Characters in this story are property of DC Comics, Inc. No money
is being made from this story, no infringement is intended.
-S-
Fade in on: Planet Krypton, in space. Voiceover explains that,
before now, Superman was thought to be the only survivor of Krypton’s
destruction. We see the spiky vessel which contains Kal-El
hurtling away from the planet. Then, seconds later, we see the
explosion of Krypton, and the detonation of its sun. But...
...we also see a glistening speck thrown away from the planet’s
surface, into space. As we close in on it, we see that it is a
city covered by a transparent dome, which has allowed it to survive the
holocaust that has claimed Krypton. This is Argo City.
Cut to: a scene within the city itself. Argonians are in panic as
their city flies through space. The reactive force of the flight
presses them against the ground, causes hovercars to crash, brings
furnishings down within houses as people cower, causes power to fail,
makes citizens on the streets scramble to avoid falling masonry and
objects. Finally, there is a cessation of movement. Argo
City is far enough away from Krypton’s explosion point that the force
of reaction no longer applies.
Cut to: the laboratory of Zor-El, brother of Jor-El. Zor and his
fiancee Alura pick themselves out of the wreckage of the place.
Neither one of them is harmed. Both, however, are awed.
Alura, when she regains her composure, says, “Zor-El. Your
brother, Jor-El, he was right. He was...oh, Rao...”
Zor-El takes Alura in his arms and comforts her. She sobs, “There
is no more Krypton! Krypton is no more!”
“There will always be a Krypton, Alura,” he says. “As long as
Argo City lives, beneath this force-field dome I built to protect
us...there will always be a Krypton.”
“But what can we do? What must we do?”
Zor-El walks her to a window (or, alternatively, to a place where the
wall has broken down) and looks out, through the force-dome, to the
stars and darkness of space that surrounds them. “We will have to
see to the atmosphere plant, for only that can keep us alive. We
will have to synthesize our food, and farm as much as we can. We
will have to live, Alura. We will have to build. For
us...and for all those men and women of Krypton who come after
us. As long as Argo City lives...Krypton is alive!”
Cut to: BIG credit sequence, inspired by Superman I, with musical
homage to the John Williams score (possibly also done by Williams,
although Jerry Goldsmith turned in a neat version for the 1984
Supergirl). This lasts several minutes. When we’re
finished, we cut to a room within Zor-El’s home.
The first thing we see is an image of Christopher Reeve in action as
Superman, taken from either of the first two Superman movies.
Over the soundtrack, we hear a young woman puffing as she exercises, as
if she’s pumping iron. We cut to a shot in which we see a
beautiful blonde girl, about 18-20 years of age, dressed in a white
leotard which bares her legs and feet, also wearing a headband.
We see her from the back at first. She’s half-crouched, pushing
up with her hands and down with her feet against two discs of force
that are attracted to each other. This is the Kryptonian
equivalent of a workout machine. Then we see her from the front:
this is KARA ZOR-EL, daughter of Zor-El and Alura, cousin to
Superman. She watches her cousin taking on Ursa, Non, and Zod in
battle, and cheers him on. (The Superman scenes are played as a
holographic display.) It’s evident she hero-worships her cousin.
Alura comes in, switches off the exercise disc-device, and Kara uncoils
to her full height, her hands reaching for air, giving us a couple of
seconds’ look at her sculpted form. “Oh, hi, Mother,” she says to
Alura, who’s watching with amusement. Both banter a bit (while
they do, small flying devices spray Kara with stuff that cleanses and
de-sweats her, especially under the arms), and in their conversation we
learn that the Argonians are quite well aware now that Kal-El has
become Superman. But the Science Council which rules Argo has
decreed that their existence must remain a secret, as Earth, with its
international conflicts and wars, is not ready for the science of
Krypton. They would only use its knowledge to build
weapons...weapons that could destroy their world, and possibly Argo
City too.
That’s not all of it, says Kara. You know the other half of the
problem. If men, or women, from Argo City could go freely to
Earth, via the WarpPort, they’d gain the same powers as Kal-El...as
Superman. They might not always use them for good. Alura
nods, in a serious manner. She wants Kara to come with her to
dinner with her father, if they can pry Zor away from his downtown lab.
Kara asks if her mother can keep a secret. Alura cagily says that
depends on what the secret is. Smiling, she causes a section of
wall to slide back, revealing a secret closet. Inside, hanging on
a transparent female mannequin, is a Supergirl costume. (This
isn’t quite like the outfit Helen Slater wore in the movie, more like
the hotpants version made famous in the Seventies with some
modifications.) Alura looks on with curiosity, but hides her
other feelings. You made this?, she asks.
Oh, yes, says Kara.
What do you intend to do with it?
Kara shrugs. Wear it when I wish to, she says. To let all
the city know that I’m of Kal-El’s family.
They already know that, points out Alura.
Mother!, says Kara. I know they know that. But this is a
way of proclaiming it, of showing our pride. By dressing like
Kal-El. Don’t you see?
I am not going to wear anything like that, says Alura, flatly.
And Zor will not wear a suit like Kal-El’s.
Well, shrugs Kara, you don’t have to.
Come, says Alura, and takes Kara by the hand. Get dressed...and I
don’t mean in that.
Cut to: the laboratory of Zor-El, where Zor himself is showing off a
spherical device suspended between two magnetic holders, one above it
and one below. Ladies, gentlemen, I give you...the Omegahedron,
says Zor-El. The marriage of science and parascience. Of
reality...and magic. The device they said could not be
built...but we have built it.
One of the scientists, a tall, brown-haired woman named Zora Vi-Lar,
asks for more clarification from Zor. Well, Zor says, for years
now, we have suspected that there might be a union between the powers
harnessed by Nature, and those thought to be wielded by mystics,
creatures of myth. Magic, if you will. Instead
of...rejecting the existence of a supernatural energy force, we went
looking for it. Found, if you will, its wavelength. Once we
found it, we found a way of tapping into it. Thus, the
Omegahedron. The ultimate power device. By drawing its
energy from the untapped Ether, we have, within this tiny spheroid, the
ability to power all of Argo City for thousands of years.
Ultimate power, ultimate efficiency.
And how is that power harnessed, Tanth Zor-El?, asks Zora.
Well, Zora, explains Zor-El, we can adapt the machines that channel
power to the city so that they can draw equally well from the
Omegahedron. It’s a simple matter.
But...if this device truly harnesses Magic, says Zora, couldn’t it also
be manipulated by a human? Like a wizard, casting a spell?
Silence for a second. Then Zor-El acknowledges, Well, such a
thing might be theoretically possible. But that’s not the purpose
for which the Omegahedron was built. No, my friends.
Tomorrow we will present this to the Science Council for approval, and
the day after tomorrow, I am confident, Argo City will run on the power
of magic.
Someone tells Zor that his wife and daughter are there to meet
him. He excuses himself. The last shot in the scene is of
Zora, looking with fascination at the Omegahedron.
Cut to: Zor-El out with Kara and Alura in the Argonian equivalent of a
restaurant. The three of them talk as they eat, showing much
affection; Kara really loves her parents, but it’s obvious that she
wants to be on her own, to make her break. Problem is, she still
isn’t certain as to what she wants to do. She’s not as
scientifically inclined as her dad. She’s not as great with art
as her Mom, who can do prize-winning holosculptures. She’s
finished her basic education, but doesn’t know what to specialize in.
Well, why not teach klurkor while you’re trying to decide?, asks
Zor-El. You’ve been taking that for a couple of years, and you
can do the... (He tries to indicate a couple of martial-arts
moves. Klurkor is the Kryptonian fighting art, combining parts of
judo, karate, wrestling, and boxing.) Alura tells him not to be
absurd. Kara says that, actually, it’s not such a bad idea.
But...
An alarm of sorts catches Zor-El’s attention. A man comes up
quickly and excuses himself, but says that Zor has to come with him,
immediately. Somebody has just broken into Zor-El’s laboratory.
Cut to: scene of Zora, in a black catsuit and headmask, not far from
the laboratory building, about which are some Argonian robot
police. She skulks in the shadows, dropping the Omegahedron into
a shielded bag which she carries on one arm. Zora straightens,
begins to steal away. A human policeman is between her and
escape. At first, he doesn’t see her. When he turns, and
does catch sight of her, Zora goes into action. With a martial
arts move, she kicks away his communicator. With another kick,
she knocks away his hand-held weapon (something like a phaser) and
steps on it hard, demolishing it. The cop tries to confront her
physically. Zora quickly takes him out with some fierce moves,
breaks his neck, and drags him into the shadows. Then she leaves,
with the communicator ordering the cop over and over again to report.
Zor, Kara, and Alura are at the laboratory only minutes later.
There’s some damage to the place...Argo isn’t exactly a high-crime rate
city, and they’re not really used to this...and the Omegahedron has
been taken. Zor gets a knowing look on his face and has the
police take Kara and Alura home. We get a shot of the ladies
being escorted away, their confusion showing. Kara asks what her
father intends to do, and Alura says that she wishes before Rao that
she knew.
Cut to: Zora’s apartment. The woman enters; it’s in darkness, and
she’s in her catsuit. When she turns on the lights with either a
voice command or a motion of her hand, she sees Zor-El waiting for
her. He greets her. She draws back, like a cornered
panther. Zor-El tells her, in a reasonable voice, that it wasn’t
hard to deduce that she was the one who took the Omegahedron. Her
interest in it this afternoon was a dead giveaway. Now he holds
out his hand. Give me back the device. Please.
Do not come nearer, she warns.
Zora, he says, not approaching her, where will you run? Argo is a
large city, but it is still finite. You cannot go beyond the
force-dome. Wherever you hide, you will be found.
Not if I hide in another world, Zor-El, she says. Not if I hide
on Earth.
His eyes widen in astonishment. You would dare?
She nods. Where better to learn the secrets of this sphere?
Where better to learn how to harness its power...to make it mine?
Zora, he says, shaking his head. Return the Omegahedron, and I
will keep my silence.
Oh, yes, Zor-El, says Zora, taking the Omegahedron from her bag.
You will most certainly keep your silence.
The sphere of power begins to glow in her hand. A ray erupts from
it, strikes Zor-El, agonizes him, and sends him senseless to the
floor. Zora regards him coldly, then goes about her apartment,
taking a few objects, and leaves, the door irising shut behind
her. We are left with a shot of Zor-El’s unmoving body.
Cut to: a hospital bed of sorts, actually more of a transparent tube,
with Zor-El lying within it, attended by mechanical med-devices.
He is still unconscious, and an anguished Kara and Alura are outside
the tube, looking on. A Science Councilman and associate of
Zor-El explains what they’ve deduced so far. Zora Vi-Lar has been
identified as the thief and assailant. After striking him down,
she broke into the WarpPort and used it to teleport herself to
Earth. Zor-El’s hovercar was found near her apartment, and a
preset alarm went off when his heartbeat slowed to danger level.
At present, his life can be sustained, but just barely.
What can be done for him? asks Alura.
We do not know, admits the Councilman. The Omegahedron taps into
the power of magic. Only that device, or something like it, might
be able to restore him. And we will not be able to construct
another one in...in time.
Alura collapses in tears. Kara comforts her, and asks the
Councilman, What about Zora?
She chose her time well, says the cop. Argo is moving out of
phase with Earth. A successful teleport can only be managed
within the next few hours. An enforcement agent will be chosen,
and sent. The WarpPort can only manage one send before they
dephase. But it is possible that the Omegahedron could be used to
return from Earth.
How long does my father have?, asks Kara, bluntly. The Councilman
tries to not answer the question, but she asks again, forcefully.
Finally, he says, Four days.
Kara says, I’m taking my mother home. She needs her rest.
Cut to: the WarpPort. There’s a guard on duty. He’s
distracted by a thrown device that lets up a cacophony of sound and
blinding holographic colors and images. While he’s so distracted,
a girl in a cloak and hood gets past him to the controls. She
programs the WarpPort to send her to Earth, and we see her face.
Naturally, she’s Kara Zor-El. The guard tries to grab her, but
Kara knocks him out with a klurkor blow. Then she races to the
WarpPort, a transparent tube with a teleportation device inside, and,
seconds later, fades from view.
We see a line of force streaking from Argo City towards Earth, and Kara
Zor-El, in energy-form, within it. In closeup, we see her
astonished expression. She’s traveling through subspace, with
this as an artistic expression of her journey. It only lasts bare
seconds.
Cut to: Midvale, a medium-sized city just outside of Metropolis.
A trucker is coming down the highway, carrying a load of milk in a
tank. There’s a BOOM! like a thunderclap, and a spark of light,
in the road before him. The trucker is momentarily blinded,
throwing an arm before his eyes. He can’t see that there’s an
object, a girl-sized one, in the road before him. BAM! He
hits her, and he hears it, and reacts in fear that he’s run somebody
down.
Then the truck begins to slow, and we hear a screech of something
abrading the road.
Cut to: a shot of Kara Zor-El, in cloak and costume, the hood ripped
back from her head, gritting her teeth and digging in her heels,
clinging to the grille of the truck and slowing it down by dragging her
feet on the road. The asphalt is piling up behind her in two
little lines. The trucker’s eyes clear and he can’t believe what
he’s seeing, or feeling, or whatever. He finally starts steering
the truck towards the side of the road, and eventually it stops, though
the wheels are still turning. Kara yells at him, “Would you
please stop your vehicle?”
“Huh?”
“Stop this craft’s engine! Please!”
“Oh! Oh, yeah!”
After turning the engine off, the trucker gets out of the cab to
examine the woman who has stopped his truck, single-handedly.
“Lady, are you all right?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine, thank you,” says Kara, and looks at her
hands and at the grille, which bears her hands’ imprint, as if she
can’t believe it herself. Then she brushes herself off, taking
her cloak off and draping it over one shoulder. “Don’t worry,
this wasn’t your fault.”
“I’ve gotta take you to a hospital, to make sure,” the trucker says,
and then finally realizes what the girl is wearing. “Holy
crow! You’re wearing a Superman costume...kind of...”
She silently acknowledges it.
“That’s why I could hit you, and not hurt you,” he says. “I mean,
I never heard of him, but I heard about him, who hasn’t? I
mean...”
“Stop,” she says, holding up her hand. “You are fine. I
trust I haven’t damaged your vehicle.”
“Well, no, but...well, heck. You’re not Superman. You’re
some kind of...Supergirl. Is that it?”
“Yes,” says Kara. “And now, if you’ll excuse me...”
“No, wait!” says the trucker. “I’ve got a camera. Will you
let me take a picture? It’ll just be a second!”
“All right,” sighs Kara. “But just for a second.”
And at his request, she lets him get a Polaroid photo of her lifting
the back of his truck with one hand. Then she lowers it, steps
away, bites her lip in uncertainty, crouches, shouts, “Up...and away!”,
and leaps into the air. She has a look of surprise and delight on
her face. Like her cousin Superman, she can fly!
The trucker gets another shot, or tries to, of her in flight.
Then, looking at the pictures, he decides that he’s got another stop to
make once he’s dropped off his load. Namely, to the local
newspaper.
Cut to: a sequence of Supergirl flying high above Midvale, rapt in the
wonder of flight, doing various tricks, shouting in pleasure, playing
tag with the birds, piercing clouds. She is doused by rain, takes
a thunderbolt in the back and is astonished that it doesn’t hurt either
her or her outfit, and emerges, flying at super-speed to dry herself
and her suit off by air friction. As she emerges, she’s seen by
the pilot and co-pilot of an airliner, flying nearby.
“Hey, take a look out there,” exclaims the co-pilot. “Somebody’s
flying. Without a plane!”
The pilot smiles. “You must be new here, kid. Don’t you
remember? Landing in Metropolis Airport? Superman?”
The co-pilot peers closer through the windscreen. “Superman?”
“Yeah.”
Pause. “Are you sure he ain’t had a sex change?”
Both of them look. Supergirl smiles and waves at them. In
astonishment, both silently wave back.
Our heroine flies a bit lower, scoping out Midvale from a more intimate
height, and ends up over the university. The place is not far
from a bluff, and a male student driving his car sees her, gapes, and
loses control of his vehicle. The car smashes through a guardrail
and goes over the bluff, falling towards a lake below. The young
man is open-mouthed in terror, trying to prepare himself for impact and
sinking...
...and the car stops falling, mere feet from the water’s surface.
He gapes in astonishment.
Supergirl is holding onto his back bumper, hovering in the air, griping
to herself, “Doesn’t anybody on this planet know how to drive?”
She subsequently sets the car back on the shoulder of the road, goes to
the guardrail, bends it screechingly back into shape, and, after a
couple of tries, welds the ends together with her heat vision.
She then goes to the car. “Are you all right?” she asks.
Tentatively, he assures her that he is. She prepares to fly away,
but he says, “Wait!”, and gets out of the car. Kara looks at him
tentatively, almost suspiciously. The kid puts up his hands,
trying to approach her, but she backs away, so he stops. He
reassures her that he doesn’t mean any harm, not like he thought he
could do her any, anyway. But...who is she?
Hesitantly, she says, “Kara. Kara Zor-El. I am of the
family of Kal-El, whom you call Superman.”
“Kara?”
“Yes.”
“You’re related to Superman?”
“I am his cousin.”
“Then...that makes you a...”
“Supergirl,” she finishes, with a sigh. “Now, if you please...”
“No, wait!” The guy introduces himself. He’s Dick Malverne,
a student at Midvale U., majoring in computer science, and he really,
really doesn’t want to let her get away. She’s the most amazing
thing he’s ever seen...well, not a thing, he allows, but...the most
amazing girl he’s ever seen. As it turns out, Dick is somewhat of
a washout with the ladies, not having been tapped for a fraternity, and
he just can’t let her go. Where is she staying?
“At present, nowhere,” she admits.
Then she can stay with him!
Kara gives him a VERY wary look.
Oh, no, it’s not like that, says Dick. I’m not after...well, I
mean...I’m a gentleman! Scout’s honor! But I’ve got an
apartment off-campus. You can stay there. I’ll even stake
you to meals. What do you say?
“I have only four days to be here,” she says, soberly.
Then, he says, would you let me spend some of them with you?
Please?
There’s a long moment. Then, finally, Kara takes the cloak from
around her neck, puts it on, and gets in the rumble seat of his
car. “Well?”
Dick Malverne hesitates, then shakes his head and grins, unable to
believe his luck. He gets in the car and starts it up, heading
down the road towards his apartment house.
Cut to: the apartment house, Dick going down the hall first, Kara in
her cloak behind him, with the hood down. Dick is babbling about
his life and studies, trying to make some kind of conversation.
Kara is looking at everything with curiosity, like an explorer studying
a primitive culture, but saying nothing. At one point, a male
neighbor of Dick’s emerges from his adjacent room, talks to Dick about
something, then gets an eyeful of Kara. He tries to come on to
her, putting his hand out for a shake. She stares at the
proferred hand. Dick says that this is Kara Sorrel, an exchange
student. She’s not up on American customs yet.
Well, the guy says, over here we start things off with a
handshake. For starters. (The guy is leering.)
Go ahead, Kara, says Dick. Shake his hand.
She reaches out, grabs his hand, and shakes it thoroughly. Her
grip is hard enough to make the guy cry out in pain, his eyes
bulging. Kara quickly eases the pressure, but keeps shaking hard
enough to make the guy’s whole body vibrate. Dick says, That’s
enough, Kara, and she quits. The neighbor guy is still quivering,
trying to recover, down on his knees. Kara looks at him with
concern.
Is this another of your customs?, she asks.
Sometimes, says Dick, as he opens the door to his room and guides her
inside.
The door shuts and the neighbor recovers, going, “Whoot!”
Once inside, Kara takes off her cloak and drapes it over her arm.
The apartment inside is furnished in typical student chic. The
study desk is dominated by a big PC. She points at it and asks if
it is a communications device. Well, sort of, he says. It’s
a computer.
That...is a computer?, she asks.
Sure. Don’t you have them where you came from?, he asks.
Not like this, she says. Most of our CompUnits are this big (she
spreads her thumb and forefinger to indicate the size) and this thin
(she almost presses her thumb and forefinger together).
Dick looks at her almost in disbelief. How do you input anything
into them? Or get any output?
Mentally, she says. The same way I was taught your language, on
my world. How do you do it here?
He fires up the computer and sits at the desk, his hands on the
keyboard. Manually. Like this.
The screensaver, featuring a bevy of bikini-clad babes, comes up, and
he quickly clicks out of it. Um...not QUITE like this!
She smiles. Then she pulls up a chair, and watches to see what
he’ll do next. Dick gives her a self-conscious look over his
shoulder, but he’s glad she’s there. He goes to work.
Cut to: the office of Nigel Binder, a guy who bills himself as an
astrologer, spell-caster, palmist, and general
wizard-of-all-trades. At least, that’s what we see on the glass
door. A woman in tasteful Earth clothes goes in, a handbag on her
arm. There are a coterie of desperate people and / or fruitcakes
waiting in the reception area and a secretary at a desk who wears a
pointy hat, glasses, and a black-and-purple outfit. There’s also
a small aquarium on a stand against the wall, to make the place seem
homeier. The well-dressed woman walks briskly to the
admittance door. The secretary jumps up, saying that there are
other people before her and she has to wait and get an appointment
first, and...
Zora turns and, with an unseen, sharp burst of heat vision, sets the
front of the secretary’s dress on fire. The woman cries out and
starts beating out the flames on her chest. The other folks’
reaction is mostly, “What the–?”. The secretary runs over, grabs
the aquarium, and upsets its contents onto her chest, putting out the
fire. By now, Zora has already gone through the door.
Cut to: the interior office of Nigel Binder. Inside, the
white-haired, fortyish wannabe wizard has the walls festooned with a
few mystic symbols, well-bound books on magic on shelves, and a few
charts of things like hand zones for palmistry and such. Nigel
himself wears a light business suit and is reading the palm of a
neurotic businessman, telling him no, this is not the right month to
buy Tenneco, yes, he can invest in the new dot.com, better wait two
weeks before trying your luck with the girl down at Hooters, and...oh.
Zora Vi-Lar makes her presence known, flopping her handbag on a desk
and leaning her arm on it. She stares at Nigel. Nigel and
his client stare back.
Forgive me, madam, but I’m with another client, says Nigel.
You were with another client, says Zora, and, grabbing the businessman
by the collar, lifts him off the floor and propels him out the open
door. Nigel is astonished for a long second. Then he calls
to the businessman, “We’ll finish this up on Thursday!” From the
hall, the businessman feebly cries, “Thanks!”
Zora pulls the door shut and locks it. Then she sits across from
Nigel, her legs crossed, her handbag in her lap. He reaches for
the telephone and pulls the receiver off the hook, but she casually
reaches out, grasps the main phone unit in one hand, and effortlessly
crushes it to bits. He’s left holding the receiver to his ear,
dumbfounded. Slightly, Zora smiles.
What is this all about?, he finally asks.
Your advertisements said that you are a wizard, she says. I have
need of a wizard, to show me how to use a certain artifact. Also,
I have need of a dwelling in which to stay. You will supply both
my needs.
Cagily, Nigel says, And what artifact would that be, madam?
She fishes into her handbag with one hand and produces the
Omegahedron. It glows, slightly, with a greenish light.
Nigel looks upon it in wonder, wide-eyed. This is the sort of
thing he’s always dreamed of finding, throughout his life of practicing
phony magic to pay the bills and deceive the rubes, while he sought
time and again for the Real Stuff and always came up wanting.
Now, it’s right in front of him. And if getting a handle on it
means dealing with some strange dame who can crush a phone in one
hand...
...well, there are tales of worse deals men had to make to gain power.
This, Zora says in reply.
After a beat, Nigel says, Tell me more.
Cut to: Dick’s apartment. Supergirl is getting antsy. She
tells him that she has to get some information about the woman she’s
seeking. If any strange occurrences have taken place within the
last day...
Dick, at the computer, prints out a page from the online version of the
Midvale Messenger. How’s that for a strange occurrence?, he asks,
handing it to Supergirl. Then: Uh...you can read English, can’t
you?
Of course, she says, reading it. My cousin landed here, and we
learned the language from studying him. But what does this have
to do with my search? “5 p.m., responded to a call about noisy
neighbors. 5:15 p.m., lost dog report.”
Dick points to an item a little further down. Look here, he says.
“7:08 p.m., report of explosion and bright light near Finis Road.
Sent troopers to investigate. No damage reported, but several
residents frightened.” Kara pauses.
Just like you said what happened when you popped into our world, says
Dick.
Where is this Finis..., she starts to say, as someone bangs on the
door.
Hide, says Dick. Then he turns to the door. Who is it?
It’s Steve, from next door, says the guy. (This is the neighbor
guy from earlier on.) You got the TV on?
No. Why?
Turn it on and let me in!
In that order?, asks Dick.
Don’t be a wise guy!, says Steve.
Dick looks behind him, looks all around, and doesn’t see
Supergirl. Wherever she is, it’s not likely she can easily be
seen. So he lets Steve in. Now what?
Now, turn on the TV!
Dick does so, and both catch the tail end of a local newscast in which
a Polaroid photo of Supergirl is blown up to screen size and retouched
for clarity. There’s a short interview with the trucker whose rig
was stopped by Supergirl, and then a guy doing a standup report in
front of the stretch of road where two long lines have been dug in the
asphalt, just about the right size and right distance apart to have
been made by human feet. Also, persons in the area did confirm
that a flash of light and an explosion took place just before the
incident with the truck, which several of them saw. So, the
question is...does a Supergirl, like Superman, really exist on
Earth?
Steve discusses the story with Dick, asserting in a fanboy manner that
it’d be top-notch if there really was a Supergirl, and slyly wondering
if she can do everything in a super fashion... Dick, a bit
offended, says, Hey, watch what you’re saying about her! I
mean...even if she is only hypothetical. Steve looks at him a bit
suspiciously, but says nothing. Then he says that he needs
to go to the john.
Steve, wait..., says Dick, thinking that Supergirl may be hiding out in
the bathroom.
I can’t wait, Dick, sorry, says Steve, and pushes his way into the
john.
Dick runs both hands through his hair, wondering if his friend is going
to run out of there with his pants half-down, having seen a Kryptonian
vision in the bathroom. But nothing of the sort happens.
There’s a flushing noise and, shortly afterwards, Steve appears.
He thanks Dick for the use of the john and wants to talk some more
about this “Supergirl”, but Dick hustles him out of the door.
Just before he gets Steve out, Dick chances to look up and sees
Supergirl spread-eagled against the ceiling. Silently, she
signals him to get Steve out of there. Once he does, and the door
is locked again, Kara descends, and Dick collapses into a chair.
I need to investigate that explosion, says Supergirl.
You need a suit of clothes, says Dick. Earth clothes.
What for?, asks Supergirl.
Because you’d draw too much attention in that suit. Especially if
there’s a super-witch looking for you. And I need some grub.
Grub?
Dinner, says Dick, getting up. Come on, we’re going to the
mall. Wear your cloak. This’ll be tough enough as it is.
Indeed, says Kara. And...Dick?
Uh, yeah?
Thank you. For your aid so far.
He’s taken aback for a moment. Then he smiles, slightly, and
says, Don’t mention it. I always do that for a girl from another
world.
Cut to: a mall, where Dick and Kara are at a clothing store for
women. There’s a humorous sequence in which they first ask for
her size, but Dick doesn’t have any idea and she gives them the
Kryptonian equivalent. Also, she won’t take off her cloak, since
she’s only got the Supergirl costume under it. They have to
measure her with a tape with the cloak on, and they finally guesstimate
her size. Kara goes through the racks with Dick, wondering what’s
appropriate for an Earth girl. She briefly handles a sexy outfit
and, while Dick wouldn’t mind seeing her in it, he knows it wouldn’t
work. They finally settle on a dress and a pantsuit. She
goes into the dressing room and tries them on.
Cut to: Zora, in Ethan Binder’s house. The place is somewhat
darkened, and they have the Omegahedron between them. He doesn’t
like the idea of handling a power object like that without sufficiently
examining it first, but she’s eager to find out what it can do.
So he just bids her concentrate and try to make some kind of bond with
the device. She closes her eyes. Ethan decides he’ll try to
get away, but she grabs his wrist, not opening her eyes.
“Stay.” And the Omegahedron begins to glow.
At the mall, Dick and the salespeople in the store begin to notice a
trembling beneath them, like that of an earthquake. Everybody
wonders what’s going on. In short order, they find out: the
flooring of the mall throughway outside the stores splits open in one
place, upsetting the walking customers, and spews forth four trollish
creatures composed of rock. They begin a rampage, smashing glass,
crushing booths (the people inside them have already run for it),
trashing merchandise. It’s a major panic scene, and the guards
are on hand to deal with it, but what the heck can they do?
Dick is looking out, gapemouthed, but behind him the door of the
dressing room quickly opens and shuts and a blue bullet-like figure
speeds forth from it, so quickly she can barely be perceived.
Supergirl is on the job.
Within an instant, Supergirl saves a kid from being hurt by one of the
rock trolls, smashing it in the chest and shattering it to bits.
The other three take notice. She comes for them, ready for a
rumble. One of them smashes her with a backhand and sends her to
the floor...and she feels it. The onlookers gasp or scream.
One of the rock trolls sets his huge foot on top of her fallen body,
intending to crush her. The other two gather round, certain that
their attacker is done for. A second later, Kara pushes upward,
holding onto the troll’s foot. She swings him like a maul, using
him to demolish the other two trolls, then slams him down on the floor
of the mall. Briefly, we see somebody within an electronics
store, pointing a video camera at her through the shattered store
window and recording the fight.
The troll grabs Supergirl with both hands, trying to crush her.
She trains twin heat-vision beams on his head, causing him to roar in
pain and loosen his grip enough for her to break free. Kara grabs
him by the chin, smashes through the ceiling, flies both of them into
the sky, and hurls her foe away from the Earth. He is lost in the
night sky, already out of orbital range. The fight is over.
Back within the mall, everybody’s trying to assimilate what they just
saw. They assess the wreckage (the mall manager is seen, his head
in his hands, wondering about what the costs of repair will be).
Some gingerly approach the remains of the rock trolls. A kid puts
his hand out to touch one of the trolls’ feet, but his mom pulls his
hand back. A couple of janitors argue about who’s going to clean
up what and how they’re going to have to do it. Dick Malverne and
the saleslady beside him in the store are still awestruck. Then
we hear Kara’s voice from behind them. She’s dressed in the
pantsuit and has the dress over one arm and the cloak in the
other. “We’ll take them both,” she says.
Cut to: an Arby’s, where Dick and Kara are eating. He has to show
her the finer points of dipping fries in catsup. She thinks it’s
icky at first, but then doesn’t mind it, and scarfs up her roast beef
sandwich quickly. Kara asks for another, and he says he’ll get
her one in a minute. Sighing, he wonders what in heck is their
next step. After all, her existence has now been revealed to the
world. Kara doesn’t think that’ll be a problem, since she’s only
going to be there four days. Yeah, Dick says, but it’ll be a big
problem if they connect Kara Sorrell to a girl flying around in a blue
suit and a red cape. They’ll be all over both of us. How
will you find this...Zora...then?
Kara concedes his point. I know my cousin keeps his identity
secret from the world, she says. I suppose I must learn to do
likewise.
Seemed like those rock things gave you a fight for a few seconds there,
ventures Dick.
They did, said Kara. Normally, I might have been able to deal
with them more easily. But I felt some magic within them.
My cousin is vulnerable to magic, and, I suppose, so am I.
Dick takes in the information. Then, if that Zora has a weapon
that’s powered by magic...
...She could kill me, yes, acknowledges Kara. But I’ll try not to
let that happen.
Yeah, says Dick. Make sure of that. We’ve got enough
working against us as it is. That means no more exhibitions of
your power when you’re not in costume. Don’t shake hands like you
did with Steve.
More gently?, she asks.
Yeah. Dick notices she has her hand out. He takes it, and
says, Kind of like this. She gives it a gentler shake. He
continues to hold onto it. Uh...Dick?, she asks.
Yeah, Kara?
Aren’t you supposed to let go, now?
Well, normally, yes, but...ah, the heck with it. He lets her hand
go. A bit embarrassed, he says, I’ll go get your sandwich, and
gets up. But she stops him. Dick...let’s try that lesson
again, please, she says, holding out her hand.
This time, when he takes it, she’s the one who doesn’t let go.
After some moments of looking into each other’s eyes, Kara says, I have
to go, Dick. I must go to this Finis Road and see what I can
learn.
Okay, says Dick, reluctantly. Just...make sure you get back to
me. All right?
She smiles, and gets up. He reminds her that she can’t leave
before he pays the bill, but she’s gone at super-speed. Sighing,
Dick gets out his wallet, counts out a ten-dollar bill, and gets up to
pay at the register.
Cut to: Finis Road. A couple of cops are bantering about sports
and girls and war stories in a black-and-white. Suddenly, they
catch sight of a blue-and-red-clad figure, dropping out of the skies
and landing nearby. The cops are taken aback, but they take their
prowl car over immediately. After ascertaining that she really is
Supergirl and that she’s Superman’s cousin (she demonstrates by lifting
the back of the car off the ground and then putting it down, gently),
they ask what she’s there for. She asks if they can direct her to
the site of the blast that was heard yesterday. They offer to
give her a ride, but she says, “Thank you, I’d rather fly.” And,
as the car pulls out, she does.
Shot of the two cops looking at each other, wondering if they really
believe this, and realizing that it won’t make any difference whether
they do or don’t.
There’s a small crater in a vacant lot, lit by a street light (Zora
obviously materialized a lot closer to the ground than Kara). The
police pull up nearby, and Supergirl, flying only about 20 feet off the
ground (we get a shot of a couple of folks in a convenience store
nearby, looking at her and pointing towards the window), alights in the
crater. She looks at the ground critically and analytically, as
much as she can.
The lab boys took samples, one of the cops says. You find
anything they can’t?
Let me try, says Kara. She concentrates. From their
observation of Superman, the Argonians know that he has microscopic
vision. We focus on her eyes, which are suddenly surrounded by
white rays which symbolize her vision-powers. Then we have a
vision of the streetlight-lit ground, which magnifies to an amazing
degree. By the time we get to a microscopic view of the dirt’s
molecular structure, we see greenish energy particles whizzing around
the matter molecules, with appropriate whizzing sound effects.
Then we zoom back out to Supergirl, who stoops, digs her hand into the
ground, lifts out a handful of earth, and squeezes it.
Supergirl cries out and drops the dirt. She clutches her wrist,
as if she’s been burned. The cops are out of the car and ask her
what’s wrong.
Magic, she says. There’s magic in that ground. It’s not
dangerous to you, but it can affect me.
You need us to take you to the emergency room?, asks one of the cops.
Thanks, no, she says. She wraps her hand up in part of her cape,
scoops another handful of dirt up, ties it in her cape, and leaps into
the air.
Whattya make of that, Roy?, asks one of the cops.
I think after this week, we’re gonna know what it’s like to work a beat
in Metropolis, says the other.
Cut to: Zora and Ethan watching Ethan’s wide-screen TV at his
home. The local newscast is showing the videotape the store guy
shot of Supergirl’s fight with the four rock trolls. Zora swears
in Kryptonian and smashes her fist through a wall. Ethan looks up
at her nervously.
It’s impossible!, she snaps.
What’s impossible, Zora?, asks Ethan.
That another Kryptonian could find me this quickly, she says, pulling
her fist out and pointing (fist covered in sheetrock dust) at the
TV. Worse, that she’d be right on the scene when I conjured up
the rock trolls.
Perhaps, muses Ethan, the girl drew them there. Maybe magic from
your world is attracted to a being of your world.
Hah!, Zora sneers. If that’s so, it’s a shame Superman isn’t on
this world. You told me he’s on a space mission for a week.
Yes, says Ethan. It’ll take him that long to get to the asteroid
that was headed our way, put it on another course, and return to Earth.
At least, that’s what he said before he left.
Wouldn’t it be fine if there wasn’t an Earth left for him to come back
to, says Zora, holding the Omegahedron.
Oh, no, says Ethan in haste. Don’t, please don’t do that.
That would be excessive. That would be a waste of good
power. Besides, you might not survive the blast.
I am a superwoman, says Zora.
And you’d lose all those potential slaves!, exclaims Ethan.
Hmph, Zora says, tossing the Omegahedron up idly and catching it.
You have a point there. At least I know there’s a little wretch
from Argo trying to find me. But with this...I can find her first.
Do you know her?, asks Ethan.
There are over a hundred thousand Argonians still alive, says
Zora. She is one of many. It doesn’t matter. She is
younger. She is smaller. If she knows klurkor, our martial
art, I doubt she can match my skill. And I have the
Omegahedron. In a battle...
You don’t, uh, think she’d last very long?, says Ethan.
She looks at him. Of course she’d last very long, says
Zora. After all, I’d want to have some fun with her before I
killed her.
After a pause, she sits lotus-fashion on the mystic symbol inlaid into
the floor, the Omegahedron in her lap, and tells Ethan to get out one
of his musty books and see what they can do with this thing. He
looks long and hard at the sphere in her lap. She tells him if he
tries for it, he’d better use the hand he doesn’t write with.
Dutifully, Ethan gets down one of his grimoires and opens it.
Cut to: Dick’s apartment. He’s asleep on the couch with the TV
on; the first sight we see is of Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, with a
cut to Dick sawing logs a second afterward. There’s a super-quick
opening and closing of the door. Supergirl become apparent after
she slows down from super-speed velocity. She’s holding the
bundled part of her cape. Dick?, she says. Dick.
Dick, wake up!
He does, with a start. The sight of Supergirl is a shock to him
before he gets it back together and remembers her. Oh, uh...hi,
he mutters. Kara, I’ve got to get some sack time.
Can you get me into a laboratory?
Nope, he says. Not at this time of night. Everything’s
closed. On this planet, Kara, we sleep. Don’t you sleep?
Of course, she says. But on this world, I need less of it, it
seems. You mean security is on your labs day and night?
I mean, Kara, he says, that the campus is closed this late at night,
and if you try to get in after hours, you could get busted.
Busted?
Busted. Arrested. Locked up. Thrown in jail, for
cripes’ sake! Now I wanna go to bed, Kara. G’nite.
Dick Malverne moves to the bedroom. Supergirl thinks of calling
after him, then decides against it. She leaves the apartment
again at super-speed. After all, if she’s going to save her father’s
life, she can’t take time out for Dick’s naptime.
We cut to a view of Supergirl flying over the Midvale University campus
at night. There’s a few guards patrolling the place, a few prowl
cars, some cleaning staff working in the buildings, a very few night
strollers out, that sort of thing. She’s high up enough that
she’s hoping no one does the “Look, up in the sky!” bit with her.
We focus in on her eyes, with a glow effect or something signifying
she’s using her X-ray vision. Then we see the buildings on campus
through her eyes, as she looks through their stone-and-metal exteriors
till she finds a science building with a bunch of labs.
Supergirl zooms down, silently, in a shot in which we see a guard on
the ground facing the wrong way to see her. She opens a window,
enters quickly, and closes it behind her. The hallway is, for the
moment, deserted. Supergirl flies quickly to the door of the chem
lab she’s chosen, opens it, closes it behind her, and turns on the
light. We see the standard lab stuff plus a large, high-powered
microscope, along with a batch of white lab coats hung on a rack by the
door. Supergirl takes the tied-up portion of her cape, unties it
a bit, and lets part of the soil sample with the magical residue
scatter into a Petrie dish. She’s about to take it to the
microscope...
There’s a click as the door opens.
Steve, in a guard’s outfit, carrying a flashlight, pokes his head
through. He doesn’t see anyone inside, and neither do we.
As he turns to scope out the lab in another direction, we hear
Supergirl say, Steve?
He whirls to see Kara, dressed in a lab coat. She’s standing
behind a big marble lab table so that we only see her from the waist
up. Steve’s eyes bug out. What in the ever-lovin’ heck are
you doing here, Kara?
She explains that she wanted to do a soil analysis, but it was after
hours and she didn’t know who to approach. So she snuck in.
Steve shakes his head. That story has holes like cheesecloth, he
says, but since she’s an immigrant, maybe it’s the truth. She
might not know procedures here. Look, he says, I will have to
make a report about this.
Oh, could you...not?, asks Kara. After all, I don’t want to get
in trouble, and it is my first time here, after hours...maybe we could
make a deal?
Steve looks at her suspiciously. What kind of deal?
Well...she approaches him, and we see she’s barefoot. (Her red
boots are stuck inside one of the lab cabinets, as we see in a special
shot.) Maybe something like this.
Kara kisses Steve, who’s not exactly expecting it. She keeps
kissing him, and his eyes bug out. He tries to break away, but
isn’t able to manage it. Steve’s efforts lessen, and he soon
limps out, sagging to the floor. Kara gently lets him down,
propping him against the floor and a wall. He’s got a zombie look
on his face. Quickly, Supergirl goes to the microscope and begins
her analysis. It’s obvious from her moves that she’s just getting
used to Earth equipment, but she learns fast.
Later, she shakes Steve by the shoulder. Wake up, Steve, she says.
Huh? Wha?
She’s holding a stoppered bottle with the soil sample in it and is
smiling at him. If you don’t say anything about this, I won’t
tell anyone that you fainted on the job.
Fainted?
Yes, she says. But don’t get up. I’ll see myself out.
Kara, carrying her Supergirl outfit and boots wrapped up under her arm,
steps out the door and shuts it behind her. Steve shakes his
head, gets to his feet, gets to the door as fast as possible in his
loggy state, and opens it.
Kara is nowhere to be seen in the hall outside.
Man, he says, I have definitely got to talk to Dick about that woman!
Morning. Dick Malverne awakens to the peal of his alarm clock,
gets up, stretches, goes into the front room in his boxers, still
groggy, facing the back of his sofa. He takes his TV control from
a metal tray-table, clicks on the set, gets a cartoon, and, still
trying to shake out the cobwebs, begins to sit down on the sofa.
He yelps and jumps up. Kara raises her head above the top of the
couch. Sorry, Dick, she says. I have to sleep, too.
Oh, he says. Oh, uh, yeah. Let me get dressed.
Cut to: breakfast table, Dick in robe, Supergirl in costume. He
sets out bowls, milk, a box of Shredded Wheat. Gingerly, Kara
pokes in the box and pulls out a paper-covered package of two
wheats. You don’t eat it like this, do you?, she asks.
Uh, no. Dick opens the package, puts one wheat in her bowl, and
stops her when she tries to pick it up and eat it as is. He
instructs Supergirl in the finer points of cereal eating. Once
she gets the hang of it, Kara explains, between bites, that she did an
analysis of the soil sample at the lab and thinks she can use her
vision powers to track the energy she found therein. But once she
does... Her voice trails off.
Once you do, you’re in for a fight, says Dick. Is that it?
She doesn’t say anything.
What’re you going to do, Kara?, he asks, gently.
I might be able to take her in a fight, she says, but I don’t
know. Zora knows klurkor, too. She’s bigger, possibly
stronger. But the thing that gives her the edge, beyond doubt, is
the Omegahedron.
The magic thing?
Yes, says Kara. If I could get that from her, the odds would be
considerably more equal. I don’t have much more time before my
father...before my father dies.
Dick moves to put his hands on her shoulders. She shrinks away
from him. Thank you, Dick, she says, but I don’t need that.
I’m all right. I’ve got work to do.
I can help, he offers.
No, you can’t, says Kara, standing up and going to the window.
This is a job—for Supergirl.
She flies into the sky.
Cut to: the office of Ethan Binder. The usual bunch of people
waiting in the office for their reading. The secretary nervously
tells one client to go in. Ethan is uptight. The man (or
woman) who is his client tries asking him about a business
decision. Ethan gives a cursory answer. She tries asking
another question, he says something terse and noncommittal. When
she tries asking something else, he stands up and tells her he’s sure
the spirits will guide her to an appropriate answer at a later
time. Now, go, please...just go. Ethan starts to bundle the
astonished client out of the door, just as the door to Ethan’s inner
office opens.
Zora comes out, her eyes agleam, the Omegahedron glowing in her
hand. The time has come, Ethan, she says. The time has
come...to rule!
Ethan and the client look at her, then at each other, nervously,
silently. Zora holds the Omegahedron above her head, and a pulse
of green fire snakes down her arm, transforming her garb into that of a
Kryptonian villainess, something black and suggestive of the Black
Flame costume from ACTION COMICS. She launches herself through
the ceiling of the office with a shout, and we see her rising into the
heavens above. Below, in the office, both Ethan and the client
are hugging the floor, covered in plaster dust. Ethan assures the
client there’ll be no charge for today. Now, get out!
Zora hovers over Earth in suborbital space, the planet below her.
With a ferocious smile, she activates the Omegahedron. Beams of
force stab out from it. We cut to:
—a volcano on a South Pacific island, which is struck by a beam and
begins to erupt. Villagers panic.
—an area of China which, suddenly, shakes with the beginnings of a
major earthquake.
—part of the American Midwest which, apropos of nothing, is suddenly
struck by a rapidly-forming tornado.
—a beach in Brazil, from which screaming bathers have to flee as a
30-foot wall of water approaches.
And, below, in the midst of Midvale, pedestrians are astonished as,
from the concrete and soil beneath it, something begins to rear up,
emerge, and form itself into a structure. It becomes a temple to
Zora Vi-Lar, with a statue of the villainess herself on top, holding a
replica of the Omegahedron high.
In her perch in space, Zora Vi-Lar throws back her head and
laughs. We might get this just as telepathy, if she’s too far up
for sound to carry.
Then we switch to a view somewhat below her, but still in the
air. From the back, we see a familiar, blue-and-red-clad flying
figure. We might also get a shot of the energy trail her
super-vision has detected, leading her to Zora. Then, we switch
to a frontal view: Supergirl, resolute and determined, one fist thrust
out before her, is coming on at the peak super-speed she can
manage. She comes up on Zora from below, not behind, and her
speed is such that Zora only has time to look down an instant before
Kara collides with her, fist-first.
WHAM!
Zora Vi-Lar hurtles backward, rear-over-teakettle, astonished and
hurt—she’s never been struck a super-blow before, and even at her
strength level, it hurts—and, after a couple of seconds, loses the
Omegahedron. We get a head shot of Supergirl, noticing it, and
she streaks down to capture it. It falls a great distance.
Cut to: Metropolis Stadium, where the Metros are playing the Gotham
Goliaths in baseball. A batter has just hit what may be a homer,
but an outfielder is going to the wall to catch it. It looks like
it’s going to get past him and go into the stands. The
Omegahedron is also falling rapidly towards the stadium. A
blue-and-red streak zips down, intersecting the path of the
baseball. It bounces off her chest, though she’s traveling too
fast to be seen with the naked eye, and falls into the glove of the
outfielder. Kara snatches the Omegahedron before it can hit the
ground and flies upward with it, all unseen. Behind her,
everything returns to normal time. The outfielder gapes at the
ball in his glove, and the crowd goes wild over his catch.
The Omegahedron is still glowing. Kara, flying upward with the
device in both her hands, begins to concentrate. We cut to:
—the Pacific island, where the volcano returns to normal, to the
villagers’ great delight.
—the earthquake-stricken area of China, in which the quakes quickly
subside, sparing the lives of a mother and her children.
—the American Midwest, where a terrified, fleeing bunch of people
suddenly see the tornado unravel and vanish.
—the beach in Brazil, where the wave of water suddenly backtracks,
flattens, and becomes peaceful again.
But before Supergirl can do anything about the temple of Zora, she’s
hit from behind, and hard, by Zora herself. “Nasty little witch,”
remarks the villainess. “Shouldn’t take other people’s toys.”
The Omegahedron goes flying. We follow its progress in cuts, as
it finally lands on the peak of a snowy mountain. Meanwhile,
Supergirl winds up and gives Zora a wallop that knocks her
backward. Zora wipes her mouth, snapping, “We haven’t got time
for this. I have to conquer the world.”
“You’re right, we haven’t got time for this,” Supergirl replies.
“I have to save my father.”
The two women begin to fight. The battle is pretty punishing,
fists, feet, knees, hand-chops, and elbows, combined with grappling and
plain old catfighting. Kara holds her own, but Zora has a bit of
an edge in strength. Still, Supergirl grapples her, holds her
wrists above her head in a control position, and encircles her waist
with her legs. There’s silence for a moment, broken only by the
panting breaths of the women.
Then Zora fires a burst of heat vision right into Supergirl’s eyes.
Kara screams in pain, temporarily blinded by the heat-blast. Zora
breaks away from her and, with some brutal punches and kicks, sends her
crashing to the Earth below. She lands on the mountain peak,
semi-conscious, the Omegahedron rolling away from the impact.
Supergirl dazedly reaches out her hand to try and catch it.
Zora’s booted foot comes down on her wrist. “What did I tell you
about playing with other people’s toys?”, she asks. With one
hand, she reaches down and grabs the Omegahedron. With the other,
she lifts Supergirl up by the throat. Kara grabs at Zora’s wrist.
Zora uses the Omegahedron to encase Supergirl in a transparent green
substance cube, from the feet up, taking her hand away from Kara’s neck
as the stuff engulfs her head. Supergirl is caught like a fly in
amber. Zora smiles, tossing the Omegahedron up and catching it
again. Then she takes to the air, using the device’s power to tow
the Supergirl-cube behind her.
We cut to: the site of the Temple of Zora, in Midvale. Cops are
beginning to investigate it, with civilians kept behind sawhorses and
police tape. The mayor is there, arguing with the police chief,
and some reporters are on hand, including possibly a cameo by Jimmy
Olsen from Metropolis. Dick Malverne is behind one of the
sawhorses, and not far away from him, but with several people
separating them, is Ethan Binder. He’s still somewhat
dusty. (The temple is within range of his offices.)
Suddenly, from out of the sky, Zora descends, Supergirl in tow.
Involuntarily, Ethan calls out Zora’s name, and Dick calls out Kara’s
name. Both of them, afterwards, look at each other in wonder and
recognition. Zora Vi-Lar lands on top of the temple, the
Supergirl-cube beside her, and proclaims her victory over the Girl of
Steel and her rule of their city. She lifts the Omegahedron and a
dome of force covers the town, like that which protects Argo City in
space. The people are astonished, all over the city.
Then Zora demands that the Midvale citizens bow down to her in
servitude. After a second of astonishment, the mayor steps up and
proclaims, The hell with that. We aren’t bowing to any foreign
tyrant, even if she can fly. By the powers invested in me by the
city of Midvale, you, madam, are under arrest!
Oh, says Zora, drily. Really?
With that, she uses the Omegahedron power to force the mayor, the
chief, and all the onlookers to their knees, then makes them bow and
touch their foreheads to the ground. None of this is voluntary,
but they cannot prevent themselves from doing it. Dick exchanges
glances with Ethan as they’re doing it. After about a minute,
Zora says, You may go now. I will issue orders later. Your
government has been replaced by the will of Zora Vi-Lar.
When the citizenry is a bit too slow at getting to their feet, a few
bolts of energy hitting nearby encourage them.
Dick and Ethan flee side by side. You know that woman?, asks Dick.
Yes, all too well, replies Ethan. And you know Supergirl?
Oh, yeah, says Dick. Listen: can you find a way of getting her
out of there?
At present, I don’t have any idea, says Ethan. But it’s not as if
we have anything better to work on, is it?
Cut to: a closeup shot of Kara, paralyzed in the green cube, seeming to
look out in anguish.
We get a shot of Bernard Shaw of CNN, reporting on the crisis in
Midvale. There’s a shot of tanks and soldiers massed outside the
force-field dome, but they can’t get in. A representative of the
president does a sound bite on screen, assuring folks that the matter
is being looked into and so far, everything’s under control.
There’s an overhead shot of the dome from a helicopter, and then
footage of a smart bomb being dropped on it, which explodes but does no
damage. Cut back to: Bernard Shaw, with an inset pic of Superman
beside him on the screen, explaining that the Man of Steel is still in
space, isn’t expected back for another week, and can’t be reached by
any means known to man.
Cut to: the president, possibly played by the same actor who did the
job in SUPERMAN II. His advisors are in the Oval Office with him,
discussing their options. Nuclear weapons? Totally out of
the question, he says. Kryptonite? They’ve no way of
locating any, at present. So what do they do? Well, he
tells them, we sit...we wait for Superman...and we pray.
Cut to: the Daily Planet, where Perry White is railing at his
reporters, most prominently Lois and Jimmy, about how to get something
on the Midvale crisis. And where is Kent when we need him
most? On vacation! And he’s going to get an exclusive from
Superman when the Big S gets back? Hah! If I knew where to
find him, he’d be skipping vacation for the next five years.
Chief, says Jimmy, what about this Supergirl chick that some people are
claiming they’ve sighted?
Perry, a little more thoughtfully, says, I won’t really believe it
until the Planet’s got an exclusive on it, Jimmy. But I’ve seen
that video footage, too. And if there really is a Supergirl...she
might be about the only hope we’ve really got.
Then he says, Now get out there and get something! See if there’s
still a single phone, a single fax, a single e-mail address still
working in Midvale! Go up to the dome and hold up a sign, if you
have to! But get me something!
The reporters leave, quickly. Perry is looking down at a printout
of a frame of the videocam report, featuring Supergirl and one of the
rock monsters. Then, when he thinks of it, Perry stands up and
says, “And, Olsen? DON’T CALL ME...”
He notices everybody’s already gone.
“...chief,” he finishes.
Cut to: Argo City, where the head of the Science Council and Allura are
standing vigil at Zor-El’s bedside. A doctor is in attendance,
treating the comatose scientist as best he can. He finally says,
Tynth Zor-El, if there was anything else we could do, we would.
But as it is...
Allura tries to hold her composure.
...I would begin to make arrangements, finishes the doctor, gently.
The Science Council head touches her shoulder, speaking some words
intended to be reassuring, but Allura shakes him off and kneels beside
her husband, taking his hand. I will make no arrangements, she
says, in tears. Not until my daughter returns. As long as
she is on Earth, as long as my husband lives...there is hope.
There is hope!
The last line is spoken as a voiceover, as we cut to: Dick and Ethan,
in Ethan’s lair. Dick is a bit off-put by some of the
accoutrements he sees there, but Ethan’s deep in research in some
ancient mystic volumes. So, says Dick, you think you can actually
dig up something in those books? Something we can use?
Hopefully, says Ethan. But, once having found it...well, there’s
another question.
What’s that?
Ethan closes one book, with a ribbon marking his place, and looks at
Dick, tiredly. I’ve never really done magic, he says. Only
made a show of it. I keep up appearances, tell the people what
they want to hear. But I’ve never really done any of it.
Never cast a single spell, never given a reading that wasn’t a
fake. I’ve just been a poseur.
Dick moves closer to him. But you know it works, now. That
Omegahedron gadget proved it.
Unfortunately, yes, says Ethan.
So if it exists, you can do it, says Dick. And you’ve got to do
it. Right now, Supergirl’s done everything she can. She
came all the way across the galaxy to help out the whole planet.
Now, she’s a prisoner. She’s still the only hope we’ve got...and
we’re the only hope she’s got. Ethan, you don’t have a
choice. We’ve got to do something. You have to do something.
Ethan looks at Dick for a long moment. Then he points to his desk
and says, There’s some blue chalk in there. Get it out and bring
it to me.
What’re you going to try?, asks Dick.
If I do this wrong, it might put us in worse danger than anything Zora
could do, says Ethan. But, as you’ve said...we’ve got to do
something. Get me the chalk. There’s some candles and
candlesticks in the pantry. I’m going to need your help.
Dick hustles to the desk.
Cut to: Zora in her temple, being attended by a bunch of muscular and
attractive guys who must have come from Midvale’s local equivalent of
Chippendale’s. They try to keep up a front, but every one of them
seems afraid, as they well might be. Zora is lounging on an
elaborate couch of her creation, watching a wide-screen TV with the
Travel Channel on it. The mayor of Midvale is also present, on
his knees, chained there by energy bonds. Zora says that it’s
time for a demonstration of her powers, and this video device has given
her some interesting ideas indeed. She raises her hand, and the
Omegahedron begins to glow. The Chippendale types back away,
fearfully...as well they might.
In Washington, D.C., the Washington Monument uproots itself, inverts
itself, and, much to the dismay of the crowds on the Mall, screws
itself into the ground to its halfway point like a spinning drill.
Elsewhere in the city, Lincoln’s statue gets up from its stone chair
and begins to walk away, unthreateningly, but still frightening the
heck out of the people on the scene.
In Egypt, a group of tourists is being given a look at the exterior of
the Sphinx. Suddenly, the great statue’s eyes begin to
open. One massive paw lifts and then comes down with a thud,
sending people screaming away. The great lion-bodied,
human-headed stone being gets up on all fours and begins loping away
into the desert.
In the Kremlin, the Russian government is in session when the entire
onion-shaped dome is wrenched free of the structure and rises into
space. Snow begins gently falling on the premier and his fellows,
and they begin yelling, wondering who in blazes has done this to them,
and just what has been done.
In India, a formerly stationary Juggernaut comes to life and speeds
forward like a drunk driver, scattering townspeople all over the place
who barely manage to avoid its wheels.
And in Paris, the Eiffel Tower begins to uproot itself, walking on one
pair of metallic “legs”, then on the other. The usual crowd scene
melee erupts.
Cut back to: Zora Vi-Lar, watching coverage of some of the disasters on
TV, and laughing uproariously. It’s obvious that whatever move
she makes towards conquest isn’t far in the future. We pull back
from her to see Supergirl, still trapped in the green cube. But
it’s obvious from her eyes that she’s still seeing things, and
comprehending them.
Cut to: Ethan’s den, where he stands within a mystic pattern chalked on
the floor, dressed in some sort of elaborately decorated robe.
There are candles burning in holders at various places around the
pattern, and Ethan is holding the book, intoning a spell from it.
Dick is waving some sort of censer, which is part of the spell.
Ethan’s voice rises to a crescendo. He finally speaks the last
words of the spell. Then they wait.
Nothing happens.
Ethan sags. I knew it, he says. I knew it would never
work. I’m just a...a poseur. A fake.
Ethan, says Dick, shut up. Just keep believing. If you
don’t believe in yourself, who else is going to?
That’s the whole point, Ethan says. I don’t believe in
myself. I don’t believe in any higher power. I don’t
believe in much of anything..., he says, smacking the book absently
with his hand, and accidentally turning the page. It falls at his
feet, and he looks at it, suddenly curious. Then he picks it up.
He speaks some more words in an unknown language. Suddenly, a
wave of wind blows the candle flames in a certain direction, and the
force of the wind almost forces Dick against the wall. There’s a
visible manifestation of energy, and it zaps out of the door, out of
the house, and into the sky, headed for its destination.
Back in the house, Ethan looks apologetically at Dick. I’m sorry,
he says. There were a couple more lines of the spell on the next
page.
Well, Ethan, says Dick, let’s just hope they were the right lines.
The energy-burst soars above the city, bounces off the dome, and then
heads downward, towards Zora’s temple.
Cut to: the inside of the temple, where Zora is making an offer to the
mayor of Midvale which he can’t refuse, to serve under him and announce
to the populance that Zora Vi-Lar is not only their new ruler, but
their new goddess. The mayor refuses to do so.
You...dare?, asks Zora, staring him down.
Behind them, unseen by both, the energy blast hits the green cube
enclosing Supergirl, and begins to penetrate it.
You may be from another planet, says the mayor. You may have all
the power in the world, and be able to do magic tricks with that little
ball of yours. But I’m still an American, and I’m still a
man. And the God I bow my knee to will never be you.
The green cube begins to creak a bit, as if great pressure was being
applied from within.
The Omegahedron glows in Zora’s hand, as she says, Is that your final
answer?
Hesitantly, he nods his head.
Then you’d best bend your knee already, says Zora, the energy nimbus
surrounding the Omegahedron. Prepare to meet your God.
The cube shatters into a jillion pieces as Kara flexes her muscles,
scattering it about. Then she flies at super-speed between Zora
and the mayor, making the blast ricochet off her chest. It hurts,
but she stands her ground, striking her power stance, and says, Not
yet, Zora. Not just yet.
Zora is astonished. Kara takes advantage of it, grabbing her
wrist and wrenching the Omegahedron from her hand. The device
drops and rolls on the floor, away from both of them. Zora begins
to move towards it, but Kara says, Stop. This is between you and
me. Either face me without the Omegahedron, or admit that you’re
not woman enough to do it. That you’re just...too weak.
The mayor’s jaw drops as he hears those words, but Supergirl knows what
she’s doing. Zora’s eyes show her rage. Too weak?, she
says. Too WEAK? I’ll show you weakness, little girl...and
then, I’ll show you death!
She rockets into Kara, hitting her midsection in a tackle, smashing
them through the walls of the temple, and out over the streets outside,
where the citizens of Midvale look on with surprise and fear. But
once the women hit ground and separate, they see that one of the
combatants is Supergirl, and gain heart. They begin to shout
encouragement at Kara. Zora has a few unkind words for Kara, and
rushes her. Supergirl lets her get close...
...and then delivers an uppercut that sends Zora straight up, into the
sky, slamming into the force field dome over Midvale, and shattering it
to pieces. The bits of dome spark into nothingness, as the
befuddled military types and cops look on. They quickly begin to
enter the city.
Zora is still flying upward into sub-orbital space as Supergirl rockets
up, both fists before her, and crashes into her jaw. The
villainess is dazed, but not out. She kicks Supergirl away when
the latter comes near, and then closes with her for a pitiless and
brutal battle. We see a weather satellite catching sight of the
two Kryptonian women fighting, and then cut to an NOAA station where
the men in attendance see the images and get on the phone to the White
House.
Both Supergirl and Zora fight like never before, each of them knowing
that this is the final confrontation. Their combat takes them
over the globe, where natives of various lands catch sight of them as
if they were an early Apollo capsule being seen over the whole
world. There’s slugging, kicking, Klurkor techniques, high-speed
collisions, even down-and-dirty catfighting. There’s even a brief
sequence in which both of them plunge below the oceans and fight amidst
an underwater city which might, at one time, have been Atlantis.
Then they burst to the surface again and continue their combat in the
air.
Finally, though, it seems as if Zora has gained the upper hand.
She has Supergirl in a neck-breaking grip from behind, and confirms
that, after Kara is dead, she will quickly use the Omegahedron to
establish her rule over this planet. Then Argo City will be next,
and after that, world after world will fall, in an ever-expanding
empire...the empire of Zora Vi-Lar. But that, of course, will not
matter to Kara. Kara will be dead, and, in a few hours, so will
be her father.
At that last bit, Supergirl seems to gain more strength, through
desperation. An...interesting scenario, Zora, grates Kara,
in pain. But...I’ve got one of my own. And it starts like
this!
She smashes an elbow hard into Zora’s gut, making the villainess grunt
and loosen her grip, despite herself. Then Kara bites down hard
on Zora’s hand, making her shriek in pain. And, once she gets
loose, Supergirl delivers a punch the likes of which we’ve never seen
before, square on Zora Vi-Lar’s jaw.
The bad girl in black flies backward, lower, over New York City, where
people in helicopters near the Statue of Liberty and then folks in the
streets of Manhattan take notice of her, and of the speeding blue comet
chasing her. Zora almost recovers, but Supergirl is upon her in
an instant, smashing away like Rocky Balboa against Ivan Drago in ROCKY
IV. She doesn’t let up for a moment, even though we can see that
it’s taking its toll on her, too. The fight takes them over
Metropolis, where Perry White, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen catch sight
of them briefly through the window of the Daily Planet building, and
then to Midvale, over the temple of Zora.
The villainess, bruised and bloodied, knows she’s had enough. She
wrenches out of Supergirl’s grasp, desperately, and flies at top
super-speed towards her temple, crashing through the roof, surprising
the mayor, who is still in energy-chains. Dazedly, she makes for
the Omegahedron, which is still lying against the wall where it was
dropped. She tries making a flopping reach for it...
...and then Supergirl crashes through the roof, coming down with a foot
on Zora’s wrist, pinning it to the floor only inches away from the
Omegahedron. Supergirl says, You made two mistakes. One,
this was never yours. And two, this was never a toy.
She draws back a fist.
WHAM.
We see Zora crashing into the wall of the temple and halfway into it,
totally unconscious. Supergirl stands, bruised, a bit of blood at
one corner of her mouth, but triumphant. The mayor exclaims that
she’s won.
Not just yet, Mr. Mayor, she says. Let’s see if I can handle this.
She puts both hands on the Omegahedron and concentrates.
The temple of Zora begins to fade away, from the top down, as the
Midvale citizenry and the military look on in amazement. The
energy-chains fade from the mayor’s wrists and ankles, and he’s able to
stand up. A cube of green force assembles itself around the
unconscious Zora Vi-Lar. The Girl of Steel is revealed to the
entire crowd looking on, and they give her a spontaneous cheer.
But she’s still concentrating.
In Egypt, the Sphinx goes back to its normal place, and becomes
immobile again.
In India, the Juggernaut stops moving, having injured no one.
In Washington, D.C., the Washington Monument pulls itself out of the
ground, fuses with its base anew, and the soil and grass are replaced
as good as new. The statue of Abraham Lincoln returns to its
seat, and resumes its seated pose.
In Paris, the Eiffel Tower stalks back to its normal place, settles
down, and all is well.
And in Moscow, the Kremlin dome fits itself back on top of the
building, with a bunch of shivering Russians inside, half-covered by
snow. After a pause, the premier says to a flunky, in Russian,
Get somebody in here to clean this up!
Cut to: Midvale, where the crowd is cheering Supergirl, and we see some
reporters with videocams and others just with audio recording
equipment. Everybody wants to get a chance to talk with her,
everybody wants to touch her, everybody wants to learn her story.
But Supergirl’s eyes open. She’s still holding the
Omegahedron. They get fairly close to her, and then she holds up
her hand. The crowd halts.
I’m sorry, she says. Very sorry, but...I have to go.
They start a clamor for her attention at once, but Supergirl crouches,
launching herself into the air, and flies above Midvale. Using
the Omegahedron as a detector, she follows a beam of green light down
to Ethan Binder’s home. She opens the door, surprising Dick and
Ethan.
Kara, Dick blurts out. It’s you!
Yes, she says, but not for much longer. She lays her hands gently
on his shoulders, and then looks at Ethan. You were the one who
got me free from Zora’s prison?
We both were, says Ethan. But I spoke the words.
She extends a hand to him, and he shakes it. I’m grateful, she
says. Without you, I would have been doomed. And...so would
my father.
Your father?, asks Ethan.
He’s dying, thanks to this, says Kara, holding out the
Omegahedron. (Ethan barely manages to restrain himself from
touching it.) It may be the only thing that can save his
life. That’s why I have to leave...now.
You’re leaving?, says Dick.
Gravely, Kara nods.
Will you...will you ever be back?, he asks.
I can’t say, Dick, she answers. I really can’t say. But you
were a great help to me. And you were a great friend to me.
Thank you, Dick. Thank you for everything.
Yeah, says Dick, rather dejectedly. That’s okay. I
understand. I...
She picks him up, embraces him, and kisses the heck out of him, lifting
them both off the floor. Ethan looks on, in wonder, and then
slightly smiles.
Kara sets both of them back on the floor. Dick collapses on a
couch, catching his breath. Farewell, both of you, she
says. I really have to go. Then she flies out the door.
Dick pulls himself together. Ethan remarks, That’s quite some
girl.
Yeah, says Dick. Quite some Supergirl. What about you,
Ethan? You still feel like a fake?
Ethan turns, a smile on his face. Only when I have to be, my
boy. Only when I have to be.
Cut to: the sight of Supergirl in flight above the Earth, towing the
green cube with Zora Vi-Lar behind her on an energy-tether. She
holds the Omegahedron before her, concentrating on it. In front
of her a warp-portal appears. She flies through it, and it closes
with a burst of sound behind her.
We see the energy-trail that envelops Kara and Zora lasering out from
Earth to Argo City. As we near the floating city in space, we cut
to: the bedside of Zor-El, where a grieving Allura is about to sign the
computer-slate declaration for the disposition of his body. But
as the stylus is poised above the writing surface, something occurs
behind Allura and the Science Council head, who is with her, along with
the doctor, who catches sight of it.
Supergirl phases into the room, Zora Vi-Lar in tow, saying, Mother,
wait. Don’t sign that yet!
Kara, exclaims Allura in wonder. Kara?
Kara Zor-El strides forward, her beaten-up status and the presence of
the captive Zora (whose prison is slowly beginning to vaporize) making
the jaws of the two men drop in astonishment. She shoves the two
of them away from her father’s supine form, standing beside her
mother. With both her hands clasped on the Omegahedron, she
closes her eyes and concentrates. Aloud, she shouts, Make my
father live!
A blast of energy comes from the device, strikes Zor-El, and suffuses
his body in power. Behind them, unknown to all, Zora Vi-Lar is
getting free of the dissolving cube. But nobody seems to care, as
Zor-El gradually returns to life and health. He shakes his head
groggily, then opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is his
daughter, with tears in her eyes.
Kara, he says. But why are you wearing that costume?
A black-gloved hand tries to reach for the Omegahedron from
behind. Like a whip, Kara’s other arm strikes out, smashing Zora
in the neck with a Klurkor chop. The villainess falls like a sack
of potatoes.
She’s one of the reasons why, Dad, says Kara, smiling. I’ll tell
you all about it. But first...
Supergirl drops the Omegahedron on the floor, and then stamps on it,
crushing it.
Zor-El, astonished, asks, Why did you do that?
Because we’ve got all the power we need already, Daddy, she says.
Trust me on that, okay?
She embraces her father, raising him up from his sickbed. We pull
back from the building to a long shot of Argo City, pulling away from
it in space, until we see a blue-and-red bullet flying past on a direct
line to Earth. We follow its progress. Initially, it’s
headed for Metropolis. But, seeing something, it veers off and
heads for Midvale.
Superman lands in the town square of Midvale, where the Temple of Zora
stood, with the mayor and late arrivals Dick Malverne and Ethan Binder
among the crowd going over things. Everybody’s surprised and
gives him some space. Ethan and Dick are standing near the mayor.
Superman, surveying the scene, asks the mayor, What caused all of this?
The mayor starts to answer, but Dick Malverne intercepts him. We
had a couple of visitors while you were away, he says. Let’s
leave it at that. He and Ethan smile knowingly, while Superman
looks perplexed.
Cut to: a background of Supergirl, while the credits roll over them and
XTC’s “That’s Really Super, Supergirl” comes up, followed by John
Williams music. Final fade, with the last bit reading: