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Chapter
1
Kara
Metropolis
2004
Kara soared over the city, her penetrating
gaze piercing wood, metal, and stone the way an ordinary person looks through
water. She was somewhat
depressed. Flying usually raised
her spirits, but not tonight. Too
much had gone wrong in the last few months.
She had thought being a superheroine
would be an uplifting and empowering experience, but it had turned out to
have more than its share of problems.
First and foremost there was her completely
humiliating experience at the hands of Kink
Kennedy. She had been drugged,
kidnapped, and then raped and tortured by the brutal crime
boss. Such things were not supposed
to happen to a superheroine. She
had barely managed to escape. Even
worse, her human companion, Sylvie Levesque had suffered the same
fate. Instead of protecting the
weak and helpless she had been instrumental in involving her friend in a
brutal ordeal. She would never
forgive herself, even if Sylvies involvement had been entirely
accidental. She was a superheroine
and she should have taken proper precautions to make sure that such things
did not happen.
Second there was the attitude of the New
Gotham police.
She had thought they would be grateful for her
help. Instead they treated her
as an interfering, glory-hunting vigilante who got in the way of legitimate
police work. She had been involved
in several run-ins with the local authorities and told in no uncertain terms
that her presence was not wanted.
Third there was the problem of the criminal
element. It seemed that the deadly
substance kryptonite was becoming ever more
common. It had allowed Kink Kennedy
to capture and humiliate her, and recently she had even encountered it in
the hands of petty thugs. It
made her wonder where it was all coming
from. Somewhere she was sure
there must be a kryptonite mine where industrious criminals mined the glowing
element around the clock.
Fourth there was the problem of the general
public and the media. When she
had first arrived in New Gotham a few months ago
she had been greeted with wild adulation.
Finally there was someone doing something about the runaway crime
rate in the city. But then the
positive attitudes had slowly changed.
First of all a host of civil rights lawyers had placed obstacle after
obstacle in her way. Illegal
surveillance, claimed the defence lawyers of the thugs she had
arrested. She had
lost more than a dozen cases in the last few months when evidence she had
obtained using her X-ray vision had been ruled
inadmissible. Apparently she
now had to apply for a warrant in order to spy on the drug dealers and other
scum that plagued the city. She
used her powers anyway. There
was no use trying to go through legal
channels. It took far too long
and the courts were unlikely to give a civilian, even a civilian superheroine,
the right to stake out any suspected
criminals. But she now had to
find other ways of placing them under
arrest. Of late she had resorted
to simply phoning the police when she came across some illicit activity and
let them handle it. They got
the credit, of course, but that didnt bother
her. Eliminating the criminals
was much more important than any personal
glory. Still, it rankled that
her efforts were so little appreciated.
And then there were the nut cases that lodged
complaints against her, such as the woman who had complained to the police
about the film in her camera being exposed when Kara had not even been
there. The story had made the
She grinned ruefully, remembering the ludicrous
situation when a process server had come rushing at her across a roof top
where she was giving a TV interview.
Hed looked damned silly when she simply rose ten feet into the
air while he waved a piece of paper at
her. She had to admit she was
sorely tempted to use her vision to burn up the document, but that would
have just gotten her into more trouble.
So she had simply flown away, mindful of the stares directed at her
curvaceous backside.
That was another thing. Every time she flew
over a crowd there was some pervert ogling her
derriere. The tabloids vied with
one another to get photographs of her from directly
below. A number of times they
had managed to snap a photograph of her revealing a little too much
buttock. Perhaps it was time
to change her outfit. She had
been so proud of the job she had done on her form-fitting
costume. It had taken her months
to design and put together, but perhaps it was in need of
revision.
She swept up to the gleaming stainless steel
siding of one of Metropoliss tallest buildings and hovered beside
it. The polished metal made a
perfect mirror. She wore a
form-fitting long-sleeved blue top.
Perhaps a little too form-fitting.
Her breasts had gotten quite a bit larger as she matured and the outline
of her taut nipples could clearly be seen beneath the sheer
fabric. Perhaps it was time to
start wearing a bra, just for the sake of modesty. She certainly didnt
need one for support.
The red gloves were a nice
touch. They came halfway up her
forearms and complemented the red S on her
chest. And the gold belt went
well with the costume too, adding a dash of complimentary colour to the
dominantly red and blue outfit. But
the tiny red skirt seemed a little out of
place. Makes me look like
a cheerleader, she thought.
And it did nothing to cover the skimpy blue panties that covered her
nether region. No wonder
my backside attracts so much attention.
You can count almost every hair on
my
She
sighed. She had thought the costume
so sophisticated and sensual, but now it seemed to attract the wrong sort
of attention. It was really
annoying. She had never heard
of anyone objecting to the costume worn by her friend Barbara Gordon and
it was just as revealing. Perhaps
it was time for a makeover. She
would think about it, but in the meanwhile she had a city to
patrol.
She had taken to patrolling at
night. She got fewer complaints
about her X-ray vision if the citizens she was protecting couldnt see
her. Many citizens regarded her
as little more than a super-powered voyeur and numerous complaints had been
made about her, mostly by those seeking their fifteen minutes of
fame. Nevertheless, she didnt
want to give them any excuse and she was careful to avoid peering into bedrooms
or bathrooms. She had had enough
of citizens signing petitions to make it illegal for her to fly over the
city.
Her super sight wasnt always that much
help anyway.
It was a useful power, but it was far from
foolproof. New
She
sighed. Was it really worth all
the hassle? She wasnt in
the crime-fighting game for money or
publicity. Far from
it. She avoided the limelight
whenever possible, only attending the occasional news
conference. She really didnt
have much of a life. She was
almost nineteen and had never even had a
boyfriend. Nor was she likely
to get one. Technically she was
still a virgin despite what Kink Kennedy and his henchmen had done to
her. One of the characteristics
of her superpowers was the ability to heal, and in spite of the fact that
she had been thoroughly ravished, once free of the influence of kryptonite
everything had returned to the way it
was. It was a bit of a disturbing
thought. If she was a perpetual
virgin how could she ever have children?
One day she might want to find a nice boy and settle down, but it
would be very difficult if the only way she could have intercourse was to
be weakened by kryptonite. She
could imagine what would happen if she ever made love to a
man. If she had an orgasm her
vaginal contractions would squeeze the male organ to
jelly. It was not a scenario
that appealed very much to her and she could imagine most men wouldnt
find it particularly attractive either.
She did have a few close
friends. She had gotten a letter
from her friend Barbara just the other
day. She and Diana were coming
for a visit tomorrow. It was
something to really look forward to.
With Barbara and Diana all pretenses and phony identities could be
laid aside and they could have a good girl-to-girl
chat. She suspected that both
her friends found their get-togethers equally
therapeutic. It was not often
that a superheroine could simply be herself and discuss matters she never
would have dared mention to anyone else.
She was still friendly with Sylvie, of
course. The French-Canadian girl
knew nothing about her super powers.
But Sylvie had been badly traumatized by what Kink Kennedy and his
men had done to her and had become somewhat
depressed. Every time Kara saw
her she was reminded of how badly she had
failed. It was not a pleasant
experience. Some day she hoped
that she might be able to find a way of erasing the horrible experience from
Sylvies memory.
Her thoughts were interrupted by something
she had not previously noticed. She
was conducting a deep scan, her X-ray vision penetrating some forty feet
or more below street level. She
had flown over this area many times before without bothering to check below
the street, but now that she had, she encountered something quite
unexpected. It was a very large
building. Very
very
large. It occupied almost
an entire city block. And it
was heavily shielded by lead. She
hovered, trying to find an opening in the
shielding. Who would construct
such an immense structure?
There was only one way to find out, but she
would have to be careful. There
was no telling what sort of safeguards and traps a building like that might
have. And there was always the
remote possibility that it had been constructed by some legitimate agency
like the CIA or the Secret Service.
She had been embarrassed on more than one occasion by blundering into
an operation conducted by her own government.
She swept her gaze from one end of the building
to the other, looking for some break in the lead shield, but there wasnt
one. She would have to investigate
in person. This was
dangerous. She would have to
enter below ground and expose herself to possible
attack.
Dropping to the ground, she used her vision
to find a way into the underground
building. Several manholes provided
access to the subterranean depths.
Picking one at random, she dropped into the service corridor that
ran below the street. She was
now in a dark tunnel but her enhanced vision had no trouble seeing where
she was. Her eyes swept the areas
ahead of her, looking for any traps.
Kryptonite was her deadliest enemy and it would be masked by
lead. If there were any kryptonite
traps ahead of her she wanted to find them before they were
sprung.
From a small pouch at her waist she took out
a dull metallic sheet. It was
her own lead shield. If she was
exposed to kryptonite she could use the thin lead sheet to protect herself
from its deadly affects. She
was quite proud of this innovation.
She had made the sheet herself by pounding lead to almost papery thinness
with her own hands. It folded
easily and provided basic protection against the weakening rays of the substance
that was her Achilles' heel. She
also kept her eyes open for any sort of detection
devices. It would be best if
her presence was unobserved.
She stopped for a few seconds to listen, tuning
in her super hearing. Most of
the time she did not bother to use this
power. She had found that in
the teeming city of
She heard
nothing. And that was
strange. She should have been
able to detect some sorts of sounds in the building she was next
to. Unless the lead shielding
was enormously thick. But that
would mean the walls of the building ahead of her would be at least a foot
thick. Who could afford so much
lead, and what would be his motive?
By now Kara was convinced that she was on
to something. The question was,
what? Had she stumbled on to
some secret government project, or had she found the lair of some
super-villain? Running her hands
through her golden blonde hair she decided to find
out.
Directly ahead of her was what appeared to
be a metal door. Trying it, she
found that it was locked, but it offered little resistance to her
strength. Bracing herself she
pulled steadily on the heavy steel
handle. From within there came
a sharp twanging sound as metal snapped under the
strain. Well, she
thought, that should alert someone if anything
does. She moved into the
building cautiously. As she had
suspected the doorway she passed through was over a foot
thick. The building was massively
constructed, but she was past the main part of its
shielding.
She could now use her X-ray vision to scan
the building. She found to her
surprise that most of it was empty.
There were a few key areas,
however. On the same level as
she was there was a power plant
consisting of two huge diesel engines.
On the floor above her was a well equipped laboratory containing some
very modern-looking
equipment.
But it was a room on the top floor that interested her
most. It was impervious to her
gaze. Someone had taken the trouble
to create a second lead-lined sanctuary within the
building. She suspected that
whatever secrets the building held would be revealed in that
room. Taking a deep breath she
headed up a narrow staircase toward her target.
As she closed in on the shielded room she
had serious misgivings about what she was getting
into. One fact that really bothered
her was the complete absence of any personnel in the
building. It seemed completely
deserted. Who would build such
a massive structure and then leave it complexly
unattended? It made no sense
whatsoever.
She stood before the shielded
room. She listened intently,
but could not hear a thing.
Tentatively she reached out and turned the door
handle. To her immense surprise
it was not locked. Opening the
door she found herself in a small room.
Directly across from her was another
door. Crossing the room she opened
this door and stepped into the room
beyond.
She found herself in a large well furnished
suite. The room was interesting
in that it was circular in shape and a large television screen dominated
one wall. She was surprised to
see herself in it. Seated before
the screen, with his back turned to her was a bald man who was very familiar
to her. Lex
Luthor! she exclaimed without
thinking.
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