THE MAID OF STEEL # 29

Sitting at the table, Supergirl sipped her tea nervously, stealing glances at the Mad Hatter and March Hare across the table from her.

The tea burnt her tongue and it was all that she could do to keep from spitting it out. She didn’t want them to think her rude. Not with the incident just before with the flower people and that stupid caterpillar. What a mess this was, Supergirl thought. She sipped her tea far more cautiously, wondering if she should put a little more sugar or cream in it.

“Cream will help. Sugar will not.”

Supergirl turned toward the voice to see a girl dressed like a clown sitting next to her.

“I know what you’re thinking.” The girl said, grinning madly beneath a shock of curly reddish-purple hair. “Who’s this clown?”

“Something like that.”

“Name’s Duela.” The girl said, extending a green gloved hand. “Duela Dent. I used to be called the Joker’s Daughter. Then I went by Harlequin. Now, not so much.”

“Why does that name sound familiar?” Supergirl asked. No longer wanting her tea and vaguely aware that the Mad Hatter and March Hare across the table had faded away.

“You were a Titan. You probably saw it in the membership files.” Duela’s grin widened. “I’m only popping in for a second Supie. I wanted to pass along some advice.”

“Which is?”

“Don’t trust the Time Trapper. Don’t take his deal.” Duela’s grin faded, and she placed her hand on top of Supergirl’s, her eyes growing very serious. “I took his deal. It cost me dearly.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Supergirl said, a haze seeming to drop down around them like low-flying clouds.

“Of course not. The Crisis wiped me away before we were really friends. At least I didn’t get wiped out like you did. Killed by the Anti-Monitor. Forgotten. Then reborn as some pink jello in one of the Time Trapper’s Pocket Universes before bonding to a mortal girl. CONVOLUTED!” Duela said, her voice getting low and conspiratorial. “I just had my history all screwed up and written out of the Titans. It could have been much worse.”

“I don’t know what’s going on. This makes no sense.” Supergirl replied. It felt like she was supposed to be somewhere.

“It’s OK. It’ll all make sense soon enough. Just take your old friend… well, sort of old friend… OK, supposed to be old friend before history got rewritten. Sheesh…” Duela shook her head as though someone was whispering to her in her ear and she was trying to blot them out. “Take my advice… don’t deal with the Time Trapper. Steal Chryseis’s spear from the museum. Trust me. That’s the way to go.”

“The spear.” Supergirl said flatly, remembering the power it had. It had cast her and Craig Morris back through time and then had brought Craig back and healed him. She had been thinking about the spear and Kara of Argo City… a lot. Only her conscious and the idea that stealing it would be wrong kept her from doing it.

“Yep. Chryseis’s spear is the way to go.” Duela said, looking sad. “I need to be going. I was able to squeeze in and see you between group and lunch. And only because a mutual friend let me slip in quickly. I should turn the events over to her.”

“A mutual friend?” Supergirl looked at the tea cup in her hand, which was suddenly no longer a tea cup and suddenly a wooden block with a picture of a fiery bird on one side, the number 3, and the letter L on it. She regarded the block for several moments, noting that it was trying to tell her something.

Duela didn’t reply, having already faded.

Supergirl turned the block over in her hand, noting the fiery bird changed to bird cloaked in darkness, the number 2, and an S-Shield.

“Don’t spend too long contemplating that. Just remember it. It will make sense later.” The blonde woman now sitting in the seat Duela had occupied only moments before said.

“You look familiar.” Supergirl said. “I know you.”

“We’ve never met.” The woman replied, “But, you probably saw me on TV a few years back. I was kind of famous for a little while there. Before people forgot and the world moved on. Before I left reality.”

The woman smiled sadly.

“Fury.” Supergirl said suddenly. “You’re Fury. From Infinity Inc.”

The woman brightened, “It’s nice to be remembered. But, call me Lyta. It’s more apropos here in this reality we’re in.”

Lyta’s blue eyes shined brightly even as she adjusted the golden tiara that sat upon her long flowing golden locks. From the tiara was suspended diamonds and brightly sparkling rubies, which were encrusted with gold chains and wove in and out of her molten locks. She wore a flowing white gown, also decorated with gold, diamonds, and rubies. Her wrists were decorated with dozens of bangles atop silver bracelets that looked like the ones the Amazons wore and her fingers were adored with dozens of brightly shining rings. The one that caught Supergirl’s eyes was shaped like an eagle.

“You’re Joan’s daughter.”

“Yes. In your reality. She’s just one of my many mothers… depending on what world I’m in.” Lyta smiled. “Sorry about Duela. She’s a bit out there. But, she means well. She just had her mind broken by the Time Trapper. Not that she was all that sane to begin with. Having Two-Face for an adopted father will do that to a kid.”

“Where are we?”

“We’re in a dream world.” Lyta said.

“The Dreaming? I’ve heard of that.”

“No. I’m not in the Dreaming. Not anymore.” Lyta frowned. “But, that’s neither here nor there. I had to come to you. While you were here. I was able to slip past the Prince of Dreams and into your dream. My message is similar to Duela’s. Only less crazy. More cryptic maybe.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Time Trapper is trying to trick you. As always he has his own motives. And while sending you off the 31st Century will protect you from Lord Xenon, it is only temporary and it serves the Trapper’s needs more than yours. You need to use the spear. The spear will lead you down the road that you’re meant to travel. It will take our world and our reality in the direction it’s meant to go in.” Lyta said, her diamonds sparkling like stars.

“OK. Great. I’ll steal the spear because Two Face’s daughter and Miss America’s daughter told me too. One’s crazy and one lives in a dreamworld.” Supergirl shook her head. It felt like there was somewhere she needed to be.

“You’ll understand. Eventually. All of this pain. All of your suffering. All of these seemingly cruel twists… they’ll make sense. And when they do, you’ll understand. And it will make it all better.” Lyta said pleasantly.

“Easy for you to say.”

“Oh, trust me. I know a thing or two about painful twists. I was an Amazon princess, then I was the daughter of a crazed avatar for the Furies. Somewhere in between, or much later, I gave birth to the new Sandman and part of me split off into another world. That part of me still lives elsewhere… suffering from an extreme case of Vertigo.”

“This makes no sense.” Supergirl shook her head.

“It will. Like I said, eventually. For now, our time is done. You’ll be waking up soon and you have a whole other crisis to deal with.” Lyta tapped the block in Supergirl’s hand. “Take that with you. And when you see my parents, will you tell them that it’s not that I’m not visiting—it’s just that I can’t. Tell them I love them. And I miss them.”

“Why can’t you tell them?” Supergirl’s thoughts began to slow and cloud.

“I can’t get to them. But, that’s a story for another day. Just tell them for me. It would mean a lot. I want them to know I’m alive.” Lyta leaned in, taking Supergirl’s free hand into her own, her blue eyes meeting Supergirl’s own. “Wake up.”

“WAKE UP!”

Linda Danvers awoke with a start, finding herself laying on the floor of the penthouse.

She could hear people approaching from the hallway, heading toward the now empty and totally trashed penthouse suite. Quickly, Linda transformed to Supergirl, pulling herself to her feet.

Several police officers entered the room. She quickly identified several members of the Midway City Meta-Human Crime Unit. One of the officers was kneeling down next to her. Supergirl recognized the woman as someone on Fred Danver’s team. But, she couldn’t remember her name.

DAD! Like a bright flashing sign the word went off in Supergirl’s head—as the events of the past few hours flooded her mind, washing away the dream—Phillip Decker’s party, him revealed as Philip Dietelhelm a young Nazi soldier she’d met when lost in time, his misguided and twisted desire for revenge, his revelation that he’d taken all of her friends and family prisoner, her battle with him and with the new Baron Blitzkrieg, and of being knocked out by that weird flashing gun that the good Baron had shot her with.

“Don’t shout.” Supergirl said. The flashing light gun had left her with a low-grade headache.

“We heard that there was a fight here.” The female officer said.

“You think?” Supergirl couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice as she looked around the trashed penthouse suite. The bar was completely wasted. Phillip Decker would not be getting his security deposit back. That was for sure.

“We heard you attacked Phillip Decker and then fought Nazis.” The officer said, clearing her throat as she realized she was a good foot shorter than Supergirl. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I agree. It doesn’t.” Supergirl replied, remembering revealing her dual identity to Phillip Decker when he’d demanded she hand Linda Danvers over to him. He hadn’t believed that Linda Danvers and Supergirl were one and the same. He’d chalked the transformation up to the morphing abilities Supergirl hadn’t had since bonding with Linda Danvers. He had told her before Baron Blitzkrieg had knocked her to meet make sure Linda Danvers showed up at his headquarters outside of town or all of her friends and family would be killed.

“So, what happened?” The officer asked, the pleasantness of her voice suddenly melting away to reveal a strong steel beneath it.

“Super-villains.” Supergirl replied. “What always happens?”

Supergirl looked in surprise at her hand to see the wooden block from her dream tightly clutched in her grip. Normally it should have ruptured and splintered under the pressure she was exerting. But, somehow the odd block withstood.

“We didn’t really have those kind of problems before you got here.” The female officer replied.

Supergirl looked at her name tag.

“Actually you did Officer Didio.” Supergirl replied, “I realize that certain segments of the Midway City PD and some of the media outlets and politicians like to blame me for meta-crime, but meta-crime was worse before I got here. It’s fallen at least twenty percent in the time I’ve been here. And, I have lived here just under a year yet. So, just because you don’t like me, doesn’t mean you can blame everything on me.”

“Well, I didn’t—“

Supergirl cut the woman off, “Well, maybe you should before you start making rude comments. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to go and fight crime.”

Supergirl turned and flew off, ignoring the woman calling to her as she flew away.

Officer Didio’s eyes were drawn to the burnt scorched section of the wall; wing-shaped burns had branded the wall. She felt uneasy looking at those shapes. Some of the eye-witnesses they had spoken to had stated that Supergirl had flaming wings. There had been rumors that Supergirl was some sort of angel thru the press for a few years now, but Didio had discounted those rumors for a long while. Looking at those burnt wings… she wasn’t sure. Exactly what was Supergirl?

All ready half way to her apartment, Supergirl immediately regretted her responding to the Officer Didio’s thinly veiled rudeness with rudeness of her own, but it had been hard to mask it with her head still spinning and the weird dream floating up among the other worries and concerns for her friends and family.

It was a that point that Supergirl realized she was still holding on to the child’s block. As she flew to the top of the Midway City Finance Building to think, she noted with a slight amount of disbelieve that the fiery bird, the number 3, and the S-Shield were on the block. A slightly different combination than either of the ones presented while in her dream. However, Supergirl pushed this out of her mind. She had things to consider for now. The block and her dreams could wait.

Once back at her apartment, Supergirl morphed into Linda and began making phone calls. She called Dick Malverne. No answer. She called her parents apartment. No answer. There hadn’t been much hope in her heart that Phillip Decker had been lying, but she had wanted to make sure. She’d seen them take Craig Morris away, and Cutter had been in their clutches when that weird flash-gun had knocked her out.

“I can’t believe that thing worked on me.” Linda remarked. She felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness wash over her. She didn’t know what to do.

Standing there, Linda felt tears building up inside. She’d only gotten her friends and family back a few months ago after thinking them lost forever. She couldn’t go through that kind of pain again. Balling her hands into fists, Linda fought the anger that came rising up with the tears.

She had tried to surrender herself to Phillip Decker, but he hadn’t believed her. He thought she was trying to fool him with her morphing powers. He had told her to have Linda deliver herself to his headquarters outside of Midway City before dawn.

“I have seven hours.” Linda said, going to the window and looking out across her neighborhood. The public at large still thought she was strictly “Matrix” and still thought the more unique powers originally attributed her: invisibility, morphing, and TK blasts were hers. It wasn’t like she’d released a press release when the merge had happened to say, “Hey, you guys! I no longer have invisibility or morphing—unless you count morphing between my new secret identity and my Supergirl form.” It wasn’t as though she’d ever wanted any of her powers clearly documented. She had her poorly conceived relationship with Lex Luthor to blame for that. His notes on her powers and abilities had been circulated throughout the criminal underworld. In some ways, merging and gaining Earth-Angel powers had helped immensely—as her powers were different and unpredictable and most people had no clue what all they were.

Usually that worked in her favor. Tonight it had worked against her. Phillip Decker had been so sure of her powers that he hadn’t believed her when she’d tried to reveal her secret identities. In the long run she supposed she should be grateful. Being Linda Danvers and getting away from the S-Shield from time to time was good for her. Having a life outside of the suit was important. Clark had imparted that to her time and time again. He’d tried to convince her many times to adopt a secret identity when she’d been living on the Kent Farm and fighting crime in her spare time. She’d resisted, but when the choice had been taken out of her hands, she found it the greatest gift she could have been given.

Changing out of her party dress, Linda pulled on jeans and a sweater. Grabbing a jacket and her back-pack, Linda headed out of the apartment. As she pulled the door open, she found a weird girl with shortly cropped buzzed blonde hair and wide vacant eyes ringed by dark circles. Wearing a baggy t-shirt and camouflage pants, the girl looked frightened and hesitated—drawing when she saw the look on Linda’s face.

“Can I help you with something?” Linda realized that she was barking at the girl, and regretted the gruffness of her voice. But, there was so much going on.

“I’m Cynthia Stanley.” The girl said, shrinking back.

“Yes?” Linda asked. This had to be the weird girl that both Kara and Dick had mentioned.

“I wanted to talk to you. I—“ Cynthia hesitated again.

“I don’t have time right now.” Linda replied, trying to take the edge from her voice and failing miserably. “I’m late for a very important thing. And, I have to go.”

“But…” Cynthia hastily scribbled something on a notepad.

But Linda had pulled the door to her apartment closed, locking it, and was rushing down the hall before Cynthia had finished writing.

Cynthia held out the paper, it’s legend 242: Everyone Dies unseen by Linda.

Tearing the paper from the notepad, Cynthia slid it under Linda’s door before shuffling down the hallway. Her movements were labored and awkward, as if each one took an incredible amount of effort. Slipping into her apartment, the door closed heavily. But, no lights ever came on from under the doorway.

Phillip Decker stood on the platform, watching as Cutter Sharp and Mattie Harcourt were loaded into cylinders alongside the Danverses, Craig Morris, Joan Dale-Trevor, and Derek Trevor. Both of them were still out, having yet to recover from the flash-gun.

“Mr. Decker.” Phillip’s assistant Kelly Bennett said. “The cameras have picked up someone approaching. They haven’t entered range of the analyzers, but visual confirmation appears to confirm that it’s Linda Danvers.”

“It might be Supergirl. She used her morphing powers to try and convince me that she was Linda Danvers.” Phillip Decker laughed coldly, “As though I would believe such a thing. It’s common knowledge that Supergirl is an alien life-form from another universe that has only been here for a few years.”

“Well, the analyzers will tell us.” Phillip replied, leaving the platform looking down over the sub-basement laboratory and heading for the elevator that would take him to the monitoring room. Phillip arrived in the room within a matter of seconds. He crossed the room to the monitor banks.

“What do we have?” Phillip asked, leaning over the shoulder of the technician monitoring the screens.

“Over there.” The technician said, pointing to a short dark-brown haired woman approaching on foot. “It appears to fit the description of Linda Danvers. But, she’s not yet in range of the analyzers. So, we can’t tell if it’s Supergirl pretending to be Linda Danvers or not.”

“How much longer?”

“Not sure Mr. Decker. She is approaching cautiously. She keeps looking at the various cameras. She is trying to stay out of their range. Of course we have so many cameras and surveillance there is no way she can avoid them all.” The technician said, licking his lips nervously. It wasn’t often that Phillip Decker came up into the monitoring room. In fact, as long as he’d been here, Mr. Decker had never come in during his shift. Obviously something big was going on. Even if Mr. Decker weren’t here in the observation room, the extra armed guards and men wearing New Reich uniforms. Normally there were fewer guns and fewer uniforms in the building.

As if on cue, the girl stepped into the range of the first of the analyzers.

On the monitoring screens complicated graphs and stats starting flashing over one of the screens. Phillip turned his attention to it.

“This is interesting.” Phillip said. Since returning to his headquarters from the party, he’d managed to get a hold of the various files and readouts that LexCorp had made on Supergirl when she’d been associated with them.

“What am I looking at?” The technician asked. The stats made no sense. “What the hell is she?”

“That’s just what I was thinking.” Phillip Decker said. The stats almost matched the files they had gotten from Lexcorp. There were traces of a protoplasmic being that matched Matrix, the name that Luthor’s files had given to Supergirl. However, the readouts also indicated that the girl had strictly human DNA in there too. Plus… something else. Something that the graphs and stats couldn’t recognize.

Phillip frowned.

Had Supergirl been telling him the truth last night? Was she actually Linda Danvers? It didn’t make sense. But the information on the screen didn’t lie.

Phillip dialed his assistant Kelly on his cell phone.

“Kelly, there is a problem. The containment vessel for Linda Danvers needs to be changed. It is going to take more than resistance to super-strength.” Phillip said calmly. Inside he was seething. Mostly at himself. Last night Linda Danvers had revealed her secret identity and had surrendered to him and hadn’t believed her. “We need Supergirl level reinforcement.”

“OK. I’ll let them know.” Kelly said.

Phillip Decker looked back at the monitor, watching as Linda Danvers approached the front of the complex.

She had flown most of the way, and then when she’d spotted the security cameras, she’d back-tracked some and landed—transforming to Linda. Now, she was on foot, approaching the complex cautiously. She eyed the cameras, knowing that they were tracking her every move.

Her heart pounded rapidly as fear and anger fought for control of it. Both of those emotions clouded and blurred her thoughts. Her friends and family had to be OK. If they weren’t… she tried to push those thoughts away. She couldn’t consider that. Not when she knew that she would unleash her full fury upon Phillip Decker and anyone in that building if any of them were hurt or… Again she refused to think about it.

When had she ever known such rage? She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this. Not even when she’d first met Buzz, before the merge with Matrix. And, as Mae, she’d never known this kind of anger—not even when she’d discovered Lex Luthor’s manipulations of her.

Not very becoming of an Earth-bound Angel. A dark voice whispered in the back of her head. She ignored the voice. Who even knew what kind of Earth-bound Angel she was? Before she was an angel of fire, with a specific role. Ember, and Comet had rounded out the trinity. But, now, she was something different. Not one of the three known Earth-bound Angels. A newly created entity.

However, these thoughts were cut off as six armed guards dressed all in black and Baron Blitzkrieg arrived.

“Ms. Danvers.” The Baron said, his voice gruff and sinister through his mask.

“What do your parents think about you hiding behind the Nazi insignia?” Linda asked coolly, remembering the African-American face that had looked out from behind the mask when she’d smashed it to pieces during her battle with him just a few hours ago.

“My parents were un-educated, lazy, and genetically inferior—strung out on drugs and alcohol. I rose above them and our station—I became strong, smart, intellectually superior. And, then I became stronger than the rest of humanity.” The Baron gloated, his voice edged with something Linda could only consider madness.

“Sounds like it.” Linda remarked dryly. “Just so you know, you’re crazy and you’re an embarrassment to the entire human race.”

Linda watched as the Baron clenched his fists.

“Come with us.” Baron Blitzkrieg snapped. “There isn’t time for this.”

Linda allowed herself a small smile, knowing that she’d gotten to him.

She let Baron Blitzkrieg and the armed guards surround her and she then followed them into the complex. They led her to an elevator. Once inside the car, the Baron ignored the buttons denoting floor and concentrated his attention on the key pad next to the buttons. Typing in a sequence of numbers, the elevator hummed to life and began to descend slowly.

“Secret level?” Linda asked quietly.

“What do you think?” The Baron asked quietly.

The elevator opened, revealing a massive room beyond. It was wide open, and there were metal platforms and massive computer banks all around. Standing at the end of the metal platform the elevator opened on to was Phillip Decker.

“Welcome Ms. Danvers. Or should I say Supergirl?” Phillip Decker smiled darkly.

“You didn’t seem to want to say Supergirl just a few hours ago.” Linda replied dryly, stepping off of the elevator and moving toward Phillip Decker. The murderous rage that had been in her heart earlier had returned during the walk to the complex and the ride in the elevator. It seemed to be so ferocious within her right now that she kept seeing her hands reaching for Phillip Decker’s neck and snapping it.

“Would you like to see that your friends and family are OK?” Phillip asked, motioning behind him—to the area several feet below the railing.

Linda reached the railing, gripping it tightly in her hands and looked down. She saw Cutter, Mattie, her mom and dad, Dick, Craig Morris, and Miss America and her husband Derek Trevor. The containment cells they were in reminded her a lot of the cells that the Time Trapper had used.

“What are you doing to them?”

“They are in a state of suspended animation. In the case of Miss America, we’ve been studying her physiology, in hopes of recreating her powers. Much like we did with the good Baron over there.” Phillip said from her left side.

Baron Blitzkrieg came up on the right side, standing only a few inches away. She was blocked between him and Phillip Decker.

“So you can create another warrior for your New Reich?” Linda’s voice was filled with disgust. “I can’t believe I saved you. The Justice Society warned me that you were a no good Nazi. And, I didn’t believe them. I bought your story hook, line, and sinker and risked everything to save you. I believed in you.”

Phillip Decker laughed, “Oh. I’m not a Nazi. At least not the kind of Nazi you remember from World War II. Not even the Aryan Nazi’s that plague this country like a blemish. I’m the leader of the New Reich. And, we are not hobbled by the racist propaganda and thinking that was the undoing of Hilter. Reich merely means Empire. And, my New Reich will be the empire that takes over the entire world within the next fifty years. Me and my company are worth billions on paper. With the rest of our holdings, the ones that no one knows about, we are worth trillions. We also control several small island nations sprinkling throughout the Pacific and the Caribbean. I also have several powerful political allies within several of the Eastern European and Russian nations currently experiencing turmoil. Once they wrest control of their countries, my various companies will get a solid foothold in their countries and add them to my growing Empire.”

“So, basically you want to take over the world.” Linda replied softly. “How retro.”

“Not just take over the world. I want to clense the world. Of the weak, the poor, the inefficient. No longer will the plains of Africa be blemished by starving children and tribes of unintelligent and weak. No longer will the American south be dotted with trailer parks full of uneducated trash. Any culture or country plagued by disease, drought, or stupidity will be wiped clean so that only the best, the brightest, the strongest will remain.” Decker’s eyes had taken an unholy glow that sent quiet tremors of disgust through Linda’s heart and straight to her gut. She could feel the angel fire within her, churning, ready to explode from her. This man’s evil and hate was triggering it along with the anger she felt at this whole situation.

“When you say that, you sound like a Nazi.” Linda said levelly, fighting the tremor attempting to take control of her voice.

“If you want to think that, then certainly do.” Phillip Decker said dismissively. “But, the Nazi party was convinced that ethnic clensing based on Aryan superiority was the way to build a strong empire. I, on the other hand, realize that some of the smartest and strongest come from those very ethnic groups the Nazi’s struggled to eradicate. For instance, my new and improved Baron Blitzkrieg—his skin color would have never allowed him to be a member of Hilter’s regime. However, I know that he was once one of the brightest athletes in North America. When he came to my company, I recognized in him the potential to become even more than he already was. Once my scientists perfected the ability to transfer the powers of the original Baron Blitzkrieg, he became the recipient.”

“Obvious his intelligence levels weren’t of that much importance.” Linda laughed coldly.

“Watch your tone wench.” Baron Blitzkrieg growled from beside her.

“You forget who I am.” Linda said softly, “I wouldn’t push me. I will destroy you.”

“Baron,” Decker said coldly, “Stop. You’re letting her bait you into a fight.”

“He’s not smart enough to see that.” Linda laughed, her own tone as cold as Decker’s. The hate raging inside her was white hot, but she felt cold and collected. A plan was forming in her mind. She had the powers of an Earth-Bound Angel, something they couldn’t deal with. That gave her a great advantage. She remembered when the angel powers had first re-exerted themselves while she’d been trapped in the 40’s. She had incinerated Nazi soldier’s, the evil in their hearts causing them to melt away into nothing. She rarely used the angel fire. Only when she’d faced those three weird ghosts that had been hanging out with that super-villain Skeleta she’d faced. But, she studied her friends and family trapped down below.

“You’re plotting how you’re going to save them and escape.” Decker said, “But, you have to realize you can’t save them. Just like I couldn’t save my family. You are going to watch them suffer and you will suffer as I suffered.”

“You said you would let them go if I came here.” Linda said quietly.

“I lied.” Decker laughed coldly.

“I’m going to ask you once to release them. You have a beef with me, then fine. You and I can fight it out. But, you don’t have any reason to torment them.” Linda said. Her clear blue eyes focused on Phillip Decker’s face, pleading with him.

“My beef with you requires that they suffer.” Phillip Decker said. “It’s why they are here. My revenge, my vengeance requires that your family and friends suffer the same why my family suffered. My mother and father died on Dr. Murder’s operating tables—experimented on, tested. It was grotesque. No one should have to see anyone in that condition—that kind of violent sacrilegious death. Much less their very own parents. And, my sister…” Phillip stalled. “My sister suffered more than anyone should have to suffer.”

“Sounds like something you should take up with Dr. Murder and the Nazi’s.” Linda said, “I didn’t force him to do what he did. I wasn’t responsible for any of that. If I hadn’t been cast across space by Blackstarr, then I would have helped you liberate them.”

“A likely story.” Phillip hissed, his face contorting and filling with rage as his face went red.

“Believe it or not.” Linda replied, “I have no reason to lie.”

“Of course you do!” Phillip screamed, getting up in her face so that his hot angry words stung her cheek. “You are a ‘hero’. The mighty hero was too busy doing something other than saving my family. An we know you heroes never fail. So, any time failure pops up, then there has to be a reason. You were lost in space. HA!”

“You’re invading my bubble.” Linda said dryly. It occurred to her again that Phillip Decker was quite mad. And mad in the insane way, not in the angry way. Well, maybe there was a little bit of the angry way in there. But, mostly, it seemed to be insanity.

“I DON’T CARE!!” Phillip screamed.

Phillip’s cell phone rang at that moment.

Phillip Decker blinked, the angry red blotches in his face faded and he took a deep breath and a step breath. In a smooth calm voice, he answered his phone. “Decker.”

“Ah, yes. Hello Giselda. Yes, our special guest is here. Of course. Yes, she is ready to meet you. Awesome. I will see you in just a few moments.” Phillip ended the call and looked up at Linda, giving her an odd smile.

“Who was that?” Linda asked. She felt uneasy at what she’d heard, even though she wasn’t quite sure why.

“That was my sister. Giselda.”

“I thought your family was killed by Dr. Murder.” Linda said flatly.

“Oh, well, mostly. Giselda wasn’t lucky enough to die.” Phillip’s eyes again filled with an odd light equal parts anger and madness. “Giselda… well, when you meet her, you’ll have to agree that she’s something else. Literally.”

“The elixir that Dr. Murder created, the one that gave me my eternal youth, he perfected on my sister. So, that she would have eternal life. However, he only gave it to her after he’d changed her.” Phillip focused his eyes intensely on Linda Danvers. “And, one of the interesting side effects of the elixir of eternal life he created is that it makes one quite invulnerable to normal modes of death. Bullets. Knives. Axes. Poison. None of it works. So, we couldn’t even put Giselda out of her misery.”

Linda felt a gnawing sense of horror growing within. She remembered the horrors she’d seen in Dr. Murder’s labs. Tentacled monstrosities. Half-human half-animal things. Other creatures that hadn’t resembled anything Linda could place.

“Let my family and friends go.” Linda said softly, “I’m asking you for the last time.”

“And, I’m saying no for the last time.” Phillip replied.

“Very well. Just remember, you could have stopped this.” Linda’s voice had a steely coldness underlining it.

“I’ll remember.” Phillip Decker’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

The transformation from Linda to Supergirl happened so quickly, that Phillip had to blink.

“It is true.” Phillip whispered in awe. “You really are Supergirl.”

“And you’re really gonna regret that.” Supergirl said. She hauled off and punched Phillip.

The force of the blow knocked Phillip off the metal platform and plummeting over the railing toward the metal lab floor thirty feet below.

“What have you done?!” Baron Blitzkrieg cried out, rushing past Supergirl and toward the railing.

“Well, he said he’d taken an elixir that made him eternally young and invulnerable to normal modes of death and damage. I would assume falling thirty feet and landing on solid steel would be one of those normal modes.” Supergirl’s blue eyes were cold as Baron Blitzkrieg met them, his eyes just barely visible through the slits of his golden helmet. “And, if not… well, I’m not going to lose much sleep. He shouldn’t have lied if that’s the case.”

“I WILL DESTROY YOU!” Baron Blitzkrieg shouted. Energy began to glow around his clenched fists and an arc of psionic energy lit up in his eyes creating a small halo around the slit in his helmet.

“I’d like to se you try.” Supergirl said. Wings of raging burning fire exploded from her back and eyes. The flames sent hellish orange shadows across the laboratory. She could hear people screaming and crying out in the lower levels. Good. Let them be afraid.

The psionic energy around his eyes shot toward Supergirl. She released a blast of TK energy, meeting it and causing the Baron’s bolt to dissolve in the air, it then pushed back knocking the Baron off of his feet and sent him flying over the railings.

Supergirl heard him thump.

A little voice in her head cried out in warning, What are you doing? You’re fighting without thought of anyone else. You’re just unleashing force without tempering it. You--. “Shut up.” Supergirl whispered, silencing the voice in her head. There would be consequences tomorrow she was sure. She would hate herself for just letting go like she was. This kind of raw display of power was something she was supposed to guard against. It was her duty beneath the S-shield. Kal would be so disappointed in her. But, right now, with her friends and family below, she found that she didn’t quite care.

She flew over the side of the railing, floating down through the air toward the floor. Although she moved quite rapidly, the movements were so smooth and graceful it looked as though she moved in slow motion. She headed toward a technician panicking and waiting for the little elevator platform that carried them up to the higher levels.

With an eye toward where Phillip Decker and Baron Blitzkrieg both lay broken and twisted on the metal floor, Supergirl seized the male technician by the scruff of the neck.

“Do you know how to get those containment cells open?” Supergirl’s eyes were not visible beneath the fire that danced hellish from them. She pointed at the containment cells holding her friends and family.

“Yes.” The technician sputtered. It looked like he was going to cry.

“Go and open them then.” Supergirl demanded, releasing her hold on the man and pushing him toward the cylinders.

The technician reached the first of them, the one holding Miss America. He began typing in a sequence of numbers and letters into the keypad. The lights on the top of the cylinder, which glowed a steady pale yellow color began flashing and turning from yellow to red and then finally to green.

A stream of steam hissed from pipes at the bottom of the cylinders, just as the cylinder door popped open. Within Miss America’s eyes fluttered open as she tried to clear her cloudy vision and make sense of the blur of images around her.

“Next one.” Supergirl said to the technician who moved to the next cylinder where Derek Trevor was comfortably ensconced.

“Lin—“ Miss America caught herself, quickly correcting with “Supergirl?”

“Yes, Joan. It’s me.” Supergirl said, watching Phillip Decker and Baron Blitzkrieg. Neither men had even showed signs of stirring yet.

“Where are we? The last thing I remember was Baron Blitzkrieg. But, he was killed. Back in the 40’s. It couldn’t have been the Baron.” Miss America said, her vision had nearly cleared up, although the details of things still looked a bit blurry and washed out.

“It wasn’t him. It’s a new one.” Supergirl said quietly. “We’re in Phillip Decker’s headquarters. In a sub-basement. Probably a secret sub-basement.”

“Why?” Miss America said, her vision clearing just as the containment cylinder her husband Derek Trevor was housed in belched steam and popped open to release him.

“Decker has a grudge against me going back to World War II. Remember that Nazi soldier I saved? The one you and the rest of the JSA were against me helping and bringing to their headquarters in America?”

“Yeah.” Miss America said.

“He’s Decker. Decker has somehow managed to get eternal life and he kidnapped all of you as some kind of misguided revenge plot since when I was tossed through space by Blackstarr I couldn’t help save his family from Dr. Murder.” Supergirl said, looking at Phillip Decker and Baron Blitzkrieg.

As Derek Trevor stumbled out of the containment cylinder, the technician moved to the cylinder housing Sylvia Danvers.

Before the technician could finish, a bolt of psionic energy exploded from Baron Blitzkrieg’s eyes—knocking him out of the way.

Both Baron Blitzkrieg and Phillip Decker pulled themselves to their feet.

“I see you have freed Miss America and her husband.” Phillip Decker said. “You will find your other friends and family will not be leaving those containment cells anytime soon.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that buster.” Miss America said. She put her hands out in front of her, and a glittering effect rippled. Before another word could be said, both Phillip Decker and Baron Blitzkrieg stood frozen as concrete statues.

Miss America looked at Supergirl, “That won’t hold them long. But, it should give us enough time to get that technician to release the others.”

Derek Trevor went over to the technician, helping the man to his feet and leading him over to the cylinder he had been working on—the one housing Sylvia Danvers.

“Now, I need you to show me what you’re doing.” Derek said, “that way I can help you release the others.”

The technician nodded, and his finished typing in a sequence that caused the cylinder to open and release Sylvia. Supergirl’s flaming wings and the fire dancing from her eyes smoldered out.

“Mom!” Supergirl rushed over to her, throwing her arms around the woman and holding on tightly.

“What’s going on?” Sylvia asked, sounding confused. “The last thing I remember was some man at the door, dressed in gold and with a swastika on his chest.”

“You were kidnapped by one of my enemies.” Supergirl replied, guilt filling her.

“That transmutation will only hold the Baron and Phillip Decker for a few more minutes.” Miss America said, “I’m still weak. And transmuting actual people never lasts that long anyway.”

Supergirl pulled back from her mother, just as Derek Trevor and the technician released Fred Danvers. As they moved to the cylinder containing Dick Malverne, the doors leading into the massive sub-basement lab opened.

“Phillip. I’m here to meet her.” Even though the words were easily understood, the sound of them were quite inhuman and almost unearthly. “Phillip? Where are you my darling brother?”

The sound of something slithering and shambling across the platform echoed down to them.

“What is that?” Miss America gasped.

Supergirl’s heart stopped for one brief instant as Phillip’s sister looked over the railing, and down at them. Long slimy tentacles wrapped around the metal railings, twisting and slipping around it with a grotesque squishy sound.

“Oh dear God in Heaven protect us.” Sylvia Danvers whispered, clasping her hand over her mouth.

“PHILLIP?!” The creature above cried out, the sound shrill and piercing. It’s big black eyes peering out from slick green flesh that only vaguely resembled something once human seemed to recoil as they laid sights on the concrete statue of Phillip Decker.

“Oh God. No.” The technician cried out, dropping to the ground and huddling, covering his head. “It’s loose.”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BROTHER?!” The creature screamed.

TO BE CONTINUED!

NEXT MONTH: Confronted by Giselda, tentacles and all, Supergirl must struggle to save her friends and family as impossible choice after impossible choice present themselves, leaving Supergirl backed into a corner and having to make a deal she doesn’t want to make. Join us for “Vengeance Part 4: Finale”.