She arrived on Earth in a mysterious Symbio-Ship with false
memories and awesome powers and abilities beyond that of mortal men and women....

Issue #10

Science Fiction Double Feature
Part 3: Hero Triumphant

Written By Paul Daimler

The pain tearing through Karen Starr’s head was terrible. It felt like her brain was cleaving in two distinct pieces—both screaming and both in horrible awful excruciating pain. She could hear her own screams, and marveled at it. She had never heard herself scream like that.

Cause not even the Gray Man hurt you so bad. You’re invulnerable, usually, as Po—“ Just beginning to think the name caused another dagger of pain to explode through her head.

She stopped thinking about being You-Know-Who and suddenly the pain receded. Looking around she watched as the security guards under the thrall of Gang member Siren advanced upon her and Cheryl Delarye.

Whiz-kid Minvera Bates was in her power suit fighting off Dozer and Kong, although even with the strength enhancement and the energy bolts the suit was capable of producing, she was beginning to lose. Kong and Dozer may have been minor-league super-villains that Power Girl could make short work of, but for an inexperienced kid like Minerva Bates they could be an actual threat.

Karen Starr looked around. OK, so she had all the powers of You-Know-Who, but if she tried to access them directly by thinking about them she had to acknowledge that she was You-Know-Who and it hurt. Which meant she was fighting as Karen Starr, and she had long ago mentally conditioned herself to hold back when consciously acting as Karen Starr—so as to not give away her identity of You-Know-Who. It meant, that her only way to use her true strength level and abilities, was to fight without thinking about it. Which wouldn’t be too hard for someone like Wonder Woman who had been trained since a child in the art of war and battle—Wonder Woman could fend off an invading army with a blindfold on and without thinking about it—because it was instinctual for her. She was presented with a threat and she clobbered it. And that’s why she was always triumphant in the end over any opponent. And of course that’s also why she was one of the big guns.

But, how did Karen Starr access that sort of mentality. Once, in San Francisco she had trained with Mongo in martial arts. He had spent a lot of time trying to instill that mentality into Karen. It had helped, but she had never been able to let go of her conscious thought and let her instinct take over. Maybe that’s why you get your butt handed to you so often as You-Know-Who. When it comes to a situation that you can just swing out, you’re fine. But, there is never any instances of letting your instinct take over and following them.

“It’s it a little late to master Force 101, Obi-Wan.” Karen whispered to the sarcastic voice in her head.

Looking out, the painful throbbing in her head that echoed down through her body slowly faded, she wondered how she was going to do this. Frowning, she looked at Minerva Bates. She was losing against Dozer and Kong, but she was doing better than Cheryl was.

Cheryl was having a hard time keeping the zombie-like security guards off of her. The were swelling all around her.

Karen looked over where Ms. Mesmer and Siren had several of the guards lifting the heavy cases that held Minerva Bates various inventions.

“I have to do something…” She said. Her eyes went to the disc on Ms. Mesmer’s chest.

That disc helps her control her powers and helps her put people under her hypnotic spell. Whatever she did to me, she did with that. Karen thought.

Cheryl screamed and chased all of Karen’s thoughts about the disc on Ms. Mesmer’s chest away. Karen sprung into action, knocking the guards swarming Cheryl aside.

Without consciously thinking about what she was doing, Karen sent them flying. Her super-strength sent those who got in her way flipping end of end, knocking down other security guards, and helping Karen clear a path to Cheryl.

“You will carry that box to the white van parked in the C Lot under the light.” Ms. Mesmer said to the guard, as Siren’s lips remained parted in song.

Ms. Mesmer had not been entirely sure about letting Siren into the Gang. In fact, she’d been dead set against it. After Brains, she wanted to be the only woman. Also, Siren’s powers were scarily similar to Ms. Mesmer’s, except a little more useful in the grand scheme of things. Ms. Mesmer could control one person at a time—and only after getting them hypnotized. It was a several minute process and sometimes it didn’t work fast enough in battle to make it entirely effective. Siren on the other hand, could take complete mental control of someone—almost anyone in the immediate vicinity of her siren’s song. While men were dominated far more easily by Siren’s voice, women fell victim just as quickly. Ms. Mesmer knew that both Kong and Dozer had fallen for her, no matter how gruff they came across. She was dangerous to Ms. Mesmer. It wouldn’t take Kong and Dozer long to realize that Siren was probably a better fit than Ms. Mesmer. It probably didn’t hurt that they thought she was prettier.

Looking over at Siren, Ms. Mesmer’s face did not betray a single murderous thought flashing through her head.

“Can you bring more guards over here?” Ms. Mesmer asked, as the guards who had come over had already left with all of the boxes they could handle. “We still have all of these.” Ms. Mesmer gestured to all of the boxes before them. Her eyes focused on the one that had dark print against it’s smooth wood surface: KG762/VE90-1

Moving over to the crate, she ran her yellow gloves over it. Her eyes looking through the eye-slits of her white domino mask. A wicked grin curled Ms. Mesmer’s lips while behind her the battle raged on.

Karen had knocked the guards away from Cheryl with minimal pain. There had been several instances where the stabbing pain in her head had flared up. Mainly the two times she’d consciously tried to fly herself and Cheryl away—secret identity be damned. But, whatever Ms. Mesmer had done to her head had kept that from happening.

Cheryl punched at the guards coming at them.

“I take it that you can’t use your powers.”

Karen screamed, “Don’t mention that. Even thinking about them hurts.”

“Then we might as well give up.” Cheryl said, “Otherwise we are not getting out of this one.”

“Not with that attitude we aren’t.”

For Minerva Bates it continued to get worse as she realized the charge on the power suit was beginning to run out. Since it was only a prototype suit, it only had enough of a charge to be effective for demonstratin the suit’s capabilities. Each night when she took her inventions back to the small offices she rented in Century City to house her inventions during her stay, she recharged it for the next day. But, nearly fifteen minutes of fighting super-villains had worn the suit down.

Her gaze fell upon Karen Starr and Cheryl Delayre of Starrware, losing their fight against the suddenly evil security guards. She could continue to fight Kong and Dozer and run her suit completely out of power, or she could do the smart thing and get out of there while the waiting was good. The police could stop the super-villains. Or better yet Power Girl who supposedly lived in Century City now.

Kong and Dozer drew close to her.

With the last of the charge in the blasters, Minerva released an intense blast of energy—knocking Dozer and Kong over like pins in a bowling alley. She then power up the mini-anti grav unit in the suit and made her way over to Karen and Cheryl. Her flying was sloppy, and the anti-grav field that surrounded the suit knocked several of the guards over—but she made it. Throwing her arms around the two women, she sent the suit flying away—heading toward the main room of the Tower of Power.

“Nice save.” Cheryl said, holding on for dear life—trying not to pay too much attention to the walls that seemed too close and Minerva Bates veered to close to the wall.

“Thanks.” Karen said.

“No prob. Didn’t want my prospective future bosses pummeled to death by Night of the Living Security Guards from Hell.” Minerva said. “So, that whole super-villain scene was kind of weird. Kind of fun though. Probably would have been more fun if this suit was more than a prototype and a longer lasting battery.”

“Energizer batteries work wonders.” Cheryl remarked dryly.

“That proposal for the job we sent you? Consider your signing bonus increased by ten percent.” Karen said. They were flying just over the heads of the few stragglers in this hallway—the ones who were watching the Gang and their security guards with great interest.

“Ok, all is well.” Minerva said as they burst into the main room. “Sorta.”

“Except unless you count that Batgirl holding a gun to the head of Tara Renee Keller.” Karen said.

“Yeah, that does kind of put a damper on things. Although maybe not as bad as those costumed morons stealing all of my inventions.” Minerva shrugged. “They are insured… but, still… that’s way bad karma those idiots are bringing down on themselves.”

Batgirl spun on them, even the gun never left Tara Renee Keller.

“If you come any closer the talentless hack get’s it.” Batgirl purred.

“You’re not Batgirl.” Karen said, as Minerva lowered them to the ground.

“I’m not a HACK!” Tara Renee screamed, outraged, even as she stared down the barrel of the gun. This so couldn’t be happening to her.

“Of course you’re a hack.” Batgirl said, and she turned to Karen Starr. “And of course I’m Batgirl.”

“No. You’re not.” Karen replied, “There is no Batgirl. Not anymore.”

“I’ve come out of retirement.” Batgirl replied, “And, I’m tired of being one of the good guys. I want lots and lots of money or I’m going to shoot this bad actress on a bad show in the face.”

“MY SHOW IS GOOD!” Tara Renee screamed.

“Oh come on.” Batgirl said, shaking her head and meeting Tara Renee directly in the eyes. “You couldn’t act your way out of a paper bag and your show is a third rate rip-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dark Shadows.”

Tara Renee gasped in shock.

“That was way harsh Bat-lady.” Johnny O, Karen and Cheryl’s business partner and Tara Renee’s current love interest, said.

“And, you look like you’re trying too hard to look like a teenager when you’re quite obviously almost thirty. Let it go Grandpa, accept your age gracefully.” Batgirl snapped.

“Wow. She just said what we’ve all been thinking for the past few years.” Cheryl said.

“I know. If it weren’t for the gun, I’d like her honesty.” Karen said.

“Honesty is good.” Minerva said, “But, she’s just being a grade A first class bee-otch.”

From the vent in the ceiling, Eliza Gemini looked down, watching the two guards in the room as they opened the safe so that the other guards could put the deposit in the safe.

Almost time. Eliza thought.

This heist was turning into a real mess. Beth was just… not working out.

Eliza sighed heavily. Yet another “partner” she’d have to cut loose. The process was just not working out the way it was supposed to. On paper the process should have produced a viable duplicated clone of herself. Yet, each one that had come forth so far hadn’t worked out. There was always something. So far, Beth had been the best. So, definitely the process was being refined with each duplicate. It still just wasn’t good enough for Team Gemini.

Times like this she missed her sister. Her real sister. Not the test tube clones that Professor Kangle cranked out for her every few years. Her thoughts turned to Professor Kangle—an agent of Lady Star-Fyre, who was quite unaware that her chief mad scientist was busy with side projects—including helping his niece Eliza clone herself every few years so that she had a partner in crime.

When Eliza’s mother had been pregnant, she had been expecting one child. To her surprise (as well as the surprise of her quack backwoods country doctor), there had been two girls. Having only picked out one name, she’d divided it into two: thus naming her girl’s Eliza and Beth. Growing up, the girls had been close and had shared a bond. At the age of thirteen, when puberty had sent in for them had come super-powers. For a while they had worked as Team Gemini, pulling off sensational robberies and heists, making themselves a fortune and living the high life.

Then disaster struck and Beth fell in love with a con man who had not only taken them both for all they were worth, but as his treachery was discovered, he had stabbed Beth in the heart with a dagger, killing her and leaving Eliza alone.

It was then that Eliza had turned to the black sheep of the family—the crazy uncle who had left America to escape prosecution for “crimes against nature” after he’d been discovered doing highly illegal and unethical experiments on humans in hopes of creating an advanced race. Unlike Hilter, he’d had no aspirations of creating them to rule the world. He had been doing it purely from the mad science perspective of let’s do it because I can do it.

It was probably only for that reason that Eliza sought him out and convinced him to use his cloning techniques—which were still in their infancy to create a clone of Beth. The only problem being that he was unable to clone from Beth’s dead tissue. He was able to create a clone from Eliza. However, his cloning technique involved injecting a chemical into Eliza that caused a small embryonic shaped mass of goop to split from Eliza’s gut, where it was grown and cultivated in a test tube until Kangle moved it to an incubation tube where it grew into a fully grown clone in only a few weeks. Half of her knowledge, half of her powers, half of her being split off into her very own clone. Which she called Beth. However, her uncle’s techniques were still in their infancy—still experimental in nature. And, deeply flawed. The first clone had died within a few weeks. Eliza had cradled her dead clone in her arms and through some weird chemical transformation the chemical Professor Kangle had used within her, Eliza re-absorbed the corpse of her clone.

And, for some reason, despite the oddness of the experience and the pain of it, Eliza had subjected herself to the experiment again.

The next few clones had not made it long—most of them not even making it to the field. But, over the past five years, each clone had been making it longer and longer. The current clone was nearly a year old. The longest by far of the previous nine, and had been the most efficient and intelligent of them. Kangle told Eliza that the next clone would be even better.

I hope so. Eliza thought. She pulled the tranquilizer gun from the holster on her side and took a deep breath.

The only problem with this current clone was that it was far too independently minded. The previous clone twins had required Eliza’s feedback and guidance every step of the way. The current Beth often questioned and often resisted and too often exerted her own will. It troubled Eliza. Professor Kangle said it was just part of the process, part of his technique evolving. But, Eliza worried because she was feeling far less independent these days. Almost as though she were losing her own free will. Was the evolution of the process causing her free will—the dominant gene in her to go to her clone?

Something to worry about later she supposed.

With a solid punch, Eliza knocked the vent covering out—sending it flying. She leapt out, landing on the ground. She pointed the gun at the guards standing in the room—even though it was a tranquilizer gun, capable of shooting nothing more than darts pumped full of sedatives, it looked like a real gun. While Eliza had issues with actually killing (something her uncle the Professor had no compunction about), she didn’t want people to realize that she highly unlike to kill any person.

“Good evening gentlemen,” She purred. “This is a robbery.”

She judged the men’s reaction and got the one she liked the most.

Not only were they intimidate and afraid of her—getting killed terrified most men, they were also attracted to her. She thought some of it might be the skin-tight leather body suit—half black, half forest green with a circle on her rather buxom chest with a Gemini Zodiac symbol on it, the rest was purely her long flowing blonde hair and her super-model features. Sometimes Eliza wondered if she’d gone into modeling if she would have made more money than she did stealing.

Of course, that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. She thought.

“Please don’t kill us!” One of the men blubbered.

“Well,” Eliza cooed, “That depends on whether or not you cooperate or not.”

“The safe is open lady.” One of the other guards said. “Take what you want.”

“Excellent.” Eliza grinned at them, batting her eye lashes—even though none of them could see that under the mirror lenses of her goggles. “If you guys would so kindly fill that till it’s bursting with money, no one has to get hurt.”

She tossed a big leather satchel at their feet.

The guards scurried to fill the satchel with money. Half-way through the process, they stopped—almost at the same moment that Eliza heard a slight vague singing somewhere in the distance. Then she watched in surprise as the four security guards stopped filling her satchel. Their eyes glazed over and they left the room. She suddenly remembered that the newest member of the Gang, per the Calculator’s information, was Siren—who had the power to put people under her control with her song.

“#$%@%@!” Eliza swore. She went over to the safe and finished filling it herself. There was something far less glamorous about filling her own satchel during a robbery.

“So, we have a fake Batgirl pointing a gun at a bad actress.” Karen said, “Behind us four minor league super-villains have turned all the security onsite into mindless zombies so they can steal Minerva’s inventions. Did I cover it all?”

“You forgot Power Girl is missing in action.” Cheryl said dryly.

Karen cried out in pain. “I was trying not to think about that. It hurts to think about it.”

“Excellent.” Cheryl sighed, “It could be worse I suppose.”

Behind them, the Gang burst into the room, an army of security guards with them.

“We want the suit.” Ms. Mesmer said.

“It’s worse.” Minerva said. “I’m almost out of charge. So, I’m not going to be able to fight them off. I can fly a little bit longer. But, I don’t know where to go.”

“No more power blasts?” Cheryl asked, deflatedly.

“Nope. I used the last of it to knock Kong and Dozer out of the way for me to rescue you two.” Minerva said.

“Let me off here.” Karen said, “ Then you and Cheryl get as far away as possible.”

“What?” Cheryl said.

“You guys should get to safety.” Karen replied.

“And you?”

“Oh. I’ll figure something out.” Karen grinned widely, “I always do.”

“You aren’t any better off than we are. If you don’t remember who you are.” Cheryl said.

“It’ll be fine.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” Karen grinned, “I suppose it will work out. It usually does.”

“I don’t want to leave you.” Cheryl said.

“Oh wow.” Minerva said, “This is going all Thelema and Louise on me. Let’s all stay and fight. I mean, this suit might be about to run out of power. But, I can figure out a left hook I’m sure. And those Gang people don’t seem all that fearsome. I bet I could take Mesmerizing Girl.”

”Ms. Mesmer.” Karen corrected.

“Whatever.” Minerva rolled her eyes. “She has a terrible outfit. The entire Gang does. Don’t they have costume designing classes for super-villains? I mean single color jumpsuits? What the hell is this? A 1980’s aerobics class?”

“You think you can take her?” Karen asked. Whatever was going on with her as far as P—a tremor rippled through her. Whatever was going on was somehow related to Ms. Mesmer. The first time they’d met… it hurt to even try and think about that. But, it was somehow related.

“Oh yeah. All she seems to do is stand around and boss everyone else. Obviously she doesn’t know how to fight. And she looks like a little old lady.” Minerva replied.

“If you can aim for that disk on her chest, that will help. Her mesmerizing powers come mostly from that disk.” Karen said, “If you can break it or get it away from her… well, it will be better for all of us.”

“OK.” Minerva nodded.

“What about Kong, Dozer, and Siren?” Cheryl asked.

“I’m not sure.” Karen shrugged. “They have actual powers. Although I’ve noticed since the security guards started attacking, that Siren hasn’t stopped singing.”

“And then there’s Batgirl with a gun.” Cheryl nodded toward Batgirl and Tara Renee Keller.

“If she shoots her, then we’d be saving the world from bad acting.” Minerva said brightly.

“You know, other than murder is bad, I don’t really have any other compelling argument against that one.” Karen shrugged.

Batgirl looked at the Gang and the security guards.

In her mind, Beth realized that the Gang wasn’t going to care if she killed Tara Renee Keller or not. While they weren’t high up there on the Super-villain danger list, the Gang wasn’t known for caring if someone lived or died. They actually weren’t known for anything. But, getting their butt kicked by Power Girl. They were wild cards. They might let her kill Tara Renee Keller just to help their getaway, or they might not want to be guilty by association with murder.

Beth frowned. What should she do? There was a lot of attention on her in this room, so she couldn’t just call in to Eliza. And, then there was the fact that Eliza was probably in the middle of stealing the money and it was probably a bad time to call in.

Stuck. Beth thought darkly. Stranded again. This seemed to happen a lot. Her getting left out in the public situation while Eliza handled the behind the scenes part. The pandemonium being created by the arrival of the Gang might let her make a getaway. Beth rethought her early idea of just running off. But, she remembered what it was Eliza had told her—You will not last long without me. You’re a part of me. Grown in the lab and split off from me. Without me you aren’t viable long.

Beth thought about the merges—those times when they had to recombine. They were infrequent, but from time to time they were necessary. She hated them. She felt lost and confused and none of her thoughts were clear or made sense. I lose myself.

What if she did die? What if she escaped and died?

I would die as myself. At least. Beth thought brightly. Well, sort of brightly.

Before Beth could give anything another moment, there was a flurry of activity around the girl in the power suit and the two women with her.

“GO!” Karen cried.

And at that moment, Minerva, Karen, and Cheryl broke apart.

Karen rushed toward Kong and Dozer, knocking guards out of the way. As long as she didn’t think about having super-speed or strength, she could use them both—going by instinct. She just focused on reaching Kong and Dozer as quickly as possible.

Cheryl rushed toward Siren, scurrying around the guards as best as she could. Several of them reached for Cheryl but she realized that they weren’t very swift or smart—like real zombies. She just kept that in mind while making her way toward Siren. Cheryl wasn’t quite sure what she was going to do, but she was going to do something. The Gang had done something to Karen to make her forget she was Power Girl—to make it painful to be Power Girl. It made her mad. While Karen had always kept that part of her life secret, Cheryl knew that it was part of what made her friend complete—that side of her—the super-powered hero was a very important part of her life. Sometimes Cheryl thought that her friend Karen didn’t really exist, that it was only a mask that Power Girl wore for her free time.

Minerva Bates stood there for a moment, unable to believe this was happening. How did she go from showing off inventions she’d made in a lab between college courses and high school classes to wearing a power suit and fighting super-villains? It was almost like a dream. She looked at Ms. Mesmer, noting that the woman had ensconced herself well in the middle of her team-mates and the security guards. Maybe it was good that she had offered to take out Ms. Mesmer.

Turning the hover jets back on, the suit lifted up from the ground by several feet. The first lift was always the worst. She had only worn this suit a couple of times, but each time lift-off had kind of scared her a little. Landing and flying less scary—but lift-off—that initial moment of seeming weightlessness was always overwhelming.

She manipulated the flight controls, pointing herself toward Ms. Mesmer. Her eyes focused on the woman—realizing that she could use her weight and the velocity she was picking up to her advantage. Was this what it was like being a super-hero? Was this how Power Girl did it? Did she think about simple math and science and use those things to kick super-villain butt? Minerva suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline wash over her and she cried out in excitement just as she crashed into Ms. Mesmer.

“What?! You fu—“ Ms. Mesmer was cut off as Minerva crashed into her fists first. Minerva landed on top of Ms. Mesmer as they both crashed to the ground.

Ms. Mesmer struggled to get up, but it was a losing battle. Minerva remembered that the bottom half of her suit was the heaviest and she put extra pressure in her legs, pining Ms. Mesmer down.

“Get off of me!” Ms. Mesmer screamed. “YOU *#&@$# B—“

Minerva silenced Ms. Mesmer with a punch to the face. The extra weight of the gauntlets added enough force to the punch to draw blood.

“That’s not very nice language.” Minerva chastised the woman.

“You’re going to regret that.” Ms. Mesmer said through a mouth full of blood.

“Doubtful.” Minerva said.

“You will.” Ms. Mesmer’s voice suddenly took on a smooth silky quality. The disk on her chest began to slowly move. “You will regret quite a bit. Very shortly.”

“You’re trying to mesmerize me aren’t you.” Minerva said, looking at the spinning disk. She began to fill light headed even as she remembered Karen telling her earlier that most of the woman’s powers were in the disk.

“You are going to regret this. And, then you’re going to just go away. Go far far away. And forget all about this.” Ms. Mesmer’s voice was slipping into Minerva’s brain.

Minerva realized she needed to act quickly.

With all of her strength she punched the disk on her chest.

As the disk shattered, crackling electricity shot out—dancing all around. One of the bolts struck Minerva causing a surge to go through the power suit and knocking Minerva off of Ms. Mesmer.

Ms. Mesmer pulled herself to her feet, screaming, “What have you done!”

The electricity continued dancing from the shattered disk.

From where she had landed on the floor Minerva saw wires and computer chips hanging from the disk on Ms. Mesmer’s chest. The electricity had Ms. Mesmer’s gray hair standing on end and was causing singe marks to appear on her yellow jumpsuit.

“Well, that’s not something you see every day.” Minerva said, pulling herself to her feet. “Are you going to be OK?”

Ms. Mesmer was screaming—it was almost like she was dancing as the electricity crackled and stung her. Then it died out. With a scream, Ms. Mesmer crashed to the floor, her eyes shut.

Minerva crept over, lifting Ms. Mesmer’s wrist in her hand to check for a pulse.

“Oh. Cripes. I can’t check for a pulse through this suit.” Minerva groaned. “And there’s no way to just remove the gauntlet.”

Several feet over, Cheryl was unable to break free of the security guards who had surrounded her and were holding her in place. Siren was only a few scant inches from her, but there was no way Cheryl was going to get there. Not when these stupid guards were holding her back.

Cheryl screamed in frustration, trying to tear free. This wasn’t going well for her. She couldn’t even turn her head to check on Minerva or Karen’s progress.

Karen had just kept running into she ran into Kong and Dozer, knocking them both over like bowling pins. Dozer had recovered quickly, but Kong was still slumped against a wall.

“That was pretty impressive.” Dozer said, cracking his fingers and walking back toward Karen. “It was like you had super-strength there.”

Karen felt a tremor of pain begin sneaking up her spine at the thought of having super-powers. She’d plowed through them just by running and throwing themselves into them. But, having to face them directly she wasn’t going to have any super-powers to help her at all. What was she going to do?

She heard screaming to her left and turned to see Minerva punching Ms. Mesmer.

Well, at least she’s doing OK. Karen thought bleakly.

Karen didn’t know what she was going to do. She saw Dozer barreling toward her.

Then she heard a breaking cracking sound and another scream.

Karen’s head felt woozy and dizzy and she began rocking back and forth on her feet. Her eyes fluttered, going up and into her head. Images flickered through her head rapidly. She was so dizzy and out of it, that when Dozer crashed into her she wasn’t even aware of it.

A final surge went through Karen and she felt whole.

I’m Power Girl. She thought, and not a single nibble of pain went through her head.

She sat up, finding Dozer on top of her, pummeling her with his fists.

Without a flicker of her eyelid, Karen knocked him off of her. He slammed into the wall, leaving a dent in it, sliding down.

Looking around, she saw Cheryl losing a fight against the security guards and Minerva checking on Ms. Mesmer.

With a burst of super-speed, Karen moved out of the room before anyone could see her. Flying up and away, leaving the Tower of Power behind, she reached a building top in downtown Century City where she’d hidden a costume in less than ten seconds. After changing into her Power Girl costume, she tucked her Karen Starr clothes safely away and flew back toward the Tower of Power. This time she flew so quick, that a sonic boom rocked downtown Century City, rattling windows and sending everyone to cover their ears.

Power Girl flew into the main room of the Tower of Power where there zombified security guards, the Gang, and a faux-Batgirl holding up a faux-actress.

“First things first.” Power Girl said to herself. She flew over to Siren, landing beside her.

“Hi. Remember me?” Power Girl asked brightly. “Your teammate hypnotized me into going away? It looks like when she got her disk broken, her hypnotic spell broke.”

Siren’s eyes widened in fear, but she did not stop singing to reply. Suddenly the security guards throughout the room shifted as Siren did a change in the note she was singing. They all turned toward Power Girl.

Power Girl laughed, “The other night that was a little overwhelming for me. And, I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. But, you know, I know how to break your hold.”

Power Girl suckered punched Siren, giving her just enough force to knock the woman out. As she crumbled to the floor in her pink jumpsuit, the song died in the air.

It took a few seconds, but all the security guards stopped where they were. They blinked, their eyelids moving rapidly as they came out of the controlled state Siren had put them under.

“Where the Hell am I?” One of them asked her.

Power Girl didn’t have the chance to respond before Dozer had slammed into her. Grabbing him the shoulders, Power Girl flew out of the Tower Power taking Dozer high into the stratosphere, higher than the clouds and just above the avenues airplanes traveled.

“Oh God. Oh God.” Dozer groaned, his stomach twisting and turning. His lunch was threatening to come up. “I’m gonna throw up. I’m gonna throw up. I’m gonna throw up.”

“Excellent.” Power Girl replied calmly; the breezes at this altitude felt nice and pleasant against her cheeks. “Are you going to surrender?”

“Oh yes. Yes. Yes.” Dozer said just before the gurgling sound came up from his throat. Chunks of disgusting vomit issued forth.

“Gross.” Power Girl used heat vision to burn up and evaporate the puke so that it didn’t hurt anyone once it hit the ground. “OK. Let’s get you properly arrested.”

As she flew down toward the Tower of Power looming below, she tapped her earring with her free hand, opening the com-link to Oracle.

“Oracle, could you get me the Century City Meta-Human Crime Unit out to the Tower of Power. I’ve got Gang issues.” She said.

“They’re still around?” Oracle’s voice came across the earphone pleasant enough.

“Yep. And still inept.” Power Girl replied, “Oh, and by the way, did you know that Batgirl is here?”

There were several seconds of silence on the line.

“Batgirl?”

“Yeah. Super-hero. Red hair. Big bat on her chest.” Power Girl replied smirking. “She’s holding Tara Renee Keller hostage.”

More silence.

“I don’t think I need to tell you that is not the real Batgirl.” Oracle said, her voice very even.

“I was pretty sure that was the case.” Power Girl replied pleasantly. “Any idea where Bette Kane is?”

“On assignment in Europe.” Oracle replied.

“OK. Then definitely not her either.”

“Let me know what you find out about this ‘Batgirl’.” Oracle’s voice came across smooth and controlled, but super-hearing made it easy for Power Girl to detect the nervousness just beneath the surface.

“Please do.” Oracle said, before signing off.

Eliza Gemini slipped quietly through the vents that had taken her to the safe.

It wasn’t quite as easy with a satchel full of money, but she could deal with less easy when there was this much money.

She smiled, coming to the vent that looked out into the main room.

Her eyes focused on Beth, disguised as Batgirl, pointing a gun at Tara Renee Keller. Eliza felt a pang of guilt and sadness. This was going to suck. It always sucked. Even though Beth was just a clone, she was still a part of her and still reminded her of her real sister. She’d be sad. For at least a few weeks. Until Professor Kangle grew a new Beth.

Turning on the communications line between them, Eliza said, “I’m still cleaning out the safe. I’ve knocked out all of the guards. I only need a few more minutes. I’ll signal you when it’s safe. I know you probably can’t talk. Just say ‘yes’ if you understand.”

“Yes.” Beth said.

Even from the distance, Eliza could see that Beth was uncomfortable and stressed beneath the Batgirl cowl. One of the things she had always wondered about was why there was no mental bond between her and her clones. There had been with her and her real sister. But, none with any of the clones. It often seemed to her it would have made more sense for there to be a mental link with the clone—since they were actually grown from her own flesh, blood, tissue, and DNA. However, it made it easier to cut them loose when their usefulness was over.

“OK. You’ll hear from me in just a few minutes.” Eliza replied.

She then turned her attention to exiting through the vents.

Outside in the main room, Minerva Bates looked at the unconscious woman beneath her. She stood up awkwardly, looking at the blood on the fist of the power suit’s gauntlet.

“You OK?” Cheryl Delayre asked, coming up beside her.

“I guess.” Minerva said, looking between her fist and Ms. Mesmer. “I’ve never punched someone until they were unconscious and bleeding before.”

“There is a first time for everything.” Cheryl said quietly, “No worries. She’s a super-villain. And, not a very good one. She gets punched out a lot.”

“Hi. Still here. Still have a gun!” The faux-Batgirl said, sounding angry and flustered.

“Oh, yeah.” Minerva said.

“Sorry. We forgot.” Cheryl smiled sheepishly.

“I didn’t.”

Everyone turned to find Power Girl standing there.

“Power Girl.” Faux-Batgirl/Beth said, in awe.

“Yep. And, you are not Batgirl.” Power Girl said. “Batgirl doesn’t use a gun.”

“I am!”

“Um, yeah, not so much. My x-ray vision shows me that you are clearly not the real Batgirl.” Power Girl said.

Without saying another word, twin rays of red-hot heat vision shot from Power Girl’s eyes. The bolts struck the gun’s barrel, melting it. Gasping, and unable to bear the sudden intense heat filling the metal gun in her hand, Beth dropped it. It landed on the floor with a heavy thud.

“YOU!” Tara Renee Keller said, hauling off to punch Beth.

In an instant, Power Girl was between them, holding Tara Renee Keller off.

“I realize you have some wounded ego thing happening here, but really, hitting her is pointless.” Power Girl said calmly. “Now you should just take a deep breath and relax.”

While one hand kept Tara Renee from striking again, the other gripped Batgirl’s wrist tightly.

“Where are you?” Beth hissed into her communicator. She could slip out of Power Girl’s grip easily if she needed to; and her heightened abilities would make it fairly easy to escape. She knew that Power Girl had super-speed, but Beth was confident enough in her own abilities to know that she could get away.

“Bad news Beth.” Eliza’s voice was cold and flat in her ear. “I’m far away. Safely headed off into the night.”

“What?!” Beth felt panic fill every part of her being.

Power Girl’s super-hearing picked up the voice in Beth’s ear.

“Yep. Long gone.” It sounded like Eliza was trying not to laugh.

“I will rat you out. I will tell everyone who you are! All about you!” Beth shouted, not caring that most of the crowd in the room was unable to hear Eliza and thought she was just ranting.

“No. No you won’t. I never mentioned to you, did I,” Eliza’s voice was icy. “The good Professor Kangle was able to put a fail safe in each of the clones he grows for me. A self-destruct mechanism.”

Beth felt her heart stop and her blood go cold.

“No.” She whispered.

“One push of a button on a small controller I have that links to a small chip implanted at the base of your skull…” Eliza trailed off. “It’s going to be messy. And probably painful.”

“Oh. God. Please no.” Beth said.

Power Girl let go of Tara Renee’s hand, hearing Eliza’s side of the conversation clearly.

“I will find her!” Power Girl said to Beth, looking into the woman’s wide fear-filled eyes through the eye holes of the Batgirl cowl. “She won’t be able to—“

But before Power Girl could finish she heard a small mechanical click from Beth’s head.

The woman’s eyes grew wider from the cowl’s eye slots and then blood exploded from her nostrils and mouth.

“NO!” Power Girl screamed as the faux-Batgirl collapsed in her arms. It didn’t take a super-hearing scan of the woman’s chest to tell Power Girl she was dead.

Epilogue

The ringing cell phone on the nightstand woke her.

It had been a long night. By the time Power Girl had finally finished talking with police officers and helping get the Gang safely carted of (all but Siren, who had slipped off during the pandemonium that followed the faux-Batgirl’s death) it had been nearly eleven p.m. Afterward, she’d flown to Gotham and spent three hours with Barbara. The site of a fake Batgirl dying in her arms had brought back too many memories of those hellish days after the Joker had left Barbara crippled. By the time she’d gotten home and into bed it had been almost dawn.

Her cat looked up from where he had curled at her feet in the night, cocking his head to the side and offering a plaintive meow.

“I’ll feed you in just a few minutes Creaky.” Karen said, reaching for her cell phone. Her eyes came into focus and she read the time on her alarm clock. Ten a.m.

Her head was still a little fuzzy, a side-effect of the major mind-game that Ms. Mesmer had played with her. She figured a little more sleep and she would be back to normal.

“Hello.” Her voice was smooth and didn’t betray the fact that she had just woken up.

“Karen? Hi. It’s Ian McLean.”

“Hi!” Karen’s voice brightened considerably. “How is it going?”

“It’s going pretty well. SoI was just calling to see if you were free next week. So we could go get some dinner. Maybe go to a movie?”

“I think something can be arranged.” Karen said. Her schedule for next week was tight. But, she could make time. One thing that she had realized—something Babs had pointed out last night, thanks to being Power Girl free for the past couple of days, was that she had really neglected her day-to-day life as Karen Starr for a long time now. She’d spent all of her time and energy on fighting villains, saving the world, and whining about her missing past. As Karen Starr she was all business. It was about keeping Starrware at the top of it’s game and feeding her cat. There hadn’t been any real effort towards having a personal life. She was lucky that she had supportive friends who went out of their way to stay in her life.

“Awesome.”

“I’d love to go to a movie. I haven’t been to one in a very long time.” Karen said. And it was true. She hadn’t been to a movie theater since before the Crisis. Her and Sylvester and Barbara. And that was a very long time ago.

“OK. Cool. What nights are good for you?”

“Just a second, lemme see.” Karen scrambled out of bed, heading over to the purse sitting on her vanity.

She reached into her purse and pulled out her electronic scheduler. Going through it, she saw that there were lots of things going on. Her eyes focused on Thursday night. She had a Justice League Europe meeting. It wasn’t the monthly meeting; it wasn’t a “We Have A Threat To Take Down” meeting. It was just a random meeting. Probably Crimson Fox wanting to sit around and discuss recent adventures and cases, even though that sort of stuff was supposed to be reserved for the monthly meeting. She could skip that. “How about Thursday?”

“Thursday works for me.” Ian replied.

“Sounds good.” Karen replied.

Karen and Ian chatted for another twenty minutes before saying their goodbyes. When she ended the call, a smile still lingered on her face. One that lasted even after she’d fed Creaky and had curled up on the couch with him to watch re-runs of Wendy the Werewolf Stalker on cable. She had fallen asleep five minutes in, but still with a smile curling her lips.

THE END