Marvel/DC Comics Presents #18

Power Girl

Earth-2

Metropolis

Stark Tower

30th Floor

“And that my friends, is the end of our inaugural meeting of Starr Enterprises. We maybe a small tech startup today, but we have a bright future and plenty of room to grow. Thank you.” Karen Starr said as she stood and looked into the eyes of her employees. The boardroom was formal with a large brown oval table in the center that felt as though it belonged to a more traditional company. The less than a handful of attendants had young, eager faces before her. They rose from their seats in regular street clothes of T-shirts and jeans.

“Miss Starr,” a bubbly young woman called out as she came forward from the leaving group. “I must say that I am fired up for to work for you. I… I’m just so excited to be starting this…”

Karen adjusted her glasses as she fished for an answer to such a smiling and eager employee. The plump young woman stood yet seemed to inch closer as she spoke.

“Karen? Karen?” a female voice called from the doorway. “I need you for a moment.”

Karen saw her personal assistant, Dany, waiting within the doorway. “Excuse me a moment, uh, Susie? I have a million things to do and my assistant is nicely reminding me. You have a lot to do as well. We’ll continue this talk another time. Ok?”

“Oh,” Susie said, “I’m just rambling on. You’re right. I got a million things to do. We’ll talk later, ok?”

After Susie left the room, Dany closed the door behind her and walked over to Karen. “Girl, you looked like you needed rescuing. I see you’ve met the chatty Kathy of this ship you’re sailing.”

“I have,” Karen replied, “and thank you for the rescue.”

“You’re most welcome! I do have a few messages for you.”

“Let me have it.”

“Well, your 11 o’clock appointment with IT about the servers is in doubt. They are having an issue on their end and may have to cancel. Personally, I think they will. Your other scheduled meetings after lunch are on task. You did have a phone call from Andrew Vinson while you were in the meeting. He said for you to call him back.”

“Andy? Did he say what the call was for?”

Dany started smiling with a Cheshire smile, “No, Mr. Vinson didn’t say what he wanted you for. Want me to call him back for you? Maybe set up a personal lunch date for two? Or would you rather it be a dinner date… I mean meeting.”

“Alright, that’s enough. Mister Vinson and I’s affairs are not for you to worry about. I’m a big girl, I can handle our meetings myself.”

“Alright, I’ll wait for your signal if you need my help. In the meantime, I suggest you call him back. That call was only 15 minutes ago.”

“Right,” Karen said as she rushed off to her office. Within seconds she closed the door to her office and went over to her desk. She sat back in her chair and dialed Andy’s number.

“Hello?”

“Andy?”

“Kara! I was trying to get ahold of you, but your assistant said you were in a meeting.”

“Everything alright?”

“Yes and no. I’m fine, but the job got me following these Latverian refugees that are seeking asylum. I’m sure you know about their struggles leaving Latveria after Lord Havok's coup. Well after days of legal wrangling, their boat was accepted by the US. Job's got me covering their acceptance. Don’t know how long this assignment is going to take. I’m afraid I’m going to have to postpone our movie night.”

“Latverian refugees are there? Where?”

“Ellis Island. Looks as though the government is making their acceptance into the country a symbolic affair. Got the press and news cameras here."

“That should get under Lord Havok’s skin or armor in his case. I’m sure UBS News’ star reporter can find a way to satisfy…”

“Oh my God!”

“What? What is it, Andy?”

“Kara! Get here quick! Some guys in masks and guns have…”

“Andy? Andy? Hello?”

The call ended. Before it did, Kara heard the faint sounds of guns being prepared to fire.

Kara quickly called Dany into her office.

“Dany, I got an emergency to deal with.”

Dany eyes widened, “Karen emergency or P.G. emergency?”

“Technically, both with Andy there, but leaning more towards P.G. I need for you to reschedule my afternoon appointments. If my cousin calls, tell him I’m at Ellis Island.” Then Karen turned in a high speed twirl into her Power Girl uniform and quickly went to her office window and flew out.

In a matter of minutes, a red, white, and blue blur streaked towards Ellis Island. Upon reaching her destination, Power Girl hovered high in the sky above the island and used her X-Ray and Telescopic Vision simultaneously to assess the situation.

“Four masked men with machine guns. Scratch that, six. About twenty people huddled against the wall. I’m sure Andy is one of them. Time to listen in.”

Inside the main building, four masked men with machine guns had their weapons pointed at their hostages. The sounds of women and children sobbing and crying filled the building’s main hall. Andy huddled closer to a mother and young infant daughter in the hopes of shielding them if the situation became violent. A fifth man began shouting at the cameraman and his reporter to come over to where he was. Then he began ordering them to start taping his message to the world.

“You will tape our demands,” He said, “or this one will be the first casualty.” Coolly he pointed his gun at the female reporter who was teary eyed at the gun at her face.

The cameraman nodded his compliance and hastily set up his camera. Once he was prepared the cameraman gave notice that he was filming.

The masked man, speaking with a noticeable Eastern European accent, said, “We of the Sons of Latveria are here to seek retribution against the traitors to our sovereign, Lord Havok. These traitors have dared to come to his enemies seeking asylum from our beloved leader’s gracious hand. Our demands are simple. Your government will supply us with a ship and we will leave your shores and return these traitors to Latveria to stand trial. If our demands are not met, then we will commence with summary judgment and the judgment is death. You have 30 minutes to decide.”

Among the hostages huddled against the wall, Andy placed himself between the guns and a young mother holding her child. His heart pounding almost outside of his chest. The terror and fears of everyone around him. He whispered under his breath, “Kara, if you are nearby to hear me, you need to do something soon.”

As if on cue, Andy overheard a distress tone of voice from the masked man who made the demands. He was speaking to someone on a walkie talkie and appeared distressed over their silence. Then he motioned for one of the gunmen to leave his place facing the hostages and took his place. A few minutes later, the leader grew worried and gave a command to the others in their language. The masked men all trained their weapons on the hostages who immediately began to scream.

Andy closed his eyes and covered the mother and child and silently prayed that they would be spared with his sacrifice. The clicks of the machine guns turned into loud pops. As the men fired their guns, Andy realized that he didn’t feel hot lead bombard his body as he envisioned. He looked over and saw a blur of colors in motion protecting them from the machine gun fire. The bullets were falling down like metal rain on the floor. When the barrage stopped, the blur stopped in front of the hostages revealing themselves to be Power Girl.

“Gentlemen,” Power Girl said as she stood guard of the hostages, “you have one chance to surrender before someone, namely all of you, gets hurt.”

Instead of answering in words, the masked men tried to quickly rearm their guns.

“Can’t say that I didn’t see that coming,” Power Girl sighed and said as she quickly grabbed all the guns out of their hands and promptly knocked them out one at a time with a tap to the head.

Andy let out a sigh of relief, “You had me worried there.” Power Girl turned towards the Latverian refugees and said in their language that they were safe.

“I’m glad I got here in time,” she said as walked over to Andy. The young Latverian mother that he covered with tears in her eyes gave her gratitude to Power Girl. She smiled at the young woman then her eyes turned to young child in her arms. His big teary eyes looked at her with a sense of unspoken comfort. "Your son?" she asked the young mother.

"Yes. Would you like to hold him?" the young mother asked.

Power Girl nodded her answer and gently took the young boy into her arms. "Hey there little guy! Auntie Power Girl will make sure you and your mommy are safe."

The chubby faced child smiled a wide smile that brought a warmth to Power Girl that was unexpected. She remembered another little boy from a world far away long gone. He laughed at her jokes. Hugged her tight with a warmth that melted her soul. A child that was no more. A world that was no more. A love lost.

Andy noticed a change in her demeanor as she held the child in her arms. The dark-haired child, who appeared to be no more than two years old, affected her. “Power Girl?” Andy said as he tried to get her attention.

Power Girl looked to Andy and he was surprised to see her eyes begin to well up with tears. “I-I have to go now. The police will be coming in shortly.” She gave the young boy back to his mother and began to rush out of the building with Andy following behind her. As he exited the building, she was already flying away towards the city with a quiet haste. Andy shouted for her to wait, but she flew on at high speed.

For almost an hour, Power Girl flew around Metropolis aimlessly. She then landed on a rooftop and sat on the edge.

“Penny for your thoughts?” a male voice said behind her.

Kara turned around to see Hyperion floating towards her. “Oh, I guess you saw my little display back there.”

The red and gold clad masked hero took a seat next to her on the rooftop edge. He paused for a moment before saying, “About the terrorists back there and what happened after? Yes.”

“You were watching the whole time?” Power Girl asked.

“Don’t worry, I knew you could handle it. This time. I’m grateful that there were no broken bones or excessive property damage.”

“Hey! I kept my cool and remembered what you told me about keeping my perhaps more aggressive side in check. I even gave those guys a love tap instead of cracked skulls. You could’ve been at least proud of that.”

“I am. You’ve come a long way this past year and a half.”

“Thank you. Since landing here and being taken care of by you and Lois, and meeting Andy, and starting a life for myself here on Earth, I thought I’d gotten past losing my home and family by now. But when I saw the little baby back there, it all came flooding back.”

“The baby reminded you of Krypton?”

Power Girl wiped a tear before answering, “Yes. I was just 10 years old when my father sent me before Krypton exploded. I still remember my life there. I remember how beautiful my mother was and how serious and silly my father could be. He always made me smile. Seeing the baby reminded me of when I used to babysit my young cousin Kal-El at my Uncle Jor-El and Aunt Lara’s home. He was such a beautiful little boy. Now they’re all gone.”

“Sometimes I forget how much you experienced Krypton compared to me. Like your father, my parents sent me away too, but I was just a baby. I didn’t get the chance to experience life on Krypton or what my people, the Eternals, were like in person. They sent very little with me about them.”

“But you made up for it with your Earth parents. You got to grow up and make new memories of your own here. You weren’t alone.”

“Neither are you. Like you said, you got me, Lois, Andy, and your friends. We’re your family now. I may not be of your blood, but you will always be family to me. You…”

Before Hyperion could finish his words, Power Girl gave him a big hug. In that embrace, her breathing eased as she began to shed her sorrow of the past.

The pair stood up and began to float slowly upwards.

“Most of the day is gone,” Power Girl said noticing the sun’s position in the sky. “I need to call Dany about how the business did without me. Plus I need to check with Andy to see if we’re still on for movie night tonight.”

"Before you do any of that, I need for you to come with me for a moment,"

"Where?"

"You'll see. C'mon." Hyperion said as he began to fly higher into the atmosphere. Power Girl flew closely behind as they went further into the upper limits of the atmosphere. Blue skies grew darker and changed from azure to the dark of night. Now above the Earth, Hyperion flew on then adjusted his path to a strange speck in the distance.

Power Girl was puzzled and stopped in an area where there was still a little bit of air to shout, "Hyperion! Wait! Wait a minute! I'm not flying any further until you tell me what's going on!"

Hyperion turned back and flew to her. Then he reached to his ear and said, "Two for transport."

In an instant there was a flash and the pair were transported. In less than a second, Power Girl realized that they were now in what appeared to be a station of some sort. There was a cool breathable air and the gravity felt closely to that of Earth level. The tech around her seemed a mix of alien systems from Kryptonian to Skrullian at first glance. "Mark, what is going on?" she said angrily using his Earth name.

Hyperion gave a big smile and said, "Welcome to JSA headquarters! This is our new satellite HQ. This is the Watchtower."

Then a male voice came over a loudspeaker, "Welcome you two!, Tin Man here. Glad to see the teleport didn't bring you here inside out. Kara, welcome..."

"Arno! I haven't told her yet!" Hyperion interrupted.

"Oh! Carry on. Don't mind me."

Hyperion sighed. "I may have to hurt him if he spilled what I have to tell you."

"Mark," Power Girl said clenched teeth and a noticeable tightening of her fist. "If you don't tell me what is going on I will have to hurt you."

"Okay, okay! I'm just going to cut to the chase, you've graduated! We want you to join the Justice Squadron of America. You've more than earned it now."

Power Girl's jaw dropped as she stared at Hyperion, "You want me in the JSA?"

"Yes. Will you join us?"

"I...I...I..."

"This is a side I'm not familiar seeing in you."

Power Girl took a few breaths and then paced in a small circle. After a short pause she turned to Hyperion and said, "I'll have to pass at this time. I got Starr Enterprises to get off the ground right now. I can't commit now. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I figured you might say that, but I had to give it a shot. Your handling of the terrorists today showed that you're ready. You're ready for the next step. However, I understand your answer, but the invitation is always open to you. I cna give you a quick tour?"

'Thank you. Can I stay here for awhile? You guys got quite a view up here and..." As Power Girl looked out at the view of Earth she saw what seemed like an odd shimmer outside of the station. It appeared like an odd distortion that lasted for barely a second then disappeared.

Puzzled at her distraction, Hyperion said, "Kara?"

"Oh," she said snapping out of it, "sorry, thought I saw something outside for a second. Maybe a tour would be better right now. Show me around on what I'm missing."

As the pair went further into the satellite, outside the shimmer that was seen a moment ago reappeared further away. The shimmer took on a bluish and green mix. As it quietly moved away from the satellite and towards Earth, a cold, detached voice spoke from it and said, "Fascinating."