Lost Girl of Krypton Read online

  ‘Lois and Atlee and both Helenas and Barbara have joined me and the others, just like Dr Quinzel did back at the hospital. They are with me now. They could talk to you if they wanted, but we have agreed that I am being Kara. I might have allowed Mr Kent to join with me, only I didn’t like him, and he was bad, so he got broken.’ The thing looks as if it has sniffed some nitrous oxide and says,

  ‘He was what?’ Obviously it is stupid, so I say it again:

  ‘I didn’t like Mr Kent. He tried to do a bad thing to me. So he was broken.’ The thing does it again, then says,

  ‘When you say broken, do you mean he was hurt?’ I find this conversation very uninteresting, especially as I am looking forward to destroying the thing, as are all the others, but I suppose I have to put up with its stupidity while it still exists, so I say,

  ‘I don’t know. I didn’t look because I didn’t really care. Do people usually hurt when they’re taken apart?’ Which is a real question, because I have no idea. Wrong Helena looked unhappy when I took her apart, but that doesn’t mean it hurt. I ask her, and she says she’s so happy now that she’s forgotten everything about it, which I suppose makes sense. Why would anyone want to remember what it was like before they joined with me? But the thing looks very unhappy, in fact it is breathing heavily and all those other things, and its voice is quite unsteady when it says,

  ‘You mean you, you killed Super … I mean, Mr Kent?’ I smile at it and say,

  ‘Oh no, I didn’t do it.’ It breathes out heavily and says,

  ‘Well at least I don’t have to worry about that. So who did kill him? Was it Lex Luthor?’ I have no idea what a Lex Luthor is, but I know the answer anyway, so I say,

  ‘I think it may have been Power Girl. But I suppose it could have been the Nameless One. They both get very angry sometimes.’ It opens and closes its mouth several times. People seem to like doing that. Then it says,

  ‘But you’re Power Girl, and you said…’ Obviously it is confused, so I smile at it again and say,

  ‘Oh no, I’m not Power Girl.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘She just lives here,’ I say, pointing at myself in case it’s so stupid it doesn’t realise what I’m talking about.

  It breathes in and out a few more times, but as its breasts are much smaller than mine, this isn’t at all exciting. Then it says, very slowly,

  ‘Listen, er, Kara, you’ve done something very bad. Something lots of people will be very angry with you about. Do you understand, Kara?’ Well that depends. I know exactly what it is saying, but I have no idea what it is talking about. Because, as I say,

  ‘But how can anyone be angry with me? Mr Kent made me take all my clothes off and then he tried to do the thing that only people I like are allowed to do. Wasn’t that very bad of him?’ The thing pinches its nose. I have no idea why, unless its nose asked it to. Which could happen. Anyway, once it has stopped, it says,

  ‘But Kara, we both know that he wouldn’t have made you do it. We knew it had to be done, and you were the only one he could do it with, but Superman would never force himself on anyone.’ As it says that word, another door opens. I am Superman’s cousin, just like my Kara, the real Kara, said. And I remember one day when Superman was away: I was talking to Lois and talk became difficult and kisses were easier, and then we were loving one another and Superman came in, and then – I cannot remember, that is behind a door that is still shut. And I say,

  ‘My cousin knew that I love Lois. He made jokes about it. Until he… And so he knew I could never let him love me. But he tried to make me. So I killed him.’ I did. Just like I always wanted to. The thing looks at me, for a moment, with its mouth and eyes wide open, then says,

  ‘You admit to killing Superman and you don’t know why people will be angry with you? Why, you should be grateful that I’m not doing what I ought to after hearing you say that about my cousin.’ Well that doesn’t make any sense. Superman was my cousin. So I say,

  ‘He was my cousin, not yours.’ The thing moans like someone who has had her stomach pumped and says,

  ‘He was both of our cousin, you idiot. Don’t you understand? You’re me. You’re the other me, the wrong me, the one who wasn’t meant to exist, the one we couldn’t keep out of trouble. We tried being nice to you, and when that didn’t work we tried making you better. And we gave you a chance, a chance to help. But you didn’t have enough decency to do just one thing, if not for us, then for your people, you selfish bitch. You ruined that and you killed the world’s greatest hero. I ought to kill you, but I’m better than you. So I’m taking you back to Arkham, and this time you’ll never leave.’ It turns around and I say,

  ‘I will go where I want, but you are staying here.’ It turns back and looks at me, as if I am a release certificate it never expected to see, then says,

  ‘What?’ I say,

  ‘You are staying here, because I am going to destroy you.’ Then we fight, and then we fight some more, and soon we seem to have been always fighting. I cannot beat it and it cannot beat me. When I begin to wonder if I will ever destroy it, the Nameless One speaks to me and says that he can.

  When I open my eyes, the snow all around me is red and the thing is gone. I wonder if it has run away, but the Nameless One tells me that it is utterly destroyed, and I believe him. He knows about thinks like that. I feel certain that now, at last, I am me, not a committee, but me. At last all the doors are open, and I know who I am.

  I make the red go away, so the ground is as white as my clothes. Then I summon all the others, and they appear, standing in a ring around me, congratulating me on what I have done. Andromeda the silent, Kara, Karen, Power Girl, Dr Quinzel and her friends Ivy and Mr J, Lois, Atlee, the Helenas, Barbara and even the doctor. I thank them and then, one by one, I love them and dismiss them. I watch them vanish. I keep Lois till last, as of all of them I love her the best. But she is not me, so, eventually, after a loving farewell, I let her go too.

  I have been here alone on the mountaintop for a long time. No one will ever know how long. But now I know who I am and what I will do with my life. I look down to the world below and see people going about their unhappy lives, always striving, always struggling. I will show them that there is no need to strive, that they can find joy without pain. Art and poetry may be profound, but I have learned that a pair of beautiful breasts can do more good by creating happiness than art or poetry ever could. And this is the lesson I will teach them.

  Thinking of my breasts, the source of all the peace and contentment that my people will know under my tutelage, I look down at them and see that I am still wearing Power Girl’s uniform. It served its purpose, but I do not need it now, and, besides, it obscures the view. As I think this, it, obedient to my will, flames and burns, leaving behind my beauty unadorned and unconcealed, for all to see and find peace in. And in the years to come they will. For now I know who I am and what I shall be to the world.

  I am legion.