Kara, Just Kara

The Return of Supergirl

"What have we got?" J'onn is at the end of the table again. It's just him, Alex and Winn.

It's been two months since their last Supergirl-related meeting, and the DEO have had their hands full, Even if Mon-El has stepped up and helped them a lot, he's still no Supergirl, so J'onn can't help but feel a bit of hope.

Winn pulls up a video. "This was recorded by a bystander, actually the one who first called 9-1-1, on his phone. You can see the fire spreading through the building and people in the upper floor windows. And ... here Supergirl appears. The entire rescue takes 19 seconds, and she rescues four adults, four children and two cats. Then she flies through the building and extinguishes the fire with her frost breath, and here ... she disappears." He rewinds to a frame where Supergirl is dropping off a man and a woman. "This is the best image we have, and even on a phone camera, it's pretty clear that this is Supergirl, or someone made to look exactly like her. I still have the measurements I made for the costume, and the one in the video seems to match it exactly."

"Danvers, any witness statements?"

"Only a few so far, but we are trying to set up interviews with as many witnesses as we can without raising too much suspicion – after all, seeing Supergirl isn't usually a case for the FBI. The ones we have all agree that she looked like Supergirl and she acted like Supergirl.

She spoke a little – she told the older kids not to worry while she flew down with the younger ones – and she sounded completely normal, according to them all. They couldn't really remember Supergirl's voice, but they didn't doubt for a moment that it was her. They all say she felt like any other person to the touch, very strong, but also very gentle."

"Anything out of the ordinary that you can see?"

Alex thinks for a moment. "The only thing that isn't Kara's MO is that this Supergirl didn't stick around. She would always have stayed to talk to the people, and wait for the fire department, in case they needed help with anything. This one was all business, the moment there wasn't any danger left, she just disappeared."

"We both say disappear, and that's what the witnesses say too," Winn points out, "do we actually think she disappeared into thin air, or did she just leave at super-speed? The frame rate of the phone camera is so low that Supergirl could easily fly away between frames."

Alex nods her head. "Good point. I don't think she flew – usually when she does that, you feel or hear a movement of air, and nobody reported that, even when asked. It really did seem like she just popped out of existence. Could it be a hologram?"

"No. Holograms can't carry people or freeze a burning house." Winn scratches his head. "Teleport maybe? If such a thing exists. I couldn't read any energy signatures afterward, but I wouldn't really know what to look for, we don't have any real teleportation technology in the archives, and all I have seen has been cross-dimensional travel."

"You're thinking she could be popping in from Barry-earth and going back again?" Alex raises an eyebrow.

"Actually, I wasn't, but that is an idea. It's better than anything I have."

J'onn interrupts, "But it wasn't Kara?"

Both Alex and Winn shakes their heads. "Winn, pull up the surveillance of Kara at the same time."

Winn brings up another video that shows Kara sitting at her CatCo desk. It runs for 30 seconds of Kara typing. Alex continues "I've looked at the entire day, and there is nothing out of the ordinary. A little later, when the Supergirl video hits the TV stations, Kara gets up and looks at the TV with everybody else, and she cheers just like everybody else. Unless she can be in two places at the same time, this Supergirl isn't Kara."

"And, as usual, we can't even rule out that she can be in two places at the same time." Winn throws up his hands in frustration. "I really wish we could know something, anything, for sure!"

In the following weeks, Supergirl appears almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. She always appears, saves somebody's life, and then disappears again as soon as the danger is over. Every time, Kara is minding her own business at the time.

One day Supergirl is fighting a chemical fire in the industrial area long enough for Alex to get there. Alex shouts and waves, trying to get Supergirl's attention. Other people also show up, looking at the fire. Supergirl swoops down, hangs in the air in front of them and says "Please move back, this area isn't safe." Then she flies back and continues fighting the fire.

Alex is sure it is Kara's voice and Kara's face, but there was no sign of recognition, not even when Supergirl looked straight at her.

Alex makes people to move further back, then she gets out her binoculars and start examining Supergirl in detail. She definitely looks like Kara, but there is something about how she moves that doesn't feel right. It's too precise, too emotionless, almost like watching a clockwork. This Supergirl doesn't feel like Kara.

Again, Supergirl disappears when the job is done.

They call in Superman. He hangs around National City for a couple of days, but whenever there is an emergency, Supergirl doesn't show up, and he handles it instead. Eventually, they give up on that idea, and Alex sends Superman home again. "Thanks for trying, but she only appears if there is danger, and apparently, she knows that there isn't really danger with Superman around."

She has a feeling that Superman had really hoped to see Supergirl again.

Day 147. Supergirl saves Kara.

It was a completely random accident. Someone tripped over a dog leash at a crowded bus stop, stumbled into someone else, and like dominos, people got pushed around, until finally the person waiting at the curb fell in front of the bus. That person was Kara Danvers, and all she managed to think was "Oh, crap!" as the bus came towards her far too quickly. Then she was flying. Supergirl scooped her up and put her down again on the sidewalk, just ten yards further down the street, looked around ... and disappeared.

When she had convinced everybody that she was OK, herself included, Kara phoned Alex. "Alex, I just saw Supergirl!"

"Oh, you did? That's cool. What did she look like?"

"Ah, I'm ... not really sure. My glasses weren't on straight, so I really only saw something blue, red and blonde. But she picked me up and put me down again. And saved me from being run over by a bus!"

"A ... you ... what? Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Supergirl saved me! She's sooooo cool!"

"Maybe she's a mental projection from Kara's subconscious?" Winn suggests, as his theory of the day.

Alex doesn't even look up when answering. "Nope. Supergirl helps people that Kara doesn't even know is in danger yet. Unless Kara's subconscious is also psychic."

"It could be?" Winn proposes.

Alex sighs. "Anything is possible, apparently."