He smiled at the goddess laying peacefully beside him the scent of fresh strawberries filled the air around her and was like a intoxicating drug to him. A part of him wanted to wake her properly, but like all good things in life they both had other obligations. To start with they both needed to fly back to Las Vegas and retrieve their belonging, and if the seeds he’d planted before setting out to find her earlier, an new life as well.
With a trace of reluctance he stopped caressing her bare shoulder with his finger tips not before taking a opportunity to brush aside a lock of errant hair that had obscured her otherwise angelic features. All the while he couldn't stop thinking that she was every science fiction nerd's fantasy come true.
“Kara... rise n’ shine it’s time to get up?” He murmured rather tenderly into her ear brushing her cheekbone with his lips.
“Mmm… Wh… What?” She’d mumbled.
“Mmm.... Time to go. I want to stay here too but we need to collect our clothes and fly back before it starts getting too late.” He answered still feeling very content lying next to her and then purely on impulse he reached down and started to caress her thigh.
Collect our clothes? Kara repeated absently enjoying a rather curious thrill speeding through her spine before her brilliant blue eyes blinked hesitantly at first then widened with a muted panic. She hurriedly propped herself into a semi reclined position and only after remembering that she was still naked, awkwardly tried to cover her exposed breasts with her arm in a purely classical feminine gesture.
“Oh my God… we…didn't.... Oh... God... No!” She stammered. Her eyes darted first away from her companion’s perplexed expression to his naked chest then down past the waist before coming back full circle and their eyes locked together once more.
“Honey what’s wrong?” He asked dumbfounded he shifted his hand from her hip to her still bare shoulder. Kara instantly recoiled away from his touch and floated up and away from him.
“Kara… what the hell…?” He repeated now climbing to his own feet.
Ignoring his confusion Kara’s eyes now hurriedly sought out the scattered pieces of her costume trying her best to cover her bare breasts with one arm stretched across them she bent awkwardly downward and pulled a partially buried bikini thong free from the sand.
Still not really understanding why she was suddenly acting differently. Kal-El wisely guessed that for now she wanted to be alone, and with superhuman speed he quickly gathered up his things and flew further down the beach to give her some needed privacy.
Taking the time to shake free the granules of sand she’d spotted with her enhanced vision. It seemed almost like a lifetime ago, but why do I suddenly remember overhearing some of the girls in school gossiping about their experiences of having sand in a woman’s neither regions? Despite her supposed invulnerability she didn’t want to take any chances and to be honest she wasn’t interested in experiencing that particular detail of womanhood. Kara stopped once she was satisfied that the thong was sand free. Before nimbly slipping it back up her long shapely legs. Even just feeling the cool fabric caress her legs before sliding in place the snugness of the thong was both comforting and disturbingly felt right.
Why am I thinking or even having these strange feelings? Ever since I stepped out of that damn thing it sure feels that I’ve been fighting with myself. Throw in the fact that from almost the start of all this she had been in one way or another she had been fantasying about him almost two days prior, made her feel that she was indeed losing sense of her true identity and any trace of masculinity. Was it really just only a few hours earlier that I was already having difficulty remembering what I used to look like or that I was originally a guy? But now not even that thought compared to what had actually transpired between them it didn’t help matters that she fully knew that it hadn't been Kal-El who had initiated their heated lovemaking session. Even now it was extremely hard to not accept that steadily growing part of her now wanted to experience again and in spite of her earlier emotionally outburst now didn’t feel that ashamed or even the slightest hint disgust or revulsion. Just recalling how she’d felt when his strong hands were caressing her breasts or how a seemly simple act of his thumb rubbed against her erect nipple was enough to cause her knees to give in slightly and the return of a now new but still familiar feeling of wetness between her thighs actually caused her face to flush.
No I need to stop thinking about that!! I’ve got to get back to that booth and change myself back before-, she thought fearful that even just thinking about it any further was detrimental to own psyche. Instead Kara triggered a mental command that allowed her embarrassingly revealing bikini to revert back into her costume minus its familiar cape and the accompanying pair of boots. For a brief moment she was sorely tempted to fly home completed costume or not but she didn’t know how the booth would turn her back minus her other accessories so with reluctance she floated to location on the beach where they were before her swim in the lagoon. Not surprisingly he was already waiting for her.
“Kara.. I..?” He started when she stopped a few paces away from him. To stress the apparent shift in her frame of mind she still hadn’t said anything to him.
“Look just listen ok… if you’re not going to say anything, then let me explain please.” He waited patiently until Kara finally met his gaze and sighed reluctantly nodded her head for him to continue. “I have some things that I want to say and it might take some time for me to go through everything. It’s important that I be as truthful about my plans and my feelings for you now.” Kal-El said.
She sighed halfheartedly partly curious herself of what exactly he had to say and has also torn between already dreading and anticipating some of the things he was very likely to say regarding his feelings towards her.
* * *
“You must be out of your mind!” Paul Haywood snapped he finally had enough of listening to the kid’s nonsense.
“Now Paul what’s really the problem? Could it be that you’re too afraid to even give it a try?” David asked innocently, wrapping the booth’s display screen with his knuckle. But he didn’t even wait for a response he instead thought it was better to just switch tactics and just turned attention to his sister, and knew his needs would be better served by using his own sister as a diversion.
“Well then, I guess that counts him out so what about you Alyssia? This can be the one chance you can have the body that you’ve always wanted. No awkward consultations or painful recovery, just imagine your ideal body and then let the machine take care of everything.”
“Damn it David just stop whatever it is you’re planning and leave my girlfriend alone! There is nothing about her that I would ever want changed, you little bastard!“ Paul seethed.
* * *
“Your- serious aren’t you?” Kara asked carefully not fully trusting her emotions at the moment. She was still coming to terms that they had slept together, but even as that earlier carnal act was just fade into the back recess of her mind she’d also had pay attention to him describe in great detail how they could be real super heroes and other more personnel details concerning their future together and simply couldn’t take it anymore.
She’d tried her best to hold herself at bay against the seemly endless number of conflicting emotions that were now raging inside of her. A part of her was actually flattered by some of his spoken feelings for her and even felt a flutter of happiness more than once. However his deceitfulness with her in the past and never mind the simple fact that he had made a very typical male like assumption that he could make life-changing decisions without her input. It wasn’t until that moment it hadn’t occurred to her that she was starting to refer to men in such a general stereotypical manner and she hadn’t bothered counting herself amongst them.
Damn! I really need to change myself back, before it’s too late! If things keep diverting me I might not even want to change back.
“Kara your one of the few people who know understand how I feel about the whole DC Universe especially the Superman and Supergirl characters arcs?” He asked pointedly already aware that it was indeed a feeble excuse but he still wanted to keep his momentum going.
“Listen Matt…I don’t need to be reminded! Alright… I will be the first to admit that I actually enjoy the sheer thrill of flying, but regardless it doesn’t mean I want to become a real life super heroine permanently. -And that brings up another thing, you’ve neglected to tell me exactly how are you are supposedly going to explain the strange disappearance of rather awkward High School Senior Kacy Prescott to our friends and family and then explain how you managed to have acquired a girl friend with a ironically similar sounding name?”
“Well…” he coughed hesitantly. He’d never admit to her that up till just now he had still been trying to work that particular detail out, but-. “I thought- you know… we could use our shape shifting abilities to assume our own secret identities, you remember how in my case I’ve used it to turn back into my Matt persona?” He started weakly. It was hard for him to look her in the eyes, and it didn’t help that her blue hued eyes had started glowing almost blood red.
“Your secret identity is going to be your Matt persona! The please then tell me then what my supposed secret identity going to be? Has all this super hero nonsense finally gone straight to your head? Do I really need to remind you're not Superman he is still supposed to be a fictional character, and you’re MATT KIRKWOOD?” Tears she had until now been holding back like a failing dam finally started to pour down her cheeks.
Not accustomed to seeing her showing such raw emotion he took a step backward from her trying to think of something just too both rebuttal and comfort her at the same time, when a thought that had been hovering in the back if his mind for some time now crystallized into sudden clarity.
“Ah.. Kar- I understand that it has been hard on you but haven't you even thought of trying to using your morphing ability to turn back to your original body?” He reasoned not really knowing if this might set her off even more then she was right now. But thankfully it seemed his words had indeed achieved the desired effect as it had penetrated deep inside her and just as quickly deflated her anger. It just simply had never occurred to Kara to try using her ability to hopefully change her gender back.
* * *
“Alyssia--, please why in heaven are you even thinking about using that thing to change how you look?” Paul whispered as soon as he’d pulled her into the room’s bathroom. Unwittingly she’d just given her younger brother the support he needed and quite honestly her apparent betrayal unintentional or not still frustrated him.
“Paul- I-- w-wanted only to make a few changes to myself so I’d feel better about how I look. You know-” She cupped her bosom and continued. “I’m not stupid. I’ve known for awhile that you didn’t like how I’d got the twins upgraded or particular short sightedness on my part about why I went about it…I just want to make things right and…” Her emotions caught and she started sobbing softly.
Paul didn’t know what to say now he’d originally thought that she wanted to become some sort of superhero but he had to admit that she’d surprised him. Instead of trying to talk her out of whatever she was planning he nodded his head for her to continue.
“Th-There are just a few things that I would like improved about myself and whatever that thing is could make it so I never would need to go under another surgeon’s knife. “ She paused. “All I want to do is make you happy and that is why I want you to program in my features, just like how David described it.”
“Are you really sure about this, I… love you… just the way you are.” Paul asked, never in his life would he consider that he would be saying such a thing. But when he considered what had happened in the last few hours. Then something occurred to him that deep down he knew that he should have realized earlier. David never did anything for anyone else unless he could take advantage of. In particular while they were in the bathroom, her brother was alone with the booth.
“When I get my hands on that little conniving Son-of-a-bitch I’m going to-! “ He fumed; his eyes darted to her perplexed face and opened the bathroom door.
* * *
“It’s no use I’ve tried and I just can’t.” She cried in frustration while her body returned to its normal state. “Well… normal in as far as Supergirl goes.” She mumbled to herself. In truth his idea had been a good suggestion and at the time she’d wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before. Kal-El had flown to the other side of the isle after telling her to take as much time as she needed.
When she'd first started to experiment she thought she was on to something, when her breasts prompted by her mental image, deflated like a pair of water balloons to almost nothing. But as hard as she tried the smallish breasts could never go past looking like a prepubescent girls chest would. That wasn't the only set back and more alarming to her, she simply couldn't remember how she’d looked before stepping inside the booth. It just fel odd even trying picturing herself as a male and that bothered her. The best she could accomplish was to turn her angelic face into a tomboyish one and despite her best efforts and after a very unladylike investigation underneath her skirt, nothing that really mattered had really ever changed.
Not knowing what else she could do or try she screamed in frustration and her vision clouded as she looked for some release. After-wards she simply stared in awe at the growing pool of water that was still filling the hole she’d made in a sudden fit of frustration. The rock outcropping she had just been sitting on earlier had been easily ripped out of the ground and then subsequently tossed out into the center of the lagoon. A subdued but also an understanding voice came from behind as well as a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Well that's it then…look lets head back now, and we'll get the booth so you can change back.” He spoke gently to her. If he had learned anything lately it was that he shouldn’t try to arguing with her.
Kara felt like crying, but knowing that it would only delay the inevitable. Instead she simply nodded in agreement and together they both floated upward into the air and angled their trajectory eastward.
* * *
“Sir…. Why are you bothering with looking at that surveillance image of them together on the beach?”
The details of the satellite photos were incredible and privately she toyed with the thought that it would most likely scare the civilian populace about the level American Intelligence gathering capability.
“Oh? Just call it professional curiosity. The blank stare she returned, actually made him smile inwardly. “You see I’m just curious if they used the booth to either switched their respective genders or if only Supergirl had.” After I’m gone, you’ll quickly discover that a abnormally large percentage of the cases you’ll probably end up investigating after I retire will often have subjects that have selected a different gender.
His fellow agent partner was scrutinizing the computer screen image of the two lovers enfolded in each other’s arms. “So you telling me that she could’ve been a he…. but that’s so perverted!”
Shaking his head sadly he called up a web browser and located a news feed from one of the cable networks. Not surprisingly the major news story was about the event they were here to investigate and not having better to they continued to loop the video played earlier. “You might think so, but there are perfectly normal people out there in this world that sometimes wonder what it would be like if they had been born into a different sex. So try not to judge….” He stopped abruptly watching the banner bar update and quickly jabbed his finger onto the laptop’s LCD display.
“They’ve come back! OK now remember what we discussed no further talking and let’s find that damn thing. Before this whole thing gets any further out of hand.”
* * *
Together they hovered silently in black darkness as they surveyed the ground before them. Kal-El and Kara on their journey back had incidentally found a electronic billboard on the outskirts of Las Vegas that just happened to be displaying the local time and together they learned, it was two a clock in the morning. In eerie-shared silence they studied the White Castle Convention area. The area too Kara’s dismay was now crawling with news media vans which also included their camera crews and the various television personalities. Just taking into account the staggering number of antenna booms sticking high in to the air made it appear as if a metallic forest had improbably sprung up from the asphalt pavement.
“Kara please, don’t look so worried we’ll just fly directly to our room’s window and-” Kal-El had started but only stopped a mere heart beat later. The sky around them was suddenly flooded with first one then literally dozens of beams of piercing white light from searchlights below them. Then just as quickly, the sporadic but growing number of flashes from cameras coming from the growing crowd below was intense, Kara thought dismally. Hopefully none of them were lucky enough to catch a shot under my skirt, she prayed weakly.
“Well so much for trying to sneaking back in.” He muttered sarcastically, before considering that he’d better try keeping a positive outlook on things for her sake. There was really no way of knowing how she’d react. They both had to do it together he understood the moment he met her gaze. She had unwisely left him alone before and she had to contend with the fact that majority of the people arrayed below more than likely believed that she and Kal-El were aliens from a dead world. Sensing her discomfort he held out his hand and to his pleasant surprise she accepted. Wordlessly they descended together into the media frenzy below them.
* * *
“I knew it!” Paul thundered as he stormed back into the room. David had taken the opportunity while they were in the bathroom arguing. On the booths display console a new a very familiar figure was being constructed.
Paul studied the figure and observed would have been almost an exact copy of the actual Superman if David hadn’t gone so overboard with the size of image’s muscles.
While Paul and his sister attention was focused on the display David had backed to the side of the booth and watched them both intently.
“David how about you tell us? Now exactly where did you supposedly find that thing?” Paul demanded.
“I thought that is should be pretty obvious for you now, please don’t tell me that my sister is in love with a brainless jock.” David answered rather smugly.
“Whatever that thing is it doesn’t belong to you. Don’t you think that at some point they might notice that it’s missing? I can’t really speak for them but that device is like a misplaced toothbrush, no David I can guess they are going to come looking for it.’ Paul tried first reasoning with him, but the stupid sneer on David’s smug expression meant otherwise. So he tried a different approach all the while they slowly circled each other. As they did so he noted that Alyssia had backed herself next to the television set. Throughout this neither one of them had even bothered turning the television off, neither he nor David was paying it any attention to the accustomed screen flicker and coming from it. As far as they knew it was still replaying the same video clips of the rescue as before but its volume was also muted. Neither one of them had noticed that a video shot was focused on two caped figures still floating in the dark morning sky of Las Vegas.
“How stupid can you be? Yeah I’ll give you that now you’re able to climb walls like Spiderman can but how can you be so sure that this alien technology is going to go afar as change you into whatever your heart’s desire?” Paul asked rather sarcastically.
The years of pent up irritation with his girlfriend’s younger sibling had finally been freed, and unlike the other times he wasn’t even going to let his girlfriend intervene on her brother's behalf. Despite David’s bravado, Paul was betting that against his opponent’s fragile self esteem and all he needed to do was to keep him off balance long enough , before his opponent remembered what sort of physical advantage he now had over him.
“What is it then… Do you think that by changing yourself into a duplicate Superman and thus gaining powers beyond our understanding? Entitles your to some sort of respect and whatever you’d think your entitled to?” Paul paused to let it sink in and continued. “All you are is just another spoiled rich brat. Do you think that the world is going accept you over those two?” He absently indicated the image of Superman and Supergirl on television screen, himself still unaware that its was not a replay from earlier.
“That’s not...!” David grated through his teeth. He never liked how Alyssia’s jock of a boyfriend always seemed to know how to get the better of him.
Alyssia who had been watching her brother and boyfriend, caught a flash of both blue and red on the television screen out of the corner of her eye. At first thinking like both David and Paul that was just the news network replaying the same stuff as before, but looking closer this time it looked different enough that it could only mean one thing.
“Paul!! David!! They’re back… this footage is live!” She whispered in a rushed manner. In trying to get both of their attention she grabbed Paul by his hand and pointed at the screen. It still took a moment for both Paul and David to come to their senses. It was true the footage was a bit shaky, but the two familiar figures by were easily recognizable. Not that seeing two people hovering in the air would be considered a common occurrence.
After a while Paul looked at crestfallen David and smiled. “Looks like you’re going to have to give it back. Face it David with those two aliens around, all you are just a spoiled rich little brat.” He paused to let his words sink in before starting up again. “In fact I’m going out there now to tell them that you have their… whatever they call it.”
“NO!!!”
Paul wasn’t sure if the plea had come from either David or Alyssia, but before he could react. Paul Haywood felt himself being lifted into the air and the just as abruptly he was flying through the air. His flight was cut short however when his body slammed into the far wall behind him. Normally he was accustomed to being thrown in the air due to own his experience with martial arts, but in this case it just didn’t matter. Barely conscious the last thing he'd recall later seeing was David purposely walked towards him and without any hesitation viciously kicking him in his side then a sudden sharp stabbing pain when David punch him on the side of his head which finally caused him to thankfully black out.
David toyed with the idea of kicking the crumpled form once more, but decided against it. He might of hated his sister’s boyfriend it didn’t mean he wanted to kill him.
Instead his enhanced senses detected movement behind him and he quickly spun around on his heels and caught Alyssia’s raised fist..
“David! You…you’ve killed him!” She was crying now, her checks streaked with tears and thick rivulets of mascara. In the rare moment of compassion for is own sister and not having any desire causing any harm to her, David carefully webbed his sister’s wrists and then her ankles together tightly before moving her on to the bed.
“DAVID!” She sobbed while struggling in vain to break the bonds. “My God what have you done?”
David looked pitifully at his sister and disappeared into the bathroom before returning again in the bathroom doorway. With a practices motion he quicly gagging her with a washrag, once he was satisfied that she wouldn’t be nuisance he spoke gently, but with his ever present air of superiority that hung about him.
“Just relax Sis… he’s still breathing. So can you do me a favor sit still for awhile and let me think?” He said firmly, before returning his attention once again towards the booth. He studied the image of his Idol on the screen and though he hated to admit it. Paul had been right in one aspect. Glancing at the television it didn’t take a genius to guess that the two aliens were not simply going to let him keep the booth and considering the plans he had with his new toy meant that he couldn’t have them getting in the way. Then almost out of the blue, a possible solution presented itself to him.
Acting quickly he erased the image on the screen and through the booth’s interface began designing a new body that he thought should take care of his immediate problem. He worked quickly both out for concern that his theft of the booth would be discovered soon, and for his desire to put his brilliant idea into action. Only after he was satisfied with his latest creation, and he couldn't think of any detail he may have overlooked he opened the booth and stepped inside.
The door promptly reopened and as if newborn he hesitantly stepped back out in to the hotel room. His first observation was that his perspective and since of balance was way off then the last time, but unlike before he was better prepared for the changes.
He had made his new height of his temporary body exactly eight feet tall and if he needed just one word to describe how he was feeling it would’ve been raw power. The muffled scream of his sister, strangely made him feel good. For the time being David Vandenhoff was gone, in his place was the means of getting what he was entitled to, as well as the end of Superman. With a cruel smile he looked down at his terrified sister. To him she looked so small and pathetically weak to him now.
“Now be a good little sister and wait here, till I get back. Say Sis since you’re not going anywhere do me a favor and keep a eye on the booth for me.” His new voice rumbled, the look of fear in her eyes was rather satisfying to him. If he had this effect on his own sister, he could only guess what he appearance might have on a total stranger. He paused just long enough to look himself over in the mirror. He had to admit that in his current form he was rather hideous, but he also didn’t plan to be in this body for very long. It was just a means to achieving one of his many goals.
Despite his greatness he stood before the closed door trying to figure out how he was going to get through the doorway; his massive form was simply too large to pass through the doorway. It reminded him of a story he’d heard once about how some boat enthusiast had foolishly constructed a sailing boat in his backyard but needed to level building to get access to the street. Reflecting on the story for a bit he realized that he simply had no other choice.
Using his massive fist he reduced the solid wood door into what could now only be best described as a pile of firewood. David however still needing to get through the doorway he effortlessly pushed his way through the tight opening. As he did so in the process broke the door frame and the surrounding structure in several places. Now free he made his way down the hotel’s hallway towards the stairs. Not even caring about the amount of damage he was causing to the hallway just by walking he absently thought it was a shame that no one was around to see him. So instead he allowed evil looking smile to curl his lips over his teeth as he thought about that particular deficiency was going to change.
* * *
The roar of the crowd, it seemed that each individual present was trying their best to attract their attention by shouting their names were still very intimidating to her. But unlike the previous encounter with a similar crowd, Kara knew and hoped that this time Kal-El would be more cognizant of how she felt, on cue he reacted by gently pulled her protectively close to him. The act was unusual in itself, she knew considering that no one in the crowd could possibly harm either one of them. But his simple gesture had a strange calming effect on her unease; she however still hadn’t forgotten that if it weren’t for his ludicrous plan. She wouldn’t be in this situation, in the first place.
“Kara… if you feel that … I mean if you can’t deal with this anymore, just let me know-“Kal-El whispered into her ear, still holding her close beside him.
“I'll be fine, but thanks for thinking about me.” Kara replied. Despite the fact that she was still upset with his deception, she knew that he did care for her. Being honest with herself, it had caught her off guard when he came out and said that he loved her.
Out of the overlapping voices calling either Superman or Supergirl name. She didn’t know if it was only pure chance or if it was intentional. So help her Kara had almost immediately recognized an all too familiar voice and though she didn’t want to she sought out the person. Melissa Duran as well as her camera man pushed their way through the crowd and now stood opposite of the spot where Kara and Kal-El had landed.
“S..Supergirl could you perhaps tell us where or what you and Superman, have been up too?” Melissa started the same instant both women had made eye contact. Despite the current state of her confused jumble of emotions right now Kara actually felt herself bristle as if she was facing someone who was challenging her.
“Miss Duran, I really just needed to get away from all of this and it even took Kal some time to find me. Your world is a wondrous place..” Kara said sweetly smiling at the reporter. To her surprise she could actually smell the other woman’s pheromones and could tell that Miss Duran was attracted to her partner and that in itself triggered another feeling that her subconscious mind marked her as competition in regards to Kal-El.
Would you mind if you could tell us, where he eventually found you.!” The reporter continued. She'd had interviewed various celebrities throughout her career and for whatever reason some of them did not appreciate the attention. She wasn’t too concerned about it though because she’d also acquired the hard won skills and charm in dealing with such personalities.
“I'm not sure some island I found by accident while I was flying out over a vast ocean past your nations coastline.” Kara only sighed apologetically.
“You don't mean the Pacific Ocean?!” Melissa pressed.
“Pacific Ocean? Ah..Yes, I believe that’s what some of your transmissions we monitored identified it as.” Inwardly Kara felt that she deserved at least a Emmy Nomination for pretending to be an alien from another world.
* * *
“Sir, I've just been wondering what you'd thought about my report?” She asked hesitantly obviously trying not to let her own curiosity to be to apparent with her senior partner. Wordlessly the two agents were slowly making their way through the White Castle Convention Center parking garage to access main lobby.
“What.. Oh... Well everything looked alright to me.” He said absently before realizing that his younger partner was just looking for some validation. Glancing back at his partner he couldn't help thinking about the early days for him when he was just starting his career, and memories it brought back actually caused him to smile.
“I mean that it was very good” He paused “Say I really need to ask you this, but how did it even occur to you to look for them there? I mean of all the places in the world they could or may have turned up. How in the hell did you think of looking for them in the Marshall Islands?”
“Well, Sir it occurred to me after making our travel arrangements that Supergirl or whoever she is might have flown a relatively constant bearing. With that assumption I simply hacked together a search algorithm and had it dumped into a file listing any sort of anomalies that had taken place in the Pacific Basin in the last six hours.” She explained feeling rather proud of herself.
“That was a pretty gutsy of you, but it seems to have worked for us.” Agent K stated amiably. By reading deeper into the more detailed parts of the report he'd found that. The US Navy’s acoustic network called SOSUS had first detected an acoustical anomaly and given enough time could be triangulated to the Bakok Atoll. Normally the SOSUS network was used to detect and identify submarines by their acoustical signature, but in light of post 9/11 era it was apparently being used for other purposes as well. Even with his years in the intelligence services he did know that this so called anomaly had the sound characteristics of either an underwater seismic event or that of a submerged nuclear detonation. It wasn’t too hard of a guess for him or his young partner to know that it wasn’t the former but the later that had caused the immediate order for an Intel satellite to change its orbit. That order had probably come from someone whose pay-grade was way much higher than his own, he recalled remembering his own experiences with trying to change the orbit a Key-Hole Imagery Satellite by way of the National Reconnaissance Office was itself not a simple task.
There were simply a limited number of such assets and changing the normal tasking of such a vital Intel gathering resource was only when necessary. So it wasn’t surprising he'd noted that just as it was entering the extreme limit of its collection range it was judged apparently by the signature hadn’t fully matched a typical fingerprint of a nuke so the satellite was hastily reassigned. But lucky for them the satellite had collected enough imagery for their own needs.
Agent K stopped a short distance away from the access tunnel he turned to say something else to her when he noticed that a faint pulse like vibration that was coming from the concrete floor and it seemed to be growing closer.
“Sir, what is that-” His partner started but stopped when the strange sound stopped as well. If she didn't know any better she could have sworn that it almost sounded like footsteps and if that was the case. Then whoever they belonged to that person was now standing on the other side of the door. Simultaneously her partner had come to the same conclusion but he was quicker then she was despite his age. He quickly took hold of her by the shoulder and pulled them both away from the door. By instinct he protectively pushes her to the floor. Just as they cleared the immediate area before the doors exploded outward. The doors having been ripped from their hinges revealed a giant hulking dark skinned figure now pushing its massive armored bulk through its opening. With a final push the creature broke free and stood fully erect and surveyed its surroundings.
Agent K felt the creature's horrible red eyes boring straight inside of him and the fear it located within, somehow seemed to amuse the creature. Then as quickly as it had begun it ended when the hulking giant turned away from them and once again started a path of destruction trailed behind it before it rounded a corner on its way towards the garage exit.
“Is that thing what I think it was?” His shaken partner asked after even the sound of the creature's heavy footsteps faded from earshot.
“How should I know I never was into this sort of thing?” Agent K sighed.
“I'm really getting too old for this.” He said wearily after helping her to stand up. His trained eye surveyed the scene and noted the extensive amount of damage not only to the doors and their frames but even the very flooring where the massive creature had once stood.
“What are we going to do now?”
“Our overall mission still hasn't changed, but I would say that it’s just gotten a little more complicated. The first thing I think we should focus on is finding that damn MAU.” He answered. His partner paused surveying the scene for herself before smiling back at him.
“If that creature was created by using the MAU then perhaps we should be able to back trace its path of destruction to where it originated. “ Agent L reasoned
“Well what are you waiting for then let’s try and find it so we can get out of here!” In truth it wasn't difficult to retrace the path of damage up the hotel's stairwell and which floor the creature had originated from. Finding a shattered doorway of a hotel suite both agents took covering positions before moving carefully inside.
In most cases related to the MAU device, agents never needed to draw their weapons, but they were armed for occasions where the use of lethal force maybe necessary. Both agents quickly swept through the corners of the room and come up the booth and two hotel guests inside, by all appearances one male the other female. Both Agent K and L observed that the male was unconscious on the floor and the female was conscious, but appeared restrained on bedding sobbing uncontrollably.
“You don't think that they used the booth as well?” Agent L asked incredulously. Her partner only nodded his head agreeing with her. His cursory examination of the occupants had concluded that despite the superb quality and attention to detail of their costumes were just as they appeared to be. Carefully she removed the gag from the frightened young woman's mouth.
“Please tell me that my boyfriend is going to be alright?” Alyssia pleaded.
Agent L smiled at her and her partner carefully examined the still unconscious boy and after reassuring her that other than a rather nasty looking bump on his head everything was going to be alright.
“Miss — could you please tell me your name as well as your boyfriend's.” Agent K asked gently helping the girl into upright position on the bed.
“My..My name is Alyssia and my boyfriend's name is Paul. Please help us! I need to find my brother and stop him, before he hurts anyone else.” She pleaded holding out her bound wrists to them. Agent K didn't move to unite her he only nodded his head towards the alien booth.
“In just a moment Miss Vandenhoff I still have a few more questions for you.” He paused. “So it reasonable to assume that you do know who used the booth to change in to the creature that did all this damage to this room?” The surprised look the girl had told him that she wanted to know how he and his partner already had knowledge of what the MAU could do.
“Both my partner and I already know what these thing can do to someone, but what I want to know if you have any knowledge of who else may have used this machine.” He confirmed for her his voice and demeanor changing to someone in authority.
“I wanted to use it, but my boyfriend stopped me and besides it belongs to like you know... Super- I mean the aliens!” Alyssia broke down her eyes now starting to tear up again. Agent K looked wordlessly at his partner.
“By any chance do you know what the two 'aliens' name are?” Agent L asked gently.
“They told us that their names were Matt something and Katie or maybe Kacy — I'm sorry but I really don't remember what her name is, but why this is so important! They're aliens aren't they?” Alyssia paused and then held up her wrists again.
“Just one more question before we untie you. Do you by any chance know which hotel room they were in?” Agent L asked pleasantly. Her partner was for some reason studying the booth intently. Alyssia responded that they were located across the hall from her room and she without thinking gave them her room's number. She was about free the young woman when her partner quickly turned to face her and motioned for her to stop.
“Stop we don’t have time for that now!! We have a Priority Alpha One situation! We have to move now while we still have time!” He ordered her. She nodded in acknowledgment to her partner, finding a still active MAU was one of the first directives their agency has for its field agents. All other details are now secondary since they needed to get it to one of their classified locations for further study, hopefully before it ceased functioning.
Agent L had reviewed enough case files to understand how to turn the booth back into its briefcase state. Picking up the case she looked at Alyssia then at her boyfriend. The questioning look she gave him was quite obvious to him. He shook his head.
“They'll only slow us down and besides I need you to access the hotels' guest registry and find out anything concerning our persons of interest” He stated firmly before taking the MAU from his fellow agent and not saying anything further carefully navigated around the shattered door then out into the hallway. She knew that he was right but still feeling some pity towards the still bound young woman. The Agent paused just long enough to offer reassurance that her boyfriend was already showing signs that he was coming around, before hurrying up to catch up to her partner.
* * *
The creature was starting to grow annoyed that its progress was slowed by the growing crowd in front of its path. David had lost track of how many convention attendees he had caught sight of that were costumed as Superman or Supergirl, but that wasn’t really a problem for him. Considering that one of the enhancements David had given his new body was the innate ability of both identifying as well as tracking beings that had Kryptonian DNA.
Right now there was just a overwhelming compulsion that was urging him forward. But the crowd ahead of him was impeding his advance and that only seemed to amplify his need.. He paused collecting his thoughts hoping to find an easier means of reaching his prey through the mass of humanity.
* * *
Well… I guess that I just need to accept that he can’t help himself. Kal-El had wordlessly taken the lead and started fielding most of the questions bombarding them from literally every direction. She did have to admit that so far he was doing his best to keep most of his responses from going overboard and Kara had even noticed that he was actually trying his best to shield her from the more personnel questions. So for the immediate future Kara was alone with her own thoughts.
Not that she wanted to think about the events or the sordid details in the last forty eight hours It was becoming harder to sense where the once vocal masculine voice had retreated further inside her psyche and but for not a very rare murmur of resistance Kara would’ve believed that it was truly gone. It didn’t help that for most of their flight back together she had found herself stealing some quick glances at her companion and actually admiring his well muscled physique and blissfully recalling how it felt enfolded her in among them. Damn it got to get a hold of yourself Girl!! It wasn't the last time she fervently wished that she'd never stepped inside that booth
She couldn't quite put a finger on the strange feeling she'd been having ever since they had returned to Las Vegas. Whatever it was she couldn't honestly think that it meant anything good it didn't help that she had even started experiencing a deep pounding in her chest.
What the…. Hell that can't be my heart. Well whatever it is it feels like it coming from somewhere in the crowd. Then there was what could only be described as primal instinct Kara was beginning to come to the realization that there was danger nearby. Fearful but still none the less curious Kara triggered her x-ray vision and crowd in her line of sight started peeling away. Just like the multitude of layers of a onion one layer at a time until it revealed a massive horrific looking creature standing on the outer fringes of the crowd. Even though she had better than a simple passing familiarity of DC Universe it still took her a brief moment to identify the being with its trademark pupilless red eyes
That can’t …Impossible!? Damn it…. Think your currently a woman wearing a red cape who can also fly…so there is only one possible explanation and it meant that.
Now in spite of a growing fear regarding the status of their secret supposedly safely hidden away in their room and the driving wish to get as far away from this place as soon as possible. Even blinking her eyes in vain hope of trying to clear her meta powered vision Kara knew that she needed to see whoever or whatever that thing was and with her own eyes. Not supplying any sort of forewarning to either Kal or any of the people around them, she used her powers to levitate herself skyward.
“Supergirl!!” A chorus of voices suddenly cried called out.
“Kara…?! What-“ he asked as levitated upward till he was eye level with her.
“Quiet... Kal for once, just listen to me!” Kara hissed back her voice tinged with worry before allowing gravity to pull her earthward once more. “I'm not positive, but I honestly think that someone found our little secret and figured out how to use it on themselves an...” Kara trailed off as he cut her off.
“Oh... Shit! How did they...?Who...Where...?”
“That doesn't matter right now!“ She snapped. “We really need get all these people away from here and we had better do it soon, before someone gets hurt!”
“Hurt!? But-” Kal-El was cut short when his enhanced hearing locked on a distinct sharp pop which was quickly accompanied by a blood curdling wail of intense pain.
* * *
The creature growled in frustration as he vainly tried pushing forward, his towering stature had indeed made it a rather trivial task to locate where his prey actually was, he had even caught a glimpse of the female alien floating partially above the crowd.
“Hey jack-ass do all of us a favor and stop trying to push-- Shit man now that is a totally bad ass costume! So just how did you manage to put this together it looks almost life like.” At first rather annoyed then curious individual dressed as Thor cried out using his hammer to prod David/Creature in his gut. David glanced dispassionately down at the Nordic based character before returning his attention back to where he had caught sight of female Kryptonian, but she obviously wasn't visible any longer.
“Come on man you've got to tell me where you got that outfit from?”
Still annoyed that he had just lost sight because this person was distracting him David decided to have some fun with him, realizing at the same time that this was as good as any other opportunity to establish his background and he used what he remembered from the alien's own origin story.
“If you must know human I was modified into my current form on my homeworld and now having tracked this two renegade children to your miserable planet... I must fulfill my purpose and destroy them now!” David voice rumbled before his massive maw of a hand crushed inward around the poor man's hand. That was until, practically every bone in Thor's hand shattered.
To his own amazement the man had yet to under a single sound, but that finally changed when David gleefully wrenched the now trembling man's arm upward and was promptly rewarded with a audible pop as he fully dislocated the man's shoulder. Dangling the sobbing individual before him. He absently observed how pathetically weak the annoying thing had been. As if he was a rag doll David carelessly tossed him aside like a broken toy and started to force his way through the shocked bystanders. Thankfully many of them actually now started to shrink away from his path..
This is more like it! David thought happily.
* * *
END of Part IV.
I would like to apologize to all of my readers for my tardiness in the forth installment of my story. Several things have happened that I feel that I should share with all of you. After two years of trying to start a family my wife and I were blessed with a little boy. But I guess with every good thing in life there must be some bad to balance out the universe. Shortly afterwords my father was diagnosed with Stage IV Bladder Cancer after a year long struggle he finally succumbed to this horrific disease. For a time it quite literally took the wind from my sail. I have the inevitable confrontation between David and our two young superheroes, story-boarded out and felt that it should be in released in its entirety and not broken up. Please tell me what you think of how the story is progressing so far and your thoughts about development and actions of the characters.
Comments
MAU Superman & Supergirl Chapter 4
DOOMSDAY?
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Just finished the first 4 chapters
Okay, it may not be perfect grammatically, but the story is great! I have really enjoyed reading the first chapters, and I eagerly look forward to the next one. I wonder-will the MAU still be functional? Will Matt and Kacy be stuck in their new forms? Stay tuned!
Wren
Normally
Normally I wouldn't comment on a chaptered story. As others have pointed out I do break my rule when the story has well and truely hooked me.
I read chapters 1-3 back in 2008 when they were first posted to fictionmania. I enjoyed them and figured the final scene in chapter 3 was the end.
Well I for one say welcome back and I hope we won't have to wait 3 years for the REST of the story!
Keep writing,
...Dayna.
ps. lots of word usage errors. Throw away your spell checker. You appear to rely on it too heavily.
Super MAU
I've always liked MAU stories. This one is quite good. I don't know David's character but other than that I'm able to follow everything.
Thanks and kudos.
- Terry
Well I'm enjoying it
I've enjoyed the canon characters in small doses and this brings a whole new perspective in their origin story brought to 'real life'.
Mind you, not everybody is a comic reader so keep the relatively small number of kudos in mind. You are however developing the characters nicely and they do come through as people in a difficult situation of their own making but we've all been there.
Kim
Looks for MAU, errr..... more!
Dern it all, ran out a story!
Been quite a while, I guess this may not get finished.
>i<