E P I S O D E VII:
T R A I N I N G D A Y S
Parasite's attack came almost instantly, yet Supergirl managed to catch both arms. That’s when it happened: Like kryptonite his very touch weakened every cell of her being. An exhausting discomfort brought her to her knees, while her eyesight got blurry. She held on, struggled and moved around with him, but reality was disappearing.
Somewhere far away a voice mentioned that Parasite fed on life-energy also. Then everything disappeared and only dreams remained.
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She was not Supergirl, she was Lara and her eyes almost grew to double size, when she saw the newspaper.
Below the headline “MAN OF STEEL BRINGS DOWN GOG” was an image of a purple skin giant with a golden, yet also broken helmet.
“You fought that?” she sprouted. She was 10 years old and had just welcomed her dad home.
“I did,” Clark answered, slightly humble.
“He’s huge! How did you do that?”
“Same way I reckon you’ll do some day.”
“Na-ah, I’ll never do that.” With inhuman stamina Lara shook her little head.
“Sure you will.”
“How?”
Clark watched his daughter stare up in disbelief. “Well, do you remember what I told you, when you broke the dinner table?”
A shadow fell on Lara’s eyes, and words didn’t come as easily anymore. “You told me to pretend it was made of porcelain. In fact, you told me to pretend everything was made of porcelain.”
“That’s right. But when you face someone like Gog… in those moments, and just for a little while… you simply stop pretending.”
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Stop pretending, and just let loose, Supergirl reminded herself through all the agony. Instead of wrestling any longer with the life-sucking creep, she released herself from him and flew away. It probably seemed much more like sliding, as she was still with her back against the floor while she did it. She managed to steer in the exact right direction and ended up alongside the half-cooked Grundy.
“Ups-a-daisy, big boy,” she muttered while lifting the heavy corpse up into the air, before lifting herself as well.
A running Parasite roared with hunger just before Supergirl dropped the creature on him. A huge baggage, Parasite was trapped under and one he couldn’t suck a single ounce of life from.
Supergirl slammed into Grundy and saw the purple hand, sticking out, twitch in pain. She raised herself to the ceiling and then flew down with everything in her and saw the hand tighten one last time and then loosen and never move again.
A fatigued Supergirl took in the utter destruction the fight had caused, while taking no joy in it. Shattered walls, broken floor tiles, burn marks as broad as road markings. None of it was part of the life she had initially wanted, and yet it had to be. Lara had to be Supergirl and had to do these thing, and she took a small comfort in the fact, that the team was succeeding.
Then someone reached around her and pressed a knife against her throat with the other hand. “Don’t move,” Savage said rather loud and with a voice like sandpaper.
Supergirl responded by banging an elbow into his shoulder, causing him to press the blade against her throat which did nothing but dull it. Her second hit seemed to break the shoulder completely and send Savage spinning into the ground. Taking a few cues from soccer practice, she kicked him across the room and made a sigh of relief. Truth be told, Supergirl had more or less acted purely on instinct. She approached him and cracked her knuckles, ready for Round 2.
“You are all supposed to work together,” Ted paused her with.
“But I’m totally winning,” Supergirl shot back.
“Killing is not winning.”
“They are robots, and it’s totally working.”
“In the real world, team effort is essential to-“
“BUT… I’M… WIN…”
Ted’s gaze completely disrupted her own interruption.
“Okay-okay, I understand. I’ll do better, promise.” she said. Feeling confused and slightly unappreciated, she looked over the final two opponents. One getting back up and for the most part ignoring his broken shoulder, and one very much still fighting in a ghostly manner.
Now, how on earth am I supposed to capture a ghost and a guy, who won’t quit?
Truth be told, this was a moment, where Supergirl really noticed her own lack of inexperience.