Castle In The Sky - Part 1

This is the second 'chapter' of the story of the relationship between the wizard Vladi and the superheroine Supergirl. This takes place about two years after "When Vladi Met Kara".~This story takes place, once again, in the area of San Francisco, California, with the time frame in the middle to late 70s.

As before, Supergirl is owned by DC and Warner Entertainment, while Vladi the Wizard is owned by me. Any other similarities between subjects are strictly coincidental, sort of. Usually. Maybe. Well, with the way that one can interact with various dimensions, one never knows who one will run into, and if those people are the same ones that we may of heard about from before. Right?~

This story came to me with the inspiration of art by the fabulously talented artist, Yvonne Craig in general, and this (http://yvonnecraig.deviantart.com/art/Supergirl-452762001) image in particular. So much so, that Vonny and Greg, who you will be introduced here shortly, I have named after her.

Chapter One - Vonny & Greg

Vonny and Greg were twins. Identical in every way, from their tiny yellow horns, to the shade of green of their leathery bat wings, to the small spade shapes at the end of their tails. They had the same red eyes and the same sharp yellowing teeth and the same sharp yellowing talons. No one could tell them apart from the other. No one except their master, Vladi the Wizard. And, the two brothers never could understand how he did it.~

Of course their names were not Vonny and Greg, but that is what their master called them for many hundreds of years, and now what they are mainly known by. Their real names are long and complex, and not given out lightly, because in names comes power. The power to control and command magical creatures such as themselves. Vladimire the wizard knew their real names, and has used them, correctly and properly, and has thus gained power over the twin imps, and now uses them as scout, spies, and servants for his various plans.

The twins flew side by side over the city of San Francisco north towards the bay. Soon they were over the cold waters of The Bay and flying towards San Rafael, when they came up to the Angel Island which was west of Berkley. The pair winged their way towards their master's house, which was on one of the better plots of valuable land which gave him a marvelous view of the San Francisco Bay and it's surrounding environs.

It wasn't a castle that they were used to, and certainly not the huge grand castle of his that was built between the dimensions, but it was a rather nice 'mansion' which he had acquired on this time/place Earth as a base of operations. They knew that there were certainly much better places on this Earth that he could of taken home to, but he had chosen this region for a reason that they suspected had more to do with the people that lived here, than any particular magical properties of the land, though there was an intersection of several ley lines nearby.~

The twins were unseen by human eye as they flew into the large stone and wood and glass house through an open upper window, and landed on a shelf that had been set up especially for that purpose, their lower taloned toes curling to hook over the edges of the shelf to hold them in place as they tried to keep their balance while holding the bulging fabric bags in their hands.~

"We have returned, Master," the twins spoke in one voice to the tall man who was dressed in all black, who was turned away from them, standing over a black smooth table. They then waited, as they did not want to disturb the wizard further as he looked into the strange black smooth waters that was the surface of the scrying table. Looking over his shoulders, the brothers could see that he was looking again at an athletic blonde female who was dressed in a bright blue top with long fluffy sleeves, very tight red shorts, a red cape, and red slippers on her feet. The female was, as usual when she wore this costume, displaying a red and yellow insignia on her breast and upon her cape. They knew that her name was Kara, but she was better known on this plane/place/time as Supergirl.

Vladimire had heard the flapping wings of the imps as they came into the window, and the light scratching of their claws as they gripped along the wood of the landing shelf behind him. But, he didn't turn away from the smooth black waters of the scrying pool before him. His eyes, his attentions were focused upon the superheroine that was flying over San Francisco on one of her daily patrols over her, and now his, adopted city.

After a moment he straightened up and broke his concentration upon the scrying pool, so that the imagery faded into the inky blackness of the mystic water that was spread upon the table. He turned around to look at the pair of imps, who each held a small leather sack. He stepped up to the pair and took the bags from both and strode over to a desk, where he placed the bags.

"Anyone see you?" the mage asked, knowing the answer, but asked anyway. He knew that humans did not have the eyes for the mystic like they once had many hundreds of years ago. He had read tales of their legends and myths that dated back to those time when they interacted with fantastical creatures on a fairly regular basis. But, as time went on and their societies "evolved", they lost many abilities in the name of science and technology. Now, magic to them was tricks and illusions of slight of hand, and anything mystical seen was credited either to a deranged mind, drug use, or simply a tall tale of a liar. So, if anyone did see the imps, they basically ignored their senses, believing that the small greenish creatures were nothing more than a atmospheric anomaly, or a trick of the light.

"No, Master!" the pair replied in unison, which they always did. The pair was linked together in a manner that many twins are, but as they are of magical creation, this connection is much greater and ingrained into their whole being, much more than the closest of human twins. Not only did they look alike, but they felt what the other felt, and thought as the other thought, sharing with each other the senses of the other, no matter if a thousand miles separated the two. As long as they were on the same plane, they were aware of the other and the others feelings and senses.

"Of course not. When have these humans ever seen you?" the mage replied back, not without a small amount of disappointment as he opened up the bags and turned them over to pour the contents of each onto the desk. From the bags tumbled out crumpled bills and folded notes, small bags of powders and various rings and bracelets and chains. He picked up the various bills and straightened them out, removing them from rolls held by rubber bands or from fancy bill holders of silver or gold. He refolded the paper bills and put them into his pocket and put the jewelry into one of the bags, which he would take to one of the many pawn shops located nearby to sell.

He didn't know exactly where these monies and items came from, and had decided months ago when he brought in the imps to get him money and valuables, not to worry about where the twins got such goods. What was it that the humans said, he thought for a moment, before remembering.

"Yes, ignorance is bliss."

"Master?" the pair asked, tilting their heads towards each other in a sign of shared confusion and wonderment to what their master was talking about.

"Never mind, I am just talking to myself," he answered with a casual wave of his hand as his other hand put the bag of the jewelry into the waist pocket of his black jacket. Once again, he wished he had someone else to talk to, someone that was of equal of mind and freedom of thought like himself. Yes, imps were intelligent, but they did not have the freedom of thought that he would like to utilize when discussing matters of fate and morality. Of course, if they did had such freedom of thought, then they would be worthless as servants.

"I am going to The City to sell off these baubles that you two picked up. Well done," Vladi told the imps, giving them a brief smile before muttering a brief spell and motioning to the air in front of him. A glowing disc of mystic energy materialized and then grew in size until it was a six foot field of spinning blue eldrich power, which the mage then stepped into.

The twins watched as the energy then collapsed in upon itself, disappearing with a soft *pop*. They then looked at each other, then shifted about a bit before bringing their wings around and over their heads, to fall almost immediately asleep.

Chapter Two - The Pawn Shop Boogie

Supergirl stood in the office of Lieutenant Robert Morse, of the San Francisco County Sheriff's department, and briefly considered setting him, and his office, and especially his paperwork afire. It was only a brief momentary fantasy, which did not cross her beautiful features to show the San Francisco burglary detective chief how close he came to being a fricasseed cop.~

"Sorry, Lieutenant, but I really do not see how I can be of any help to your department in this matter," the blonde superheroine finally stated to the man that was seated behind the desk before her. "I mean, I am more than happy and willing to assist your agency in any way I can, but honestly, isn't this sort of thing a bit outside my... ummm... abilities?"~

"Dammit, Supergirl! I know that it is! I know that using you in such a case as this would be using a battleship to knock over an anthill. But, YOU are the only person that I know, at least that we have heard of, that has had any significant contact with the suspect!" the detective stated as he flipped around the police sketch of the "Person of Interest" that they wanted to talk to in regards to being in possession of a number of stolen articles, which he had sold to a number of various pawn shops.~He did his best to keep his eyes either on her face or on the paperwork at his desk, but it was hard not to appreciate the young woman before him. While her arms were covered in long sleeves that were loose at her forearms before tightening at her cuffs, the rest of her blue blouse was very snug about her athletic frame. Her breasts, while not overly large, were perfect in proportion to the rest of her, and she wasn't wearing any support for them under that tight top, as far as he was able to detect. He was grateful that she stood facing him, so that he wasn't distracted by her perfect ass which was so well set within tight red short shorts. The detective was especially happy for his large desk that was between her and him, so that he wasn't distracted by long perfect legs that ended in bright red slipper shoes. He was also particularly grateful to be sitting down behind his desk, so that his stirring crotch was not evident to Supergirl.

"It's not like he was trying to be sneaky or coy about it. He always gave his name as Vlad E. Meyer, which is, as you know, the name given of the man that you had brought into Saint Mary's hospital in a coma two years ago. All we want you to do is to find him... again... and bring him in for questioning!"~

Kara sighed as she looked down at the drawing. It was pretty good, for a black and white sketch, but she noted that the artist did not show his ears pointed as she knew them to be. Also, the black and white did not show the intensity of his pale ice blue eyes. Eyes that she had found so strange and mesmerizing, especially after he had rescued her from her captivity to the giant robot Matrix-Beta which had defeated and captured her two years ago. It was then that she had discovered that Vladi was no ordinary human, but a magic user. Indeed, she suspected that he wasn't exactly human, when she had caught him during his long fall over San Francisco and discovered his pointed ears. But, she hadn't had the opportunity to get to know much more about him after he had saved her that time so long ago, since most of the time that she had known him he had laid unconscious in a coma at Saint Marys.

"But, I am not a detective, detective, you are. And, as you have said, he never goes to the same pawn shop twice. I am fast, but I am not able to be every place all the time."~She looked levelly at the man across the desk from her, a bit flustered by all this. She bet that her cousin never had to deal with such piddly things like this. Why would the local police think that she was here to assist them in such a minor thing such as theft and fraud, especially on such a small scale. No one was in any danger, nor was there any serious threat to life, limb, or property, such as a collapsing bridge or such, which she would be much better suited for.

"Yes, I know. I wish that you could be everywhere at once, because he has been seen everywhere from Santa Rosa to San Jose, and from Sacramento to Fresno. Never there longer than needed to make a quick sale of what he had, and usually no more than a couple thousand dollars here or there." The detective sighed and shook his head, "I know, basically a nickel and dimer. But, the stuff he is selling has been listed as stolen."

"Some of it," Supergirl responded to the officer in the shirt sleeves and tie. His jacket was off and tossed onto another chair, the shoulder holster of his .38 revolver riding snuggly in place against his left armpit. She didn't know why she felt the need to specify that, as if she was defending him. Was she?? "Not all of it. And, no one has ever said that he was the thief himself, only that he was selling goods as reported as stolen." Kara did not deny that the situation was confusing to her. If he really was a magic user, and from her recollection (if she was to continue to trust herself in that), he was. Would he really need to steal things, when he had to ability to conjure stuff up out of thin air, like her costume?

"True, Supergirl. But, I wonder how much of that stuff that he sold was reportable. I mean, jewelry is hard to prove as stolen, unless it is pretty specific. Sure, watches have serial numbers, but rings and necklaces don't. So, there could be lots more that we are dealing with here, but we just don't know about it."

"Also, none of the victims have ever stated making contact with, let alone seeing Vladi... erm.. Mr Meyer," Supergirl added to the conversation, to double down the point made earlier that no one had seen him stealing anything himself. She knew that Meyer was not his name, only that it was given to him as a misunderstanding of his name. From all indications, Vladimire had continued to encourage this particular misunderstanding. Kara decided not to dwell at the moment on why she was continuing to encourage that particular piece of misinformation of the detectives.

"Yes, I know, Supergirl. Which is why he is a 'person of interest' and not an official 'suspect' in the thefts," the cop responded with not a little bit of frustration in his voice. Not only was Vlad E Meyer NOT a suspect in any of the thefts, but there were NO suspects in any of them. No one was ever seen, nor was there any evidence left behind by whoever was there at the location of the various thefts. The items taken were always small and easily pocketed and portable, and thus seen as objects of opportunity that a visitor to those locations may have pocketed. No door was ever forced, no window ever broken, and often things of much higher value were passed by, primarily because they were bigger, which made most of the officers involved believe that they were inside jobs. The problem was that eventually, when the size and scope of the various thefts came to light, that the only thing in common with all of them, was Vlad E Meyer, selling goods from the thefts. There was no other connection between any of the thefts, which was driving the detectives involved crazy. And thus, to make the unprecedented act of contacting Supergirl and asking for her help.

Kara looked again at the file folders on the detectives desk, the pile nearly eight inches high. Each folder was thin of contents, but thick of silent accusation towards her one time rescuer. She really hated to get involved in such a thing as petty larceny, but considering the amount of thievery that the detective was discussing, it was certainly in the level of a serious felony. And, considering the range and time frame of the thefts, she had the feeling that there were more involved in all of these besides Vladi. If Vladi was involved at all. She hated to think so, but there was too much evidence, circumstantial yes but evidence nonetheless, against him.

"Alright, Detective Morse, I will help you. But, I will need to know a few things to help me in my search for Vla... Mister Meyer." Kara finally decided to help out the sheriffs department in this situation. She really wasn't sure why, but something was compelling her to step outside her normal routine to take a job that she knew was way below her capabilities. Perhaps it was because things had been relatively slow and quiet in the superhero business, and she wanted something to do to feel useful. Also, Kal-El had been continually telling her that if she could help the people of Earth in ANY way, that she should do so. Well, she wasn't always as eager to please everyone as much as her cousin, "The Big Blue Boy Scout" was.

"Certainly, Supergirl! Anything you need, you have but to ask for it!" the lieutenant said with a great deal of relief. Supergirl would be like putting a force of 1000 cops into the field, with her great speed and flying and super vision! He felt much better about this case with her now in his corner.

"First, I would like a list of the pawn shops that he HASN'T used yet," Supergirl started. The sandy haired officer nodded his head and pulled out a number of stapled pages and passed them over to her.

"I have several copies of these, as we have a number of these already staked out. However, there are literally hundreds of these shops in The Bay area, and no where near the amount of officers that we would need to even cover a tenth of them at the same time.

Kara quickly scanned through the list. The pages were single spaced typed, with the shops names and addresses put in alphabetically on the papers, with each city having their own page. Some cities just had a few shops, while others, like San Francisco, had scores of them.

"Do we know how he is getting around? Surely with the distances involved he is driving a car now? Has anyone seen any vehicles which may be connected to him?" Kara asked, suspecting that this would be one of the keys in finding him, when it was discovered how Vladi was getting from one place to another. She chided herself for not discovering more about the mysterious magic user when she had the chance. All that she really knew that he was a magic user, was that he had the ability to conjure up things, such as her costume to cover her when he had saved her. But, the rest of it she really wasn't sure about, because of her severely weakened state while under the kryptonite influence of Matrix-Beta. Thus, she really had no idea of what his abilities and capabilities were, and that certainly included the way that he moved around.

"Not a clue. Sure, there have been a few vehicles reported as suspicious in the area of some of the thefts. But, after running then down, none of them have panned out." Robert stated with not a little bit of frustration in his voice. "This guy is a phantom. A spook! If I didn't know better, I would think that he was a meta like you. But, no meta pawns off shit at pawn stores. Errr... sorry, Supergirl."

"It's alright, Detective. I understand your frustration," Kara answered, though in all honesty, she really didn't. At least, not his own personal frustration with being unable to find Vladi. She hadn't been trying because of her responsibilities as a superheroine, though now she would have to try to find him. It was something that she had not really been wanting to do, for some strange reason that she really couldn't quite understand within herself. Yet. That was a frustration that she could understand, however. "But, I will do my best to find him and bring him in to you so that you can get the answers that you need, I promise."

"Thank you, Supergirl! I would expect no less from you," the lieutenant answered a brief moment before there was a rustling of papers on his desk as the blonde superheroine flew out the open window into the San Franciscan sky.

Chapter Three - Now, For My Next Magical Trick

It was the middle of the afternoon several days later when Vladi stepped out of the cover of trees of the small park in Daly City where he had opened the dimensional doorway for yet another of his daily pawn shop visits. No one had spotted him, and before long he had joined the other pedestrians that were bustling about this relatively small but densely packed city south of San Francisco.

The wizard checked the people around him as he strolled along, noting that many men wore their hair long, like himself. However, not as many had the straight jet black locks like he did, mostly blondes or light browns were predominant in the area. Bright colors and tattered blue jeans seemed to be much of the uniform for those that were walking around, but mostly they were neat and well mannered as they made way for him with a nod or a smile. Being tall and athletic and dressed all in black from boots to slacks to an open chested long sleeve shirt, he did look a bit intimidating, but he carried himself in a casual manner as to not alarm anyone. Also, wearing round dark glasses of the style that many people in the times wore, kept people from remarking on his unusually light blue eyes.

He came to the place that he was looking for, and a bell rang lightly when he opened the door into Jack's Pawn Shoppe. His gaze quickly took in the couple looking over rings at one side of the standard glass counter, being watched over by a large balding man who he took to be the proprietor. Another man was looking over some guitars hanging on a wall, and another man behind the counter looked over to him expectantly.

"Can I help you?" the man asked when Vladi moved up to him, the man smiling that forced smile that people had when they were hoping for the day to end. Perfect, he thought, knowing that someone that wants things to end will do their best to end them. And, such people would not be paying too close attention to minor details.

"Yes, I am needing some quick money, and I need to sell some things." Standard phrasing, for a standard sale, for a standard man selling standard goods.

"Of course, sir. Whatcha got?" the clerk asked while examining the man before him. Too clean to be a junkie. Didn't have the twitchy paranoia of a thief. Probably someone needing to get some quick cash to make a trip or some emergency fixes to his house or car, he thought.

Fifty yards away, two police cars sat parked drivers side door to drivers side door. The marked 2 man patrol car from the Daly City Police Department from the Broadmoor precinct was parked facing the street and the line of shops of which Jack's Pawn Shoppe was one of. Parked facing away from the street, the detective in the unmarked police car of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department was passing the time with gossiping with the driver of the marked car, an experienced cop who was bored with the day and letting his rookie partner pay attention to the pawn shop. Neither of the officers in the driver seat of either vehicle expected this day to be any different from any of the other days in the normally sleepy town that was a part of the greater San Franciscan population.

The two older officers did not pay much mind to the younger officer who spotted the man in black that went into the pawn shop, and didn't pay him much attention when he picked up a pair of high powered binoculars and put him to his eyes. After a bit, he put them down and dug through the papers in the metal report box between the driver and passenger side and pulled out the one with the description of Vlad E Meyer, the person of interest in a number of apparently unrelated thefts in nearby San Francisco county.

"Damn! Vic... Vic! That's the guy! He's in there now! At Jack's!" the younger officer blurted out, slapping the paper onto Vic's lap before putting his binoculars back up to his eyes to look back into the pawn shop. Vic raised his eyebrow at the detective on the other side of the car doors from him and then looked down at his lap to the POI report before looking out towards the pawn shop.

"You sure, Rookie??" the elder officer asked. Knowing that sometimes people see what they want to see when they expect to see it, which doesn't always mesh with what actually was seen. The detective in the other car, who already had a number of POI forms on the seat next to him, looked up at his rearview mirror to see what the officer in the Broadmoor car had seen. All he saw was the fairly steady traffic of San Pedro Street and the normal foot traffic that one sees in a strip mall.

"Yeah, same height, same build. Long black hair. Can't see his eyes though, as he is facing the counter. Can't see what he is doing. Could be selling something."

"Could be buying too, right?" Vic asked as he started the engine of the Ford Crown Victoria and put it into gear. "Looks like we may have a sighting on Meyer, so we're going to roll over there and check it out, Tom."

"Meyer, eh? The pawn shop guy, right?" Tom Sanchez asked as he dug out the POI associated, and quickly looked over the vitals of the subject wanted for questioning. White male, six foot three to six foot four, and approximately one eighty pounds. Long black hair with pale blue eyes. Usually dresses in all black or dark clothing.

"Hold up. I'll go in, less chance of spooking him. You two go up Alemany to the West Market and park on the north side. That way if he jets, you can grab him if he goes that way," the Sheriff's department detective directed as he started up his older Dodge and then put it into gear. The two Daly City officers were not under his command, but they had often worked together as often enough so that there was no hesitation between them.

Vic nodded his agreement as he pulled out onto San Pedro, cutting across lanes of traffic in a dart across the four lanes towards Alemany, while the sheriff detective's car quickly backed around and then when there was a clear section of the traffic, cut across San Pedro into the parking lot of the small shopping complex. He drove normally once he was in the parking lot and looked around to see if there was anyone looking out of place who may be working with Meyer. The POI had not mentioned about any accomplices, but that never meant that there wasn't one.~

Vladi was just finishing signing the cash receipt, when he felt that something was amiss. The clerk was giving him a black smile and took his copy of the receipt and put it in the cash register, closing the drawer with a metallic ring as Vladi put the bills into his pocket. Turning around he saw a car slowly driving in the parking lot, with the driver looking not at the parking spaces but at him. At least, he was looking at the pawn shop, and the wizard was pretty sure that his eyes were on him through the large picture glass windows.~He had the look of a policeman about him, and was driving the style of car that those in law enforcement usually did, so Vladi figured it was time to leave the area as soon as possible.~

He left the store and went the opposite direction that the car was facing, and headed north across the parking lot, weaving his way through the various parked cars. He didn't run, as he knew such a movement would attract attention faster than just walking at a normal pace. He didn't look towards the unmarked cop car, which he could hear moving to circle around the lot to get in front of him.~

Vladi wasn't too worried about that happening. He hadn't broken any laws, at least none that he knew about. If there was one thing that he had learned about humans in the two years living on this plane, it was that every different social group, be it geographical or political, had their own ways of doing things, and their own rules for how things were. Even different cities within the same state often had different rules and laws. So, while he would be safe from law enforcement agents in one jurisdiction, he would be in danger of arrest from another group of agents.

So it was, that he didn't want to put himself in the hands of any law enforcement. Of course, after getting shot in the head by a cop two years ago, made him a bit leery of any police officer, though he knew, intellectually, that his shooting was a terrible accident.

He was moving continually, dodging between cars both parked and moving, which made it near impossible for him to conjure up a dimensional doorway. It was possible, but he didn't want the humans to see him using magic unless it could not otherwise be avoided, especially not in a crowd of mid-day shoppers who were going to and from the various small shops.

"Vic, he's cutting through the lot. Coming out on the east side towards Market through that little walkway there. I can't follow him in the car!" Tom radioed to the Daly City car using the shared agency tactical channel.

"Rook, head out. Cut him off!" Vic told his partner, who was already opening the door and barely waited for the patrol car to stop before jumping out and jogging towards the walkway that the sheriff's detective had referred to, keeping his eyes on the opening for a tall man wearing all black.

Vic moved the patrol car slowly behind his partner, ready to gun it to do after Meyer if he takes off running down the street, knowing that Tom will be cutting off his retreat of the walkway back into the shopping center with his unmarked car.

Brad Johnson, the young rookie officer, was soon at the mouth of the walkway where it opened up to the sidewalk of the fairly heavy traffic of West Market. There was quite a bit of foot traffic, but not so much that he would miss a tall white man with long black hair and wearing all black. He came to the corner and checked down the walkway expecting to see the subject at any moment. He saw an Asian couple, several black juveniles laughing and joking, a tall woman in a bright red blouse, and a handful of older shoppers carrying colorful shopping bags.

"What the...??" Brad looked back over his shoulder at the following patrol car and shook his head, then turned to look back down the walkway that ran between a couple of the buildings of the shopping complex. It ran straight from the center to the sidewalk, and other than a couple access doors to the buildings on the east or west side of the walkway, that were for employees only and always locked, there was no place for Meyer to go.

"Tom, Johnson doesn't see him. Is he still on your side?" Vic asked the San Mateo deputy by radio.

"Negative, I lost him as soon as he went into the walk way," the detective answered, quickly looking around within the complex, in case he had missed the suspect doubling back.

"Shit!" Vic swore as he pulled up to the mouth of the walkway and threw the patrol car into park. He got out and motioned to Brad, and the two made their way south down the walkway, one to either side, moving slowly through the foot traffic. They concentrated on the Caucasians, ignoring everyone else, looking closely at the males in particular. A couple of minutes later, they came out of the south end of the walkway, to face an equally mystified Sheriff's detective.

"Where the fuck did he go??!" Tom asked in disbelief, more to himself than to the two Daly City policemen.

Chapter Four - Nothing But Net!

The hardest part was walking like a female. It was all too easy to undo his long ponytail and letting his straight black hair loose to hang to either side of his face and down about his shoulders. Turning his black shirt to red was a simple cantrip that needed nothing more than a brief second of concentration. Easiest of all was stepping in to follow a group of high school students who were talking away at a thousand words a minute. Doing all these simple things when moving in with the crowd of people going into the mall walkway made it easy to walk past the two uniformed police officers who were expecting to see something else.

Vladi paused after leaving the walkway, and momentarily thought about taking the police car that was parked several feet in front of him. He thought that would be drawing too much attention to him, so turned to his left and headed west towards Hill Street, taking another left there and walking south until he got to the field where he had started from. Checking around, he moved towards the trees, and when was assured no one was watching, conjured up a glowing blue dimensional doorway, and waited a moment as it spun around in the air before him, growing from the size of a small plate on it's side to the size of a small barn door (if such a door was round, of course).

Several thousand feet above the Earth, Supergirl flew from north to south over San Francisco. She was high enough to have a wide range of vision of the city below, while low enough to have be able to make out details without having to use her super senses TOO much. She flew fast enough to cover a good amount of ground in her search, but not too fast that she missed too many details.

She was frustrated though, in that she agreed to this at all. Looking for one man, who could be anywhere in two hundred square miles (or more!), was like looking for a straw colored needle in a hundred hay stacks. But, she was also honest enough to herself so admit that if it was any other person other than Vladimire that she would of refused to help the detective in the search. As it was, she was feeling pretty worthless at the moment, as she had no idea of where to start looking. Sure, she had looked over the list of the pawn shops, but those were where he had been, and she wasn't that familiar with all the pawn shops in the area to try to hazard a guess as to where he would show up next, even IF the detective was right and it was Vladi that was selling those stolen goods.

A flicker of blue to the south caught her eye. It was a brief flash of light, which was of a type that she hadn't seen before. She looked to the south, and saw a strange blue light that seemed to be getting larger in Daly City. Kara used her telescopic vision to good effect here and zoomed in on the strange sight, which turned into a spinning ball of energy in a small park near some trees. It was growing in size and before it stood a woman with long black hair wearing a red shirt. A flutter of wind then flicked the woman's hair from her head and she saw that she had pointed ears.

"Just like Vladi..." Supergirl breathed to herself and then willed herself to great speed, and dove towards the ball of spinning light. She flew as fast as she could, because she had a feeling that it was only going to be there for a moment, and she could see that the spinning energy had reached it's apogee and the woman in red was moving to step into the light.

She broke the sound barrier... twice... three times, as she rocketed across San Francisco environs and dove over Daly City. Just then the woman looked back for a moment, and Supergirl discovered that the woman was not a woman. The person was not like Vladi, but WAS Vladi!

"Vladi!! Stop!!" Kara cried as she dived towards the blue ball of energy, Vladi was inside and was sucked into the spinning disc of blue which now started to shrink in size. She knew that she had only a moment to make it to that strange phenomenon before it disappeared, and with it, so would Vladimire.~

Supergirl was a blur of blue and red that was only seen as a streak of color that zipped into the blue dimensional doorway, a brief instant before it *popped* closed.