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womenincomicsminibang · 4 months ago

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2024 Bang Masterlist

white knight | black knight by @havendance (AO3 | CFAA | Superlove) with art by @franollie

When breaking into the clock tower, Helena uncovers information that prompts her to view Barbara Gordon in a new light and leads to a new partnership between them. Officially a member of the Birds of Prey, the reality of Helena's role is something... messier. This may be a fresh start, but things have never been easy between Helena and Barbara and the weight of the secrets they keep threaten to tear things apart. - Helena Bertinelli, Barbara Gordon, Dinah Lance

Holy, Ghostly by @loisinherlane (AO3) with art (1 and 2) by @je-suis-un-pamplemousse

When Gwen opens her eyes, she doesn’t know who she expects to see. Her first thought is Uncle Arthur, though she knows she left London to return home to New York, to Peter. Then she thinks of Peter himself (and the guilt floods for not having thought of him first). Then she thinks of Spider-Man, the last person reaching for her—but not Spider-Man, Peter, always Peter��// Gwen Stacy is resurrected—and revealed to be a mutant, amongst the X-Men. She comes to terms with her death and her friends’ reactions, while growing closer to another outsider. - Gwen Stacy, Kurt Wagner, Sean Cassidy, Theresa Cassidy, Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn

You watch me Bleed until I can't breath by @jokewishes (AO3) with art by @nolanfa (AO3)

You are my god-given solace. - Helena Bertinelli, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Kara Zor-El

until we rust by @mamawasatesttube (AO3) with art by @vivictory-draws

She rushes back over to Kara, standing a few paces behind her with a confused little smile, and holds out the rose. Kara’s eyes widen. “Wait. For me?” “Yeah, duh, who else? You think I got it for that pigeon over there?” Nat is so grateful her skin is dark enough Kara probably can’t tell how hard she’s blushing. As is, Kara can definitely hear her heart pounding, but there’s not much she can do about that. Besides, Kara’s blushing now, too, her cheeks going pink as she takes the rose from Nat. Their fingers brush as she takes it in both hands, cradling the stem delicately in her fingers. She caresses a velvety petal, then leans down to inhale the scent. When she lifts her head, Nat swears she can see stars in her eyes. “It’s beautiful,” Kara says, her voice soft and delighted. “Thank you, Nat.”

Roses are red. Kara's eyes are blue. Natasha is a lesbian. What's a girl to do? - Natasha Irons, Kara Zor-El, Kon-El

Lois Lane’s To-Do List for the End of the World (Dead Fiancé Edition) by @suzukiblu (AO3) with art by @ravendraculina

Clark’s dead. So is Superman, but that’s different. Either way, Lois isn’t enjoying the experience. - Lois Lane, Matrix/Mae Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Clark Kent, John Henry Irons, The Eradicator, Hank Henshaw

"Suffering Sappho" by @cer-rata (AO3) with art by @breakingthespacetimewall and art by @strawberrysoop

Sure, having a goddess of love harass her over the state of her personal life wasn't the worst thing she'd had to deal with. But that didn't mean Cassie wasn't desperate for it to be over. - Cassandra Sandsmark, Cissie King-Jones, Rose Wilson, Kon-El, Diana of Themyscira, Ishtar

a child of the waves by @jesamnelovelace (AO3) with art by @val-el

From the doorway, Menalippe once again spoke up as she dipped into a curtsy. “I am honored to be the first one to greet you, Princess Donna of Themyscira.” When a child arrives on the shore of Themyscira and the ceremony to return her back to where she came from goes wrong, Hippolyta finds herself raising a new daughter. - Donna Troy, Hippolyta of Themyscira, Diana of Themyscira, Phillipus

thawed out my freezerburnt feelings by @theriveroflight (AO3) with art by @hyperglqvcovs

Rose has left the Titans, and Cass has left the Bats. For the first time, they meet unburdened by anyone else. - Rose Wilson, Cassandra Cain

Scenes From the First Life and Death of Jean Grey by @caelumsthelimit (AO3) with art (1 and 2) by @ffverr and art by @roguesrevenge

"all you have is your fire, and the place you need to reach" - Arsonist's Lullabye by Hozier - Jean Grey, Scott Summers, Charles Xavier

Catwoman: Footfalls by @raan-miir-tah (AO3) with art by @the-dracologist and art by @loisinherlane

Tell me if you've heard this joke before; a jewel thief walks into a jewelry store, bored out of her mind. — Selina gets more than what she bargained for. - Selina Kyle, Zatanna Zatara, Bruce Wayne

Left Behind, or Something About Relationships by @roguesrevenge (AO3) with art by @telepathlover

Jean-Paul has left to join the X-men. Mac has reformed Alpha Flight with other people. Jeanne-Marie is left to herself. At least, until she gets a call from Heather promising a mission. (Otherwise known as. Heather has marital problems and lies to her friends. Jeanne-Marie and Aurora yell at. everyone actually) - Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, Wanda Langkowski, Heather MacNeil-Hudson, Jean-Paul Beaubier, Paige Guthrie, Bobby Drake

You're Ripe For The Picking (You're So Awful) by @bellabaxtrrr (AO3) with art by @mysteriousbeetle

“Did you buy me breakfast just to grill me about my crushes at school?” Lian picks at her food. “No, that’d be stupid.” Mia waves her hand dismissively. “I just wanted to spend some time with my favorite niece.” “I’m your only niece.” “And my favorite.”

On a regular night out on patrol, Mia gets a lead in her case.

Howl by @themiscyrah (AO3) with art by @telffiin, art by @birdie-needs-a-name, and art by @tvpsychics

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness," - Allen Ginsberg, "Howl". Diana stands on the edge of destruction. She has always been considered one of the world's greatest heroes, reliable and responsible to a fault, yet now she finds herself on the brink of falling apart. Faced with the knowledge of Ares's lies about Themyscira, Diana's entire past is called into question, her mind crumbling in response. While physically in a mental institution, this Diana unanchored soon drifts into a vision of her home and family she cannot escape, tasked with uncovering the truth there if she ever hopes to return to reality. This search for the truth is easier said than done, as a semi-amnesiac Diana encounters versions of her friends and foes unhindered by timeline or continuity, yet burdened by the actions of a Diana long gone. Can our Diana learn the truth, and with it, her exit? Or will she fall prey to the pitfalls of a past she cannot hope to remember? A Wonder Woman (2016) Canon Divergence AU re-imagining Diana's hallucination arc to explore her identity and relationship with supporting cast members throughout her history.

#dc comics #marvel comics #sorry to the group missing here before. i did not realize i hadn't added you.

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ao3feed-directorship · 1 year ago

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A Shift in Perspective

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/0jqbXtD by Musetotheworld Kara and Cat have been dating for a few months, but things have been so busy for Supergirl that they haven't had much time to themselves. But when Kara gets tired of it, and a little too close to losing her powers, she takes a week off to spend some time with Cat. Only to start feeling strange partway through their date night. What caused the feeling? Kara would never have guessed. Words: 13964, Chapters: 6/6, Language: English Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F Characters: Kara Danvers, Cat Grant, Alex Danvers, Lucy Lane, J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Background Alex Danvers/Lucy Lane Additional Tags: Established Relationship, First Time, Kryptonian Biology, Kryptonian anatomy read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/0jqbXtD

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #supergirl #directorship #the-directorship #major danvers #alex x lucy #alex/lucy #luclex #director danvers #alex danvers #lucy lane

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hedgiwithapen · 8 years ago

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Antumbra

Antumbra: noun. The area outside the darkest shadow of a solar eclipse.

It was sheer luck that the wide space, part desert, part prairie, sand and sagebrush and yellowed grass, was currently being used for tactical practice when, on a clear summer morning, someone sounded the alert. A bright streak arced across the sky, flaming as it crashed. The D.E.O. agents reached the small pod in minutes.

“What is it?” One asked, peering at the singed metal. “An opportunity,” the squad leader replied. “Call base. We need to get this thing underground. Move it, people.” He watched the pod, the way it lay still, a snake waiting to strike. Not if he could help it. He recognized a few of the symbols, soot streaked from entry into Earth’s atmosphere. They would take no chances with the creature inside.

It wasn’t until after the pod was secured in the nearest D.E.O. base, the occupant sedated and locked away without ever seeing sunlight, that news came that a second ship had crashed, this one larger.

Hank Henshaw glared at the man who’d brought the news. His work was never done, but it would be, eventually. It might take years, but Earth would be safe from alien influence under his watch, someday. Until then, he had calls to make, recruits to replace, and assets to acquire. This new Kryptonian had brought disaster, but perhaps it would be useful as well.

(Roughly three years later)

J’onn J’onzz had worn this form--this face-- for months now, but it still felt strange, foreign. Like he was stretched too thin and squeezed too tight, like one of the large earth snakes from the forest he’d hidden in, growing against dying scales. He wanted to shed it, but he didn’t dare. He’d run out of escape routes. Even in solitude, he could not risk being J’onn, not anymore. Hank Henshaw. That was his name, who he had to be. The problem was, Hank was only skin deep. Even with all the time he’d had trying to train his thoughts, his gate, to turn skittish fear into anger, he had to remain conscious of the role he played. No part of who he had been could leak out, green tint under dark skin.

But he wanted to, especially here, in this work space underground that seemed to sing to his deepest instincts to run, to fly. He knew without doubt that there were no allies here, not any with power. If his deception, his disguise was ever revealed, even the few analysts that seemed like they had a grasp of ethics wouldn’t dare side with him, and the soldiers never would. The captives, the alien criminals kept under lock and key, would be no better, and J’onn knew that even to save his own life he would never release the murderers from their cells. One of the Faceless Hunters, other creatures from planets far beyond the furthest reaches of Martian travel and creatures closer in, nightmare monsters. He was no fool. He knew he was not the only refugee who had come to this place, but those in the cellblocks were not mere travelers who had lost their homes. These were aliens who had taken the fresh start they might have had and thrown it aside for greed, for violence. He would never allow himself to make that same choice, and he could not risk the lives of innocents by using them as cover. He would just have to be careful. He could not afford the cost of being discovered.

It was exhausting. Being Hank Henshaw was so much more than hiding under human skin, behind human eyes and trying not to flinch at open flames. But he learned. He read the files on the computers, feigning memory lapses courtesy of that last failed mission to bring in the Manhunter. He learned what he could, walking the same path into the facility that Hank had, heavy boots and chin up, as if he feared nothing. This was his fortress, his. That meant, to stay safe, he had to act like it.

He had to honor the sacrifice of the man who had died to save him. Jeremiah. He had been an help to another Alien, another peaceful one. Superman, the press called him, but J’onn had not yet met him--the same alien that had been the cause, he learned, for the D.E.O’s founding. Peaceful or not, hero or not, J’onn was unsure he wanted to get involved--it was far too risky. And his life was no longer his own. He had promised Jeremiah that he would protect his daughter, and an oath sworn as a life-debt to a dying man was not something that could be taken lightly. In a few years, the girl would be grown, and if she were as smart as her father had claimed, that one night in the jungle, there might be a place for her here.

This would have to be the goal. To slowly fill the ranks of the DEO with those like Alex Danvers, like her late father, perhaps even like he himself--people who wanted to help, not to seek out and destroy. It would take years, but then, J’onn had time, assuming he mastered the part. He was certain he could.

A few weeks after being fully cleared, fully recognized in this second identity, this false name, J’onn’s careful planning almost fell apart.

He had taken to exploring, having little else to occupy non-work hours. He needed to make muscle memory know each corner of the DEO’s underground base, erase any doubt that he was not fit to lead the organization. He read files, histories that only went back a decade or so, and walked the hallways in his heavy boots that reminded him he had to be human. That flying was never again an option.

He wasn’t certain why he had not been aware of one of the cell blocks on the lowest level, deep in the earth until then, but he found it almost by happenstance, drawn to the thin red light. As he approached, wondering what creature was so dangerous that it would be kept here, what crime it might have committed, he saw a small figure trembling in the corner.

He may have worn a human skin, too close and itching to be shrugged off. He may have pressed down the use of his powers, for fear of become dependent upon them. But he did not need anything beyond human eyes to see the small form flinch, to hear whimpering (Ieiu, Ieiu) in a language he was certain he had heard before, but could not place.

He left just as quickly, his stomach acids protesting what his mind translated. It was a child. The prisoner in the cell was a tiny child, pale and thin. He had not needed to read her mind or understand her words to know she had been terrified. K'hym. T'ania. The memory of the last time he had seen his daughters seared like flame in his mind. Was some parent out there wondering for the fate of their own child? Had his children huddled, alone and terrified in a dark prison cell?

He wanted to vomit, and so he ran, slowing only to a halt when he reached the upper levels and the risk of being seen.

What crime could that pathetic creature have committed to be left in almost total darkness? What if she was like himself? Not one who had chosen this planet in malice but in desperation, alone and frightened, with no Jeremiah Danvers to chose her life over his?

“Sir? Director Henshaw?” a young woman asked, voice clipped. An intern, of sorts, the lowest ranking of the already highly ranked officials and agents permitted to work here. “Are you well?”

“I am fine,” he told her firmly. “I need to check our records for any discrepancies. There’s another audit coming up.”

She winced. That meant budget reviews, an endless stream of meetings if not everything was perfectly documented. “Of course, Sir. Understood.”

He waited until she had scurried off, no doubt to let everyone know to be careful with their paperwork, before sinking into his chair and digging deeper into the files. And there it was, plain text. Project KR Eclipse.

A Kryptonian pod had been found, only miles from the crash site of Fort Rozz, with a lone occupant. Unlike the being that had been labeled the ‘Man of Steel’ by Metropolis’s reporters, this one did not seem to possess that same invulnerability, or strength. Notes from Director Henshaw, the real Director, whose face J’onn now twisted in revulsion, filled the screen, conclusions drawn from what files had be salvaged from Fort Rozz and from tests they had run on the child. Blood tests, brain scans, pages of lists that dated even during the time Henshaw had been dead. Nowhere did it list a crime committed, and the mugshot showed only a pale face, dirt marks on her cheeks, dishwater hair mussed and tangled. J’onn closed the files, closed his eyes, and cursed inwardly. He could not compromise his cover. He could not show kindness or weakness (or the weakness that was kindness in the eyes of humans) without risking being discovered. Then what would be his fate, to die on a steel lab table or languish for centuries in a dark cell until he forgot even his own name? His oath--.

He had abandoned platitudes like “everything happens for a reason” when the White Martians had torn his beloved from his arms. Now he wondered, if this was the reason he had been spared the fate of his people, if this was why the old Director himself had been the one to confront him, if this was why he still breathed when Jeremiah did not. Was this how he was meant to pay forward his debt, a life for a life, one refugee to another?

He had lived more than 300 years, his family was dead.

He took his coat from the hook, and started for the exit.

~~ break ~~

J’onn knocked on the door of the large house, feeling awkward standing on the white-painted porch without his uniform on. As much as he loathed wearing it, being Hank Henshaw with all his weapons, it was a measure of safety. Security. But he stood on the porch in civilian khakis and waited for the door to open.

The blonde woman, whiter than she had seemed in the photograph on file, looked at him, the exasperated smile folding into a tight frown, fear and anger lining the creases around her eyes. She paused, as if trying to find words. He spoke first.

“Mrs. Danvers. May I come in?”

“Doctor,” she corrected as if out of habit, and then realized. “You--No. Get out, get away, leave us alone.”

“Dr. Danvers,” he said, formally, no emotion slipping through to the mask he wore. “It’s urgent. I need to speak with you.”

She shook her head, moving to close the door. He stopped her, but only because desperation demanded it.

“It’s about your husband.” It was, in a roundabout kind of way. “ You got my husband killed.” She did not stumble or stutter over the word. J’onn nodded, solemn. “This is not a conversation for your porch and neighbors to hear, Dr. Danvers,” he said, though there were no neighbors near enough to hear or watch the confrontation.

She opened the door wider. “Come in, then.”

As soon as the door was closed, J’onn closed his eyes. He could not back out now. He needed this woman.

“Your husband was not the only expert on Kryptonians, was he, Dr. Danvers?” She stepped back, shaking her head. “No. No, I will not work for you and your sick organization. I won’t. You took my husband, isn’t that enough for you? That you took him from me, from us, that I had to lie to our daughter, about why he never came home? Now you want me, too? Jeremiah gave you his research, and I don’t know any more than that. Now, get out, Henshaw.”

“My name is not Hank Henshaw,” J’onn said softly. Even if he managed to free the little Kryptonian, he could not give her a home, not when it was so certain he would be trading his own life for hers. She would need someone trustworthy, someone safe. Someone who would protect her. “Your husband died to save my life. I have to pay that forward, and I need your help. Please.”

He held out a photograph, the one he’d risked printing out. Eliza Danvers took the picture, looking at the girl’s tear and dirt smudged face, then up at J’onn. Slowly, she nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

~~ break ~~

J’onn had done his best to get most of the agents out of the underground facility, dispatching teams as far as Ojai on carefully laid trails after more Fort Rozz escapees--perhaps finding some of them would delay the discovery of a betrayal and an empty cell. More agents he had temporarily assigned to the other bases, or loaned to the military to assist on various projects (and spy on the new General, Sam something or other.) Only a skeleton crew remained, and now, in the hour or so before sunrise, was the best chance there would be. He had done what he could. The rest would be up to H'ronmeer, or Rao, or fate.

The cell door opened under his hand, and the disheveled figure flinched, scrambling backward until she hit the wall, arms raised in defense. In the dim light and shadow, J’onn’s vision faltered for a heartbeat, the Kryptonian girl’s face replaced by T'ania’s before reverting back to her own, bone white, with wide, dark eyes.

"Zha,” she whispered, “Khap zha sem, eiahm sem rraop.” He didn’t understand, exactly, but he didn’t need to to see how terrified she was.

He crouched and held out a hand. “Voi,” he said, the word Eliza had told him meant “safe.” She startled, looking at him, trembling. The fleeting glimpse he had had of her, the picture, had not been much, J’onn realized. She had not just been locked in, but chained, like an animal. Like a monster. Her bare feet looked cracked and bruised, but it may have only been the poor lighting. She looked to be perhaps fourteen, if that, thin and pale. Her eyes were haunted, but she kept her head up. She was brave. A fighter. She would have had to be, to survive here, for so long, but she was tired, leaning against that far wall for support as much as for protection.

She chewed her chapped lip, then whispered, “Voikirium?”

“Voikir--voikirium,” J’onn hoped it meant the same as ‘Voi,’ that she would trust him. They did not have much time. He stepped into the cell, and she did not flinch as he used his master key to undo the manacle at her ankle, watching him silently. He gestured to the door, holding out his hand again. She took a breath, and then his hand, her skin icy against his. He led the way up the least used stairs, the narrowest hallways, grateful for his determination to know every inch of the base. It may not do him much good after today, but that would be alright. The girl stopped short as they reached the last doorway before the final stretch of hall that lead out. She looked up at him, and again he could have sworn that the fluorescent lighting gave her his daughter’s features. He opened the door, and walked quickly, tugging her along. Eliza Danvers would be waiting just beyond the perimeter. He only had to make sure that the child reached her.

No one spotted them as he opened the doors, predawn light spilling in. The girl gave a tiny squeak of fear, but he squeezed her hand. The air was dry, smelling of rabbitbrush and sage, as familiar to J’onn as the scents of the rainforest in Peru had been. But she stopped, breathing in as though her lungs would never be filled, staring up at the pearly sky, her mouth open, her ragged clothing shifting in the faint breeze. Tears glimmered on her cheeks, but she did not move to rub them away, only let them fall.

Over the lip of the mountain in the west, the sun started to rise, golden and warm.

~Fin~

The following are loose Kryptionese translations, I did my best with a limited dictionary and grammar rules I tried to learn in like 30 minutes so)

Ieiu - Mother Zha - No

Khap zha sem- I do not want (literally ‘want no I’)

eiahm sem rraop - I beg you (literally ‘beg you I’)

Voi- safe, secure, all right Voikirium - deliverer, rescuer, savior

#Supergirl #j'onn jonzz #fic #my writing #Hank henshaw is in it a little but not much #An AU fic #I'm very proud of it so pls love me #introspective a bit #well a lot #because I got into j'onn's head for a lot #also I mean I'm going to hell #again

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ufonaut · 4 years ago

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thinking about how all post-nineties takes on the tragedy of coast city and parallax inherently fall flat compared to the original because they fail to hold accountable the least obvious suspects -- the justice league -- as the subtext woven through reign of the supermen does. geoff johns’ parallax-as-parasite takes away too much from hal and is almost certainly the catalyst for his modern no personality space cop characterisation, as much as the value of johns’ general contribution to gl mythos is undeniable. what that interpretation refuses to acknowledge, however, is that parallax in his original form is a completely rational response to the trauma hal has been subjected to.

rereading choice issues of reign the other day has me coming back to this over and over. an important city with a population of seven million is completely destroyed and rendered little more than a crater, there are repercussions stretching across the entire state

(”the smoke blanketing california”)

and hal is running on no sleep and no rest of any kind while fighting through injuries that not even his ring is able to heal. in the end, once he eliminates mongul and meets up with a newly returned to life clark after his own fight with hank henshaw, clark declares

as he hovers above mongul’s engine that had destroyed coast city. he says it casually! as if hal’s got a home to go to! as if seven million people aren’t dead!

two weeks later clark calls returning to take engine city apart “a ceremony” as if it’s some great PR opportunity, he talks about it like it’s a mild inconvenience, the jl just giving themselves a pat on the back for doing too little too late for a disaster they could’ve easily prevented

and then at last, when we’re on the brink of a glimpse of justice for coast city, aquaman insists the engine cannot be destroyed and thrown into the ocean as it might prove dangerous to his kingdom, though he shows no regard for what’s happened here and what hal has been through

even the vague notion of a compromise is telling

as if standing on the tombstone of his home is about to make hal happy!! like that’s an option!!!!

most notably, once the engine is dealt with, clark doesn’t bother to ask the singular resident of coast city among them if there’s any way to help but rather he takes it upon himself to build a useless monument out of the very thing that has destroyed coast city to begin with

no one thinks to say that it shouldn’t have happened in the first place and not a single member of the justice league appears to care that one of their own has taken an unimaginable blow, its enough to them that it likely wont happen again and its enough as proof as they’re always gonna be needed. clark, back from the dead, is happy to see coast city as a reminder that he’s still useful.

the next page of superman (1987) #83 is, of course, a bright and sunny morning in metropolis that clark gets to spend with jimmy without a care in the world

it’s startling! it’s ridiculous! the barely contained anger and all-encompassing grief that marks hal’s every word & movement is a sight to see but so is the justice league’s utter disregard for him. a well-written parallax, as he’d originally been, acknowledges this as the necessary starting point! without a support system, without friends and family and a home, hal needs no parasite to infect him in order to lose it.

parallax as a man on the brink, lashing out at friends and foes alike, slipping further into despair in an attempt to set everything right is not only rational but realistic. hal has endured the unthinkable and not a single person in his life cares. to blame a parasite in the retcon means to pretend so-called superheroes played no part in their friend’s breakdown. very nearly doubling as an early exploration of the dark underbelly of heroics along the lines of identity crisis, hal’s arc before the retcon is almost certainly the greatest arc to happen to any mainstream superhero

#THIS GOT LONG IM SORRY BUT KATIE THIS IS. THE POST #IM STILL!!!!!! I HATE THE JL SO MUCH #long post /#hal jordan #green lantern #superman #clark kent #dc #dc comics #u can reblog #i prefer a combination of the two takes but we're talking purely canon here. and in a canon context im with the og all the way

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ao3feed-supercorp · 3 years ago

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At the Catch

by filament_max

“Whatever you say, cox,” the blonde said, brimming with dismissiveness. Lena’s vision flickered red, rage returning.

“Well, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Or it had better be.” Coach Cat Grant appeared between them. “Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor. Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers.”

Kara Danvers. Well, for as much as Lena tried not to follow her own sport, she’d have to be dense not to have heard of Supergirl, Valcourt University’s star rower. What the hell was she doing at the tryouts for NCU, her biggest rival?

Kara’s brow furrowed, and Lena knew what she was thinking: Lex Luthor’s little sister.

But then Kara said, “I thought you coxed for the men’s team here?”

“Not anymore,” Cat said, her patience clearly waning. “Shake hands, get over it, and let’s get on the water already.”

Kara and Lena join NCU's rowing team and don't get along until they really, really do

Words: 6987, Chapters: 1/12, Language: English

Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F

Characters: Samantha "Sam" Arias, Jack Spheer, Astra (Supergirl TV 2015), Leslie Willis, Andrea Rojas, Lucy Lane (DCU), Nia Nal, Lex Luthor, Cat Grant, J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw, Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor, Alex Danvers, Kelly Olsen (Supergirl TV 2015), Eve Teschmacher, James "Jimmy" Olsen, Winn Schott Jr., Barry Allen, William Dey

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen

Additional Tags: tw: discussions of past sexual assault in middle chapters, TW: Minor homophobia, it's a rowing au, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Jock Kara Danvers, Nerd Lena Luthor, Cocky Kara Danvers, Condescending Lena Luthor, Kara is the stroke, Lena is the coxswain, yes Kara calls her cox and I will not be taking further questions on the matter, featuring height difference, and it's a good thing they're on the water because boy are they thirsty, Coach Cat Grant, Trainer J'onn J'onzz, Aunt Astra and her shitdick husband coach the rival team, Lex is good and Lillian is not and I am sorry it just worked better with the narrative, gay bff Jack my favorite trope, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Sports

from AO3 works tagged 'Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor' https://ift.tt/3Kt7neH via IFTTT https://ift.tt/3Kt7neH

#supercorp #Kara x Lena #Kara Danvers x Lena Luthor #karlena

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cyclone-rachel · 3 years ago

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Gem AU, Supergirl-specific characters edition

(for the “Day 4: Alternate Universe” prompt of Farewell to Supergirl week)

Our heroes/the Super-friends/etc:

Supergirl/Kara Zor-El/Kara Danvers (Facet K4R4 20R-3L, Cut 59): Kyanite, weapon: glaive. This doesn’t change from my original concept of her when I first did the Gem Legion AU, I think I’d have her just be a regular Gem who was stuck in space for a while (something something malfunctioning warp pad, or her ship was knocked off-course and she couldn’t find her way to Earth) before arriving and being found by the Danvers. Because she can’t really hide her non-humanness, secret identity isn’t an issue here, but she does become more human and get used to a human-ish life, learning to love humans and human society, in addition to fighting for them with her Gem powers.

Alex: human, but picks up/learns to fight with Gem technology. I think her and James and Kelly all kind of share the Connie role? like all 3 of them want to help and protect the Earth, and learn to fight alongside their super-powered friends, in addition to having their own skills.

Hank Henshaw/J’onn J’onnz- Oolitic Jasper (weapon- Sword of Mars, because why would you not). I’m thinking he’s probably most like how he was in season 4, and the Tower is basically this AU’s version of the gem temple that Steven and the Crystal Gems live in.

Megan Morse/M’Gann M’orrz- Smoky Quartz (weapon- kite shield) Her backstory is pretty easy to transfer here! I feel like nothing much would change, she’d still be some kind of former prison guard and defect to save someone’s life, then come to Earth and eventually find a friendship with J’onn and the others.

Winn Schott Jr.- okay I did describe him originally as “not-shitty Ronaldo”, like maybe his mom runs a toy store that his dad originally opened and he’s come up with all kinds of conspiracy theories about the Gems? but he never once imagined being friends with them until meeting Kara.

gosh. given that there is also a human in the SU... universe that ends up flying around in a spaceship with Gems, and what Winn’s fate ultimately is, does he become a combination of Ronaldo and Lars? I’m not sure.

Cat, even though she lives in a small town, still has her media thing going, and reports all the time on the goings-on of the Gem Legion, especially Kyanite/Kara, who is pretty much her favorite and so smart and so talented and has such potential. Kara doesn’t work for her here, but she still admires her a whole lot and they inspire each other I think.

Mon-El- Aquamarine, weapon- partizan. The original concept I had for him came about near the end of season 2 and was very mean-spirited, and I apologize. But I think it would still be possible for his story to happen here, like another Gem who’s been isolated for a long time (and coming from a very privileged/looking-down-on-others background) coming to Earth and learning to become a better person, inspired to lead his own little group of Gems somewhere else.

Speaking of which!

Imra- Rhodonite, weapon- chakram. I did originally have her down as a Pink Topaz, but since topazes are depicted differently in SU canon, I decided to change that, and thought rhodonite fit well with her costume/aesthetic in season 3. Anyway I feel like there isn’t much different about her either? she’d probably have a “little sister”/another Gem who was created in the same place she was that she considers family, until that Gem and others start getting corrupted on a large scale because reasons, which prompts her and Mon-El and Brainy to go to Earth (like they’d be on another planet at that time, but Mon-El would know about Earth)

and to round out the Legion that we see, Brainy is a Peridot because of course he is. But he’s also an Off-Color! I’m not exactly sure how I’d do the inhibitors thing in this universe, but he’d definitely look different from other Peridots (although he’d hide that) and after joining Mon-El and his group, he’d act different from them too. I feel like the “family bottling planets” thing would also be very easy to translate to this AU, although maybe another method than actually literally shrinking them and putting them in bottles. But the same kind of vibe for sure. His “weapon” is Gem technology.

I think Nia’s basically our Steven-type character, not literally a child but the one who definitely learns more about who she is and what she can do as time goes on. She’d be half White Sapphire, for reasons. Or maybe just regular Sapphire? Definitely one or the other, that kind of gem. Her and Maeve are probably half-sisters here, same father but different mothers.

Villains/Other

Originally, I had Astra and Alura be Blue and Pink Diamonds respectively, and I don’t know how well that works now? I’ll think more about this later.

The Adventures of Supergirl villains I came up with ideas for-

Facet Jens- Moissanite (loyally served Alura’s equivalent, travels to Earth to make Kara more like one of her court. Bonus points for pretty much coming from a Gem-like species in the comics)

Vril Dox II- Green Jasper (ends up bubbled, I do not remember much about him. probably from the same planet this version of Peridot was created on)

Psi- Dream Quartz (more based on the one we saw in season 3. can speak to people through their dreams/manipulate dreams, has powerful psychic abilities that she uses most prominently to bring out her victim’s darkest fears. A thief, mostly. Although Kara doesn’t beat her at first.)

Rampage- Crackled Fire Agate (helps Alex and others fight corrupted Gems)

The Worldkillers are definitely all Agates as well (because, as the song says, “An Agate terrifies”), I think I originally had Reign as Black Agate, Purity as Turritella Agate, and Pestilence as Blue Agate.

in that post I also had Non as a Blue Pearl, Indigo as a Yellow Spinel, and Rhea and Lar Gand as Platinum and Silver respectively. Although I think I’d maybe want to make Indigo a real evil Lapis Lazuli instead.

OH NO I FORGOT ABOUT MYRIAD BEING THE CLUSTER

anyway Myriad is basically the Cluster in this AU, it’s not a mass mind-control device in how it was used in the season 1 finale but it does involve a bunch of minds being forcibly brought together and a lot of destruction.

also I did fully forget Lena in this AU. anyway I think she’d probably be the mayor’s daughter here? I’m not sure what I’d do with Lex

#papa don't look #rachel talks about stuff #farewellsupergirl #supergirl au #supergirl #this au started in 2016 i think #it's been such a long time #and i am very rusty #but i did want to contribute something #this will probably get updated too as i think of more things

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ynsimagines · 4 years ago

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Supergirl: B!D gets Tortured Part 3

You’re pretty sure you and Kara had the worst night sleep of your entire lives. Your pretty sure you held the world record for how many nightmares somebody could have in one night. You felt like the worst sister in the galaxy poor Kara had to keep waking up to calm you down. Kara was just extremely worried about you she hated seeing her baby sister wake up in the middle of the night shaking, crying and. throwing up. You had so many nightmares thinking you were back there in the hands of Lillian Luthor and Hank Henshaw.

Despite the eventful night the morning went by pretty slowly Kara was called for a Supergirl emergency. She was worried about leaving you, but Alex would be in the med bay on inventory so she would be in the same room.

You felt awful, physically and mentally. You were in a lot of pain due to your injuries because of which you had to be on a lot of pain medications. The medications made you feel so unlike yourself, kind of like a zombie. However you weren’t so out of it that you forgot about the torture you had endured. You also thought about how much you were effecting your sisters lives. They basically had to put everything on hold, and do everything for you. Kara could barely do what was needed as Supergirl only leaving for emergencies. Alex had to rearrange her whole work schedule so she could be with you. Before you know it these thoughts are causing you to panic your breath is getting quicker as you start to tear up. Your heart monitor started beeping faster which got Alex’s attention.

“Whoa hey kiddo, you’re okay calm down,” she said running over to you. I need you to take some deep breaths for me, can you do that? You breathed the way she said and were eventually able to calm down a little, but you were still crying.

"Alex, I’m sorry I’m such a burden.”

“What? A burden? Sweetheart, what are you talking about?”

“To you and Kara, and everyone else. You have to spend all your time taking care of me.”

“Y/N, you are not a burden. You had a horrible, traumatic thing happen to you. It’s Kara, and I’s job to be there for you and help you get through it. I’d give anything to go back so this would never have happened, but under the circumstance there’s no place Kara and I would rather be,” she said smoothing your hair down.

You nodded, “Do you want to talk about anything else? She said hoping you might open up to her a little bit about what happened,” you shook your head.

“I just want to go back to sleep,” you said feeling a bit dizzy/lightheaded even though you didn’t tell Alex that.

Your eldest sister sighed, but nodded her head. She checked your vitals and made you drink some more water before she gave you the medication in your IV that would put you to sleep.

You slept until Lunch when Winn and James came to visit bringing you food and a giant teddy bear they had brought, you didn’t eat much though due to a slight stomach ache you developed.

After hanging with you for a while they both had to get back to work. As they left Kara came back from whatever she had been needed for as Supergirl. “Kara, you’re back” you said weakly.

“Hey little one,” she said sounding sad. “I’m sorry I had to leave earlier,” she said sitting down next to your bed.

“It’s ok, I know the world still needs Supergirl,” you said.

“But my little sister still needs her big sister,” she said grabbing your hand in hers something was weighing heavily on her mind. “Sweetheart, I need to talk to you about something,” she said looking you in the eyes.

“When you were kidnapped, and they were asking you for information on Supergirl why did you not just give it to them?”

“Because I had to keep your secret your identity is the most important thing.”

Kara shook her head “Y/N, my identity is not more important than you,” said your sister not believing what she was hearing.

You realized she was getting upset. “Kara, the world would be okay without me, but not without supergirl.”

“How could you say that Y/N, how could you think so little of your own life,” she said now practically yelling something she never did at you. This wasn’t helping your anxiety as you were getting upset you started crying tears streaming down your face.

“Kara, I’m sorry,” you tried to say.

“Don’t,” she said standing up, “I need to get some air.”

As Kara was storming out Alex was coming in. She had planned on coming to check on you when she heard yelling and practically started running. “What the Hell Kara, what is going on?” she asked.

“Kara,” you called out, but the superhero wasn’t listening. You began sobbing now that she had left and Alex came over to your bedside.

“Baby, what happened?”

“Kara, hates me.” you weren’t in the condition to talk just then so Alex hugged you best she could from where you were laying and whispered words of comfort.

After a while you had calmed down enough to tell Alex what happened. Alex was furious with Kara for what she just put you through and getting you so upset. But she was staying calm for your sake you were her number one priority right now. So she put everything else aside for the afternoon and laid with you in bed while you both watched Netflix. You refused to go back to sleep until Kara came back.

“Can you try calling her again? Maybe she’ll answer this time?” you asked Alex.

Alex’s heart shattered at the pain and innocence in your voice as she honored your request. “Hello?” Kara said.

“Kara, where are you?” Alex said walking far enough from your bed that you couldn’t hear her. Y/N is refusing to eat or sleep until you get back, she thinks you hate her.”

Kara immediately felt a pang of guilt she knew she was wrong and felt horrible about earlier. “I know I screwed up okay I’m on my way back, I promise I’ll make this right.”

“You better.”

When Kara walked back into the med bay she immediately walked to your side. “Hey sweetheart, I’m so sorry for earlier.”

“It’s okay Kara,” you said weakly.

She shook her head, “no it’s really not.” She continued talking, but you were having trouble listening. You didn’t feel very good and not just because of your injuries. You were dizzy again and weak, you felt numbness in your hands. You were pretty sure you had a fever along with the worst head and stomachache of your entire life.

“Baby girl, what’s wrong?” she asked noticing how out of it you were.

“Don’t feel so great,” you said feeling like you were losing consciousness. Kara felt your forehead instantly concerned at how hot it was.

“Alex,” she yelled. “Stay with me little one, whatever it is were gonna fix it. Your eldest sister came running in and Kara moved to the side so she could asses you.

“This isn’t good, she has internal bleeding,” said Alex trying to get you prepared she had ordered some med bay assistant to call Doctor Hamilton, you would need to be immediately prepped for emergency surgery.

#supergirl #kara danvers #alex danvers #winn schott #james olsen #baby danvers #Baby!Danvers #cw #DC comics

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thevindicativevordan · 4 years ago

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My Take on a Superman Video Game

I've seen other people give their takes on how to approach this, and given Superman and video games are two major topics of interest for me, I thought I'd give my pitch.

So first off, I’m giving him a health bar. Yes I know some people will b**** and no I don’t care. I don’t care what people who get their Superman knowledge from YouTube or Instagram “fact” pages think about the character, and all the other attempts such as the city health bar in the Returns game didn’t satisfy me. So right off the bat he’s getting a health bar. Second: it’s time to start showing casuals areas of Superman lore they either don’t know about or aren’t very familiar with. The reason for that is people think they “know” Superman so we need to immediately show something they DON’T know about or HAVEN’T seen already to get them to not immediately dismiss Superman out of hand based on memes or whatever. Which leads into my third creative point. Third: I’m not setting the first game in Metropolis. The Arkham games didn’t immediately throw you into an open world Gotham, they built up to it. The Spider-Man PS4 game started off with an open world because they were able to build upon dozens of Spider-Man games that laid the ground work for them. The first Superman game in decades needs to avoid biting off more than it can chew, and throwing Superman into an open world feels like a bad idea. So where can it be? Well there are options. There’s Warworld. There’s Apokolips. But I think the best location is one that’s intrinsically tied to Superman and his Kryptonian background, and serves as a nice counterpart to Batman starting out in Arkham Asylum: The Phantom Zone

The Asylum was a great starting point for Batman for a couple reason: 1. It’s the iconic prison where Batman leaves his Rogues, 2. It’s gothic and horror esque vibe crafts the perfect atmosphere, and 3. it’s place as a center for examining the mind makes it great for exploring Batman’s mental state. For similar reason the PZ is the perfect place to start off Superman: 1. It likewise is an iconic prison for Superman Rogues 2. It’s science fiction and horror mixed together which crafts the perfect atmosphere for Superman to kick ass or be introspective, and 3. It lets Kal come face to face with his Kryptonian heritage in the nastiest way possible as he’s dumped into a place filled with prisoners his father helped exile as well as all the other monsters and criminals other races have dumped there. So he’s going to the Zone but how does he get there and what’s the story? It would be boring if he just walked in. Here’s the pitch: It’s Year 2 of Superman’s career. He’s already established himself as a hero in Metropolis and worldwide. The public knows he claims to mean them no harm and that he only seems to do good deeds, but they know very little about his origins and are divided as to his true intentions. The problem is Clark himself doesn’t really know his origins either beyond knowing he’s an alien from another planet. His only relics from his home planet are the rocket, a tablet written in a language he can’t read, and a curious device that doesn’t seem to have any use. As a show of goodwill, and because he hasn’t made any progress understanding them himself, Clark turns the tablet and the device over to STAR Labs for study. One day as he’s beating down some Intergang thugs, reality twists, and suddenly Clark finds himself in a place that is definitely not Metropolis. The “earth” is chalk white, the sky is a purple, green lightning flashes around as far as he can see, and where the sun should be there’s instead a black hole. Somehow Clark and the terrified Intergang thugs have ended up in the Phantom Zone with no idea of how they got there and how to get back.

The thugs accuse Clark of transporting them there and attack him, with Clark suddenly realizing his powers are fading in this place with no sunlight. Luckily a stranger arrives and aids Clark in dispatching the thugs. Clark thanks him for his aid and then asks who he is. The stranger pauses and tells Clark: “My name is Dru-Zod, a general of Krypton”. He raises a hand for Clark to shake. “I was a friend of your father, Kal-El”. Zod tells Kal about the place he’s in, and his history with it. He tells him that other humans have been brought here as well besides the Intergang thugs, including many of Clark’s foes. Zod informs Clark that the likely culprit for their arrival to the PZ is the very first prisoner Jor-El ever banished to the Phantom Zone: Xa-Du the Phantom King, who has spent so long imprisoned that he seems to have obtained a degree of control over the Zone that gives him strange powers. Kal is told that if he does not collect the scattered humans and escape the Zone soon, he and the humans will become trapped there, as anyone who spends too long in the Zone eventually becomes unable to leave without special equipment on the other side to bring them back, thanks to the way the Zone warps the inhabitants. Kal’s mission is clear: Collect the scattered humans, defeat and pacify his foes trapped there with him so they can be brought back as well, and defeat the Phantom King before he tears a hole between the Zone and the real world that could cause catastrophe for Earth. That’s the basic story pitch, next I’ll go into gameplay mechanics and what Rogues I’d use.

Clark starts the game having been de powered back to “Golden Age” power levels due to there being no sun in the PZ. Zod teaches him about Sunstones that grow naturally in the PZ, which will allow him to slowly re-empower himself. The Sunstones ward off the PZ’s influence and basically act as perk points for Clark to unlock and upgrade his powers. At the start he can’t fly, he can only run and leap. Zod acts as Kal’s mentor throughout the game, teaching him about Kryptonian history and how to read the language. He also tutors him in the dangers of the Phantom Zone as well as training him to hone his powers. Kal gets the feeling there’s more to Zod than he’s letting on though, and some of his comments raise Kal’s suspicions. The base of the game is the Fortress of Solitude.

It’s backstory is that when Jor-El first discovered the PZ, he built the FoS as a research outpost to study the place. It’s packed full of Kryptonian tech and it has the ability to shift back into the natural world. Zod couldn’t use it because it’s caretaker Kelex only responds to House El members. However it won’t shift back until it judges its user “sterilized” in order to avoid contaminating the natural world with the Zone’s influence. Because Kal was brought over so suddenly and without the proper tech, he has to use Sunstones to purge the Zone from his body before the Fortress will respond to his commands. This is a nice way of tying the gameplay and story together. Kal needs the stones to save the civilians and to go home, which helps explain why he might do side quests rather than stick with just the main questline. Civilians Superman has to rescue in the Zone: Lois Lane, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Dr. Veritas, Ron Troupe, Dr. John Henry Irons, Dr. Hamilton, Bibbo, Dr. Hank Henshaw and his family, Commissioner Henderson, Captain Maggie Sawyer, Detective Turpin, members of the Newskids Legion, Morgan Edge, and other OCs or nameless civilians. Kal also meets Krypto, who was transported into the Zone by Jor-El in order to watch over the Fortress as its guard, in order to keep it safe so that Kal might one day reclaim it. Rogues: Some of Superman’s Rogues have been teleported to the PZ as well, and unfortunately they have their own plans for escaping the Zone, even if it means they have to kill Superman to do it.

Metallo: John Corbyn is a cyborg soldier that served in the US Army under Sam Lane and was created as the government’s Anti-Superman deterrent. After a fight with Superman in his early career left him crippled, he was bonded to a nanosuit that equips him with various weaponry capable of killing Superman. He believes Superman transported everyone there as part of a first strike against humanity. Parasite: A Lexcorp lab experiment gone horribly wrong, Rudy Jones is a science fiction vampire who needs to kill to sustain himself. He absorbs the memories and skills of whoever he kills, and he is able to transform his body into various weapons (think Alex Mercer from [PROTOTYPE] to know what I mean). He’s hunting the civilians to feed on and has his eye on Superman as well. Livewire: Leslie was a vlogger with a far looser code of ethics than Clark. Her “reporting” eventually angered the wrong people who attempted to have her assassinated. Instead Leslie ended up with powers over electromagnetism, and a grudge against Morgan Edge who she believes was behind the Intergang hit on her. Edge is her target but she doesn’t mind stepping over Superman’s corpse if she has to. The Terran (Terra-Man): Krypton wasn’t the only planet to discover the Phantom Zone. One alien race banished the immortal hunter known as the Terran, whose human name was Tobias before he was abducted by aliens who were interested in the potential of the human meta gene and wanted to experiment on him. Their experiment was a success and Tobias broke free, using their own weaponry to hunt them down and carve a bloody path across the stars. Eventually he was transported to the PZ and is now desperate to escape. Mr. Mxy: Who is this creature? Neither a human nor seemingly an alien prisoner of the PZ, Mxy engages Clark in a series of puzzles that reveal secrets about the PZ... and foretell of threats to come. Red Cloud: An enforcer for the Invisible Mafia, her only loyalty is to her boss Leone. Her identity is a secret from Clark for now and she intends for it to remain that way. Silver Banshee: Not every human teleported to the PZ was unchanged. Some reacted much more strongly to the Zone’s influence. One former human has now been twisted into the sinister Silver Banshee, driven insane by the whispers in the Zone and the alterations to her body. She poses a formidable threat to Clark in her current state. Xa-Du: The Phantom King and first prisoner of the Phantom Zone sent from Krypton. Zod claims he was insane even before he was sent here but his incarceration has done nothing to improve his health if so. Gleefully plotting his return to the real world, Xa’s only desire is to raise an army of super zombies with himself as their Necrogod ruler. His time in the Zone has given him control over the degraded Phantoms, and he can channel the energies permeating the Zone into a variety of attacks (basically he’s a space necromancer). His aim is to corrupt Kal-El and the Fortress and use both to travel to Earth and he will never stop hunting Kal. Non boss mooks for Clark to fight: Phantoms - Some of the inhabitants of the Zone have degenerated into the ghostly Phantoms, their only desire to spread their suffering to others. They have been so warped by the Zone they’ve become a part of it and are thus incapable of permanently dying. Shades - Much more powerful Phantoms, Shades retain some memory of their former lives and posses some of their former skills. They serve as the elite of Xa-DU’s forces. Shadowbreed - Native creatures of the PZ, these beings feed on the light of the SunStones and thus see Clark as a meal as well. They possess various animals of the PZ to attack and feed on him. Eradicators - Once these machines served House El in their study of this place acting as defenders. But time has eroded their programming and they now seek to destroy even the Last Son of their old House.

That's the basic of my pitch, I think it's a fairly manageable one that addresses a lot of the arguments you get from people about why a game "wouldn't work" or whatever.

#superman #the phantom zone #supermangame #krypto the superdog #fortress of solitude

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the-antiapocalyptic-man · 4 years ago

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The lines didn’t scan as clean as I would’ve liked, but it was a pretty quick job, so I just colored it anyway: head!verse Eradicator

My version of the Reign era is a little different, but this guy is a pretty clean lift from canon. Essentially a modded, suped-up (no pun intended) Superman Robot from the Fortress that collects ambient energy sources to accelerate Clark’s healing process. His “human” face is removable and I wanted a bit of an Old Elvis vibe. The pauldrons are a little bulky, but idk I might just need to do another pass

Hank Henshaw’s done as far as line art but I haven’t been home much and this is sort of a long term personal project, so he’ll go up eventually

#dc #eradicator #superman #headverse #fanart

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yesmadamepresident · 3 years ago

Note

Writing asks: 32-40

32. Do you have a word/expression that you always use in your writing?

Ooh, good question. There are definitely things that I catch myself using a lot, but it's hard to remember them now. I feel like I use the phrase "in the next moment" a lot, and I think I often write "and then his lips were on hers" (or vice versa) when describing a kiss. I always feel very insecure about writing kiss scenes lmao so I think I come back to a lot of the same descriptions. I also think I use the word "soft" a lot to describe things - voices, smiles, kisses, gasps, etc. etc. etc. Does anyone else notice me using a particular word or phrase?

33. Give your writing a compliment.

My descriptive writing is miles better than it was a couple of years ago. I've improved so much in that area (I've always been more of a dialogue girl myself) and I'm really proud of that.

34. Do you write to improve? Or is that not a concern for you?

When it comes to fanfic, I write the thing to write the thing. I'm aware that I get better as I write, and I'm really happy with the improvement I've seen since I started, but that's not the focus. That's slightly less true when it comes to writing poetry or other non-fanfic stuff. I'm acutely aware that the quality of my poetry correlates with how frequently I'm writing it, and so part of the motivation for me to keep writing poems is that I want to stay good at it and keep getting better.

35. Thoughts on writing challenges/contests.

If we're talking about fanfic (which I believe we are), I think challenges can be fun but they also stress me out sometimes. Like, I can't write a fic every day of fictober, you know? The blake fic exchange was very fun though because we had such a long time frame and so it didn't have to be stressful. If we're talking about writing contests outside of the fic world, I've been a part of quite a few and have won some and enjoyed them :)

36. How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

There are kind of 2 ways I go about this. Sometimes I take a line from the fic and make it the title (e.g. Old Habits, It Must Have Been a Romance). And sometimes I take a lyric or line of poetry that connects in some way. I'm really happy with the title of Forever Can Never Be Long Enough. The line itself makes sense from the beginning, when in the first scene Alice tells Matthew she wants to stay in Ballarat "forever." But the line is from Marry Me by Train, which is also perfect because the fic ends with Matthew proposing. So it makes sense on a surface level but it's also kind of a hint to the ending which I think is fun.

37. Do you research before writing or while you write? Is it fun or boring for you?

The answer to both questions is honestly both. If I'm writing a fic that I know requires research then I'll do some before I start. But it's kind of inevitable that additional questions will come up as I go along. I went down soooo many research rabbit holes both before and after writing the Paris fic, as an example. I usually find it fun, but it can also be intimidating because sometimes Google just can't give justice to lived experience. One of my biggest fears when writing fic is that it will be unrealistic, because I'm so young and have experience so little and so I never know if something is going to sound dumb or like a child wrote it.

38. "This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

I lean toward "this happened, but." It's always fun to take an existing storyline but come at it a different way.

39. Wildest AU scenario you have written?

Deep sigh. I started (never finished) a supergirl fanfic when I was probably like, 13, where Alex Danvers and Hank Henshaw had to fake date for some sort of investigation. I don't think I wrote more than one or two chapters but I cringe when I think about it. I shipped them in the first season but they ended up having much more of a father-daughter relationship than anything near a romantic one, plus Alex came out as gay a few seasons later, so. Weird. I also wrote a couple of soulmate AUs for madam secretary, but I actually like those.

40. Write a 9-word fic.

They would always have fallen in love like this.

#thank you for asking this was so fun #ask #andallthatmishigas #it feels weird somehow to put your username in the tag i think you deserve your own tag #anyway

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superman86to99 · 4 years ago

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Superman #84 (December 1993)

Superman takes a short Paris vacation! Like, one day short. What's the worst that could happen?

Oh, man.

So, for the past few issues, we've been hearing about children being abducted in Metropolis. Now we see that they're being kept inside a giant toy house by some creepy bald man in Quasimodo clothes who seems to be obsessed with toys -- a "Man of Toys," if you will. Side note: no wonder the children haven't been found... all the articles about them are just gibberish! (See clip below.)

The kidnapper thinks that these kids' parents don't deserve them, and that they're much better off here, in an underground hideout with a man who threatens to starve them if they don't play with him. (And I do mean literally play, with action figures and stuff.) Meanwhile, as these children cry for help, Superman is having the time of his life. While helping move a stranded ship with some huge-ass chains, Superman spots a sunken galleon with a treasure chest inside and fantasizes about keeping the booty...

...before turning it over to the authorities anyway, the big boy scout. Then, he wakes up Lois at 6 AM and tells her they should go to Paris right now, which usually means your significant other is having a mental breakdown, but in this case they can actually do it. And so, after deciding that he deserves to use his powers for fun every once in a while, Superman and Lois drop everything and fly to France with super-speed for the rest of the day/issue.

Anyway: back to the child abduction! Cat Grant and her son Adam attend a Halloween party at Adam's school, but there's a disturbed weirdo in a hideous costume lurking among the crowd. Yes, I'm talking about Jimmy Olsen in his Turtle Boy suit.

Shortly after that, a guy in a dinosaur costume (see, all the creeps are dressed as reptiles) lures Adam out of the party with the promise of "superb video games." What child could resist that? Of course, that turns out to be the kidnapper and Adam ends up in his hideout along with the rest of the missing children and, worst of all, not a single "Lextendo" console.

The kidnapper gets angry at Adam when he refers to the toys at the hideout as "old-fashioned junk" (he was REALLY looking forward to those video games), and even angrier when Adam tries to free the other kids. Adam is brave and puts up a good fight, but...

And those were Adam Morgan's final words. "Uh-oh."

Next, we have a pretty harrowing scene of Detective Turpin letting Cat know Adam’s body was found, and Jimmy and Perry White taking her to the morgue to identify the body (most people probably wouldn't bring their former boss to something like that, but Perry sadly knows more than most about losing a kid). As for Lois and Clark, they were gone so long that the Daily Planet had time to print a headline about the murders. The issue ends when the lovebirds walk into the office smiling like two people who just spent the night fooling around in Paris... only to feel like jackasses when they find out what happened.

To be continued!

Character-Watch:

And that's it for little Adam Morgan who, unlike the also tragically diseased Jerry White, didn't even get any post-death appearances. Adam went from a little kid scared of Superman, to a huge brat, to a character who was approaching likeability as of last week. That's why I hate it when DC kills off young characters like Adam or Liam Harper: in long-form storytelling, children represent potential. Look at how much Wally West or Dick Grayson evolved over the years compared to their mentors! Sure, there's a huge probability that Adam would have ended up disappearing from comics for 25 years anyway, but who knows, maybe we'd now know him as Teen Gangbuster or something. GangbusTEEN.

This issue also represents a turning point for the kidnapper, who is never named or seen clearly in the story itself but I don't think I'm shocking anyone by spoiling the fact that he's Toyman (it's in the cover, for one thing). In his last two appearances before this storyline, Toyman helped Superman save some kids from Sleez and looked genuinely sad to learn about Superman's death, so this is a pretty dramatic change for the character. We'll find out why he went from big softy to child killer in Superman #85 (but don't get your hopes up).

Plotline-Watch:

The most disturbing part of the issue, all things considered, is still the part where Toyman climbs into a giant crib and hugs a huge stuffed bunny. Look at serial killer Tommy Pickles here:

Don Sparrow says: “Even with the upgrade, Toyman is still just a man in a suit, a common complaint about Superman’s rogues gallery.” Funny you should say that, because I JUST shared an old Wizard interview in our Twitter in which Dan Jurgens talks about how Doomsday came out of his frustration with the fact that most Superman villains are dudes in suits (plus other interesting tidbits from the era, like how it was actually Roger Stern’s idea to bring back Hank Henshaw, so check out that link!).

Don again: “The entire Superman storyline of this issue feels like filler. Diving for buried treasure and soaring off to Paris -- it all feels like wasted time next to the Adam storyline.” I have a theory that the entire ship sequence is there as an excuse to put Superman in those big chains and make that Spawn joke (which I didn’t get until now, since I’ve always read this issue in Spanish).

Superman says that pulling that big ship was "a little easier than expected" -- that's either another hint that there's something going on with Superman's powers since he came back, or a subtle dig at the state of American ship manufacturing.

Another adorable "window tap" scene for the books, and this is the sexiest one so far. Is it me or has Jurgens started copying more than just Teri Hatcher's hairdo from Lois & Clark? (For anyone who thinks Lois has gotten implants, I refer you to this clip.)

While in Paris, Lois asks Clark if he's ever wondered what would happen if his rocket had landed in other countries. Don: “Clark’s conversation with Lois sounds like a bunch of concepts for Elseworlds stories. We eventually would see a Russian Superman, and a British Superman, but not yet the French Superman. (Hire us, DC!)” Yep, got my French Superman pitch ready, Jim Lee. Or just let us do Russian Superman again, since Red Son wasn’t even the first time you published that idea.

Don once more: “Another thing that makes no sense about the ‘new’ Toyman is his resentment of technological toys—when in previous appearances he himself had deadly high-tech toys to vex Superman over the years.” I especially resent his hatred of video game consoles. Incidentally, I wonder what types of games are available for Adam’s beloved Lextendo. Star Lex 64? Mega Man Lex? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles & Lex?

No one is more upset at Lois and Clark for going AWOL than Whit. NO ONE. He's so furious that his usually grey mustache turned black.

Patreon-Watch:

As always, shout out to our patrons, Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Samuel Doran, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush and Raphael Fischer! Last month’s exclusive Patreon article was about the recently unearthed sequel to Superman 64 for the PlayStation, featuring Metallo, Parasite, and Lois looking even hotter than in this issue:

Hot damn. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99!

And believe it or not, Don Sparrow has even more to say about this issue. Read his section after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

I should start off my section with a big caveat: I flat out hate this issue. There were several weird decisions made in the post-Death-and-Return era (most of them along the same lines of making the Superman titles more grim-and-gritty), and this story was one of the worst of them. My theory is that, despite the praise and record-breaking sales of the Death and Return storyline, the Superman creative team felt pressure to have more extreme storylines, perhaps in response to the wildly successful Image books coming out at the time. Between this story, and the upcoming “Spilled Blood” storyline, the Super books take a hard—but temporary--turn into more violent and upsetting storytelling—even though these stories are by the same writers as the previous few years. While death has always been a part of comics, and Superman comics was no exception, there is a jarring glibness and unfeeling toward the way violence is handled in these pages that is quite different from the stories that preceded it. It’s made all the more jarring by the fact that well-established personalities suddenly veer wildly out of character, Toyman chief among them.

We start with the cover, and while it is technically well-drawn (by the familiar team of Jurgens and Breeding) it’s also a very upsetting visual. I think they should have gone with the pieta type pose with Adam and Superman, OR the scary badass bowie-knife Toyman (who apparently has a Cheshire cat smile now) but not both. But the cover is a good hint at the tonal dissonance of the comic within.

We open with a splash of the now-extreme 90s looking Toyman, with his serial killer shaved head and spooky cloak, ignoring the pleas of hungry kids he has locked up in a tiny jail cell for days at a time (if that sentence doesn’t ring alarm bells for how wrong this is for a Superman story, I don’t know what will). For much of the issue Toyman’s eyes are obscured by glare on his lenses, further de-humanizing a character who was once one of Superman’s more empathetic bad guys.

We cut to Superman tugboating a huge tanker with giant chains and it’s a cool visual (one repeated in the Batman V Superman film). It feels especially out of place to focus on, given how upsetting this issue is otherwise, but throughout the whole comic, Lois is drawn smoking hot, especially on the two page spread on pages 9-10.

The scenes depicting the actual murder, while still wildly out of place in a Superman comic, are well done, and give a real sense of darkness and menace, which I suppose is the intent. Perhaps my least favourite visual is the Big Bird stuffie, silently bearing witness to what’s about to occur.

The edges of the panels on get more slashy and off-kilter (to me, looking very much like the layouts more typically seen in Image comics of the day) and I suppose I appreciate the restraint of how little Dan Jurgens shows of the death of a child, showing only a bloody slash on a black background. This is still a pretty baroque image for a Superman comic, but certainly less violent than it could be, given what is happening.

Cat Grant’s silent horror is well staged, and powerful in its way. Lastly, Clark Kent bending in sorrow and regret is a powerful image.

While this issue is handled marginally better, and more maturely than other comics on the shelf at this time, I still believe it is one of the biggest mistakes of the era. Giving a long-established character an unceremonious death for shock value is gross on its own, but making it a child definitely crosses a line for me. Making it worse is that, while the Toyman is a criminal and a killer, he has shown in past issues (a similar kidnapping storyline involving Sleez) that he genuinely cares for the well-being of children. So for a long-time reader, this also felt like a betrayal of a long-established, fully developed character. Adding to the ugliness of this is that Adam dies heroically, trying to free the children who have been caged, unfed, for days, but even in that regard, he fails. The headline at the end of the issue confirms all the children are dead. Adam’s death did not buy the other kids enough time to get away. It was all for nothing. Had Adam died, but the other children lived, maybe this issue wouldn’t leave quite as bad a taste. [Max: It’s weird because it’s all told in a way where it’s told in a way where it would make sense, narratively and within the story universe, that the other kids survived, but then it’s almost casually revealed that nope, they died too. A scene of one of the kids relaying Adam’s heroism to Cat in a future issue would have gone a long way.]

Superman doesn’t come off well in these pages, either. It’s honestly the type of story they should just stay away from, because the more you think about all the calamity that is going on around the clock, the less defensible the whole Clark Kent persona becomes. Superman carving out time to romance his fiancée directly led to the preventable deaths of innocent children—how do you come back from that?

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I’m always looking for hints that perhaps Jimmy or Perry know Superman’s secret identity deep down, and Jimmy’s anger at Lois and Clark on their return to the Daily Planet offices would seem to give that theory some credence, as he’s as angry at them as if he knew Clark really were Superman. Either that, or he’s ticked that it fell to him, and none of them to escort Cat into the morgue. [Max: Has this issue finally converted you to the “Jimmy is terrible” side now, Don?]

I don’t think I’m the only one who disliked the new Toyman—SPOILERS BE HERE: years later, in Action Comics #865, Geoff Johns retconned this whole story, reverting Schott into the criminal who over-relates to kids, rather than the child-killer of this story. Apparently the infantile Schott, who speaks to “Mother” a la Norman Bates, is a robot so lifelike it fools even Superman, and the “Mother” he’s constantly replying to was the real Winslow Schott trying to recall the malfunctioning robot. [Max: That’s one Geoff Johns retcon I really didn’t mind, even if it felt kind of derivative of his similar “all the Brainiacs are robots made by the real Brainiac” reveal.]

#superman #dan jurgens #josef rubinstein #toyman #cat grant #adam morgan #dan turpin #whit #gangbusteen #super luthor fighter ii turbo championship edition

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ao3feed-directorship · 1 year ago

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A Shift in Perspective

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #supergirl #directorship #the-directorship #major danvers #alex x lucy #alex/lucy #luclex #director danvers #alex danvers #lucy lane

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saiilorstars · 4 years ago

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Sweet Ambitions

Ch.3: The Whispers

Story Masterlist // Masterlist of other OCs

Fandom: Supergirl // Pairing: Winn Schott x OFC

Summary: Anais begins to find her way around in National City by trying to secure a job at CatCo. and working at DEO. But what should she make out of a stranger whispering in her head?

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles

[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

Two blondes soared into the sky after one another. Supergirl made a quick turn, just as Anais was coming up, and managed to swing an arm that got across Anais' face. As the blonde Solista swung backwards in the air, different sets of missiles shot into the air after her.

With a roll of her eyes, and a rub of her jaw, Anais put her hands together to create an orb of yellow energy and shot it at the missiles. She landed on the ground afterwards, intending on taking on Supergirl again for a rematch, when she heard gun bullets fire from behind. Her super speed once again slowed Time around her so that she could easily, and rather effortlessly, pick each bullet from the air. When time started up again, she let the bullets on her palm fall to the ground.

Not too far away, she heard Supergirl's distinct wind nearing her, alerting Anais that the Kryptonian was enacting a second round. Anais whirled around in time to swing a leg and throw Supergirl to the side. She super sped towards Supergirl and decided to return the favor with a punch across the face.

"Sorry!" Anais made sure to call out before shooting into the sky again.

"So am I!" Supergirl called after her.

The two women were once again fighting in the air, but perhaps it was because Supergirl had a little more experience in the air, or maybe because Anais didn't have the right suit yet, but Supergirl managed to get an upper hand rather quick. Before Anais knew it, she fell directly on a table and brought down everything on it with her. The little groan the DEO employees heard could have been the sounds of a broken women, but they would never hear it from Anais.

Supergirl gracefully landed on her feet just in front of the broken table and crossed her arms as she waited for Anais. Soon enough, the blonde Solista sat upright with multiple cuts on her arms and face. Said injuries faded away within seconds, making her look new. However, the mock glare she had fixated on Supergirl was not one that anyone wanted to be on the receiving end of.

"Did you have to throw me on the table with—" Anais winced as she pulled a beaker penetrating her back, "—glass?"

Supergirl's scrunched face said it all. Of course that wasn't her intention. They were just practicing, after all. She extended a hand for Anais to take then helped pull the woman up to her feet. Anais cracked her back and sent a look to the monitoring employees.

"Do they have to watch too?"

"Yeah…" Supergirl followed Anais' gaze and sighed. The audience was never an easy part for her either. "Sorry."

"Protocols, I know," Anais hated that word, honestly. All her life it had been embedded as common vocabulary in her home.

"On the bright side, your showing such good progress," Supergirl remarked in hopes of drawing Anais back to the positive side of this hard training. "You're not bulletproof but dodging the bullets and missiles is no hard job for you since you're a speedster-"

"Child's play," Anais waved a hand at it.

"And your speed overall is said to be incredible too," Supergirl stopped by a table where Lucy was overlooking one of the monitors.

"Very for someone who hasn't been out in the field yet," the newest DEO director chimed in with a proud smile. "Though your flying...seems to be in need of improvement."

"I do more speed runs than flying," Anais shrugged bit ultimately groaned at her progress. "I'm good on the ground but a loser in the sky. What a dork."

"Hey, you're going to get this," Supergirl set a hand on her arm for comfort. "I'm still trying to get the hang of my powers."

"But it's easier for you. You're a full Kryptonian," Anais sighed over her biological disadvantages. "I'm half human and half Solista. Some of the abilities my people have...I don't. Maybe it's my human side that doesn't let me fly as well."

"Don't say that. We just started practicing," Lucy reminded her. "This takes time."

"I could have been telepathic if I was a full Solista," Anais pointed at them. "Imagine that. A telepathic Anais. Yeah, I could have been that great."

Supergirl chuckled. "Okay, you are great and now I just think you might be a little tired."

"You're done for today, Anais," Lucy agreed. "Go home."

"No, but I have been practicing all my life," Anais shrugged. "I have powers but I just haven't had the opportunity to use them for something worthwhile, ladies."

"Well, before you can go out there, you still need to practice," Lucy warned, even wagging her finger at Anais. "You know the drill—"

Anais rolled her eyes and swayed her head. "Yeah, yeah, only small-time, petty crimes."

"Just until you get the hang of things," Supergirl said as a reminder. "Baby steps."

"Fine," sighed Anais. "Now I'm starving…" she rubbed her stomach and pouted specifically at Supergirl.

"Lunch time!" the Kryptonian exclaimed and not a second spared into the sky.

Anais waved a hand at Lucy and sped off on ground. Oh yeah, she was much faster on ground.

~0~

Kara had chosen a small-time restaurant that, according to her, sold the best types of pastas. Anais revealed that pasta was her favor lunchtime meal. Though they were originally planning to have lunch alone in the restaurant, a quick call from Winn changed that into a whole get-together at Kara's.

"Wait, so you just threw her on a table? 50 feet from the sky?" Winn almost laughing after hearing Anais' latest training session was about to get him smacked from the Solista herself.

Kara was making an apologetic face every time she relieved that moment. "I said I was sorry."

"Don't worry, you'll get better," James told Anais, probably the only more mature one in the group.

"That's what everyone says," Anais bitterly huffed and stuffed her mouth with some pasta. Despite the others laughing, she still heard her cell phone ringing. She reached for it on the counter and saw it was her mother trying to video chat. "Oh no," she struggled to swallow in one go. "It's my Mom. Video chatting."

"Answer it," Kara encouraged her. "She just wants to know how you're doing."

"Something about getting my ass kicked by Supergirl and having no job tells me she isn't going to be happy."

"You are trying. You've gone from being isolated to moving to the city and getting a hero identity. She's going to be happy," Kara nodded at the cellphone. "Answer."

Anais squeezed her eyes shut and managed to answer like that. "My Anais!"

Anais slowly opened her eyes and awkwardly smiled at the screen. "Hi...Mom."

"I'm so sorry to call unexpectedly I was just...well, to be honest," her mother said, "I'm home today and this is usually the days we have movie night and I was just missing you."

"Aww," Kara unexpectedly said, instantly gaining the attention of Mrs. Allen.

"Is someone there with you?" she asked Anais.

'Sorry' Kara mouthed to Anais, knowing that now Anais' mother would want to talk to all of them.

Anais cleared her throat and braced herself for the embarrassment she was sure her mother would give her. "I'm, um...having lunch with some friends."

"Friends!? You've made friends already!?" her mother gasped as Anais let her head hang low. The others could not help but laugh. It was the type of embarrassment that only a mother could provide.

"Thank you for that," Anais scolded her mother and decided it couldn't get worse than this so she might as well introduce her mother to them. "Mom, you're on speaker. This is Kara Danvers..."

"Hi!" Kara cheerfully spoke into the phone. "Nice to meet you-ish."

"Kara is letting me stay at her place until I get on my feet," Anais informed her mother.

"Well thank you so much for that, Kara. Though we have told Anais she doesn't need to work—"

"And then I told them that I didn't always want to live off of my parents' money," Anais cut her off before she went on that whole lecture again. "Anyways, then we have James and Winn," she turned the phone over for the guys to give their greetings. "They work at CatCo where I'm hoping to get a position."

"Which we think she will," James said, smiling at Anais. "And I'm James."

"Yeah, I heard she won over Cat Grant in a minute tops," Winn added. "No one does that. Oh, and I'm Winn."

"Plus, she's very good at her photography. I've seen her portfolio," James said.

"Oh we know that," Anais' mother hummed. "We bought her her first camera almost a month after she came to live with us and she couldn't be separated from it. You know, she even went—"

"And that's all the time we have for embarrassment, Mom," Anais turned off the speaker function and pressed the phone to her ear. "Until next time," her sarcastic smile made the others want to laugh again.

"Not so fast, young lady. This call wasn't just to express how much I missed you. Your Dad and I are coming in this weekend to see how you're doing."

"What?" frowned Anais. "But—"

"And to make sure you're not overexerting yourself with all these training sessions we hear you've been doing. Plus, since it was revealed Hank Henshaw was actually an alien and now a fugitive...your father and I are concerned for your safety."

"Mom, I'm fine. Really," Anais honestly said. She didn't want her parents to feel concern for her when there was no reason. Lucy was actually doing a fine job keeping things running whilst keeping Anais contract-free.

"We'll see you this weekend," Mrs. Allen promised then hung up.

Anais cleared her throat and set her phone on the table. "Well, and the award for most overprotective parents go to…"

"Their concern isn't completely misplaced," Winn tried to make her see the logical side of the situation. "Your director turned out to be a Martian who was replaced by a woman who…" he trailed off upon seeing James' expectant face. He cleared his throat and smiled so widely. "Who-who is so lovely. That's-that's what I was going to say. Lovely. Yeah."

Anais smiled at him and picked up her fork to continue eating. "Lucy is doing a good job, actually. And I guess I see why they would want to come back for a check up. I'm just afraid they won't like things and drag me back home."

"Then we'll just have to make sure everything's good this weekend," Kara said like it was no big deal.

Anais, on the other hand, was much more realistic. "Hm, the fact I've got no place of my own and still no job isn't exactly where I want to start."

"Cat will call," James assured her. "I'll give her a push myself if I have to."

"I want the job but...I don't want to be there if it was just because you have to push her," Anais glumly forked at her lunch.

"I really don't think I'll have to," James kept reassuring while the others agreed with him.

"Well, I do have an idea of how to give me a better edge against the other applicants…" Anais admitted. She put her fork down as the others expectantly waited for her to explain. "Cat said she wanted a picture of the newest superhero in the city…"

"Golden Girl—" Winn barely got the name out before Anais pointed a finger at his face.

"Don't call me that!" Anais took a deep breath and continued with her explanation. "Anyways, if I get a shot of myself then I could get closer to the job."

"Isn't that cheating?" Kara thought about it before Anais answered.

"No, just an advantage I happen to have," shrugged Anais.

"But is it a good idea to expose yourself when the DEO has you under observation?" James put down his own fork and hoped that Anais would seriously think about this particular idea before going through with it.

"It's not like they're going to rain down on me for one little picture that's not even going to show all of me." Anais' hopeful stare, which now included her hands put together in a pleading manner, flickered amongst the three helpful candidates.

"I mean, theoretically speaking…if we do this right, we can make sure no faces show up or anything that could potentially out her, or Kara for that matter…" Winn had unknowingly become Anais' new favorite person.

One down, two to go!

"I just feel like it would be cheating," Kara insisted. She didn't want to be made out as the bad woman in this story, but she also didn't want Anais to later regret this decision.

"I mean, think about it, please," Anais didn't want to sound desperate but the idea of returning home to where she would be cooped up again wasn't helping her. She loved her parents, she really did, but she wanted to start making her own life now. Securing a job was the first step.

"Why don't you give us some time?" James offered an alternative he thought was a good compromise for everyone. "Maybe we can come up with something else or, if we decide to go with your idea, we'll at least know how best to do it."

Anais' nod was disappointment but she upheld a grateful smile nonetheless. "Thank you," she said honestly.

Lunch went by without anymore snags. Still, it was obvious their overall hesitancy hurt James and Winn left the apartment, Kara felt an overwhelming urge to apologize to Anais.

"I don't want you to think that I don't want you to get the job, I just...I think you might regret getting the job on...these terms," Kara's intentions were truly honest and that was why Anais had no grudge against her.

"I know. Maybe I'm going about it all wrong but…" Anais threw the last of their trash of their lunch, "I really want that job. Even from where I lived - totally secured - I know that working for Cat Grant would open so many doors for me. I want her to pick me."

Kara nodded. She could see the desire in Anais' face and wished she could help in another way. "You want to go shop?" she found herself asking. Anais blinked with confusion, causing Kara to nervously laugh. "Sorry, I thought...I thought that's a way to distract. I don't even know what I was thinking—"

"No, that's okay, I like the idea," Anais moved over to the blonde. "I haven't really met the city yet."

Kara beamed. It was the perfect opportunity for them to go out and forget about their problems for a while. Who knows, by the time they returned Anais might have come up with another idea for the job position.

~0~

Anais usually wasn't one for shopping, at least not when her mother would drag her around. She remembered her first shopping trip with her adoptive mother and still got shivers. It was just after Hank - or J'onn - stationed her with the Allens. Going from hiding to a loving with humans, surrounded by humans at all times, was a challenging thing for a five year old hybrid.

Since her clothes were tattered from her traumatizing experience, Mrs. Allen thought that giving Anais a whole new wardrobe would help Anais settle into her new life. At five years old, all Anais knew was how to best hide and stay off the grid. Suddenly, she was being brought into a mall surrounded by humans, shown dresses, shirts, jeans everything a little girl would want...but it scared the living hell out her. She'd burst into sobs, attracting the attention of every customer nearby, so from there on out, Mrs. Allen brought Anais clothes herself.

It continued on like that despite Anais growing up and feeling more prepared to deal with humans.

Now that Kara brought her to a local mall, Anais started to regret it. While Kara pointed out the shops she liked to usually visit, Anais was trying to get a handle on the level of noise in the three story building, and the lights…it all seemed to mesh together in front of her, overwhelming her. She jumped in her spot when Kara placed a hand on her arm. With wide eyes, she saw Kara giving her a concerned look.

"Are you okay?" the Kryptonian asked. The color in Anais' face had paled, making the girl seem sick.

"U-um…" Anais kept looking around, the quick-paced action bringing her special attention from passing customers.

Kara wasn't sure what was going on, but she suspected it ran along the feeling of being unprepared. She pulled Anais into a hallway leading to the restrooms. Anais relished in the quiet of the hallway, but once she was calm again she felt ridiculous.

"I-I'm sorry," she leaned against the wall and tilted her head back, closing her eyes to give herself another moment.

"Is it too much?" Kara looked out the hallway, even with her controlled super-hearing ability she could understand what Anais was probably going through.

"I'm acting like a child," Anais rubbed her forehead. "Here I am trying to prove to my parents that I can handle a life on my own, in a city, and…" she laughed at herself, "I can't even go to the frikin mall without panicking."

"I'm sorry, I should have taken you somewhere smaller," Kara came to stand beside her against the wall. "Like a shop or something…"

"No, it's on me," Anais crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "I've had so many examinations on my...powers," she whispered, "But it's always in remote areas or small places."

"So...you've never been somewhere like this?" Kara made a gesture to the mall.

Anais shook her head. "My mom brought me once when I was five and I freaked out so I never went back."

"What about when you were older?"

"I couldn't really control my powers and since there were no real teachers...I stayed at home instead. Even now, I don't have the same hold like you do. I've been cooped up for so long I never really learned…"

Kara could understand some things Anais was going through. As a child, it took her a while to learn to control her new abilities as well as just...adjusting to human life. She stood away from the wall, turning to Anais. "We're going to help you learn, then. We'll just need to start small."

"It's a lot of work, Kara," Anais wasn't sure if she could put people like Kara to do all this work for her, someone Kara barely knew. "I'm not...I'm not worth the trouble…"

"Don't you say that," Kara grabbed her arm and gently pulled her off the wall. "Now you've been saying you want to start anew, so...let's start again."

"The noise…" Anais hesitated to leave the hallway.

"I understand how that feels, so here's what we're going to do," Kara made a gesture for Anais to watch her. "When you start hearing more than you can handle, stop and take multiple deep breaths. I know it's cliche but it really does work. Your body needs to adjusts to the new noise level before it finds a level that's suitable. With time, you're going to get used to the noise levels in the city and you'll be fine."

"Okay," Anais nodded, willing to give it a try. She allowed Kara to bring her back to the shopping area and sure enough, she felt her ears ringing with the incredible noise.

"Deep breaths," Kara instructed again and attentively watched Anais. If anything happen, she'd just have to take them out of the building fast.

Anais lowered her gaze to the marble floor and took in one deep breath. The noise felt warbled in her ear, so she took a second one. By the third one, she felt the noise begin to die down.

Kara smiled when the woman straightened up with a much more calm expression. "Better?"

"I...I think so," Anais looked up at the three floors and fought against the overwhelming feelings. "Let's...let's go buy something."

Kara chuckled and turned them around, pointing to a store across them. "We can start there!"

Anais followed her and hoped to God she would keep it together. As it turned out, the store definitely seemed to be in Kara's style. Anais thought Kara's style was...preppy, cute...but not really around her style. Still, there were some nice things she liked such as blue and white striped shirt and then there was the nice yellow plaid skirt she found afterwards. Kara's joke of looking like Cher Horowitz from Clueless did make Anais laugh just a tad loud for customers to stare. Things were going fine until they came out of the store and Anais felt a peculiar tickle...in her mind.

Kara was getting frozen yogurt, which Anais hadn't wanted, so she was alone when it happened. It was a strange feeling to have something poking in her mind, but Anais was sure that it wasn't her imagination. She looked around but all she saw were bustling humans going in and out of stores, too drawn to their cellphones if she had to describe. The tickle (or poke) turned into a light whispers. She was definitely not imagining!

Anais whirled around trying to catch the culprit. There wasn't anyone suspicious but it was in her gut that someone was trying to do something to her.

"Anais?"

As soon as Anais spun back to see Kara, the whispers in her mind stopped.

Kara pulled the spoon out of her mouth, concerned Anais was getting overwhelmed again. "What is it?"

Anais brought a hand to her forehead again. "I'm not imagining, I'm not imagining…"

Kara was about to ask her what she was talking about when Anais' cell phone went off. Anais took out her cell phone from her back pocket and took a look at the ID on the screen. "Hello?" Anais forgot, only slightly, what she'd experienced after hearing the other line. "Um, yeah...I, yeah, okay. Kara won't mind."

Kara had returned to her frozen yogurt but at the mention of her name she cocked an eyebrow. "Won't mind what?" she asked after Anais ended the call.

"If I take a raincheck on any more shopping for today," Anais slipped her phone back into her back pocket. "That was Winn. He wanted to meet me for some suit conversations?"

Kara's laughter was rather amusing for Anais. "Oh my God, he won't stop."

Anais smiled as they started heading out of the mall. "I want to talk about a suit. It sounds cool."

"He has good taste but remember to take things slow," Kara threw the woman a glance. Anais agreed. "So, where's Winn?"

"Said in a coffee shop—you'd know the place, actually."

"Oh! Mr. Shertbets!" Kara burst into an excited exclamation.

"Kara…" Anais grabbed the end of Kara's spoon and gave it a wiggle to remind her that she still had dessert in her mouth.

Kara apologetically smiled. "So maybe I can just meet you back home."

"Yeah," Anais chuckled. "After you show me to this place."

"You're going to love it!" Kara promised then hurried to show her where her absolute favorite place was.

Neither woman noticed a young man across the street watching them. He frowned, though it wasn't clear to who or what he was upset with. "Could it be?" he whispered then went to follow.

~ 0 ~

Anais was sure she would love the cafe shop as soon as her nose met the sweet cinnamon scent. Kara made her promise to bring back a box of cupcakes at the very least since she would be returning home without stepping in. Anais wasn't sure what Kara would want - since the Kryptonian left before Anais could ask - but Winn would probably know.

"Hello," she found Winn seated at a round table on his own.

Winn was looking at his computer when she'd arrived. He lowered the lid and motioned her to take a seat. "Hi! You ready?" it was obvious was too excited over this new assignment he'd basically signed up for.

"Yes!" Anais was the same. "But are you sure you're up for this? Not that I'm doubting your expertise since, you know, Supergirl and all, but...this could take a while. Isn't your girlfriend still pissed she got fired."

Winn awkwardly cleared his throat. He didn't really want to admit that he was taking some space away from Siobhan - just for a bit - to breathe. He still cared for her, especially after what happened to her, but she was getting a tad grouchy. No matter what he said, she would shout and get angry with him. She'd later apologize and he'd forgive her knowing she wasn't in the right state, but the cycle repeated itself anyways. He just needed a break. And maybe with some hours to herself, Siobhan would calm down too.

"She's napping," he geniously came up with.

Anais raised an eyebrow, immediately guessing this was just a lie. "Napping?"

"Yeah, napping," Winn opened his laptop again. "Definitely napping…"

Well, who was she to poke a hole in a lie she had no business being in? She scooted her chair closer to his and went straight for the interesting parts. "So, what do we need to start in?"

"I need to understand your...unique biology," Winn purposely lowered the volume of his voice. "You know, what exactly is a Solista?"

Anais nodded in understanding. "I am basically driven by light…"

"Yeah, kind of got that from the whole 'Sol' root word," Winn gave a light shrug of his shoulders. "Spanish for Sun?"

"My people are from a planet named Solaria. The Solista race are first and foremost speedsters. My birth mother used to say that kids would begin running as soon as they took their first step. Since I was only half Solista, it took me a bit longer."

"Do you mind if I write this down?" Winn asked. He wanted to keep useful notes for when they actually got started on the suit, but he didn't want to do it without her permission.

"Yeah, just...you know, don't share it with anyone please," she motioned him to go ahead and type.

"Okay, so what other abilities do you have?"

"Besides speedsters, we use heat energy. Um, the speed and the heat go hand in hand. I can fly, I have super strength, super hearing - but I'm not bulletproof so please help me out with that." Winn laughed and told he would try to come up with something. "So...that's...really much it...for me…"

Winn stopped typing to look at her. "Me? Why-why do you say it like that?"

"I'm a hybrid," Anais sighed. "Half Solista, half human. Because of that, I don't have all the powers a regular Solista would typically have. My birth mother said Solistas are naturally telepathic but it doesn't look like I inherited that. So, what do you think we can do?"

"I think we can fashion something that can fit your speedy needs. We're definitely going to need to add a cape - I actually made the mistake of not giving that to Kara and she crashed into a building…" Winn scrunched his face at the reminder. Poor Kara. "So we're not going to repeat with this one. I think the hardest part will be doing the speed resistance bit but I've done it with Kara's so, we should be good."

"Be warned that I'm faster than Kara," Anais didn't meant that to show off. As part of her biology, she was just naturally faster than a Kryptonian who wasn't on Krypton.

"I will make a note," Winn promised her.

Anais thanked him for it but she was cut off when she felt that tickle in her mind. Only this time, the whispers were almost immediately heard.

Outside…

Anais turned on her chair and looked out the glass windows. Winn noticed her off action and followed her gaze to the windows. "Is something wrong?"

"Many things but this one...this one I might be able to fix on my own," she got out of her chair and hurried towards the doors.

"What? Hold on!" Winn quickly shut his laptop and went after her.

Anais rushed out into the sidewalk and took a quick look around the streets. She caught the back of someone who was running away. "Oh no you don't," she took off in a normal-paced run. She wasn't about to expose herself to the public before even becoming a true hero.

"Anais, where are you going!?" she could hear Winn's calls from behind but she wouldn't stop.

The person she was chasing, which by now she could see was a man, was clearly running away from her. The whispers in her head wouldn't stop and neither would she. She made a quick turn at an intersection leading to an alleyway. "Got you now," she smirked.

The man had come up to a fence barring an apartment building. His hands gripped the metal but he wouldn't turn around to meet Anais.

"You're the one doing the whispers in my head, aren't you?" she kept her distance for caution.

"Whispers?" the man repeated with a low chuckle.

Anais' eyebrows knitted together in offence. "Are you laughing at me?"

"Yes," his blunt answer only increased her offence.

"Anais! There you are!" Winn came to a skidded stop beside her, completely out of breath. "What are you doing!?"

In that moment she glanced at him, the man across them started rising into the air. "Oh no you don't!" Anais was about to fly after him but Winn grabbed onto her arm to keep her on ground.

"You can't out yourself like this!" he reminded her.

"He's getting away!" Anais groaned and pulled out her cell phone and snapped a couple pictures of the man now in the sky. She lowered the phone to see what she'd taken, but she, along with Winn, weren't sure who they'd captured.

~ 0 ~

"You should show these to the DEO," Kara said as soon as Anais had shown her the pictures. The Kryptonian was staring at Anais' cellphone in their living room.

Anais was pacing in the room trying to come up with plausible facts about the stranger she'd encountered. "No if I do that it'll just give them and my parents another reason to keep me away from the field."

"But they could help find out who this guy is," Kara swiped through the pictures but couldn't see the face of the man.

"Or they could shut me down altogether," Anais stopped walking and turned to Kara. "I'm sure this guy is the reason why I kept hearing whispers in my head. It was like...like he was trying to get into my head or…"

"Maybe that's his power," Kara reasoned. "He could be with my aunt's crazy army, actually…"

"But then he would be after you, wouldn't he?" Anais didn't know a lot about Kara's aunt Astra - except that she was dead - but she thought the uncle Non would be more focused on getting Kara and not some stranger alien.

"Well, if we don't show these to the DEO then what are we going to do?" Kara's use of pronouns made Anais smile, but confused Kara. "What?"

"You want to help me figure out who this guy is?"

Kara thought this was an obvious thing but apparently not for Anais. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

Anais realized she was being ridiculous again. "Sorry," she came to take a seat on the couch. "I'm not used...all this…"

"I noticed," Kara gently smiled at her. "But here we are now, so...what's our plan?"

Anais took back her cellphone and swiped through the pictures again. She'd examined them so many times since she'd taken the pictures but there wasn't anything she recognized. She'd only met a handful of people in her time with her adoptive parents so...she doubted she actually knew him. "Maybe he knows me…" she started to reason. "He was doing that same trick on me at the mall. He picked me for a reason, right?"

"Maybe," Kara shrugged and leaned against the couch.

A smirk spread across Anais' face suddenly so Kara concluded she'd come up with a plan. "What are you going to do?"

"Let him know that I got him," Anais' cryptic answer wasn't very helpful for Kara...until the next morning.

~ 0 ~

"Why are you in my office when I am trying to write up one of my best articles?" Cat Grant removed her glasses and gave Anais a warning look. "I just finished throwing out an annoyingly persistent Siobhan Smythe out yet again so whatever you have, it better be good."

Anais had to watch herself not to rock on her feet. She'd come in with the intention of solidifying her job opportunity and acting like an excited child was not the way to do it. "I have some pictures that might help you with another story…"

Cat was never one to turn away a potential story, even when it was coming from someone who wasn't an employee. "Don't tell me, you've gotten a picture of Golden Girl?"

Anais inwardly groaned. I am not Golden Girl. "No, but—"

Cat lost interest immediately. "Well—" she put her glasses back on, "—then you can find your way out-"

Anais rolled her eyes and dropped the pictures she'd taken of the stranger-man onto Cat's desk. "You may have yourself a new hero on your hands, or enemy."

Cat gazed down at the photographs and raised an eyebrow at them. "A civilian flying?"

Anais gave a curt nod. "Had a streak of luck, but...I'm pretty sure I saw him running away from something...or someone…"

Cat picked up one of the photographs and examined it. The man, dressed in civilian clothes, was aiming for the sky but there were no recognizable features on him. "There's no other witnesses to this man?"

"Not that I know of but...he might show up again," Anais was certain of that. Things would pick up if Cat decided to publish the photographs for the public to see."

"Well, it's no Golden Girl—" Anais cringed but let Cat continue, "—but it is something valuable." Cat removed her glasses again and looked Anais over, making the blonde alien very self-conscious. "I think you and Olsen can get me that Golden Girl picture by the end of the week." She made a motion for Anais to leave her alone.

"Th-thank you…" Anais followed the motion and turned around, making a quick stride out of the office.

Kara was waiting - and acting as if she hadn't been listening all along - by her desk. "Soooo?"

Anais was very careful not to squeal - she'd have to hold that in until she was up in their secret base, or at the very least the elevator. "I got the job!"

"Oh I'm so happy!" Kara gave her a big hug. "Now we can work together and live together! It's going to be a lot of fun!"

"One thing is urgent though," Anais got very serious all of a sudden, making Kara pause in her cheering. "I need to give Cat a better name than 'Golden Girl'."

Kara couldn't help but laugh again.

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #supergirl #winn schott #fd: supergirl #supergirl imagines #supergirl fics #winn schott imagines #winn schott fics #supergirl imagine #oc: Anais Mjorkland #fic: sweet ambitions

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