Chapter 5: Of Swords and Sorcery

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe belong to Mattel. No infringement is intended.

Year 5 ASW

The anomaly came out of nowhere; it simply appeared in the skies over California with no warning whatsoever. Dark clouds formed in a matter of seconds, lightning arced through the sky that had been clear moment earlier, and the earth shook as booming noises reverberated through the air. Those who observed the phenomenon described the sound as "a powerful fist trying to knock down heaven's door".

Superwoman arrived on the scene within a matter of minutes as the extremely localized storm showed no signs of abating, quite the opposite. Scanning the phenomenon with her super vision, Kara quickly felt dizzy as the cloud seemed to be much, much bigger on the inside and her gaze travelled down a near-infinite tunnel. It was some kind of rip in space, she realized, possibly a wormhole or an interdimensional gate, and looking at it made her queasy.

Even as Kara was still trying to figure out what to do, a trio of lights suddenly appeared on the horizon, streaking through the sky like miniature comets. They were heading directly towards the anomaly and did not change course, even with a floating woman being directly in their path.

Kara, focused on the anomaly, noticed them too late and one of the mini comets smashed into her body with terrible force. The momentum carried both the comet and her directly into the anomaly. Falling down the near-infinite tunnel within, Kara disappeared from the face of the Earth, even as the anomaly vanished as quickly as it had come.

When Kara finally regained her senses, she was rapidly falling towards a rocky landscape. Taking but a moment to slow her fall, she came to a stop in mid-air and looked around.

"Okay, sun's the wrong size, vegetation looks weird, and the sky has got a slight purple tint to it," she muttered to herself. "Something tells me I am no longer on Earth."

Looking up, she saw no trace of the space anomaly that had brought her here. Was she trapped here? How was she supposed to get back to Clark? She felt panic rising within her, but she pushed it down. She would find a way home, no matter what it took. She just needed to keep a cool head.

Using her enhanced vision, she looked around in ever-extending circles until she finally spotted something. Three fiery little comets, the same ones she had seen from the corner of her eye before one of them had smashed into her. They were almost at the edge of her vision, about to vanish behind the curvature of the planet, so she wasted no time flying after them. Clearly these things, whatever they were, had used the anomaly to travel from Earth to here, so odds were they could bring her back, too.

Even as she followed the comets, she took in as much of her surroundings as she could. Clearly this place was a planet somewhat similar to Earth. The flora and fauna were different, naturally, but there were quite a few similarities as well. She could also see signs of civilization, though from the looks of things it was pre-industrial. There were castles, farms, and humanoid beings riding horse-like animals while carrying swords and spears.

The comet things were finally slowing down and set down directly in front of a rather decrepit-looking castle. The structure looked like it could fall apart at any moment, though the design was rather creepy and intimidating, she had to admit. The entire front was sculpted to look like a giant skull with the drawbridge forming the mouth.

The comet things came to a stop in front of it and suddenly there were three people standing there, though Kara was using the term 'people' very loosely. One of them was a huge ape-like beast of a man with bright orange fur and huge teeth. The second one seemed to be some sort of aquatic creature, looking almost like a fish walking upright. The one in the middle easily took the win in terms of weirdness, though. A blue-skinned man wearing purple armor and... yes, there really was nothing but a skull where the face should be. It was not a mask, either, as her X-Ray vision clearly showed. Just a skull floating freely on top of an otherwise fleshy body. Given the look of the castle, she assumed that this guy was the owner.

"At last, the Power Sword is mine," the skull-guy yelled, holding aloft two identical-looking blades. He was not speaking English, nor Kryptonian, yet for some reason she could understand him. Weird.

"Long have I awaited this day when the elusive twin of the sword I hold would be mine. Those fools thought I would never find it, hidden as it was on a distant world, but it was child's play to retrieve it. And now 'tis done. All that remains is the joining of the halves for the secrets of yon Castle Grayskull to be revealed and by revealing them, making me Master of the Universe! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Kara was stumped for a moment. She had encountered her share of super villains and quite a few of them seemed to be in the habit of monologuing, but this guy here was something else.

"Then do it, master," the ape-guy said, growling. "Your humble servant would see it done!"

Using the flat of one of the blades, the skull guy gave the ape guy a hard swat to his butt. "Not yet, foolish cur! Such a grandiose event must wait, for the stars are not yet properly aligned for the magics to work! But once the dark star does stand poised 'twixt the Eternian moons, this world will feel my might!"

More and more Kara felt like she was stuck in the middle of some kind of fantasy movie, but it did not change her situation. She was still marooned on an alien world and clearly the skull guy with the blades was the one who could bring her home. Given his monologue, though, she was quickly gaining the impression that he was not the kind of guy to do so out of the goodness of his heart. Besides, anyone wanting to be 'Master of the Universe' and talking about dark stars and wanting to let the world feel his might, probably needed to be stopped.

Still, she felt uncertain. She was the alien here and knew nothing about the local situation. Was this guy a bad guy? Probably, yes, but she couldn't be sure, and it wouldn't do to just pick a fight with someone, no matter how gruesome he looked or how clichéd his speeches.

Sighing deeply, she decided to get it over with. A quick burst of super-speed had her standing in front of the skull-themed castle (Grayskull, he called it?). Raising her open hands in the universal sign of non-aggression, she stepped towards the three natives.

"Excuse me for interrupting," she said, hoping that whatever strange force allowed her to understand these strangers worked both ways.

"Who are you?" skull guy asked, raising his blades. "A champion of Grayskull? Did the foolish Goddess send you?"

Keeping her hands up, Kara shook her head. "I am merely a visitor to these lands. When you and your companions travelled through the anomaly from my world to this one, I was accidentally swept along for the ride. I only wish to go home again, nothing more."

Given that he had nothing but a skull for a face, there were no facial expressions to read, of course. Still, she had the feeling that the skull guy might be smiling broadly right now if only he could.

"A visitor from another world, yes? Well, never let it be said that Skeletor is not accommodating," skull guy chuckled.

At this point in her life, Kara-El had yet to encounter much in the way of magic. Sure, she had faced off against mythical creatures alongside her best friend Diana, the Wonder Woman of Themiscyra, but apart from an adventure she no longer remembered, she had never faced a magic user head on so far.

Thus she was entirely unprepared as Skeletor's eye sockets began to glow a deep, crimson red and began to ensnare her mind.

Some leagues away, a blonde-haired man and a green tiger the size of a pony were quickly making their way towards a hidden cave entrance. The man was Adam, Prince of the Kingdom of Eternos, and the tiger was his loyal companion Cringer. Now if one were to ask any given citizen of Eternos, they would probably say that Prince Adam was an amicable young man, certainly charming, but not one interested in hard work or actually achieving anything of value in the world. Only a select few knew that this was but a carefully crafted façade.

"Welcome, Prince Adam," an ethereal voice greeted him as he entered the mouth of the Cavern of Power. There, at the edge of the tunnel, stood the green-skinned shape of the Eternian Goddess, protector of the world. As she raised her hands, a wave of power washed over Adam and Cringer. Both of them grew larger, armor appeared on their bodies, and a moment later the two of them looked entirely different. Before the Goddess now stood He-Man, Champion of Grayskull, and his loyal steed Battle Cat.

"I have heeded your call, mighty Goddess, and am as ever at your command," He-Man intoned, bowing. "Speak then, Goddess, what new danger menaces Eternia that might require the might of He-Man?"

"'Tis, alas, as always, mighty warrior, the evil of the demonic Skeletor, enemy eternal of thy world. He has continued his search for the two halves of the Power Sword and, I fear, he has found them."

He-Man gasped, for he knew the consequences should one like the evil demon Skeletor gain the power hidden inside Castle Grayskull.

"Then I must be off immediately to stop him," He-Man said, jumping on the back of Battle Cat. "He no doubt seeks entry into Castle Grayskull, does he not?"

"Yes, go now, my warrior! And may the fates be with you!"

Battle Cat's mighty gait bridged the distance between the Cavern and Castle Grayskull in a matter of minutes. As He-Man approached, though, he feared that he might yet be too late. Skeletor was standing in front of Grayskull's gates, the two halves of the Power Sword in his claw-like hands. He quickly recognized the Beast-Man and Mer-Man, two of Skeletor's henchmen he had faced in battle before. There was a fourth person there as well, though, one he did not recognize. It was a woman, clad in a blue suit with a red cape, her hair as golden as his own.

As he got closer, though, he saw that the woman was surrounded by some sort of glowing aura and her face was slack, her eyes unfocused. He-Man had seen people with this kind of look before. Skeletor was using his evil powers to bewitch her, to turn her into a slave to his will. This would not do!

"Halt, evil one," He-Man yelled as he got closer, his mighty battle axe secure in his hand. "Grayskull will never be yours and neither will the Power Sword!"

Skeletor turned towards him, as did his two henchmen. Both of them started to move towards him, but Skeletor held them back with a gesture.

"He-Man! You will not stop me from fulfilling my destiny today!"

Jumping off Battle Cat, He-Man ran towards his skeletal foe, ready to swing his axe. "I will stop you as I have always done, Skeletor! And do not attempt to bewitch me as you have done this poor woman! Thanks to the Goddess I am all but impervious to your magics!"

Skeletor laughed. "That you are, He-Man, but the damsel you seem so intent to save, she is not."

He-Man swung his axe with all his considerable might, but Skeletor made no move to evade or block him. Instead a deceptively small hand flashed out faster than his eye could follow and caught his axe in mid-air before it could cleave his foe's skull in two.

Turning to look at the woman, He-Man saw her beautiful features twist in anger, an eerie glow to her eyes.

"I sense quite a bit of power in this woman, He-Man," Skeletor cackled. "Power, mayhap, to rival your own. But that is a matter to be decided in combat! Kill him!"

Due to the magics of the Goddess, He-Man laid claim to the title 'most powerful man in the universe'. His strength was legendary, far more than even his impressive physique could explain. He had lifted mountains and toppled castles with a single punch. As the blonde woman moved, so fast that her features blurred, He-Man was anxious, but not really worried. A moment later he changed his mind, though.

The woman's fist impacted against his armored chest with a clap like thunder and He-Man was thrown back by the sheer force. His feet dug deep trenches into the ground as he fought for balance. The moment he managed to regain his footing, the woman was there again, flying forward as if gravity itself dared not hold her. He-Man moved, gifted with speed far beyond those of normal men himself, but he was still not fast enough to evade his attacker entirely. Her second hit on him rattled his brain and made him stumble back.

Reluctant as he was to strike his opponent, both because she was a woman and because she was clearly bewitched, he realized he needed to defend himself, lest she slaughter him where he stood. So when she approached him for another strike, he lashed out with a powerful fist of his own and hit the side of her head even as her own fist made contact with his chest once again.

Both fighters rocked back from the impact, but neither of them went down.

"Good work, my newest servant," He-Man heard Skeletor cackle. "Just keep the muscled oaf busy for another minute or so, then my time will have come!"

He-Man knew his time was running out, but the bewitched woman was attacking him yet again and it was all he could do simply to stay alive.

Kara was fully aware of what was happening but found herself powerless to stop it. Some kind of haze had settled over her mind, and she found herself a passenger in her own body, unable to keep herself from unleashing her full strength on the blonde stranger. Amazingly he withstood her strongest blows and dished out a few of his own, powerful enough to hurt. But while they were somewhat evenly matched in terms of strengths, she had a clear edge in speed and hit him two or three times for any hit he landed on her.

She heard Skeletor's words and knew that time was running out. There were no more doubts in her mind that he was the bad guy and that he should definitely not succeed at whatever it was he was trying to do, but she had no idea how to stop it. Whatever power he had, she had no defense against it. This He-Man guy (and what kind of name was that? And was he really wearing shorts made out of fur?) had said something about magic. Primitive superstition, probably, but clearly Skeletor had some sort of psychic power or something.

When another hit from He-Man twisted her around, her eyes landed on Skeletor, and she suddenly had an idea. While she was clearly incapable of disobeying his direct command to attack He-Man, he had not given her any other orders. So when her eyes fell on him, she immediately activated her heat vision.

Twin beams of red energy exploded from her eyes and converged on Skeletor's hands as he raised the two halves of the sword high over his head. The blue-skinned demon screamed in pain as his skin blistered and bubbled and he dropped the two weapons immediately. As he screamed, Kara felt the haze lift from her mind. It appeared Skeletor's concentration was broken.

"Well done, woman," He-Man said, apparently realizing what was going on, for he immediately stopped fighting against her and raced towards the stumbling form of Skeletor. "Now let us vanquish this evil once and for all!"

Swallowing a comment about his flowery speech, Kara simply nodded and flashed forward at super speed, quickly picking up the two discarded blades and throwing them away as far as she could. Skeletor's two henchmen were looking to enter the battle but were cut off by He-Man's feline companion. A moment later He-Man was upon Skeletor, who blocked his axe strike with a ram-headed staff he had procured from somewhere.

"Curse you, He-Man," Skeletor growled, his burned hands having no trouble holding his weapon, it seemed. "You will pay for this!"

Kara was about to enter the fray herself when the roar of engines suddenly filled the air. Not having expected such noises on this primitive world, Kara looked to the sky in amazement as she spotted a small fleet of flying vehicles approaching. While their designs looked as medieval as everything else on this world, they were clearly jet-powered. And a moment later they let loose with laser blasts towards Skeletor's henchmen.

"The forces of Eternos have arrived, Skeletor," He-Man said with a grin. "You are outnumbered and outclassed! Surrender!"

"May the Dark ones damn you for all eternity, fools!" Skeletor growled. "You may have bested me for the nonce, but I shall recoup my strength and I SHALL RETURN!"

There was a flash of light and suddenly Skeletor and his two henchmen were simply gone as if they had never been there.

"He-Man, are you alright?"

Kara looked to see two people climb out of one of the flying machines. One of them was a man glad in green and orange armor, a steel helmet on his head. His armor looked medieval at first glance, but upon closer inspection Kara saw that he was carrying an energy blaster and advanced circuitry was woven into his armor plates. The woman by his side wore ... less. A white swimming suit, basically, with some ornaments and the same kind of furry boots that pretty much everyone here seemed to wear. She also carried both an energy gun and a sword.

This was such a weird place.

Several hours later Prince Adam strode through the halls of the palace of Eternos, the garb and power of He-Man returned to whence they came. As he entered the royal audience chamber, he saw the woman he had fought with earlier now standing beside Man-at-Arms and Teela. Neither of them had believed him (or He-Man, rather) at first when he had said that the woman was every bit as strong as he was, but after she had casually lifted up one of the Wind Raiders with but one hand, they had come around rather quickly.

"He-Man has taken the two halves of the Power Sword to the Goddess," he heard Man-at-Arms say. "As she was the one who hid them in the first place, I am certain she will be able to take you back to your world once she has had time to gather her power."

The woman, who had introduced herself as Kara, looked skeptical, but He-Man could not fault her. Eternia had not exactly been welcoming to her, given that her first encounter had been Skeletor.

"I see we have guests, Man-at-Arms?" Adam said as he approached them. "Care to introduce us?"

"Certainly, Adam. This is Kara-El, a visitor from a distant planet who aided He-Man in defeating Skeletor. Kara-El, this is Adam, Prince of Eternos, son of King Randor and Queen Marlena."

He shook her hand and as she looked at him with a frown on her face, Adam feared that she might recognize him. If she did, though, she said nothing, simply giving him a nod.

Any further conversation was cut off, though, as the king and queen entered the audience chamber. His father and mother personally wanted to thank their strange visitor, after all, for they all knew how dangerous Skeletor was to the safety and prosperity of Eternia as a whole.

"Presenting his majesty King Randor of Eternos. Presenting her majesty Queen Marlena of Eternos."

Adam was watching their visitor as his parents came in. Kara-El regarded his father with polite interest, but when her eyes fell upon his mother, they suddenly widened in recognition. Strange, he mused. How could this alien from another world possibly know his mother?

Thankfully, after a quick exchange of pleasantries, his question was answered.

"Excuse me for asking this, Queen Marlena," Kara-El began. "But is it possible that you are not from this world, either?"

His mother frowned and Adam could see both his father as well as Man-at-Arms tense suddenly. Adam knew, of course, that his mother was not from Eternia. She had crashed here more than twenty years ago and had been found by his father, who quickly fell in love with her. But how could this alien possibly know this?

"Why would you ask such a question?" the queen asked, looking guarded.

"You are her, are you not? You are Captain Marlena Glenn. I saw your picture in one of my son's schoolbooks."

His mother's entire demeanor changed suddenly. "You... you are from Earth?"

Kara-El nodded. "I was not born there, but it has been my home for more than a decade now. You were a subject in one of my son's history classes. The first NASA astronaut to circle the Earth. When your capsule vanished after the third orbit without a trace everyone assumed you had died somewhere in space."

"No, I didn't die," his mom said. "Some kind of space warp opened and brought me here, where I crashed."

"Well, I came from another world and crashed on Earth."

For the next few hours Adam was utterly lost as his mother and the alien woman spoke at length about the experience of suddenly finding themselves on an alien world. His mother also had a million and one questions about Earth, her original home world, and how much it had changed in the years since she had been there. Questions Kara was only too happy to answer, and every answer left Adam more confused.

Earth sounded like such a weird place.

Standing before the gates of Castle Grayskull, Kara watched as the woman called only "the Goddess" worked some magic (probably some kind of psionic ability, she figured) on the sword that had started all this trouble. Apparently, it was among the most powerful magical artefacts in this world (some kind of psycho-responsive metal that boosted existing psi powers maybe?).

"Only with the power of the sword shall I be able to pierce the dimensional barriers and bring you home again, Superwoman," the Goddess said as if reading her mind. "The gap will only be open for a short period, then it must be closed again."

Kara nodded. While she was not an expert on this kind of phenomenon by any means, she fully understood that tearing open the fabric of time and space was not something that should be done casually or for any length of time. She had also been told that, once she was home, the Power Sword would be split again, and the halves hidden in new places, so that Skeletor would hopefully not find them again. Personally she hoped that Earth would not be one of the hiding places again.

She turned to the people who had accompanied her here. He-Man was present, of course, just in case, as well as the King and Queen of Eternos, along with several of their guards.

"I thank you for your hospitality," she told the king and queen. Looking at the queen, she added "you are certain you do not wish to see your home world again?"

Queen Marlena nodded. "Eternia is my home now, Superwoman. But I would be forever grateful if you could contact my family back on Earth and let them know that I am well."

Kara nodded. "I am not sure they will believe this story, but I will tell them. I promise."

"Maybe you can give them this," Marlena said, handing her a large rectangular package. Looking inside, Kara saw that it contained a portrait of the royal Family, Marlena standing proudly with her husband and son.

"I will make sure they get it," Kara promised, giving Marlena a hug.

Saying her final goodbyes, she turned to He-Man, who stood a little to the side.

"Good luck with that Skeletor guy," she told him, shaking his hand. "I am rather sure you have not seen the last of him."

"I will stand ready should he return," He-Man told her. "You are a mighty warrior, Kara-El of Earth. I am sure your world is well-protected under your care."

"Thank you. I am sure Eternia is safe under your watch as well." Leaning closer, an impish smile appeared on her face. "By the way," she whispered, "I am pretty sure your mother knows what her darling son is up to when he disappears."

A look of shock appeared on He-Man's face. "You mean...," his voice trailed off.

"Mothers always know what their sons are up to. Trust me on this, Adam!"

With a final wave, Kara-El flew up into the opening anomaly and vanished from the planet Eternia, leaving behind a gob-smacked He-Man who cast suspicious glances towards his mother, who merely smiled.

End Chapter 5

Author's Note: This story is an adaptation of DC Comics Presents #47 (1982), the original crossover between Superman and He-Man (DC had the He-Man license at the time). The original story was little more than a short slugfest between He-Man, Superman, and Skeletor, though, no real plot beyond that. I expanded a bit on it and included some stuff from the second crossover, which took place in DC Comics Presents #51. Marlena Glenn, He-Man's mother, being an astronaut from Earth is canon, of course. Personally I always figured her name was a reference to John Glenn, hence Kara's remark about her being the first American to orbit the Earth.

Side note: this was actually the first-ever appearance of He-Man's Prince Adam identity, even before the Filmation cartoon. In all his appearances before that, He-Man was still the Conan-like barbarian he was originally conceived as. The comics still featured several things that were later removed from He-Man canon, such as the Power Sword breaking into two separate halves or Skeletor being an extra-dimensional demon instead of Adam's disfigured uncle. Also, Adam's iconic "By the Power of Grayskull, I have the Power!" transformation was not a thing yet, he received his powers directly from the Sorceress / Goddess upon entering the Cavern of Power without the need for a sword or an incantation.

Why did I include this crossover here? Well, two reasons. I'm a huge He-Man fan as well. And two, I do have tentative ideas for a She-Ra crossover, too.