!!!
He grunted as her blow sent him flying back against a wall.
She pivoted about to a stop and kicked him straight in the metal gut.
CRACK!!!!
A dent formed in the wall in the shape of Metallo's body.
Corbin heaved with lungs he forgot he no longer had.
Supergirl dove in with an elbow to his chest. WHAP!!! Followed quickly by an uppercut. "RAUGH!!!" SMACK!!!
Metallo's body flew—skull first—into the ceiling like a carnival game. SMACK!!! He slumped back down and into Supergirl's steel arms. She growled, spun him around, blurred with her momentum, and let go of him so that he went flying like a titanium mannequin into the wall on the other side.
SMASH!!!
More metal shards flew. Metallo convulsed on his way towards the floor in a slump.
SWOOOOSH!!!
Supergirl was at him again. She growled and gripped his arm. She wrenched his body around over her shoulder, twisted his limb the wrong way, held her breath, yanked, and—SNAP!!!!—broke his metal arm clean off his torso. She spun around and bitch-slapped him a few times with his severed forearm before flinging the entire weight of the limb into his chest like a tomahawk.
THWACK!!!!
Metallo lumbered across the chamber, crying out in shock.
Supergirl looked towards the floor. She clamped her foot down on the hilt of Myrkblade, flipping the sword up into the air. She gripped the middle of its length—impervious to the sharp edge—and twirled it over her head. She marched towards Metallo and spun the weapon like a baton, repeatedly smacking and cracking the edges of his skull and upper body with each twirl of the wooden blade. True, it wasn't the correct way to use my trademark weapon. But who the hell cared?! This was Supergirl.
WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WHAM!!!! SWISSSH!!! SW-SW-SWOOSH!!! TH-TH-TH-TH-THWACK!!!!
Metallo's body jolted, danced in mid air, and spun around multiple times from Supergirl's punishment.
The Girl of Steel sped her attack faster and faster. Her teeth gritting. Her cape billowing. Myrkblade in her grasp became a literal fan of twirling destruction. Each time it so much as came close to Metallo, the air heated up with red hot friction and sparks flew from his impacting exoskeleton.
CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!! SMACK!! CONG!!
Supergirl kicked him back, spun Myrkblade to a stop, snarled, and glowed her eyes a bright red.
ZAAAAAAAAAP!!!!! Two beams of super laser energy flowed out of her optics and plowed into Metallo's chest.
The metal man howled as he was shoved across the flashing room and straight into the sparking computer console behind him. His body convulsed with the electrical energy that had obliterated the Kryptonite. He shook and twitched and gasped up as he saw Supergirl sailing down at him, the wooden sword being stabbed down from over her blonde head and hairband like an amazon huntress.
"RAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!"
CHUNK!!!!!
Myrkblade skewered through Metallo's chest and fished itself into the dancing sparks of the console's belly underneath him. The sparks traveled up the blade as Supergirl let go and stepped back, shielding her eyes.
Metallo screamed at the top of his lungs as electrical madness exploded through him. And then…everything died. Smoke rose from the blade through his metal body and he moaned. The red in his mechanical eye faded. And he lay still.
Supergirl panted, the goddess that she was. Her cape settled still behind her back and her arms flexed with each heave of her lungs. She wiped the sweat off her brown, finished fuming, and spun around. She eyed med, rushed over, and knelt besides my weak body.
"Jordan?? Jordan?! Can you hear me?!"
I wanted to moan. I nodded and slowly—painfully—sat up. My teeth clenched as I winced and rubbed my aching body.
Thankfully, I was ready for when Kara nearly plowed me over in a hug.
"Oh, thank Kela! I-I thought you were a goner for a moment there! I didn't know how badly that bozo had beaten you!"
I wheezed and looked over her shoulder at the smoldering sight of Metallo with Myrkblade stabbed through him. I smirked.
There were worse fates….
Supergirl hoisted me up and—in an air of seriousness—she uttered: "We gotta stop this place from exploding!!"
I nodded.
We rushed over to the console and brushed Metallo's lifeless body away. She bit her lip and looked over the partially smashed computer consoles. "Oh man…it's all wrecked pretty bad!!" She looked at me. "I don't even know how to operate it!!"
I narrowed my black eyes through my shades. I took a swing at it. I walked over and keystroked a few buttons. The machine buzzed in disapproval.
I winced.
"Metallo must have had a password or something!"
I looked at his rusted corpse. There was no point in trying to get that information out of him now.
The alarm lights started to flash brighter. The whole metal facility began to shake around us.
"It's starting!!" Supergirl gasped. She looked at me with round blue eyes of intensity. "If we can't stop the blast, at least we can try and warn the others to go for cover!!"
I nodded.
Together, we rushed out of the chamber and up the thin passageway towards the exit.
The exit that was closed…
"Gang way!" Supergirl shouted. She flew up at the door, shoulders first to knock it down.
CLANG!!!!
She barely formed a dent in it. "What?!?!" she exclaimed breathlessly.
I stood behind her, trembling.
She grunted and swung her fists…elbows…and feet into the door.
WHANG!!! CLANG!!! SMACK!!!
No effect. The thing was tightly shut. Braniac's impenetrable engineering, no doubt.
I sweatdropped. I looked over at the wall console. I fingered all the buttons desperately.
No effect. The doors didn't even so much as whur mechanically…
"When Metallo set off the self destruct…," Supergirl murmured, "…he must have shut down the doors or something too!! That creep!!" She panted and wrung her fingers. "Jordan, what're we going to do?!?!"
I swallowed. I looked back and forth from the doors to the chamber. I ran back into the previous room while Supergirl resumed banging against the door with all her might of steel.
I scoured the room for solutions. I tried every computer console. I rummaged through tools. I even tried once or twice to pry Myrkblade out of Metallo's chest. But it was pinned in good.
RUMBLE!!!!
The place shook.
I gasped and fell to my rear.
"Jordan!!" Supergirl cried at as she fluttered into the room. She looked at me from where she hovered and shrugged. Panicking. "We can't get out!!"
RUMBLE!!!!!!!
Again, the place shook.
The Girl of Steel shrieked in mid air as chunks from the metal ceiling fell down. Sparks danced in the corners. Flames started erupting out from the walls.
Everything was vibrating. Pure chaos.
Supergirl spun in midair in the center of it. Blinded and confused.
I stumbled up to my feet. I wobbled as the place shook some more. The computer consoles exploded one by one. Our little piece of the earth was going haywire.
I only thought of one thing.
I blurred my legs, ran, jumped, and caught onto Supergirl in midair.
She gasped and embraced me at the last second.
The two of us hovered together in the center of the collapsing facility. Her powers kept us afloat. I clung to her and she clung to me. Our faces barely apart. Our lips parted in desperate pants of fear. The sparks splashed brighter. The fires burned hotter. We hugged each other desperately, our heads over each other's shoulders. She stroked a shivering hand through my long black hair. I wrapped my arms around her petite back. I heaved once…twice….
I arched my neck back and clenched my teeth. Murk danced around us. Covering us in a curtain of smoke. In the nick of time, I extended my dark powers of Construction and Destruction in a bubble around our floating figures. As soon as the ceiling collapsed and the flames erupted, we were shielded by my energy. And we were safe…at the moment.
The moment….
Supergirl gasped. She stared at me up close as I warbled the black bubble around us. The shaking and the noise of everything filtered in through her ears and mixed in with what she saw and her eyes twitched.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The Argosian teenager clung to her mother as her family hugged her from all angles.
She was in the center of their warmth.
The focus of their desperation.
As her world fell apart all around her…they were safe in the Temple.
Safe in each other's arms.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Kara's lips trembled. Blonde strands of hair fell out from under her hairband and blocked her eyes.
But she could not get the vision out. Her past. That one peaceful moment of warmth.
Reflecting off the dark surface of my shades.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"I love you, my daughter. My young woman…," Kala Inze said.
Tears fell from the girl's eyes. She clutched her mother and buried her face into her chest.
And all was warm and all was safe.
Even as the apocalypse rained down on her family…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
On the patio of the Kents' household.
Under a crystal clear night's sky.
I sat silently. There was a sore lump in my throat.
I focused all of my attention on Kara.
She looked up at me with hallow sapphires. "I'd give anything to see anything or anyone try and make me feel as secure as I did in their arms when the Temple and the world beyond it came crashing down under Krypton's blast wave."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Supergirl's breath left her.
There was a twinkle of something secret in her eyes and she all but melted softly into me in the dearest hug anyone had ever given me.
And I held her back as we floated there in a black cocoon surrounded by fire and destruction.
And I didn't care how much she had hurt me. All I wanted was the happiness. The feeling of the moment. And as I held her, I could deny what I once was, focus only on what I wanted to be, and try and forget what I knew I never would become in the future.
And if we died then…than perhaps it would only be fitting.
But life is never that easy…
SMASH!!!
Supergirl and I gasped. We parted from our hug and looked over at where the entrance to the facility used to be.
A fresh hole had been smashed open to early morning light. Amidst falling debris and erupting flame, a strong-muscled figure flew at us. Impervious to the destruction. A figure with dark hair, chiseled features, and a billowing cape.
"Clark!!!"
"Hang on!!!" the undeniable Man of Steel throated. Superman flew through our black shield, gripped both of us by our collars, and turned towards the new exit. "I'm getting us out of here!!"
I held my breath.
So did Supergirl.
SWOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!
The hole flew at us and--
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
We emerged from underneath the barn. I could barely make out the waving and cheering bodies of the Titans and the Kents beneath us when--
PHOOOOOOOMB!!!!!!!
The barn erupted from underneath in a huge plume of dancing flame and flying earth as Superman flew us to safety. The ground immediately imploded in on itself and buried the flame of Braniac's self-destructing facility before the explosion could resound too dramatically into the early Kansas morning. Raven and Cyborg suppressed the flames with black shields and blue energy waves. Beast Boy lifted Robin up by pterodactyl feet as the Boy Wonder launched handfuls of fire-extinguishing darts. Starfire moved John and Martha Kent back towards a safe distance.
By noontime, all the locals would be concerned about was that the Kents' barn had 'burned to the ground'.
Superman slowly floated down and lowered Supergirl and I to our feet.
The two of us breathed in relief.
"I thought I'd never bash my way in there…," Superman muttered. He looked down at us and gestured. "Lord knows it had to have been next to impossible to get out before that thing blew."
"You have a way of stating the obvious, Clark," Supergirl muttered.
The Man of Steel frowned and pointed into her chest. "And you have a lot of explaining to do, Young Lady!"
I winced.
Supergirl blushed and simpered. "Yeah…well…"
Superman suddenly glanced up.
Supergirl blinked.
A shadow was slowly forming over my figure. "????" I looked down at my darkened feet in curiosity.
Supergirl gasped. She immediately scooped me up in her strong arms and jerked me away--
SWOOOOOSH-CLUMP!!!!!!
Metallo's smoking body landed from the explosion. Myrkblade was still stabbed in his chest.
The metal man twitched and moaned. "Nnnnnnghhh….my body…what…wh-what happened?!….c-can't remember….."
"Cute…," Superman uttered, folding his arms.
Supergirl let out a sigh of relief. She realized she was still cradling me as a baby. The two of us blushed and she gently lowered me to my feet. "Eheheheheheheh….uhm….," she scratched the back of her neck before leaning forward and yanking Myrkblade strongly out of Metallo's chest like King Arthur. "I-I-I believe this belongs to you."
I smiled. I retrieved my weapon from her grasp, twirled it by the hilt, and easily sheathed it into my scabbard with a soft sigh.
CHIIING!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"I came the soonest I could…," Superman said late that afternoon. He stood before Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy besides the leftover debris of the barn. "But between Metropolis and the Watchtower, I didn't have much of a chance to answer the call until now. If I had known of the seriousness of the situation, I would have been here earlier."
"And yet again…," Robin scratched his chin, "…I honestly don't remember how you could have gotten a message from us! I certainly don't remember commanding one to be sent to you."
"So you didn't try contacting me?" Superman glanced at him curiously.
"Supergirl insisted that it wasn't necessary. And—to be honest—I trusted that the Titans, Supergirl, and I would be enough to tackle Intergang. I still have no clue how Metallo and his men managed to ambush us. But then again…none of us counted on Braniac as being a part of this plan."
"So he's dead, right?" Beast Boy asked. "Braniac's gone for good??"
"Hardly," Superman shook his head. "Braniac exists on Earth in many incarnations. Only rarely does he manifest himself physically outside of his element."
"His element?" a question mark popped over the changeling's head.
Superman nodded. "The Internet."
Beast Boy gulped. "I'm never using any date sites from now on…." He trembled.
Cyborg looked from Beast Boy to the Man of Steel. "And what will become of Metallo?"
Everyone looked over to where the unconscious, metal man was resting—tied up—against the recovered T-Car.
"Deactivation. Maybe even dismantling. I'm quite happy to have my hands on him." Superman smirked somewhat as he faced the Titan boys around him. "I didn't even have to lift a finger against him this time!"
"It's not like we did the job for you," Robin smirked. "Besides…Supergirl and Noir seem to have tackled him in the end."
"But what about what he knows??" Cyborg remarked. "Your identity! Clark Kent! Smallville! All that stuff! I mean…not everyone in this world can be so heavily trusted with a secret like us…."
"Everytime Metallo is stripped clean of his Kryptonite and given the beating he deserves…," Superman explained, "…he undergoes an amnesiac condition. It's like the power reserves to his neural net have been drained with a metaphorical syringe. He'd be hard pressed to remember anything that's happened in the last few days. Or the last few months at that matter."
"That's all well and good…," Beast Boy nodded. "But….dude….doesn't it just creep you out that he and Braniac were situated here the whole time?! Replacing your foster mom and dad with robots and stuff??"
"All water under the bridge, Beast Boy," Robin waved. He smiled up at Superman and placed his hands on his hips. "It's a pleasure to meet you again, sir. As always."
"Dude…you two know each other?!" Beast Boy cackled.
"Naturally!" Superman winked. "What are legends in the business for?" He turned and looked down at Robin. "Tell me….how's Batman doing?"
"Oh….you know….," Robin scratched the back of his head with a gloved hand and shrugged. "He's all…..Dark…..and Knightish…..as usual."
"………..," Superman stared. "……………….right." A beat. He looked at Cyborg and Beast Boy and shook their hands. "A pleasure it is to finally meet the Titans."
"A superb pleasure it is to meet you, sir!" Cyborg beamed.
"Y-Yeah!" Beast Boy smiled. "Way cool!"
"It's the Man of Steel in the flesh, Beast Boy," Robin winked under his eyemask and smiled. "What's he like in person?"
Beast Boy scratched his head and got a good look at Blueboy. "Well……h-he certainly is……………..big."
Superman chuckled. "Boy have I heard that before…"
A few paces away…at the patio of the Kents' household….
"Whew! It's great to have a real cup of tea again!" Martha Kent remarked as she and John sat together on a bench.
Starfire smiled and leaned back in her chair. "Are you both at ease now that you have been returned to your habitat?"
"Tell me this, Miss……," John uttered.
"Starfire," the Tamaranian smiled pleasantly.
"Starfire….how on earth could anyone believe our robot doubles were really ourselves??"
"To be honest…," Starfire cupped her hands together and blushed as she looked aside. "I-I had my misgivings…"
"Oh?" Martha leaned her head to the side.
The alien Titan's green eyes darted up. "The doppelgangers were most pleasant…but I failed to see in them the intimacy most common to Terran love."
John chuckled. "Is that so?"
"When Raven let you out of those holding cells in Braniac's lair….," Starfire uttered, "…the two of you were so sorrowful. So frightened. And when you retreated in each other's arms, I saw it for the first time."
John and Martha Kent took deep breaths and joined their hands together as they bravely listened.
Starfire's face was earnest as she said: "Terrans are capable of embracing sorrow as much as they embrace happiness in their love. In your robot counterparts, I saw all of the joy…but none of the pain. It did not seem like real love."
"Well…look who's the expert on romanticism," John winked and smiled at his wife. "Where do you think this little one's from, honey? Venus?"
"I don't know," Martha chuckled.
Starfire giggled and leaned her fair chin on her hands. "I have been desiring to visit the second planet, actually…"
A couple of paces away, besides a bail of hay, I stood beside Raven.
"Are you certain of this?" the dark girl asked, the Kansas wind blowing at her blue strands.
I smiled up at her and calmly nodded. I was in the middle of zipping up a backpack full of my vacation's possessions and Myrkblade. I stood up and hoisted the pack up over my shoulders.
Raven took a deep breath. "The Titans will be disappointed that you've decided to go back home on your own." A beat. She looked at me with thinned blue eyes. "Or did you tell them already?"
I slowly nodded.
"Fitting," she shrugged and paced around the hay. "You are quite the considerate type, Noir. Just do us a favor and be mindful to watch your step on your way back to the City and the Tower. We've crossed quite a distance on this vacation thus far."
I nodded. I looked at her back.
She was silent.
Slowly she spun back around and faced me. Her robe twirled. Her arms were folded. "Noir….something very…very bad happened to you down there…."
I slowly looked down. I swallowed.
She took a step forward and beckoned for my gaze. "Something very bad happened to you….and….more or less…Supergirl was responsible."
I nodded. I couldn't deny that.
A beat.
Raven leaned her head to the side. "Why…after all that she's done to you…did you go back and try to help her?"
I took a deep breath and stared at Raven.
She held a hand up. "I-I'm not blaming you or saying I disagree or anything…..I am j-just curious, Noir."
I kept staring at her through my shades. And slowly I smiled. And in the reflection of my sunglasses, I knew Raven saw herself. And she saw the figures of the Titans conversing with Superman and the Kents in the background.
The sorceress didn't need empathy to understand….
"I see…," she sighed and eyed the grass below us. "It takes a lot of compassion to forgive someone, doesn't it Noir? A great deal of compassion and….and…."
Her speech trailed off.
Silence.
She sighed. She looked up. "Just know that it isn't the same as the Titans and Wyldecarde. Not exactly the same, at least."
I slowly nodded. I was already there.
Raven swallowed. "As if it isn't obvious to you by now, I was the one who contacted Superman…"
That I didn't know. My lips parted and I leaned my head to the side in wonder.
"It was when we first got involved with Supergirl," she said. "The night we spent here with the Kents…I went to the T-Car and radioed the JLA's Watchtower. All I told Superman in the message was that he was needed back home where he was raised. I didn't tell him the reason for my calling him. I didn't tell him that I knew Supergirl was hiding something. That she was going to betray us all. After all, I've overreacted on senses of 'betrayal' before. And….well….that never went well for you."
I shook my head and gestured--
"I won't go there, Noir. Don't worry," Raven said. "Just know that….the other Titans have no clue what Supergirl has done. Not even Superman. Only we know, Noir. You and me. Supergirl too, of course. But that's more than obvious."
I stared at her in surprise.
"I have no need to tell the Titans," Raven said. "There's no need to gloat about how obviously right I was and how nobody should have doubted me…."
I smirked.
She frowned. "But all it would do is hurt the situation. At least now it would. I won't tell until…..until you'd want me to, Noir."
I raised an eyebrow.
"I'll leave it up to you," she said. "Don't worry, I won't go against my word. This is a promise. I won't tell Supergirl's secret if you won't. I don't think it's what I believe should be done that matters here." A beat. She summoned up the strength to say: "I'm not the one close friend that Supergirl has…"
I took a deep breath. Slowly, I nodded. More like a bow. I was honored…and I accepted Raven's proposal.
"I've seen you hurt enough as it is, Noir," Raven said. "And I know that there's enough pain in your past—though I have no clue as to what it is. But I don't want you to be hurt anymore. And if you and Supergirl achieve some sort of happiness that—in spite of all the wrong as of late brings you solace—then so be it. Whatever it takes to protect a friend of mine."
I smiled proudly at her.
She pouted. "And don't give me that look!! It's only because you're my friend that I'm doing this!! And I want my friends protected! It's not like I care or anything!!"
I smirked even more.
She rolled her blue eyes, folded her arms and looked to the side. A beat. "Okay….so….," Raven muttered. "Don't you have a place to go to?"
I nodded.
I waved. I turned about…and sauntered off towards the horizon.
Raven lowered her arms, turned her back to my back, and walked her own way.
But at some point—unknown to me—she paused. She looked over her shoulder at my distant figure. She was biting her lip.
A beat.
She placed her robe over her head, blotting out my image, and walked off to join Starfire and the Kents.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I was at the entrance gate to the Kents' farmland.
About to make my exit.
When….
I paused in my step.
Kara sat on the fence besides the gate. Dressed casually in the red and black jacket and jeans. The silly little girl I had seen spying on me in a Borders. She faced away from me, the wind kicking at her platinum blonde hair.
I smiled.
I slowly walked up to her, absent-mindedly gripping a backpack strap over my shoulder.
Silence ensued….one minute….a minute and a half….. Kara finally sighed and spoke: "I was afraid you were gonna do this…"
I leaned my head to the side with a curious expression.
She smiled painfully up at me. Her face immaculate. Her eyes sapphire and moist.
"I knew you were gonna head back East. That someway….somehow….you couldn't go West anymore." She glanced down at her boots. "And….I-I feel that it's all on account of me."
A painful lump formed in my throat and I wanted to tell her….
To tell her that, yes, it was the truth. I was canceling my vacation Westward with the Titans because of recent events. And I was so thankful to her.
Kara suddenly gasped as she felt my arms around her from the side. She bit her lip and smiled with a painful breath as she leaned her temple against my arms and closed my eyes.
"I…I never thought it could happen….Jordan…."
I looked at her from amidst our embrace. She opened her eyes. They were wet on the edges.
"I could….feel more secure than I even did in my family's arms. The day everything collapsed. The day everything on Argos was lost…."
I blinked under my shades. I kept holding her.
She nuzzled my arm and again sighed.
Silence.
"Thank you, Jordan…."
I parted out hug and shrugged. I smiled.
So did she.
"Uhm…," she blushed. She reached down to her side beneath the fence and produced a haphazardly wrapped package. "I….have something for you…."
"????" I picked it up as she held it for me.
"It's not really a gift….to be honest," she hugged her knees to herself and balanced on the edge of the wooden fence. "But….I-I really think it's important…..for me…..f-for us even…."
I slowly nodded. I zipped open my backpack and placed it inside.
She took a breath and smiled. "Y-Yeah…..wait till it's almost dark and…..you're well on your way home before opening it. P-Promise?"
I smiled. I crossed my heart.
She slowly jumped down and stood before me. Again…eye-level. The wind blew at her platinum blonde hair.
"So…..um….I guess this is goodbye." She winced. "Gawd, that sounds so cliché."
I chuckled breathily.
She giggled.
The wind twirled around us.
Silence.
"Uhm…," she blushed and hugger her shoulder with her other arm. "D-Do you think we could meet? Ya know…again sometime? Sometime and some place where there aren't metal maniacs running around to end our lives and that of the world?? Heheheh…."
I smiled and nodded gently.
"Good…," she uttered. "Cuz….I-I'd really like that." She bit her lip. "Can't be anytime soon, of course. Cl-Clark's grounded me. He doesn't take a liking to….ya know….me facing action so close to home by myself. Oh, not to mention Ma and Pa being replaced by robots and stuff."
I chuckled again and she giggled again.
Silence.
We drank in each other's faces before….gradually…we had to part.
I was already walking away.
She stood by the fence to her farm and waved. "Cya…."
I waved. My face firm. I turned around….leaving the West once and for all. And when I was a good distance down the road, I took a happy breath and began sprinting…blurring…forming a black streak against the landscape and soaring across the country.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
It was well into the setting of the Sun when I approached the western edge of the Appalachians.
I had made good time.
I rested in between throttling bursts of murking blurs across the landscape. Moving at speeds just shy of what the Flash can accomplish. I forgot how much I missed that sort of movement. The last time I had so freely blurred across the landscape like that was during my trip with Beast Boy to Westhaven long ago. It was invigorating. I knew I had to pause to eat and sleep at some point…but I didn't want to stop. I couldn't wait to once again taste the air of the Atlantic Ocean. To see the skyline of the City. To approach the gates of the Tower.
But I did stop at some point. Because I saw that the sun was setting and I thought of Kara and my promise to her.
I nestled myself on a ridge overlooking a brown and green valley.
I dug my hand into the backpack and—sitting crosslegged—I opened the package lightly wrapped for me to tear.
I froze.
I slid my hands in and produced the contents of the package. A reflective, obsidian hairband. Kara's heirloom from her home planet Argos. The same one that changed colors and reflected emotion on the fly.
My breath left me. I turned it over in my grasp. I glanced beneath it and saw a hastily scribbled note attached. I picked it up in another hand and read it.
'Hey there, stranger. By the time you read this, I bet the land is no longer boring and flat. Do me a favor and find a good place before you chuck this into the wind.'
I blinked under my shades.
Slowly, I smiled.
I slipped the package away into my backpack, jumped up to my feet, and—with the hairband in grasp—marched up the length of the mountaintop I was on. I found a sharp ridge overlooking the valley. I peered out into the geographical oblivion.
Westward.
I took a deep breath, held the accessory over my head, and flung it out with a gasp.
It spun for a few seconds like a black boomerang before being swept up in an invisible and carried off into the haze of the darkening world. Disappearing. Fading away. And I smiled with the wind against my back, for I realized that the 'West' was as much a word as 'pride' and 'nobility'.
I turned around, faced the wind joyfully, and continued my trek Eastward.
To Home.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
That evening…as the last of the sunset faded and the Kansas night turned black…Kara sat on the top of the Kents' second story rooftop. She hugged her knees and faced directly westward.
Sighing.
And then…with a sparkle…the first star in the night's sky appeared.
She gasped. Eyeing it with twitching eyes of blue.
The star stabbed into her…winked…and multiplied into pinpricks of boundless space.
At the very moment that a black-eyed ghost was tossing away her family heirloom miles away…the heavens were yawning over her. And Kara Inze got the reminder that she so needed.
Home and Family numbered her life as the stars. There was no absolute. Just a wealth of undeniable warmth that she was starting to feel in the arms of another.
With forgiveness.
She smiled and hugged herself. She was a woman after all.
"Thank you…."
The voice filtered across the landscape to catch up with the benefactor. But she knew he couldn't hear her. Kara's visitor had come and gone. Like the bat of an eyelash. The twinkle of a star.