Kryptonian Heritage – Chapter 1
By MagnusMagneto
Commissioned by Cerebus873
This story takes place in a time-line most similar to that of Superman the Animated Series and Justice League / JL Unlimited. That is to say, the power granted by being Kryptonian is much less than some of the comics’ continuities. While Superman is immensely powerful, he can’t do some of the more ridiculous feats he’s associated with (no turning back time, or pushing planets by sneezing)
So, with that said, there will be many things pertaining to the canon that extremely hardcore fans may call incorrect. Those who fall under that category, I hope you can try to understand what I’m going for here and enjoy it. For everyone else, I’ve tried to explain the various terms/characters in simple language as they pop up, but due to the sheer amount of background mythology being referenced here a couple of trips to a comic book wiki may help at certain points.]]
1.)
Kara Zor-El, commonly known as Supergirl, couldn’t believe her life was going to end like this. She laid on the cold, hard ground of an alien planet, helpless and on the brink of death. The solar energy reserves that empowered her, a source she thought was limitless, had been all but depleted. Cuts adorned both her dress and skin – the same skin she once believed to be impervious to harm. A monstrous gray man stood above her, arms crossed behind his back. He possessed features resembling stone chiseled into scaly hide-like skin. He spoke with a deep, bellowing voice fit for a king: “And so, daughter of Krypton, you breathe your last breath before Darkseid. Remember that it was by your will that your fate was decided today.”
Kara attempted to get up. She mustered the last bit of strength she had and pushed against the ground, desperately trying to raise her lithe body from the floor. “N… never..” She sputtered. “I’ll… never give…”
Darkseid laughed before swiftly kicking her in the gut, sending her sprawling across the floor. “You would have made a potent Fury in my army if you had only listened to reason. Instead you shall become a floor-mat to remind all who would attack Apokolips of my might. Either way, you will serve me.” His eyes began to glow bright red. “With your reserves of solar energy depleted, you have no way to avoid nor survive my dreaded Omega Beam.” A pair of rectangular lasers emerged from the gathering light in his ocular, headed straight for the small, helpless, blond woman on the floor.
Suddenly, a tremendous crash rang out. An ethereal vortex of white appeared in the middle of the room, and a large human shaped man dressed in blue flew out. Kal-El; commonly known as Superman; also known as The Man of Steel; secretly known as Clark Kent, possessed one of Darkseid’s own ‘Boom Tubes’ – which were essentially alien teleporters. Superman’s large, muscular mass quickly intercepted the beam, the light smashing against his bulk. He let out a cry of pain, but beyond that he was relatively unscathed. A few moments passed, and the energy trail coming from Darkseid’s eyes vanished.
“My turn.” Superman quipped before his eyes turned red, emitting a beam of their own. The rays hit Darkseid square in the face, causing him to recoil backward. During this time, Kal-El closed the distance, flying forward with speed beyond that of light itself, moving so quickly that he vanished from sight of the human eye. With this acceleration behind his fist he landed a hit square in the stone-like face of Darkseid, sending him flying backward. Superman followed up with another burst of flight to intercept Darkseid, followed by another blow. He repeated this cycle, controlling precisely where his target would travel, effectively playing ping-pong with the monstrous man’s body.
The man in blue’s attacks continued for a few more moments, blow after blow crashing upon Darkseid’s body. Eventually the assault came to a finish, and Darkseid’s defeated body lay on the ground. In a mere few moments Superman had finished what Kara failed to.
Lazily, Superman flew over to the woman laying on the ground. She was his cousin, a fellow Kryptonian: a species of human-like alien that becomes super-powered from exposure to yellow sun. A moment later, he stood over her, hands akimbo on his hips.
“Kara.” He greeted flatly.
“Kal…” Supergirl replied, her voice weak and wavering.
“We’ll talk later Kara. There’s a lot we need to discuss.” His tone was that of disappointment.
A moment later, another Boom Tube opened, and a squad of humanoids in bright, colorful outfits flew out. They were known as members of The Justice League, and they possessed powers similar to that of man in blue; though none were quite as powerful as he was.
Superman began to speak again: “The League will clean up the rest of the mess here. Let’s get you home.” He grabbed onto Kara’s waist, hoisted her off the ground before taking off at superhuman speed through the Boom Tube.
–
A few hours later, back at Justice League Headquarters
–
The League, an organization of super powered beings that vowed to protect Earth, took residence in a massive flying satellite within the planet’s orbit. Seemingly everything was composed of metal, as the station truly looked like a bleeding edge installation out of a science fiction movie.
Supergirl was surrounded by a few individuals: her cousin, Superman; a tall statuesque woman named Diana, also known as Wonder Woman; a thin man in a red costume referred to as The Flash; and an African American fellow in a green outfit called The Green Lantern. They were all standing hands on their hips akimbo, scowling or frowning at Kara.
Superman was speaking: “So just to clarify, in front of everyone here, you not only went to Apokolips alone, but went ahead and attacked Darkseid? All without notifying the League ahead of time, and most of all without alerting ME?” Superman’s expression was a mixture of anger and disappointment.
Supergirl pouted. “I just wanted to be proactive for once! I don’t know why you guys let Darkseid continue doing his thing when he’s always just going to threaten entire civilizations, sometimes including Earth! Hell, hasn’t he caused some species to go extinct!?”
“Kara.” The tall woman known as Wonder Woman spoke, her voice was rich, low, and thrilling. “I understand how it is. To want to cleanse the evil of man’s world, but even the mightiest of warriors needs to rely on their teammates.”
“I was almost successful! Darkseid just caught me off guard-” Kara tried to defend herself.
“Almost isn’t good enough.” This time the dark skinned man was speaking, his voice was deep and confident. “What if Superman hadn’t detected something was wrong? What if we didn’t have reverse engineered Boom Tubes thanks to Batman? What if we had waited a second longer and that beam hit you? The fact that you’re alive is a miracle in itself.”
Kara sighed, her pout deepening.
This time the red costumed man spoke. His voice was friendlier, a bit higher pitched than the bass tones of his comrades. “You should listen to the man. Belieeeve me kid, there were plenty of times where I got full of myself and they had to bail my butt out. I just wish I listened to their advice sooner!”
“Uggh!” Kara was visibly agitated. “You guys just don’t understand!”
“Oh, I understand alright.” Superman cut in. “Kara, you may be my cousin, but I can’t show nepotism. You are hereby on suspended leave from the League. Until you either take part in remedial classes to learn teamwork, or somehow prove that you have enough power and judgment to take on the likes of Darkseid alone, you’re grounded.”
“What!?” Kara shouted.
The other league members shuffled about, looking at one another with uncomfortable expressions. It was clear that they weren’t planning on Superman to do something this drastic, but none of them wanted to object with his ruling.
“You heard me.” Superman replied. “Take some time off. Clear out your head. Let me know when you can meet the criteria I’ve listed.”
“Kal!”
Superman spoke again. “If I so much as see you on League grounds, or on any League missions, I WILL detain you and place you into a red sun chamber until you can see things rationally.”
The shuffling and uncomfortable glances among the other members intensified. The threat of a red sun chamber was quite severe – it was one of the few things in existence that could quickly strip a Kryptonian of the yellow-sun radiation stored in their body. If Superman were to place her in one, she’d essentially be powerless until he let her out.
“Fine!” Kara shouted before floating up. “I don’t need to be a part of this stupid league anyways! I’ll go become stronger. You’ll see!” and with a flash she was out of the room and off the station, flying through space at immense speeds, back to her home on Earth.
2.) The next day, Kara’s apartment in Metropolis
Kara stared in the mirror. Her skin was objectively flawless. Her eyesight was capable of zooming in on a molecular level, which gave proof to this claim. She never needed to wear makeup, despite possessing a beauty that when captured on film, one would presume was doctored. The young woman’s hair, nails, and eyes were similarly without a single mar.
No mortal human female alive could hope to compare to her. It was impossible for Kara to acquire blemishes or scars – when she held yellow-sun radiation in her cells, her skin was impervious to anything except for magic, a green rock called Kryptonite, or tremendous force. Even Darkseid’s beating had all but vanished as the scrapes, bruises and other wounds had healed overnight. She didn’t need to eat, drink, or sleep. She sometimes still did, but this was solely for pleasure, to induce a dream, or to make herself feel human. Technically, Kara didn’t even need to breathe, though her body still did so automatically. After having come into contact with Earth’s sun, the source of her powers, Kara’s body ceased to sweat, as had become immune to heat. In fact, she didn’t even produce foul body odor from exertion; only her persistent hint of sun-touched feminine pheromones that every man alive found enticing.
The advantages of her heritage coupled with exposure to the sun didn’t end there. Kara’s mind functioned far better than any unpowered human’s could ever hope to. She could think, learn, and calculate things magnitudes more quickly than the human limit, and possessed a photogenic memory from which she could recall anything instantly. The only chink in her mental armor was a lack of creative and lateral thinking, but this could be easily more than made up for with raw technical speed.
Kara could hear almost anything in the radius of thousands of miles if she simply focused on it. She could similarly see across the entire continent. In fact, she could peer through things, as she possessed a form of ‘X-Ray Vision’. Only certain substances, such as lead, could block her sight. Those same eyes could create pure red heat condensed into laser form, similar to what Darkseid and her cousin emitted during their fight.
She was, for all intents and purposes, effectively perfect. Despite all of this, the endless gifts granted to her, Kara felt weak. For all of her might, she was powerless against a single tyrant. Not her cousin though; Kal could wipe the floor with Darkseid almost anytime he wanted. Only with the use of one of their shared weaknesses, such as the aforementioned Kryptonite, could the stone faced man hope to defeat Superman.
It was strange how even with nearly infinite power compared to a regular human, or even herself a few years ago, Kara felt entirely powerless when matched up against one of these even greater beings. Being chastised and put on ‘leave’ from the League by her cousin in front of others that she respected didn’t help the matter.
–
Frustrated with being dwarfed by her cousin, and feeling helpless without his help in certain situations, Kara decided to seek out more power for herself. First she decided to try out the most obvious thing: obtaining more solar energy. She flew to the sun, the source of her powers, stripped naked (her clothing was woven with special Kryptonian thread that protected it from disintegrating when she approached the sun), and bathed in its rays within direct proximity. The young woman could feel the cells in her body growing engorged with even more power. She lingered for a while, eventually drew ever closer, and mentally focused on siphoning as much solar radiation as possible. Her cells became further infused with the sun’s power, and every slender muscle on her frame actually grew slightly. Before long she began to give off a kind of radiance of her own, her body literally shining.
Kara lingered for a while longer. Eventually however, the sensation of her cells soaking in more power subdued. She could sense that her limit had been reached. Satisfied, she flew back to earth at even greater speeds than she could muster before – that is to say even faster than the speed of light itself. A few minutes later she arrived back on Earth, feeling even better than ever. Her first destination was her brother’s ‘Fortress of Solitude’ a tremendous home base in the arctic. Only an individual with powers such as herself own could hope to enter without Superman’s assistance due to the harsh environment and various obstacles present to deter intruders.
After arriving at her destination, she confidently flew over to her cousin and greeted him. “Kal!” She excitedly exclaimed.
Superman greeted her: “Err… Hello Kara. I didn’t expect to see you return so quickly. I thought you’d need more time to calm down. Anyways, sorry if I was a little-”
He was interrupted by his cousin. “Oh, never mind that. You know how fickle teenagers are, and I AM technically 19! Anyways, I’ve gotten stronger! Strong enough to handle Darkseid! I might finally be stronger than you!”
Kal raised a brow. “You went for a sun-dip, didn’t you?”
“Err… Well, not quite.”
“Oh, so you simply bathed outside of the sun for a while? I suppose that’s good enough, as long as your cells are saturated with solar energy. I’ve done it a few times to power up for a big fight. Unfortunately, it’s only a temporary boost, and you’re still not as strong as I am. Until you learn to work as a team, or gain that much sheer power, you’re still suspended from the League.”
“Kal!” Kara shouted moving right in front of him, hovering at eye level.
“Here, let’s make this quick.” Kal hovered half a foot off the air and presented a free arm. “We’ll arm wrestle in mid-air. No need to cause an earthquake with our Kryptonian strength.”
“Fine.” Kara accepted the challenge and grabbed onto his hand. After a wordless countdown, the cousins began to pull against one another. For the first time in her life, Kara felt the full extent (or rather, the extent that Kal was willing to use for this) of her cousin’s strength. She pulled with everything she had, a small bicep erupting from her arm, and a few select veins bulged forward. Despite her best, Kal simply didn’t move at all. After a few moments, the Man of Steel began to pull back, physically moving her in the process. Kara redoubled her efforts, but it was futile – a couple seconds later, Kal brought her hand to his prodigious chest before letting go.
“There. Are you satisfied yet?” Kal asked, somewhat smugly.
Kara let out a groan of exasperation. “Surely there must be some way I can train my powers.”
“Well, the fortress does possess the only machines on this planet capable of challenging us. Still, I must warn you, from my own experiences, exercise can only lead to a small increase in strength. Well, small for us. The increase is still magnitudes higher than a regular human can dream of. Which leads into my next topic…” Superman droned on and on. Supergirl’s mind began to wander as her cousin continued his lecture. Eventually she tuned back into what he was saying “… Furthermore, we need to always remember that we are blessed to live on Earth. We are indebted to the human race for our super powers and for creating a civilization we can adopt as our own. That is why it’s vital you work with the Justice League as a team player.”
“Right. So, where was the machine again? The one that can challenge me?”
Kal massaged his temples for a moment before collecting himself and bringing the female Kryptonian to the device. It was essentially a humongous metal compactor Kara stood in the middle.
“Just shout commands at it.” Superman explained to her.
Kara did exactly that. She ran through a full program that allowed the compactor to exert hundreds of millions of tons of pressure. Supergirl quickly found her limit, and continued to train at that point. It was difficult, grueling work, but eventually she felt thoroughly exhausted from it. At the recommendation of her cousin, she slept in a specially tuned Solar Radiation chamber that would beam energy into her while she rested.
A few hours later she awoke feeling better than ever. She used the machine again, and to her delight, was actually slightly stronger. That is to say, she could lift a few million more tons than before.
Kara repeated this process a few times, but very quickly diminishing returns began to set in. In fact, her body itself hadn’t grown any more muscular. After four sessions with the machine, she found that she simply couldn’t gain any more strength from it. Kal gave her a ‘I told you so’ expression that wordlessly sent Kara into a fit of teenage rage as she took off in search of another method to improve herself.
–
Kara’s quest for power brought her to distant lands far and wide. She plundered ancient crypts to recover magic artifacts, only to find that they had no effect on her. She visited alien planets in search of technology to bolster her strength, but she was already too powerful for any of it to matter. She even resorted to ingesting a highly illegal chemical compound called Venom that could turn men into demons, but her Kryptonian physique simply expunged it as the toxin it really was.
Frustrated, Kara realized that she herself simply was not bright enough to figure out how to become more powerful. She needed the help of another. Only one man came to mind, and he would be difficult to deal with… but if Kara could find a way to get to him, find a way to appeal to him, or perhaps seduce him, then there were very few things he couldn’t figure out.
She sought out the one called Batman.
3.)
Bruce Wayne was one of the most famous human beings alive. A billionaire who inherited his wealth from the death of his parents when he was a young child. While he was incredibly renowned, Bruce’s fame was a mere candle to the blaze of his alter ego’s: a mysterious figure known as Batman. To 99.99% of the population, Batman was an enigma. A cloaked man draped in black and gray with a cat-like cowl who terrorized wrong doers, primarily in Gotham city – though he appeared elsewhere as well. Batman was a symbol, a shining light in the darkness of a corrupt city. He didn’t possess powers like Superman and most of the Justice League, instead he reached the theoretical limits of what a human being can achieve. In a world where aliens from Krypton could do seemingly anything, Batman was an everyman.
What few people saw however, was the sheer amount of time Batman spent in his secret alcove, a cave literally named ‘The Bat Cave’. It was here that he built one of the strongest physiques in the world, and crafted the sharpest detective mind on the planet. It was in this room that countless hours were spent pouring over textbooks to grant Bruce extensive knowledge in virtually every field, and the ability to speak numerous languages. Despite its name and appearance, the cave was actually quite comfortable. It was outfitted with bleeding edge technology, for both Batman’s field and detective work. At the heart of the room was a staggering collection of monitors connected to a multiple super-computers linked together.
Typically on a day like this, Bruce would spend his time going over various criminal cases while honing his mind and keeping his immaculately muscled body maintained. Today however, Bruce was interrupted. Before him stood the female Kryptonian, Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El. She was adorned in her usual garb: a blue long-sleeved crop-top that exposed her lithe abdomen, and a red mini-skirt revealing her proportionately long legs. A familiar red S sat upon her chest, pushed outward further by her ample bosom. It was a symbol that was supposed to stand for her Kryptonian heritage, but was instead often presumed to stand for ‘super’. Regardless, it was an international icon that simultaneously inspired hope among the hopeless, and struck fear into the hearts of the wicked.
To call Kara flawless would not be hyperbole. From a distance, to the untrained eye, she had the appearance of a healthy, well-built, 19 year old woman. Upon further examination, one would notice something was off: she literally carried no blemishes, no stretch marks, no early wrinkles, not even a single deposit of non-vital fat on her frame aside from her breasts; a pair of mammaries so perky and perfectly shaped that one could be forgiven for presuming they were fake. Her skin possessed a healthy tan, and seemed to have a faint natural glow at all times – perhaps as a result of the immense solar radiation stored within her.
While Kara lacked the unbridled bombshell sex appeal belonging to some of the other super powered women of Earth, for instance, Wonder Woman, she still possessed an undeniable girlish beauty.
“I don’t recall inviting you here.” Batman greeted pointedly. Despite having been home alone aside from his trusty butler, he was adorned in his iconic black suit.
“You’re a hard man to get a hold of.” Kara quipped in response.
“Believe me, that’s not by accident.”
“Bruce.”
The caped crusader turned. “Don’t call me that. I’m Batman to you.”
Kara let out a sigh. “We’re in your cave. Your home. It’s weird to call you ‘Batman’.”
“And you’re a girl from another planet who can fly faster than the speed of light. Things aren’t exactly normal around here.”
Normally Kara would have shot back, feeding into this sort of banter, but today was different. She needed help. “Alright. Batman.”
“Better.” The caped man smiled, the top half of his face hidden by his mask.
“Batman – I need to-”
Before she could finish, the man she was talking to had turned his back, sat down.
Kara was visibly flustered. “Hey!” she yelled out.
“Have you tried working out?” The caped crusader asked with his trademark hint of patronization in his voice. He continued typing at well over 120 WPM, analyzing the stream of data in front of him.
Kara rolled her eyes. “Well, duh!”
A moment of silence lingered.
“Wait a minute…” Kara started again. “How did you know that I needed to get strong-”
“I’m Batman. That’s how I knew.” He interrupted. “Anyways, you worked out. And?”
“And what? It worked a little bit.”
“So, what do you need me for?”
The kryptonian brought her hand to her forehead and sighed. “It obviously didn’t do enough for me. I spent a few days in Kal’s fortress of solitude pushing hundreds of millions of tons of pressure, but the overall increase was like… a couple dozen million extra tons of strength. Plus that could’ve been a margin of error, or maybe I got a little extra sun.”
“And if you can lift hundreds of million of tons of weight, remind me again why you need more power?”
“Bruce.”
The man turned his neck to face her. “Batman.” He corrected her before returning to his typing.
“Batman.” Kara held back a quip. “You know what happened. You know everything that happens.”
“You’re referring to your encounter with Darkseid.” The statement was presented as a fact.
“Yeah.” Kara affirmed. “I need to become as strong as my cousin. To you, it probably seems silly… but to me…”
Suddenly the keyboard strokes ceased. Batman stood up from his chair and started walking away. “Forget about it.”
“Hey!” Kara yelled again before moving over towards him.
“Go home Kara.” Batman ordered.
Frustrated, she walked right in front of him. The difference in their physiques was staggering. Even without any equipment, Bruce Wayne stood at 6’2” – a full 10 inches over her 5’4”, but his thick combat boots added another couple, allowing him to clear a foot of height over her. His tremendous chest and back also eclipsed hers – to the untrained eye he appeared to possess twice the width that she did.
Batman spoke again: “Don’t be difficult.”
She floated up off of the ground so she could look into his eyes. As she performed this display of power, something interesting occurred: a fluctuation in The Dark Knight’s biorhythm. His heart beat a tiny bit faster, his breath quickened just a tad. Only someone with her superhuman senses could detect such a minuscule difference.
Bruce spoke again: “Kara. I think by now you know how I am. I have a contingency plan for every member of the League. Why would I want to make you, someone who is essentially a living god, even more powerful? Why would I make it even more difficult to plan for that?”
The blond snickered. She could tell from his heart rate alone that this was an act. His ability to control his own breathing patterns was quite impressive though.
“Oh come on Bruce. Darkseid of all people completely wrecked me!”
“Darkseid is a very formidable opponent Kara. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Supergirl rolled her eyes. “Even YOU’VE beaten him in combat.”
Batman squinted, the white eyes of his cowl following the motion. “What’s THAT supposed to mean? Besides, I tricked him. Hand to hand my blows would do nothing against him.”
“I’m just giving you a hard time Bruce.”
“Strange tactic considering you’re asking me a favor.”
“Bruce…” she landed and strode towards him, returning to her usual confidence and girlish energy. It was time to put on a show and break the icy exterior of Batman’s heart. Kara knew she could do this, and failure wasn’t an option. The more confident she was now, the more quickly she could get what she wanted. At arm’s length, she reached out and placed a solitary finger on his armored chest. The man’s heart-rate sped up even further; even all of his willpower couldn’t prevent him from breathing more heavily. “I know how you feel about me.”
Despite standing over a head taller than her, Batman knew that at this very moment there was literally nothing he could do to stop her physically. Even the Kryptonite in his belt would prove useless, as it would be impossible for him to reach for it in time.
“What are you talking about Kara?”
“I do admit…” she kept her finger on his chestplate, running it up and down. “You’ve got a remarkable poker face for a human, but not even you can control your pulse, nor the natural release of hormones in your system.”
A cold sweat ran down the caped crusader’s neck.
“You’ve got the hots for me Batboy.”
“Supergirl.” he started, sternly. “This is hardly professional. I’d rather not have to talk to Superman about what is occurring here.”
“Oh. You won’t. That’s why this entire place is covered with lead, so he can’t see what you’re up to. That’s why there’s a flurry of sound frequencies going off at all times, so he can’t hear either.”
“That’s not just to prevent Clark from spying on me. There are other beings that those measures shield this place from…”
“Of course not. After all, there’s nothing you could do to actually stop Kal from just barging in here. Even that Kryptonite ring would be pretty useless against a well-aimed heat ray.”
“KARA. That’s enough.”
Supergirl was unrelenting. She reached up, delicately placing her hands on his cowl to remove it. Without hesitation, Batman grasped her hands to stop her. Kara snickered at his efforts and continued to remove his helmet. He struggled, but all of his strength couldn’t match even a fraction of hers. He couldn’t even budge her thin arms with the entirety of his upper body strength.
“Gosh Bruce. I may only be 19 years old, but even I can tell from here that you’re really quite enjoying this! Experiencing my strength first hand. How exciting!” she proceeded to take off his helmet completely, revealing his handsome face. “You’re lucky that you’re such a hunk, otherwise I might be offended that someone more than twice my age was getting stiff right next to me!”
Wayne’s forehead was dotted with sweat. He decided to see what she was going to do next. It’s not like he had much say in the matter anyways.
“Really though, us girls like it when guys just chill out.” Supergirl pursed her lips and blew out a gust of air just fast enough to wipe the sweat off Batman’s brow without harming him at all. “There, much better.” she winked.
“Alright Kara. I think we should agree to keep all of this between us.” The last thing Bruce needed was for the other League members to hear that he had the hots for Superman’s younger cousin.
“Oh come on mister tall, dark and handsome. Everyone knows you’ve got a thing for… powerful women.” she moved her hands over his chestplate, digging her fingers in just enough to pierce the armor. “We all know about the way you look at Wonder Woman… And, well, those of us with enhanced senses can pretty easily pick up on how your physiology reacts to the other super powered hotties in the League too. Not that I can blame you. I mean, we’re just so much better than every human woman alive. Even Catgirl must feel… limp compared to what Diana would provide. Plus, we know you deserve it. There isn’t a human woman alive who can compare to what you’ve built out of yourself.”
Bruce’s iron will momentarily broke and he let out a gulp. “You mentioned everyone with enhanced senses knowing. What about Kal? What does he know?”
“Oh, he knows. I’m sure he even knows about your eyes for me. He just chooses to accept you for your… mortal faults.” she broke off the rest of his chest-piece, revealing his Olympian pectorals. The armor was reinforced to the point that it was practically bulletproof, yet her slender, feminine fingers tore through it like tissue paper. “Besides, I’m nineteen. I’m a big girl. A legal adult. I can make my own choices.”
“Kara. What do you think that I can do for you anyways? You have a super-powered brain. So does your cousin. There are other League members that outstrip my scientific knowledge. Why ask me?”
“Oh Brucey… It doesn’t matter how FAST us Kryptonians can think. You’re just too… creative. ‘lateral thinking’ as you call it?” she lowered her tone of voice to continue thrilling him.
“Fine. Regardless, you still haven’t given me a reason to empower you further. Why not just take a dip in the sun? Go star-bathing?”
“Oh, that’s nice and all, but it’s just a temporary power-up But I need my baseline to become more powerful. Imagine it Bruce. Imagine me stronger than Darkseid. Or… let’s cut to the chase, stronger than Kal.”
“I don’t see how that’s advantageo-” he was cut off, Kara had levitated to place her at face level with him and planted a passionate kiss on his lips. Bruce wrapped his arms around the floating girl, returning the gesture. He had been with a myriad of women as both Bruce Wayne and as The Dark Knight, but he had never tasted anything nearly as alluring as the Kryptonian girl. With his hands around her, Bruce squeezed with every ounce of his strength. No matter how hard he gripped, he could never hope to ever harm Kara. Deep down, this thrilled him to no end. After living his entire life in complete control of everything, Bruce wanted nothing more than to be at the mercy of an incredibly sexy and powerful woman.
Just as he was getting into it, Supergirl broke off his embrace and floated away. “Not yet studly.” she wagged a finger. “Now do you see how we can mutually benefit one another?”
Unphased, Bruce picked up his cowl and placed it back on his head. “Fine. I need to run some tests on your physiology. There’s only so much DNA samples off of tatters of your clothes tell me.” Batman explained, leading her towards another section of the Batcave.
4.) A short while later
“As you can see here…” Batman started, pointing at the screen. “Despite being the same species, you and Clark possess drastically different physical makeups.”
Kara squinted a bit. Even with her superhuman processing speed, she failed to understand what was so significant. “Isn’t this similar to the type of difference between human males and females?” she inquired.
“Not quite. You’re missing the point. Look at how bright the cells are.”
“Well, mine are definitely brighter. That isn’t just from the lighting or something?”
Batman snickered. For her super-powered brain, Kara really wasn’t as intelligent as he’d imagine. “No. It’s from the yellow sun radiation empowering you.”
“But… we have the same thing? Why am I so much brighter?”
“Exactly. Now you’re starting to follow along. It’s clear to me that the lion’s share of solar radiation for both Clark and yourself is stored within your muscle cells and skin cells. That is to say, your bones and other organs absorb some of the radiation, but not nearly as much. This is of particular interest because Clark possesses far larger muscle cells than you. In terms of lean muscle mass alone, I’d say he carries at least three times what you do, despite only being 100 pounds heavier.”
“R-really?” Kara sputtered.
“Yes. This is some rough math, but a tremendous amount of mass on his frame is muscle, far more than a typical human’s, while at least 65% of yours isn’t. Frankly, your body is quite thin. Even though your muscles are well-toned, you’re a fairly small girl. De-powered, I would estimate you’d actually weigh a good 20 pounds less than the Justice League’s record of 135. Clark on the other hand is fairly light for a man his size. This has a relative compounding effect, which is why Clark has so much more sheer muscle than you.”
Kara nodded. “So are you saying I just need to gain muscle?”
“That’s the simplest way to put it. Since your cells appear to hold solar energy at least twice as efficiently as his, every ounce of muscle you gain would relate to an increase in your powers. It’s also worth noting that, by my calculations, he’s only 20% more powerful than you, despite possessing such a greater amount of muscle. It just seems like he’s much more powerful due to how immense your baseline power is. After all, 20 percent of one billion is far more impressive than 20 percent of one hundred.”
Kara nodded again. “So… if I had a 10 percent increase to my muscle mass, I’d become as strong as him? Since I’m twice as efficient?”
Batman shook his head. “It’s not quite like that. You need to remember that your cells are more efficient than his, but you’re also starting off with far less muscle mass. A 10 percent increase of your muscle mass would probably grant you three to four pounds.”
“But I’m…” Kara started until he realized he was referring to her muscle alone, not her total weight. She then mentally calculated how much actual muscle must be on her frame and felt fairly embarrassed. “Okay. I think I kind of get it.”
“There’s more.” Batman continued: “The truth is, even if we do find a way to invoke hypertrophy in your body, we don’t actually know if things will remain equal. That is to say, we don’t know if your cells will remain that efficient. It is possible that they are only that efficient because of your size.”
“But it’s still the most promising way yet. Everything else involves some kind of artifact or external source powering me up. I want to make ME stronger, the baseline me. Plus, it’d be fun to flex up bigger guns.”
Bruce nodded.
Kara continued: “So, with that in mind, do you, uh, have any ideas to beef me up?”
He snickered. “I always have ideas Kara. I’m Batman. So yes. However, I must warn you ahead of time, you may not like what I’m about to propose.”
Supergirl gulped. “This is going to involve going to some strange alien planet isn’t it?”
“Worse.”
“Another dimension…?”
“Worse.”
“What could be worse!?”
“You’ll need to be depowered. Fully depowered.”
“What do you mean by that?” This time it was Supergirl who was slightly nervous.
“I mean depowered to a state where even exposure to the sun won’t help you.”
Kara gulped again. “Why?”
“You answered the question yourself earlier. For some reason, the yellow-sun radiation won’t allow you to invoke true hypertrophy. Of course, it’s possible that simply being Kryptonian is why you can’t, but your physiology is so close to human that I really doubt that’s the case.”
Kara let out a loud sigh.
Bruce continued: “And again, I must warn you, I don’t actually know if this is going to do anything. I’m merely acting off of a hunch. The method I have prepared could have unintended side effects. You have to completely trust me or you might die. It’s your call. Once we start, we can’t stop.”
“Just… just what are your proposing?”
Batman grabbed onto a small metal briefcase nearby and opened it, revealing a syringe. “Inside this solution is a swarm of Kryptonite infused nanobots that will replicate themselves and attach to nearly every cell in your body, effectively disabling the chloroplasts that you use to gather yellow-sun radiation.. As long as the bots are inside you, there is no way for you to absorb yellow-sun radiation; the sun will do nothing other than give you a tan and/or skin cancer from prolonged exposure. That is to say, you will be almost identical to a human.”
Kara gulped once more.
“To answer your next few questions: 1. Yes, it should be reversible. In theory, the wireless frequency I setup to automatically kill the nanobots will immediately restore the cells’ yellow-sun chloroplasts. Worst case scenario, I make another batch of nanobots that kill the first group. Still, this is experimental and carries that risk. 2. Yes, I did make this as a contingency in case you, Clark, or another Kryptonian was completely out of control and we needed to depower them, without coming to bloodshed. 3. Yes, I have another batch WITHOUT the kill command. 4. For your own safety you will need to stay here at Wayne Manor. Preferably near me at all times unless there is an emergency for me to attend to; I’m sure you have plenty of enemies who would love to encounter you without your powers. 5. If we do this, we cannot tell Clark until absolutely necessary. Any other questions?”
Kara thought for a moment, but realized that he had anticipated everything she’d ask. She shook her head.
“Good.” Batman continued. “Now, are you positive you still want to go through with this? After we inject the nanobots, there’s no turning back. While there is a kill command for them, it might be deadly to shock your system that quickly, at least a few weeks will be needed to do it safely.”
Kara bit her bottom lip. The prospect of losing her powers while on earth was terrifying. Sure, there had been a few times where she was temporarily depowered, usually from exposure to green Kryptonite, but these setbacks were always momentary. What Bruce was suggesting, going weeks or even months without her powers… Entirely placing her trust in the hands of the man who had myriad contingency plans to disable her at will. Her head was spinning. Still, Bruce was, as far as she could tell, her only possibility of becoming more powerful. He also seemed to know more about her and her brother’s body than anyone else on the planet.
Finally, she gave one final committal nod.
“Alright. Follow me.” Batman said, leading the way to their next destination.
5.) A few minutes later.
Batman and Supergirl approached a large set of metallic hanger doors. The man in black placed his eyes in front of a retinal scanner, and the huge chunk of lead-covered steel opened up. Inside was a small hallway and another set of doors. Bruce entered. Her stomach churning in knots, Kara followed him. After she crossed the threshold, the doors behind them shut firmly.
“You know where we’re headed, right?” Bruce asked as he approached a second retinal scanner, bringing himself to eye level with it.
“Uh… no.”
A moment later, the second set opened up, and Kara immediately received her answer: there was a large chamber, fashioned like a bedroom with a dull ominous red glow.
“Red sun room.” Bruce stated. “After you.”
Kara hesitated for a moment. This was it. Once she entered that room, the yellow-sun radiation contained in her cells would be expunged. If she was going to turn away, she had to do it now. She still had enough strength to effortlessly open the metal behind her as if it were tissue paper. No – she couldn’t turn back now. She needed to prove to Kal and the rest of the Justice League that she could become stronger. She needed to prove to herself that she could. Emboldened with newfound resolve, she took a few strides into the chamber.
Immediately she could feel herself powering down.
Bruce began to speak again: “I know this must be uncomfortable for you. I designed it as a holding chamber in case you, your brother, or any other Kryptonian needed to be captured for whatever reason. I’m sure you think I’m paranoid, but consider all of the times that Kal has been mind controlled, or simply exposed to a strange strain of Kryptonite that altered his personality for a short while. There’s also other Kyrptonians out there who aren’t as… benevolent as you two are. Bizarro, Zod, and Superboy, er Superman Prime to name a few.”
Kara physically shuddered at the mention of that last one – he was essentially a version of Superman from another universe who snapped. “I get it Bruce. I don’t blame you. My cousin and I must be pretty terrifying to a man like you.” She admitted. “Alright, well, I guess my life’s in your hands.”
“You’ll get to feel what I experience every single day I’m around you and your cousin.” Batman conceded.
The authenticity in that last statement caught Kara off guard. With a nod she relaxed and let the sun’s empowering rays seep out of her system more quickly.
“As you can see, if it ever did to come to a point where I had to keep you or your cousin in captivity, I wanted to make sure you were taken care of.” Bruce said, panning his hand around the lavish living quarters. “I’ll let you get settled in. If you get tired, don’t be afraid to fall asleep. Catch you later.” And with that Batman walked out of the red-sun chamber, the doors closing behind him.
–
A few hours later
–
It had been so long since Kara had landed on earth and became empowered by the sun that she had all but forgotten the sensation of being ‘normal’. She felt weak, emaciated, powerless, and ultimately frightened for her well-being. What if something went wrong? What if this was some elaborate trap by Batman to eliminate a Kyrptonian and better control his world? No – she couldn’t think that way. Bruce was The Batman, and if he wanted her dead, he would’ve done so a while ago; plus he’d have to answer to her cousin if anything went truly wrong. Still, there were other things that concerned her. For example, one time a huge man named Bane broke into Batman’s house and literally snapped his back in half. What if something like that occurred? What would she do? She’d be powerless to stand by and try to remain hidden.
A few more agonizingly long moments passed as Kara continued thinking these things over. Suddenly, the door to the red-sun chamber opened and Batman’s dark figure took up the majority of the door frame. He slowly walked in, and for the first time in her life, she truly understood what it was about him that struck fear into the hearts of the scum of Gotham: his presence was undeniably terrifying.
The dark symbol of vengeance draw closer, and Kara felt a shiver run down her spine. The Justice League database placed him at 210 pounds of pure peak human muscle without his equipment, which gave him a 75 pound advantage over her lithe frame; or, perhaps even more if his theory about the yellow-sun radiation making her heavier was true. Worse, Kara was entirely untrained in martial arts, having always relied on her supernatural powers to get by, while Bruce Wayne was secretly the most powerful unpowered human alive.
“Has the last vestige of yellow sun radiation has left your body?” Batman asked in his usual scowling tone.
“I’m pretty sure, yeah.” Kara replied.
He shook his head. “Pretty sure isn’t good enough. If a single cell in your body is still supercharged, you could very well die from the Kryptonite fused nanobots. I have never witnessed firsthand what happens when a Kryptonian still holding yellow-sun radiation is injected with them. I won’t take any chances with you.
Kara gulped. “Well…” she concentrated on using her x-ray vision: no use; heat vision: same luck; flight: no dice. “I can’t use any of my powers…”
The caped man shook his head again. “Sorry Kara, I can’t take any chances. You’ll need to stay in here overnight. I’ll have Alfred bring you a meal and any reading material you’d like.”
“How about a TV at least?” She asked, her clear blue eyes pleading.
Bruce shook his head a third time. “Televisions give off trace amounts of radiation. While I doubt it’ll have an effect on you, we have to be absolutely certain that there is nothing left in your system, otherwise the Kryptonite in the nanobots could be fatal.”
Kara let out a long, defeated sigh.
Bruce spoke again: “Look, if you don’t want to do this, you can walk out and fly home. I warned you that it was going to be hard. That it’d be hell. That I don’t even know if it’ll work.”
This time it was Kara who shook her head. “No. I’m doing it. I need to try, otherwise I’ll always be second rate to my cousin.”
A smile formed on the lips beneath the dark helmet. “Good. Well, like I said, Alfred will accommodate you. I’ll see you in the morning, Kara.”
And with that, Supergirl was alone.
–
Alfred: Batman’s butler, assistant, and surrogate father-figure, was an agreeable enough fellow. Kara had never met the old man before, and he seemed to take a kind of pity on the depowered alien girl. At first he brought her an extremely verbose selection of books, none of which were particularly appealing, but she ultimately chose one of the ‘classics’ at random: a thick leather-bound hardcover titled “Moby-Dick”.
It was a hefty tome, and the former Girl of Steel found that her thin arms actually had difficulty hoisting it around. She sat down and let the red glow of the lights illuminate the words on the page. To her shock, she actually had to lean in and closely examine the pages, as her eyes couldn’t effortlessly discern each word. Another shock soon hit her: reading was… hard. She had to mentally vocalize each and every word – a painstaking process in comparison to her former ability to instantly scan and memorize every passage of text she laid eyes on.
The prose in the novel featured long, extensively detailed sentences adorned with a tremendous number of commas – some of the sentences reached nearly the length of an entire page. Kara found it difficult to merely recall what had happened a few paragraphs ago. Her mind had grown soft and hazy from over reliance on her powers to speed things up. “What on earth does… Circumambulate mean?” she asked out loud, sighing heavily. If she had her powers, she could instantly access the entirety of the English language dictionary, immediately plucking from it the information she desired. Now however, all of that knowledge seemed to be locked behind a gate of mental fog.
Frustration settled in, but she refused to give up. Millions of earthlings had read this book, so why shouldn’t she be able to? Despite her newly ignited motivation, it was an arduous task to finish even a single page. She had to take multiple breaks to soak in what was being said at all. It was a humiliating prospect, as Kara knew that some high school students read this book as part of their education, yet here she was, a girl who had always viewed herself superior to them, struggling with such a simple task.
Eventually a new problem made itself apparent to Kara: she was hungry. She hadn’t been hungry since her time back on Argo City. Fortunately for her, with eerie accuracy, Alfred had anticipated this would occur, and he returned to the room without her needing to call for him. Kara placed an order of food for Alfred to prepare, and she returned to the seemingly insurmountable task of reading the novel. Compounding the difficulty of the text was Kara’s mind wandering off as she wondered if Alfred really did foresee her becoming hungry, or if that was Bruce’s foresight.
Regardless of who had anticipated her needs, Alfred returned less than half an hour later, and brought the sustenance that Kara so desperately wanted. She ate ravenously, as her life actually depended on it. She soon became thirsty, and chugged a great deal of water as well.
The rest of the evening, Kara tried to read the book, but eventually drowsiness overcame her – yet another sensation that had eluded her the past few years underneath Earth’s yellow sun. Before long, she drifted off to sleep.
–
The innermost set of doors to the Red Sun room opened and Batman entered, waking Kara from her slumber. To her surprise, he was dressed in business casual attire. A dark button-up shirt that showcased his V-shaped upper body tucked into an fancy pair of khaki pants. Kara had to admit, he was extremely handsome, and would’ve been a looker even on her homeworld. She had no concept of how long she had been asleep, and… her head hurt – a sensation that she hadn’t even experienced on her homeworld.
“Sleep well?” Batman asked. He held the metallic briefcase he had earlier in his hands.
Kara wiped her eyes clear. “I think so… but… ugh” she grasped her forehead. “Some kind of… sensation in my mind. A kind of pain…”
“A headache?” Bruce asked with a chuckle.
Kara’s eyes grew wide. “What is that? Some kind of brain cancer?!” For all of the information she devoured on various aspects of earthling life while she was still Supergirl, Kara was woefully ignorant on some of the most basic concepts.
Bruce chuckled harder. “No. It’s just a part of being human. Drink some water. If the feeling continues after a short while, we’ll get you some pain meds.”
Kara quickly reached over for the water and started chugging it down.
“You really never had a headache growing up?” Bruce inquired.
Kara shook her head in response, before realizing that she had jerked around too quickly and had exacerbated the pain – causing her to grab her forehead again.
“Anyways.” Bruce started again. “When you’re ready, we can start the next part of the process. Unless your night as a human has scared you too much and you want out now.”
Kara had come too far to chicken out now. She wanted to show Kal that she could become something more. “Let’s do it.”
With a nod, Bruce produced the syringe from the briefcase, brought it to Kara’s arm and injected the contents. A few wordless moments passed where nothing happened. Before long however a sensation overcame the blond, her entire body felt… numb. “Getting sleepy even though I just woke up…” she announced with a yawn.
“I expected that.” Bruce explained. “Don’t worry, feel free to fall aslee-” he cut himself short as Kara began to fall over from fainting. Deftly, he swooped down and caught her in his arms, effortlessly lifting her up. His immense training and considerable bulk made her small body extremely easy to carry. With a smile on his face, Bruce carried the sleeping Kryptonian to another wing of the manor. It was amazing to him how a mere few hours ago this sleeping girl possessed more strength than every human on the planet combined. It was even more bewildering to him that he was going to actively help her acquire more. Eventually he brought her limp, sleeping body to a spare room and placed her down in a guest bed before tucking her in.
To be continued!