Kara Returns, Book Five

By Shadar

 (Clicking on thumbnail images will link to a HQ image)

Chapter 29

Diana walked through the heavy stone doorway and into the searing heat of Queen Hippolyta’s chambers. She paused just inside the door of the hollow pyramid to take a deep breath of the superheated air, and coughed as the heat irritated her lungs. She bravely took a deep breath of the two thousand degree air and narrowed her eyes to peer through the glare, carefully walking across the inch-deep pool of liquid steel that stretched outward like quicksilver, dotted here and there with shimmering pools of molten gold, silver and copper to add color to the room. The molten steel felt hot and uncomfortable as it clung to her feet, but she knew from her previous visits that it wouldn't truly burn her.

The found her mother, the queen of the Amazons, standing on top of her raised dais, just below the apex of the pyramid, at the one place where she could both concentrate the heat and her powers.  Queen Hippolyta had been born tens of thousands of years earlier to the race of gods that humans had once been worshipped in the pantheons of Olympus. The older she grew, the more heat her talisman had to radiate to support her fading life force, and the hotter her chambers became. In another few centuries, the rock itself was likely to start melting.

Her body channeled the otherworldly power of that glowing pendant to empower all Amazons, its power allowing Paradise Island to exist in that shifted phase of time/space that overlapped Earth. This was the alternate dimension where the gods had settled after Queen Hippolyta’s father had decided to allow men to become masters of their own world.

The goddess queen leaned against the wall of the pyramid, her green eyes glowing with otherworldly brightness. She looked tired and drained despite the star-hot glow of her talisman, even as it preserved her beauty and youth for untold millennia. Diana despaired that she would someday replace her mother, and would herself be trapped inside this pyramid. 

“They killed our sister Marita,” Hippolyta said softly. “I feel it.”

Diana’s heart fell. She had feared for this moment every day for the last seventy years. As prescribed by Amazon law, the death of an Amazon at the hands of men required the sacrifice of a thousand male warriors to atone. Such a sacrifice hadn’t been demanded for more than eight hundred years, not since the Mongolians under Genghis Khan had overcome a young Amazon. The prideful Khan refused to offer up the warriors to atone her death, and instead sent his best troops to meet the Amazons in a secret battle that Terran history has only hinted at.  Queen Hippolyta sent only an accomplished Amazon warrior and a young Amazon girl barely past her Rites, and the two of them defeated an entire mounted army with nothing but their swords. Ten thousand men died as opposed to the required thousand, for such was the arrogance of Genghis Khan that he was willing to suffer any casualties to defeat the Amazons. Fortunately the two Amazons were victorious, as it would have cost him even more thousands in retribution if they'd been harmed, and a war could have ensured, not just a battle.

Despite a couple of close calls since then, most of them in the early days of the nuclear age, it hadn’t happened since. Humans had not been so foolish as to interfere in the ways of the gods, at least until the rise of radical Islam in the 21st century and its denial that there was any god other than their One God. A denial that even included the Kryptonian god of Rao.

Diana shook her head as she replied in slow, measured sentences, the thin air of the room making her voice sound high and weak. “Marita was outside our control, mother. She was bound to a man emotionally. She broke the law. The punishment is not required.”

“Her death had nothing to do with her transgression, Diana,” the queen said forcefully, her voice a low and sibilant. “She was deliberately targeted by those men. They knew who she was.”

“Those men were ignorant Islamists. Bedouin from the desert who refuse to learn our ways.”

“Where is it written that they must know or accept us? That is the point of the decree. Do not attempt to divert the required punishment away from your beloved humans, Diana. You are my daughter, you are our champion, this is your responsibility.”

Diana felt a bead of sweat sizzle against her forehead. Not from the incredible heat, for she had been born of both man and god, but from the horror of what her mother was demanding of her.

“Ensure that only their finest warriors die,” her mother added as she saw the worry in Diana’s eyes. “Ensure also that the warriors die on the battlefield at an Amazon's hand. They must learn once again to respect the sisterhood."

"This is an abomination, mother. It ruins everything I've done for the last seventy years."

Her mother smiled. "Yes, it does, doesn't it."

Diana cursed silently. “And if I will not? If Kal-El intervenes and prevents it.”

The queen’s eyes flashed as bright as lasers, enveloping Diana in an aura of incredible heat. “If he interferes, then you must kill him first. He is Earth's finest warrior after all. And if you should refuse even that, then I will destroy their entire world. Blot it out as if it never existed, and the human stain with it.”

Diana gasped at her mother's threat, knowing as she did that her mother’s talisman could project enough power to tear the dimensional boundaries apart, merging an adjacent anti-matter dimension with the positive matter of Earth. The resulting explosion would reduce every planet and star in those dimensions to pure energy.

Her mother had no love for Earth and its men, that had always been clear. If not for her grandfather’s demand that the Amazons nurture human life, she would have destroyed them long ago. She’d compromised by sending Diana to Earth to rule them as Wonder Woman. Diana had refused to rule, realizing that men were no longer willing to bow down to a goddess. Instead, Diana had tried to inspire humanity, to lead them to enlightenment. Yet there was no room for compromise this time, Diana knew. Her mother had long lusted for this day, and the humans had been stupid enough to grant it to her.

She silently nodded and started to turn to leave. Perhaps she could find a way to lessen the impact so as not to start an open war between Amazon and men.

“Take Salva with you,” the queen said. “She can use the practice. I don’t think she’s ever killed a man. A few hundred bodies at her feet should toughen her up.”

Diana turned back to glare at her mother, the anger clear on her face. “Of course she hasn’t, mother. Salva just had her Rites a month ago. She’s barely of age. I beg you, spare her this horror.”

“Marita was also young, Diana, yet you sent her to her death among the men. Salva is a true Amazon and she has been trained to defeat any man in battle. She must learn to avenge her sister, and to protect us from men just like any other Amazon. Pair her up with Cassie if you must – she knows the way of men all too well. Together, they will keep you from bloodying your delicate hands.”

With her words still lingering in the shimmering air, Hippolyta turned away, her talisman flaring so brightly that she disappeared in the glow.

Diana walked dejectedly out the door of the pyramid, gratefully taking a deep breath of the cool air that blew off the ocean. She knew there was no refusing her mother’s order, but using Salva was a mistake. This mission would sour her toward men forever. Which was probably what her mother expected – to create another Amazon who had no reservations about killing men. A man-hater.

Diana sighed in frustration. How was she ever going to get Amazons and humans to live together when they both wreaked vengeance on each other? When her mother worked so hard to feed the hatred.

Chapter 30

Diana's thoughts remained troubled as she slipped through the dimensional barrier with Salva to appear on Earth. She sent Salva to find Cassie, and then sought out the one woman on Earth who might understand her plight and her mission: Lois Lane.

Despite her earlier transgression with her husband, the two women had become friends. Friends who had long shared the vitality of the most powerful man in the universe. Or they had until he’d betrayed them both for young Cassie. Their friendship had been forged in anger and betrayal, and they now shared each other’s most intimate confidences.

Diana started to knock on her friend’s door, only to have it open even before her knuckles could rap on the wood.

“Diana! How good to see you,” Lois smiled as she opened the door. “How long has it been? Months?”

“98 days, 11 hours and 27 minutes. I presume you can do without the seconds.”

“Jesus,” Lois laughed. “You’re getting more like Kal every day.”

“And you are getting younger every time I see you, Lois. Before long, you’ll be a girl again. I thought Kal’s influence had worn off?”

“It has. But I met his cousin.”

“Cousin?” Diana asked. “He doesn’t have a…”

“Kara isn’t dead,” Lois blurted out excitedly.

“Now I know I’ve got to come in and sit down,” Diana said in her low, husky voice.

Lois and Diana were laying nude on the living room in Amazon fashion when an exhausted Lois lifted her head to stare intently back into Diana’s eyes. She’d just proven that she was very much Kryptonian now, the two women sharing the Dela'lan, a particularly athletic form of female loving that was unique to the Amazons. Lois had gone beyond the boundaries of the sacrament to use her heat vision to heat a very sensitive spot on Diana's body until the goddess had gone crazy with desire. As a result, Lois had gained the right of conquest for the first time. Diana was now her slave. For a few hours anyway.

“Very impressive,” Diana gasped softly when she could breathe again, her own eyes flaring in return to heat a small circle of flesh just above Lois’ left breast, the temperature nearly a thousand degrees.

Lois didn’t flinch.

Diana’s eyebrow lifted. “This new invulnerability is Kara’s doing?”

“A woman’s gifts are always superior to a man’s, isn’t that what your mother always says?”

“We aren’t talking about her today,” Diana said stubbornly.

“Unfortunately, Kara’s only given me the briefest sketch of how she was raised from the dead. But enough for me to suspect Kal’s old nemesis is involved.”

A worried look crossed Diana’s face. Darkseid was of her mother’s race. He’d gone rogue long ago, and had since attempted to enslave humanity. “That’s impossible. He’s dead.”

“So was Kara. And do gods truly die?”

“Point taken,” Diana said thoughtfully. “The spirit can sometimes persist until it finds another body.”

Lois reached out to rest her hand on Diana’s muscular arm. “So what brings you to our world? These pleasures, I hope.”

Diana’s face darkened. “Anything but pleasure. A sister was killed here.”

“I read about that. In Paris. Some kind of new weapon.”

“There is now a price to pay.”

“I don’t understand?”

“Hippolyta’s ancient law has maintained a truce between men and Amazon for millennia. It decrees that for every Amazon death, a thousand of the finest male warriors must die.”

Lois’ face blanched. “And that’s what you’re here to do? Avenge her?”

“Not myself. I thought I’d give Cassie that privilege. I also brought another young Amazon to help her.”

“I’d say I feel sorry for Cassie, but I don’t.”

“You’ve forgiven me, Lois. Why not her?”

“You were protecting the people around Kal from his… growth.”

“Only at first.”

“And you respected our marriage.”

“Mostly.”

Lois stared at Diana, and then laughed. “Amazon honesty is still taking me some getting used to. So, you and Kal… after we were married?”

“Not often. And ultimately, he rejected both of us.”

“What the hell,” Lois shrugged, deciding it didn’t matter now. “He needed someone super enough to burn off that sexual insanity of his. Although, paradoxically, I’m probably strong enough for that now that we’re separated.”

“Life’s timing is strange… for mortals, anyway,” Diana nodded.

“Don’t remind me. You guys live forever.”

“Not forever. Just a longer time. And speaking of living forever, how do the men of your world perceive you now that you are so young and beautiful again?”

“I have many suitors, but none I have accepted," she said, speaking in the archaic way of Amazons. "My needs have grown with my youth.”

“An Amazon curse as well. I will say that your blue eyes and the red hair are interesting. I didn’t realize that Kryptonian coloration was that deterministic.”

“His cousin in a blonde,” Lois shrugged. “I guess he carries some latent genes for fair hair, despite his own black hair.”

“And your powers?”

Lois looked at her old friend, her eyes wide. “You felt the power of my eyes. I also saw you land behind those trees behind the house. The walls of my house look like glass most of the time now.”

“I was talking about your strength.”

“You want to try me?” Lois offered her arm for arm wrestling, an Amazon favorite.

Diana took it, and Lois strained, but Diana easily pinned her arm to the floor, her muscular arm flexing impressively.

“Not bad,” Diana said, clearly impressed despite her easy win. “You probably have half of your daughter’s strength.”

“Which brings me to a strange question, Diana… can I ask you anything?”

“Of course,” Diana nodded. "I  am your slave for a day."

“When he was with you… Kal, I mean, he didn’t have to… withdraw, you know, did he?”

“Never," the Amazon said proudly, "although at first, that was a challenge for me. He gained his full sexual powers at a young age, and despite my being Hippolyta's daughter, he was far stronger than I at first. I had to multiply my powers before I could conquer him.”

“Conquer?” That word had a particular connotation to an Amazon.

Diana looked back at her friend with her pale green eyes, seemingly hesitant to continue. She chose her words carefully. She was sharing something no one else knew, not even her mother. “Lets just say that if we ever had to reign Kal in, physically constrain him I mean,  I could do it. Alone.”

Lois’ eyes opened even wider. “You’re actually stronger than he is?”

“I have the benefit of two legacies of power. Both have been optimized.”

“Jesus. You Amazons are scary.” She paused for a moment. “So that’s what Cassie was after. Is she as strong as you now?”

Diana shook her head. “Not even as strong as your daughter. Her relationship with your estranged husband didn’t go on long enough.”

“But if it did… or if she and Kara, or Asha, chose to share loving, then she’d be like you?”

Diana nodded.

“And Cassie knows this?”

“Of course not. I would not tempt her with such power. She already has more strength than she has learned to use responsibly as it is.”

“But if she finds out…?”

“Then we both have a problem. She’s a very determined woman, and she's human at the core, not Amazon. Humans have always lusted for power.”

"Speaking of power, Diana said sexily, I am your slave now. There is no command I can refuse."

Lois smiled, and shared her private wish.

Chapter 31

Diana held her next meeting in an isolated area of the Canadian Rockies, just above the Whistler Ski Resort, a hidden rendezvous that she and Kal used to visit years ago.  Some white furs were spread on the snowy ground, with the scantily-clad Amazons sitting comfortably on them, immune to the subzero cold.

Cassie was dressed as was appropriate for an official meeting with the Queen’s daughter, her uniform displaying the hawk symbol over her breasts as was appropriate for an Aerie, the name given to an Amazon who has perfected the power of flight. In her case, that skill had come with her borrowed Kryptonian genes, not the perfection of Amazon lore.

She sat close to Salva on the warm rugs, the two young women wondering what this meeting was about. Despite their similarity in age, Cassie just a year older than Salva, the difference in their physical power was immense. Salva had a few hundred times the strength of a man, while Cassie had ten times that strength. Salva’s envy for her more experienced and stronger blonde sister was clear in the way she looked at Cassie.

“He isn’t like a normal man,” Cassie was explaining. “I mean, besides the man of steel thing, he goes completely insane during sex. And god, he’s hung like a centaur.”

Salva blushed and giggled. “I’m not sure I ever want to be with a man… not that way anyway,” she whispered. “But if I was, I’d want the very best.”

“That would be our big Boy Scout. The only place he misbehaves is in bed. If you change your mind, I could introduce you...”

“No way!” Salva said urgently, her lips finding Cassie’s as she tried to shut her up with a kiss, swishing her blue cape over both of them to maintain their modesty. “I’m straight.”

“It's not big a deal,” Cassie laughed. “You should at least try it. Men that is. Being hetero isn’t so bad once you…”

Salva started to shake her head again when Diana walked closer and cleared her throat. “Sisters. We are gathered here for a very solemn moment.”

The young Amazons broke their playful kiss, Cassie’s hand lowering from Salva’s breast as they both turned to look at Diana, Salva’s cape was still wound around Cassie’s arm, and Cassie’s expression showed her usual hint of arrogance and rebellion. Like many young women of her generation, she had a problem with respecting authority. Salva, in contrast, looked innocent and trusting.

“The Queen has issued us a command,” Diana announced. “You are to avenge the death of Marita, our sister in arms, who died at the hands of men.”

“Doesn’t that involve killing lots of men,” Cassie asked. “Millions of them or something.”

“Exactly a thousand. And all must be their finest warriors.”

Salva turned back to look at Cassie, seeing the worried look in her eyes.

Cassie floated to her feet. “Christ! I don’t have time for this shit, Diana. I’m dealing with a rogue Kryptonian. She could kill millions if we don’t stop her. You and Salva can take care of this Amazon horseshit.”

“Sit down,” Diana said firmly, using the power of Command that she’d learned from her mother.

Cassie sat back down before she realized she was even going to, and then glared up at Diana, hating her for using the Voice on her.

“Your quest can wait, Cassie. Amazon business comes first.”

“You don’t understand, Diana. This Kryptonian could end men’s entire way of life. There is an evil empire out there and…”

“No, you don’t understand Cassie. This isn’t a request.”

“And you don’t understand, Princess. I’m not one of your slaves to order around anymore.”

Diana glared at her. “You’ve shown no reservations about killing men who deserve it. Why suddenly now?”

“Because the men you’re talking about don’t deserve this death. They’ll all be brave soldiers in the service of their countries. Men I respect. I deal instead with criminals that humans can’t arrest. Men who have killed women and children. Not men with loving wives and children waiting for them at home.”

“And you care nothing that men killed one of our sisters?”

“Marita was stupid. There is a way to handle such men by killing the ones who deserve it. The Islamists.”

“The law is specific. Soldiers in uniform, all bearing arms, engaged in battle against us. It must be done fairly.”

“Fairly? Pitting humans against Amazons?” Cassie shook her blonde head. "I will not participate in the slaughter of good men."

Salva stared at Cassie as if she was insane. She was refusing an order from the Princess? One that came directly from the Queen?

“Refuse and you are banned from Paradise.”

“Who gives a fuck about that sand spit in space,” Cassie said as she rose into the air. “I’ve got the whole god-damned universe to explore.”

Chapter 32

Despite her defiant words, Cassie was shaking by the time she got back to Metropolis. She’d just turned her back on the Amazons who’d given her the gift of immortality and power. She wasn't sure what punishment that might bring, because it had never happened before. But then, no human had ever gained Amazon powers before her. She realized that given what she'd just done, none would in the future. She'd burned a bridge that she probably could have finessed her way through.

She smashed her fist into the marble wall next to her in frustration, sending a spider-web of cracks radiating outward. Damn it, she told herself, being asked to kill innocent men was wrong. She was still human enough to understand at least that. There was no way she could have talked Diana out of it.

She pushed her angry thoughts away, deciding she wasn't going to torture herself over this. What was done was done. She had more important things to worry about. Like dealing with the Kryptonian female who claimed to be Kal's birth-wife. Also Kara, assuming they really were different people. Asha hadn’t called yet, which meant she hadn’t located her father and gotten him to his Fortress.

Cassie had her own ideas where she might find him, and how to approach him when she did. She quickly changed out of her Amazon uniform, realizing she'd never wear it again, and  pulled on a torn sweat-shirt that used to be one of Kal’s, the neck opening so large it fell off one shoulder. She tore the bottom off until it barely covered her breasts, leaving her midriff bare. A very short denim skirt finished the outfit, showing off her long legs, the short hem crudely torn from a longer skirt. Kal liked to rip and tear a woman's clothing off, often displaying the enthusiasm of a child opening his gifts on Christmas morning, so eager to find what was hidden inside. He swore he never used his x-ray vision to violate a woman's clothing.

She already knew she was going to seduce him, which in Kal's case meant letting him sexually dominate her by releasing that barely restrained violence that lived so deep inside him. She'd let him pour that insane strength of his into her as if she was one of those arrogant and murderous Amazons that he wanted so much to kill, but never would. An Amazon she no longer was.

And to hell with his wife. Lois Lane didn’t know how to deal with a superman. The bitch had gone so far as to kick him out of their house right when the whole world was waiting for him to save them. Combined with whatever that Kryptonian woman had done to him in New Mexico, it was messing him up. He’d nearly disappeared from sight. People were losing faith.

Cassie knew in the way women do that she had to build up her man’s confidence. To make him feel like a real superman again. Despite her relative youth, she was the only person who could get Kal back in the game. Everyone else made demands of him, diminishing and depleting his soul. She alone had allowed him to release the god-sense that lay buried beneath that Kansas farm boy modesty of his. 

She walked out onto the balcony of her 80^th story penthouse suite, itself a perk from having made her millions eliminating those scum from the Earth, and leaped effortlessly over the balcony. She allowed gravity to do its work at first, waiting until she’d fallen a dozen floors before she tensed her legs slightly, starting to extend her fall, then angling eastward across town, flying toward the place she and Kal used to meet in the warehouse district.

Kal had long ago found a building with a very strong foundation, and had put in reinforcements and bullet and blast-proof matting over the walls and ceiling. It was heat proof as well. Hardly the usual love hut for two illicit lovers, but they weren’t the usual people. By agreement, they both left any trace of human gentleness at the door. Inside these walls, they were superhumans.

Cassie circled the non-descript warehouse a couple of times, peeling the floors away with her borrowed x-ray vision until she saw Kal on the lower level. He was wearing his Clark Kent disguise and balancing a notebook computer on his lap as he typed furiously away. She zoomed in to look over his shoulder, but couldn’t make out the screen; X-ray vision didn’t work on liquid crystal displays.

Not that she had to read anything to know what he was writing – his long-winded history of the Kryptonian race. He was translating, correlating, condensing and explaining the terabytes of stuff he’d learned from the crystals Jor-El had sent to Earth with him. All boring stuff, Cassie was sure. Except for the part that would deal with her. What would he reveal of their unique relationship, a man of the stars having a relationship with such a young woman, an ordinary human born who’d gained both Amazon and Kryptonian powers? Would Kal portray her as a prototype of the next evolution of the species, combining the best of three racial lines in to the future of humanity, or did he truly see her as some horrible mistake, combining human morality with Kryptonian strength and Amazon war lust - a destructive mix that could bring down humanity. He'd often talked fondly about her being the first, but when they broke up, he'd accused her of having become the second.

 Whatever he thought of her now… the real problem was that he was hiding down here when there were dangerous aliens to capture. Asha was doing OK on keeping the terrorists under control, but there was that black-haired Kryptonian bitch running around. And there was Kara, the cousin who he’d always treated with such deference and gentle love. Yet he'd confessed to Cassie long before Kara returned that he'd always had this sick dream of making her his lover. That he'd been haunted by the most erotic dreams about her since she'd first arrived on Earth at the age of fifteen - dreams about the two of them continuing the Kryptonian race. He'd sometimes asked Cassie to dress up as Kara before he went crazy on her, which told Cassie everything she needed to know about Kal's obsession.

Cassie suspected that he was afraid of Kara now that she'd returned, actually afraid of himself, afraid of what he’d do to her if he let himself go? Perhaps he was unsure if he could still fight the dream that haunted, and excited, him. Had her return ripped away the supreme confidence that made him Superman, reminding him of his own mortality at the same time? Cassie would never have guessed that was possible. If anything, Kal had gotten cockier as he got older. 

Speaking of cocky, she wondered if maybe his hormones dropped or something when he wasn’t getting laid. Perhaps he crawled back into that farm boy insecurity that had protected him while he grew up.  If so, she’d knew how to fix that.

She dropped down to open the roof entrance he’d installed – it took fifty tons of gripping force to unlatch it, one-handed no less, which combined with the thick steel to make it even more secure than a bank vault. This was his Metropolis mini-fortress, with carbon steel walls three feet thick. It was impregnable by any human unless they used bunker-busting bombs, as none of the Amazons were strong enough to exert that much force, except of course of Diana.

Naturally, she didn’t think of herself in that same context.

Floating silently downward after closing the massive rooftop door behind her, she descended several staircases to reach the lower level, her feet finally touching down twenty feet behind Kal. She stood with her back to the silver fireproof wall padding that was there to protect the armored wall from his heat vision.  He liked to use his eyes during their loving, often heating her body to star-heat as part of his foreplay. She'd learned to return the favor, heating that manly portion of him to incandescence before he quenched it inside her. A loving game he could never play with his wife.

She stood there now, watching as Kal just kept typing away. If he knew she was here, he gave no sign. She put one hand casually on her hip, the other half in her pocket, giving him that confident pose that had always turned him on. She’d discovered early on that if she threatened to use her powers to kill and maim humans like some Amazons did, then the mighty Superman would rise to the task of teaching this 'rebellious teenage Amazon' to behave, using his cock as his instrument of discipline. To be specific, he'd fuck her into total submission. That had been her sexy game.

He'd told her she needed a great deal of discipline when she was sixteen, and had insisted on teaching her a new lesson each day, initially on rooftops, in desert valleys, sometimes even underwater, clouds of steam billowing upward. Sometimes he’d arrive at super speed to abduct her from her school classroom and carry her away to this urban fortress to have his way with her until she couldn’t move. And when she did, he’d discipline her again. And again.

Cassie had been too naive at the time to sense the sickness she was encouraging, not realizing that his sexual violence was really a reflection of his anger at the way Diana had forced herself on him when he was even younger. Also his anger at the other Amazons who sometimes came to Earth, practicing their goddess-like arrogance and flaunting their power over men. He couldn’t dominate Diana, she was too strong, and the other Amazons would seduce him and steal his power when he engaged them, but Cassie was half human. She lacked the magical power to enslave men.

Then he'd introduced the thing about having her dress up as Kara, and she realized there was more to it than just anger.

She’d broken it off with him once she realized that she was feeding the sickness inside him instead of helping him expunge it. And like the Amazons she'd once felt so much a part of, she swore at that time that no man would ever be her master again.

Unless it was in her interest. Like now.

She softly cleared her throat: “I hope you’re going to let me read about us before you publish it.”

Kal froze, and then slowly turned around until he was looking almost directly backward, his flexibility always amazing Cassie given his massive musculature. Despite biceps the size of grapefruits and shoulders that were a meter wide, he was more flexible than a gymnast. His eyes flicked up and down her body, setting on her legs for long seconds. She opened them slightly, and his heart leaped. She took one step closer, and thought she had him, only to see him look away, consciously slowing his heart back to normal.

"Good old Kal," she whispered to herself, "always suppressing your instincts."

 “Cassie?” he asked in genuine surprise as his eyes finally met hers. "This is a… surprise.”

Cassie undid the top button off her torn jean skirt, letting her actions speaking louder than words.

Kal frowned. “I thought you didn’t want to deal with the ‘geriatric Amazon hater’ anymore,” he said hastily.

Cassie couldn’t remember saying that, but she’d talked a lot of trash at him when they broke up. “Rome is burning out there and you’re hiding down here indulging yourself, Kal. That Kryptonian witch has struck again, and you don’t give a shit?”

Kal turned back around to lean over his notebook again. “I’m not going to play your game. Or hers. Once she figures out that she can’t get a rise out of me, her master will come and negotiate with me.”

“Her master?”

“Darkseid. Has to be.”

“I heard he was dead.”

“So was Kara.”

Cassie smiled. “Ah, so you suspect something too. She’s so full of shit.”

“Kara? What are you talking about?”

“Your pretend cousin. Whoever she is, she’s not Kara Zor-el.”

Kal turned to face her again. “That’s where you’re wrong. We talked about things only she could know. I don’t know how she was healed, and she does look different, but inside where it counts, she has my cousin’s soul.”

Cassie looked confused now. “Asha doesn’t believe that.”

“Kara died before she was born, so how would she know what she was like? Asha’s just trying to protect me. She knows… my weakness.”

“She’s trying to protect the whole goddamn planet at the moment,” Cassie said angrily. “And you aren’t weak. Just a little twisted. Since I’m willing to play that game, it’s not a sin.” She made sure she spoke in present tense.

“Asha can handle it,” Kal shrugged, his body language and words telling Cassie that he wasn’t going to rise to her bait. She let her top slip down a bit further, and heard his heart skip a beat. He never used his x-ray vision to look at a woman, enjoying the sexy tease that clothing provided.

“Asha can handle it?” Cassie exclaimed. “She’s just a kid. That woman in New Mexico would tear her into little pieces and feed her to her pet rat.”

“A kid, huh?” Kal said with a sigh as set his notebook aside. “She’s seventeen, Cassie… same age as you.”

“Yeah, and she’s as naive as you were at that age. Always thinking people will do good deeds if only you give them a second chance. She should just kill the bastards who deserve it, like I do. Cull the violence at its source.”

“Kryptonians believe in higher standards,” Kal said without arrogance or pride. “And violence begets the same. You Amazons must surely understand that by now.”

“You and Christ, you both turned the other cheek, as if you didn’t know shit about human nature. You sure you aren’t running for god now? Save us from ourselves, make us better, redeem us from ours sins and all that shit?”

Kal closed his eyes for a brief moment as he struggled to control his temper. He and Cassie had never agreed on anything. “We came from the same root, Cassie,” he said in measured words, “humans and Kryptonians. The difference is that we Kryptonians learned kindness.”

“Oh, so that’s what your birth-wife was doing in New Mexico and now in Rome, showing us an example of your fucking human kindness? Krypton’s best?”

“She’s been corrupted by Darkseid. She does not represent my race.”

“You know that?”

“I’ve seen it before.”

“Then get your ass out there and stop her, Kal," Cassie shouted. "What do you think the people of Earth are thinking right now? You’ve trained them to think that Krypts are kind and compassionate. That you are their champion, your sense of morality and decency unassailable. But now they are seeing that some of you are monsters. That you might be a coward. What are they supposed to think now?”

“I told you, that woman knows my weakness. Each contact with her will reduce public confidence in me. And she’ll make sure we always meet in public.”

“So burn that weakness out of yourself, and then go and take that witch on under your own terms. I’m here to help with that." She paused as she saw his body quickly. "Besides, I've been kicked out of the Amazons, and I'm going to start hunting on my own again. Killing whoever deserves it.” The last wasn’t true, at least she didn't think it was, but that would light the old fires that required him to 'discipline' her.

The air was charged with sexual electricity as Kal’s heart raced, her face growing red, his eyes glowing, his thin suit nearly bursting as he engorged. Cassie waited anxiously for his eyes to turn red and that insanity to boil over, but instead he just lowered his head and shook it. “That was… a mistake. Before. I’m sorry. And I know the truth about you now. You have a human heart.”

She just stared at him, not sure what to do next. “So… so what do you want me to do then… go kick her ass for you?”

“You can’t match her powers… she’s a pure-born Kryptonian. She’d kill you just to get to me.”

Cassie felt a rare shiver of fear race down her back. If Kal was afraid of her, and he’d more or less said just that, then what chance did she have? She pushed her fear away, and drew instead upon her usual bravado. “Yeah, maybe she could, maybe not. She hasn’t fought an Amazon before, especially not one with Kryptonian powers. But I worry about Asha. She doesn’t have Amazon skills and she’s a weaker version of you. Killing her would really get to you.”

“Asha is tougher than she knows.”

“I haven’t seen that. I can kick her precious ass in wrestling almost every time.”

“I regret that I made that possible,” Kal said sourly. He took a deep breath and straightened up in his chair, his piercing blue eyes meeting hers.

Cassie’s heart flip-flopped. He was so adorable when he looked at her like this... that blend of Superman and Kansas farm boy really got to her. Even if he had some weird sexual hang-ups…

“So what brings you here?” he asked again, his voice cool and clinical.

Cassie tried to shake off the rush of chemical attraction she felt, and angrily turned her back to him, tears of frustration welling in her eyes. Kal knew very well that she’d come to seduce him, to get him to conquer her as before, to subdue her, hoping that would help rebuild his confidence. Unfortunately, he'd gone cold on her, and it would do no good to force herself on him now. He had to let the insanity out, not trap it inside. He had to release all that sexual violence that lay dormant inside him. He had to become the Superman she knew – the one who had fucked her unconscious with the frenzy of his sexual demands. Once he'd done that, he would have the confidence and the composure to subdue that supposed birth-wife of his.

“I guess I was looking for the man I knew as Superman. The man who has proven so many times to me that he knows how to control a superwoman, not to become her victim. He seems to be missing.”

Without waiting for him to reply, she leaped from the ground and raced upward through the maze of stairways, and then out the roof. The wind of her flight slowly dried her tears.

Chapter 33

Jarod’s first day at the Half Moon Bay hotel south of San Francisco seemed to pass with glacial slowness. He amused himself by strolling down the beach and around the pool… the weather was uncharacteristically warm and sunny for the area, and the local beauties had taken to the beaches, with more than a few of them statuesque blondes like Kara. But they were only humans, spectacular humans no doubt, but none of them remotely in Kara’s league.

He’d booked four days at the hotel, and had resolved to enjoy himself even if she didn’t show. After living in Hindu-Kush without any form of creature comfort, this five-star hotel with its uniquely upper-class Californian flavor was a welcome if not indulgent change. Unfortunately, these four days that would drain every last dime he had. A small price to pay if Kara showed up.

He looked like a refugee from Target in his old swimsuit and well-worn t-shirt as he headed down to a beachside restaurant and lay down on a lounger to catch a few rays. His skin was pasty white from living under layers of clothing in those cold mountains.  He lathered himself with sunblock and lay in the hot sun, slowly dozing off, his eyelids flickering as he stared at the desert brown colors of the wall before him, enjoying the way thee shades changed shade with the sun’s position. He remembered how the sun had lit his little valley during that amazing day with Kara in Pakistan. The way they’d flown together, up into the bright sunlight. He’d never forget the way she’d shown him a bit of her strength, leaping a mile straight up a cliff to catch a wounded dove as it fell after being attacked by a predatory hawk.  In so doing, she’d revealed the compassion she felt for all living things.

A compassion they shared.

His fond daydreams were fading into sleepiness, the sun was so hot, when he suddenly sensed someone standing at the end of his lounger. He opened his eyes wide, and was startled to see an incredibly long pair of tanned legs. From the delicate lace-up Italian heels to the slender calves to the shapely thighs that rose upward to flair powerfully beneath a short, tight black skirt, he saw absolute perfection. He didn’t have to look further upward to know that Kara Zor-El of Krypton had finally arrived.

“Penny for your thoughts, sailor,” she said softly, her musical voice drifting down to thrill him.

He rolled over and sat up, looking up into the luminous blue orbs he remembered so well, her shimmering blonde hair hanging halfway down her back, the strands glowing as brightly as sunlight itself. Her Lycra outfit fit her like a second skin, rising high to attach to a broad, diamond-studded choker, leaving her shoulders, arms and back bare. She looked far fitter than he remembered from the Hindu-Kush, with a maze of tight muscles shaping her elegant back.

“You’ve been working out,” he smiled as he rose, finding that she was far taller than he was in her heels. She reached down to gracefully take off her shoes, settling to a barefoot height that exactly matched his 6’1”. She hadn’t been that tall the last time we met. “Longer legs too?”

“My form isn’t all that… stable.”

“Interesting…” Jarod said slowly, a little confused. “But I have to say, that’s not how my dates usually describe being late. Make-up, hair, clothes and problems thereof. But you adjust your height? And your physique too?” He wondered what other wonders were in store for him to discover.

She smiled warmly as she moved closer. “Well, I don’t need to wear makeup…”

He slipped his arm around her slender waist, and she leaned sensually against him, her hair so soft and warm, her body so firm. She tilted her head slightly to let his lips find hers, not caring that they were the object of so many eyes. They kissed as he held her close, his hands marveling at the strong, hard curves of her back and the soft skin that stretched so tightly over them. Her kiss was soft and warm and sensuously delicate, and her breath was sweet with the scent of flowers and citrus.

“You are an angel,” he murmured, not knowing how literally true that statement was.

Their lingering kiss ended after a long moment, and she stepped away from him to unsnap her diamond choker, handing it to him. Jarod guessed it was worth millions, but he tossed it on the lounger as if it was cheap costume jewelry and focused on the real treasure. He reached up to peal Kara’s black Lycra top down to reveal an orange bikini beneath.

The Lycra caught on her hips, but she left it hanging as she slipped from his hands to walk over and grab one of the yellow rental surf boards from the rack beside him. Turning toward the water, she smiled brightly back over her shoulder at him. “You do surf, don’t you?”

“Duh. I grew up in LA.”

“Good. Then catch me if you can. Best two out of three waves decides who buys dinner. I promise no super stuff.”

She turned and sprinted down the beach, sand and then water flying from her feet as she dashed out into the heavy surf and dove under the first wave.

Jarod grabbed a board and raced after her, realizing that she was going to hold back her powers and just enjoy the sensation of surfing just like anyone else. Unfortunately, her idea of holding back left her with Olympic-level strength. It took him twenty minutes to catch up with her beyond the surf line. She turned and paddled hard to catch a wave just as he arrived, and he struggled to catch up with her, and barely managed to rise on the same huge wave.

He thrilled to the way she rode her board so gracefully, her broad smile beaming as she ducked low and raced into that blue tunnel of the pipeline, the wave finally breaking over her to wipe out her ride. She would have scored good points in any surfing contest. He didn't do so bad himself, managing to bail out gracefully as his board was washed under by the last vestiges of that wave. Turning to look for her, he saw her blonde head poking back through the foaming surf. She waved and began to paddle outward again.

Two hours of very competitive surfing left him exhausted and Kara ecstatic, but anyone would have called their impromptu contest a tie. He was glad she hadn’t lost to him, as that would have been just silliness, but she hadn’t blown him away either. This was a side of Kara that he hadn’t expected - a Kryptonian who enjoyed pretending to be human so she could enjoy simple human companionship. He doubted Superman had ever done that, although there was the question of what he did when he wasn't soaring around. Did he have another identity, one where he pretended to be human? Had Kara once lived the same way?

“Guess nobody buys dinner,” she said sexily as he led the way back to the bungalow that he’d rented at the edge of the property. “You’ll have to settle for something less… filling,” she laughed as she leaped on his back, wrapping her arms and legs around him to let him carry her inside, then lifting him off the floor to rotate in mid-air, levitating in the middle of the three story tall bungalow while whispering in his ear. "Something weightless... like me."

They showered off together in the warm, secluded outside shower. She playfully pulled his trunks down as he in turn removed her sand-encrusted bikini. They washed each other clean, with Kara paying special attention to his profound arousal, washing him ever so slowly, holding him tightly enough that he nearly lost it. He wanted to make love to her right there, but she just smiled and knelt in front of him, carefully washing the soap away before beginning a delicate fellatio. He buried his hands in her wet hair and tried to stop her, wanting to save himself for later, but she didn't slow until he cried out and came hard as she deep-throated him. When he was spent, he collapsed against the shower wall, watching as she licked her lips like a cat drinking milk. She rose to wash her face off in the shower, and then silently slipped out of the shower. A thrilled and happy Jarod followed her out to scrub her back with the big Turkish towels.

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I wanted to share the first time inside you. "

“We have to wait for that,” she smiled as he licked the last drops shower water from her skin, paying special attention to her breasts. “It’s going to take some time around you to mellow enough.”

“Mellow?” he asked as he rose back up.

“My body sort of adapts to the person I’m with.”

“Adapts? I don’t understand.”

“I get stronger, less strong. Softer. Harder.  More muscular, more... yielding.”

Jarod's thought's race... she was a shape changer. Didn't they below in science fiction? And if he accepted that she adapted to the people around her, then why had she started the day looking so muscular and hard. That thought no soon crossed his mind before another one chased after it - he decided he didn't want to know the answer.

“I wasn't with some super guy, in case you're wondering,” she answered without his asking. “Rather, it was a dream about a guy.”

That didn’t make Jarod feel a whole lot better, so he changed the subject away from sex. Walking to the main room to pour some wine, he said “A friend of mine told me about an Amazon who was killed in Paris. The terrorists involved used a new rail gun technology that my friend’s firm developed.”

“And he sells superweapons to those Arab assholes?” Kara asked angrily as she followed him, toweling her hair dry.

“No. Only to the US government. But someone stole the prototype of their new system and used it on that poor girl.”

“What is it, anti-tank stuff?”

Jarod shook his head slowly. “Given it can shoot through a whole platoon of tanks, its way overkill for that.” He took a deep breath. “My friend says the specifications called for it take out superhumans.”

Kara’s eyes narrowed. “And who writes those specs and pays the bills?”

“The United States government.”

“Those paranoid bastards,” she spit out. She stood in front of a mirror and used her reflected heat vision to dry her hair as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“The Amazons scare them," Jarod added, thrilling to the way she seemed so comfortable around him. "Given their weird customs and their penchant for warfare.”

“Well, maybe they aren’t so crazy then,” Kara admitted as she walked over to him to take his offered glass, comfortable with her nudity. She looked better naked than she did wearing even the most exotic clothing. "I'm frankly shocked by how much the Amazons have changed in the twenty years I've been gone."

“My friend’s role in the weapon’s development is really worrisome. He’s been told to upgrade it so it’ll disable a Krypt.”

She ran her hand over the soft grid of her flat stomach. “Hurting this bod? That’s a real engineering challenge. Especially if it just shoots bullets.”

He gently cupped her breast, thrilling to the warmth and infinite softness. “Yeah, you're a real Girl of Steel."

"I'm serious. My tits may not feel like it, but they're impossible to hurt."

"I'm talking about super bullets traveling at Mach 20.”

Impressive,” Kara said with a whistle as she placed her hand over his. “He could probably shoot down a satellite with that thing. Assuming the bullet didn’t vaporize on the way up."

"Which is why I'm worried."

"Don't be. They used to call me Supergirl for a good reason.” She shook herself gently. "My girls are unhurtable."

"Those bullets are encased in artificial diamond.”

“Typical Terran technology," she shrugged as she turned her back to lean against him, guiding both his hands to her breasts. "Can’t build energy weapons, but you guys can shoot bullets better than anyone.” She lifted her arms and leaned her head back on his shoulder, turning her head to kiss him gently. "And you guys can caress a woman so damn sexily."

He ran his fingers around her firm nipples. "So this is a unique human skill, huh?"

"Your skill, for sure."

“Not that I know much about the other ‘anyones. The ones that are way out there.”

“Better you don’t. This is the nicest place I've seen in the universe.”

He traced one hand low, delicately tracing the outline of her mons. She gave off an encouraging squeak. “For reasons you are reminding me of."

Jarod felt ten feet tall. But as much as he wanted to give himself up to pleasure her, he wanted to continue this discussion too.. "The problem is that he doesn’t have a target to test it on, Kara. No material on Earth is as tough as a Krypt’s skin. But he can punch through hundreds of meters of granite with it.”

“He’s got Superman and his daughter to try it on.”

“Who are totally opposed to his work. His company is afraid they’d arrange to have the research stopped if they found out the extent of it. Even to destroy their labs.”

“So why are you telling me?”

He felt her nipple grow harder as he slipped his fingertip inside her, tracing a lazy circle around that little hood of pleasure. “Because I trust you, love. And I want to warn you. My friend is good. Very good. And given that he doesn’t know where to stop, he’s dumping more and more power into that machine. Using more exotic bullets too. Technicians have already been killed when it blew up during a test firing.”

She sighed as he felt that little nub of pleasure rising. “I’ll keep it in mind. Asha might be vulnerable.” Her voice sounded distant, dreamy.

“Asha?” Jarod asked.

“Oops… that’s Supergirl’s real name. Asha Jor-El.”

“Interesting name," Jarod said as he pressed harder, moving his finger faster. "Indonesian in origin, I believe.”

Kara floated out of his arms, turning to face him, both nipples so hard now. He'd definitely been getting to her. "As much fun as this is, Jarod, how do we find out if it’s going to hurt Asha?”

“You’re really worried about her?”

She smiled angelically. "Would I ask you to stop what you were doing if it wasn't damned important?"

"Obviously not." he smiled as he watched her eyes flutter as he licked the wetness from his finger. She tasted deliciously like roses.

“Asha's over-confident. Jarod. Just like you.”

"Me?"

She floated from the floor to settle gently on his shoulders, her warm sex pressing against his lips. "Using your finger when you know you're supposed to use your tongue."

"Now who's being over-confident?"

"Do I have to say please?" she said softly.

Jarod crawled out from the tangled mass of legs, arms and long hair that was Kara Zor-El a half hour later, twisting his neck from side to side, amazed it wasn't broken. Kara floated off the floor to hover upside down over his head, her silky hair falling over him as she kissed him upside down.

"That was really nice. A man with a silver tongue."

He shrugged modestly. "It's like playing a Stradivarius. Even a duffer can make beautiful music."

"Well, you've just earned first chair in my orchestra."

Jarod wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. How many people played in her orchestra? “I really should call my friend," he blurted out uncomfortably. "His company has a test range a few miles down the beach from here. A place that’s backed by some large sand dunes.”

“And you really want me to be his target?”

“Do you mind?”

Kara frowned. “You warm me up with your tongue and then shoot the fuck out of me. Guess I should be used to it by now."

"You said you needed time... to mellow."

"Shooting me with some rail gun isn't going to speed that process up. Trust me."

He reached out to hug her close. “I’m just glad you’re here, love. No demands.”

“Other than this one?"

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't worried about what my friend Michael was doing. I'm not if weapons like that belong on Earth."

"You are a special man, Jarod,” she smiled, her mood brightening again. “Most men are usually so… focused.”

“It’s just that given how easily that prototype was stolen, I think someone other than the government has an interest in Michael's work. Could be a big deal for you guys.”

“That’s what I like about you, Jarod… always thinking of others. I hope you don’t mind the delay. For us, I mean.”

Jarod thrilled to her apology. He’d doubted intercourse was even possible after their meeting in Pakistan, and had resolved to settle just for the wonder of her presence. Besides, he told himself, there were more important things at stake here than his libido. Life and death important.

A few quick calls was all it took to set things up, although his friend was more than skeptical. A Kryptonian woman who wasn’t Supergirl? Not anymore anyway? Jarod persisted, and if not for twenty years of friendship, Michael wouldn't have come. As it was, he brought along with enough Marines to guard Fort Knox. They met at the company’s beachside test range. It was located along the beach side of a thick line of sand dunes that provided a backstop.

“Michael Easton,” Jarod introduced, “this is Kara Zor-El. Kara, this pirate has been a friend of mine since we were eight.”

The weapons engineer stared at Kara through thick glasses. “You’re dead.”

Kara laughed. “An unusual greeting, but not wrong. Except for the tense.”

“I saw all the news articles. I was a kid when it happened.”

“Do I look dead now?” Kara asked matter-of-factly as she crossed her arms and stripped off her baggy t-shirt to reveal an exotic blue one-piece swimsuit. Two fabric strips, barely two inches wide, crisscrossed over her chest and around her neck.

“You’re way... taller than before.” Michael said as his eyes stared at her chest.

“Death becomes her,” Jarod added, deciding he wasn’t going to explain any more of that to Michael. Not that he really understood her shape changing himself.

“So let’s cut the bullshit,” Michael said. “Is this 'I show you my toys, you show me yours' like it always has been?”

“Kara isn’t a toy.”

“You always had the hot chicks hanging all over you. I just had my weapons.”

“I wouldn’t bring you and your army down here if I was just playing, you know that, Michael. I’m worried about what you’re creating.”

Michael quickly glanced at Kara. “You told her about... it? This stuff is really secret.”

“I told you, she’s a Krypt. The very race of beings you are trying to take down. Let her decide if you’re on the right track.”

“Cut the shit, Jarod. What are you really after?”

“Humor me. Assume for the moment she’s what I say she is. How would you reassure yourself of that before lining her up in your rail gun?”

Michael sighed. “If she was really a Krypt, then her skin would have a specific hardness beyond that of diamond, but not crystalline, metallic and malleable instead. It would take a thousand tons per square inch to deform her skin and even...”

His words trailed off as Kara reached up to push the thin straps of her suit top to the side, then  pressed her breasts slightly together, proving that she was indeed malleable. She tilted her head slightly to the side to stare questioningly into Michael’s eyes. "Your engineering model isn't very good. The transfer function for my skin is a sixth order polynomial."

"Incredibly soft, incredibly hard, depends on how hard and fast you hit her," Michael explained.

"Sixth order?" Michael asked, impressed. "No matter I've ever tested had a range of resistance greater than third order."

"Obviously. We haven't met before."

His eyes flicked back and forth from her magnificent chest, down to her tight stomach, and then up to those amazingly blue eyes and blonde hair. He swallowed hard, unable to accept what he was hearing.

“See, Michael,” Kara asked as she pressed herself tighter together, “I'm very malleable. But hardly a thousand tons per square inch. Try a few ounces.”

“Damn!” Michael gasped, his heart racing. He wasn't thinking of polynomials now.

Kara smiled her thanks to the compliment his eyes and racing heart communicated. “Surely you have something here other than that super gun that you'd like to test me with,” Kara purred. “Presuming you want to warm me up with a penetrating object somewhat less destructive than a rail gun.”

Michael stared at her incredible figure and her beauty, her playfully teasing words not helping matters at all. Weapons testing and gorgeous sexy blondes didn’t belong in the same hemisphere - of his head, that is. “I… I don’t spend much time testing supposedly invulnerable women.”

"But you've thought a lot about my cousin. You aren't gay are you?"

Michael's eyes narrowed. "Of course not..."

“Then use your imagination,” Kara winked. “You’re a design engineer, so you’re obviously creative. You’ve been asking for a Kryptonian test subject for months. Now you’ve got one.”

“I presumed it would be Superman and he'd come in costume. Not dressed like... you.”

“Maybe this is my costume.”

Michael gawked at her for a few more seconds, and then suddenly reached out with his index finger and daringly pressed it against her breast. Her soft flesh dimpled deeply. He suddenly looked relieved. “Hah, as I guessed, you're as human as I am.”

Jarod rolled his eyes. “Jesus, is that all you can think of doing? Poking her in the tit?”

“Felt human enough to me.”

"Sixth order... remember?"

"Deformation rate," Michael admitted, fully realizing what Jarod had said earlier. Intrigued now that his brain was working again, he walked over to take a large wrench out of his toolbox. Walking back to stand in front of Kara, he held the spanner in both hands, looking very nervous. He was obviously going to brain her with it. "You sure about this?"

"Let me spare you the broken wrists." She took the huge chrome-molybdenum spanner from him, and flipped it around like a baton before gripping its ends firmly. She smoothly bent the wrench in half, her chest expanding enough to push the straps of her suit outward. Michael stared as one large nipples revealed itself, only to jerk his eyes back to the spanner when he heard the groan of steel again. Kara folded it up, and then effortlessly wadded the hardened steel into a big, shiny ball, the straps of her suit snapping the side to bare her breasts. She bounced the ball on the palm of her hand, her other hand resting on her waist.

"That strong enough for you?"

"Jesus," Michael gasped as his eyes flicked from the smoking steel ball to her perfect breasts, the combination of her casual nudity and raw strength turning him on something fierce. He tore his eyes away to look at Jarod. "She's really your girlfriend?"

Kara smiled as she wound up and tossed the steel ball a quarter mile out into the surf line, her through as practiced and smooth a pro baseball pitcher. Turning back to Michael, she took his hands in hers and raised them to her breasts. "Check it out. Still soft despite all that muscle."

Michael held her very firmly, finding to his surprise that she felt like that silicone-filled stripper he'd once paid to touch. Resilient and warm and soft to the touch, but increasingly firm the harder he held her. Unnatural but very good feeling, and like the stripper, there was more of her than he could get his hands around. He continued his exploration for a moment, only to suddenly realize that he was getting way too into it, and quickly jerked his hands away to glance awkwardly at Jarod. 

Kara pulled the blue straps back over her nipples. "Jarod and I are just friends," she explained before Jarod could say anything. She acted as if that excused asking him to fondle her.

Jarod walked closer to put his arm around Kara’s waist, instinctively trying to communicate a sense of possession. Their shared pleasures back in the bungalow had been a bit more than just friendly. "Can we get on with this now?"

 "You know what happened to that Amazon?" Michael blurted out.

Kara nodded.

"Well, that was an earlier model. This one is more powerful." Michael felt responsible for the Amazon's death, even if the weapon had been stolen, and he had mixed feelings about firing on this Kryptonian, no matter how strong she seemed. Amazons could bend steel in their bare hands too.

"That's what I was worried about," Jarod nodded.

"On the other hand, this is a dream shot, I admit it. Testing my invention on a full-blooded Kryptonian.  But be warned... I think this latest model can hurt you."

"Nothing made by a human could possibly hurt me," Kara said proudly, a hint of arrogance audible in her voice now. She turned to walk down the beach, glancing back over her shoulder to see both men admiring the thong back of her swimsuit. She turned back and began to run weightlessly down the beach, emphasizing the sexy play of hard muscles on either side of her invisible thong. She finally stopped and turned back to face them a hundred meters from the rail gun, and kneeled in the sand.

Behind Jarod, the high-pitched whine of the capacitor banks charging seemed to tear the air apart with its building violence. He briefly covered his ears as the scream became painful, noting that Michael and all the Marines wore hearing protection, but when he asked, they claimed they didn't have a spare set. He kept his ears covered as he walked down the beach to join Kara, only to find the distance didn’t help reduce the whine very much. Fortunately, the pitch soon rose to supersonic levels, which set some stray dogs down the beach to howling, but helped his ears immensely. 

He started to back away from Kara, knowing the explosion of fragments from her body would be lethal for anyone close by. "I better get some distance. "

“Don’t worry too much,” she said as she reached out to hold his hand. “I’m going to catch that damn slug of his.”

“Catch it? It’ll be moving a orbital velocity. Your reactions are that fast?”

“Not hardly.” She pulled the straps of her suit outward, and once again squeezed her breasts together. “So you’ve got to make sure he puts it right between them. I’ll be holding myself tight enough to trap it.”

“You gotta be shitting me,” Jarod gasped. “That slug went right through that Amazon, not to mention eight blocks of brick-walled buildings before finally spending itself inside a bank vault. Left a hole the size of your thumb in three feet of steel and damn near came out the backside. And that was his old prototype.”

“Do I look like an Amazon to you?”

“I’ve never met one of them,” he shrugged.

“It’s not just a trick, Jarod. I just want to see what that slug is like after hitting home. It’ll force its way through my cleavage and hit my sternum will full force and then fragment, but if I’m lucky, I can trap the shrapnel. That way you can stay around and get a nice, close view of things.”

“You’ve done this before?”

“I worked with Star Labs a long time ago.”

“Catching bullets… this way?”

“It was a lot harder when I was that young. Not as much of me then. So they found another way to catch them. Harder to hit, but way deeper.”

“I’m not sure I want to know,” Jarod gasped, afraid to even consider what she seemed to be suggesting.

"I'm unhurtable everywhere. But imagine the commotion that offer caused. I was pretty young then."

Jarod shook his head, refusing to imagine.

She smiled at his embarrassment. “They were experimenting with rail guns way back then. And it worked great. You know, catching them that way.”

Jarod covered his ears to signal he’d heard more than enough, and turned to trot down the beach toward the rail gun. His mind was racing as his body tingled wildly. He’d always thought of young Kara as being demure, but obviously only in public. And what kind of sadistic monsters had worked in Star Labs? Taking advantage of a young girl's anatomy that way, Supergirl or not.

He arrived at the rail gun to stare into the aiming camera. Michael had set the crosshairs on her stomach. He had a wicked thought of lowering them, only to quickly raise the aiming point until the camera was focused on tight cleavage she was creating. When he looked up, Michael was staring open mouthed at the screen.

“She’s going to try to trap the slug,” Jarod said. “I presume you’d like to get the pieces back so you can analyze them.”

“Lord, don’t let me wake from this dream,” Michael breathed.

“How hard does this thing hit?”

“Very hard. That .38 of yours hit with maybe 300 foot-pounds per second. My slugs hit with closer to ten million.”

Jarod’s jaw dropped. “Ten million foot-pounds?”

“That’s the beauty of a rail gun. The soft steel jacket around the uranium core allows the super cooled magnets to accelerate the slug down that long barrel. The breakthrough was mostly in the magnets. Since energy equals mass times velocity squared, velocity is the real name of the game here.”

“Millions of foot pounds is like naval artillery. Battleship stuff.”

“Naval shells weighed tons, but they only arrived at Mach two. Mine weigh ounces and arrive at Mach twenty. Same energy, but all that force is applied against only a few square millimeters, not square meters. Which is why I could line up half a dozen battleships and hole them all with a single shot.”

“Jesus.”

“Now you know why DOD is interested, Jarod my friend. The slug is tiny but with its allotropic diamond coating, and it’s fantastic velocity, it literally bores through anything. If I can ever design a slug that will hold together long enough, I should be able to shoot through an entire fucking mountain.” He looked down the beach to see the gorgeous blonde kneeling and looking back at him. “Except, I hope, not through your Kryptonian girlfriend.” He wasn’t going to share what he really wished: if he could hurt her, he'd be looking at making millions. DOD would give his company a far larger contract and he owned a lot of stock.

“I told you, she’s not my girlfriend. Just a friend.”

“Yeah. And I’m a blue monkey if any guy wouldn’t be trying to get in her panties. That swimsuit is wickedly sexy. Think maybe you can get her to put her hands on her hips again when I shoot? Never seen tits that cute.”

“She can also hear a pin drop a mile away.”

“Oh…” Michael winced. He looked up at Kara and whispered, “Sorry.”

She waved.

Jarod punched him reassuringly in the arm. “Let’s just do it her way. Dead center against her sternum.”

"Nothing's stopped one of these slugs yet. If her skin doesn't, she's dead," Michael warned.

"Yeah, I understand the fine print. But she's confident that nothing can hurt her."

Michael shrugged. "She's your girlfriend. But I'd be damn worried."

He turned to run back down the beach, feeling nervous as hell now. "You heard what Michael was talking about?"

"Liking my tits? Or the rail gun?"

"He's dangerous."

Kara winked at Jarod. "I'm way more dangerous than you can possible imagine. I'm not worried."

"OK." Jarod nervously took his position about seventy feet from Kara, off to the side and slightly to her front. The slug would come past him from behind.

“Ready, Kara?” Michael shouted over a bullhorn.

She nodded and leaned her head back, pressing her breasts together very tightly. Jarod heard the high-speed camera to his left spinning up, a cloud of steam billowing off the back of the super cooled sensor. It could take twenty-thousand pictures a second and was slaved to the rail run controller so that its memory bank, which held only a quarter second worth of images, wouldn’t overrun.

Jarod flattened himself against the warm sand, praying that he hadn't made a horrible mistake in bringing Kara into this. He also worried about shrapnel, despite her assurance that she could protect him. The entire weapon... with its Mach 20 velocity diamond-coated depleted uranium slugs and their ten million foot-pounds of energy on impact was mind-boggling. 

If it wasn't for Kara's confidence, he'd call it off now. He watched as she tensed her body, clearly pouring a lot of energy into her flight power to make sure she didn’t move during the impact. She leaned her head further backward and way from the impact point, which only encouraged Jarod to snuggle deeper into the sand, even as he kept his eyes on the target.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then his eyes were dazzled by what looked like a lightening bolt as it flashed across the sand. That image had barely registered on his optic nerves when his world went crazy. A sharp blast wave lifted him off the ground, and a stinging avalanche of sand and a deafening crack of thunder nearly collapsed his chest with its power. The acoustic energy alone sent him tumbling head over heels, momentarily deafening him. He landed hard on his back, so stunned that his eyes were filled with bright spots. Blinking the sand from his eyes, he slowly sat up, finding he was half buried in beach sand, and experimented with his arms and legs - nothing was broken. He looked where Kara had been kneeling, but saw only a small crater in the sand. Horrified, he scanned down the beach, only to see her  kneeling and holding herself and hundred and fifty feet further away. Her cleavage was glowing white hot, the glow fading to cherry-red as it spread outward, and two long grooves in the sand showed where she’d been pushed backward despite her attempt to hold herself stationary.

That said she’d badly underestimated the weapon's hitting power.

Michael came bounding down the beach as Jarod rose to jog painfully beside him, still shaking off the effects of having been blasted off his feet. Both men stopped to stare in awe at the way Kara's chest glowed star bright, the heat so great they couldn't get within twenty feet of her. Her eyes were closed as she was breathing deeply.

 “Looks like she's OK,” Michael said softly, sounding a bit disappointed.

Jarod wasn't listening as he walked a few feet closer and kneeled down in the sand. He could smell his hair singing. “Talk to me Kara.”

“Fuck…” she gasped. “That really hurt.” She coughed while covering her mouth, and he was shocked to see a few speckles of blood on the back of her hand.

She lifted her hand to show it Jarod. "That's not good!”

"Did it break your skin?"

She relaxed her tight grip on herself and looked down into the nuclear glare between her breasts. "Nope, but the shock wave that it sent through me was wicked...” She paused and took a shuddering breath. "No bullet left either," she said painfully. "Must have all been converted to energy.

"I'd expected that," Michael added.

"Unstoppable object hits indestructible object. More or less,” Kara quipped painfully as she pressed her breasts to the side to reveal a big red welt against her sternum. She coughed again, and Jarod saw more blood.

“You need a doctor?” Michael said, trying to hide a growing smile. He really HAD hurt her!

Jarod was too worried to notice his look, or their friendship would have ended right then.

"Kryptonians don’t bleed, do they?" Michael asked, very glad to see they could.

"Not the first time," Kara said with a grimace. "But last time, I died."

"What can we do, Kara," Jarod asked softly, moving closer as the glow faded rapidly.

“She needs a hospital?” Michael asked hopefully. He needed documentation of the injury.

Kara shook her head. “No doctor. Can’t help me anyway. I heal fast. Just get me back to the hotel so I can rest.”

Jarod risked burning his hands as he helped her to her feet, although her body was cooling rapidly. She leaned heavily against on his shoulder as he walked her to his car and helped her into her seat. She felt so limp as he fastened the seat belt to hold her up, and quickly drove back to the hotel.

Michael just stared at the car as Jarod drove away, grinning broadly. He’d actually hurt a Kryptonian, possibly badly. “A full-blooded, honest to fucking God, Kryptonian,” he yelled, raising his fist in the air. "And I got it all on film."

"What's next, Doc?" one of the technicians who'd been supporting him asked.

"More energy. I want Mach 22."

"Our funding ends next week, boss. No buyers, no bucks."

“Tell the damn bureaucrats at corporate to fuck off… DOD's gotta listen to me now. We can take down a fucking Krypt!"

What he didn't say was that if DOD didn't want the weapon, he had a private offer of ten million dollars from an Arab buyer. He'd give the US government first right of refusal, he was an American after all. But if they refused... well, patriotism only went so far. As did company loyalty.

Chapter 34

Jarod combed his fingers comfortingly through Kara's hair, and rubbed her back as she curled up into a ball on the bed, cradling her chest. She quickly fell sleep, occasionally moaning as if in a dream, snoozing peacefully for an hour, and then she stopped breathing entirely. He nervously spooned himself up against her back and kept checking her pulse every few minutes, finding it was slow and steady. He knew Kryptonians didn’t need oxygen to live, just sunlight, except it getting dark out.

The long night passed slowly, and he finally fell asleep just before dawn, only to wake up with a start seemingly minutes later when he heard Kara’s voice. A glance at the clock said he'd slept three hours.

“Good morning, sleepy head.”

Jarod rolled over to see Kara kneeling beside the bed, a beam of sunshine playing on her back. She was dressed in a blue bikini and was grinning at him, looking for all the world like the perfect image of health. He reached up to touch the spot between her breasts where the slug had hit, but there wasn’t a mark left on her skin.

“Still sore?” he asked.

"Nothing a few kisses won't fix.”

Jarod made a show of kissing her better, ignoring the way his morning stubble scratched against those warm mounds as he buried his face, tasting her slightly salty-sweet skin. Hell, she used to be Supergirl, and she'd just stopped the most powerful projectile ever fired - a little stubble wasn’t going to hurt her.

“Thank God… you look, and taste, as good as new, love,” he finally said after he’d done enough healing. “And I see you’ve downsized a bit.”

“Told you my body would adapt to being around you. Last night was good.”

“You mean, you moaning in your sleep and not breathing. Yeah, I enjoyed the hell out of that.”

“Sorry. I meant, your body touching mind for so many hours. We're starting to resonate.”

Jarod wasn't sure what that meant, but he liked the sound of it. “It was an honor. So, how’s your chest feel? Any more bleeding?”

“Still feels kind of hollow inside. Never been hit that hard before. You’re friend’s weapon is truly a menace.”

Jarod nodded. “Menace is right. Michael’s been one since he started making pipe bombs as a kid. I don’t know how he stayed out of jail until he could earn that PhD and get paid to be destructive.”

“He’s got talent, but now I’ve got to decide what to do with him and his weapon.”

“In the right hands, it could be handy.”

“You know any ‘right hands’ on this planet?”

“Point taken. Governments are paranoid of you guys. They'll buy these things just for insurance. And the terrorist would love one of these.”

Kara shrugged. “Humans usually try to destroy what they can’t control. ”

"Careful, you're talking to a human, alien girl."

"I’m surprised you guys tolerate Kal as well as they do."

“The big boy scout? Maybe that’s what this weapon is all about. Amazons might just be varmints to be eliminated before they go after big game.

“A discouraging thought.”

“So, you been up for a while?”

“Yup,” she nodded. “Been busy too. A supertanker with a broken rudder clipped the central support beam of the Golden Gate. I had to hold the span up while the rescue people got a few hundred people off it.”

Jarod blinked. “What the… I thought you were going to keep a low profile as far as the public went?”

Kara shrugged. “They’ll figure it was my niece. People can’t tell one flying blonde from another.”

“You held a bridge span up?” Jarod asked in astonishment as he blinked the sleep from his eyes and fully realized what she'd just said. He didn’t know what a bridge span weighed, but he guessed it was a hell of a lot.

Kara rested her hands on her thighs and smiled brighter. “Just because I’m skinny now doesn’t mean I’m weak.”

“Once Supergirl, always a super girl.”

“Except my niece has the costume nowadays.”

Jarod smiled back at her. Kara looked so gorgeous now, but clearly more like a model than a fitness competitor. “I would have thought you’d still have all those muscles if you were hoisting bridges around on your back.”

“Don’t be too impressed,” she smiled. “I just welded together some support beams and held up a small section.”

“Oh, in that case, only a few thousand tons or so.”

“Yeah. Only a few.”

“So where was Superman during all this? Or Asha?”

“Kal? Your guess is as good as mine. Missing in action, near as I can tell. But Asha showed up just after I left. Should be interesting to watch her on TV as the rescue people thank her for saving a bridge that she didn’t. She hates to tell lies, but she’ll have to play into this one.”

“But you told me she thinks you’re some kind of imposter. This might change her mind.”

Kara leaned closer to share a soft kiss. “How do you know I’m not? You ever heard of a Krypt who can shape change?”

Jarod wasn’t sure how to answer that, but he smiled when he saw her eyes crinkle with laughter. “Hey, don’t fuck with me, Kryptonian. I’m still supposed to be worried about you.”

“Gee… and I thought that’s what you wanted,” Kara winked.

“Ah, the dreams of a wasted youth,” Jarod smiled. When she looked puzzled, he brought the discussion back to his current worry. “So why don’t you explain this all to Asha? The new you, I mean.”

A troubled look washed over Kara’s face, only to disappear just as fast as it came. “What, and ruin the big surprise?” She reached behind her back and unhooked her top, tossing the warm, blue fabric aside, then reaching down to take his hands and lift them to her breasts. “Check out what I’m like when I’m not all muscled up.”

His hands filled with erotic perfection, so soft, so full, so incredibly sexy. She felt as delicate and feminine as she looked. “You just did that bridge thing… looking like this?”

“Looks can be deceiving. And being weaker is a very relative term for me.”

He held her tighter, marveling at the way her warm flesh yielded so wonderfully. “You sure as hell don’t feel like a Girl of Steel,” he grinned broadly, his body surging with desires.

“My tits never do." She reached down to feel the hard outline in his pants. "But speaking of steel, you ready for a little action, tiger?”

“Long as you let me be your Man of Steel for the day,” Jarod blurted out as his surging enthusiasm got the best of him.

Kara winced, remembering that particular frustration. Fortunately, Jarod missed her pained look as he leaned forward and gripped her nipple between his lips, drawing it in. She gasped softly as he delicately swirled his tongue around its hard border to send a wild flurry of delicious tingles through her body. He instinctively clenched her far tighter than a human woman would have enjoyed, and she gave off a tiny squeak of pleasure.

Kara loved the way he acted without hesitation and from pure instinct, his motivations simple and pure, unencumbered by twenty years of fantasies. He didn't hold back like Matt, always analyzing her, and he didn't try to compare her to anyone else.

He just lived in the moment and the one just beyond it, finding joy in whatever he touched. Just the way Kara had always wished she could live.