Chapter 3
So I guess I can die after all.
If attacked by something alien of equal, if not greater power than myself. Kryptonite can kill me. Plus I am weirdly vulnerable to attacks coming from Thor’s hammer for some strange reason. But now there’s something else to add to the list of things that can hurt and likely kill me in the field. For all the good it does now. Being dead and floating in this void…nothing really matters.
Fury and the others will make sure Doomsday’s body is properly destroyed so no one can try and revive or copy the monstrosity. Tony and his money will help rebuild New York, just like he did after the Battle of New York and all the other times the city has to pay for our fights. The team will be there for mom, Skye and especially Nat and Darcy. Eventually things will go on as they always have. Without me of course.
Nothing left to do now but sit back and embrace the nothingness I will be occupying for all eternity. A bit morbid I know, but what do you expect from me?
I’m dead.
***
“You are not dead,” I heard a familiar voice state, cutting through the darkness I was in, “You are not dead. So open your eyes. Please open your eyes, Lady Kara.”
“Keevo,” I breathed softly, feeling the darkness lift as my eyes began to open.
I quickly closed them though due to the blinding UV lights I found myself under. I tried to bring my arm up to shield them, but found I did not have the strength to move at the moment.
“Keevo…”
“I am here Lady Kara,” Keevo replied, the feel of one of her warm smooth tentacle arms wrapping around my hand felt strangely comforting and solidifying that this is not a dream.
“No Lady, just Kara,” I laughed.
“As you wish. Welcome back.”
“What happened?” I asked, squinting my eyes to get them adjusted to the lights before opening them up fully to look over at the gleaming happy drone.
“It seems that the laws of death on this world do not apply to you. While it may have appeared that you did indeed die after your battle with Doomsday. That was not the case at all. Your vitals instead lowered themselves to a near undetectable level, allowing your body time to heal. We only recently became aware of your condition when we picked up a spike in Kryptonian life signs.”
“My vitals…slowed down to a crawl,” I translated, “So I appeared to be dead while really I was in some kind of stasis in order to heal. Just like after the New Krypton Incident…only different.”
“Precisely.”
“Nat! Darcy” I shouted, trying to sit up but instantly regretted it as I felt nauseous and fell back on to the bed I was in. I could barely feel the bond. It was there, just out of reach and jumbled in a way.
“They are both fine my daughter, I assure you,” Jor-El said soothingly, materializing right beside Keevo, “Physically at least. Emotionally…there is more we must tell you. For now just rest. And know that your friends and city are safe.”
I didn’t like his tone or cryptic wording, but I was in no condition to challenge him just yet. For now I’m just going to have to wait and rest, recover enough of my strength so that I would be better prepared to handle whatever bombshell my father was waiting to drop on me.
***
The bombshell felt more like a nuke when my father finally told me what all I’ve missed. I’m currently floating in a suspension chamber in my underwear, being exposed to the rays of a mini yellow sun they crafted together in order to continue to help me recover. Which gives me plenty of time to come to terms with the news I just heard.
Hydra cloned me.
Somehow a few remnants still in SHIELD got a sample of my blood from my battle with Doomsday. They hightailed it before they were discovered, took it to some secret facility and they cloned me. Where they got the tech to pull that off neither my father nor Keevo know. Since according to them there is no way the most advanced cloning equipment SHIELD or anybody on earth has could clone Kryptonian DNA so perfectly.
Oh, not to mention they also stole my body from the grave site in Central Park where I was laid to rest. The minute I heard that I was both disgusted and a little touched at the gesture made by the city. They had a stone carving of my shield as a tombstone, like a memorial site more than a grave site.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
It turns out the cloning process wasn’t as complete as Hydra would have thought or probably liked. While they did create an exact duplicate of me, complete with all of my powers, she does not have my full memories. My father believes the process used only managed to clone my physiology not my mind. For that they had to program her with whatever files SHEILD has on me that they had access to. Given that Fury, Coulson and his current team and the Avengers are the only ones who know my real identity they could only program her with Supergirl memories from what they’ve learned of her from official files and the news interviews I did as Supergirl. They had nothing of my life as Kara. So she is an incomplete version of me flying free.
They staged a resurrection of sorts and now my copy is back, continuing to patrol and keep New York safe. Meaning my copy must not be spending a lot of time at the Tower or around the Avengers. Otherwise they’d have picked up on the inconsistencies between me and the way this clone is acting. Nat would pick up on it in a heartbeat. So would Darcy.
That explains why the bond is so jumbled right now. Two of me, if a clone can even possess a soul, must be making it difficult for them to get a strong read on me…her. If the bond was acting as it should, I’d be able to tell them I’m alive and what’s going on in a heartbeat. But I can’t.
This has got to be tearing them up inside And as much as I want to send word that I am alive and they have a copy on their hands, I don’t want to expose her just yet. Whatever Hydra has planned, so far my copy is doing nothing but good. That could all change at the drop of a hat though if her secret got out. Hence the amped up recovery techniques. I need to get back to 100% and fast.
So after a brief rest period after my mini sun bath I hit the gym and put myself through a variety of paces to work out the kinks in my muscles. And for the most part it is working. Slowly but surely anyway. The minute I saw my father materialize in the gym as I worked on the mechanical press, I knew something bad had to have happened.
“What now?” I asked, rolling my stiff shoulder as I stepped towards him.
“Your clone just killed a man,” he answered solemnly.
“What?” I asked, stunned beyond belief.
“The fugitive agent Rumlow had taken a bus full of children and teachers hostage during his escape from the Avengers and SHIELD. He killed one of the children before being subdued. Apparently upon realizing he was not going to be tried and executed for this most recent crime, your clone swooped in, took hold of the captor and lifted him up in to the air. She then let him fall to his death.”
I was speechless. The only reason Rumlow wouldn’t be handed off to the proper authorities after that is because Steve probably believed he had vital Intel on remaining Hydra agents and bases. The others wouldn’t be happy letting him spend his days in a SHIELD cell, but they’d agree with Steve and probably Coulson’s motives in the end. I would too. I mean I’d stew on it, Darcy would be vocal about frying the bastard and Nat would help do it, but we’d all support Cap’s decision in the end. My clone however not so much.
“I wish the news improved,” Jor-El continued somberly, “But it seems that this recent action on her part, as well as her attitude since her arrival, has led Agent Coulson and his team to do an investigation. They have discovered the truth. As well as a massive facility where Hydra was planning on unleashing an army of clones of you.”
“Was planning?” I repeated questionably.
“Your clone destroyed the facility,” Jor-El answered, sounding as relieved as I felt, “It seems they made her too much like you, despite this recent action to the contrary. She is currently locked in a fight with your Avenger teammates. But it is unclear whether they will be able to subdue her.”
“I have to go,” I declared, about to head out of the gym and get dressed in my spare uniform, but was stopped by Keevo.
“You can’t,” she argued, her face rippling in either worry or anger, “You’re strength is only at 67% while she is at full strength. If you were to engage her in a fight in your condition the results would be the same as your battle with Doomsday. Only it would end quicker and you might not come back this time.”
“That might be true. But I don’t have a choice, Keevo. My friends, my family, my bond…they need me,” I told her, reaching out and rubbing the top of her dome head affectionately, “I promise to try and be careful. But you know that I have to do this.”
“I know,” she sounded defeated, “I am just…my emotional responses are currently out of my control for some reason.”
“It’s called being concerned for family,” I explained, leaning in kissing her domed head, “And it is most appreciated.”
Keevo seemed to perk up at that.
“In that case, I’ll prepare the solar suit for you. It will allow you to absorb more yellow rays on the flight to New York. Also, given your clones advantage over you, I believe you should take the Kryptonite Gun from the archives. The one confiscated from Senator Pierce’s office while the others were destroyed. It still contains the Kryptonite core in a led encased cartridge.”
“Not really my style, but I’ll take any advantage I can get,” I agreed, “Make the preparations, Keevo.”
Keevo bounced in midair then zipped out to carry out her ideas, leaving me and my father alone. He just stared at me, a soft smile on his face despite the worry I could see shining in his holographic eyes. Like Keevo, he may not want me to go, but deep down he knows I have to. I suddenly felt the need to hug him and almost did, reaching out my arms to him before stopping, remembering that he is just a hologram. No touching could ever happen between us. His smile grew though, conveying to me that he felt the same way as I did right now, before he nodded his head and disappeared.