All of that absolutely PALED in comparison to another gift the bright ball of gaseous heat bestowed upon her: the power of flight.

That one detail made her stay on this planet worthwhile. She could, if she so desired, hop into the air and will herself to soar at incredible heights and speeds. It was EXHILIRATING (the only human word she knew that came close to describing it)!!! She could leave even the birds in her dust, so to speak. It was because of those abilities that she had followed in the tradition that Clark Kent, a former resident of Krypton, a neighboring planet in her solar system, had started. He had become a superhuman hero called Superman, and spent some of his time protecting Earthlings and clobbering villians. So it was quite natural that she should follow his lead and be Supergirl. Surprisingly, Clark wasn't to keen on the idea. Still, flying was grand fun. But try as she might, she could not fly forever, and once she came back down to terra firma, she had to deal with all the problems associated with land life.

Chores, for instance. There were animals to feed, plants to water, and fields to tend. Even worse, there were weeds to pull. Oh, lordy, there were weeds to pull. Just five minutes of that was enough to make her want to scream and consider life on Mars.

The sun began its descent into the western horizon, and the shadows began getting longer and colder. Kara brought the tools back to the barn and put them in their places, a menial task that she loathed. A cat rubbed up against her leg and purred. "Streaky," Kara cooed, picking up the old cat and holding him next to her face. The cat had the exact same racing stripe markings as his father, Streaky Sr. It seemed as if Streaky was the only friend she had. She'd made acquaintances at school, but her Argosian nature and newness to Earth had often made her difficult to relate to. Kara set the cat on a nearby hay bale and sat on another. Ma Kent would be calling her in to wash up for supper soon, but Kara just wanted time to herself.

Her clothes were soiled from hours of labor that exhausted even her superhuman body. She leaned against a bale behind her and petted Streaky. The sound of footsteps approaching the barn caught her attention. In the doorway stood a young man about her age.

"Tyler?" she asked, referring to a neighboorhood kid that often helped her with chores. The figure stepped closer and Kara saw that it wasn't Tyler, but Jimmy Olsen, a newpaper reporter she knew. But he was supposed to be miles away in the big city of Metropolis, wasn't he?

"Hi, Kara," Jimmy said, joining her on the hay bale. "'Bout time I caught up with you." He put his hand on her shoulder. "There's been something I've been wanting to tell you."

"Oh, uh, really?" returned Kara as casually as she could manage.

"Yes. I wanted to say...AR-AHAR-AHAR!!!!!"

"Wha...huh?"

Kara woke up, trying to catch her breath. Another dream. A rooster was crowing outside her room. 'Oh, that's what that was,' Kara thought, and searched for something to throw at the annoying bird. The sun wasn't even up yet. Terrific. The rooster continued its crowing, oblivious to Kara's fowlicidal intentions. It was going to be one of those days.

______________________________________________________________________

Clark Kent loved days like this. Everyone at the Daily Planet newspaper office was in a hight-hearted mood. Lois Lane, his co-worker, was on the phone with an old acquaintance, billionaire industrialist Lex Luthor. Unbeknownst to Luthor, the conversation was being broadcast over the office's Public Address system. Lois was enjoying every second of it.

"...so you deny proving the funding for the helicopter that broke two lifers out of the penitentiary?" asked Lois serenely.

"Yes, Lane, that's exactly what I'm saying!" thundered Luthor, his deep voice echoing across his own office, the phone lines, Lois' eardrums, and of course, the Planet's intercom. "That helicopter, while manufactured by LexAir, had been sold to Mr. Maxwell prior to the breakout. What he did with the 'copter was HIS business, and not my responsibility!!!"

"Yes, Lex, I understand. But I've discovered that Clay Maxwell had run errands for you before, indirectly of course, and that the two freed inmates were also occasionally under your employ..."

"Yes but--"

"...and that arrangements were made by LexAir to keep the airspace around the prison clear for the time that the incident took place."

"YES BUT--"

"And last but least, I've discovered that the weapons system used in the breakout was among those in a surplus of LexCorp weapons that the military neglected to buy. Weapons that were going to be disposed of but never were. So I can safely assume--"

"THIS CONVERSATION IS AT AN END, MISS LANE!!!" Lex paused a few seconds to regain control over his blood pressure. "In the future, Miss Lane," he continued in a polite tone, "I would suggest you kindly direct any questions, comments, allegations, and assumptions to my publicist, instead of contacting me directly. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"

"Perfectly."

"Splendid. I have nothing further to discuss at this time. Good day Miss--wait, what is that I hear? Laughing? From your end?! Oh no. Lois, don't tell me you've put me on your office P.A. system again!"

"Okay, Lex, I WON'T tell you. See ya. Buh-bye."

"WHY YOU LITTLE--"

Lois hung up. The last ounce of the audience's self-control vanished and everyone, including Clark, fell to the floor, laughing until their spleens hurt.

Lois regained her composure and stood up, faced the crowd of reporters, editors, publishers, and interns, and took a bow. "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week, drive safely!"

Clark rose to his feet and walked over to Lois. "Uh, Lois? You DO realize you could get in serious trouble for this."

"For what, Smallville?" Lois asked, once again using her favorite condescending nickname for Clark, which he hated. "Playing the conversation over the P.A.? That's only illegal without the consent of at least one of the parties involved in the conversation, and I was one of the parties. So what's the problem?"

"I didn't mean you were going to get in serious trouble for that," Clark replied, his patience waning. "I meant that you just once again angered Lex, and this time in front of other people. You know how fond of the phrase 'turnabout is fair play' he is."

"So you're worried I have a LexCorp brand car bomb in my future. Relax, he wouldn't do that to little ol' me, and besides, I'm a big girl and I--"

"'Can take care of myself,'" Clark quoted. "Fine. Just saying you should be more careful about who you jerk around."

"I've jerked around with the biggest and meanest and I'm still here. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another tiger to beard." Lois sauntered off, nodding to her admiring co-workers, leaving Clark to wonder just what had gotten into Lois lately.

Actually, he knew what it was. Lois had always been a headstrong risk-taker who always got her story. Then along came Ol' Smallville Clark fresh out of the boondocks to steal her thunder. And steal it he had. Clark began beating her to story after story, and nothing Lois did to derail him seemed to work. At first, she welcomed the competition, but it soon escalated into a fierce rivalry. Kent refused to back down. Lois' ego was taking major damage, which she wasn't at all happy with.

Meanwhile Superman had become a big story topic, and at least in this area she seemed to get more stories. Clark apparently didn't have as much interest as she did. Soon it was becoming apparent that Superman had taken an interest in Lois, and always seemed to be around to keep her from getting killed when she inevitably got into trouble. The idea that the most powerful being on record was not only going out of his way to protect Lois, but also seemed interested in her did wonders for her self-esteem. Now she's back to her old self...or maybe even worse. Could it be that she was trying to give Superman more reasons to come around her? It was a scary thought.

Especially since Clark happened to BE Superman. He wasn't sure how he felt about her, but he did know that she was the only human he knew that could constantly surprise him and keep him guessing. For Clark, a powerful alien whose humanity was important to him, it was a welcome experience.

His phone rang, breaking his train of thought. On the other end was Kara, scheduling her weekend visit to Metropolis. "Um, Kara, I sort of have plans for this weekend."

"Such as?"

"I have a date."

"Whoa! You do? Cool!! That's a shocker!! So who is it?"

"Angela Chen. She works at the Planet and is the news anchor on TV."

"Oh...oh yeah! I remember her. She's cute. Go for it!! So how'd this happen?"

"Spontaneous Combustion, Kara. How do you think? She asked me out."

"Oh, how cute! Hold on." She started yelling to someone else. "Hey Ma!! Pa!! Guess what?!!! Clark's got a date!!!! Who? No, not Lois! Angela Chen!!" She then proceeded to explain just who Angela Chen was.

Clark just rolled his eyes. He really didn't need this. "Kara? Kara? Tell Ma and Pa I'll talk to them later. I have to go. I'll see you this weekend. Bye." Clark hung up the phone and sighed. Kara used to be such a handful. Now she had developed into a royal pain. On top of that he really didn't want to have to tell his folks about the date. It would take hours he didn't want to spend on that topic. He scanned his inbox for any assignments that would keep him busy. He found a few, but none of them sufficiently took his mind off of his problems. Finally he decided to give Angela a call, but to no response. It was going to be a long day.

______________________________________________________________________

Kara packed her bags and left for Metropolis early Saturday morning (after she finished watching her favorite cartoons of course), confident in the knowledge that Tyler was filling in for her and that she would be free, FREE, of boring menial farm chores. She rode the bus to the first stop in Kansas City, then flew all the way to Metropolis. 'Too bad I'm not eligible for Frequent Flier Miles,' she thought. 'Or am I?'

Soon Metropolis was in full view, its enormous skyscrapers welcoming her. She flew between them, dodged them, circled them, then realized the smog was making her cough, and made a beeline for Clark's apartment. Suddenly she heard a woman screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

She honed in on the source, and prepared to rescue her or fight off whatever was attacking her. She hoped it was something cool and worthy of her abilities.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!Oh my god.....oh my god..." the woman shreiked." "I just won ten thousand dollars!!!! Oh my god!!" A male voice cut in. "We're giving away ten thousand dollars each and every hour on the new KMRP fm: Metropolis' choice for Today's Hot Music!"

A radio. How absolutely disappointing. Kara grimaced, then scowled even more as a Spice Girls song began playing. "Yuck." Kara retreated to Clark's apartment. This was no fun at all.

Once there, Kara set her bags in the den. Clark had apparently left. She looked around at the mess. Clark excelled at lots of things, but housekeeping wasn't one of them. She checked his mail, sniffed the shirt draped over a chair to determine its age in geologic time, and flumped onto the sofa, TV remote in hand, and began the hallowed tradition of channel surfing. She stopped at a news report anchored by Angela Chen. 'So this is Clark's date. Hmmm...not bad looking...a little...I dunno...stuck-up looking...but otherwise...not bad.'

Angela was reporting on an upcoming carnival that was scheduled to hit Metropolis that night. 'All RIGHT!!!,' Kara thought. 'I've been waiting for this!!' Angela finished her report and the man next to her reported on a hate group that used the fact that Superman, an alien, looked Caucasian, to prove that Whites were superior to all other races. The group turned Kara's stomach. Losers like that made her wonder why Superman was so fascinated with humans. Theyhad a tendency to suck.

Of course, they weren't all bad. Some were definitely worth hanging around. Like Tyler, for instance. Or Jimmy...

She found a Daily Planet newspaper. On the front page she saw an article written by James Olsen and a photo above it taken by him.

This man had talent. She started reading the article, and imagined his voice saying the words. She thought back on her dream about him, and decided that it might be a good idea to get out of the apartment for a while. ______________________________________________________________________

"You wanted to see me, Doc?"

"Yes, Superman, come on in," answered Emil "Doc" Hamilton, leading his costumed friend to a computer terminal in his main laboratory at S.T.A.R. Labs. He noticed that Superman's feet didn't even touch the ground until he came to a complete stop. He also noticed the cape figure wore a very weathered expression. "You look as if you've had a rough day so far," Hamilton rather obviously observed.

"More like a rough week," replied the Kryptonian, deciding to limit his list of aggravations to things that happened to him as Superman instead of Clark. "Let's see, I've been assaulted by at least ten different supervillians, breathed enough burning-tenement smoke to ruin even MY lungs, threatened with a lawsuit for damaging a retail store in a fight (not my fault), and three very unusual...'children' ...elected me their 'Special Friend' for the day." He leaned against a wall. "I just barely survived that last one."

Emil seemed amused, at least as amused as he ever really showed, and offered his sympathies. "I'm afraid I don't have any stories to trade that could possibly compare," he admitted, "but at least I can offer you your customary lemonade." He handed a cup of it to Superman, who thanked the scientist and pulled a piece of paper from a pocket in his cape's lining and gave it to Hamilton. "Here. It's a...'wish list' from Batman. He Emailed me and wanted me to give it to you."

"Batman? Fascinating!"

Superman rolled his eyes. "Not really. I think he just did it to annoy me."

Hamilton studied the paper. He noticed that all of the email printout's personal information was covered up with black marker ink. Hamilton breifly considered running the document through an infrared machine, which would reveal what had been inked over, but thought better of it and decided to contain his curiosity, no matter how hard it was. He turned his attention back to Superman's statement. "So you're saying Batman is perfectly capable of acquiring these items on his own, but decided to burden you with the task?"

"Weeeellll.....I'd rather not say. So what was it you wanted to talk to me about, Doctor?"

"Ah, yes, I've noticed that your young protege, Supergirl, seems to mainly show up in Metropolis on weekends, so I decided to run some checks on the records we have of her to keep her up-to-date. You know, vital signs, physical and mental abilities, that sort of thing. I analyzed the data we've collected thus far on her in order to establish a progressive pattern on her. That way, if we see how her physiology has adapted to Earth's environment so far--"

"Then we might be able to determine what might happen to her in the future," finished Superman.

"Exactly. While her basic body structure is similar to yours and fairly humanlike, she was still born on Argo, a different planet from Krypton. From what you and Kara have told me, Kryptonians had colonized that planet centuries ago, and the inhabitants had evolved their own way in response to environmental conditions. Apparently Kryptonians adapt to outside stimuli far more ably than humans. Instead of millions of years of evolution, your kind can accomplish the same things in mere generations. So Argosians and Kryptonians are, in effect, almost two different species.

"Ah, but you know all that. Anyway, here's what my research has uncovered:" Hamilton typed up a series of commands on a small computer, and a host of images were uploaded to a large screen in front of them.

One of the images was of Kara as she was when Superman first found her : a sixteen-and-a-half-year-old in suspended animation. The only survivor of a doomed space colony. The next image showed her a week later, right after she first awakened on Earth. The difference between the two was noticeable: her body had already begun adjusting to Earth's yellow-sun-charged environment. The next one was an image of Kara another two weeks later, as she was learning by S.T.A.R. Lab computer about Earth and its languages and people. She had almost doubled in strength! The rest of the images were taken periodically, and showed a steady growth in physical power and intelligence.

"And this last one...," stated Hamilton has he pointed to the sixth image on the screen, "was taken on her last visit to S.T.A.R. Labs last weekend. Note a spike in the pattern. All of a sudden her steady growth increases dramatically! I still haven't been able to come up with an explanation for it."

Superman studied the images closely, his computerlike brain already working on possibilities. "Last weekend? So...a change had to have taken place before that...but...nothing of serious consequence happened recently that I can think of."

"Maybe it wasn't triggered by a serious incident. Maybe it was subtle. There's still so much we don't know about her and your physiology."

Finally Superman gave up hypothesizing. "Well, there's only one person we can go to for insight: Kara herself."

______________________________________________________________________

Suicide Slum was a rather harsh nickname for the neighborhood Jimmy Olsen called home. But it tended to be very apt, especially at night time. Luckily for now it was mid-afternoon, and Jimmy was ensconsed in his favorite activity besides news reporting: watching the girls watch their boyfriends play street basketball on the blacktop.

His pretense was freelance reporting for the school newspaper, even though street basketball wasn't considered an actual sport. It just happened that the game was popular among the school crowd, and because of the athletic talent of the players involved, space was devoted to it in the school newspaper. Since Jimmy happened to be one of the few neighborhood residents with any discernable writing talent, and the only one willing to do it, he was elected to write the articles. That part he did easily, and keeping up with the game enough to take notes only required a fraction of his attention. The rest of his attention was divided between sips of a sports drink and the shirts of the court's female patrons.

Finally the game ended, and surprisingly there were only three injuries to report, down from the usual ten or so. Kurtis, the oldest ball player there, cooled off and made his way over to Jimmy to study the notes taken. He usually found errors in it, but that was only an excuse to embellish the game his own way. Undaunted, Jimmy would continue to publish the version of the game that he saw. The fact that Kurtis never got mad at this was a testament to their unspoken friendship.

Jimmy hung out with Kurtis and his friends and their girlfriends for a while, then said his 'see-ya's and headed for the park, as per usual. He wanted to turn the notes into an in-depth story as soon as possible without any interruptions.

"Jimmy! There you are," a female voice behind him called. Jimmy was visibly perturbed until he recognized her voice.

"Kara!! Hi!!," he replied. He first met her as Karen, a Daily Planet intern who turned out to be Supergirl. They had quickly become friends, because Jimmy, who often talked to Superman, didn't find Kara too weird and never pressed her for Superman's identity. Currently, Kara was dressed in a Tazmanian Devil T-shirt and matching shorts. Jimmy wore his customary flannel shirt and jeans despite the hot day.

"So whatcha doing?," Kara asked, catching up with Jimmy and pacing her steps to coincide with his.

"I'm on my way to the park to write this article about the basketball game for the school newspaper."

"School newspaper? So you write stuff for school AND the Planet?"

"Hey, I'll take a writing assignment wherever I can get it. besides, I was doing this before I started writing for the Planet, and see no reason to stop."

"Cool." They sat down on a bench in the shade. "Uuuuhh...do you want to be alone? I don't want to bother while you're writing."

"Nah, you're not bothering me. I like having you around. Besides, you're better at spelling than I am."

The words 'I like having you around' circulated through Kara's mind. She found it to be the best sentence she'd heard all day. All week, even. "Really?"

"Sure. I can spell most words, even the hard ones, but for some reason I have trouble remembering the 'i-before-e' thing. You have no idea how often I misspell 'weird'."

"No, I meant you really like having me around?"

"Well, yeah. You're an easy person to talk to. Does that surprise you?"

Before she could respond they heard a lot of panicked screams coming from the other side of the park.

They directed their eyes to the source of the commotion, and were not prepared for what they saw: A large figure that looked like a white-faced biker was stomping through the park, scaring bystanders and groping women. "Where's Sooperman?!!" the being shouted. "I WANNA REMATCH WIT' 'IM!!!"

"It's Lobo!!!" Jimmy realized, more than a little shaken.

"Who?" asked Kara.

"An alien bounty hunter that Superman fought a while back," Jimmy explained. "He's not a pleasant guy, and even worse, he's on Superman's power level!"

"Oh. Well, Superman's not here and I am, so if you hang on a sec, I have business to take care of!"

Jimmy turned around to reason with her, but she'd already changed into her Supergirl costume and taken off after Lobo. "Kara!!!! Oh, maaaan..." Jimmy shouted, anxiety setting in. If this bozo almost killed Superman, then...Supergirl didn't stand a chance. He pressed the signal button on his watch to alert Superman. The watch emitted a high-frequency beep that only Superman could hear. He hoped Supes was in earshot.

"Whut's dis?" Lobo wondered after catching a punch from Supergirl in the jaw. "You mean there's anuther clown around here that dressed like Sooperman? What're you, a 'Soopergirl?'"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Supergirl replied. "Now let go of my hands, you moron!!! Your B.O. is making me nauseous!!"

"Haw Haw!! Is dat a fact? Well I would, y'unnerstand, but den I wouldn't have nothin' to force Sooperman to come out an face me, would I?"

Supergirl's reply was a loud yell and a sharp kick below the belt. Lobo yelped in pain, let go, and dropped to his knees.

It was a little known fact that when facing extreme pain to vital organs, Czarnians' (the alien race Lobo was the last member of) faces tended to change colors. So it was that Lobo's face turned from white, to blue, to red, to green, and finally brown. His jaw hit the sidewalk and cracked it. "Nnnnn...nnnnobody's hit me there b'fore..." Lobo mumbled. "That hurts....bad..." He rose to his feet. "THAT SEROUSLY PISSES ME OFF!!" Lobo lunged at Supergirl, who did her best to dodge his relentless attack. Using her flying ability, she managed to stay infuriatingly out of reach...until she hit the wall behind her. Lobo kicked her in the stomach, which almost caused her to crash through the wall.

Jimmy gave up contacting Superman and ran to her aid and was swiftly backhanded unconscious.

Lobo clamped his hand around her throat and squeezed. "Now listen here, toots," Lobo ordered. "Be a good li'l Soopergirl, and maybe Lobo'll let up. Den you can take me to Big Blue and watch me kick his sorry red trunks from here all da way beck ta Krypton. Den," he leaned forward so Supergirl could smell everything he'd eaten over the past month, "den you and me, we find someplace cozy and I get ta show ya....hey, quit usin' yer heat vision, y'little BRAT!!" He squeezed even harder on her windpipe.

"Let her go, Lobo. Now," demanded a voice behind them. Lobo smiled. It was Superman.

"'Bout time you showed up, Soops," the Czarnian noted, still depriving Kara of much-needed oxygen. "I wuz gettin' bored. So how 'bout we rumble, man ta man?"

"How can I if you're using a teenage girl as a human shield?" Superman asked.

"Oh yeah. I fergot." Lobo tossed Supergirl a few yards and charged the Man of Steel, who dodged the swinging fists the same way Kara had a few minutes earlier. "C'mon, Soopes, at least make an effort, here!"

"I am," Superman replied. "I'm making a considerable effort to keep myself from yawning. You were a lot better at this last time."

"Very funny. All right, so's I had a few before comin' all dis way. You gonna hold dat against me?"

"Nope," Superman smiled. He nailed Lobo in the head with a park bench.

Lobo moved in for the kill, but a red, white, and blue motion blur interceded his attempt. The Czarnian was deluged with punches and kicks from every conceivable angle. He was then lifted hundreds of feet into the air and slammed headfirst into a mountain outside of Metropolis. Supergirl kicked dirt on his unconsious form and proceeded to stop the massive landslide that resulted from Lobo's impact.

She flew back to the park so fast she almost overshot it by miles.

Superman had recovered from Lobo's backhand, but Jimmy still hadn't stirred. Kara knelt over him and tried to wake him up.

He wasn't breathing.

Kara panicked and was at the verge of tears before she remembered a way to revive him. She then forced herself to calm down and administered CPR. After what seemed like an agonizing eternity, Jimmy finally started coughing. If Kara had hugged him any harder than she did at that moment, she would've had to repeat the CPR process over again. A crowd had gathered, but neither Kara nor Jimmy cared. They were too busy staring at each other with a new fascination.

"Soooo..." Jimmy mumbled. "Have a date for the carnival tonight?"

"As a matter of fact, no. Why?" Useless question, innocently delivered.

______________________________________________________________________

The carnival was a fitting setting for many a couple's first date.

Clark's date turned out to be a total washout. Sure, Angela SEEMED less tightly-wound than Lois, but Clark made the mistake of mentioning cotton candy to her. He was subjected to a decade-long lecture about suger-intake and watching her weight. Behind the glasses, one couldn't help but notice the "End the Pain...End the Pain!!" expression on his face.

Jimmy and Kara (in civillian garb), on the other hand, were so enamored with the night air and each other that they barely even noticed anyone else. After the carnival, she took Jimmy on a flight through the night sky, which she enjoyed even more now that she had someone to share it with.

______________________________________________________________________

The next day, Clark asked Kara about the surge in her powers. "Anything happen within the past two weeks that could've caused that?"

Kara thought for a moment, remembere dthat her dreams about Jimmy started at about that time, shrugged, and replied, "Oh, nothing out of the ordinary."

THE END (roll credits and end music: "Girlfriend/Boyfriend" by Blackstreet & Janet)

VOICE TALENTS:

NICHOLLE TOM: Kara/Supergirl

TIM DALY: Clark Kent/Superman

DAVID KAUFMAN: Jimmy Olsen

DANA DELANY: Lois Lane

CLANCY BROWN: Lex Luthor

ANGELA CHEN: Lauren Tom

BRAD GARRET: Lobo

Peace.

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