“I hate working in cities, man.” A man dressed in military battle fatigues leaned his rifle against a brick wall and sat down, leaning his back against the wall. “Especially Metropolis. It just creeps me out.”

Another similarly dressed man stood above him, laughing and shaking his head slowly. “Hey, don’t fall asleep Hicks, or the Raptors will get you.”

“Shut up, Hudson.”

Hudson paced around a bit more as Hicks began opening their rations for their ‘dinner on the run’. They had both been working without food or sleep for almost a full day now, as they kept moving to avoid what Hicks referred to as the ‘Raptors’. Small, carnivorous dinosaur-like creatures, who hunted in the shadows, preying on those who were not quick enough to get away.

A loud beep interrupted Hicks, causing him to drop the rations and nervously juggle his radio before dropping it as well. “Hicks here.”

“Geez, you’re as nervous as a cat on a dog’s back.”

“Funny, Hudson.” Hicks held the radio closer to his ear, covering his other ear to keep out any extra background noise. The message over the radio was fuzzy, and he was trying his best to listen in.

Hudson’s smile began changing to a frown as he watched Hicks turn pale suddenly. Something in Hicks’ eyes prompted him to go ‘on alert’, as he gripped his assault rifle tightly in his hands. “What is it Hicks? What’s up?”

Hicks leapt to his feet, his weapon now firmly in his hands. “Raptors are coming toward us. They just wiped out the fourth group.”

“Damn.” Hudson looked down at the ground, to the wrappers from the rations that Hicks hurriedly crammed back into his backpack before he stood up. “It’s the food, Hicks. They can smell the damned food!”

“Oh, hell.” Hicks tore the backpack from his shoulders quickly, tossing it into a nearby alley. As soon as the backpack hit the ground, something – some creature, as tall as a human being – snatched the pack in it’s jaws and vanished. “What the hell was that, Hudson?”

“Oh, man.” Hudson began backing away from the scene slowly. “We never signed up for this, Hicks. This is–”

Hicks didn’t even bother waiting for Hudson to finish. He snatched Hudson’s shoulder quickly and shoved him, hard. “Shut up and run!”
—
Sharon Holmes hated having to return to that bunker in Europe again after nearly being caught in its explosion and collapse. But she was on a search for evidence. Something deep down told her that the Ancient Book of Rai wasn’t the only thing Lex Luthor was looking for – when she confronted him, he behaved almost as if he had found the book by accident. No, he was definitely there for something else.

She quickly pulled a small shovel out of her backpack, tossed the pack aside, and started using the shovel to move debris from the explosion. She was working without a permit again, so she occasionally checked around to make sure no one was watching. Technically anything used by the Third Reich would be property of the German government – but Sharon knew that anything found in that bunker would be too dangerous in their hands.

Almost as soon as she began digging, Sharon found a small container, a small box which resembled a music box. It was made of pure gold. She thought it was odd that Luthor would steal a book and discard the box – unless the box contained something much more valuable. She opened the box slowly – and inside, noticed a symbol of some sort carved into the bottom half of the box. It seemed like it used to hold something…but what?

“It’s a soul catcher.”

Sharon dropped the box and turned abruptly, with both pistols drawn, but began to relax as she saw a young woman about her height in a black and white costume smiling at her. Sharon shook her head. “Can’t walk ten feet these days without running into one of you super-types. Which one are you? Mystic Girl?”

The woman laughed. “No, I’m just Lara Night. I made up a few nicknames, but no one wants to use them anyway. So I’m just Lara.”

“Lara?” Sharon smiled and folded her arms. “For some reason, that name is very familiar to me.”

“Probably because you heard Kara or Linda talking about me.”

Sharon nodded. “Yes, that must be it. What did you mean by ‘soul catcher’?”

“It works with the Ancient Book of Rai.” Lara reached down to pick up the golden box. “You wear it around your neck, it prevents your soul from being taken when you use the spells in the book.”

“How do you know all of this?” Sharon folded her arms and gave Lara a disbelieving look.

“I’m from another Earth. Much like this one, but with no known living super-heroes.” Lara handed Sharon the golden box and smiled. “All of these items are part of legend on my Earth.”

Sharon shrugged. “Can’t be any worse then the alternate Earth I’ve been to. You’ve been there too, haven’t you?”

“Very perceptive.” Lara nodded. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here?”

“To be honest, if you’re not here to help I don’t really care.” Sharon smiled a little, to take the edge off of her brutally honest answer. “But I’ll humor you. Tell me.”

“As a matter of fact, I am here to help.” Lara folded her arms and began walking a circle around Sharon, slowly. “I need to know if Lex Luthor made any copies of the Ancient Book of Rai.”

“Copies?” Sharon laughed and shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess I forgot to check for a copy machine while running for my life.”

“This isn’t funny, Sharon. I feel that he has at least one copy.”

“You…feel that he does?” Sharon laughed again. “What are you, some kind of telepath?”

Lara smiled and nodded. “Something like that.”

“We’ll just have to fetch it then, won’t we?” Sharon shrugged and picked up her backpack, cramming the small shovel into it quickly. “Can you get us there?”

Lara smiled. “In a flash.”

“Great.” Sharon rolled her eyes and stood next to Lara. “One more thing. As long as we’re working together, you follow me. Understand? I won’t be killed over super-heroics. So get rid of the costume.”

“No problem.” Lara nodded, and in a flash of light, she and Sharon were gone – on their way to Otherverse.
—
“…a bright flash of light from the next block, Colonel. It has to be Meta activity. Over.” A long pause of silence from his radio made Hicks a little more nervous then he already was. It meant that his supervisor had no idea what to do, and had to ask someone above him.

“Find a haven and seal yourselves off, Hicks. Reinforcements from group four are en route. Over.”

“Group four?” Hicks let go of the talk button and sighed loudly. “Group four’s gone, sir. The Raptors got to them during dinner. Over.”

“Affirmative. Group six is being dispatched. E.T.A. one hour. Over.”

“An hour?” Hicks groaned. “Affirmative, Colonel. Over and out.”

“We’re dead, aren’t we?”

Hicks nodded slowly and turned to face Hudson. “Maybe. But I’m not goin’ down easy. I’ll give the damned Raptors heartburn, if I have to.”

Hudson nudged Hicks. “Get some sleep, Hicks. I’ll take first watch.”

“Affirmative, boss.” Hicks slumped down against a wall, tilting his helmet forward to cover his eyes.

Down the street, two figures watched. Two women, one with two pistols drawn, another walking behind her slowly, heading toward the two soldiers. Having little exposure to any kind of military operations on Otherverse Earth, they didn’t know whether to identify the soldiers as friend or foe. All they knew was that they saw a lot of dead bodies as they walked along the streets. They had to assume that the soldiers were hostile for now.

“I can knock them out cold from here.”

“Absolutely not!” Sharon spoke to Lara just above a whisper. “If you zap anything here, you’ll be identified as a Meta. They’ll all be looking for you.”

“How would they know?”

Sharon silently pointed to a camera sitting atop a nearby building. She did enough research to know that Lex Luthor had the whole city under surveillance. Though why he did nothing about the troops destroying the city was a mystery.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Don’t you ever have to use your mind, Lara?” Sharon turned around to face Lara for a moment as she spoke. “To plan, rather then just zap your way through everything?”

Lara shrugged. “I could, I guess. I just haven’t had the opportunity.”

“There’s no time like the present.”
—
“What do you make of it, Commander Gorman?”

An older man in a high-ranked military uniform, sitting in a darkened cafe, leaned forward toward a small monitor on a wooden table in front of him at the request of his female assistant. After the invasion of Metropolis, the cafe had been taken over and converted to a headquarters of sorts. Electronics filled the place, wires running everywhere. It had been chosen because it was easy to protect and it was one of the few remaining places with electrical power after city had been secured.

“Hmm.” He rubbed his chin for a few seconds as he stared at the screen. The assistant was playing a tape for him, one of two young women slinking through the dark streets of Metropolis. One of the women was fairly typical for the city’s current condition – she carried two pistols and a knife. But the other…she was completely unarmed. “Survey information, Lisa?”

His assistant punched up a small laptop computer next to the screen. Lex Luthor’s old cameras were also equipped with sensors – and every digital video broadcast they intercepted was laced with extra digital information. Biological sensors, heat sensors, and the like. She shook her head as she read the information. “According to the sensors, they’re both just human. Neither are Metas.”

“But those eyes–” Gorman tapped the screen, moving the zoom control with his other hand to get a closer look. He leaned forward to look at one woman’s eyes – her irises seemed glass-like, almost transparent. “–They seem so…alien. There has to be something more to her. Something…special.”

Lisa stood up. “Should I have someone pick her up?”

Gorman picked up a book of printed sheets from the table, leafing through it quickly. He then tossed aside the sheets angrily. “Oh, hell. Hicks and Hudson are closest.”

“So?”

“So–” He stood up and sighed. “Those two are a little green for a job like this. I don’t know if they can handle bringing the strange woman in, especially since the one with the guns seems to be with her.”

“If they’re in Metropolis…in the middle of a war zone…there’s a reason.” Gorman paced around in a circle, rubbing his chin, and then leaned over the screen again. “They’re either very smart, or very dumb. Only time will tell which.”

“Should I dispatch a team?”

He nodded. “But tell them to hold back. Keep the two under surveillance, and wait for further orders. If both of those women behave themselves, they won’t be a threat.”

“Yes, sir.” Lisa paused as she snatched the radio’s microphone. “What if the one with the strange eyes…is a Meta?”

“I don’t think she is.” He shook his head slowly as he spoke. “I think she’s something much more dangerous. I think as long as we leave her alone, she won’t be destructive.”

“More dangerous? What makes you say that?”

“The most deadly of enemies are those who are most silent…until you give them reason to strike.” Gorman took a few steps toward the door to the back room, intent on getting a few hours rest for the first time in over twenty hours. Before he left, he turned to face his assistant again. “Then they leave you no question of their power.”
—
“Time to wake up.”

Hudson instinctively reached for his rifle before even opening his eyes, as he heard a soft female voice with a British accent – only to find his rifle missing. He looked up at the source of the voice to see a woman with brown hair standing over him, holding one pistol to his head.

“The name’s Sharon. Wake up your friend, too. This is important.” The woman removed another pistol from her belt and pointed it toward Hicks with her other hand.

“Hicks! Hicks, we have a little…problem.” Hudson gently nudged Hicks with one hand. Hicks opened his eyes slowly, reaching quickly for his rifle just as Hudson did. But his was missing as well – and so was his radio.

“What do you want from us, lady?” Hudson stared steadily at her in spite of the pistol trained on his temple. “And I hope you know that I can disarm you in an instant.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that.” Sharon smiled and put both pistols back on her belt as she read the name tags on the two soldiers’ uniforms. “You two are severely undertrained.”

“And you’re treading on thin ice, lady.” Hudson stood up slowly, directly in front of Sharon. She folded her arms in response, but didn’t budge. “You’re lucky we don’t chain you up and drag you to HQ. You can join the rest of the POW’s.”

“Feel free to try.” Sharon tapped one of her pistols with a single finger. “You’ll likely end up dead. I’d much rather you cooperated – all I want is information.”

“What kind of information?” Hicks shrugged – Hudson stared at him as if he’s spoken out of turn.

“I need to find Lex Luthor’s office. He has something I need to recover.”

“Yeah, well good luck.” Hicks laughed. “LexCorp is nothing but a ghost town now. I was there myself. Whole place is cleaned out…except for the troops.”

“To a moron, perhaps, it would seem that way.” Sharon looked directly at Hudson as she spoke. “I’d like to check myself, if you don’t mind.”

“Who’re you calling a…?”

Hicks watched as Sharon quickly removed one pistol from her belt, hitting Hudson on the side of the head. Hudson was out cold. She turned to Hicks, and smiled. “Would you like to be more cooperative?”

Hicks nodded slowly. “Uh…Two streets down to the left. It’s the tallest building in town, you can’t miss it.”

“Thank you.” Sharon began walking away slowly. As she did, Hicks rose to his feet quickly.

“Wait!” Hicks ran after Sharon, noticing that she placed her hand on her pistol again just as he approached. “Where is my rifle? My radio–”

Hicks froze as he watched a blonde woman a little taller then Sharon step out of a nearby dark alley, wearing both Hicks’ and Hudson’s rifles, and holding the radio. She handed all three of them to Hicks, as he stared at her strangely.

“What’s with your eyes?” He turned to Sharon as he kept pointing at the other woman. “Is she blind or something?”

“No.” The blonde woman smiled as she spoke. Her voice was calm and patient. “I’m not deaf, either.”

Sharon laughed as she walked away with the blonde woman following her. They disappeared down the dark streets, as Hicks stared. He wasn’t sure whether to be angry or frightened by the experience. Either way, he had a story to tell.
—
“Mom, can we talk for a moment?”

Kara turned quickly to see her daughter Karen standing alone in the doorway of the master bedroom as Kara was hanging up some of her clothing. Karen and Carrie lived in the Fortress now, as suggested by both Professor Xavier and Reed Richards, to help improve their level of maturity as well as their social skills. She just hoped that it wouldn’t do more harm then good, given that her home was on an Earth which closely resembled hell.

“Sure, Karen.” Kara sat down on one of the lounge chairs in the room, while Karen sat on the arm of the chair directly across from her. Kara thought it was a little strange that Karen approached her alone, without Carrie. Most of the time the twins were together.

“I didn’t want to involve Carrie in this. I’m a little afraid you might feel insulted–”

Kara smiled softly. “Nothing you say can change my opinion of either of you. You can tell me anything, Karen. Anything at all.”

Karen closed her eyes and sighed, trying to gather her courage before she spoke. “You don’t…like Lara much, do you?”

“Like her?” Kara laughed. “She hasn’t shown me anything to like, Karen.”

“I was just a little worried that you might be jealous of her.” Karen took another deep breath as she watched Kara’s smile disappear. “I just want you to know…Carrie and I don’t like her better then you. She’s just cool to hang around with. She’s like…a friend, you know? But you’re our mom. There’s no replacement for you.”

“Oh, Karen.” Kara laughed a little. “I didn’t think any such thing. I just worry about what kind of influence she has on you two. She keeps too many secrets.”

“Everyone has secrets, mom. Why should she be any different?”

“Because I fear that–” Kara sighed and looked at the opposite wall for a second, purposely avoiding Karen’s gaze. “She seems to know things, Karen. I worry that she keeps silent because she knows things…about us. Things she’s afraid to tell us.”

“How about asking her, mom?” Karen smiled as she spoke, taking the edge off of her slight rude question. “Maybe she’s just shy. I’ll bet she’s more nervous about talking to you then you are about her.”

“Nervous? What reason would she have to be nervous?”

“Oh, I dunno.” Karen laughed. “Maybe it’s because you’re like…a popular super-hero, and she’s really insecure.”

Kara blinked hard as memories began rushing back to her of Kal-El. All of the times she fought to try and live up to his reputation, to be more like him. And yet, she never seemed to feel like she was even close. Her sharp memory rushed back to the last time she saw Lara – how Lara avoided her gaze, spoke unsteadily to her, and most of the time obeyed her without question. Lara had even killed to protect Kara’s children, just because she feared disappointing her. She remembered hitting Lara once to calm her down…and how Lara, rather then fight back, simply collapsed to the floor and sobbed, as if her whole world had been shattered.

Karen stared at Kara as their eyes met again, noticing the sorrow in Kara’s eyes. It was a look of realization, as if Kara began to feel regret now that she had assembled the pieces of a puzzle who’s solution was right in front of her all along. “Mom?”

“Oh, Rao…I’ve been so unfair to her.” Kara looked away from Karen’s gaze all of a sudden. “You’re right, Karen. I didn’t give her a chance. I was trying to protect you and Carrie from her…and I hurt someone who didn’t deserve–”

“Mom, stop!” Karen stood up and walked over to Kara, hugging her from one side quickly. “You were just behaving like our mom, that’s all – protecting us from a stranger. You did nothing wrong. You just need to give her another chance.”

“I’ll do that, for you and Carrie.” Kara nodded slowly. “If you can trust her, I guess I can too. But she has to promise not to keep so many secrets.”

Karen laughed a little as she stood up to leave the room. “If it means so much to you, mom, I’ll talk to her.”

Kara couldn’t help but smile as she watched Karen leave the room. Her daughter, the peacemaker.
—
“LaForge to base.”

“Go ahead, LaForge.”

Sharon and Lara were completely oblivious to a radio conversation going on inside LexCorp tower as the walked through the front doors quietly. Lara glanced around the room, feeling a little nervous. She knew they were being watched.

“The two suspects are entering LexCorp now. Please Advise. Over.”

As Lara began to turn toward the stairs, Sharon heard a faint sound emanating through the stairway’s steel door. Unlike Lara, she had been trained to react to any sound, no matter how benign, by taking an alternate route. Sharon turned to Lara and waved her toward the elevators.

“Standby, LaForge. Keep the stairs locked down. Close in when they use the elevators. Over.”

“Affirmative. Over and out. Group six, be alert.”

Sharon placed her left hand on her pistol as the doors to the elevator slid closed almost silently. Lara punched the button which would send them directly to the top floor of the building, to the deserted office of Lex Luthor. Sharon began tapping her pistol nervously as the elevator began to approach it’s stop. Instinct told her that something was wrong. Very wrong.

She nudged Lara lightly, with one hand as she used her other hand to grab the small camera in the elevator, tearing it out of the ceiling quickly. She knew it wouldn’t disable the camera or it’s audio capabilities – but tearing it off of the ceiling would at least make it less useful. Sharon then pointed at the ceiling, indicating to Lara that she meant for them to climb on the roof of the elevator car.

“Surveillance has been taken out, group six.”

Lara climbed through the ceiling grating first, and then helped pull Sharon up quickly. Sharon closed the grating behind her to make sure no one knew they had climbed out, and then began climbing up a ladder at the rear of the elevator shaft quickly. Lara followed as Sharon continued climbing until the elevator car finally stopped.

As soon as the elevator car’s doors opened, they could hear a radio, and heavy boots walking through the elevator car. They could hear the distinctive clicking of powerful rifles tapping against the walls as the soldiers inside the elevator walked around, followed by a distinctive plastic creaking noise which meant the elevator car’s ceiling grating was being removed.

Lara quickly followed as Sharon slid several feet down the ladder suddenly, to remain out of visual range as one of the soldiers popped his head up to the roof of the elevator car. Sharon smiled as she watched the man in the reflection of a knife blade she held up carefully with one hand. He saw nothing in the near pitch-dark elevator shaft.

As soon as the sound of heavy boots moved back out of the elevator, Sharon headed back to the elevator car slowly, noiselessly. Lara followed silently as Sharon approached the car and used her knife again to check the inside. Just as she guessed, the soldiers had propped open the doors of the elevator, and one of them was inside…waiting.

Sharon silently mouthed ‘wait here’ to Lara, and dropped down into the elevator car quickly. All Lara heard was a soft grunt from the man, and then the sound of his body collapsing to to the floor. She then dropped down into the elevator car directly behind Sharon.

They both raced across the hall quickly, just barely above the perceptions of a few soldiers in the hallway, who dismissed their sudden appearance and disappearance as a hallucination. Sharon rushed into Luthor’s office ahead of Lara, to see four soldiers reading a map on Lex Luthor’s desk.

Sharon drew her pistols quickly, aiming them at the man who stood leaning over the map. She subtly signaled Lara to close the door – Lara did, locking it quickly.

“Excuse me for a moment.” Sharon walked toward the four slowly, keeping her pistols trained on them as they watched her crossing the room with their eyes only. As she passed them, she could see that they were reading a map of the building. They must have been trying to track her…but they failed.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” One of the soldiers finally moved, training his rifle on Sharon. She responded in kind, aiming her second pistol on him. She also noticed that through the space the soldier had just vacated, she could see a stack of books. They looked like several copies of the Ancient Book of Rai, sitting among packaging for shipping. They planned on sending the books to someone.

“Ah, just what I was looking for.” Sharon turned to Lara, who understood her though not one word was exchanged. Lara picked up the books and headed toward the hallway. “That’s all I wanted. You can all go back to your work now.”

Sharon left the room running, with Lara close behind. She knew very well what would happen, and the shouts of soldiers from down the hall as she headed back toward the elevators confirmed that. They both dove into the still-open elevator and slipped through the open ceiling grating just as a massive amount of bullets began flying through the hallway toward them.

“We’ll slide down a bit.” Sharon pointed at the elevator cable from a neighboring elevator car. “Then we vanish. You understand, right?”

Lara nodded as she leapt for the elevator cable, sliding down quickly with Sharon just above her. They could hear the shouts of the soldiers above as they took a thirty-second trip to the ground floor. Lara immediately pried the elevator doors open.

Sharon started heading into the lobby first – but then suddenly froze in the doorway. “Oh…hell.”

Lara looked past Sharon to discover why she seemed so surprised – in the lobby of the LexCorp building stood four small dinosaur-like creatures, which were tearing apart the desks next to the entrance. The glass front door was smashed open.

“Velociraptors.” Sharon turned to Lara, a mixture of fear and anticipation in her eyes. “The deadliest carnivores in existence.”

“It’s either bullets or teeth…and there’s only one way out of here.” Lara smiled. Sharon nodded and smiled in return. They both knew they would have to make a run for the doors, and hope for the best.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Lara and Sharon raced across the lobby as quickly as they could. The glass doors seemed miles away as the Raptors noticed the two of them running, and gave chase. It was only seconds before the first soldiers arrived in the lobby, adding yet another threat – another hail of bullets, shredding two of the Raptors as they tore through the lobby. It was just blind luck that the bullets seemed to miss Sharon and Lara. Or was it?

As soon as the two of them ran one more block and hid around a corner, Sharon turned to face Lara. “Those bullets should have hit us, shouldn’t they?”

Lara shook her head slowly as she reached under her shirt with two fingers, pushing them through a small hole in the fabric. “I did nothing to stop the bullets, but I am naturally bullet-proof. You’re just luckier then I am.”

Sharon laughed and shook her head. “When will you learn, Lara? I make my own luck.”

“I’d like to take you to visit someone, Sharon.” Lara smiled as she led Sharon into an abandoned building, to hide from the prying eyes on the street. “I think Kara will like you.”
—
“Dammit!” Commander Gorman kicked a garbage can angrily as soon as he got the news – that the two women had the drop on Hudson and Hicks, and now the entire sixth group. “Who the heck are these two, anyway?”

Lisa shook her head. “I have no idea, sir.”

“Don’t tell me that!” Gorman snatched two camera monitors from one of the tables and threw them on the floor. “All of this technology. All of our high-tech intelligence. Useless! We don’t even know if they’re still in the city!”

“They haven’t gone past any checkpoints, sir.”

Gorman laughed out loud and shook his head. “They didn’t when they came in, either, Lisa. That means one of two things – either these two are smarter then any of us, or we’re dumber then we think! Which is it, Lisa? Are they smart, or are we dumb?”

“I…I don’t know, sir.”

“Damn.” Gorman threw up his hands and sighed. “Buddy’s gonna bust me for this. I just know it.”

“All he has to know, sir, is that we’ve placed those two on the ‘wanted’ list.”

“What if he finds out what happened, Lisa?” Gorman kicked the garbage can again out of frustration. “He will find out. He always does.”

Lisa folded her arms and sighed as Gorman waited for her answer. “Well, sir…Then we’re busted.”

“You’re honest, I’ll give you that.” Gorman shook his head. “But that’s not what I wanted to hear.”
—
“Karen! She’s here!”

Carrie’s words were Lara’s only warning before she found two blonde teen-age twins ambushing her with hugs, an instant after she appeared in the entranceway to the Fortress. Sharon stood close behind Lara, smiling with amusement at what was happening in front of her.

Lara returned the hugs and glanced into the living room toward Kara, who stood silently in the doorway. “How did you know I was coming?”

Carrie shrugged. “I don’t know, I just did. Who’s this?”

“Sharon Holmes.” Sharon reached out a hand to give Carrie a handshake. She felt her hand nearly being crushed by the blonde teen until Carrie quickly adjusted her grip when she realized that Sharon was just an ordinary human. Sharon didn’t seem intimidated, however – she just smiled in response.

Karen didn’t seem at all interested in meeting Sharon. The look in her eyes told Lara that she had something on her mind, something that she thought was very important. Lara’s suspicions were confirmed when Karen pulled her aside suddenly.

“Something wrong, Karen?”

Karen nodded. “Mom doesn’t…trust you, Lara. She thinks you keep too many secrets. She thinks you keep secrets about us, and it scares her a little.”

“I see.” Lara sighed and looked away from Karen for a moment. “I keep secrets to protect those I care about–”

“Don’t you see–” Karen shook her head slowly. “–We don’t need your protection. It’s doing more harm then good, Lara. Mom values honesty, and integrity. She thinks you’re being a selfish, that you’re hiding something.”

Lara nodded. “I understand. I just did what I did because–”

“Because you thought the truth would hurt too much?” Karen smiled. “I’ve been there too, Lara. The truth always hurts…but deception hurts more.”

“Does your mom know you’re so philosophical?” Lara laughed and looked into the other room to see that Kara hadn’t moved. “All right, I’ll talk to Kara. But if she tries to kill me, it’ll be up to you to save my life.”

Karen laughed as she led Lara into the living room. “Don’t worry. She’s more reasonable then you think…for a mom.”

“Um…hi, Kara.”

Kara walked up to Sharon, shaking her hand lightly and momentarily ignoring Lara’s greeting. She sat down on the couch, indicating for Lara to sit on the chair across from her. Lara complied, sitting down quickly. Karen sat down at the other end of the couch.

“So–” Lara looked at Kara, who was staring at her with an emotionless gaze. She looked at Karen, who was giving her a hopeful look, and then at Sharon and Carrie, who were still talking in the entryway. “–What would you like to know about me?”

“How about what you are?” Kara leaned back and folded her arms as Karen gave her an angry gaze in response to her rather cold sounding question. “I’ve never really trusted mysterious types.”

Lara sighed deeply, clearly pausing for several seconds before opening her mouth to speak. “It’s not really clear to me, Kara. I feel that I had died once, much like you. Only I was restored by the power of a God rather then a practitioner of the Ancient Arts as you were. That’s why I have these…abilities. That’s why I’m…’in touch’ with the universe.”

Kara didn’t seem the least bit shocked at what Lara had said so far – but Lara’s story was compelling enough that nearly everyone who was in the Fortress had gathered in the living room to listen – Carrie and Sharon had walked in, as well as Rogue, and even Krypto.

“My memories of the event are still fuzzy, skewed.” Lara looked around the room as everyone stared at her, waiting for her to continue. “I have other’s memories intermingled with my own. Memories of someone named Lois Lane. A boy named Kon El…people who died in the attack at Cadmus. Thousands of people, Kara. Their blood is on Lex Luthor’s hands. I only wish I could remember more.”

Lara looked down as she held her hands in front of her. They were shaking a little. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists tightly to try and control her physical reaction to such stressful memories. Tears started forming in her closed eyes as she continued. “I tried to keep my memories to myself, Kara, because I see things…painful things…here in Otherverse. I suffer these visions, thoughts and feelings that no one should have to see. Things that will happen, or that have happened. Death, pain…everywhere. I feel them all. It’s…overwhelming.”

Lara opened her eyes again as she felt Kara grip her left hand tightly. She smiled politely at Kara’s encouragement. “I see someone close to you dying, Kara. I don’t know who, or when. I see this place…your home…being destroyed. I see the twins being split up, against their will. I see a man, a military man, having to change everything he believes in to fight a vicious and bloody war…one he’s losing. But he refuses to give up. I see a lone man in a place filled with life, and magic…he feels tortured, persecuted–”

“Wait, wait…stop.” Kara leaned forward toward Lara, looking deep into her tear-filled eyes. “What you’re telling me now makes little sense. Can’t you be more specific? At least about how this effects us?”

Lara shook her head sadly. “I wish I could. These…feelings are all things I know are close to you and the twins somehow. I see a lot of danger ahead for the twins. And for you, if you choose to help in this war–”

“War?” Kara looked at Karen, who seemed to be upset a little bit by everything Lara said. “You mentioned a war twice.”

“Yes.” Lara nodded. “It’s a war that’s already underway. Lex Luthor is working to escalate it.”

“So…why don’t you just like…put a stop to it?” Carrie’s sudden question prompted stares toward her – she just folded her arms, waiting for an answer.

“I can’t.” Lara shook her head quickly. “I’m no Goddess. I don’t have the right to interfere.”

“As far as they’re concerned…you are a Goddess.” Sharon leaned back against the doorway to the kitchen as she spoke. “The trick is to keep them from becoming dependent on you. If you behave like Moses leading them from bondage, they will become attached to you. You can intervene, but you have to be inconspicuous. You have to make it seem like an accident.”

Karen laughed out loud. “Then you truly would be a Goddess, Lara. A real Goddess uses nature and chance to do her bidding.”

“Aren’t I teased enough about that?” Lara laughed a little too, before realizing that Kara had a horrified look on her face. “What’s wrong, Kara?”

“Kal always taught me that it’s wrong to interfere too much. That people have to learn to be self-sufficient.” Kara stood up and paced around the room a little bit. “But I don’t like to stand by and watch people die, either. I was always more sensitive to that then Kal. It was your suggestion, Sharon…what would you do?”

“If I were a Goddess–” Sharon looked around the room to see all eyes on here, including Kara’s – but a little attention never bothered her. “–I would render the Metas, and all weapons of mass destruction powerless. I would level the playing ground, so mere humans…like me…have a fighting chance here.”

The room suddenly fell silent as each person began to silently consider what Sharon had suggested. It would surely change Otherverse Earth from a barely livable hell to something a little more civilized. Something that had hope for a future. No one’s thoughts were more on the future then Kara’s – she wanted…needed…her daughters to live in a world better then the one she discovered. She hoped that one day they would be peacemakers, and protectors here…not part of a war machine.

For Kara, Sharon’s suggestion to Lara seemed more like a salvation then simply idle talk. It sounded so appealing, in fact, that she found herself staring at Lara, fighting her own urge to encourage the idea. But something deep down caused her to hold her tongue. Lara was correct…it wouldn’t be right for her to interfere.

Everyone in the room heard Kara audibly sigh as she sat back down on the couch. She looked at Carrie and Karen sadly, as she realized that she almost sold out the integrity of an entire universe to protect the two things she cared about most – her daughters.

“Lara…Do what you feel is right…for the future.” Kara smiled at her weakly as she spoke. “Don’t let anyone else tell you what you should do.”

“I’ll do that, Kara–” Lara knew what Kara meant by ‘the future’. She looked right at the twins, who were now standing together at one end of the living room, and smiled. Kara knew that Otherverse Earth was a dangerous place for her daughters…and while she wouldn’t admit it plainly, she would do just about anything to keep them safe – even subtly asking someone like Lara for help. “–For the future.”

Kara smiled and nodded at Lara as she and Sharon headed toward the entryway. Kara knew that the two of them would unceremoniously disappear in a flash of light, headed toward their respective homes. She still wasn’t completely sure she could trust her own life to Lara…but it made her feel a little more secure to know that she could trust Lara with her daughters.

“Aren’t there like…drug dealers here?”, Supergirl asked as she glided through the high thin clouds above Venezuela. Charlie was on her back, his arms wrapped around her waist tightly. She didn’t understand why, but he insisted that he felt more comfortable that way. Maybe it had something to do with watching the ground rush by below that frightened him a little bit.

“That’s Colombia”, Charlie lectured, “It’s thousands of miles from here.”

“Oh”, Supergirl whispered. She regretted all of those times she used her high-school geography class to catch up on sleep.

“Are we there yet?”, Charlie asked.

Supergirl turned her head to look toward Charlie. “How should I know? You’re the one with the map, Charlie.”

“Uh, well…”, Charlie mumbled.

“You do have the map, don’t you?”

“I…think I dropped it somewhere over Panama.”

“Oh, nuts.” Supergirl started flying lower, trying to find some sign of civilization. It was her only chance to figure out where she was. Luckily, she noticed a small prop plane flying just below her – and at the altitude it was flying, it was most likely about to land.

“Why don’t you follow that plane?”, Charlie asked.

“Thanks, Charlie”, Supergirl said in a tone dripping with sarcasm, “Maybe I’ll just do that.”

“I’m sorry I dropped the map, Linda. I’ll make it up to you.”

Supergirl smiled. Just when Charlie would begin to get on her nerves, he would always say something sweet. “No need, Charlie. I can deal with it.”
—

Supergirl landed gently on the top parking deck of the airport to avoid attracting too much attention. At least no more then she already attracted from the few people who saw her land with Charlie hanging on to her.

“Well, at least I know we’re in Caracas”, Supergirl said as she glanced at the large sign above the parking garage that read ‘Bienvenidos al Aerupuerto Internacional Simon Bolivar de Caracas’.

“You understand Spanish?”, Charlie asked.

“No, but I understand the words ‘Aeropuerto’ and ‘Caracas'”

Charlie shook his head and laughed.

Supergirl ignored him and removed a slip of paper from her belt. “Now how do we get to this address?”

“Take a cab, of course”, Charlie said as he walked toward the parking garage elevator.

“But Charlie”, Supergirl said, “We don’t have any local currency.”

“We can get that inside the airport”, Charlie pointed out.

“Normally, yeah”, Supergirl said, looking down at herself, “But dressed like this?”

“Don’t worry, they’ve all seen you before”, Charlie said, “There won’t be any problem.”

—
“∞Madre de Dios!”, the clerk behind the currency exchange counter yelled before babbling incoherently and spilling an entire container of coins all over the floor. “∞No puede ser!…∞Es ella!…∞Mira, mira!”

“Sure, Charlie”, Supergirl said, “No problem at all.”

“She gave us our money, didn’t she?”, Charlie said.

Supergirl rolled her eyes and headed toward the restroom. “I’m going to go change.”

By the time she changed to Linda and walked out the door, Charlie was already sitting in the back of a cab trying to speak broken Spanish to the driver – who didn’t understand a word he was saying.

Linda slipped into the cab next to Charlie and closed the door behind her. Without a word, she handed the piece of paper with the address to the cab driver and leaned back against the seat.

“Hey, no problem!”, the cab driver said in a New York accent as he drove away from the curb quickly, nearly sideswiping an airport shuttle.

Linda couldn’t help but look at the advertisement on the side of the shuttle, encouraging people to take the bus to work instead of their cars. As usual in that kind of situation, Charlie clung to Linda, hoping she would offer him some protection when they finally crashed.

“You’re from New York?”, Linda asked.

“Yup. The Big Apple”, the cab driver said.

“So how come you’re not driving a cab in New York?”, Linda asked.

The cab driver laughed. “Lady, now ya know why none o’ th’ cab drivers in New York speak English!”
—
About an hour later, the cab drove up in front of a small, unassuming brick building. A rather ugly, broken down brick building. Although Linda couldn’t help but notice a small intercom next to the entrance.

“Here ya are”, the cab driver said as he pulled the car over and stopped, “That’ll be twenty bucks.”

“Dollars?”, Charlie asked.

“Yup”, the cab driver said, “Y’see, I’d rather take dollars. That way, I don’t have to do currency conversions to send money home to family.”

“Oookay”, Charlie said as he dug into his pockets and pulled out a twenty dollar bill.

Linda got out of the cab first and started staring at the building. As soon as Charlie got out, she turned and looked at him. “How do we get in? It looks pretty secure.”

Charlie shrugged. “We could try knocking.”

Linda sighed and knocked on the door. She stood there for several seconds before realizing that no one was going to answer her knock.

“How about using the intercom?”

Charlie and Linda turned around to look at the woman who said that. “And you are?”, Linda asked.

“Mara”, she said, “I work here. And, I’m the person who called Charlie and asked for you.”

Linda looked at Charlie. “She did?”

Charlie shook his head ‘yes’.

Mara pushed the button on the intercom.

“Yes?”, an impatient voice yelled, emanating from the intercom.

“M-32 reporting in”, Mara spoke into the intercom.

Linda laughed as she asked herself if someone had given Mara a number and taken away her name.

“Enter your I.D.”, the impatient voice yelled from the intercom.

The intercom flipped up like a door to reveal a keypad below. Mara quickly typed in a code, and the door opened.
—
Linda and Charlie followed Mara into a small entrance area, facing yet another door. A security guard sat in a booth to the left – and he was staring at Linda and Charlie.

“They’re with me”, Mara said.

The security guard nodded, and buzzed open the second door. As soon as Mara, Linda, and Charlie were past the second door, Mara stopped and turned to Charlie.

“Sorry, Charlie, you’ll have to wait here in reception. Past those doors is a secured area, and my boss hasn’t cleared you to enter”.

“And Linda has been cleared?”, Charlie asked.

“Yes”, Mara said, “Actually I’m a little embarrassed, we were expecting Linda to come alone–”

Charlie smiled. “No problem, that happens a lot.” He walked into the reception area and sat down, as he glanced at the vending machines, phone, and television.

Linda peeked around the corner of the reception room. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine”, Charlie said.

As Linda followed Mara through yet another door into a long hallway, she couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Charlie. She knew he hated being left out of her adventures, but he was too polite to say so. “Wow, this place sure is big considering how small it looks outside.”

Mara laughed. “As I tell everyone who comes in here, appearances can be deceiving.”

They walked into a large room that could best be described as a control center. It was staffed by a large number of people, at various computer workstations or watching one of several television screens. There were people milling around carrying small computer cartridges or paperwork. It looked very busy. So busy, in fact, that no one seemed to noticed Linda walk into the room.

That’s also when Linda noticed the way everyone was dressed. “My God…And people think Supergirl’s skirt is too short!”

Mara laughed again. “You’ll get used to seeing–”

“But I can see their…underpants!”, Linda said, just a little too loud. Too loud because all activity suddenly stopped, and everyone stared at her.

“You can also see London and France from here too”, another woman said as she pointed at the computer monitors above her.

Mara seemed a little embarrassed now as she quickly herded Linda toward one of the offices. “Come on, the boss wants to meet you.”

As soon as Linda walked into the office, Mara closed the door. “This is Seish, the director of Girls In White.”

“Girls In White?”, Linda laughed, “You can’t be serious.”

Mara and Seish just stared at her silently for a minute. Seish raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say a word.

“You are serious”, Linda said quietly.

“Please, have a seat. We’ll begin this meeting as soon as our third person joins us.”, Seish said as he leaned back in his chair and stared at Linda.”

“But you’re already talking in third person”, Linda pointed out.

Seish scowled and looked at Mara, who shrugged.

Just then, they heard a knock on the door.

“Come”, Seish announced.

A brown-haired woman with blue eyes walked in. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Glad you could make it, Mate”, Seish said, “Please have a seat. We’re just about to get started.”

“Where’s Charlie Lewis?”, Mate asked, “And who’s this?”

“I’m Linda Danvers”, Linda said, “I work with Charlie. Mara here asked him to wait in the reception area.”

“Oh, I see”, Mate said, “But you work with him?”

“Yup.”

“I guess that’s close enough”, Mate said.

Seish leaned forward in his chair toward Linda. “Do you know why we asked you here?”

“No, not really.”

Seish looked at Mara, prompting her to stand up, lean against the desk, and begin explaining what’s going on. “You and Charlie will be looking for mutated aliens why prey on young women. Mate will work with you to help lure, track, and perhaps capture some of them.”

“How is she going to do that?”, Linda asked.

Mara looked at Seish, and back at Linda. “That’s…uh…top secret.”

Seish held his hand up to stop Mara from talking for a minute, and turned to Linda. “Could you stand up for a minute?”

Linda was confused as to why, but she stood up anyway.

“Fan of blue jeans, huh?”, Seish asked as he looked closely at Linda.

“No, but I am a fan of Metallica”, Linda said, “Aren’t you Lars whathisname…no wait, that’s the drummer.”

This time Mate started snickering. She didn’t stop, even when Seish made a face at her.

“While you’re working with Mate, you’re going to need to wear a skirt”, Seish said as he pointed at Mate, “Kind of like that one.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

Seish, Mara, and Mate stared at Linda again.

“You’re not kidding?”, Linda said, “Oh my God, I can’t wear something like that!”

“Why not?”, Mate said frankly, “You wear a skirt as Supergirl.”

Linda stumbled a little when she heard that.

Without a word from Linda, Seish explained, “Remember those monitors you saw on the way in? We watch everything. Everything, Linda.”

“My apartment?”

“Everything.”

“Well”, Linda said as she turned toward the door, “In that case, please excuse me. I need the backpack I gave to Charlie, and then I need to use the restroom.”

“Mate”, Seish said, “Since you will be working with her, you might as well show her where she needs to go.”

Mate nodded and motioned for Linda to follow her. “You have a lot of enthusiasm, Linda. Just make sure it doesn’t get you into trouble.”

“Trouble?”, Linda joked, “Trouble’s my middle name. Linda T. Danvers, private investigator!”

“Oookay”, Mate said as she opened the door to the reception area, where Charlie sat watching television.

“Looks like you made it out of there alive”, Charlie joked when he saw Linda walking toward him.

“Not yet”, Linda said, “I need my backpack.”

Charlie looked at Mate and back at Linda. “You can’t use that here, can you?”

“Relax, Charlie, they know everything here. They see everything that goes on outside these walls.”, Linda said.

“My apartment?”

“Everything.”

—
Supergirl returned from the restroom next to the reception area in just under a minute. Of course, since she already guessed she was being watched the entire time she was in the place, she disabled all three cameras in the restroom. That meant, of course, that Seish and Mara met her in the reception area as well as Mate.

“What?”

Seish didn’t look happy, and Mara looked positively furious. “Do you know how much those three cameras cost?”, Mara yelled impatiently.

“I dunno. Look, I’m sorry. I’ll pay for–”

“Three million dollars!”, Mara yelled, “They’re a million each! And I’m responsible for them!”

Mate grabbed Supergirl’s wrist with one hand, and Charlie’s wrist with the other. “Come on, let’s get out of here while you still can.”

Supergirl followed Mate outside, back to the front of the ugly brick building that served as a facade for Girls In White. After being inside that super-high-tech complex, she felt strangely out of place standing outside a building which could easily be hundreds of years old.

“Congratulations, Linda, you caused more damage to GiW in one hour then anyone has done in their entire career”, Mate joked.

“Call me Supergirl in public”, Supergirl said, “No one’s supposed to know who I am.”

“How about Mae?”

“No, only a few very close friends call me Mae”, Supergirl said, “It’ll feel weird if I have too many people calling me that, you know?”.

Mate walked over to a black Ferarri parked in front of the building and grabbed Charlie’s hand just before he touched the mirror-like finish.

“Careful, you might not survive the electric shock”, Mate said as she clicked a button on her keychain to deactivate the alarm system with a satisfying ‘chirp’.

“You can call her Mae if you let me drive”, Charlie said.

Mate laughed. “If you drive, we’ll all be killed. This car’s been specially modified.”

“Maybe you two would be killed”, Supergirl said as they all crammed into the car, “But I wouldn’t.”

Mate started the car, and tore away from the curb. The first thing Supergirl noticed was that the car sounded funny – kind of like a jet engine. Mate must not have exaggerated when she said the car was specially modified. The second thing she noticed was that Mate was driving about eighty miles per hour along a winding coastal road.

“Aren’t there speed limits in Caracas?”

“Yeah, for most people”, Mate said as she smiled and drove faster.

—

A few minutes later, they arrived at a fairly small, unassuming apartment building – a concrete structure with six floors. Supergirl looked up at the building from the car – it was one of those ultra-modern buildings, heavy on design but light on character. Sure some new buildings were beautiful, but they just didn’t have the same richness to them as a lot of older ones did.

Supergirl’s mind wandered for a minute, as her imagination started to appreciate the buildings she’d seen in Gotham City. Sure they were all dark and gothic in style, but they were exquisitely detailed. It’s like someone genuinely cared about the look of the buildings. No matter what anyone said about Gotham – descriptions ranging from ‘scary’ to ‘demonic’ – she’d always think of it as beautiful.

“Uh, Supergirl”, Charlie said as he leaned into the front seat, “Can you get out of the car so I won’t be trapped in the back seat?”

“Oh, sorry”, Supergirl said as she jumped out of the car, “My mind was somewhere else.”

Mate led Charlie and Linda up to her apartment and turned on a light – not fast enough, though, because Charlie tripped over an unopened box on the floor.

“Sorry”, Mate said, “I’m just moving in.”

“What’s your real name, Mate?”, Supergirl said, “I feel like I’m in Australia when I keep calling you that.”

“Maria Teresa Gonzalez.”

“Maria?”, Supergirl asked, “I like the name Maria. Can’t I call you that?”

Mate shrugged. “I prefer Mate, but you can call me anything you like–”

“Just don’t call you late for dinner?”, Charlie interrupted.

Mate made a face.

“Sorry, old joke”, Charlie said as he sat down on the couch, “So why exactly were we called?”

“Actually, I called you”, Mate said, “And GiW called Linda.”

Supergirl laughed. “It sounds like a typical bureaucratic nightmare.”

“It is”, Mate said as she tried to stifle her own giggling.

“But why are we here?”, Charlie asked more insistently.

“To track brain-damaged, mutated aliens”, Mate said.

“Aren’t the Men In Black supposed to do that?”, Supergirl asked.

Mate gave Supergirl an angry look. “No, they’re more like the immigration service. We’re more like the police – only with much cooler cars and weapons.”

“Uh…weapons?”, Supergirl said disapprovingly.

“She’s not a fan of weapons”, Charlie said, just as he caught an angry look from Supergirl, “And…uh…neither am I.”

“Who are these aliens?”, Supergirl asked, “They sound like my territory.”

“I’ll give you the short version so I won’t bore you. They came to Earth about twenty years ago”, Mate explained, “They changed form to imitate humans. Exposure to human behavior caused them brain damage, and now they prey on young women with white underpants.”

“Did you say white underpants?”, Supergirl asked.

Mate shook her head ‘yes’.

“So that’s why…back at the…Oh God, I’m so embarrassed”, Supergirl said, “They must all think I’m an idiot.”

Mate laughed. “It actually happens a lot. Every time we bring in someone new, in fact. Now I have an important question for you – what color are your underpants?”

Supergirl just stared at Mate in surprise for a minute. “That’s none of your–”

“It’s important”, Mate said, “If they’re not white, the aliens will not reveal themselves to you.”

Supergirl was angry now. “I don’t want anyone revealing themselves to me!”

Charlie was doubled over with laughter by now, nearly falling off of the couch onto the floor.

Mate was trying hard not to laugh. “No, that’s not what I meant. I meant the aliens will not change to their natural form.”

“Oh”, Supergirl said quietly, “Never mind, then.” With Charlie laughing and Mate probably summing her up as a dumb blonde by now, Supergirl wanted badly to just slip out the door and leave – but she couldn’t, she had a job to do.

“Look”, Mate said a little impatiently, “You two just follow my lead. I’ll show you how to find one of the aliens, and you guys can help after that.” With that, Mate walked out of her apartment, and down toward her car.

“I think we upset her”, Supergirl said.

Charlie shrugged. “It was bound to happen, with the language barrier and all.”

Supergirl giggled at Charlie’s joke, and gave a little shove on the way out of the apartment.
—
“Mate, why exactly are we sitting on a park bench?”, Supergirl asked, “And why does Charlie have to sit over by the fountain?”

“We’re bait.”

“Bait?”, Supergirl asked, “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“We’re luring one of the aliens over here–”

“Yeah, as well as every guy in a two-mile radius”, Supergirl mumbled as she noticed Mate’s much-too-short skirt.

“Which is why”, Mate continued, “Charlie has to stay over there. He’d chase away the aliens.”

Supergirl thought it was a little strange that such dangerous aliens would be afraid of Charlie. “But if the aliens are so dangerous–”

“Shh!”, Mate said, “Here comes someone.”

“With my luck”, Supergirl whispered, “He’s more likely to be a demon then an alien.”

“Hello, ladies”, a man said as he walked up next to the bench they were sitting on. “Mind if I sit down?”

Supergirl felt something strange about this guy – she could tell he was completely fake. Not phony like a politician, but actually fake. She noticed that he didn’t…move like a normal human being. Then, as if to confirm her suspicions, she caught the man looking down at Mate’s lap, and then her own. She felt lucky that she had her legs crossed at the moment.

The man looked at Mate. “Would you like to go for a little walk with me and talk?”

As Mate stood up, alarm bells and sirens went off in Supergirl’s mind. She knew that something was wrong. She was being driven to do something about it. That’s when she noticed something else suspicious – they were in Caracas, and this man was speaking English!

While Mate walked away, she turned and gave a thumbs-up to Supergirl, as if to tell her everything is under control. Supergirl didn’t believe it though – as soon as Mate and the man were out of sight, Supergirl took off for the skies to keep an eye on Mate and her new companion from the air.

By the time Supergirl spotted Mate, she was already in trouble. The man had just thrown her to the ground in the woods, and was waving a finger at her. Supergirl began to descend quickly from the air, like a hawk taking aim at it’s prey. That’s when she realized it wasn’t a finger, it was some kind of strange, alien tentacle!

“Hey!”, Supergirl yelled as she flew toward the ground. Mate looked up, but the guy refused to acknowledge Supergirl. He apparently thought he had other business to attend to. Supergirl landed quickly, grabbed the guy from behind and wheeled him around quickly. As soon as she did, he transformed into a hideous alien monster!

“That…just…figures!”, Supergirl commented as she started fighting all of the alien’s tentacles, which were wrapping around her arms and legs to try and disable her. Luckily, she didn’t need arms or legs to fight this creature. Supergirl’s eyes lit with fire, and in an instant the alien was baking alive in fiery columns from Supergirl’s eyes.

A horrible screech came from the creature as the fire began to burn it’s skin and tentacles, while Supergirl’s cape suddenly set itself ablaze and molded into the shape of wings. A few seconds later, the wings absorbed the flames, leaving the alien unconscious, badly burned, and charred – but still alive.

“Holy–“, Mate started saying.

“That’s about right”, Charlie said, as he tried to catch his breath after running to catch up, “She’s an Earth-born angel.”

“Riiight”, Mate said as she put her hands on her hips, “And what makes you so sure this isn’t magic?”

“I’m pretty sure”, Supergirl said as she turned to the side a little bit, “See? Wings.”

Mate looked around to make sure there was nobody within view, and then held her hands out in front of her. A second later, a huge spout of water came out of her hands and created a small lake in a dip in the ground. “See? Water. That was magic.”

“Wow”, Supergirl whispered, “That’s amazing! I’ve never seen a trick like that.”

“You mean you’re wings aren’t–”

“No, they’re not magic”, Supergirl said, “I’m not really sure I got them, aside from what Wally told me about them.”

“Wally?”, Mate asked skeptically.

“Yeah”, Supergirl said, “He’s a nine-year-old kid with a baseball bat. Says he’s God.”

Mate collapsed to the ground in a fit of laughter. “You expect me to believe that?” While Mate was on the ground, a baseball rolled up to her and bumped into her arm.

“A little help?”, a little boy a few yards away asked.

Mate stopped laughing, picked up the baseball, and walked over to the boy.

“Hi, I’m God”, the boy said as he tipped his bowler hat.

Supergirl walked over to Mate. “I see you’ve met Wally.”

“Excuse me, you two”, Wally said as he walked over to the burned, unconscious alien on the ground, “This one doesn’t belong here.”

“Doesn’t belong here?”, Mate asked.

“Yes, I didn’t place him on Earth.”

“You didn’t–”

“You really should use your water-spouting talent more often. Water’s beautiful. Well, gotta go.” Wally quickly started walking into the trees.

“Wait!” Mate tried to follow him, but quickly lost him – he just seemed to vanish. She quietly walked back to Supergirl and Charlie in a daze, wondering what to make of all of that.

Supergirl smiled at her when she came back. “Welcome to the club.”

Mate shook her head sadly. “And I thought things were strange when I joined GiW.”

“Yeah?”, Charlie said, “Try living in Leesburg for a while.”

Supergirl looked down at the unconscious alien. “So what do we do with him?”

“Bring him back to GiW headquarters, I guess”, Mate said, “This has never happened before, so there really aren’t any guidelines–”

“Say no more”, Supergirl said, “It’s time to show you another one of my angelic gifts.” Supergirl’s wings suddenly flared out and formed a small tunnel ahead of her.

Charlie looked at Mate. “After you.”

Mate looked at Charlie like he was insane.

“It’s safe”, Charlie said, “I’ve gone through it before.”

“Well…Okay”, Mate said. She closed her eyes and raced through it quickly. When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of GiW headquarters, with everyone staring at her. Charlie came through next, and then Supergirl, carrying the unconscious alien with one hand.

Seish came out of his office with a big frown, and looked down at the burned alien on the floor. “What in hell is going on in here?”

“Not hell”, Supergirl said as she stood with her wings still lit, “Heaven.”

Mara suddenly came rushing out of the office. “Oh my God! What’s this doing here? Did you put her up to this, Mate?”

“No, it was my idea”, Supergirl said as her wings flickered out and became a cape once more, “I can transport anywhere I’ve seen firsthand.”

“Even my apartment?”, Mate asked.

“Anywhere.”

—
Mate poured herself a cup of coffee as Charlie and Supergirl sat down in the reception area. She watched as Supergirl wrinkled her nose at the smell of the coffee – apparently she was not much of a coffee drinker.

“So where are you two off to?”, Mara said as she walked into the reception area.

“Home”, Supergirl said, “Leesburg.”

“Next time you’re in town”, Mate said, “Feel free to drop in on me. I’ll be glad to give you guys a tour.”

Charlie stood up, preparing to leave, and looked at Mara. “Aren’t you supposed to make Supergirl an honorary GiW agent?”

Mara laughed. “This isn’t some cheesy television show, Charlie. Besides, Supergirl wouldn’t fit in here.”

“Why not?”, Supergirl asked. She felt a little hurt.

“Because we have rules here”, Mara said, “And so far, in less then twenty-four hours you’ve broken most of them.”

Charlie started laughing again, and this time Mate joined in.

“Let me finish”, Mara said, “You might make a great GiW agent, if you can only find the discipline to follow rules. You’re too much of a free spirit. You would endanger us all.”

Supergirl walked outside with Charlie and Mate close behind. She was feeling a little rejected – even though she wouldn’t join GiW anyway, it would have been nice to be invited. But they didn’t want her.

“Don’t let them get to you”, Charlie said, “You always were a loner, and frankly, you work better that way. They say they don’t want you now, but one day they’ll be begging for your help.”

“Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Charlie”, Supergirl said, “I’m okay with it.”

“If it makes you feel any better”, Mate added, “I’ve been rejected countless times. But I still found my dream.”

“Maybe we’ll visit you again one day, Mate”, Supergirl said, “See you later.”

“Wait!”, Mate yelled as Supergirl grabbed Charlie around the waist and started flying upward, “How will I get home? We left my car–”

“Oops”, Supergirl said as she dropped back down to the ground quickly, “Sorry, I forgot about that. Let’s get you home.” She held out her hand to Mate, as her cape turned into wings of flame with a flash of light, and a tunnel of flame appeared behind her.

Mate smiled. This time she felt no fear as she stepped through the tunnel.
—
“Nice poster”, Charlie said as soon as he stepped into Mate’s apartment and out of the flaming tunnel.

Supergirl looked to seen what he was talking about – it was a drawn poster of herself, created for fans. She couldn’t help but laugh a little bit when she saw it. There was something else that caught her attention, too.

“A bean bag chair!”, Supergirl yelled as she jumped onto the bag, making a loud ‘crunch!’. “I used to have one of these. How come I didn’t notice it when I was here earlier?”

“Probably because you were too busy talking about underwear”, Charlie said.

Supergirl frowned at Charlie and picked up a book off of the floor – it was titled, ‘Girls In White Quick Reference Guide’. She started leafing through it slowly. “What’s this, Hustler magazine?”

Mate laughed. “That’s the guide book for Girls In White.”

Charlie laughed as he read the book over Supergirl’s shoulder. “I wonder if GiW knows they could make a lot of money selling their little guide?”

Mate tried to snatch the book away from Supergirl, but found she couldn’t remove the book from Supergirl’s grasp.

Supergirl looked up at Mate and smiled. “Want it back?” She closed the book and held it out to Mate.

Mate took the guide book and looked at Supergirl as she stood up. “Do you mind if I test something?”

“Sure”, Supergirl said, “Go ahead.”

Mate picked up two phone books with both hands and gave them to Supergirl. “Tear these two book in half.”

“No, I don’t want to do that”, Supergirl said as she shook her head, “How will you look up telephone numbers without them?”

“These are old ones. Don’t worry about it.”

Supergirl sighed and took the phone books. She stood over the trash can and started quickly tearing both phone books at once into small shreds of paper.

“Wow!”, Mate said, “I had no idea you were so strong! I heard about it, but I never believed it.”

“That’s nothing”, Charlie interrupted, “She could probably shred your apartment building as easily as that phone book.”

Mate looked at Supergirl. “Is that true?”

“I guess so”, Supergirl said as she shrugged, “I’d rather not test that theory, if it’s all the same to you.” Supergirl glanced over at the clock, and then at Charlie. “It’s getting late, Charlie and I should be heading home.”

“You’re right”, Charlie said, “I nearly forgot about the time difference.”

“So Charlie – do you want to take the long way, or the short way?”, Supergirl asked as she stepped over to the window.

“Let’s take the long way”, Charlie said, “Teleporting may be quicker, but it’s boring.”

Supergirl laughed as she opened up the window. “Thanks for inviting us to Caracas, Mate.”

Mate smiled. “Thank you for coming to visit. Feel free to come back whenever you want.”

Supergirl grabbed Charlie around the waist, and floated out the window slowly. Mate waved until Supergirl disappeared from sight. She’d never forget the day Supergirl visited Caracas, and did the impossible.

Jennifer Walters entered her dark home with a smile on her face. She was still walking on air as she turned on the lights and absent-mindedly tossed her keys onto the end table next to her couch. Eddie was a nice guy, considering that she wasn’t expecting much from him. She never expected much on a blind date set up by one of her friends – but Eddie was a perfect gentleman, and he tried not to stare at her green skin or her tall frame too much.

Her euphoria continued as she remembered watching the ‘X-Men’ movie with him and eating enough snacks for three ‘normal’ people. She remembered the nice walk in the park at night. The whole time, Eddie talked to her about his own life, rather then ask her what it was like to be She-Hulk. She appreciated that. She also appreciated the fact that he kept the whole date rather informal, meaning that she could wear comfortable shorts and a cool cotton tee-shirt. She had to dress up to work, she much preferred spending her leisure time in leisure clothing.

She looked at her dark television screen briefly before heading to the kitchen for a drink of water. She opened the refrigerator and removed a bottle of water, and stared at the label – it was bottled at a spring somewhere in Canada. “Only the best for you, Jen.”

As she headed toward the kitchen table, she could hear the sound of her last phrase echoing off the walls of her empty home. The smile disappeared from her face as she sat down. Reality had set in, chasing away all sense of optimism – just like every other guy she tried to date, Eddie was intimidated by her. He was just too polite to say so. Jen longed for someone who was her equal, someone who could dish out as easily as he could take. At the very least, she wanted someone she could talk to honestly – someone she could just hang around with and be herself.

Jen sighed deeply. Kermit the Frog was right all along, it’s not easy being green. While she wouldn’t trade her role in life for anything, she sometimes wondered why someone so popular – a hero, for God’s sake – was relegated to spending every evening talking to herself in her kitchen. She wanted nothing more then someone to talk to in person, at least a close friend. Someone she could trust. Someone who trusted her.

Her smile was becoming a frown now, as she gripped the water bottle tightly enough to cause the plastic to start to discolor. Being She-Hulk was both the worst, and best, thing to ever happen to her. She now had the respect she always knew she deserved. But at what price? Spending her life with everyone frightened of her presence? To spend the rest of her life essentially…alone?

Jen didn’t even remember hurling the water bottle across the room until her kitchen became covered in Canadian water and shards of plastic. She clenched her fists as she watched the water dripping down the cabinets. Clenched her fists out of…anger? It wasn’t anger that drove her now, it was her need for self control. She began to let go, slowly, to let her emotions take a little of her time.

She closed her eyes quickly as tears began to flow. Slowly, at first, but before she knew it they were flowing freely as she settled her forehead on the table on top of her hand. Being She-Hulk was the best thing to ever happen to her. And the worst.
—
Jen awoke abruptly to the sound of her telephone ringing. She long ago gave up using alarm clocks to wake her – the involuntary anger response at being so rudely awoken by an incessant beeping or disgusting morning radio shows caused her to smash too many then she cared to count. She now relied on her own internal clock – or failing that, her law firm partner to call her and threaten her. This time was one for the latter.

“Jen, wake up! You have to be in court in two hours! And buy an alarm clock, for God’s sake!”

“Unnnhhh–” Jen tried to respond to her partner, but she found herself…less then articulate. Her mind still was asleep – and by then, she realized that her partner didn’t even wait for an answer before hanging up.

Jen picked her watch up off of the night table and glanced at it quickly. It was nine o’clock. Peter was right, she was running late. As the reality of time running out began to rudely awaken her mind, she leapt out of bed, completely unaware that her body had not fully awakened yet.

She found herself tripping over a simple high-heeled shoe sitting in the middle of the floor, falling head-first into a small bookshelf she had sitting next to the opposite wall. The bookshelf was no match for the Jen’s invulnerable body – in seconds, it had become a simple pile of splinters surrounded by torn books scattered all over the floor.

“Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!” Now, Jen was fully awake – but it was too late to save her bookshelf or books. Sometimes being so resistant to damage was not a good thing. She stared at the mess of broken paper and wood for a second before heading to the bathroom – no time to clean it up now.

Several minutes later, she stared at her own reflection in the mirror as she finished dressing in one of her nicest formal suits. The deep blue color of the suit and blouse complemented her skin and eyes, while remaining formal enough so people would take her seriously as an attorney.

She wanted to be taken seriously today. This was the trial of her career, the biggest test of inner strength and patience she ever had to endure. Today, she decided, the High Court would grant a temporary suspension of enforcement of the Mutant Registration Act until the Supreme Court could hear the case and determine if it was constitutional.

Jen knew it wasn’t. The law itself was racist, forcing mutants to register with the Federal government as a danger to society – whether they had special powers or not. She knew that if it was upheld, it wouldn’t be long before people with genetic defects or handicaps would be forced to register – and soon after that…the Fourth Reich.

She shook her head to dismiss that thought. Maybe it was a slight exaggeration, but the comparison was still there. The MRA has proven that anyone can get a law passed, no matter how stupid, simply by causing paranoia to support it.

Jen took a deep breath and stared deeply into her own eyes for several minutes. As she did, she started to see a glimmer of doubt somewhere deep in her soul. Behind that doubt was fear – for herself as much as for other mutants forced to register under the Mutant Registration Act. The doubt was cast by her fear of failure. She knew, deep down, that if she were to fail…she herself would be doomed to the same fate as those victims she defended. This was her last stand.

“Here goes nothing.” Her own words echoed in her mind as she grabbed her briefcase and headed out the door. Nothing. She hoped that somehow, it would be more then that.
—
“Nice of you to decide to make it.”

“Oh, shut up, Phil.” Jen hoped her cold response, along with the fact that she didn’t even turn to look at him as she spoke, would tell her partner that she was not having a good day so far. Phil responded by not saying a word as he followed Jen into the courthouse.

As Jen entered the courtroom, she could plainly see two distinct groups in the courtroom. One side of the room was filled with people who had confident looks, and seemed fairly calm. On the other side of the room were the mutants and those who loved them – they all wore sad, frightened expressions.

‘Give me your tired, your poor…your huddled masses yearning to be free’. For some reason, Jen remembered that old saying from the Statue of Liberty. The mutants in the gallery were perfectly described that way…huddled masses, yearning to be free. Frightened men and women, clinging to their last hopes for freedom.

“All rise, please.”

From those words on, Jen felt like little more then a spectator as the case progressed around her, without even her slightest input being allowed. The opposing council called one expert witness after the other, and neither Jen nor Phil ever got a chance to speak up. ‘You’ll get a chance later’, the judge said. Jen wisely spent her idle time in that court jotting down notes which she would use later – if the case turned out unfavorably, they would become useful during the appeal.

Then the judge stood up, announcing that he was going to go to his chambers to decide the case. Phil was livid as he stood up, and began yelling until his face turned red.

“Objection! I object, your honor! We haven’t had any chance to present our testimony, or redirect with the opposing council’s witnesses!”

The judge pointed his gavel at Phil, just above the sign that read ‘Hon. Joseph Reed’. “One more outburst out of you, Mr. Simmons, and I’ll hold you in contempt! I received your affidavit, that’s all you need for now.”

“But your honor–”

“May I remind you, Mr. Simmons, that this is an injunction hearing, not a murder trial. I will not allow it to drag on for days at your whim!”

“Damn it!” As Judge Reed left the room to retire to his chambers, Phil slammed his left palm down on the table.

Jen smiled. “Calm down, Phil. We can always appeal. Or we can take this to the Supreme Court.”

“No, we can’t.” Phil leaned close to Jen, the anger still apparent on his face. “Because if we fail now…the Supreme Court will refuse to hear this case…at least until someone dies because of that law!”

Jen folded her arms and slumped down in her chair as her heart began to sink. She had dedicated a good chunk of her career to defeating the MRA. And now, because of one stubborn judge…she was going to lose her life’s quest?

She was fuming already as the judge re-entered the courtroom, her look of contempt for Judge Reed piercing him as she stood and watched him return to his soft leather chair behind the bench.

“Please be seated. I have reviewed all of the evidence in this case, and determined to deny the injunction against the Mutant Registration Act.”

“Let me finish.” Judge Reed looked over at Phil, who began to stand. “The act itself only requires registration of mutant abilities once they are discovered. It does not advocate violence, nor does it advocate imprisonment. Only registration. The reality is that some mutants out there are dangerous. If we have to register our guns and cars, mutants should be registered as well.”

Jen stood up angrily, heading toward the bench quickly. “They don’t deserve to be treated this way! Mutants are people too!”

“And kids are people too…and dogs.” Judge Reed leaned closer to Jen and smiled. “Where do we draw the line, Miss Walters? Will you appear before this court to fight for the rights of cockroaches as well?”

“You, Judge Reed–” Jen was pointing a large finger directly across the front of the bench, casing Judge Reed to lean back. “–are a bigot! You have no business running a courtroom!”

“You are out of order, Miss Walters! One more word out of you, and I’ll find you in contempt! You’ll find yourself in a jail cell so quickly, that green head of yours will be left spinning!”

Jen’s fists were clenched tightly now, her teeth grinding. She wanted nothing more then to smash the bench to splinters and rip that bigoted judge in half. All sense of calm gone, she now began screaming at the judge. “No, you are out of order! This whole case is out of order! People like you are the reason why society is falling apart – people who are unhappy unless they can beat down someone else!”

“That’s it!” Judge Reed slammed the gavel down on the bench, causing the small wooden plaque it rested on to fall to the floor. “You, Miss Walters, are in contempt! You will accompany my bailiff to the holding cells, where you will remain until you apologize to this court!”

“Jen–” She turned to see Phil, her partner, standing behind the defense table, looking at her sadly. She didn’t need to hear his words to know what he was going to say. He wanted her to apologize, to swallow her pride and save them both a lot of trouble later on.

“Your honor.” Jen turned back to the judge, a calmer expression on her face this time. “I’m sorry. I…I just let my temper get the best of me.”

“Very well.” Judge Reed stood up and put the gavel down on the bench. “Apology noted, you’re free to go. Maybe next time, Miss Walters, you’ll keep your anger in check.”

“Yes, your honor.”

As soon as the judge left the bench, Jen raced past Phil at the defense table, pausing only to grab her suit jacket and briefcase before she headed toward the exit.

Before she even made it through the door…she was crying.
—
Phil found Jen sitting on a bench outside the courthouse, her suit jacket draped across her lap and her briefcase at her feet. She sat, staring at traffic as it passed by, as if lost in thought.

“Are you okay, Jen? You almost lost it back there.”

Jen turned to face him and smiled weakly as he sat down next to her. “I’m sorry Phil. I guess this case is affecting me more deeply then I’m willing to admit.”

Phil nodded silently, and placed a hand on Jen’s shoulder. “We’ll get through this, Jen.”

“The Nazis in Germany passed a law just like the MRA before World War II, Phil. It wasn’t long before six million people were executed as a result.” Jen had pain and fear in her eyes as she spoke. She kept staring at Phil, expecting him to tell her that she was exaggerating, that her fears were unwarranted. But he just gave her a sympathetic look.

“I know, Jen.” Phil sighed. “People never see these things coming until it’s too late.”

“Exactly. People, Phil. Not institutions.” Jen sighed and pointed at the courthouse again. “Institutions make these laws, not people. It’s fear, Phil. Fear of the unknown…That’s what gives government too much power over these things.”

“What are you really afraid of, Jen?” Phil gripped Jen’s shoulder tighter, noticing that his fingers didn’t even seem to make an impression. But now he could feel the movement her powerful muscles as she shifted in her seat. “I saw you crying as you left the courtroom. What’s wrong?”

Jen smiled weakly again. Phil always knew when she was hiding something from him. “The world is so fragile to me, Phil. I try as hard as I can to be a perfect citizen…but in my heart, I’m only human. I screw up sometimes, just like you do. I get angry–”

Phil sat up suddenly. “You’re afraid you’re turning into your cousin Bruce?”

“No.” Jen shook her head and leaned forward, looking down at a group of ants walking along the pavement. “People like me, Phil…it’s so easy for me to end up on the wrong side of the law. Just one slip, that’s all it takes…and I end up like my cousin Bruce. To become a savage. That’s what they would call me, a savage She-Hulk.”

Phil shook his head slowly. He couldn’t believe that Jen was anything like Hulk, in any way.

“It’s true, Phil.” Jen looked at him sadly. “I almost lost control in that courtroom.”

“But you didn’t.” Phil stood up and offered his hand to Jen – a hand that dwarfed in comparison to hers as she took it. “You’re here. And you’re still a model citizen.”

Jen laughed a little and stood up. “Let’s get some lunch, Phil. I’m starved.”

“Great idea.” Phil followed Jen quickly, trying to keep pace with her large strides as she walked down the street. “But you’re buying. I don’t make enough to feed you.”

She smiled as she turned around to look at Phil for a moment. He always did know how to cheer her up.
—
Jen awoke in her dark bedroom to red and blue flashing lights dancing on the ceiling. At first, her mind didn’t comprehend why – but as the sleepy mist began to clear in her head, she understood. It meant there were police cars outside…lots of them.

She checked the clock – it displayed three a.m. – and grabbed a robe to hide her pajamas and some old sneakers, and headed outside. She didn’t like the stereotype of lawyers being characterized as ‘ambulance chasers’, but sometimes, in an emergency, there might someone who needed the help of an attorney.

She was shocked at the scene as soon as she stepped outside. There were nearly a dozen police cars and vans parked on the street, and all of her neighbors were outside, watching – save one. The police were entering and leaving the house right next door, which was surrounded with crime scene tape.

“Excuse me…what’s going on?” Jen tapped the shoulder of an officer who was guarding the crime scene.

“Oh, some mutant didn’t register–” The officer suddenly froze as he turned to face Jen. “Uh…no offense, Miss.”

“None taken.” Jen glared at the officer and turned her attention to a small group of people exiting the house next door.

There were four police officers carrying a young girl, about fifteen, out of the house with her feet and arms bound with heavy rope and handcuffs. She had duct tape over her mouth. The parents stood in the doorway, sobbing – but could do nothing to help, since they were being held back by two more officers. The mother screamed the daughter’s name repeatedly – ‘Rebecca’. Jen knew the sound of the screams would be etched into her memory, forever.

Jen began heading toward the house, her nearly invulnerable body tearing through the crime scene tape and shoving the officers in her way. It only took her seconds to reach Rebecca, and lift her away from the officers trying to bring her to one of the police van.

“This is no way to treat a human being!” Jen began frantically removing the bounds, snapping rope and steel alike until Rebecca was free. The girl raced back into her parents arms, clinging to them as if they were her lifeline.

Jen then turned her attention on the officers, who approached her to try and retrieve Rebecca once again – but they were casually tossed aside by just one of Jen’s arms.

“You should all be ashamed of yourselves! How are you each going to explain this to your children…your grandchildren? That you came here to beat down and tie up a little girl?”

Suddenly, the street was filled with nothing more then the sound of occasional police radio chatter as everyone just froze, staring at Jen as tears began forming in her eyes.

“Go home…all of you. Go home to your families.”

Nothing. The officers remained frozen, just staring. Jen took a few steps forward and grabbed one of the police cars, lifting it over her head. “Go home, or I swear to God, you’ll have nothing left but a pile of twisted steel!”

As the police officers began racing back to their cars, including the one she just put back down, she began to feel regret over what she had done. It only took a few minutes for the street to clear, for everyone to go back to their homes.

But somehow, she knew it wasn’t over. As Jen retreated back to her home, and went back to bed, she made a mental note to call Phil in the morning. She would need him…she knew she crossed the line, and she would soon pay for it. She was now a savage.

As sleep overtook her, she wanted deep down to cry. But after her day…she had no tears left.
—
Cold concrete was what Jen felt on the side of her face as she woke up in the morning. The sun streamed in through a tiny window she could see from her spot lying on the icy floor. She had no idea where she was, or what time it was – only that she was no longer in her own home.

She tried to sit up, but quickly found that she was too dizzy. It had to be the after effect of some kind of tranquilizer that she was feeling. As her mind began to awaken, it started flooding with questions. Where was she? Was she kidnapped?

The grogginess and the uncomfortable room told her that whoever brought her was unfriendly. The whole place was unfriendly. Jen sat up slowly, and began to look around at what appeared to be a room in some sort of barracks. The room contained a small private shower and toilet, and a basic cot. She was close enough to the cot to realize that she must have fallen out of it, since it was too small for her.

But the windows were small, too – as if to prevent escape. And the door to the room was locked from the outside. It was a cell. She was in some kind of prison. She needed Phil’s help.

“Hey! Let me outta here! I’m a lawyer!” As soon as Jen pounded on the door once, she felt a little stupid – the door swung right open. It wasn’t even locked. As soon as she got over her feeling of embarrassment she began to wonder…what kind of place was this? Like a prison…and yet not?

She started to slowly walk down a nearly-dark hallway, toward what she could see was an exit at the other end. She began running toward it, hoping that it too was unlocked. Once she reached the door, she burst right through it – it wasn’t locked either.

As soon as she stepped outside, she realized why.

The building she just left behind was inside a compound surrounded by three twenty-five foot tall steel fences, in sequence. Each one of them was labeled ‘High Voltage’. It was a prison, of sorts – just more in the community fashion.

Jen began walking around slowly. At that hour of the morning, not many people were outside – but there was activity. She could see her neighbor’s child being carried, kicking and screaming, into a small building in a corner of the complex near the entrance.

“Hey!” Jen raced toward the child and the four guards carrying her. As soon as she got close, she suddenly halted. Two other guards had some kind of weapon aimed at her. One she didn’t recognize. “I’m a lawyer, dammit! You can’t treat me this way! You can’t treat this little girl this way either!”

“You’re both mutants.” One of the guards, an older man who was obviously in charge of the whole operation, decided to pipe up and speak to Jen. “We’re acting within the law.”

“Oh yeah?” Jen stepped closer to the man, until she towered over him. “And what exactly did I do to end up in here?”

The older man motioned to the guard next to him, who handed him some kind of electronic file retrieval device. “Assault on police officers, inducing panic. You have to understand, Ms. Walters, we can’t keep you in a standard prison. And given your gamma-irradiated cousin’s record–”

“What?” Jen yelled her question loud enough to cause the older man to flinch in fear for a second. “My cousin? I’m nothing like my cousin! Why would you even think–”

“Do not interfere with our business, Ms. Walters.” The older man frowned as he spoke slowly, with a deliberate tone. “You are allowed to walk the grounds only on my say-so – because of your reputation as a lawyer. That can be revoked.”

Jen stood, fuming, as the older guard walked away from her behind the four who were ‘escorting’ the young girl into the small building labeled ‘Examination’. She began to worry about the girl. She began to worry about herself.
—
“I demand to know where she is!”

Phil Simmons slammed his briefcase on the Police Captain’s desk at the West Chester County police headquarters, knocking over all of his family pictures and his desk lamp. He noted the name plate which was now on the floor – ‘Captain Milton Tyler’. “She’s my partner, dammit! If you don’t tell me where she is, I’ll be back here with warrants!”

“Yeah? Go ahead.” Captain Tyler stood up, leaning forward toward Phil. “In the mean time, get the hell outta here before you find yourself behind bars!”

“I dare you.”

“Don’t push me, Simmons! You come in here, raising hell, every time one of your mutant clients gets arrested! This time, I’m not biting!”

Phil leaned farther over the desk. “Then you might just find your name on a warrant, Captain Tyler.”

“Get out!”

“You can’t throw me out.” Phil folded his arms and smiled. “This is a public building.”

“Fine.” Captain Tyler stood up suddenly, leaning forward toward Phil. “She was taken to a government MRA holding facility. I don’t know any more then that. I don’t even know where it is.”

“A what?”

Captain Tyler shook his head, indicating that he thought little of Phil’s intelligence. “They can’t put mutants like her in a regular jail.”

As Phil frowned and headed toward the door, he thought it would be better to remain silent. But after hearing Captain Tyler talk about Jen that way…anger just got the better of him.

“People like you make me sick. Jennifer Walters is more human then you’ll ever be.”
—
Alarms blared as Jen effortlessly plowed through the reinforced steel doors of the ‘Examination’ building. She paused for a second as she looked quickly around the room. Several different people, including the young girl who was just brought it, were restrained on medical examination tables. They each had several tubes, wires, and monitors hooked up to them.

Her heart sank as she watched a woman lying on one of the tables, crying and struggling against her restraints. She could tell by the sound of the cries that the woman was being intravenously fed some kind of chemical that was causing her a lot of pain. Monitors were recording her reaction to the chemical. She was being tested somehow.

Jen spotted the young girl she watched the staff bring in earlier – she was strapped to a table, and was asleep. By the rhythm of the girl’s breathing, Jen could tell she had been sedated.

“No…No more.”

Jen turned toward the door at the sound of several loud footsteps. She found herself facing four armed officers in riot gear and the same older officer she met earlier. This time she paid attention to the name on his uniform – ‘Hall’.

“Ms. Walters.” Hall stepped in front of the armed officers, admiring the destroyed steel doors as he entered. “Living up to your cousin’s reputation already, are we?”

“No more of this. I demand you release these people immediately.”

“You demand?” Hall laughed out loud. “This is a prison, Ms. Walters. Everyone here has broken the law. You’ll get no sympathy from me. Now back to your cell…now!”

“No. No more.” Jen walked over to the woman who was writhing in pain, tearing the nylon straps which held her to the table quickly, and then pulling all of the wires and tubes away from her. Jen turned her attention to the young girl next. As she did, she could hear Hall barking orders at her, getting more and more upset – but Jen didn’t care. She wanted only to free everyone…or at least as many as she could.

Hall didn’t seem like much of a threat to Jen, until he walked up right behind her and jabbed her in the ribs with some kind of steel pole, which then sent a high-voltage charge through her body. He was zapping her with a cattle prod. That’s all Jen or anyone else in that camp meant to these people. They were cattle, to be herded, tortured, and experimented with.

Hey eyes blazing with anger, Jen turned suddenly and grabbed the fabric of Hall’s uniform, lifting him up in the air quickly.

“I said…No more!”

Hall quickly found himself airborne, his body flung across the room carelessly as a doll thrown by an angry child. His body was still travelling at high speed when he collided with the other four officers – he and the four were immediately knocked unconscious as they all slammed into the wall behind them hard enough to cause the wall’s partial collapse.

Once Jen had freed the young girl, she lifted the girl’s sleeping form in her arms and began carrying her slowly toward the main gate of the complex. As soon as she began walking, a large group of frightened and bewildered people who had been imprisoned in the camp began following her cautiously.

They watched her defeat Hall and his officers. They followed her, hoping she would make it out – but they also kept their distance out of fear that she would not, that she would end up dead like so many who had attempted escape before.

“Open the gate.” Jen knew she had a lot of nerve giving orders to the young police officer standing guard in a booth next to the gate. But by this time, she was more concerned about the health of the girl she was holding then of her own freedom or safety. She bit her lip as she glanced back at the small group of injured and weak behind her. People who came from the so-called ‘Examination’ building. “Open the gate…please.”

“Sorry, I have my orders.” Jen looked at his badge as he spoke. The name on it read ‘Michaels’. “I have to keep this gate locked unless Hall asks me to open it.”

“How many have to die because of ‘orders’, Michaels?” Jen bit her lip harder to keep her feelings in check as tears began forming in her eyes. “What if it was your family in here?”

Officer Michaels looked a little hurt for a second, but remained stubborn. “I’m sorry. I–”

“Tell me–” Jen’s tear-filled emerald green eyes pierced directly into Officer Michaels’ fearful brown eyes. “How long is it until your son or daughter is taken away in the middle of the night…taken away from you, and locked away into a place like this…where you will never see them again.”

Michaels glanced at the child in Jen’s arms, and then turned away from Jen quickly. She could see that he was looking at two photos on a small shelf in his booth.

“Tell me.”

“Damn it.” Michaels tore a set of keys off a ring inside his booth and stepped outside quickly. He inserted one of the keys in a small slot next to the gate and turned it quickly. Sirens began to blare once again, and bright strobe lights started to flash as the gate began opening slowly.

“Thank you, Officer Michaels.” Jen bowed her head to him lightly. “It warms my heart to see that someone cares.”

As Jen walked out of the gate with a small crowd of people referred to as mutants, Michaels did nothing but stare. The gates of the complex were wide open. There would be no more lies, no more hiding…no more injustice done in this place.

“What the hell are you doing, Michaels?” Hall was more angry then Michaels had ever seen him when he walked up and saw the gate open, and the crowd of people walking away.

“Something I should have done a long time ago.” Michaels turned to Hall, an angry, determined look on his face. He reached into his guard booth and grabbed only the photos from his shelf, holding on to them tightly. He was tired of having nightmares, of being unable to sleep every night. He was tired of being afraid to tell his wife and son what he did for a living…tired of having to be ashamed. “I quit! And anyone here who has any conscience left should too!”

As Michael silently walked through the gates, Hall stood frozen. One by one, the officers working in the camp began throwing their weapons and helmets to the ground, and walking out of the gates. It was only a matter of minutes before Hall stood alone, in the entrance to a prison camp rendered obsolete…by humanity.

It would be days later before the incident leaked to the local newspapers. By the time the media processed the information, the story became back page news. It would only be a footnote in history – but to everyone who was there…it meant so much more.

Another day at work. Mate sighed as she looked up at the Department Of Water sign above the old brick building she entered every day – the cleverly disguised headquarters for Girls In White. It wasn’t what most people would call a typical office – and yet, it was eerily similar. Every day started and ended with a mountain of paperwork.

She enjoyed working for Girls In White, it was just the paperwork…Mate shook her head to dismiss her negative thoughts. The more she thought about that stack of paper, the more it would bother her.

As Mate waved at the guard and headed toward the sliding glass door, it opened, sending an icy wave of air across the entryway. Mate frowned – Seish had turned up the air conditioning again. He liked it cold for some reason. She asked him many times why he doesn’t only turn down the temperature in his own office, and leave everyone else alone. He just laughed.

Mate glanced up at the clock as she stepped through the door. She was exactly two minutes late. That meant Mara would be standing next to her desk to lecture her on punctuality…again. Mate half-smiled as she peeked around the corner to confirm her suspicions. Mara was there, all right – looking at her watch, tapping her foot. Her impatience was typical.

“Late again, Mate?”

“Sorry, I ran into some heavy traffic.” Mate threw her purse onto her desk, nearly knocking over the seven inch high pile of papers.

Mara purposely stepped in Mate’s way to prevent her from sitting at her desk. “You know, we have other girls lined up to take a job like this. You’d better shape up, or–”

“Yeah, yeah.” Mate lifted up the entire stack of paper and, without even looking at it, dropped it into her trash can. “You say that every single day, Mara. It’s getting boring.”

“Boring?” Mara gasped as she looked at the stack of paperwork sitting in the trash can. “And this paperwork is important! That does it, I’m talking to Seish about this!”

“Good luck”, Mate mumbled as she sat down at her desk to use her computer to check her e-mail. Mara complained about her attitude at least twice a week, and Seish’s reaction would always be the same – he’d just laugh.

“It’s about time you got here! It’s like…almost ten o’clock, you know?”

Mate recognized that ‘valley girl’ accent anywhere. It was Laura, her mission supervisor. Because of her young appearance, Laura was often assigned to high schools, undercover – though the accent was evidence that she often got buried in the part. Mate often wondered why Laura was working at GiW instead of going for an acting career in Hollywood.

“So what are we…like…doing today?” Mate smiled and leaned back as she turned toward Laura. She knew her bit of sarcasm wasn’t wasted.

“So…What took you so long to get here, anyway?” Laura sat down on Mate’s desk. Mate hated that, but Laura thought it was ‘cute’. She secretly wondered if Laura and Britney Spears were somehow related.

“I overslept.” Mate stood up and gently pushed Laura’s legs out of her way. “Can we go now?”

Laura jumped to her feet and nearly ran over Mate on the way to the door. “Sure, let’s bolt.”

Mate rolled her eyes as she headed out of the door behind Laura. She smiled in a self-satisfying way after she realized one thing Laura didn’t – she had the car keys.
—

“…And then she threw a whole day’s records in her trash can!”

Seish sat at his desk in a soft leather chair, his feet up on his desk,
rubbing his chin gently. “Uh-huh.”

“Are you listening to me?”

“I heard every word.” Seish sat up and grabbed an envelope off his desk, tearing it open with a letter opener from his desk. “If you think the paperwork is so important, why didn’t you take it out of her trash can?”

Mara paused for a second as anger began to fill her. She sighed, to try and keep herself in check. “That, Seish, is not my job.”

“I have confidence in you, Mara.” Seish leaned back again as he snatched a newspaper from his desk. He looked at Mara from above the rims of his reading glasses. “You’ll make everything work out.”

As Seish retreated behind his newspaper, Mara had to use every ounce of self-control she had to avoid slamming his office door. She felt she should, but she didn’t really want to give him a bad impression. After all, when he wasn’t her boss…he was a close, trusted friend.

Mara walked back over to her desk, slowly, and looked at the mountain of paper piled in a corner of her desk. She thought, for just a second, about how much work she could get done if she didn’t have to deal with the paper. She thought about it again, as she glanced back up at Seish’s office. A big smile creeped onto her face as she lifted up her own pile of papers, and tossed them into her trash can.

“There you go, Seish”, Mara whispered to herself as she headed out for a mission, “All worked out.”

From his office high above the work floor, Seish stared down and watched Mara leave the building. He looked at her trash can, and then Mate’s – and promptly laughed to himself. “Looks like I have a revolution on my hands.”
—
“It’s time for a revolution.”

A mysterious man leaned back in his soft leather chair as he watched the Earth spinning through his window. He sat in an office, high up in a large space station – painted black to avoid detection by Earth telescopes.

He picked up a remote control and began flipping through thousands of channels quickly. They weren’t average satellite or cable channels – instead they were signals from GiW monitoring systems all over the world. Yet another bonus of being located in an orbiting station – the ability to intercept any signal broadcast from Earth.

But he wasn’t interested in watching the usual GiW observations – he wanted to find only one person. One GiW agent, in particular.

“Ah, Mate. What have you been up to?”

He hit the ‘zoom’ button on his remote as he watched Mate climbing into her car. Keeping an eye on her would entertain him for a while.
—
“Laura, would you please just…shut up and let me drive! And stop playing with the radio!”

Mate eyed the center console for a second, remembering the small red button hidden inside there. If Laura gave her any more trouble, she would find herself ejected from the car quickly.

“Mate, you’ve done nothing but pick on me since we were assigned together.” Lara’s tone sounded serious as she put her feet up on top of the dashboard, earning herself yet another dirty look from Mate. “I get the feeling that you don’t like me.”

“I like you just fine, Laura.” Mate snatched a Curve CD out of Laura’s fingers. “As long as you don’t touch anything.”

“Stop the car, Mate! Quickly!”

Mate looked out of the windows of her car at the rather run down, crumbling neighborhood. Strange people walked the streets, staring at her car conspicuously as it passed by. “Are you sure you want to get out and walk here?”

“No…There!” Laura pointed toward a glass storefront, where a dark-haired woman stood in front of the locked door. Right in front of her stood a man who seemed to be hypnotizing her – only he looked strange somehow. “C’mon, it’s go time!”

“Go time?” Mate pulled over quickly, trying to attract as little attention as she could in a Ferrari. She wanted to get close before…whatever that was…would have a chance to run. Once the car stopped, Laura jumped out of the passenger side quickly and raced toward the building. “Laura…wait!”

Mate cursed to herself as she reached under the back seat and pulled out a portable energy weapon. If this was an alien, she wanted to have enough power to stop it without alerting the entire block that she and Laura weren’t ordinary citizens – as if the short skirts and expensive car weren’t clue enough.

By the time Mate turned around, she could see Laura chasing…something wearing the same clothing as the man they spotted earlier. It was one of the aliens – and thanks to Laura’s enthusiasm, it was running. “Oh, damn…”

Mate threw her energy weapon on the passenger seat and tore down the street after the alien. In a Ferarri, it only took her seconds to catch up to the running alien and nearly drive right past him. She turned quickly onto the sidewalk and slammed on the brakes – putting herself and the car in the alien’s path – and jumped out of the driver’s side with her energy weapon in hand.

“Freeze!” Mate’s hands began to shake a little bit as the grotesque alien, tentacles waving in the air, stared at her with large coal-black eyes. Even as it stood perfectly still, it’s tentacles kept moving – and some kind of slime dripped off of it to the sidewalk. She could feel…depth to those eyes somehow, like they were deep pits trying to swallow her soul. She felt herself falling in. A sense of urgency rushed through her mind – she had to stop the alien now.

Mate felt like it took all of her willpower to pull the trigger on that energy weapon – but she did. With a bright flash a loud noise which echoed off of nearby buildings and seemed to go on forever…the alien was reduced to a pile of grey ash and slime on the sidewalk. Mate let out a deep sigh of relief.

“…And you could have gotten us both killed! Are you listening to me, Mate?”

Mate turned slowly to see Laura standing next to her. Laura had just spent several minutes lecturing her about trying to chase an alien by herself – but for some reason, Mate didn’t hear a single word of it. She shook her head violently as she felt full consciousness slowly returning. “What…happened?”

“You were hypnotized by the alien, Mate. Didn’t you hear me when I said that?”

“No.” Mate shook her head slowly, trying to get rid of residual dizziness as she removed her car keys from her purse. “No, Laura, I didn’t hear a thing. Maybe…Maybe you should drive us back to HQ.”

Laura took the car keys with a big smile on her face. “God, you must be sick.”
—
Mate kept staring off into space even as she entered GiW headquarters. She felt like the alien somehow planted some kind of image in her mind, even though she had no idea what it was. Something was haunting her.

She shook off the stares as she sat down at her computer terminal and started to type in her report. She hated doing paperwork, even the electronic kind – so naturally, he attention wandered as she typed. She looked at Laura, to see her attentively typing out her report. She looked at Mara, pacing around the room like some kind of jailhouse guard. And Seish…as usual he was standing next to the window in his office above, smiling.

Mate looked upward at Seish as she typed. She returned his smile and waved. He waved back.

“Mate? What are you doing?”

Mate nearly fell out of her chair – she didn’t notice Mara walk up behind her. “Uh…nothing? I…I’m writing my report.”

“In Spanish? We use English to write our reports!”

Mate looked down at her computer screen and shuddered. She had no idea she was writing her report in Spanish! She glanced up at Seish’s office to see him laughing hard, leaning on the edge of his desk for leverage. She hoped at least he was having a good time. “Oh, nuts…I’m sorry, Mara. I’ll fix it.”

Mara looked up at Seish’s office and frowned, just before shaking her head slowly and heading away from Mate’s desk. “I swear…Sometimes I think the real aliens are working here.”

As Mate began hitting the backspace key on her computer terminal, she noticed something very strange on her desk – a crumpled up Post-It note sitting in the corner. She reached for it quickly and unfolded it…It contained her terminal’s password!

Mate stood up suddenly and began looking around the room. Could it be some kind of practical joke? She looked up at Seish’s office – she knew the rules…that she had to report any security problems to him directly. She started to feel a little ashamed as she walked up the narrow staircase to his office. What if he blamed her for it? Called her careless, for allowing her password to be compromised so easily?

Before Mate even had a chance to reach for the doorknob on Seish’s office, the door opened suddenly.

“Someone steal your password, Mate?” Seish stood in the doorway, a big smile on his face.

Mate couldn’t help but wonder if he was somehow behind it – but she also realized that behind his calm smile, he was a little worried about it as well. She could see it in his eyes. “Yes. I…I guess I need a new one.”

“Done.” Seish tapped his computer screen to indicate her new password as it was displayed on his screen. It only stayed on the screen for ten seconds – within that time Mate had to memorize it, because it would disappear from the screen and never be seen again. GiW didn’t like publishing it’s passwords on paper – it could give someone an opportunity to dig in the trash and have access to their secured system.

As Mate turned to leave the office, Seish stood up to intercept her. “One more thing, Mate.”

“Yes?”

Seish sighed as he gently rubbed his chin and stared out his window overlooking the rest of the office. “Someone has been…looking into you, Mate. People have been calling me, asking questions…prying questions. Where you live, what you do.”

“Oh, really?” Mate folded her arms as her mind began to try and figure out who would be investigating her. She came up blank.

“I didn’t answer, of course.” Seish turned around to face Mate. All of a sudden, he looked serious. “Mate, if you’re in some kind of trouble…please, let me know. I’m always here to help.”

Mate shook her head. “Honest, Seish. I have no idea why someone would be investigating me. It’s actually a little…scary.”

“Hmm.” Seish walked back behind his desk and took some keys out of the drawer. “These are the keys for the GiW safe house, Mate. I want you to stay there until we have some people check out your apartment. Don’t go back to your apartment for anything until I tell you. Understand?”

Mate nodded. “But…What’s going on?”

“Your car’s been checked.” Seish continued, seemingly without answering Mate’s question. “We found several tracking and eavesdropping devices. A new active security system has been installed to prevent further intrusions – but be careful, it’s rather…shocking.”

“I have to know…What’s going on, Seish?” Mate completely ignored Seish’s little joke – at the moment, she had more important things on her mind.

“I don’t know”, Seish said plainly, “Just remember that I’m here for you.”

Mate shook her head as she left his office angrily. For some reason, that didn’t make her feel any better.
—
“Damn it!”

High up in a dark satellite, the mysterious man frantically switched from one monitor to the other, looking for Mate. He knew that she tended to disappear whenever she entered GiW headquarters – it was monitor-free – but since she left and drove away in her Ferrarri, he hadn’t been able to find her. He was also unable to track the Ferrari any longer. He pounded on his console angrily as the intercom behind him beeped loudly.

“Phone call for you, Kevin. It’s your daughter, Sarah.”

“Thanks you, Lisa. I’ll take it in here.” Kevin hit the ‘connect’ button at the same time as a blue button next to him which shut off all of the monitors behind him. His brown-haired twenty-one year old daughter appeared in front of him on a small display.

“Hi, Dad!”

“Hello, honey. How was work today?”

Sarah sighed, and Kevin could see her look away from the screen sadly. “My boss called me stupid again today. He’s so mean sometimes…I wish I could quit, but I have to…you know…pay the bills. Daddy…I just wish you weren’t so far away.”

Kevin stroked his chin gently and looked toward his window, to see the darkness outside. ‘Far away’ was an understatement – and his daughter, the only person really left in his life, was alone more now that her mom died. Ironically, her death was the reason Kevin took that job – at the time, he felt he needed to ‘get away’. He regretted it every day since.

“I know, Sarah, I know. I’m trying to find you a better job, one where you can even visit me once in a while.” Sarah’s smile in response to what he said made him feel like an instant hero, like he could solve all of the world’s problems with just a few words. Or at least, his daughter’s problems. “I’m working on it, Sarah. I promise.”

“Thanks Dad! I love you.”

“I love you too.” For several minutes after the viewscreen went black, Kevin continued to stare at it, his mind filled with the image of his daughter’s smiling face. He wanted so badly to get her a better job. He just wanted her to be happy.

Kevin glanced again at the blank monitors, and back out at the cold blackness of space. He angrily hurled his coffee mug at the bullet-proof window, and watched it bounce off.

He had never been so unhappy in his life.
—
“Life stinks!” Laura tossed a stack of paperwork on her desk, which was next to Mate’s. “I hate paperwork! Why do they have to give me more of it every single day?”

Mate stood up and quickly reached over to Laura’s desk, pushing the stack of paperwork into her garbage can. “Problem solved.”

“Hey, you can’t just…Uh-oh.” Laura sat at her desk quickly as she saw Mara approaching quickly. She didn’t look happy, either.

“Mate! What did I tell you about throwing out paperwork?”

“I forgot. Maybe we should play the tape and relive those wonderful moments.” Mate took a small tape recorder out of her desk drawer and waved it under Mara’s nose.

“Do you think this is funny, Mate? This paperwork is important! This job is important!”

Mate laughed. “The job, yes. The paperwork…well–”

Mara frowned and pointed a finger at Mate. “This is your last warning, Mate. If I have to come here and talk to you again…or if you’re late one more time…you’re fired!”

As Mara walked away, Mate turned to Laura, who was pretending to mind her own business. “She can’t do that…can she?”

Laura turned to look at her for a moment, without saying a word, and then watched Mara walk around the corner. She then returned her attention to Mate. “No, Seish pretty much has all of the power here. Mara can’t really do much.”

Mate laughed and leaned back in her chair, glancing up toward Seish’s office. She noticed that he was staring at her, smiling as usual.
—
“Inside job, eh?” Seish turned away from the window to face Lisa, the liaison from the GiW Systems Management division. They were in charge of making sure all of GiW’s worldwide monitoring systems worked right – and their work was…unique.

“Yes, the devices in the Ferrari were ours.” Lisa handed Seish a small piece of paper. “A work order was even made out.”

“Who signed off on it?” Seish began reading through the small form.

“It appears that…you did.”

Seish skipped down to the end of the form to see his signature sitting at the bottom of the page. “Hmm…I didn’t sign this. Someone forged my signature.”

Lisa took the form from Seish and looked at the bottom very closely. “It looks like yours.”

Seish shook his head. “Trust me, it’s not my signature. The ‘S’ doesn’t have a tail.”

“A tail?” Lisa looked even closer at the signature as Seish left his office, heading toward Mate’s desk below.

Mate nearly fell out of her chair when she saw Seish approaching her. He almost never came downstairs…unless there was some kind of emergency. “Is…something wrong?”

Seish grabbed Mate’s arm tightly, and pulled her aside amid stares from her coworkers around her. “Mate…Go home. I’ll explain everything later.”

“Why? Am I fired?” Mate gave Laura a quick glance, worrying for a moment that Mara did have the power she said she did.

“No, not at all.” Seish smiled and gently placed his hand on Mate’s shoulder. “I just have something to take care of…something very ugly. I don’t want you around to see it.”

Mate frowned. “I’m not afraid–”

“Please, Mate. Just go home. I’ll make sure you’re paid for the day.”

She thought about arguing with Seish some more, about trying to find out what he was hiding. But something in his warm, honest smile and bright, sparkling eyes made her feel like she just needed to trust him. As he always said, he was there to help.

As Mate headed outside toward her Ferrari, she couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Seish would tell her, in time – but for now, she would let him keep his secrets.
—
“Why do you want to be a part of GiW, Sarah?” Seish leaned back in his chair and put his white sneakers on the desk. “What kind of talents do you have that we could use?”

“Well–” Sarah fidgeted nervously as she sat in front of Seish’s desk, legs crossed, trying to keep as much hidden as possible in spite of her short skirt. Not helping matters was the fact that Seish’s office had deep chairs. “I…I’ve traveled a lot. I drive a sports car–”

“Are you willing to put loyalty to GiW over everyone and everything else in your life?” Seish sat up and leaned over his desk, closer to Sarah. “What are you willing to sacrifice, Sarah?”

“Th…This is my dream job, Mr.–”

“Seish. Just call me Seish.”

“Seish.” Sarah shifted in her seat again. “I’ve always wanted a wild, adventurous job like this one.”

“Uh-huh.” Seish smiled and held out his hand. “Congratulations, you’re hired…on one condition.”

“Anything!” Sarah jumped out of the chair, nearly knocking it over. She shook Seish’s hand as a smile took over her face. “I’ll do anything for this job!”

Seish stood up. “You must complete a mission successfully first. I’d like to send you to our satellite office to track a man who’s been misusing our systems.”

“Satellite office?”

“Yes, quite literally.” Seish pointed at a poster of a large, dark satellite on his wall. “It’s in high Earth orbit.”

Sarah looked at the poster a little nervously. She’d worked in offices her whole life until now…and this guy wanted her to travel into space? She felt a little overwhelmed by the whole thing – but now was her chance to start a decent career, one that she would enjoy.

“I’ll do it.”
—
“I am so…bored.”

Mate stared out over the landscape outside her apartment building, her hands on the permanently sealed glass window. She wished that she could open that window, feel the stiff breeze she knew was blowing this high up off the ground. It would be almost like…flying.

She turned away from the window, feeling a little disgusted with herself for wanting to live in such an ultra-modern place. It left her encased in a giant glass bubble, having no contact with nature.

“Are you bored too?” Mate walked over to a poster on the wall of her apartment, staring at Supergirl, and then into the drawn landscape below, wishing she could somehow step through the glass covering the poster and fly alongside the heroine. “No, you’re life’s exciting, isn’t it? No paperwork, lots of adventure–”

Mate paused as she heard a knock on the door. It was the pizza she ordered! She raced to the door quickly, grabbing her purse along the way. She opened the door with one hand as she dug for money in her purse. “I got it…hold on.”

She froze suddenly as she noticed a larger then normal shadow looming over her – this was no pizza delivery. She looked up to see three men standing in front of her, one holding duct tape and another holding a baseball bat.

“Uh-oh.”

Mate slammed the door suddenly, and raced over to the window – before she realized, once again, that it was sealed. She quickly snatched her cordless phone as she heard the men pounding on the door – and found that her phone was dead.

“No…No–” Mate raced into the bathroom and slammed the door quickly as she heard the three men bursting through the entrance door and racing through her apartment. She looked around the room quickly and noticed only that the shower was dripping…

She took a deep breath as she held her hands out ahead of her, toward the door. She closed her eyes, and began to think about the ocean – the merciless tide washing over the beach again and again, taking anything in it’s wake out to sea. She could hear the roar of the ocean as her fingers began to feel cold, like her hands had been immersed in ice. She began to shiver a little as the cold sensation quickly worked it’s way up her arms to her head…and she could smell a refreshing ocean breeze, and feel it blowing through her hair.

By the time Mate opened her eyes the three men lay unconscious on her bathroom floor, in a large pool of water in front of her – seawater, to be exact. She held her hands in front of her and noticed that they were wet, and smelled of the sea. She smiled to herself – the power of the ocean saved her again.
—
“Kevin, there’s a GiW agent here to see you.”

“Thank you, Lisa. Give me a minute.” Kevin began turning off all of the monitors in his office quickly. He tried to remain calm, but he was very nervous – he knew that the fact that a GiW agent was visiting the satellite office meant they might be on to him.

He looked up slowly as a shadowed female form entered his office. As soon as she passed underneath the single recessed light in his office, he turned pale. “Sarah?”

“Dad?” Sarah turned pale as well, as she approached Kevin’s desk. She was shaking – her first mission, as Seish assigned it, was to escort the ’employee in charge of monitoring’ to GiW headquarters to be disciplined for abusing GiW resources. But she had no idea it was…him.

“Sarah…I–”

“No–” Sarah turned away from Kevin quickly, her face full of confusion and pain. “Don’t even talk to me, Dad. I know what you’ve been up to. Seish told me all about it.”

“Honey, I was just trying to help you.” Kevin hung his head and looked down at his desk as he spoke.

“You’ve always done this, Dad!” Sarah slammed her hand down on his desk, both to emphasize her anger and to get his attention. “You tried to scheme my way into the best high school, the best college, the cheerleading squad…and every time, you’ve failed, and made my life miserable!”

“Sarah, I’m so sorry–”

“No more!” Sarah leaned in closer as Kevin bowed his head further. “You’re always sorry, after it’s too late! You know what you’re going to do? You’re going to turn yourself in, and face the consequences. Because you owe it to me, Dad.”

“Sarah…I was wrong.” Kevin looked up slowly, his eyes red from tears he was too proud…or too afraid…to shed. “Please forgive me. I…love you.”

“Oh, Dad–” Sarah suddenly reached across the desk and hugged Kevin, a hug which was immediately returned, as tears began to fill her eyes as well. “I love you too. I promise, I’ll ask Seish to go easy on you.”

“No, Sarah…Take me to Seish. Do your job.” Kevin stood up slowly, holding Sarah’s hand gently as he headed toward the door. “There has been enough interference between us. Let me take care of this myself.”

Words were no longer necessary as Kevin and Sarah, holding hands tightly, headed toward the shuttle which would transport them back to GiW headquarters. People stared as they went – they knew Kevin was in trouble. But he didn’t even notice or care – the only thing he saw was Sarah.
—
“What have you to say for yourself?” Seish looked directly at Kevin as he spoke, before glancing at Mate and Sarah momentarily.

“I…I’m guilty. I’m so sorry, Seish. I’m sorry, Mate.” Kevin took a deep breath before he continued. “I didn’t mean it to be personal…I just wanted to help my daughter.”

Seish glanced at Sarah again. “It seems she did fine by herself, Kevin. I’ve given her a job in the monitoring department. She’ll be watching those big screens you see below.”

“I know, I know. I’m so sorry.” Kevin bowed his head to avoid Seish’s penetrating gaze. “I suppose…I’m fired now, right?”

“On the contrary, I’m giving you a raise.”

“Wh-What?” Kevin looked at Seish, confusion on his face. “But…I don’t deserve it.”

“You managed to track one of our agents for days.” Seish sat down at his desk, putting his white sneakers up on a nearby shelf. “That’s something not even the government has been able to do. If you can do that, you can track anyone, or anything. You’re a huge asset to GiW, and we don’t want to lose you.”

Kevin froze for a moment, speechless, before looking at Sarah. “Did you–”

“No, she didn’t”, Seish interrupted, “I’ve planned this all for some time. I knew you would respond well to a visit from your daughter. I never wanted to fire you, Kevin, I just wanted to save you from yourself. I wanted you to face what you’ve done.”

“Thank you, so much.” Kevin jumped to his feet and reached across the desk to shake Seish’s hand.

Seish didn’t even get up as he reached over and shook Kevin’s hand. “You’re welcome. Now everyone…get back to work.”

Kevin smiled as he headed for the door, hugging Sarah quickly on the way out. He then held out his hand to Mate. “I hope you can forgive me one day.”

Mate smiled. “That day is today, Kevin. I’ve seen how your daughter loves you. I’m sure you meant well.”

As Kevin and Sarah left the room quietly, heading to their new jobs, Mate looked at Seish and smiled. “You didn’t really plan this all along, did you?”

Seish laughed. “No, not really. I just sent Sarah to Kevin’s office to see what would happen. I had no idea it would turn out this well. Get to work, Mate.”

Mate shook her head as she left Seish’s office. Just when she thought Seish was strange…he would become even stranger. She had no idea if she’d ever understand him – but it sure was fun to try.