Lightning In The Night
by Ann Douglas
(ann_douglas@hotmail.com)
Part Three
"Marvel Girl I assume," Supergirl said as she took a step forward.
"Not exactly," the girl in red laughed. "but that's not a bad name when you think about it. I'm afraid the old Wizard, who's name I can't say without bringing back the lightning, saddled me with Mary Marvel instead."
"Mary Marvel," Supergirl repeated, still a little leery of all this. "I supposed that makes you Captain Marvel's girlfriend or something."
"Not likely," came Mary's quick reply, "since he's my brother if you really need to know."
"I have heard of you," Supergirl said as she recalled a few news stories she had read about her counterpart. Contrary to public belief, every super powered person didn't automatically know every other one.
"I'm flattered," Mary smiled brightly. "considering that I've really pretty much kept my activities up to now confined to Fawcett City."
"I've even seen pictures of you," Kara went on as her total recall visualized the color photographs that had accompanied the articles she had read. "I don't know why I didn't recognize you."
"That's easy to explain, well in a way it is," Mary said. "Part of the magic the old wizard used to give us our powers makes it impossible for anyone to recognize Mary Marvel as Mary Bromfield."
"Pretty handy."
"Well it was either that or wear a mask, or maybe even a wig."
Kara smiled at the friendly barb. She felt herself reestablishing the sense of friendship she had felt for Mary from the start and losing the suspicions that had developed in the last hour.
"So you have the same powers as your brother?" Supergirl asked, changing the subject.
"Basically the same abilities, but with different patrons," Mary explained. "Aside from Minerva, who gives me wisdom, I derive grace, strength and skill from the goddesses, Selena, Hippolyta and Ariadne. As well as fleetness from Zephyrus and beauty from Aurora. Personally, I think the old wizard had to go far and wide to come up with that bunch to explain my powers. I mean really, who ever heard of beauty and grace as super powers."
"I don't think that you needed that magic lightning to have both of those," Supergirl said as she stepped close to Mary.
"Thank you," Mary said as she looked into Kara's eyes, losing herself in their deep blueness. "I could say the same about you. That's how I knew you know."
"That's how you knew what?" Supergirl inquired.
"That you and Linda were the same person," Mary explained. "When I saw you at S.T.A.R. Labs, I didn't need Minerva's wisdom to know that no two women could ever have eyes that beautiful."
Of course," Kara exclaimed. "S.T.A.R. Labs, the broken coolant and fuel lines. You made them safe."
"I got there just as you went into the reactor chamber. I planned to leave before you got back, but I couldn't resist the chance to actually see Supergirl. Now I'm so glad that I did."
"So what do we do now?" Kara asked.
"How ... about ... this?" Mary suggested in a slow, hesitant tone as she stepped close to the girl in blue and red and kissed her, wrapping her arms around the blond girl's neck.
Few things took the Girl of Steel by surprise, but Mary's kiss turned out to be one of them. The shock of it only lasted a moment as she quickly found herself responding to the softness of Mary's mouth against her own, the sweetness of her tongue as she felt it pass between her lips. The truth of the matter was, as Linda, she had spent quite a bit of time wondering just how this might feel. It was just that she never expected for this to happen in her costumed guise.
"That was nice," Kara admitted as their lips finally parted and Mary withdrew her tongue from the Kryptonian's mouth.
"Just nice?" Mary asked, making an exaggerated pout.
"Okay, that was more than nice."
Mary's frown grew even more pronounced.
"Okay, it was fantastic," Supergirl finally admitted.
The grimace on the brunette's face immediately blossomed into a broad smile. A look that was reflected on her counterpart's face as well.
"I'm glad to hear to say that," Mary beamed, "cause I thought it was pretty fantastic as well."
"Which leaves us once again with the question, where do we take this?" Kara replied.
"Well first off, I think maybe it might be a good idea to take this discussion and anything else someplace with a few less prying eyes," the girl in red and white answered.
Kara glanced beyond Mary at the not so distant shore. It would only take a high-powered camera or telescope for anyone at the water's edge to see the two of them and people who wore costumes as they did tended to draw just that sort of attention. It really wouldn't do either of them any good to have a front page photograph of the two of them in a Sapphic embrace showing up in half the world's tabloids.
"A little privacy right now would be a good idea," Supergirl agreed.
"Then follow me," Mary Marvel said as she jumped into the air and kept on going.
Kara hesitated for a moment, taking in the sight of her new friend's grace and beauty as she soared upward. Then in a powerful burst of her own abilities, the long haired blond followed the brunette up into the afternoon sky.
It took only a half dozen heartbeats for Kara to catch up to Mary. Then together they continued to fly upward until they leveled off at an altitude where there was still enough air for the two of them to communicate.
They smiled and laughed as they headed out over the Pacific, taking the time to just enjoy the feel of the wind in their air and the unrestricted sunlight on their faces. They took turns following each other through a series of airborne gymnastics that earthbound humans could never imagine the joy of.
Coming together once more, Kara reached out and took Mary's hand in hers, the strength of their attraction to each other reflected in the embrace of their fingers. The Maid of Might pulled the girl in red close to her and this time it was she who initiated their kiss.
Dancing in the empty air, the two women shared an endless embrace, losing themselves in the passion that had been building from the moment they had met. They were kindred spirits, the opposite sides of the same coin. Together they filled the gaps in each other's soul.
Drifting among the clouds, the two young women continued to explore each other's charms. Their hands loosened each other's clothing as first gentle hands, then gentle lips, explored the now exposed flesh.
The more the two heroines got into each other, the less they became aware of their surroundings. Normally, that wouldn't be much of a problem seeing that they were drifting over a vast and empty part of the Pacific Ocean. The odds of them encountering another person were astronomical. Yet, no matter how great the odds, there is always that one chance, especially if that one person is looking for one of them.
"Excuse me," said the strong masculine voice of the powerfully built man who had suddenly appeared behind the two women.
"Great Krypton!" Supergirl exclaimed as she become aware of his presence, and then even more so of their disheveled condition.
"Oh shit!" Mary Marvel joined in as she turned in mid-air and saw whom the man was.
The new arrival stood six foot two and weighted in at two hundred and fifteen pounds. Clad in a red, white and gold outfit that mirrored Mary's, the black haired man was know around the globe as the World's Mightiest Mortal. The residents of Fawcett City knew him as simply Captain Marvel.
"Damn it, Billy, I told you before you have to stop spying on me," an angry Mary Marvel said as she adjusted her outfit, covering what had so recently been made bare. "What I do with my personal life is none of your business."
"Calm down, Sis," Captain Marvel said as he tried not to notice Supergirl readjusting her costume as well. Of the two women, she had been the most exposed.
Marvel had met the Maid of Might a few times before on Justice League missions. They even had lunch together once when Supergirl took her cousin's place on monitor duty up in the JLA Satellite. That had been just prior to her affair with Wonder Woman, at a time when she had considered that if she couldn't have the Man of Steel, then the World's Mightiest Mortal might not be a bad second choice.
It had only taken that one lunch to forever dissuade her of that idea. As many times as she had jokingly referred to her cousin as the world's oldest Boy Scout, it was very obvious that the powerhouse across the table had been much more deserving of that title. It was a great pity, she had thought at the time. Ever curious, she had used her x-ray vision to check out the good Captain when he was in the shower. While he wasn't any J'Onn J'Onzz, he was quite nicely equipped. From what she observed of the exchange between Mary and her brother, Billy hadn't changed very much.
"All I wanted to do was make sure that you knew that Freddie and I were going to be out of the country for a while," the tall man said, Freddie Freeman being Captain Marvel Junior. "Believe me, I've given up trying to lecture you on your behavior. Why the Wizard hasn't taken back the powers he gave you I'll never know."
"Maybe he's smart enough to know that everyone needs to get laid once and a while," Mary shot back. "Even you!" she added in a mocking tone.
"I give up," the Big Red Cheese said, throwing his powerful arms up in surrender and starting to move away. "But if you have to behave like this, could you at least get out of that uniform and find a room somewhere. it's really embarrassing."
Just before Captain Marvel moved out of earshot, Mary managed to get in the final word.
"If you hadn't interrupted, I would've been out of this uniform soon enough!"
Kara watched as Captain Marvel disappeared from view. She had remained silent during the exchange, thinking it was the best thing to do.
"Well, that could've went better," Mary said as she turned her attention back to her new lover.
"It's okay," Supergirl smiled as she considered her own sometime acrimonious relationship with Superman since she broke out of the 'little sister' image he had created of her. "I've had my own share of problems with family."
"Sometimes I have to keep reminding myself that he's not even eighteen yet when he's just Billy," Mary said.
"He's what?" Supergirl said, sure that she'd heard Mary wrong.
"You didn't know?" Mary replied.
"Mary, I almost fucked him once," a still stunned Supergirl said.
"Well it would've been his first," the brunette grinned.
Then she went on to explain how the old Wizard who had given them all their powers had selected a teenage boy to first have the powers of Captain Marvel. Unlike Mary and Freddie who later shared those powers, Billy turned into a fully-grown man when he transformed.
"You're not underage or anything like that, are you?" a cautious Kara asked.
"Don't worry, love," Mary laughed. "I'm the same age before and after the lightning."
"I just wanted to be sure," a relieved Kara said.
"But my stick-in the-mud brother might've been right about one thing," Mary said as she pointed out an airliner passing a few thousand feet to the north of them. "Maybe we should get a room, or at least some place a little more private."
Taking note of the plane, Kara considered the idea that the way they were going at it prior to the Captain's arrival, they might not have noticed the aircraft if it had been three hundred feet away rather than three thousand. After all, they hadn't heard Captain Marvel come up on the two of them.
"I guess you're right," Supergirl agreed. "I would think there are a lot of beautiful islands down there," Mary Marvel said as she looked across the blue waters far beneath them.
"I'd rather not go to one of them," Kara said in a painful tone, remembering how she and Susan Wienczorkowski had their own special tropical island not all that far from where they now floated.
"Well I guess we could go back to the city and try my apartment," Mary mused a little disappointedly. "Be just Linda Danvers and Mary Bromfield. Unless of course you know of some place else, maybe some place special? I think it would have to be special, because I think you really are just that."
Supergirl took on a far away look for a few moments, then her eyes lit up with an idea. She again took Mary's hand in hers and began to fly in a different direction.
"I hope that outfit of yours is warm enough," Kara said as they picked up speed.
"If it's not, I'm sure you'll find a way to keep me warm," a curious Mary replied. "But where are we going?"
"North," was the Last Daughter of Krypton's only reply.
The deep blue of the ocean below them began to pale as large ice formations filled the waters. Then the ocean disappeared completely as frozen tundra stretched from horizon to horizon. Try as she could, Mary couldn't find an identifiable landmark, or a clue as to where they were going. Kara, however, did seem to be searching for something.
"If I knew what you where looking for, maybe I could help," Mary said.
"We're almost there," Kara said as she scanned the wasteland beneath her. "in fact, it should be just about ... there!"
Mary looked to where Kara was pointing and saw an immense golden key resting on the side of a glacier. As large as an apartment building, someone would have to be a giant or super-human to use something like that. Fortunately, both of them qualified for the latter. The appearance of the key brought forth the question, what did the door it opened lead to?
The answer came quickly enough with the appearance of an equally gigantic and equally golden door built into the side of a glacier. As they neared the oversized portal, Mary could see that the keyhole itself was large enough for them to fly through. Kara took a moment to mention that sophisticated sensors had scanned the two of them as they passed into the chamber within the icy mountain. If those sensors hadn't detected the presence of known Kryptonian DNA, Mary would've now found herself in an energy field that even she might be hard pressed to free herself from.
"Oh my God!" Mary exclaimed as her booted feet touched down on the highly polished floor of the vast antechamber. "it's like stepping into another world."
"That's as good a description as any," Kara said as she smiled at her guest. "Welcome to the Fortress of Solitude."
Like many others who had read of the exploits of the Cousins from Krypton over the years, Mary had heard of the Fortress of Solitude. It was a place of legend, Superman's retreat from the pressures of being Earth's premier defender.
"Would you like a little tour?" Kara asked, certain of the answer.
"Would I?"
"Then follow me," came the reply.
Mary's eyes opened in wonder as the two women walked across the entryway. The first sight that greeted them was an oversized stature of a young man and woman dressed in other worldly garb. Suspended above them between their outstretched hands, was a large blue and white globe that was definitely not Earth.
"Jor-El and Lara," Kara said in response to Mary's unasked question. "Superman's parents."
"And the world between them would be Krypton," Mary added. "The world you were born on."
"I wasn't exactly born on Krypton," Kara said.
The statement confused Mary, until Kara told her the tale of how a single small city had survived the destruction of the planet Krypton. Protected by an environmental shield, the people of Argo City had not only survived, they had actually prospered for a while. Into this world, Kara had been born.
One of the Children of the Apocalypse, those born after the death of Krypton, the daughter of Zor-El and Allura had grown to young womanhood knowing only the small remnant of her parent's world. She had been happy, she told Mary, as happy as any of her generation could be. That was until the night the dreams died. The night Argo City joined the world of its origin as a world destroying meteor shower shattered the protective shield.
It was only the genius of her father, using starship technology designed by his older brother, which enabled Kara to live on past the destruction of all she had known. His brother's notes told him of the world to which he had planned to send his son. To that distant planet, Zor-El had entrusted his daughter as well.
"That is such a sad story," Mary said, now understanding much more of Kara's pain.
"It's life," Supergirl shrugged. "Either you go forward, or you lay down and give up."
They continued their tour as the Kryptonian pointed out the communications array as well as the massive computer system. Both were far more advanced than anything on Earth. Equally impressive were the lab facilities and the trophy room. The three level complex lacked either stairs or elevators, hardly an inconvenience to either of them. The top level were Superman's private quarters, of which Kara told Mary that she was sure she would understand that they weren't part of the tour.
"Of course that's understandable," Mary said, although she did feel just a small bit of disappointment.
"I'm afraid my own apartment will have to suffice," Supergirl smiled. "it's not as grand, but I think you'll find it has some amenities that you wouldn't find in Kal's."
Mary followed Kara down a long empty corridor. The red caped girl explained that soon after he announced her existence to the world, Superman had extended the Fortress to include an annex for her use. A place where she could go if the pressures of trying to fit in got to be too much. The passageway slowly tilted upward, giving Mary the impression that Kara's rooms where situated even higher up in the mountainside than Superman's.
Finally they set down at the end of the entryway and Mary was surprised to find a simple double door. With an audible click, Supergirl turned the knob and opened the unlocked door.
"Home sweet home," the blond laughed as she pushed open both doors.
Kara waited at the door as Mary stepped inside. Totally awed by the rest of the citadel, the girl in red and white was surprised to find the apartment not much different than she might have found in an average luxury studio apartment.
There was a large platform bed near the center of the room, as well as a small library and living area, a dining nook and even a kitchenette. The only thing that really looked out of place was the height of the ceiling. There was enough empty space in the apartment to have put in another two levels.
"I hope you like it," Kara said.
"It's lovely," Mary replied.
"Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I fix us something to eat," Kara suggested. "After all, we never did get to lunch, did we?"
"No, I guess we didn't," Mary agreed, realizing that she was indeed hungry.
"I'm afraid that it's not going to be anywhere near what we would've had at Café Marie," the Kryptonian said as she took two packages from a stasis unit and put them into what looked like a microwave type device. "But I think you'll like these."
"TV Dinners," Mary thought as she watched her hostess set the controls of the device.
"A super advanced civilization and they still have frozen foods. I guess some things are just universal."
In as long as it took for Mary to think about it, the meals were ready. As Kara carried them to the table, the delightful aroma caught Mary's attention. If those things tasted half as good as they smelled, she thought, they could put Café Marie out of business.
From another storage container, Kara produced two chilled bottles of wine that looked old enough to have graced the table of one of Napoleon's Marshals.
"While alcohol doesn't have any detrimental effects on me," Kara said as she poured each of them a glass, "I can still appreciate the taste. I found these bottles at the bottom of the ocean in a British Frigate that had been sunk by a French Man of War. According to the manifest, they were meant to grace the table of the Duke of Wellington. Instead, they get to grace our table."
Mary couldn't help but be impressed. Like Kara, she couldn't be effected by alcohol while a Marvel, but she did enjoy a good wine.
"All of this is delicious," Mary said after she had sampled both the wine and the repast.
"I'm glad you liked it," Kara replied. "I wanted our first date together to be special."
"Well you certainly succeeded."
"Mind if I turn on some music?" Kara asked.
"Of course not."
At the touch of a button on a small hand held control that Kara had brought with her to the table, soft harmonious tones fill the air. Mary couldn't really place it, it sounded like nothing she had ever heard before. All she knew was that she liked it.
"It's Kryptonian," Kara said as she saw Mary trying to place the music. "It was my mother's favorite melody, and I guess mine too since I always play it to think of her."
"It certainly is beautiful," Mary commented. "I guess they were right when they said that music and mathematics were the universal languages."
"Let's not forget love as well," Kara added, raising her glass in a toast.
"Of course," Mary said, duplicating Kara's action. "Love as well."
They spent the rest of the meal drifting from topic to topic, sometimes stopping for a few moments just to gaze into each other's eyes. The evening was going so perfect, that each seemed afraid that something might ruin it.
But of course nothing did. The longer they spent with each other, the more perfect it seemed to be. Each found it so easy to talk to the other, sharing secrets as if they had always been the best of friends.
Like Kara, Mary's sexual awakening had occurred before her assumption of super-powers. Unlike Kara, Mary's first lovers had been older women as she found she preferred both their maturity and experience. Also unlike the Kryptonian, the younger heroine had quickly come to the realize in her teen years that she had no interest in men whatsoever. In the most technical definition of the term, the twenty-four year old was still a virgin.
Kara herself had recently begun to also come to the conclusion that she preferred the company of a woman. At the same time, she didn't regret any of her previous relationships with men. Some of them had been, and would always remain, quite memorable.
If she was going to spend her life with a woman, she said to herself, Mary could very well be that one.
"That was really great," Mary smiled as they finished the meal. "The food was fantastic."
"Not as much as the company," Kara added with an even broader smile.
"I've been having so much fun it seems like this day has lasted forever," said the brunette.
"Well..." Kara replied as she cleared the table. "seeing as we're only a hundred or so miles from the North Pole, I think you have quite a long wait until this day actually ends."
"My oh my, what will we ever do with all that time?" Mary laughed.
"I'm sure we can think of something," Kara said as she came up behind Mary's chair and gently put her hands on the other heroine's shoulders.
"That feels nice," Mary said as she felt Supergirl's powerful hands massage her muscles.
"You know what would feel even nicer?" Kara asked.
"I could think of a few things," Mary smiled as she closed her eyes to fully enjoy the blonde's touch.
"Not that," the Girl of Steel laughed softly. "I was thinking more about how nice it would be to dance with you."
"That would be fun too," the girl in red and white agreed.
In response, Supergirl pressed another button on her small remote and a more familiar melody filled the air. She put the control down on the table and held out her hand to Mary.
Hand in hand they walked to the center of the large room. Then, as Kara took Mary into her arms, they began to move to the music.
Their bodies swayed back and forth in time to the soft cadence as they laughed and smiled. The rhythm of the beat began to quicken, as did their gyrations. The dance quickly became an almost erotic ballet, a physical expression of the emotions gripping them both. Soft touches and gentle caresses passed between them, as well as short, sweet kisses.
With neither bound by the forces of gravity, the phrase "dancing on air" quickly became a literal rather than a fanciful description. High into the empty space of the three-story room they glided, their bodies continuing to move to the music as well as the beat of the other's heart.
Their lips met once more, and this time they didn't part as easily. Fervent tongues explored the other's mouth, as equally enthusiastic hands explored the firm flesh beneath their costumes.
"I've never felt this right being with anyone before," Mary said in a breathless voice as they finally broke their kiss.
"I was just thinking almost the same thing," Kara smiled back.
"I want you so much," Mary went on. "Not as Supergirl. Not even as Kara Zor-El, daughter of Krypton. I just want you as a woman in whose beautiful eyes I was lost from the moment I looked into them."
Without another word, Kara guided Mary back to the ground level, touching down aside the large bed. Deft fingers undid the clasp holding Mary's cape in place, letting the short cloak fall from her shoulders to the floor below.
Mary returned the gesture, as a mantle of red covered the one of white. Kara stroked her dark brown hair, running her hand across her tunic, caressing the breasts beneath. They lips met again as Mary's arms wrapped around Kara's neck.
Together they fell onto the bed with Kara on top. The Girl of Steel slid her hand down between Mary's legs and up under the gold trimmed skirt of her costume. A smile filled Kara's face at the discovery that not only had her fellow heroine not bothered with panties under her outfit, the brunette's pussy was shaved bare as well.
"Oh yes," Mary moaned softly as she felt Kara's hand stroke her womanhood.
With her free hand, Kara pulled Mary's blouse out from beneath her belt, giving her just enough room to slide her hand under the red material and cup the younger woman's breast.
Mary moaned even louder as she shifted to give Kara better access to her no longer hidden charms. With her fingers still manipulating the sensitive hairless mound, the blond haired girl pushed Mary's red shirt all the way up. The movement exposed her large breasts, covered now by only the smallest of restraints.