Lightning In The Night

The following is a work of erotic fiction and includes scenes of sexual activity. It includes characters that are copyrighted by DC Comics. This story is intended for the non-commercial enjoyment of fans and should be considered a parody . No copyright infringement is intended and no profit will be made from the distribution of this story.

The tall, pretty brunette walked, full of confidence, into the office waiting room. It was a confidence that faded just a bit as she saw the long line of equally beautiful young women that had gotten there ahead of her. Walking up to the receptionist's desk, the twenty-five year old started to introduce herself to the older woman but was cut off as the seated blond handed her a small handful of forms.

"Put your name on the waiting list, then have a seat and fill these out," she said, not even looking up from the magazine she was reading. "When it's time for your interview, they'll call you."

Not used to being ignored, the dark haired girl was about to say something, but then thought better of it. For better or worse, the woman behind the desk was the absolute master of her domain. Unless the brunette wanted her name to go on the bottom of the list, if not be lost entirely, the practical thing to do was just swallow the insult and do what she was told.

It was amazing how much information they wanted to know on a simple interview form, she thought. Especially since there was no guarantee that you would even get an interview. The television station had issued an open call to fill a spot on the early morning talk and news show, and it seemed like every out of work reporter or actress in the city had decided to try out for it. They had stressed that applicants need not be experienced. They were looking for someone fresh and new. Thinking she had faced far worse hurdles, the new arrival took out a pen from her purse and started to fill out the forms.

"A real bitch isn't she?" said the voice of the girl sitting next to her.

"Excuse me?" the brunette said, looking up from the forms she was filling out.

"The receptionist," the other girl, also a brunette, clarified. "There's no reason for her to be so rude. The way she's treating everyone makes you want to just pick her up and toss her out the window."

"Something like that," the first girl said, a smile filling her face as if she was enjoying a secret joke.

"My name's Mary," the second girl said. "Mary Bromfield."

"Linda Danvers," came the reply. "Nice to meet you.

"The same here," Mary said. "Have you been interested in television journalism long?"

"I took some courses in college," Linda answered, "but it was really my cousin who got me interested. He's a print journalist back east."

"That's interesting," Mary replied. "My kid brother is a radio reporter in the Midwest."

"Well maybe that'll be lucky for one of us," Linda said.

With Mary's help, it took a lot less time to fill out the endless forms than Linda had first thought. Despite the little fact that they were competing for the same job, she couldn't help but like the other girl. They were only a year apart in age, with Mary being the younger. Linda was a little taller, by only by an inch or so. Both had well-developed, athletic bodies and in a room of attractive women, both stood out as fresh and clean rather then glamorous. Hopefully what was what the producers were looking for.

The wait turned into an hour, then an hour and a half. The two young women took to time to get better acquainted. During that time, they drew the curious stares of more than one of the other waiting applicants. Evidently, they weren't used to friendly chatter during auditions. Not when the person you were chatting with might use something they learned about you to get the job you wanted.

"Excuse me ladies, can I have your attention?" the receptionist said in a loud voice as she put down the phone receiver she had been talking into and stood up from her desk. "I'm afraid that the rest of the interviews have been canceled. The producers have already decided on their choice."

A number of loud groans filled the room, along with a few low expletives. Absorbed in her conversation with Mary, Linda hadn't noticed which of the girl's around her had been the last called for an interview. Looking at the closed door to the inner office for a moment, she wondered whom the producers had chosen.

"It figures," she said to the empty air.

"What figures?" Mary asked, wondering what her new friend meant.

As if in reply to the question, the newest member of Good Morning San Pablo stepped through the now open office door. Rather than the All American Girl image that they originally had claimed they were looking for, the final choice looked more like yet another of the California beach bunnies that flooded the airways . Blond haired, tanned and stacked with an over abundant bust, she almost cried out airhead rather than journalist.

"What are you staring at?" Mary asked, seeing the intensity of Linda's gaze.

"I guess I just wanted to see if she managed to clean off her mouth after she finished her interview," Linda said in frustration.

"That's wicked," Mary laughed softly.

"I shouldn't have said that," Linda said a moment later. "It sounds so petty."

"I guess so," Mary responded. "Then again, who knows, it might be true."

Now Linda had to laugh.

"Maybe we should've come as blondes," Mary noted as they got up to leave.

"Maybe I should've," Linda replied, again smiling as if hiding a secret.

Leaving the office building, the two seemed reluctant to have their chance meeting come to an end. Mary suggested that if Linda didn't have anything else to do, maybe they could get some lunch. Not feeling the least bit hungry, Linda replied that she was famished.

At a small restaurant around the corner from the television station, Linda and Mary continued to learn more about each other. Both of them had been orphans and both had the good fortune to be later adopted by wonderful people. Both had grown up in the Mid-West and other parts of their backgrounds were similar enough for them to almost be sisters. Each seemed to look at life's problems in much the same way.

The conversation moved from subject to subject, until Mary decided to take a chance and ask what had been on her mind since meeting the other brunette.

"Linda, can I ask you a personal question?" she said, glancing over her shoulder to be sure the people at the next table couldn't hear her.

"Of course."

"Are you seeing anyone?" Mary asked. "I mean, what I guess I really should be asking is, how do you feel about other women?"

"Other women, as in relationships," Linda replied cautiously. "Other women as in dating?"

"I guess that's what I mean," Mary admitted, a touch of worry in her voice. "If I'm way over the line here, just tell me. I hope I haven't offended you because that's the last thing I'd ever want to do. It's just that since the moment that we met this morning, I've been getting the strangest vibe from you. I can't really explain it, but it's there. That, and the fact that I think you have the most beautiful eyes that I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever met anyone with eyes that blue."

"It's a family trait," Linda said, ignoring the rest of Mary's statement for the moment. "My cousin has the same color eyes."

"I guess I should take that answer as your way of letting me off the hook for what else I said," Mary said, noting what response the woman across from her didn't give.

Linda paused for a long moment, thinking that maybe silence was the best answer to give. It would be so easy to simply say that Mary was mistaken in those vibes that she had felt. The only problem was, Linda had felt them too.

"I have been in a few relationships with other women," Linda finally said. "They don't seem to work out for me, at least not in the long run."

"Could I ask why?" the younger woman asked.

Now an even longer pause filled the air. Linda had never told anyone why her most serious relationships had failed. But something made her want to tell Mary. Something told her that this woman sitting across from her might understand.

"A few years back," Linda started to explain, "I fell in love with a woman named Susan Wienczorkowski. She was a police officer back in Metropolis. I met her while I was visiting my cousin. Things were great in the beginning, as I guess things usually are. But then we began to have problem. Actually, I was the one who began to have problems.

I found myself becoming overprotective and constantly worried about her. You see I lost my family and all of the people I loved in ... in a disaster when I was younger. I guess that made me fear losing Susan as well."

"What happened?"

"One weekend, after we'd been together for a while, we had a big argument about it. She said she couldn't do her job with me constantly trying to watch out for her. It was a bad time for it all to come to a head. I had to go out of town that night, so I promised her we'd try and straighten it all out when I got back."

"Did you?"

Linda stopped her story for a few heartbeats. From the look on her face, Mary knew the story didn't have a happy ending.

"Susan as a member of the Special Crimes Unit and that night, they responded to a building collapse. It turned out that there was a child that had somehow been missed when the original Fire Department units had evacuated the building. Ignoring the danger, she went in after her. The little girl made it out, Susan didn't. I got home as fast as I could when I heard about it, but it was too late."

"I'm so sorry," Mary said, "but even if you had been there, there was nothing you could've done. That was her decision, her life, and you have to accept that."

"There was something I could have done," Linda said, but didn't explain further.

"And there's been no one since?" Mary asked.

"Actually there was," Linda went on, seeming to feel relieved to finally share this with someone, even someone who had been a total stranger only hours before. "I met Barbara a year later, after a few meaningless affairs that didn't go anywhere. In a way she was a lot like Susan, but different enough for me to fall in love all over again."

"Was she also a police officer?"

"Not exactly," Linda said. "More like a private detective of sorts."

"And what happened with Barbara?"

"Pretty much the same thing that happened with Susan," Linda explained. "Everything was fine in the beginning, but then I began to become obsessed with her safety. If anything, what she did was even more dangerous than Susan. There were a few incidents where I sort of burst into the middle of her cases, trying to help out. In the end, we both decided that splitting up was the best thing to do."

So now you've just given up?" Mary concluded.

"On relationships, yes."

"Do you have these same problems with men, or do you only date women?" asked the younger woman.

"There have been a few men in my life that I felt my equal, just as there have also been a few women," Linda replied. "Just none that I ever fell in love with."

"Then you just have to keep looking," Mary smiled. "After all, new people come into your life every day. Look at me. When we both got up this morning, we had no idea who the other was. Now, when we go to bed tonight, we've already become part of the other's lives."

"Are you speaking figuratively or are you that confident in your charm?" Linda finally smiled back.

"Let's just say that I have a strong belief in magic," Mary returned with her own smile.

Linda wasn't sure if it was magic, or maybe simply the reluctance to abandon the hope that the next relationship might be different. Surprising herself, she agreed to have dinner with Mary the following night.

"Would you like to share a cab?" Mary asked as they exited the restaurant. "I'm headed uptown."

"No thanks, I have an afternoon appointment over on the West Side," Linda said as she looked at her watch and realized that she was running late. "I really have to fly."

"Okay," Mary smiled as she waved her hand to flag down a taxi that quickly pulled over to the curb. Before she climbed inside, the long haired brunette turned back to Linda and gave her the warmest smile she could manage and said, "I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night."

As she watched Mary's cab pull out into the afternoon traffic, Linda hoped she wasn't making a big mistake. The way her social life had gone these past few years, she could be running right into another disaster. Then again, Mary's comments about taking a risk did sound right. Either way, it was something she'd worry about later. Right now, she really did have to fly.

Slipping into the small alleyway between the restaurant and the next building, Linda glanced around to make sure that she was totally alone. Aside from the pigeons on the roof, it was as private a place as she could managed in the middle of the city.

In a blur of motion too fast for normal vision to follow, her conservative brown skirt and jacket faded from view, to be replaced by a blue and red outfit familiar the world over. Hair, now blond, draped down above a long sleeved and form fitting blue shirt, the centerpiece of which was an irregular red and yellow pentagon with a stylized "S" in the center. Matching red skirt and boots, coupled with a flowing red cape, completed the ensemble.

Standing five seven and just a hundred and twenty pounds, the young woman projected an image of quiet strength. With sure, powerful steps, she bounded down the alley, then leapt into the air like a swimmer off a diving board. Unlike a swimmer, she didn't drop back to earth but rather took to the sky as if she had been born to it. In a way, she had been.

High over the city, Kara Zor-El, known around the world these last few years as Supergirl, soared across the small municipality by the ocean. Nowhere else did she ever feel as free as here among the clouds. There were perhaps less then thirty individuals in the world who could share the feeling as the sun washed across your face and the wind blew back your hair in quite the same way. It was at times like this that she pitied those earthbound thousands that passed under her wake.

The quickness of her flight more than made up for the lateness of her start. With a little time now to kill, the Girl of Steel continued out over the Pacific and kept pace with a school of Dolphins for a few minutes. Born on the last remnant of a long dead world, Kara appreciated the fact that the Delphinidae were an intelligent race in their own right. A fact that seemed lost on the humans that covered most of the globe.

Emitting a cry that was, as close to goodbye in the sonic language that anyone without fins was ever going to manage, Kara waved to her playmates and headed east, back over the city.

Kara had just passed over the waterfront on her way to the west side when the sound of a distant explosion caught her attention. Reacting automatically, she banked her flight sharply, catching sight of a cloud of bright orange smoke that was just beginning to rise in the distance. In less time then it took to think about it, the last Daughter of Krypton's phenomenal memory created a map of the city in her mind and plotted the location of the explosion on it.

"Rao help me," she called out to the empty air as she pivoted and dove in the direction of the ascending cloud. "That's S.T.A.R. Labs!"

Moving at just under the speed of sound, lest her wake leave a trail of shattered windows behind her, Supergirl arrived at the growing conflagration in seconds. Past experience had taught her that even a minor disturbance at any S.T.A.R. Labs facility could lead to catastrophic results.

The scientists at S.T.A.R Labs were on the cutting edge of human technology, and sometimes just a little beyond it. As was true with scientists of every generation, S.T.A.R. Labs sometimes experimented with elements that mankind was neither ready for, nor fully understood.

As her feet touched the ground, Supergirl could measure the level of panic by the fact that her arrival at the research facility had gone totally unnoticed. Dozens of white-coated men and women were running out of a large granite and steel building. The same structure that had just had half its roof blown off and was the source of the smoke column that drew her here. They didn't seem to have any goal other than to simply get away. From the looks on many of their faces, they really didn't believe that their running away was going to make a great deal of difference in their fate.

The girl in blue and red's first impulse was to grab the closest body in white in the hope that they could tell her what was happening. Then she discarded that thought, figuring that she could just as well wind up with some grad student who didn't have a clue. No, she had a better idea.

"What is going on here?" Supergirl shouted at the top of her lungs.

The force of her voice carried across the compound like a shockwave, causing many of the fleeing scientists and engineers to momentarily pause. It was a hesitation just long enough for many of them to become aware of her presence.

"Supergirl, thank God you're here," an older white haired man off to Kara's left said as he ran up to her. The small nameplate on his lab coat read Dr. Alexander Papolov, and beneath that, Director of Operations. "Now, just maybe, there's a chance."

"Just tell me what's going on, and what I can do to help, Doctor," Supergirl said in a calm, controlled voice. "And please try and keep it simple and direct."

In had been Supergirl's past experience that given the chance, even in an emergency, many scientists would go into far too much detail when asked to explain what they were working on. More so when they knew they were speaking to someone from a much more technologically advanced civilization than their own. The only problem with that was that despite the fact that both her father and her uncle had been two of Krypton's greatest minds, Kara herself was no scientist. Oh she could utilize all the marvels that her culture had to offer, but don't ever ask her to explain how most of them worked.

"It's the Darkstar Impulse Engine that we were working on for NASA," Doctor Papolov said in an excited voice. "The reaction control system overloaded and the engine itself is building to a point of self detonation."

"Self detonation," Supergirl repeated. "You mean another explosion like the one that blew off the roof?"

"The roof?" the bearded scientist said, surprised that the Girl of Steel didn't understand the gravity of what he was saying. "If that engine overloads, you are going to see an explosion in the one to two kiloton range."

"How do I stop it?" Supergirl asked, quickly realizing that the situation was worse than she originally thought.

"You can't stop it," the Doctor quickly replied, "you can only remove it."

"Then it's out of here," she said as she took a step toward the building.

"Supergirl, wait!" he called out to her.

"Doctor, there isn't time," she called back.

"Exactly, there isn't time," he repeated. "When you take out the engine, the high pressure coolant and fuel lines are sure to rupture. There is simply no time to try and secure them because once they're removed, the engine will go critical in less than a minute. The coolant will have no place to go except into the atmosphere. Those fumes from the coolant are as toxic as anything you might imagine. In addition, the fuel is likewise highly explosive."

"Any more good news, Doctor," Supergirl said as she took a deep breath. "I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't."

"I just wanted you to know exactly what you where dealing with," Doctor Papolov said.

"I'll try and get back as quick as I can after I get rid of the engine," Supergirl said as she flew into the burning building, knowing that people were going to die no matter what she did. All she could do was try and make the number as low as possible.

Entering the tall three-story test chamber, Supergirl found the room illuminated with a searing blue-white light that hurt even her eyes. She could feel the fiery radiation washing across her skin and hoped that the S.T.A.R. Scientists hadn't chanced across something new that was going to defy her near invulnerability.

Surprisingly, the engine itself was only a dozen feet long and half as wide. She could make out the connecting fuel and coolant lines and once again wondered if there was anyway she could seal them off after disconnecting the engine. The answer was the same as before. There simply wasn't enough time. In order to take care of both, she'd have to be in two places at once.

"Rao help me get back before it's too late," the Maid of Might said as she ripped out all the connections and supports holding the Darkstar in place. No sooner had she done so, the level of energy pouring out from the engine jumped dramatically.

Taking a firm grip on the half-ton unit, Supergirl lifted it up over her head and taking once more to the skies, pushed it out of the large hole in the roof. Exiting the building, she could already hear the rushing coolant pouring out of the now shattered conduits.

Higher and faster she went, this time cracking the sound barrier without hesitation. The sky grew dark around her and still she went on. Already beyond the point where the resulting explosion would harm anyone on the ground, she had to make sure that the resultant debris didn't become a future hazard to manned and unmanned spacecraft. Mankind had taken the first steps to becoming a space faring race, and the dark void was a dangerous enough place without her adding to it.

"Now!" her mind screamed as she gave the now weightless engine a powerful push and sent it hurling across the blackness on its own.

Scant seconds later, the darkness gave way to a searing, silent light as the Darkstar died an incendiary death and a miniature star appeared in its place. A star that quickly faded as all its energy dissipated in the agony of its birth. A deadly wave of radiation washed over the point from which Supergirl had sent the Darkstar on its maiden and only trip into the void, but it passed on harmlessly to soon dissipate. Supergirl had left that spot far behind her, already entering the upper atmosphere as fast as she was able to fly.

"Forty-five seconds," she thought as she plummeted through the clouds. "it's been forty-five seconds since those coolant lines broke."

She knew that even in those brief ticks of the clock, the toxic gases could've already claimed lives. A new plan of action formed in her mind as S.T.A.R. Labs came once more into view and she reduced her velocity lest she crash through the pavement when she landed.

As her feet once more touched the ground of her adopted world, Supergirl steeled herself to face the possibility that she might be too late to save a number of people. Or that she might even have to ignore some people who might otherwise have been saved while she took care of the source of the danger.

What she wasn't ready for was the image that confronted her. Her words from before echoed in her head. "What is going on here?"

All around her were dozens of S.T.A.R. Labs personnel, hale and healthy. According to the picture Doctor Papolov had painted, most of these people should've been gasping their last breaths by now.

"Not that I'm complaining, Doctor," Supergirl said as she spotted the Director of Operations, "but what didn't happen?"

"I don't understand it either," the obviously relieved scientist said. "By all rights, many of us should be dead."

Turning her telescopic and x-ray vision on the now half collapsed test building, Supergirl was astonished to discover that every shattered fuel and coolant line had been squeezed off. It seemed unbelievable that debris of the collapsing building could have closed off every one. Yet seeing was believing.

"I don't even want to try and imagine the odds of something like that happening," Papolov said after Supergirl described to him what she had seen. "There was an explosion as you lifted out of the building, one of the fuel lines igniting I would think, then nothing. The rest of the roof must've come down and sealed off the lines. It's a second miracle."

"A second miracle?" Supergirl asked. "What was the first?"

"Why you and your arrival here, my dear young lady," the older man said, his old world manner returning now that the danger had passed.

"I'm not a miracle," she said quietly.

It always bothered her when people thought of her as such. She might have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, but they were the result of the natural laws of physics and not the result of divine intervention. No, she wasn't an angel by any means, not even one sent by Rao.

Rao had been the name of Krypton's God, and it seemed as normal for Kara to seek his help as it did for an Earthdweller to invoke any of the many names they had for their own Deity. The names weren't as important as the beliefs they espoused.

"I'd like to stay around and give you a hand with the cleanup but..." Supergirl said as she remembered her now overdue appointment.

"Nonsense," Doctor Papolov said, his voice now containing an element of cheer. "You've done more than enough. I'm sure words are inadequate at this moment, but we are so very grateful for your help."

"That's what I'm here for," Supergirl smiled, borrowing a standard line her cousin used.

"Nevertheless, I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't shown up just when you did."

"Perhaps you might consider that when you review your safety precautions when you undertake projects like this," Supergirl added in a stronger tone, again using a phrase her cousin Kal had taught her. It was important that people, especially people in areas of responsibility, learn that people like her and Superman wouldn't always be there to save them from their mistakes.

"Yes, yes of course," Papolov quickly agreed, leaving Supergirl to wonder if he'd even remember this conversation when they planned the next test.

Supergirl had just turned to leave when she caught sight of a figure standing behind two others over by the side of the administration building. It was only a brief glimpse, but for someone with her extraordinary vision, it was more than enough.

"Mary?" she said loud enough for Doctor Papolov to hear.

"Excuse me," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry, I thought I saw someone I knew," Supergirl said as she looked again, this time scanning the area with a telescopic and x-ray sweep. "I must've been mistaken."

With that, she gestured goodbye to the Director and slowly glided into the sky. Below her, she could see the San Pablo Fire Department and other rescue agencies filling the S.T.A.R. compound.

After a few minutes of flight and a quick change of clothes, Linda Danvers walked into the offices of Stellar Cartography Incorporated. Prior to hearing about the possible opening on Good Morning San Pablo, she had sent her resume to the Space Exploration Firm looking for a job. Who better, she reasoned, to work for a company that produced maps of Outer Space than someone who had spent more time there than all of the Astronauts and Cosmonauts combined. They more than understood that she had been delayed by the near disaster over at S.T.A.R. Labs. After all, it had been the truth, even if it had been in a way they never could've imaged.

All through her interview, Linda had a hard time concentrating on the questions being asked. When they thanked her for coming in and told her they'd be in touch, she knew she had blown this opportunity as well.

The memory of that brief glimpse of the girl who looked like Mary had kept coming back to her. It was rare that her vision played tricks on her. If the girl had really been there, then she would've spotted her again during her vision scan. There was no way anyone could've gotten out of her field of vision that quickly. Had the young woman made that much of an impression on her that she was now imagining her?

True, there was something really special about her. That much Linda was ready to admit. It wasn't just that she was beautiful, although that was equally true. She had the face of an angel framed by soft long brown hair and matching brown eyes.

No, it wasn't just looks. There was something equally extraordinary behind those eyes. Long ago, back when she was a young girl in Argo City, Kara had read that the eyes were the windows to one's soul. Here on Earth, Linda had read much the same thing. What stood behind the window of Mary's eyes was still a mystery, but one which tempted the woman of two worlds in a way she hadn't felt in such a long time.

After her break up with Barbara Gordon over Kara's inability to deal with the danger the redhead constantly faced as Batgirl, Supergirl had decided that maybe she should confine her search for a companion among those the press had labeled meta-humans. Men and women who she wouldn't need to feel so protective of.

Her first choice of course would've been her cousin Kal-El. Kryptonian culture and genetics had no restrictions for the cousins to be a couple, even if Earth mores might have a problem with it. On the other hand, few people realized that the two were even related, many of them already thinking that she was his girlfriend or something. If only that had been the case, she'd told herself many times.

Unfortunately, at least for her, Kal-El thought of himself more as Clark Kent, a Child of Earth then the Last Son of Krypton. As such, he followed the morality of his upbringing and preferred the company of human women, one human woman in particular.

Kal, or Clark as he preferred to think of himself, had come to this world as an infant and was raised by humans. Kara, on the other hand, was already a young woman the night her father had bundled her into an escape rocket and sent her away from the doomed city of her birth. In the better part of the last decade, she had learned enough to live as an Earth Woman when she must, but inside she would always be a Kryptonian.

There were other men nearly as powerful as her cousin, Superman. The most notable of which was J'onn J'onzz, a member of the Justice League known as the Martian Manhunter. An alien herself, even though most people forgot that fact since she resembled normal humans, Kara had no hesitation about sharing the Martian's bed for a while prior to her relationship with Batgirl. In the long run however, the age difference proved to be too much. Using an Earth calendar as a base, Kara had been twenty-two and J'onn over a hundred and twenty-two, barely middle age by the standards of his own race.

Kara had always been attracted to women as well. It was not out of the ordinary for most Kryptonian girls to have had sexual relations with girlfriends as well as boyfriends. In her search for comfort, Supergirl had turned her attention to another member of the League.

Since the day Diana of Themyscira, more commonly know as Wonder Woman, had first met the young heroine, the Amazon warrior had made no secret of her interest in Supergirl. At five foot eleven and a hundred thirty-five pounds, the black haired heroine was easily one of the most beautiful women in the world. She'd even had a brief affair with Superman himself, considering it only natural that if she was going to be with a man, it should be the most perfect specimen possible.

From what she knew of the relationship from others, because Kal would never kiss and tell as they say, it had been both brief and fiery. Originally, just the fact that she had slept with her cousin, a man she loved and secretly lusted after like no other, was enough for Kara to shrug off the Amazon's interest. Then, in the depression following her breakup with Barbara, she lost her earlier reluctance.

For one thing, Diane definitely didn't need looking after. The result of a thousand years of warrior tradition, the Princess of Themyscira had also been gifted with the powers of some of the Olympian gods. Kara never really understood where the Olympians or any of the other gods with a small "g" fit into the ways of the universe, but she just assumed that they were just another race.

As a lesbian lover, Diana had those same thousand years of experience behind her. The Amazons had forsaken men centuries before in exchange for near immortality. Turning their love in among themselves, they had refined the art to a degree known nowhere else in the world. The only child born on their island in all that period of isolation, born not of the joining of a man and woman, but rather a being of clay brought to life by the gods, Diana had a wealth of teachers when she came of an age where she could take her first lover.

The downside to their relationship was also the result of that heritage. The daughter of Queen Hippolyta, Diana saw no reason why she should settle for only one lover. That was the point that had ended her relationship with Kal.

Kara was more liberal than her cousin, not begrudging the Princess her occasional outside fling. After all, she had hardly come to the relationship a virgin and could see herself as perhaps wanting a fling now and then.

The problem that finally ended their relationship, which in the end had been as brief as the one with Superman, was Diana's autocratic attitude that while she was entitled to as many lovers as she might wish, Kara should hold herself available in case Wonder Woman decided that she wished that person to be her.

It hadn't taken long for Supergirl to decide that a relationship of unequals was not what she wanted.

After that, it was back to men and women who didn't spend part of their days or nights wearing form-fitting costumes. Most of these had fallen into the category of people who she felt could never be trusted with the secret of her double life. In three cases, she had thought she'd found lovers had pasted that test. In all three instances, she had been wrong.

One female lover had ended their relationship on the spot when Kara had shared her secret, telling her that she loved Linda but couldn't deal with her life as Supergirl.

A boyfriend had been even more traumatized by the revelation that he'd been sleeping with an actual alien. His greatest fear after her revelation had been what kinds of space diseases he might have been exposed to.

The last had been the most devastating of all, a reporter for a mid-western newspaper who after learning of her dual identity, felt that a story entitled "I was Supergirl's lover" was worth more than their relationship. With the help of a device borrowed from her cousin's Fortress of Solitude, the reporter woke up one morning with no memory of his ever having met Linda Danvers at all.

Superman would've disapproved of her using that memory shifter in the manner she had, so Kara had solved that little problem by simply not asking him if she could borrow it. After all, it wasn't the intimate details of his sex life that were about to be published in a few dozen major newspapers. Thinking about what she knew of her cousin and his relationship with another of the reporters on the Daily Planet, Supergirl decided that an expose of his current sex life might make boring reading indeed. After all, she doubted he had ever initiated Lois into the mile high club without the benefit of a plane.

The long hours of the night could be endless when your body didn't need sleep to replenish its energies. Like a normal human, the girl from another world did sleep in order to relax her mind, but with the indecision about her date with Mary, Kara couldn't relax enough to try for even that.

Standing at the open window, the Girl of Steel looked out onto the city before her. Clad in a simple pair of yellow pajamas, she debated changing clothes and going for a nighttime flight. Instead, she let her eyes and ears bring the sights and sounds of the city to her.

Powerful beams of energy reached outward, turning structures of steel and concrete into pillars of transparency. Images sorted through her mind at a speed beyond the capacity of a human mind to handle.

Aside from the search for events possibly needing the attention of a Girl of Steel, it was inevitable that Supergirl's visual surveillance of the city would present certain other occurrences as well. It was something that her cousin Kal always felt a little embarrassed about. Ever since his Smallville days when on a nighttime patrol of the town, he had spied his sometime girlfriend, Lana Lang, parked by the lake with his best friend, Pete Ross.

In his identity as Clark Kent, Kal had a date with Lana that night but had canceled it at the last minute to respond to a bank alarm over in Orchard Falls. It looked like good old Pete had stepped in to take Lana to that movie she had been waiting all month to see. Giving in to his curiosity, Superboy had watched them for what he later realized was a little too long.

If he had gone on his way, he would've missed seeing Lana thank good old Pete by reaching down his pants and taking his cock into her mouth. It was obvious from the casual way she went down on the blond haired teen that it wasn't her first time. What was also very apparent to the young Superboy was that as Clark, Lana had never offered to do anything like that for him.

When he had first used that story to illustrate the possible dangers of their visual and audio powers, Superman had left out the more interesting details of what he had seen. It wasn't until her relationship with Wonder Woman that she heard them. Evidently, her cousin hadn't had any difficulty sharing details like that with the Amazon.

Spying on the people around them might have been a problem for Superman, but Supergirl on the other hand, was never bothered in the least by anything she saw.

In the short time that Kara had lived in her new apartment, she had already learned a great deal about her neighbors.
Although for her, the term neighbors took in anyone in range of her nocturnal scans, which included just about everyone in the city if she wished. Based on past results, she actually had a mental checklist of people to drop in on and see how they were doing.

Jamie Berman and Cynthia Sy Su both went to Our Lady of Grace High School, and had been study partners since their freshman year three years before. Both their parents would be quite surprised to find that in that time, their studies in human sexuality had broadened to include a subject that was definitely not covered in the textbook.

Kara smiled as she saw that Cynthia was again spending the night over her friend's house. As she had learned was a pattern on most of those occasions, it wasn't long after Jamie's parents went to bed that the two teenagers shed both their clothes and their inhibitions. At the moment, both girls were locked in each other's arms, their mouths exploring the depths of the other's heart.

The Girl of Steel moved on to the home of Debbie and Earl Carter. Married close to thirty years, the couple still made love as intensely as they had on their wedding night. At the moment, Debbie was giving her fifty-two year old husband a blowjob with a skill and enthusiasm that few of her contemporaries could match.

Shifting to another part of town, she found Dr. Roger Smith spending the night at his office as he had many times since his marriage started to deteriorate some months before. Dedicated to her boss, his twenty-four year old secretary, Heather, had again offered to stay and keep him company. At the moment, the long haired redhead was bent half naked over the couch in his office, providing much more than moral support to her forty-nine year old employer.

The first time Kara had watched Dr. Smith, she had felt sorry for his wife, but realizing that every story had two sides, decided to check in on her as well. After a few visits with Eva Smith, Kara's opinion had changed considerably.

Although actually a few years older than the good doctor, Eva routinely shared her bed with a young man who looked like he should be more worried about final exams and his SAT's than how to best bring the graying haired woman to orgasm.

Over on the East Side, the sleepless Maid of Might found both Chuck Mason and Beverly Roberts both at home. At the moment, both were actively participating in an activity that the teachers in the different religious schools that both had attended repeatedly referred to as self-abuse.

Since they lived in the same apartment building, only two floors apart, and actually had much more in common than either of them realized, Kara thought it a shame that they couldn't find each other. If nothing else, just having a partner to sleep with would go a long way in improving their lives. Before moving onward, Supergirl made a mental note to spend some time thinking about how she might arrange for them to meet and see what developed.

Finally, Kara brought her focus to her favorite place to visit. Her favorite for many reasons, not the least of which was that she almost didn't need her super-vision to visit it. Julia Baker lived just across the street from Linda Danver's apartment and was in her opinion, the most beautiful girl she had ever seen on two worlds. At the moment, Julia was between relationships and it was with a sigh that the Maid of Might regretted that Julia was as heterosexual as a person could be.

There were many nights that Kara just watched her sleep, feeling her own heart flutter with the rise and fall of Julia's chest. Immediately, she knew that this was again going to be one of those nights. Floating in the air just out of the sight of anyone who might look up at her window from the street, Kara watched Julia slumber and wondered what dreams she might dream.

The morning's dawn a few hours later found Linda still undecided as what to do about her date with Mary. Part of her was looking forward to it with great enthusiasm, while another part, the voice of that part of her that had been hurt too many times, told her the best thing to do would be to cancel.

Donning her working clothes, as she liked to think of her costume, Kara exited out her apartment window too fast for human eyes to follow. Upward she soared, with only a few high flying birds for company. Then, even those were left behind as she headed east, toward Gotham City.

Wearing a simple green dress, the blond at the corner table in the Riverside outdoor cafe wore the brightest of smiles at the approach of the tall attractive redhead. Returning that smile, the woman in burgundy took the empty seat on the other side of the small table.

"Thank you for coming," Kara said after her guest had sat down. "I really appreciate it."

"Why would you ever think that I wouldn't?" Barbara Gordon replied. "We might not have worked out too well as lovers, but we never stopped being friends."

"You don't know how good it is to hear you say that," Kara replied, "because right now I really need a friend to talk to. A friend I can be totally honest with."

"Well I figured there was something important that you needed to talk about," Barbara said. "A three thousand mile hop just to have lunch is a bit much, even for you."

As they ate, Kara brought her friend up to date on her life. Holding nothing back, she included her affairs with Diana and the others, and finally how she had met Mary. Barbara listened intently as Kara went on, asking few questions. Finally, when Kara was done, an awkward silence covered the table.

"So I guess you were hoping that I would tell you what you should do," Barbara said after a few moments.

"It would be a big help, but I don't think you're going to do that, are you?" Kara replied.

"You knew that before you even got here," said the short haired redhead.

"I guess I did," the blond admitted. "Maybe I just needed someone who I could say it all to. So I could make up my own mind after hearing it out loud."

"I will offer one observation," Barbara commented, taking a pause as she took a drink. "As one friend to another."

"As one friend to another, I'd be anxious to hear it."

"With the people I've encountered, people who do what we do," the girl who wore the mantle of the Bat began, "I've noticed that the ones who most fear getting hurt, are those who under most conditions can't be hurt. I'm not talking about physical injury. I know that's a real rarity for people like you and your cousin. What I'm taking about is the prospect of failure. The idea that despite all your abilities, there are still aspects of the world around you that you can't control. it's the fact that you can't be physically hurt that puts you in a mindset where you often can't deal with a non-physical injury, or even the prospect of one. That's what's really holding you back."

"Mary said your world changes around you every day," Kara offered, "and with it, the people in it. With each change, there is the prospect of a new love, or another failure."

"That's true."

"So unless I take that chance, that chance of failure, I'll never know if there was the prospect of love," Kara concluded.

"You sound like you've made up your mind," Barbara said.

"I guess I have."

"Well I hope it's the decision that makes you happy," the redhead replied.

"You know, I'm spent so much time talking about my situation, I never asked how things were going with you," the girl in green asked. "Are you still seeing that Private Detective, what was his name... Jason Bard, wasn't it?"

"Jason and I are no longer seeing each other," Barbara said, the tone of her voice saying there was more to her answer than she implied.

"But there is somebody," Kara said, "and before you answer that, remember you're talking to someone who can tell from across the table that your heartbeat just jumped a dozen beats."

"Yes, there's someone," Barbara finally admitted.

"What's he like?" Kara asked with the curiosity that only a former lover could have. "What's his name?"

Barbara took the longest time answering. When she finally did, Kara, despite having the most sensitive hearing in a thousand miles, couldn't believe she had heard her correctly.

"Her name is Selina," Barbara confessed. "Selina Kyle."

That her friend Barbara was dating a woman was surprise enough. After all, their own relationship had been a first for the former Congresswoman and one that didn't seem likely to be repeated. To hear that she was not only involved with a woman again, but someone who was once wanted by the Gotham City Police was a total surprise.

"Is this is the same Selina Kyle who used to dress up in purple tights and go by the name of Catwoman?" Kara asked hesitantly.

"Yes it is," Barbara said softly. "But she got that pardon from the Governor last year and since then she's walked the straight and narrow."

Kara was immediately consumed by a dozen questions she wanted to ask, but the look on her friend's face told her this was a very sensitive subject and one, for the time being, best left alone. Yet there was one question she felt compelled to ask.

"Does she know that you're B..." Kara started to ask, then hesitated when she realized that people at the adjourning tables might overhear them. "Does she know about your nocturnal hobby?" she rephrased the question.

"Yes she does," came the answer. "She's known from the very beginning and that's all I'm going to say on the subject."

"Fair enough," Kara concluded.

"So what have you decided to do?" Barbara asked, turning the conversation back to the reason they were having this little lunch.

"As soon as I get back to the West Coast, I'm going to call Mary and confirm our dinner engagement."

"Why wait?" Barbara asked as she took out a small Waynetech cell phone from her bag. "It covers coast to coast, you shouldn't have a problem getting through."

Kara looked at the phone that had just been placed in her hand for a moment, then dialed the number Mary had given her. The phone rang a few times, then a familiar voice said hello.

"Hi Mary, this is Linda," she said in reply. Not wanting to intrude on the rest of the conversation, Barbara picked up the bill and walked over to the register to take care of it. Looking back at her friend at the table, the smile on Kara's face brought a sense of satisfaction to Barbara's all too human heart. If anyone deserved to be loved, it was that woman who still held a place in her own heart. A place that she would always cherish.

If anything, Supergirl's flight back to San Pablo from Gotham was even quicker that the trip east. Spurred on by the thought that she was now flying toward something, rather than away from it, the Maid of Might flew high up into the upper atmosphere and let the Earth's eastward rotation bring her destination to her. Then, through the difference in time zones, she found herself back at her apartment a half hour before she had met Barbara for lunch.

During their transcontinental conversation, Mary had suggested that they move their date up to early afternoon. She gave some indication that she had something really important to discuss with Linda. Now eager to take the chance and see where this might all lead, Linda had agreed. Her heart was beating with a sense of uncertainty about what was going to happen, and the daughter of a dead world found it exciting. For the moment, however, her mind raced with a much more mundane thought. One that she shared with many of her Earthborn sisters. What ever should she wear?

Two hours later, dressed in a soft, light blue dress, Linda waited outside the Café Marie, the place where Mary had suggested they meet. It would be a lot more comfortable meeting on neutral ground than at either of their apartments, she had said. Nervous as she was, Linda had thought it an excellent idea.

Almost at four o'clock on the dot, Mary came walking down the street. After the expected hellos, she proposed that unless Linda was really hungry, that maybe they'd take a little walk first to work up an appetite. As with her previous proposals, Linda went along with it.

Across from the Café was Sutherland Park and the two women began to follow one of the winding paths into it as they chatted. At first, their conversation covered a number of mundane topics. Everyday things that gave them an understanding of how each of them felt about certain issues. It was interesting to find how many more subjects they agreed on.

"Do you remember when we first met yesterday how I kept saying I was getting this weird vibe from you, and how it made me feel like we were connected in some way?" Mary said, shifting the conversation from a discussion about music.

"I remember," Linda said, thinking that in the last twenty-four hours, she had begun to feel the same way.

"Well, you're going to find this really funny, at least I hope you're going to find this funny, but I know now why I felt that way," Mary explained.

"Which was?" Linda asked.

"I'm not really sure how to say this, so maybe I should just show you," Mary went on, "but before I do, I want you to believe me that when we first met at that audition yesterday, I had no idea of this."

"You have me totally confused, but I'll believe you," Linda said.

"All right, here goes," Mary said, looking around to make sure that no one was close enough to see the two of them. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but was stopped by the sound of gunfire from outside the park.

Linda snapped her head around at the sound of shots. Her x-ray vision cut through the dense shrubbery that had given them a measure of privacy to reveal two Police Cars chasing a third car in front of them. The gunfire had come from the car being chased in an attempt to stop the pursuit. Unable to get a clear shot, the Police had yet to return fire.

Taking all of this in with only a second's thought, Linda turned back to face Mary. The expression on Linda's face seemed to say "Oh no."

"Go!" Mary said to a confused Linda.

"What?"

"I know you're Supergirl and that you have to go," Mary quickly said. "Don't worry about it, we'll work it all out later. Trust me."

Linda didn't know what to say, except that there was no way she could stay here and try and unravel this mystery when lives were at stake. In a blur of motion, her light blue dress was replaced with the dark red and blue of her costume. With only a moment's hesitation to tell Mary to stay right here, the Girl of Steel took off after the fleeing gunmen.

In the time since she'd heard the first shots and the brief revelation from Mary, the speeding vehicle had gone almost a mile. It might as well have been ten feet for all the good it did them as Supergirl covered that distance without effort.

Normally, Kara loved the sensation of bullets bouncing off her skin and the look on the face of criminals as they realized that their prized weapons were as effective as cap pistols. At another time, she might have even playfully caught the expended rounds in mid-air, dropping them to the ground one by one in a demonstration of their futility.

At this moment, however, all she wanted to do was get back to Mary and find out what was going on. How had she discovered Linda's secret and what did it mean to their still embryonic relationship? The three gunmen who scrambled out of the car, which she had violently pulled to a halt by ripping out the engine block, had the misfortune of being merely a delay in her return for those answers.

With lighting reflexes, Supergirl grabbed each of their guns and crushed them in her hands. Then each of the now unarmed criminals was tossed into the arms of the already arrived Police.

As they cuffed the trio and led them to the back of their squad cars, Kara was surprised to hear what sounded like a clap of thunder. Automatically, she looked up into the clear blue late afternoon sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight.

"Very impressive," Mary said as she stepped from out of the space between buildings and clapped her hands in admiration.

"How did you get here?" Supergirl said, knowing she had left the girl a mile away only minutes before.

"I assumed that you wanted to finish our talk," Mary replied.

"Oh you assumed right," Kara said, a touch of anger in her voice. Above all else, she didn't like being treated like a fool. There was much more going on here than met the eye.

"Out here on a public street," Mary smiled. "Or would you rather someplace private?"

Tired of games, Supergirl picked up the brown haired girl and in a burst of power, flew the both of them to a small, empty peninsula off the coast. Mary seemed unruffled by either the sudden action or the quick flight.

"Now, no more games," Supergirl said. "I want an answer."

"It never was a game," Mary smiled. "Just the fate's idea of a practical joke. None of this was meant to hurt you. In fact quite the opposite. I think I could easily fall in love with someone like you."

"I'm still waiting for an explanation," Kara said with growing impatience, not wanting to consider Mary's talk of the prospect of love.

"Like I said before, I guess maybe it's best just to show you," the brunette said as she walked a dozen steps away from Supergirl.

Feeling a sense of something in the air, Supergirl tensed up, ready to meet what might be an attack of some kind. Instead, Mary just smiled that wonderful smile of hers, and spoke but a single word.

"Shazam!"

A clap of thunder heralded the arrival of a bolt of golden lightning, striking the ground where Mary now stood. So bright was the flash, Kara had to shield her eyes for a moment. This from a girl who had looked into the heart of a sun.

As fast as the thunderbolt had appeared, it likewise vanished. Leaving far more than just the ionized air in its wake.

By all rights, Mary Bromfield should've been atomized by the lightning strike. Instead, she had been transformed.

Gone where the street clothes she had been wearing, replaced by a costume not that dissimilar to Kara's own. The short-sleeved blouse and skirt were red, trimmed with gold, coupled with golden boots and a short white cape. The cape was held by a thin golden cord that draped over the cut of her blouse, the depth of which displayed her rounded breasts beneath.

Far more than just her clothing had changed. To the matchless confidence she had already exhibited was added an aura of raw power. Supergirl recognized the insignia on the red blouse, the same golden lightning worn by Captain Marvel. It stood to reason that Mary had the same connection to the Captain as Kara had to Superman. They called her male counterpart the World's Mightiest Mortal. If Mary's powers came from the same source as his did, then she was at the very least Supergirl's equal.

"Marvel Girl I assume," Supergirl said as she took a step forward.

"Not exactly," the girl in red laughed, "but that's not a bad name when you think about it. I'm afraid the old Wizard, who's name I can't say without bringing back the lightning, saddled me with Mary Marvel instead."

"Mary Marvel," Supergirl repeated, still a little leery of all this. "I supposed that makes you Captain Marvel's girlfriend or something."

"Not likely," came Mary's quick reply, "since he's my brother if you really need to know."

"I have heard of you," Supergirl said as she recalled a few news stories she had read about her counterpart. Contrary to public belief, every super powered person didn't automatically know every other one.

"I'm flattered," Mary smiled brightly. "Considering that I've really pretty much kept my activities up to now confined to Fawcett City."

"I've even seen pictures of you," Kara went on as her total recall visualized the color photographs that had accompanied the articles she had read. "I don't know why I didn't recognize you."

"That's easy to explain, well in a way it is," Mary said. "Part of the magic the old wizard used to give us our powers makes it impossible for anyone to recognize Mary Marvel as Mary Bromfield."

"Pretty handy."

"Well it was either that or wear a mask, or maybe even a wig."

Kara smiled at the friendly barb. She felt herself reestablishing the sense of friendship she had felt for Mary from the start and losing the suspicions that had developed in the last hour.

"So you have the same powers as your brother?" Supergirl asked, changing the subject.

"Basically the same abilities, but with different patrons," Mary explained. "Aside from Minerva, who gives me wisdom, I derive grace, strength and skill from the goddesses, Selena, Hippolyta and Ariadne. As well as fleetness from Zephyrus and beauty from Aurora. Personally, I think the old wizard had to go far and wide to come up with that bunch to explain my powers. I mean really, who ever heard of beauty and grace as super powers."

"I don't think that you needed that magic lightning to have both of those," Supergirl said as she stepped close to Mary.

"Thank you," Mary said as she looked into Kara's eyes, losing herself in their deep blueness. "I could say the same about you. That's how I knew you know."

"That's how you knew what?" Supergirl inquired.

"That you and Linda were the same person," Mary explained. "When I saw you at S.T.A.R. Labs, I didn't need Minerva's wisdom to know that no two women could ever have eyes that beautiful."

Of course," Kara exclaimed. "S.T.A.R. Labs, the broken coolant and fuel lines. You made them safe."

"I got there just as you went into the reactor chamber. I planned to leave before you got back, but I couldn't resist the chance to actually see Supergirl. Now I'm so glad that I did."

"So what do we do now?" Kara asked.

"How ... about ... this?" Mary suggested in a slow, hesitant tone as she stepped close to the girl in blue and red and kissed her, wrapping her arms around the blond girl's neck.

Few things took the Girl of Steel by surprise, but Mary's kiss turned out to be one of them. The shock of it only lasted a moment as she quickly found herself responding to the softness of Mary's mouth against her own, the sweetness of her tongue as she felt it pass between her lips. The truth of the matter was, as Linda, she had spent quite a bit of time wondering just how this might feel. It was just that she never expected for this to happen in her costumed guise.

"That was nice," Kara admitted as their lips finally parted and Mary withdrew her tongue from the Kryptonian's mouth.

"Just nice?" Mary asked, making an exaggerated pout.

"Okay, that was more than nice."

Mary's frown grew even more pronounced.

"Okay, it was fantastic," Supergirl finally admitted.

The grimace on the brunette's face immediately blossomed into a broad smile. A look that was reflected on her counterpart's face as well.

"I'm glad to hear to say that," Mary beamed, "cause I thought it was pretty fantastic as well."

"Which leaves us once again with the question, where do we take this?" Kara replied.

"Well first off, I think maybe it might be a good idea to take this discussion and anything else someplace with a few less prying eyes," the girl in red and white answered.

Kara glanced beyond Mary at the not so distant shore. It would only take a high-powered camera or telescope for anyone at the water's edge to see the two of them and people who wore costumes as they did tended to draw just that sort of attention. It really wouldn't do either of them any good to have a front page photograph of the two of them in a Sapphic embrace showing up in half the world's tabloids.

"A little privacy right now would be a good idea," Supergirl agreed.

"Then follow me," Mary Marvel said as she jumped into the air and kept on going.

Kara hesitated for a moment, taking in the sight of her new friend's grace and beauty as she soared upward. Then in a powerful burst of her own abilities, the long haired blond followed the brunette up into the afternoon sky.

It took only a half dozen heartbeats for Kara to catch up to Mary. Then together they continued to fly upward until they leveled off at an altitude where there was still enough air for the two of them to communicate.

They smiled and laughed as they headed out over the Pacific, taking the time to just enjoy the feel of the wind in their air and the unrestricted sunlight on their faces. They took turns following each other through a series of airborne gymnastics that earthbound humans could never imagine the joy of.

Coming together once more, Kara reached out and took Mary's hand in hers, the strength of their attraction to each other reflected in the embrace of their fingers. The Maid of Might pulled the girl in red close to her and this time it was she who initiated their kiss.

Dancing in the empty air, the two women shared an endless embrace, losing themselves in the passion that had been building from the moment they had met. They were kindred spirits, the opposite sides of the same coin. Together they filled the gaps in each other's soul.

Drifting among the clouds, the two young women continued to explore each other's charms. Their hands loosened each other's clothing as first gentle hands, then gentle lips, explored the now exposed flesh.

The more the two heroines got into each other, the less they became aware of their surroundings. Normally, that wouldn't be much of a problem seeing that they were drifting over a vast and empty part of the Pacific Ocean. The odds of them encountering another person were astronomical. Yet, no matter how great the odds, there is always that one chance, especially if that one person is looking for one of them.

"Excuse me," said the strong masculine voice of the powerfully built man who had suddenly appeared behind the two women.

"Great Krypton!" Supergirl exclaimed as she become aware of his presence, and then even more so of their disheveled condition.

"Oh shit!" Mary Marvel joined in as she turned in mid-air and saw whom the man was.

The new arrival stood six foot two and weighted in at two hundred and fifteen pounds. Clad in a red, white and gold outfit that mirrored Mary's, the black haired man was know around the globe as the World's Mightiest Mortal. The residents of Fawcett City knew him as simply Captain Marvel.

"Damn it, Billy, I told you before you have to stop spying on me," an angry Mary Marvel said as she adjusted her outfit, covering what had so recently been made bare. "What I do with my personal life is none of your business."

"Calm down, Sis," Captain Marvel said as he tried not to notice Supergirl readjusting her costume as well. Of the two women, she had been the most exposed.

Marvel had met the Maid of Might a few times before on Justice League missions. They even had lunch together once when Supergirl took her cousin's place on monitor duty up in the JLA Satellite. That had been just prior to her affair with Wonder Woman, at a time when she had considered that if she couldn't have the Man of Steel, then the World's Mightiest Mortal might not be a bad second choice.

It had only taken that one lunch to forever dissuade her of that idea. As many times as she had jokingly referred to her cousin as the world's oldest Boy Scout, it was very obvious that the powerhouse across the table had been much more deserving of that title. It was a great pity, she had thought at the time. Ever curious, she had used her x-ray vision to check out the good Captain when he was in the shower. While he wasn't any J'Onn J'Onzz, he was quite nicely equipped. From what she observed of the exchange between Mary and her brother, Billy hadn't changed very much.

"All I wanted to do was make sure that you knew that Freddie and I were going to be out of the country for a while," the tall man said, Freddie Freeman being Captain Marvel Junior. "Believe me, I've given up trying to lecture you on your behavior. Why the Wizard hasn't taken back the powers he gave you I'll never know."

"Maybe he's smart enough to know that everyone needs to get laid once and a while," Mary shot back. "Even you!" she added in a mocking tone.

"I give up," the Big Red Cheese said, throwing his powerful arms up in surrender and starting to move away. "But if you have to behave like this, could you at least get out of that uniform and find a room somewhere. it's really embarrassing."

Just before Captain Marvel moved out of earshot, Mary managed to get in the final word.

"If you hadn't interrupted, I would've been out of this uniform soon enough!"

Kara watched as Captain Marvel disappeared from view. She had remained silent during the exchange, thinking it was the best thing to do.

"Well, that could've went better," Mary said as she turned her attention back to her new lover.

"It's okay," Supergirl smiled as she considered her own sometime acrimonious relationship with Superman since she broke out of the 'little sister' image he had created of her. "I've had my own share of problems with family."

"Sometimes I have to keep reminding myself that he's not even eighteen yet when he's just Billy," Mary said.

"He's what?" Supergirl said, sure that she'd heard Mary wrong.

"You didn't know?" Mary replied.

"Mary, I almost fucked him once," a still stunned Supergirl said.

"Well it would've been his first," the brunette grinned.

Then she went on to explain how the old Wizard who had given them all their powers had selected a teenage boy to first have the powers of Captain Marvel. Unlike Mary and Freddie who later shared those powers, Billy turned into a fully-grown man when he transformed.

"You're not underage or anything like that, are you?" a cautious Kara asked.

"Don't worry, love," Mary laughed. "I'm the same age before and after the lightning."

"I just wanted to be sure," a relieved Kara said.

"But my stick-in the-mud brother might've been right about one thing," Mary said as she pointed out an airliner passing a few thousand feet to the north of them. "Maybe we should get a room, or at least some place a little more private."

Taking note of the plane, Kara considered the idea that the way they were going at it prior to the Captain's arrival, they might not have noticed the aircraft if it had been three hundred feet away rather than three thousand. After all, they hadn't heard Captain Marvel come up on the two of them.

"I guess you're right," Supergirl agreed.

"I would think there are a lot of beautiful islands down there," Mary Marvel said as she looked across the blue waters far beneath them.

"I'd rather not go to one of them," Kara said in a painful tone, remembering how she and Susan Wienczorkowski had their own special tropical island not all that far from where they now floated.

"Well I guess we could go back to the city and try my apartment," Mary mused a little disappointedly. "Be just Linda Danvers and Mary Bromfield. Unless of course you know of some place else, maybe some place special? I think it would have to be special, because I think you really are just that."

Supergirl took on a far away look for a few moments, then her eyes lit up with an idea. She again took Mary's hand in hers and began to fly in a different direction.

"I hope that outfit of yours is warm enough," Kara said as they picked up speed.

"If it's not, I'm sure you'll find a way to keep me warm," a curious Mary replied. "But where are we going?"

"North," was the Last Daughter of Krypton's only reply.

The deep blue of the ocean below them began to pale as large ice formations filled the waters. Then the ocean disappeared completely as frozen tundra stretched from horizon to horizon. Try as she could, Mary couldn't find an identifiable landmark, or a clue as to where they were going. Kara, however, did seem to be searching for something.

"If I knew what you where looking for, maybe I could help," Mary said.

"We're almost there," Kara said as she scanned the wasteland beneath her. "in fact, it should be just about ... there!"

Mary looked to where Kara was pointing and saw an immense golden key resting on the side of a glacier. As large as an apartment building, someone would have to be a giant or super-human to use something like that. Fortunately, both of them qualified for the latter. The appearance of the key brought forth the question, what did the door it opened lead to?

The answer came quickly enough with the appearance of an equally gigantic and equally golden door built into the side of a glacier. As they neared the oversized portal, Mary could see that the keyhole itself was large enough for them to fly through. Kara took a moment to mention that sophisticated sensors had scanned the two of them as they passed into the chamber within the icy mountain. If those sensors hadn't detected the presence of known Kryptonian DNA, Mary would've now found herself in an energy field that even she might be hard pressed to free herself from.

"Oh my God!" Mary exclaimed as her booted feet touched down on the highly polished floor of the vast antechamber. "it's like stepping into another world."

"That's as good a description as any," Kara said as she smiled at her guest. "Welcome to the Fortress of Solitude."

Like many others who had read of the exploits of the Cousins from Krypton over the years, Mary had heard of the Fortress of Solitude. It was a place of legend, Superman's retreat from the pressures of being Earth's premier defender.

"Would you like a little tour?" Kara asked, certain of the answer.

"Would I?"

"Then follow me," came the reply.

Mary's eyes opened in wonder as the two women walked across the entryway. The first sight that greeted them was an oversized stature of a young man and woman dressed in other worldly garb. Suspended above them between their outstretched hands, was a large blue and white globe that was definitely not Earth.

"Jor-El and Lara," Kara said in response to Mary's unasked question. "Superman's parents."

"And the world between them would be Krypton," Mary added. "The world you were born on."

"I wasn't exactly born on Krypton," Kara said.

The statement confused Mary, until Kara told her the tale of how a single small city had survived the destruction of the planet Krypton. Protected by an environmental shield, the people of Argo City had not only survived, they had actually prospered for a while. Into this world, Kara had been born.

One of the Children of the Apocalypse, those born after the death of Krypton, the daughter of Zor-El and Allura had grown to young womanhood knowing only the small remnant of her parent's world. She had been happy, she told Mary, as happy as any of her generation could be. That was until the night the dreams died. The night Argo City joined the world of its origin as a world destroying meteor shower shattered the protective shield.

It was only the genius of her father, using starship technology designed by his older brother, which enabled Kara to live on past the destruction of all she had known. His brother's notes told him of the world to which he had planned to send his son. To that distant planet, Zor-El had entrusted his daughter as well.

"That is such a sad story," Mary said, now understanding much more of Kara's pain.

"It's life," Supergirl shrugged. "Either you go forward, or you lay down and give up."

They continued their tour as the Kryptonian pointed out the communications array as well as the massive computer system. Both were far more advanced than anything on Earth. Equally impressive were the lab facilities and the trophy room. The three level complex lacked either stairs or elevators, hardly an inconvenience to either of them. The top level were Superman's private quarters, of which Kara told Mary that she was sure she would understand that they weren't part of the tour.

"Of course that's understandable," Mary said, although she did feel just a small bit of disappointment.

"I'm afraid my own apartment will have to suffice," Supergirl smiled. "it's not as grand, but I think you'll find it has some amenities that you wouldn't find in Kal's."

Mary followed Kara down a long empty corridor. The red caped girl explained that soon after he announced her existence to the world, Superman had extended the Fortress to include an annex for her use. A place where she could go if the pressures of trying to fit in got to be too much. The passageway slowly tilted upward, giving Mary the impression that Kara's rooms where situated even higher up in the mountainside than Superman's.

Finally they set down at the end of the entryway and Mary was surprised to find a simple double door. With an audible click, Supergirl turned the knob and opened the unlocked door.

"Home sweet home," the blond laughed as she pushed open both doors.

Kara waited at the door as Mary stepped inside. Totally awed by the rest of the citadel, the girl in red and white was surprised to find the apartment not much different than she might have found in an average luxury studio apartment.

There was a large platform bed near the center of the room, as well as a small library and living area, a dining nook and even a kitchenette. The only thing that really looked out of place was the height of the ceiling. There was enough empty space in the apartment to have put in another two levels.

"I hope you like it," Kara said.

"It's lovely," Mary replied.

"Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I fix us something to eat," Kara suggested. "After all, we never did get to lunch, did we?"

"No, I guess we didn't," Mary agreed, realizing that she was indeed hungry.

"I'm afraid that it's not going to be anywhere near what we would've had at Café Marie," the Kryptonian said as she took two packages from a stasis unit and put them into what looked like a microwave type device. "But I think you'll like these."

"TV Dinners," Mary thought as she watched her hostess set the controls of the device.

"A super advanced civilization and they still have frozen foods. I guess some things are just universal."

In as long as it took for Mary to think about it, the meals were ready. As Kara carried them to the table, the delightful aroma caught Mary's attention. If those things tasted half as good as they smelled, she thought, they could put Café Marie out of business.

From another storage container, Kara produced two chilled bottles of wine that looked old enough to have graced the table of one of Napoleon's Marshals.

"While alcohol doesn't have any detrimental effects on me," Kara said as she poured each of them a glass, "I can still appreciate the taste. I found these bottles at the bottom of the ocean in a British Frigate that had been sunk by a French Man of War. According to the manifest, they were meant to grace the table of the Duke of Wellington. Instead, they get to grace our table."

Mary couldn't help but be impressed. Like Kara, she couldn't be effected by alcohol while a Marvel, but she did enjoy a good wine.

"All of this is delicious," Mary said after she had sampled both the wine and the repast. "I'm glad you liked it," Kara replied. "I wanted our first date together to be special."

"Well you certainly succeeded."

"Mind if I turn on some music?" Kara asked.

"Of course not."

At the touch of a button on a small hand held control that Kara had brought with her to the table, soft harmonious tones fill the air. Mary couldn't really place it, it sounded like nothing she had ever heard before. All she knew was that she liked it.

"It's Kryptonian," Kara said as she saw Mary trying to place the music. "It was my mother's favorite melody, and I guess mine too since I always play it to think of her."

"It certainly is beautiful," Mary commented. "I guess they were right when they said that music and mathematics were the universal languages."

"Let's not forget love as well," Kara added, raising her glass in a toast.

"Of course," Mary said, duplicating Kara's action. "Love as well."

They spent the rest of the meal drifting from topic to topic, sometimes stopping for a few moments just to gaze into each other's eyes. The evening was going so perfect, that each seemed afraid that something might ruin it.

But of course nothing did. The longer they spent with each other, the more perfect it seemed to be. Each found it so easy to talk to the other, sharing secrets as if they had always been the best of friends.

Like Kara, Mary's sexual awakening had occurred before her assumption of super-powers. Unlike Kara, Mary's first lovers had been older women as she found she preferred both their maturity and experience. Also unlike the Kryptonian, the younger heroine had quickly come to the realize in her teen years that she had no interest in men whatsoever. In the most technical definition of the term, the twenty-four year old was still a virgin.

Kara herself had recently begun to also come to the conclusion that she preferred the company of a woman. At the same time, she didn't regret any of her previous relationships with men. Some of them had been, and would always remain, quite memorable.

If she was going to spend her life with a woman, she said to herself, Mary could very well be that one.

"That was really great," Mary smiled as they finished the meal. "The food was fantastic."

"Not as much as the company," Kara added with an even broader smile.

"I've been having so much fun it seems like this day has lasted forever," said the brunette.

"Well..." Kara replied as she cleared the table. "seeing as we're only a hundred or so miles from the North Pole, I think you have quite a long wait until this day actually ends."

"My oh my, what will we ever do with all that time?" Mary laughed.

"I'm sure we can think of something," Kara said as she came up behind Mary's chair and gently put her hands on the other heroine's shoulders.

"That feels nice," Mary said as she felt Supergirl's powerful hands massage her muscles.

"You know what would feel even nicer?" Kara asked.

"I could think of a few things," Mary smiled as she closed her eyes to fully enjoy the blonde's touch.

"Not that," the Girl of Steel laughed softly. "I was thinking more about how nice it would be to dance with you."

"That would be fun too," the girl in red and white agreed.

In response, Supergirl pressed another button on her small remote and a more familiar melody filled the air. She put the control down on the table and held out her hand to Mary.

Hand in hand they walked to the center of the large room. Then, as Kara took Mary into her arms, they began to move to the music.

Their bodies swayed back and forth in time to the soft cadence as they laughed and smiled. The rhythm of the beat began to quicken, as did their gyrations. The dance quickly became an almost erotic ballet, a physical expression of the emotions gripping them both. Soft touches and gentle caresses passed between them, as well as short, sweet kisses.

With neither bound by the forces of gravity, the phrase "dancing on air" quickly became a literal rather than a fanciful description. High into the empty space of the three-story room they glided, their bodies continuing to move to the music as well as the beat of the other's heart.

Their lips met once more, and this time they didn't part as easily. Fervent tongues explored the other's mouth, as equally enthusiastic hands explored the firm flesh beneath their costumes.

"I've never felt this right being with anyone before," Mary said in a breathless voice as they finally broke their kiss.

"I was just thinking almost the same thing," Kara smiled back.

"I want you so much," Mary went on. "Not as Supergirl. Not even as Kara Zor-El, daughter of Krypton. I just want you as a woman in whose beautiful eyes I was lost from the moment I looked into them."

Without another word, Kara guided Mary back to the ground level, touching down aside the large bed. Deft fingers undid the clasp holding Mary's cape in place, letting the short cloak fall from her shoulders to the floor below.

Mary returned the gesture, as a mantle of red covered the one of white. Kara stroked her dark brown hair, running her hand across her tunic, caressing the breasts beneath. They lips met again as Mary's arms wrapped around Kara's neck.

Together they fell onto the bed with Kara on top. The Girl of Steel slid her hand down between Mary's legs and up under the gold trimmed skirt of her costume. A smile filled Kara's face at the discovery that not only had her fellow heroine not bothered with panties under her outfit, the brunette's pussy was shaved bare as well.

"Oh yes," Mary moaned softly as she felt Kara's hand stroke her womanhood.

With her free hand, Kara pulled Mary's blouse out from beneath her belt, giving her just enough room to slide her hand under the red material and cup the younger woman's breast.

Mary moaned even louder as she shifted to give Kara better access to her no longer hidden charms. With her fingers still manipulating the sensitive hairless mound, the blond haired girl pushed Mary's red shirt all the way up. The movement exposed her large breasts, covered now by only the smallest of restraints.

Supergirl didn't need her x-ray vision to see the rich dark nipples that capped each globe. They were visible enough through the translucent material that covered then. Material that quickly parted a heartbeat later as a razor thin beam of imperceptible energy flashed out from Kara's eyes, cutting across the material like a laser.

Taking hold of the back of Kara's head, Mary pulled her new lover's face to her bosom. The Girl of Steel kissed each dark circle, running her tongue across the erect tip before taking it into her mouth.

A second kiss followed the first, followed by a third and forth on the soft deep valley between Mary's mounds. Softness echoed on her lips as Kara's last kiss pressed against them.

Sitting up on the edge of the bed, Kara took hold of the bottoms of her own blue blouse and pulled it up and over her head. Beneath it, an impressive bust quite equal to Mary's came immediately into view. One of the nicer side effects of being born on a world with a far heavier gravity, even if it had been artificial in Kara's case, was that the Maid of Might really never needed to wear a bra. When she had first arrived on Earth, she had worn one because first Superman and then later her adopted parents had expected her to. That rule no longer applied.

As entranced by Kara's breasts as the Kryptonian had been by her own, Mary practically jumped up and cupped each of them with her hand. The nipples of the lighter haired girl were smaller than Mary's, and of a much pinker hue. Neither of which caused a second's hesitation as the brunette brought the closest of them into her mouth.

For a brief moment, Mary was surprised to find Kara's mounds to be as sweet and soft as any other woman's, if not more so than some earlier lovers. A small part of her mind had considered the idea that since Kara's skin was all but indestructible, her flesh might be hard and insensitive.

She quickly realized that if she'd taken the time to think about it, she would've realized how silly that impression was. After all, when she invoked the power of Shazam, Mary's body was as impervious to harm as Supergirl's, and she knew from past experience that her body remained as soft and responsive as it did when she was just plain Mary.

The whole consideration of invulnerability and how it affected the responsiveness of the flesh passed quickly from Mary's thoughts as Kara pulled her mouth to hers and their breasts pressed tight against each other. As they stood, each helped the other with what remained of their apparel, until boots and skirts joined the scattered piles on the floor.

The last concealment proved to be Kara's as Mary laughingly ripped off a pair of bright red panties. The underwear had come from a quite ordinary lingerie store and didn't share the durable nature of the rest of Supergirl's ensemble.

Mary looked down between Kara's legs and saw a thick, blond bush covering her mound. Later she would ask her how she explained being blond down there while Linda was a brunette, but that question was superseded by much more immediate desires.

Sitting back on the bed, Mary pulled Kara's legs apart and leaned forward to kiss her there. Understanding what Mary wanted to do, Kara moved to make it easier. For a normal woman, this might be an awkward position, since Mary would have to really bend down to get between her legs. The problem was simply solved when Kara lifted her legs up and over Mary's shoulders, hovering in mid-air at just the right height.

As Mary Bromfield, the dark tressed crime fighter had first taken of a woman's fruits a few months after her sixteenth birthday. By the time her next birthday rolled around, it was apparent to her that it was an ambrosia that she truly prized. Over the years since, she had become quite skilled at giving pleasure to other women, the talents of which she now demonstrated to Kara.

"Great Mother of Krypton!" the daughter of a lost world cried out as a wave of satisfaction surged through her floating form.

Mary's proficiency at cunnilingus was a super power all by itself, at least to those on the receiving end of it. But it was an ability owing more to a lustful heart than the Power of Shazam. She was the same lover, with or without the magic lightning.

Kara took a deep breath as successive waves of ecstasy followed the first, raising her to a level of bliss she hadn't know since her last night with Barbara. In what seemed like no time at all, Mary brought Kara to the edge and then pushed her over it.

Aware that there was no one else to hear her within or beyond the Fortress walls, Supergirl heralded her orgasm with an ice-shattering cry. The sound of which was a pleasing melody to Mary's ears.

Still floating over the bed, Kara shifted her body in order to kiss Mary in appreciation of her gift. The Earthborn woman's lips were covered with the taste of the Kryptonian's climax, filling Kara with the desire to sample her own as soon as possible.

Mary let Kara's arms embrace her for a few long moments, enjoying the strength and warmth of her flesh. Then she stretched out across the bed on her stomach, looking back over her shoulder and smilingly invited Kara to join her.

Before doing so, Supergirl took a moment to appreciate the woman spread so invitingly before her. Surprised that she hadn't noticed it before, her gaze stopped at a small tattoo on Mary's left buttock. About two inches in length, it was a representation of the golden thunderbolt that gave her the powers of the gods.

"Nice touch," Supergirl said as she sat next to Mary and gently ran her hand across her smooth cheeks, outlining the lightning with an outstretched finger.

"I like it," Mary grinned. "and I liked it even more when my brother saw it and had a fit about it."

"Your brother saw this?" Kara asked, wondering out loud under what circumstances a straight lace like Captain Marvel would've seen his sister's naked ass.

"Take that evil smile off your face," Mary laughed back. "It was nothing so interesting as having him get a look at me in all my glory. As you've noticed, I rarely wear panties and as I'm sure you've discovered on your own, thermal updrafts can be hazardous to keeping a skirt in place."

The image of Mary's skirt pitching upward in mid-flight appeared in Kara's mind. The amount of times that had happened to her was one of the reasons she always wore panties. The last thing she ever wanted to see with her morning coffee was a photograph of a bottomless Supergirl on the early morning news. Evidently, Mary Marvel didn't share that concern.

Moving her hand down from the tattoo to between Mary's cheeks, Kara had to envy the freer spirited girl. Since no needle could ever penetrate her skin, a tattoo like that was out of the question for Supergirl. She could've worn a temporary one, but it wouldn't be the same.

Even the fact that Mary was shaven bare brought a tinge of regret from the older girl. In theory, Kara could burn off the hairs on her body with a combination of her heat vision and some specially designed reflectors. Yet with all the trouble it took for her to trim the hair on other parts of her body, it never seemed worth the trouble. Maybe on another day, she might have to reconsider that.

Now it was Mary's turn to float in the air as Kara lifted her legs up off the bed and spread them to gain access to the magical pearl between. Mary had no objection at all in being lifted this way because like her counterpart, she had long ago learned there was a certain added intensity to an orgasm if you had it while in a gravity reduced state.

Unfortunately, in her case, most of those experiences in what she'd heard other flying heroines call Zooming had been solitary ones. Only one of her previous experiences had been in her Mary Marvel guise, and that had been a solitary encounter with Bullet Girl, another Fawcett City Heroine.

As Mary felt the first touch of Supergirl's tongue on her clit, she was pleased to discover that Kara too preferred to make love as a normally as possible, using their flying abilities being the one main exception. Sure, she could've assaulted Mary's womanhood at a speed too fast for the eye to follow, but that sort of thing gets old real fast. There was something to be said for the old fashioned way.

Kara began slowly enough, taking her time to explore the depths of the bare pussy spread open above her. In no time at all, she had identified all the most sensitive spots. Soft lips, a nimble tongue and the most gentle of breaths caressed Mary's skin, producing an erotic tingle that grew with each heartbeat.

Mary closed her eyes and let her mind drift to the place Kara's careful ministrations were taking her. She hadn't noticed at first that Kara had defied gravity as well and was floating just beneath her. That changed as she felt a gentle touch on her midsection as, without breaking contact with her clitoris, they changed places and now Kara was on top.

The pulse of the long haired blonde's tongue grew in intensity as she proved that while she didn't share Mary's exclusive choice of women as lovers, she'd had enough of them in her own life to have acquired a considerable talent of her own.

Mary's heart raced as she felt her own climax building. The temptation to reach out and again partake of Kara's charms was considerable, but she found the strength to resist it. There would be time enough for that again later. Better now to just relax and let the clouds of Elysium wash over her.

Mary Marvel's vocal reaction to the orgasm Supergirl produced was quite mild compared to that of Kara's, but the orgasm itself was just as intense. It was all she could do not to give out a scream that would've brought down the ceiling. So few were the times she had climaxed while wearing the mantle of the World's Mightiest Girl, that Mary was almost afraid she would lose control when she did.

Two heartbeats later she no longer cared as the rush of a second orgasm so close behind the first as to be almost indistinguishable ripped through her. Never in her life had she ever had a double orgasm.

"Shazam!" she cried out, realizing too late the consequences of her outburst.

The flash of lightning and the sound of thunder that resonated through the vast fortress were instantaneous, as was the change within her.

With the tremors of her orgasm still reverberating through her body, Mary didn't immediately realize that she was no longer flying. That she was instead, now falling.

Supergirl, however, did immediately understand the significance of the sudden pyrotechnic display, even if she had been too involved in enjoying Mary's climax to have heard her ill-advised outcry. She could've simply grabbed the now falling body without too much effort, but instead pivoted below the now transformed Mary Bromfield and landed on the bed a second before Mary did.

"I always wanted to have a beautiful, helpless and naked woman drop out of the sky and into my arms," Kara quipped as the now mortal girl fell into her outstretched hands.

Realizing what had happened, Mary felt a flush of embarrassment at her faux pas. Years of practice in not saying that one word had gone out the window in one brief moment. But then again, what a moment it had been.

"Just you let me say my magic word again," Mary laughed as she made an effort to playfully push her way out of Kara's embrace, only to find that her mortal strength was far too limited to the task. "Then I'll show you helpless!" she added in mock anger. "Sha..."

"Before you do," Kara said as she pressed her index finger against Mary's lips, forestalling her completion of the old Wizard's name. "I want to say a magic word of my own."

Curious, Mary didn't complete her invocation, but instead turned and saw the intensity reflected in Kara's rich blue eyes.

"I love you," the woman born under a distant star said softly.

"Shazam!" the heir to a millennium old magic slowly replied in a breathless and surprised voice.

For what wouldn't be the only time that night, lightning struck once more.

END