by Lisa Yee
Supergirl proceeded to hit the first pole, breaking it in two. She watched in horror as the top half ricocheted around the course.
“Sorry!” Supergirl called out. Her nerves had gotten the better of her. “I am so sorry!” She was glad it was just Barbara here and not any of her fellow Supers.
Barbara shook her head. “Time to stop apologizing, Supergirl,” she ordered. “You’re here to learn—and that sometimes means making mistakes. Don’t be sorry for learning!”
Supergirl nodded again, took a deep breath, and focused on continuing on her flight path. “Obstacle two: Lasers,” she heard Barbara call out. Mustering her confidence, she flew between the lasers zapping out at her from all angles. Just then, one laser nicked her sneaker, causing her to whip around. Supergirl’s eyes flashed red, striking the laser blaster and causing a massive explosion.
Without missing a beat, Barbara opened an umbrella as debris rained down. She’d anticipated this.
“Oops! Sor— I mean, good learning experience!” Supergirl said, continuing down the course.
“Obstacle three: Tunnel of Doom!” Barbara shouted. “Go!”
Supergirl zoomed as fast as she could inside the tunnel as it shook and rattled from within. Covered in green sticky goop, she soared out the other end and zipped toward the final obstacle course. She smacked the finish button and was surprised when it crumbled. Her heart sank when she looked at the electronic scoreboard: 13 out of 100.
“Supergirl,” Barbara said sternly. “Better to get things right than to get them fast.”
“I’m a failure!” Supergirl wailed.
“No you’re not,” Barbara reassured her. “You’re learning. No one expected you to be an instant incredible super hero. Why do you think you’re at Super Hero High? Why do you think anyone is here? Training, learning to use their powers and skills.” Barbara’s voice began to rise. “Supergirl, if I had half a chance of going to a school as amazing as this, I’d…I’d…”
“You’d what?” Supergirl asked.
Babs looked embarrassed and then shook it off. “You’ve been given a great opportunity,” she said, changing the subject. “It’s up to you what you do with it. But can I tell you something, as your friend?”
Supergirl nodded hesitantly. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what Barbara was going to say. Was she going to tell her she was a failure? Was she going to lecture her? Would she tell her to give it up, or worse—was Barbara going to give up on her?
Babs took a deep breath and looked straight at Supergirl. “Self-pity doesn’t look good on you,” she said. “Supergirl, you must believe in your super self.”
“I don’t know…,” Supergirl began.
“How will you ever know if you don’t try?” Barbara challenged her, sounding frustrated. “You can do this! Listen, if you don’t believe in your super self, how can anyone else believe in you?”
Supergirl had never seen her friend look so serious. She was relieved that Barbara still believed in her. She clutched her crystal and closed her eyes. Then she said softly, “Believe in my super self. Believe in my super self…” Over and over, Supergirl repeated this mantra, her voice getting stronger each time. Finally, her eyes flew open. Everything looked clear to her.
“Bring it on!” Supergirl told Barbara. “I believe in my super self!”
And she did. Almost.
For the rest of the day, Supergirl felt powerful and energized. She greeted everyone in the hallways, told jokes during meals, and asked too many questions in class. It was clear to everyone that this was Supergirl 2.0. However, it was as if her recharged battery ran down at night. That was when her doubts began to creep back.
As she buried herself under her covers, Supergirl thought about how she’d injured her friend Bumblebee. It was just a nick on her leg, but it could have been so much worse. She thought about the conversations she’d overheard and her fellow students talking about her. Then there were her low scores in class and even worse, on her strength and speed tests.
The night’s darkness engulfed her, and the familiar heartache began to take over. Supergirl tried to ward it off by thinking of Barbara’s face when she got her costume, or the Thanksgiving feast at the Kents’, or the cookies Granny baked for her. But these could not mask the memories of her parents and how much she wished she’d never needed to come here.
Supergirl hugged her pillow. What did she want? she wondered. Maybe to just start over in a place where no one knew who she was…or used to be.
“Explain to me, again, Babs…What does it mean when you say your contract is up?”
“It’s as I told you before,” Barbara explained, trying to sound nonchalant. Still, her eyes looked sad. “My dad doesn’t want me working here, especially with all that’s going on. He says there’s one Gordon already fighting crime, and the world doesn’t need another one.”
“But, well, you’re…you’re…” Supergirl hesitated, not knowing whether she should say it out loud.
Barbara looked at her, waiting.
Finally, Supergirl blurted it out. “You’re my best friend and I need you!” she exclaimed, then quickly added, “It’s okay if I’m not your best friend. I mean, you must have lots of other friends at Gotham High. And since you’ve lived here all your life, you probably have tons of friends, but I really don’t know that many people very well and…and…” She began to tear up.
Barbara laughed, making Supergirl feel small. She began to turn away in embarrassment, when Babs grabbed her shoulder. “Hey,” she said, reassuringly. “Supergirl, you’re my best friend, too.”
Supergirl’s huge smile shined on Barbara Gordon, her best friend. Then she remembered that Barbara was leaving.
“I’m going to be so sad when you’re not here,” Supergirl said.
“We can still visit each other,” Barbara reassured her. “We can meet at Capes and Cowls and watch Steve and Wonder Woman act awkward around each other.” Both girls cracked up. Then Babs got serious. “Supergirl, I have something for you.” She pulled out a small package wrapped in yellow paper with a copper wire bow around it.
Supergirl smiled when she opened it.
“It’s a friendship bracelet,” Barbara explained as Supergirl slipped it on her wrist and fastened it tight. “I have one, too. See? But it’s more than that. It’s also a two-way voice transmitter, a communications device—you know, a com bracelet. That way, no matter where we are, we can always talk to each other!”
“Does it work between planets?” Supergirl asked, examining the slim metal bangle that fit perfectly around her wrist.
“Why?” Barbara joked. “You planning on taking a trip?”
Supergirl blushed and shook her head. What Babs couldn’t know was that she had been thinking more and more about transferring to Korugar Academy. Now, with Barbara no longer going to be at Super Hero High, it seemed like an even better idea.
The more nervous Supergirl became, the less control she had over her powers. As she strolled past the admin office, she could hear a commotion inside. It got louder and louder until Supergirl realized her super-hearing was kicking in. She blinked and suddenly her X-ray vision practically put her in the principal’s office.
There, Bumblebee was insisting, “That’s why we suspect Vice Principal Grodd has been trying to get into the Boom Tubes and bring his gorilla army to Metropolis!” The Flash and Hawkgirl stood beside her nodding.
On Waller’s desk was an evidence bag with a bamboo leaf, a copy of a damning article about Vice Principal Grodd, and a photo of the battered Boom Tubes door. Plus there was something else…a red handkerchief.
“Why did you wait until now to show this to me?” Waller demanded.
“We weren’t one hundred percent sure,” The Flash began.
“We wanted to get even more proof, but we ran out of time,” Hawkgirl added. “But when we saw the handkerchief next to the door, well, it’s pretty obvious who it belongs to.”
“I know it’s him,” said Bumbl
ebee. “I just know it!”
The Wall looked grim. She picked up the phone and began to talk. Before she hung up, someone blasted past Supergirl.
“Out of my way!” Supergirl jumped back as Vice Principal Grodd stormed into Waller’s office. He smashed his massive fists on her desk, breaking it in half. “After all I’ve done, you’re accusing me of this!” Gorilla Grodd yelled. His face was contorted in anger.
The Wall remained calm. “Grodd, I can’t afford to take any chances. You’re innocent until proven guilty. However, while I’m reviewing the case, I have to revoke your security clearance. I’m sorry it’s come to this.”
“Well, I’m sorry it’s come to this…I quit!” Grodd bellowed, throwing his Super Hero High faculty ID on her desk. He smashed down the door as he exited, causing Supergirl to jump again. Grodd stopped and stared at her, his angry eyes fixed on her face. “What?” he asked. “Do you think I’m guilty, too?”
Supergirl was speechless. Grodd didn’t wait around for her to regain her voice. As he continued through the hallway, Supergirl felt all weirded out. Like something was just not right. Maybe it was her.
Later, when Supergirl went to the dorm, Harley had just finished interviewing Wonder Woman and uploading a “Super spectacular exclusive inside report” to her channel. “Brace yourself,” she told Supergirl. “I predict that the team of Wonder Woman and Supergirl can save the world!”
Wonder Woman smiled at Supergirl. “We can do it, right? Teamwork!”
Supergirl nodded without conviction. What if instead of helping Wonder Woman, she held her back? What if instead of helping to save the world, she put it in jeopardy?
Deep into the night Supergirl rounded the corner near the Boom Tubes door. She was surprised to find Cyborg snoring heavily and Catwoman muttering something in her sleep about “hiding the goods.” Half-eaten plates of cookies and empty mugs of hot chocolate lay scattered around them. Supergirl tiptoed past.
Once at the library, she set her books on the counter. Even though the library was closed, Granny was still working. Supergirl admired her work ethic. Her parents had been hard workers, too. She noticed a small pile of bamboo leaves in Granny’s open desk drawer.
Granny saw her staring and quickly shut the drawer. “I’m finding these everywhere!” she exclaimed. She acted like it wasn’t uncommon for a super hero teen to be standing in front of her after midnight, holding books in one hand and a suitcase in the other.
“I’m finished with Super Hero High,” Supergirl told Granny as she returned her books, confiding, “I’m going to Korugar Academy. I’ll be on the next spaceship off Earth, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”
Supergirl waited for Granny to talk her out of it. Supergirl wanted Granny to talk her out of it.
The old lady checked the library books back in and nodded. “That’s nice, dear,” she said. Supergirl wasn’t sure if the old lady had heard her, when Granny suggested, “Why wait? Just take the Boom Tubes now!”
Supergirl gasped. “No one can use them,” she reminded the old woman. “They’re off-limits.”
“Not for you,” Granny said, smiling sweetly. “You can bend unbendable steel with your bare hands. I know, I’ve seen you! With your strength, you could open the door and head to Korugar Academy, or wherever you want to go. No sense waiting for public transportation with the Boom Tubes at your service.” She winked.
A low, menacing growl caused Supergirl to jump back. “What was that?” she asked. The growling got louder.
Granny gave off a reassuring laugh. “Oh, dearie,” she said. “No need to be scared, it’s just Perry.”
“Who?”
Granny patted her hand. “Some grannies have poodles or parakeets. I have a pet parademon. You two should meet!”
Supergirl watched with surprise as a muscled green monster with fangs appeared from behind a bookshelf. The size of a large dog, it had pointed ears, sharp claws on its four paws, and enormous eyes that glimmered with mischief and mayhem. Something about it was too familiar for comfort.
As Granny scratched behind the monster’s ears, it closed its eyes and leaned into her. His tongue drooped like a mutt’s and he began to thump his leg.
“Aw, isn’t he cute?” Granny said. “Perry is just the sweetest pet.” She looked alarmed and then begged Supergirl, “Now, I won’t tell anyone about you breaking into the Boom Tubes if you don’t tell anyone about me breaking the no pets rule.”
“But I’m not breaking into the Boom Tubes,” Supergirl insisted. “They’re dangerous!”
Granny shook her head. “Nonsense. Everyone is just overreacting. I’ve seen this before. It’s just another one of Waller’s little tests for you youngsters.”
Supergirl thought about this. With all the tests that were thrown at them, it was possible.
“You want to get to Korugar Academy ASAP, and the Boom Tubes are sooner than ASAP,” Granny said. “Come on, follow me! Oh, and here.” She handed over a bag of cookies.
Supergirl managed a weak, confused smile as she took the bag. Granny’s cookies always made everything better. Everyone said so. As they stepped over the sleeping students, Granny said softly, “Don’t wake the little darlings and disturb their sweet dreams.”
Cyborg and Catwoman were still sound asleep.
“You open the door, get in, jump the tube to Korugar, and I’ll lock it back up before anyone notices. Nothing bad can happen,” Granny assured her. Perry stood by Granny’s side, drooling. “You deserve to be happy, Supergirl. It’s clear that even though this is a great school, Super Hero High isn’t for you.”
Supergirl nodded. It was as if Granny knew she had been having second thoughts about SHH. And third thoughts. And fourth thoughts…
“All those horrible tests,” she could hear Granny saying. “The intense pressure and expectations they put on the students here are so high!
“You go, Supergirl,” Granny urged as Perry panted loudly, his tongue practically sweeping the floor. “No one can force you to be here. This isn’t the right place for someone as kind and sensitive as you.”
Supergirl thought about how the Kents were eager for her to leave the farm, and how she failed her strength test so publicly, and about all her clumsy moves, and putting her fellow students in danger, and injuring her friends, and…
“Go…go…,” Granny whispered, giving her a nudge and placing a cookie in her hand. “You go, dear. They don’t appreciate someone like you here.”
“But we’re supposed to be guarding the door, not opening it,” Supergirl reminded her.
“Tsk, tsk,” Granny said, shaking her head. “Waller is testing all of you, you should know that. Do you really think that if there was real danger, she’d think you kids were ready to handle it?”
Maybe not, Supergirl thought.
“Come, dear.” Granny motioned to her. “Take a bite of your cookie, then let’s get you where you belong.”
Supergirl thought about the mean things Cheetah had said, and how she’d made a mess at Capes & Cowls, and the pranks people had pulled on her. She thought about how Harley had made her look silly on “Harley’s Quinntessentials.” She looked like a fool! Korugar Academy was a place where she could start over.
Supergirl’s laser eyes grew red as she grabbed the door handle and turned it with all her might. She struggled for a moment before she yelled, “OPEN!” Then she yanked it so hard it cracked off its hinges, leaving a clear path to the Boom Tubes.
A bright red light began flashing. “SECURITY BREACH! SECURITY BREACH!”
Cyborg and Catwoman both yawned, turned over, and went back to sleep. Granny grinned. “Ah, that hot chocolate works like a charm every time!” She leaned over to Perry and lovingly scratched behind his ears. “See, you silly little monster. That’s how you do it! None of that scratching and banging! Now take care of that screeching alarm, it’s giving me a headache.”
Supergirl was confused as she watched Perry smash the security pad with his head.
He ripped it from the wall with his sharp teeth, then proceeded to eat it, dangling wires and all. As the alarm whined off, Granny led Supergirl inside. She pulled a lever near one of the Boom Tubes, telling her, “You wait right here, dear.”
Something was wrong. Terribly and awfully and for-sure wrong. But Korugar was a good idea, right? And Waller was just testing everyone again with the Boom Tubes threat, right? Everything was blurry and hazy, and Supergirl was having trouble thinking straight. Granny put more cookies in her hands. “Eat!” she ordered.
Supergirl stared at the cookies. But then, unable to resist, she looked through a couple of portals. She smiled when she saw families vacationing on Thanagar. The sand-surfers of Rann looked like they had no cares in the world. And the bingo players in Florida were swiping French fries from each other.
Then she peered into the portal to Apokolips. In the frightening, fiery landscape, a tall teenaged warrior batted a giant boulder with her Mega Rod. It flew over the horizon.
Supergirl was mesmerized when the warrior turned to her comrades and roared, “Female Furies—Speed Queen, Stompa, Artemiz, Mad Harriet—pair up and commence sparring!”
“Yes, Big Barda,” the other teenaged warriors said in unison.
Suddenly, the Boom Tubes shook. BOOM! A portal, matching the one in the Super Hero High Boom Tubes room, appeared near Big Barda, who locked eyes with Supergirl and grinned.
The Furies ceased their training and Barda, a tall, strong teen sporting a dark blue-and-gold helmet, raised her weapon in victory as she announced above their cheers, “Finally! Furies, ready! For today, we conquer Earth!”
Shocked, Supergirl dropped the cookies and staggered back from the portal. Blinding lights exploded from the Boom Tubes, and high-velocity debris stung her skin. Soon after the lights died down, another explosion, this one a hundred times greater, stretched the portal to its limits, breaking down the walls. When the smoke cleared, a row of fierce Female Furies stood at attention.
“Granny! Watch out,” Supergirl warned.
