DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine. This story's villian (er, villianess) was loosely based on a villian in the Animated Series called Live Wire. She is not mine, the characters are not mine - just the story idea is mine. Please don't sue! I'm just a poor college student!
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Linda looked confused as she cocked her head. “Mr. White, I’m . . . flattered, really, but, but . . . why me?”
“Because I believe that you deserve a chance to prove yourself,” Perry replied. “Now, do I hear a yes?”
Linda hesitated for a moment, then smiled. “Of course, Mr. White. I’d be happy to.” She got to her feet and held out her hand.
“Great,” Perry smiled. He got up and shook the young woman’s hand. “I’ll need you to fill out some paperwork and stuff, but -”
“What kind of paperwork?” Linda asked.
“Oh, nothing much,” Perry replied. “We don’t have to worry about it now; we can take care of it -” He was interrupted as the light bulbs in the office exploded, sending glass shards flying. Linda looked startled as Perry covered his head with his hands, then both of them glanced out the office doors.
The lights in the News Room exploded, along with the computers, the televisions, and anything else that was electrical or powered by electricity. People shouted and scattered as shards of glass flew through the air. Little electrical fires started sprouting up sporadically from the damaged equipment. Linda’s super hearing picked up shouting and laughing from outside. She hurried over to Perry’s office windows and looked out.
Down on the street level was Traci Jones, standing in front of the Daily Planet. She had changed her clothes and was now wearing black, leather pants, boots, and top. Her hair was still sticking straight up, her eyes were glowing, and she was shooting bolts of lightning from her hands at the Daily Planet building. Traffic had stopped, and people were fleeing the area, but Traci didn’t seem to care about anything except for destroying the Daily Planet building.
“Mr. White!” Linda shouted. “Look!” Perry came over and looked out. Jimmy came running over and looked out as well.
“Chief, that’s Traci Jones,” Jimmy said.
“What in Sam Hill is she doing here?” Perry asked. The building started shaking as electricity surged through the wiring and walls.
“I think she’s trying to blow up the building,” Jimmy replied as he grabbed the desk to keep from falling over.
Linda was able to steady herself quickly and glanced out at the news room. The fires were spreading fast. One of the workers was trapped between some spreading flames. Her heart pounding, the young woman took a deep breath and hurried out of the office and over to the doorway leading to the stairs.
Someone in the news room grabbed a fire extinguisher and started to put out one of the fires to help his coworker escape, but the flames grew too large for him to handle. He dropped the fire extinguisher as the flames fanned out.
Suddenly, a red and blue blur shot in through the open windows on the second level and down into the news room. It streaked toward the trapped worker and plucked her out before she could get burned. Everyone watched as Supergirl landed with the worker safely near Perry’s office door.
“Are you okay?” Supergirl asked the worker. She nodded, and Supergirl left her side. Everyone watched as the young super heroine stood in front of the flames and blew on them with her super breath. The flames quickly diminished, but the building didn’t stop shaking. Supergirl flew out the windows she came in and landed on the street behind Traci, hands on her hips.
“You know, if you don’t like the paper,” she said loudly, “you could just cancel your subscription.” The bolts stopped, and Traci turned around. The Daily Planet building stopped shaking, and everyone watched the confrontation.
“You’re not Superman,” Traci said, almost disappointed. She smiled. “But you’ll do quite nicely for the time being.” She thrust a hand out towards Supergirl. A bolt of lightning shot from her palm and hit the young woman in the chest. The force threw Supergirl back, and she crashed through a store window.
The young woman lay dazed for a few seconds before she slowly sat up. She looked up and saw Traci walking towards her. Before she could move to get to her feet, Traci threw another bolt out at Supergirl. Her body convulsed and shook as energy streamed out Traci into her body.
Suddenly, a red and blue blur streaked toward Traci and slammed into her. The energy stopped as the woman was knocked down the street. Superman watched for a few moments as Traci lay still, then hurried over to Supergirl as she slowly stirred.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he helped her sit up.
“Yeah,” Supergirl replied slowly. She looked past Superman, and her eyes widened. “Look out!”
Superman turned around and barely registered the bolt of energy coming at him. He winced as it hit him, but he managed to stay firmly in his place as he slowly got to his feet. Traci continued to pour out energy aimed at Superman, and the hero felt his muscles straining to stay standing. After a few moments, his knees finally buckled, and he collapsed to the ground.
Traci lowered her hands and walked over to the two fallen heroes, smiling smugly. “Well, well, well,” she smirked. “Look at what I have here.”
“Miss Jones,” Superman wheezed, “this is not the answer.”
“Oh, but it is,” Traci replied. “You see, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be like this. This is all your fault!” She held her hands to zap Superman again, but nothing happened. She looked at her hands, then held them out again. Still, nothing happened. She slowly backed off, then ran over to a motorcycle that had been abandoned when she began her little fiasco with the Daily Planet building. Thankful the keys were still in the ignition, she hopped on, started the cycle, and quickly sped away.
Superman and Supergirl slowly got to their feet, trying to catch their breaths. Superman turned to his young cousin, glaring at her. Supergirl looked up and saw his expression.
“What?” she asked.
“What were you thinking?” he asked.
“I was helping people,” she replied. “They were in trouble, I was helping them. That’s what we do.”
But Superman was so mad that he wasn’t even really paying attention. “You shouldn’t have gone after her alone.”
Supergirl glared back, saying sarcastically, “Right, I should have waited for you. Because, you know, she wasn't going to kill anyone until *you* got here. Oh, and I’m fine, by the way, thanks for asking.”
“You could have gotten someone else hurt. Did you ever think about that, huh? Did you ever stop and think about how your actions affect other people instead of always thinking about yourself?”
“Okay, that is it! I have had it with the way you’ve been treating me. You know, I was coming down here to talk with you calmly, hoping that maybe we could sit down and have a normal conversation, but I guess *that* won’t be possible; the only thing you seem to want to talk about is how I’m always messing up and getting into trouble.”
“Because that’s what you’re usually doing, young lady. You have forgotten what being a superhero is all about.”
Supergirl narrowed her eyes as she clenched her fists at her side. Though weakened from the fight with Traci, her anger compensated for her lack of full energy, and Supergirl let her fist fly. Her aim was true, hitting Superman square in the jaw. The force sent the hero flying backwards, and the small crowd that had gathered as the superheroes started arguing barely had time to scatter as Superman landed on top of a car, smashing the glass and frame.
Supergirl’s expression changed from anger to mortification at what she did, and she slowly backed away. She glanced at the crowd as a wave of panic crossed her mind, and she quickly leapt into the air and flew away as Superman slowly rolled off the car and steadied himself. He took a deep breath, a look of anger crossing his face, and he flew off after his younger cousin, intending to have a very long talk with her.
(End of Part 4)
