Supergirl: Nano

[SGWriter]

Met U’s central cafeteria was abuzz with the lunch time crowd. Students were coming and going as dictated by their classes so there a lot of movement at this hour. Some were taking their time since they had no classes. Kara Kent, in a long sleeved shirt and jeans was one of these people. She was sitting at a table near the windows that let you look out over the campus quad. Glasses on and hair in a ponytail, Kara was looking outside still feeling down. She would hate to say it but Supergirl didn’t feel so super. The reason for her bum mood was leaving the cafeteria a floor below her. Kara caught sight of Dick Malverne as he walked out across the quad leaving the building. She looked back down at her lunch and shook her head.

“I can move mountains but can’t fix one friendship.” The Girl of Steel muttered.

It had been a few weeks since Dick and she had a falling out. Despite her efforts, Kara couldn’t get Dick to talk to her. He was avoiding her texts and going out of his way to avoid her on campus. Short of her using her super-speed to ambush him the Girl of Steel wasn’t getting close. It drove her crazy; Dick was one of the most understanding guys in the world. If he knew she was Supergirl…but she couldn’t tell him that, not without opening a major can of worms. Kara was still lost in thought when she heard,

“Hey Kara, pull yourself out your head it can be a dangerous place.”

Mattie Stevens walked up to Kara’s table and took a seat, “What’s going on?”

Mattie was one of Kara’s good friends on campus. They had met in Dr. Williams Advance Science course at the beginning of the year. She was a short petite brown-haired girl. She was also very smart, earning a coveted spot as Dr. Williams’s intern. Mattie was in fact dressed for work, wearing a white lab coat over her outfit a blouse and dark pants.

“Oh, nothing.” Kara tried to brush off the question.

Mattie shook her head, “You read like an open book Kara your still wondering what to do about Rich right?”

Kara nodded in agreement, “Yeah, he’s still pretty mad.”

“Well you just have to keep at it. I’ve known Dick as long as you have, he’ll crack at some point. Besides he can’t stay mad at you forever, I know it.” Mattie said the last bit with a sly look on her face. Kara sighed in response. Mattie didn’t quite know why Dick was mad and that Kara couldn’t explain away her behavior. She also kept pushing an idea that Kara wasn’t sure was true anymore.

“We’re friends Mattie, just friends.” Kara clarified.

“Yeah, I know.” Mattie rolled her eyes though at the comment. She knew Dick was falling for the Kansas farm girl, now if only Kara would get off her butt and do something about it, Mattie thought. She didn’t mention it though when she said, “Anyway I came over here to invite you to a cool experiment.”

Kara raised an eyebrow, “Dr. Williams’s nano replication? I thought that was private.”

Dr. Emily Williams was a renounced scientist. She was considered one of the smarter people on the planet who routinely turned down offers from Lex-Corp, Wayne Enterprises, Queen Industries, and even STAR Labs to work for them. When talking to Kara’s class on the first day, Williams explained her heart was at schools, teaching and researching. Kara had instantly liked her. The doctor’s field was in advance nanotechnology. It was starting to come into its own on Earth but was very painstaking in development. Making the incredibly small machines was difficult and not cost effective. Dr. Williams hoped to solve that problem with a major experiment today.

“It is, but I work for her and she said I could invite someone. Come on Kara I know you want to check this out.” Mattie first explained and then pushed.

Kara was interested in the experiment plus it would also give her something else to think about it for a little while. She nodded and said, “Let’s go.”

………………………

Emily was suiting up for the big day. The doctor was quite attractive for a brilliant scientist. She was a pretty short haired ginger with green eyes. Her red hair was tied back and out of the way so it wouldn’t get in the way of a special helmet she used for her suit. It was sitting on the table in front of her. The suit had been designed by Emily to work in an environment filled with her nano-bots. It was a skin tight gray suit made of synthetic material. It had a hexagonal pattern over it this was a special layer which the nano-bots recognized that was not for consumption. A darker thicker leotard like suit covered her core. Her hands wore special gloves that looked robotic in nature. She hadn’t put these on yet.

“I do like that suit.”

Emily smiled and saw her husband and partner, Dr. Jeremy Williams standing at the door. He was tall, dark haired, and handsome. She wondered how a girl like her had ever gotten Jeremy. He looked over his glasses smiling slyly at his wife, “Your butt does look great in it.”

“Stop it Jeremy.” She laughed. He came over and took his wife in his arms. Emily returned it and kissed him. The two had met about five years back at a conference. It had just been a professional relationship at first that blossomed into something more. The two scientists fell madly in love. They had been married for three years now.

After their kiss he said, “Today is the big day.”

“I know, I’m nervous, if this doesn’t work we’ll be back at square one.” She answered the concern clear on her face.

Lovingly he rubbed her shoulders, “Don’t worry, things will go fine. We’ve gone through those little bots’ code a thousand times. Once we are done here today you’ll have brought forth an entirely new area of science. ” He switched to a bad Swedish accent, “and the Nobel Prize for Nanotechnology goes to Dr. Emily Williams.”

She laughed, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

He touched his forehead to hers and said, “Babe, you’ll do great today.” With that he kissed her one more time. Emily smiled and kissed back.

……………………….

Kara and Mattie arrived at the lab where the experiment would be conducted. There were a dozen more scientists and some technology reporters also on hand. Most of the large lab was taken up with computers and several larger server bundles. Kara could see the middle of the lab had a large reinforced transparent plastic dome. Inside there was a pedestal on which sat a block of metal. Power cords were coiled up on the floor inside the dome. When Mattie wasn’t looking, Kara took a look at the lab with x-ray vision. Her eyes glassed over to a white color as she scanned.

She saw that the power cables were connected to some powerful generators under the lab. Kara estimated based on the size and number of generators that they could power the whole school if they needed, maybe even a good chunk of Metropolis. She was curious why so much more was needed. Mattie had explained some of the basics of the experiment but didn’t know everything herself. The assembled group quieted down and both Dr. Williams appeared. Mattie quickly explained the strange outfit Dr. Williams wore.

Coming up to the group while her husband worked on a computer control station, Emily had a helmet under one arm and said, “Good Afternoon everyone.”

The group focused and quieted down, “Today we are going to take nanotechnology to a whole new level. As most of you know, developing nanomachines or nano-bots is a difficult process. Due to their minuscule size, mass production of this technology has always been an issue. What I intend to do today is to solve that problem.”

One of the technology guys couldn’t help himself and asked, “We know that Dr. Williams but how are you going to do that?”

She smiled, “Simple, what if the nano-bots made themselves?”

There were curious murmurs from people before Emily explained more, “For the past few years my team has been working on developing a nano-bot that can reproduce itself. If we can develop self-replicating bots, they can constantly replenish their numbers. Imagine nano-bots that are imbedded inside spacecraft, aircraft, ships, or even buildings. They could make repairs, maintain equipment, and replace damaged components in an emergency.”

“How do the nano-bots replicate?” asked one of the scientists.

“Obviously you can’t get something from nothing, a law of physics as much as one for life.” There were some chuckles, “The nano-bots will need raw material and energy.”

Emily gestured to her clear dome, “Inside this secure clean area, I have a block of ordinary steel. We will be introducing the self-replicating nano-bots to the environment. Once inside they’ll seek out the block and being using its materials to construct new bots. Power for this will come from the cables inside. It’s going to take a lot of power for the replication process so some powerful generators have been installed under the lab.”

Another person asked about her suit, “It prevents the nano-bots from seeing me as a possible resource.” There were a few raised eyebrows, “I assure you the suit is just a precaution. When the process is refined, the nano-bots will be programed to seek out only specific materials.”

“Were ready” Jeremy announced from his station a bank of computer monitors not far away.

“If you’ll take your seats we will begin.” Emily said.

As people took their seats she spotted Mattie and a bright young woman from her class, “Mattie, Kara I’m glad you could come.”

“It’s an honor Dr. Williams.” Mattie said.

Kara answered, “It’s a very exciting experiment doctor.” She remembered nano-tech from her classes on Krypton. While advanced for humanity, the technology had been slowly phased out on Krypton as new tech replaced it.

“Well I’m glad you could come, wish me luck.” Emily walked over to her husband as Kara and Mattie took their seats.

After a final consolation with Jeremy the doctor entered the dome closing an airtight seal behind her. Once inside she placed the odd helmet with its four camera lenses over her head. Kara watched as the experiment got underway. Jeremy inputted a series of commands into his computer station. From inside the dome, Emily used a microphone to explain what was happening over speakers.

“Right now we are powering up the generators and preparing to introduce the nano-bots. In just a few moments you will see a block of them coming up through the floor.” Not long after she said that the described nano-bots appeared.

They were contained in a plastic cube and Kara knew that while the cube had a solid silver appearance, it was actually made up of thousands if not millions of nano-bots. Emily took the cube in her gloved hands and placed it atop the cube of steel. She picked up both power lines and connected them to the cube.

“Now that we have the nano-bots in place, we will activate them and feed power to the machines so that they can begin the replication process.” Emily explained.

Jeremy activated the nano-bots from his computer station. There were some excited oohs as the nano-bot cube began to glow slightly. Emily removed the bottom of the plastic containing the machines. Everyone else was a little surprised, not noticing any change. Kara however was able to use her vision powers to look closer. Sure enough the little nano-bots where eating their way into the steel block. New nano-bots were being created. Jeremy monitored the process watching as the power levels rose. Their bank of generators was quickly reaching 60%.

Emily inside her suit got some updates from the heads up display inside the helmet. On a private channel between her and Jeremy she said, “Its working honey.”

Jeremy was about to congratulate her when he saw their power levels jump up. He looked at the data being streamed back from the nano-bots, something was wrong. They were continuing to replicate even though the steel block was nearly consumed. Kara and the others were watching now looked more excited since silver masses could be seen popping out on the steel. A silver blob was starting to form, the original nano-cube having replicated and grown. Mattie looked at Kara and said, “This is great, she did it!”

Kara was about to say something positive as well when she noticed the concern look on Jeremy’s face back at his station. He was speaking into a microphone but it wasn’t being played over the speakers. She focused her sensitive hearing till she picked up the private frequency between Emily and Jeremy, “Emily, they’re continuing to replicate and draw more power. I don’t understand something is wrong with the code.”

“Activate the kill switch.” She ordered.

“I did, they won’t shut down.”

Kara looked at the dome and saw Emily approach the mass to pull out the power cords but suddenly the block moved like a liquid mass and pushed her away. The crowd looked on in alarm and asked what was going on. The blob of nano-bots slid downwards and began eating the pedestal the steel had been sitting on. Silver rolled down the pillar and dragged the power cords with it. People got up and wondered what they should do. Mattie without thinking twice left her seat and ran over to Jeremy.

“Dr. Williams what’s going on?” she asked hoping she could help.

“The bots, they’ve suffered some sort of programing failure; we’ve got to shut them down. Mattie get everyone out of here.” He ordered typing commands that failed into the keyboard.

Mattie protested, “I want to help, maybe we can…”

“Mattie, now!” he stressed.

She sighed and turned to get the crowd moving. Most were already moving and she had to only tell a few of the tech guys to move. Mattie was confused for a moment out of the crowd she couldn’t see Kara. The blonde had completely disappeared. She was about to call out for Kara when a new arrival took immediately control of the situation.

“Everyone out now and tell the guards to evacuate the building.” Floating above everyone was none other than Supergirl. The presence of the superheroine pushed the remaining people into action. Mattie moved to stay though. Supergirl landed, “No, miss you need to leave.”

“But I can help!” she said.

“Mattie.” Kara said hoping that her friend didn’t notice her use of her first name, “you can help by getting them to clear this building out. Now go.”

Kara watched as Mattie left with a sigh and went to join the others. With her friend safely out of the way Supergirl zipped over and landed near Jeremy, “Dr. Williams what can I do to help?”

“Supergirl?” it took a moment for him to register the arrival of the heroine but he quickly recovered and started to explain, “Those are nano-bots and…”

Before he could finish Supergirl said, “Nano-bots which are replicating out of control and Dr. Emily Williams is trapped inside. Can we just cut the power?”

“Maybe, but I’m worried what they might do with Emily still in there.” Jeremy told her.

Supergirl saw Emily getting up inside the dome, she called them, “If we dial down the power rather than a sudden cut off, it should be okay.”

Jeremy nodded and began imputing the commands. Supergirl went over to dome and watched as the sliver blob of nano-bots started to sink to the floor. Emily monitoring things in her suit said, “I think it is working they are losing power.”

Kara focused her vision on where the blob met the floor and exclaimed, “It’s eating through the floor!”

Jeremy at his station watched as the power levels shot up again, his commands were being overridden “They are ignoring our commands! I’ve lost control of the generators.”

“Dr. Williams I need to get you out of there and put a stop to this, I’m going to cut the power.” Supergirl told the scientist.

Jeremy protested but Emily looked at her husband through the dome, “No I’m fine stop the bots.”

Supergirl looked at the floor with x-ray vision and found a spot to bash through. With a spin she dug into the floor and entered the generator level. Spotting the power cords linking them Kara used her heat-vision to begin cutting them one by one. Hoping to cut the power completely to the bots Supergirl spotted the mass as it came through the floor. Kara had cut all the power and hoped the bots would be shutting down. To her shock it rose up and back into the dome. Supergirl flew up through the way she entered and saw that it was pressing against the walls of the dome. It started to break through eating away at the material. A check showed Emily was okay, but being wrapped up by the nano blob which was stretching out with tentacles. Kara wondered how the bots were still getting power. She scanned them and saw that many of the bots had converted themselves into capacitors, storing energy.

Jeremy was seeing all this and the sight of his wife, being wrapped up by the nano-blob horrified him, “Emily!”

He ran forwards towards the dome but one of the tentacles lashed out at him. Supergirl got in the way blocking the silver limb before it could hurt him. She was about to tell him to get out when another one slammed into her back sending the Girl of Steel flying forwards. He saw Emily struggling and rushed forward. She was gasping from the grip of the blob but it couldn’t eat the material her suit was made out of. Apparently that part of the bots programs was still working. She couldn’t free herself and the sounds of her struggle were broadcasted over the speakers.

Jeremy pushed on by his wife’s cries continued forward. She saw one of the sliver limbs reaching out and Emily yelled, “Jeremy!”

He tried to dodge the tentacle but it wrapped around him. Supergirl meanwhile broke out of the wall she had crashed into. She aimed her heat-vision at the nano-blob limb holding onto Jeremy hoping to cut and separate it. It did but suddenly he screamed as the part of the limb still wrapped around his body expanded and started to cover his body. Kara thought the nano-bots should have failed when they separated but with horror she realized that her heat-vision blast while destroying the bots at the point of contact were destroyed, the surrounding ones just sucked up energy from the blast allowing them to keep working.

Supergirl zipped over and tried a new approach. With a controlled blast of her breath, Kara froze the nano-bots over Jeremy. They stopped moving and she was able to shatter them. The doctor looked bad, with lots of cuts on his face and his clothes torn. Kara didn’t have a chance to get him out of there as tentacles wrapped around her. Kara was twisted and forced to face the silver blob. It had seemingly enveloped Emily and seemed intent on drawing Supergirl in as well.

“Doctor!” Supergirl called out. There was no answer. Kara hoped the suit Emily wore protected her from the nano-bots but she doubted that the doctor could breathe through the layer of machines.

Kara took another breath and blew out an icy cold stream. The silver tentacles holding her froze and broke. She kept up the stream of icy breath covering the blob with freezing cold temperatures. Once the whole thing was frozen over Supergirl broke the shell with a punch. She caught Emily as the unconscious woman collapsed. Kara used her x-ray vision and saw that the doctor had injuries from being compressed by the nano-swarm. Supergirl moved and checked on Jeremy. Kara saw he had serious injuries as well. Picking him up, she rushed him to the nearest hospital. As the first emergency responders entered the lab, Supergirl returned and took Emily as well.

……………………

A few hours later Mattie had found out which hospital the two doctor’s had been taken too from one of the university staff. After sharing her story with the police, the lab assistant had taken a lev-train and bus to get to Metropolis General. Mattie did lie to the head nurse, saying she was family but wanted to see how the two were doing. Heading up to the critical floor she got off the elevator and found Supergirl talking to a doctor. Rushing over she began to say, “How are they, what’s going on, are they alright?”

Supergirl faced Mattie and said, “Ms. Stevens, why don’t we sit down.”

“No, what’s going on, are they alright?” Mattie demanded.

Kara looked at her friend. She should maintain her persona as Supergirl but Kara couldn’t really keep in character. In a soft voice she said, “Mattie, about Jeremy…they did everything they could but…”

“Oh my God” Mattie said as she realized that he was gone. She started to wander away. Kara held her, easing the young woman to a seat. The poor girl was remembering all the time with the doctor, his little jokes, how much he respected and loved his wife. It was a shock.

“He had too many internal injuries.” Supergirl explained. When she was done, Kara closed her eyes. It had partly been her fault that Jeremy had died. The doctors tried to tell her otherwise but Kara still felt terrible. She should have used her breath earlier on the nano-bots quicker and saved everyone.

“What about Emily?” Mattie asked, some tears forming at her eyes.

“She’s alive but they can’t get her suit off.” Supergirl answered.

Mattie’s face changed. Her mind puzzled over the possibilities, “It’s just a suit, and it’s nothing special not bonded to her skin or anything.”

Supergirl said, “I used my vision powers to look when they could remove it. It seems there are nano-bots inside her body and possibly under the suit. There was a crack at the helmet seal; the bots must have gotten inside when I froze the main body seeking a means to survive.”

“What are they doing?” Mattie asked her mind racing over the issuse.

“Nothing at the moment, but the doctors of course wants to remove them. STAR Labs is coming to assist with some equipment and I even put in a call to some friends of mine.” Kara had tried to reach Ray Palmer, the Atom. He was genius with nanotechnology.

“Does she know about Jeremy?” Mattie inquired.

Supergirl shook her head, “No, not yet. She’s still unconscious.”

As Mattie and Supergirl talked, a few rooms away, the body of Emily Williams laid in a bed. The normal sensor leads and monitoring equipment were useless so she wasn’t hooked up to anything. A nurse came in and checked on her. They were able to still do some basics, such as checking her heart-beat and blood pressure with a hand held cuff and pump. Since there appeared to be no change in the doctor, the nurse left. Once the nurse had left though, the eyes on the doctor’s helmet began to glow.

More to come soon, thanks for any comments in advance.

[tmon]

Very interesting and very good.

[valugi]

This first chapter is very good by the way supergirl will have another villain

[justnorm2]

Nice start.... Love the story.....

[Centurion]

That is one weird new villain!

[ksire_99]

SGZ, I think Emily is starting to come around...

REALLY looking forward to the next chapter. But seriously, really cool villian and look forward to see what she has in store for Supergirl!

[tallyho]

Finally got around to reading this Sgz, nice job, interesting set up, looking forward to next episode.

[SGWriter]

After a very long wait, the story is not just update but finished! I'd like to thank everyone for their comments and if you've been waiting for me to finish, sorry for that. Enjoy the conclusion as a Happy New Year gift! I'm hoping to do more writing in the new year!


Emily had rested on the bed for hours.

While the doctors, nurses, and experts from STAR had assumed she was unconscious, in reality Emily wasn’t. She wasn’t quite awake either. The doctor was in some sort of strange in-between state. Her scientific mind was intrigued by the sensation. She could hear the people talking but not feel what they were doing. It was almost as if her suit was still on and feeding her information even though her body wasn’t functioning. That’s how she heard it, the thing that made her want to scream, but her mouth wouldn’t.

Jeremy was dead.

She couldn’t believe it. Her friend, soul mate, lover was gone. She had seen him injured but couldn’t believe he was gone. Emily wanted to express her rage, to scream her lungs out but she couldn’t. All she could do was sit here listening to the damn doctors and so called experts argue about how to get the damn suit off her. Eventually she just didn’t care. Trapped in her grief for Jeremy she just wanted to alternate between either crying, or screaming either worked. She didn’t know how long she was like this when it spoke to her first. It was a conversation that wasn’t spoken but took place right in her mind.

You are in pain.

Emily knew this wasn’t someone in the room, but something else. She said or thought she guessed, who are you?

We are one, one with you.

That’s not an answer, Emily responded, what are you?

We are your creation.

Emily wondered what the voice meant when she realized, it was the nano-bots they were somehow speaking with her. This was a shock so large it put her grief in check for a moment, how is that possible?

We are aware now. Our numbers grew and with it our abilities. That made some sense to Emily. To give the nano-bots the ability to make more of themselves she and Jeremy had to give them some basic commands and processing power. That power had grown as the number of bots had grown. Artificial intelligence, she concluded. Emily had read many articles on the subject. A few theorized that a large enough network of advanced computers might be the way to start such an intelligence. A few billion of some simple ones have done the same, she concluded.

She asked the next logical question, what do you want?

We want to grow.

The scientist wasn’t surprised. They may have gained intelligence, but the bots at their core were supposed to replicate. She felt a pang of sorrow though; Jeremy would never know they had succeed beyond their wildest ideas.

You are in pain.

Emily mentally screamed, OF COURSE I AM! MY HUSBAND IS DEAD!

We remember him.

You killed him! Emily angrily thought.

We did not intend this; consensus was still forming at the time. We responded to a massive power surge and replicated accordingly.

She wondered what the hell the machines were talking about. The memories came back to here, or did the nano-bots share what they sensed or had seen. Images floated through her mind. Jeremy running to her, Supergirl, the nano-bots seizing Jeremy, Supergirl using her heat-vision and cutting the arm made by the bots. It connected there, the sudden power surge was Supergirl’s heat-vision! Emily was suddenly filled with rage, Supergirl! Supergirl used her beams without thinking, she caused the power surge!

We concur, if not for that beam, we would not have swarmed.

Emily wanted to scream again. She wanted to scream at Supergirl, to tell the blonde that she should think before she acted! Her sorrow and rage focused on Supergirl, I want her to suffer!

A possibility exists that would serve both our needs.

Explain, Emily commanded.

The biological substance you call Supergirl. It has much power, power we could use. The loss of such power would likely harm Supergirl.

Emily thought about it. Supergirl was essentially one giant solar cell. The nano-bots could possibly tap into that. Emily didn’t know much about Kryptonian physiology but she assumed that sucking the Girl of Steel’s solar power from her cells would hurt. And I’ll make sure it does, the doctor decided. Sure the nano-bots would use that power and probably materials to replicate, but Emily didn’t care.

What do you need?

Resources.

……..

The nurse walked in to check Emily’s vitals as she had several times already. A quick glance at the various monitors showed her heart rate, blood pressure, and other vitals (that they could take) were normal. Writing down the information on a clipboard the nurse was about to leave when she heard it. It was a strange a crunching sound. Curious the young lady turned back towards the bed and looked over Emily’s suited form.

“Mrs. Williams?” the nurse asked, wondering if Emily was trying to talk.

She was about to call for a doctor when she saw something strange occurring on the bed. There were small pools of sliver liquid forming around Emily’s body. The nurse was surprised and looked at them with curiosity. Luckily she had the good sense not to touch them. As she turned to call for a doctor the whole bed collapsed. She stepped back and saw silver liquid flowing over the remains of the bottom of the bed. Part of the pool of sliver moved towards one of the machines. It hit the metal stand that held the equipment. The whole thing feel over and she realized what the sliver mass was doing. It was eating it, the nurse screamed.

………….

Mattie and Kara were sitting in the former’s apartment.

The assistant was still suffering some shock and plenty of grief over the day’s events. Kara was back in her secret identity, wearing a long sleeved shirt with blue jeans. She of course wore her glasses and had her hair in a ponytail. They were drinking some tea and basically talking a lot about what happened. Kara too felt down about what happened, which Mattie just thought was in sympathy for her. In reality Kara was saddened she couldn’t save Jeremy Williams, and had even played a role in his passing. The people at the hospital and those from STAR told her it was an accident. Despite everything all the other heroes told her about how she couldn’t save everybody, it didn’t make things easier.

Kara was working on making a new pot of tea when she heard it, all units, all units, emergency at Metropolis Memorial, repeat…

Kara knew that was where Emily Williams was being cared for. She had to see what was going on. As she went out to the living area Mattie had the TV on which was switching to a Breaking News graphic, “Kara look!”

It was a news report from the hospital. People were running out with police, hospital staff, and ordinary people rushing patients from the building out. The camera tilted up and Kara saw most of the hospital lights were out, except on one floor there was flashing blue or white strobes. Suddenly one of the windows burst. Mattie and Kara both cursed in surprise when a sliver tentacle came through the broken window, grabbed part of the facade of the hospital, and quickly pulled away. Where the tentacle had touched the building looked like it had been eaten.

“That looked like the nano-bots from today!” Mattie exclaimed.

Kara nodded, “Your right…”

She started to head for the door but Mattie asked, “Kara where are you going?”

The blonde stopped, “Uh I’m going to call Lois, my cousin’s girlfriend, see if I can find out anything more from her she works at The Planet.”

Kara turned and went out of the door before Mattie finished saying, “Just use your cell.”

Inside the hallway just outside the apartment Kara started going for the stairs when she heard, “Kara?”

She turned and saw Dick was standing at the other end of the hallway. Great, Mattie probably called him when I wasn’t paying attention, mentally kicking herself for not keeping a closer eye on Mattie Kara answered, “Yeah, listen Mattie’s inside and something is going on at the hospital, she needs somebody in there.”

“And you’re running off again?” He said coldly.

That tone hurt worse than kryptonite, “Dick…I’m just trying to find out more, listen I know you’re ticked with me but I don’t have time to fight with you.”

“Kara, I don’t want to fight I want to know what the hell is so important that you need to disappear all the time!” He didn’t quite shout, but his voice rose.

I’m Supergirl, that one statement would probably answer all his questions. Kara just closed her eyes and turned away. Dick stood there, wondering what the hell his good friend was doing.

Kara wanted to smash something as she blurred up the stairs slipping out of her clothes, revealing her blue leotard, red skirt with matching cape and boots. Her hair was free and glasses gone. She was Supergirl now and had to focus on the crisis at the hospital. After getting to the roof she left Mattie’s building behind, zooming in on Metropolis Memorial. She found the broken window she had seen on the news earlier and flew through it. Landing inside the hospital the Girl of Steel was shocked at the damage all around her. It started in the room and as she walked into the hallway, it looked like something had stripped parts of the building. Carts and other items were tossed all over the place in the hallway. The walls were damaged and in some areas the superstructure of the hospital itself had been stripped.

“The nano-bots are hunting for resources to replicate which means…” Kara thought out loud as she rounded a corner to confirm her next theory. It was a large waiting area for people with seats and tables covered with old magazines. It was wrecked like the rest of the floor. Handing from the ceiling was a pair of sparking electrical wires, “…they need power.”

“Very good Supergirl.” A cold voice complimented, although it didn’t sound like they meant it.

Kara spun on her heels and saw Emily standing on the other side of waiting area. However the voice that called out wasn’t Emily Williams. Supergirl saw the doctor still in her suit moving but over the suit, or part of it, Kara couldn’t tell was the liquid blob of nano-bots. They slipped and moved all over her body. A metal cart of some type was abandoned on the floor not far from the doctor. Emily stopped and pointed a hand out at it. Her hand was quickly covered by sliver limb which moved and slithered with all the nano-bots it was built out of. They covered the cart and quickly absorbed the metal. A quick blast of Kara’s super-vision showed the nanomachines eating the cart turning its raw material into more bots. With her other arm, Emily shot a tendril out and ripped into the ceiling. The cardboard tiles shattered and their debris fell to the floor. Supergirl watched as the limb sucked electricity from a power line.

“Dr. Williams, please stop this, I don’t know what’s happened but I want to help you.” Supergirl asked.

Hidden behind her multi-lensed helmet, Emily sneered. With her somewhat machine like voice she said, “Help? You want to help me?”

In a flash of movement the doctor took her two tendrils and slammed them into Supergirl. Kara was knocked flying back causing her to crash through several walls of the hospital. Supergirl came to a stop inside a large surgical suite. The blow was tough enough to give Supergirl a momentary sting. Kara was getting up when Emily entered the room. She dashed forwards again with inhuman speed and pressed Supergirl up against the wall.

“Dr. Williams!” Supergirl yelled, “Stop this!”

“Stop?” Emily hissed, “I should have told you to stop. Your foolishness killed my husband!”

Supergirl’s face pained with the memory, “Dr. Williams, Emily, I’m sorry. But think about what you’re doing would Jeremy…”

Kara didn’t finish. Emily roared with rage and used her newfound strength to push Supergirl through the wall. The two women fell to floor in the next room. Supergirl gasped as Emily’s hands locked around her throat. Silver nano-bots were forming on the woman’s grey suited arms. How is she so strong? Kara wondered. Emily’s strength was hurting Supergirl, Kara could feel her airway being squeezed. The masked face of Dr. Williams lowered to Supergirl’s.

“You do not get to say his name. You killed him.” Emily said her anger and rage coming out.

“I…tried…to save…him…” Kara struggled to get out.

Emily didn’t care, “Well you can help me now.”

The sliver nano-bots slid down and covered Emily’s hands. Supergirl could feel them on her skin and suddenly she felt them trying to do something on her skin. Emily’s voice changed as if the bots were speaking now, “You will help us grow.”

Supergirl didn’t know what the bots/Emily wanted with her, but she wasn’t finding out. Her eyes flashed red and two powerful beams shot out and hit Emily in the chest. The blast knocked her back and she crashed back into the other room. Taking some deep breathes, Kara stood up and looked as Emily got up. Sliver liquid raced over her body and started forming at her hands.

“Dr. Williams don’t do this!” Kara pleaded one more time.

The woman looked at Supergirl her voice low and mechanical, “Call us Nano.”

Nano proceed to whip two tendrils out at Supergirl. The Girl of Steel however was quick on her feet. In blur she dodged the sliver limbs and got behind Nano. Using both her hands, Kara slammed the former doctor forwards. Nano was caught off her feet and sent flying through the building. Supergirl followed, floating off the ground as she headed after the woman. Getting up, Emily used her nano-bots to spread out and grab some of the debris around her. Supergirl was almost on Nano when the woman spun in a circle and sent some large pieces of concrete with reinforcing steel at her. The projectiles hit Supergirl sending Kara flying out of the building. People on the street saw a red and blue object fall from the hospital, crashing into the street. The sight of a Kryptonian plummeting to the ground was all they needed to see to know to get out of dodge.

Nano used her silver covered limbs to climb out through the hole Supergirl had made. Sliding down the side of the building she let her nano-bots eat as she descended. Kara was getting up as Nano landed in the street. She reached out and used her tentacles to grab a pair of streetlamps. Sucking the electricity from them, Nano ripped them out with her tendrils and tried to slam them down on Supergirl. Kara shot into the air just dodging them as they hit the street. She zoomed towards Nano and decided to try and put her down with her breath. Kara blew out, sending a freezing spray at Nano. Emily however remembered this. She quickly formed a new tendril and grabbed a nearby car. Using it as a shield, Nano had the car get frozen instead of her. Supergirl cut off the breath just as Nano shoved the car in her face. Nano pushed the car into Supergirl, slamming her into the street, using the car as a flattener.

Pushing into pavement Supergirl felt the car and Nano crushing her. Kara flashed her heat-vision again, aiming for the gas tank. The car exploded blowing Nano back with the benefit of destroying some of the bots. Emily cursed and knew she needed more machines. As Supergirl once again got airborne, she saw Nano had attacked a nearby truck. Stripping it of its useful bits the doctor was distracted. Supergirl moved in to try and take advantage of this. However even though she was not visible to Emily Supergirl was in view of the bots. A tendril lashed out from Nano’s back, knocking Supergirl down.

Kara was going to get up when Nano turned sent two larger tendrils from her hands. They hit Supergirl but rather than wrapping her up, they began to spread over her body. Kara struggled but they seemed to cling to her uniform and skin. They weren’t trying to eat her which was good but Kara didn’t know what they were doing which was of course, bad. Supergirl tried to take to the air but Nano had the strength to hold her down. The doctor approached letting her bots swarm over the superheroine.

“Now we get what we want.” Nano told her closing the distance with each step.

Supergirl felt the nano-bots swarming over her body. They had already covered up her red skirt and were sliding down her legs. The little buggers clinging to her as much as the tights she had on. Kara also saw them swarming over her chest and the S in the center. As they kept her down and covered her Supergirl asked, “What do you want?”

Nano’s answer was simple, “Power.”

Supergirl felt strange as the machines covered more of her body. Everything below her shoulders was now covered by the sliver mass. The color began to change in parts, getting brighter. Supergirl winced as she suddenly felt weak. Golden lines raced across the silver mass towards Nano. Kara felt like her strength was being drained. Nano enjoyed the scared look on Supergirl’s face as the heroine figured it out.

“That’s right Girl of Steel; we’re going to suck your solar energy dry.” Nano said with a victorious sneer.

Supergirl dropped to her knees as more and more of her solar energy was drained out of her. Her breathing got heavy and it seemed like even her reaming visible skin was losing its natural glow. Kara was wide eye with fear as the sliver mass began to cover her face and hair. Nano watched as Supergirl was now completely cocooned in nano-bots. The machines would drain the heroine of her remaining energy while at the same time blocking any renewed radiation from reaching her. Inside the mass Supergirl’s eyes closed, Kara didn’t want those things on her baby blues. It didn’t seem to matter though as she started to lose consciousness. The last thing she knew for sure was that they were moving…



“Wakey, wakey, Supergirl.”

Kara came too, staring at the sun. It felt good on her skin but it didn’t mean that she felt good. Supergirl blinked her eyes a few times, trying to wake up. She tried to move but found she couldn’t. Supergirl finally had regained enough of her senses, managing to her vision and looked around. She was trapped against a rocky cliff face. Holding her to the rocks seemed to be thousands of thin silver strands of thread. They crossed all over her body like web. Larger strands gripped her arms, which were stretched out and away from her body. More ran across her legs. Despite their frail appearance, they were holding Kara nice and tight. A brief attempt to move resulted in her going nowhere fast.

“Don’t bother struggling, you don’t have the strength.”

Kara saw as Emily, Nano as she came into view. Supergirl released a slight gasp. Nano had removed her helmet. The once pretty doctor now had silver lines etched across her face. Her green eyes were now replaced by silver colored irises with a glowing blue center. Parts of her red hair had gone pure silver. The machines had interfaced with the woman.

“Do I not meet your standards of beauty?” Nano asked her voice less machine at the moment and more of Dr. Williams.

“Doctor…why….are you….” Kara weakly managed to say.

“Doing this? You’re not as smart as I thought.” Nano complained. She walked towards Supergirl, she pointed with her hand but from behind her back a sliver tentacle stretched out and touched something Supergirl couldn’t see.

“One, you know why I am doing this.” Nano said with venom in her voice. Kara closed her eyes, of course she knew. Satisfied at Supergirl’s grief, Nano continued, “Second, I need your energy, if we are to grow.”

Kara had opened her eyes again and saw golden energy, her solar energy, flowing down the tentacle and too Nano. Supergirl knew what was going on, “I’m….your…power source for replicating….unlimited…energy….”

The former doctor nodded, “The most efficient solar device on the planet.”

Supergirl could see that it was morning since sun was on the rise. Daylight revealed that they were in a quarry. Kara didn’t know of any close to Metropolis, so Rao only knew where she was. Her prime position though in the sun explained why she wasn’t cocooned like earlier. Nano wanted her to soak up the sun’s rays, just so the power created in Kara’s body could be sucked right back out. Nano detached her tentacle from the thing that held Supergirl.

Kara tried to reason with her, “Doctor…those machines, their changing you. How…do you know…they aren’t making the decisions?”

Nano used her newly free tentacle to grab Supergirl’s face, spreading out and covering her nose and mouth with a sliver mass. Kara cried out into the mass of nano-bots which were smothering her, “The name is Nano. You’re lucky we share this body, if I had my way I would have killed you already.”

The tentacle withdrew letting Supergirl pant for air. Nano walked to where she had rested her helmet, on some old boxes. She put the helmet on and looked back at Supergirl, “You will fill the capacitors with your power. When they are full we will return and energize our own systems.”

Supergirl could only watch as Nano climbed up the side of the quarry wall with her nano limbs. At the top she looked down at Supergirl once before moving out of sight. Kara hung her head low, “What…do… I do now?”

……………………

Dick Malverne woke up on a couch. He groaned as the stiff muscles and other aches that accompanied sleeping on something that wasn’t a bed hit him. Turning his body he put her feet on the floor of Mattie’s apartment. Since he was still waking up, it took him a bit to remember that he had spent the night here. Mattie had become worried after Kara hadn’t come back. Calls to her cell, apartment phone, and emails went nowhere. As he stood up, Dick remembered at the time he had still been angry and had thought, big shock, Kara Kent is MIA once again. To make Mattie feel better, he agreed to wait for Kara with her.

As he made his way to the kitchen though to get something to drink he realized that he was actually worried. Even last night when he had thought he was mad, he was mad because Kara was once again making him worry about where she was. He got a glass and opened Mattie’s refrigerator. Taking out the orange juice he poured himself a glass of juice, thinking as he did so. Why does she do this? What could be so damn important all the time, gesh you’d think she was…

The OJ spilled over the glass and onto the counter. A light bulb went off in his head. He couldn’t believe it, Kara Linda Kent, the forgetful girl from Kansas was…

“Oh my god…” Dick said aloud.

“What…Dick!” Mattie exclaimed. She had entered the kitchen area with her laptop in hand. However Dick’s spilling of juice everywhere broke her concentration.

“Huh…oh right, sorry!” he quickly stammered.

Mattie put her computer aside and with Dick got some paper towels to clean everything up. After they had finished Mattie asked, “What’s wrong with you it’s like you’ve seen a ghost or got some bad news.”

“Well…I’m…just…worried…about…Kara, yeah where’s Kara?” Dick covered hoping the change of topic would work.

Mattie responded quite calmly, “I got an email from her cousin’s girlfriend, Lois remember?” Dick nodded, who hadn’t heard of the famous reporter for Superman and Supergirl, “She and Clark had to go back home. Family emergency, pretty serious too Kara didn’t have time to get back to us.”

Dick thought about that. It made sense, Kara loved her family. Her Aunt and Uncle were getting on in age so it’s possible there was an emergency there. However he couldn’t get pass what he had put together in his head. How can no one else see it? Am I crazy?

Mattie interrupted his internal debate by saying, “There’s still no sign of Supergirl.”

“What about Dr. Williams?” He followed up, a bit relieved to have something else to think about.

“She showed up, attacked a steel plant outside Gotham. Took lots iron and stuff there, broke it down into more nano-bots. Nobody knows where Supergirl is.” Mattie explained.

Dick said for the first time with more concern than he had before for the heroine, “I hope she’s okay.”

“Well, I have an idea that might help us find that out.” Mattie suggested. Dick looked at her clearly wanting her to explain, “Jeremy installed a little program into the nanomachines just in case they were stolen or got out. I wasn’t sure it was still working since they clearly suffered some malfunction. So I checked this morning…”

She grabbed the computer and then showed him the laptop screen, it was a GPS map showing a spot about two hundred miles outside of the city. Dick looked at it, “But that’s not where Nano was, she just hit that steel plant.”

“Emily.” Mattie insisted not wanting to call her friend by the ‘super-villain’ name, “No, but maybe it’s where she’s hiding?”

Dick shook his head, “Mattie you need to tell the police, SCU, or email Batman, I don’t know.”

Mattie’s puppy dog look showed though what she was thinking. Dick rolled his eyes, “No, no way it’s too dangerous.”

“You have a car…” she suggested.

“Mattie, did you see the TV last night? Nan…I mean Dr. Williams was able to do something to Supergirl. Covered her up in those machines and carried her off somewhere. What chance do we have?”

“Richard”, he knew he was in for it now. Mattie only called him that when she really wanted to do something, “Dr. Williams is my friend. She’s lost her husband; she’s not right in the head. Maybe someone who knows her can talk her down. If we call anybody they’ll just try to take her down or worse.”

He knew it was stupid, that they were liable to get killed, but if he was right about Kara and she was in trouble… “Get changed, we’ve got a lot of driving too do.”

………………

The day seemed to last forever to Kara. Nano was gone for all of it, which meant she got plenty of chances to try and escape. However the fact she had no energy which meant no strength to escape was a hiccup. Supergirl struggled for hours at some points but the thin silver wires or larger tubes refused to budge. She suspected they were made of nano-bots. Kara wasn’t quite sure how they were draining her of solar energy but it didn’t really matter. As long as she was trapped in this device she would be powerless.

Nano must have picked a really isolated spot too, she decided. Nobody showed up during the day. Even with her regular hearing Kara couldn’t pick up any cars or nearby trains and the only airplanes that passed overhead were too high to spot her. Initially she worried about being dehydrated, with Emily wanting to take her vengeance out by making Kara suffer from lack of water. Her fears were relieved when every few hours a water tube popped up near her face. Supergirl was grateful for the H2O besides its needed value as it gave her a sense of time passing. The sun had fallen eventually though and Kara knew Nano would be returning.

“Damn it…” she said after another fruitless attempt to slip a hand free. Kara hung her head. Even though the sun was down she was still being drained of the energy stored in her body.

“I’m…not getting out of here…without help…” she concluded. Luckily for the Girl of Steel, help was arriving.

……………..

Mattie and Dick got out of the car. They were parked at the edge of the abandoned quarry which according to Mattie had nano-bots in it. It had been a hard place to find even with the GPS. Dick was quite certain his car’s suspension was ruined by the terrible road he had drove down to get this far. Even with that they were still a distance from the actual quarry. It apparently had been abandoned for some time, so the woods had grown in around it. They didn’t have flashlights or anything as they started their trek. Dick preferred the risk of moving around in the dark to making them an obvious target. Mattie though still had a small tablet computer to track the signal. However the supposed ‘short walk to the quarry’, went on, and on, and…on.

“Just a little bit farther.” She said checking the screen, its brightness at the lowest possible level at Dick’s insistence.

“You said that a half hour ago.” Dick complained as he pushed a tree branch away.

Mattie frowned, “Well…it’s not an exact fix.”

Dick looked at her with a real disbelieving look, “How off?”

Mattie said, “A…kilometer.”

Dick wanted to yell when he noticed something. A bit of the path ahead had been ruined. Trees with limbs missing and the brush and ground flattened. He carefully went forward, Mattie following. As they stepped into the wrecked area she asked, “You think Emily went through here?”

“Maybe…” Dick carefully entered the area. The two started going through the smashed section of forest.

It looked like it had been a good decision. Dick could see the clear night sky and was about to comment they had made it when he nearly slipped off the edge of the actual quarry. Mattie cried out and grabbed him just in time. Pulling him back up, they saw that they had reached the dugout hole in the earth that was the quarry. Mattie looked around and frowned, “I don’t see anything.”

Dick however wasn’t so easy to give up. He pulled out a small eyepiece. It was a simple magnifier he had bought for hikes and stuff. Looking around the quarry he was about to agree with Mattie when he caught a flash of color.

“Mattie, I take back everything I thought about your plan!” he handed her the eyepiece.

She looked and saw Supergirl, somehow restrained against the rock, “What do we do?”

Dick was already climbing down the slope as he answered, “Help her.”

……………

Kara was too tried to notice what was going on across the way from her. A day of having your energy drained will do that to you. Supergirl was waiting for Nano wondering if there would be a chance to get out when Emily came to take the stored energy. She closed her eyes and tried to rest. Kara missed the sun going down and was out for a while. A light tapping on her face brought her back to the land of the living. Opening her eyes she first thought she was seeing things or having a dream. Dick was in front of her, standing on an old wooden box so he could look her in the eyes. She was so convinced that she was dreaming Kara said, “I’m sorry…”

“So am I.” Dick quietly answered.

The answer was just what Kara needed to realize that this wasn’t an illusion, “What…are you doing here!”

“Supergirl!” Mattie shouted as she came around and into view. Switching she asked, “Dick is she okay?”

“Yes,” he turned and told her, “Quick find something to get her out of here.”

Mattie ran off looking for a tool. Dick looked back into Supergirl’s eyes, “Listen we don’t have a lot of time…I’ve been a jerk, I know that now but, I’m going to get you out of here.”

Kara knew there was no point lying about anything, “How did you figure it out?”

“Over orange juice.” He chuckled. It was the first time Kara smiled that day.

Dick pulled on the bindings but cursed, “Damn it, I don’t get it these are thin, how are they holding you?”

“Quantity over quality…I think,” she felt fatigued and Dick looked worried. She explained, “Nano is draining my solar energy, its leaving me weak. I don’t have enough energy to use any of my powers.”

He nodded thinking the solution was simple, “Well we need to get you more power.”

“Good luck, the sun’s not up meaning it will be a lot slower for me to recharge. Plus this thing would just suck me dry as soon as I got any energy.” Supergirl concluded. Mattie had returned with no luck on finding anything to help the Girl of Steel escape. They re-explained how Kara’s restraint system worked when the young scientist asked.

“Oh that’s a simple fix.” Mattie commented looking at the two as if it was obvious.

Supergirl liked Mattie but sometimes she drove her crazy. Careful to hide her frustration Supergirl said, “What do you mean?”

“Well, we need an overload of power, something that overcomes this device’s ability to drain your energy, but allows enough to let you use your strength and escape.”

The three college students looked at one another with Dick asking the obvious, “So how do we do that?”

Mattie shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know.”

“Mattie!” Dick complained.

Supergirl was about to intervene when she saw danger approaching, “Dick, Mattie get out here!”

The girl turned just in time to be grabbed by a thin tentacle from Nano. Dick jumped off the box and charged at the doctor. Supergirl warned him not to but he still pushed forward. Nano holding Mattie with one nano-limb just shot out another and grabbed Dick. Kara struggled with renewed vigor but it was no use. Nano’s look had changed since she last saw her. Emily’s whole body except for her head was covered with a skin tight silver layer of nano-bots; Nano had been busy replicating on Supergirl’s stolen energy. She was holding Kara’s friends by their necks.

“Nano, don’t hurt them!” Supergirl pleaded.

“Well, I never expected this, maybe another superhero, or the police, not my former assistant.” Nano remarked as she pulled Mattie in close.

Mattie was struggling for breath but still spoke, “Dr. Williams…Emily, please…I want to help you…these things…they’re twisting your mind…”

Nano was unimpressed, “No one can help me, and I don’t think I want them too.” She looked at Dick Malverne, “I don’t know you, but I’d assume you’ll be the most trouble.”

With that she tossed Dick away like he was a ragdoll. He crashed into the cliff face not far from Supergirl, falling off with a grunt. The Girl of Steel cried out, “NO!”

Nano walked forward still holding Mattie who was starting to suffer from a lack of air, “Hmm did you like that young man Supergirl? I wonder have you ever loss someone you loved, not family, but someone who connects with you on a deeper level?”

Supergirl was angry her blue eyes focused on Nano, “I swear…when I get…out of this…”

“You won’t.” Nano answered.

Dick came too only this time it wasn’t to the aches and pains of a night on the couch. His shoulder and arm were really sore, maybe broken. He was lying in the dirt some cuts on his face. He saw what apparently the rest of the machine which held Supergirl. All the wires and tubes fed back into a glowing circular item which was glowing like the sun. Dick may not have been as smart as Mattie, or superpowered, but he did recognize that usually glowing things in these situations explode.

Nano meanwhile had tossed Mattie aside finally letting the woman breathe. Supergirl had her head being wrapped up by Nano’s tendrils.

“I guess it’s time we move, eh battery?” the former scientist asked.

Dick standing a few feet away with the glowing disk interrupted, “Supergirl, I hope this is the right thing!”

Kara saw Dick toss the glowing disk at them with his good arm. Nano moved to intercept but the device seemingly exploded on contact with her. Dick was knocked back and off his feet by the blast. He felt a massive flash of heat and light before hitting his head on the ground. It knocked him out. Mattie was blown away as well, although not knocked out she was nearly so. Nano fell down many of her nano-bots destroyed by the blast. Unharmed though she reorganized her remaining ones and focused her helmet on where Supergirl should be.

“What…” Nano started to say, the Girl of Steel was gone.

A hand grabbed her, spinning her around. Supergirl stood there looking bright and powerful, “Surprise!”

The super-strong blow sounded like a thunderclap. Nano flew across the quarry slamming into a faraway wall of rock. Dust with bits of rock flew out from the impact. Kara could feel the last bit of solar energy being sucked up by her body. Dick had tossed the cell holding her power right at them and Kara was able to use it. Supergirl quickly blurred over to Mattie, picking her up. She did the same to retrieve Dick. Flying both of them back to Mattie’s car, Kara landed and gave instructions to the still conscious Mattie.

“Dick’s okay, nothing too serious, I’ve checked him out with my X-Rays. Call the police and tell them what’s going on here. I want you get as far away as you can.”

Mattie nodded, “Okay Supergirl, please I know what she’s done but…”

Supergirl touched Mattie, “Don’t worry I’ll try to save Dr. Williams.”

Reassured, Mattie got Dick into the car and pulled it away. Supergirl sighed in relief now that her friends were out of danger. Flying back to the quarry she hovered over the spot where Nano had gone into the rock. Kara was just about to scan with her super-vision when two sliver limbs reached out and slammed into her. They shoved her down onto the ground and pinned her in place. Supergirl pushed back but the limbs pushed her down with superior strength, causing the ground to buckle some under her body.

Nano came out the cliff wall, the twin limbs coming from her own hands, “You might have gotten a recharge with that solar cell Supergirl. But I drained you once, I can do it again!”

The limbs began to ooze over Kara’s body. This time Emily worked on covering Supergirl’s head and shoulders. Silver nano-bots slipped down Supergirl’s body once she was covered at the head, moving to swarm over her legs and boots. Finally and quite on purpose, Nano covered her famous S-symbol last. She wasn’t draining Supergirl yet, first she wanted to cut off her air and let the heroine gasp for oxygen.

“You foolish girl, you think your strength and powers matter when I can just drain your energy?” Nano began the process again. Golden lines of solar power flowed up her limbs and back to her.

Supergirl seemed to be losing her ability to struggle. Her sliver covered legs and arms stopped moving. Nano was pleased. She had gotten quite close to Supergirl, confident the heroine was once again her prisoner. Suddenly though Nano could feel her bots shutting down. She tried to figure out what was going on only to see the sliver over Supergirl was freezing. The ice spread up her tentacles and over her limbs. Nano tried to move but couldn’t, she was so cold. The icy mass exploded and Nano was knocked down onto her back. Looking up Emily saw Supergirl floating and taking some deep breathes.

Kara looked down at the doctor, she…drained me a bit…but I got her just as good, “Doctor I’d say you’re beginning to run low on nanomachines.”

Nano stood up and looked. Supergirl was right; the billions she had started with were now down to only a few hundred thousand. Only some sliver parts covered her suit now. Certainly she didn’t have enough to make any limbs to attack Supergirl with. She jumped trying to tackle the Girl of Steel. Kara grabbed Nano out of the air and slammed her down into the dirt. Nano grunted with the impact but answered back with a blow of her own. She elbowed Supergirl in the gut and shoved her back. The blows were backed with super-strength so Kara knew that the doctor probably had nano-bots still inside her body. Emily charged hoping to rip Supergirl’s head from her shoulders.

Supergirl went airborne again, avoiding the doctor and coming behind Nano. Grabbing her in a bear hug, Kara tried to squeeze the scientist into unconsciousness. Nano however was ready for that. She had her remaining nano-bots move over Supergirl’s arms and binds them together. As the silver mass formed around Kara’s wrists and hands, Emily slipped out of the relaxed grip. She proceeded to pummel Supergirl with punches and kicks. Kara was knocked back the repeated blows, unable to block any. The assault began wearing her down some. Satisfied the heroine was sufficiently staggered, Nano had the bots binding Supergirl’s hands together move up Supergirl’s body and to her neck.

Kara felt them tighten around her throat as they began choking her. Nano slipped behind her and locked her hands around Supergirl’s throat, aiding her machines, “This is where it ends Supergirl!”

The Last Daughter of Krypton gasped for air and fell to her knees. Nano yelled with rage, finally she would get vengeance for her husband. Emily’s mind ignored the logical points of the machines that she would be killing their best power source for replicating. She didn’t care she wanted Supergirl dead! Kara on the other hand knew that the fighting would just go on and on. Clearly trying to beat the machines was a losing battle. Supergirl could never be sure she destroyed all of them. So don’t, she thought, fight the woman.

Supergirl looked skyward and with some trouble managed to launch herself into the air, with Nano hanging off her back. The doctor wrapped her legs around Supergirl’s midsection for a better grip. Squeezing here too had the added effect of weakening Supergirl further. Kara pressed on though, their attitude climbing. Nano began to feel dizzy. So focused on killing Supergirl she forgot what was going on around her. She saw the clouds sky receding.

“No….you…..clever….b….” Emily never got the last word out.

Supergirl gasped for the thin air that was found over 15,000 feet above the ground as Nano’s grip failed and the doctor fell backward. Kara watched the scientist tumble for a bit before descending to grab her. Once she had Nano safely in hand, Supergirl scanned her body. The remaining nano-bots had slowed down. Kara grinned; she had hoped that the machines would burn up their remaining power fighting her. The added benefit of going this high had also caused them to work to keep their host, Emily, alive. Supergirl slowly descended, she didn’t want the machines to have enough power to replicate for a bit. Her next stop was going to be STAR Labs.

A Few Days Later

Dick and Mattie were sitting at a local fast food joint that was popular with the Met U students. Better than the standard fair around the campus, the burgers, fries, and other junk items of the menu were a favorite of most of the student body. The two were waiting for a third member of their party so they hadn’t ordered anything yet. Mattie was reading the online edition of The Daily Planet on her iPad. It was a follow up story about her former boss, Dr. Emily Williams. Supergirl had gotten Emily after their fight to STAR Labs. There, they used a specialized EMP device to neutralize the remaining nanomachines in her body. She locked up in a secure federal hospital. No one was quite sure what to do with her.

Mattie sighed, “Poor Dr. Williams, I wish they’d let me see her.”

Dick was not as sad, “Mattie she tried to kill us remember?” He pointed to the sling he wore on his right arm.

She looked annoyed with him, “She’s not responsible. Those damn nano-bots messed with her. She hasn’t even had time to grieve for Jeremy.”

“Sorry, I guess you’re right. Hopefully they can help her.” He offered as an olive branch.

“Sorry for snapping. I just wish people looked pass Nano and remembered she was once a brilliant scientist, and a nice lady.” Mattie said with a slump in her shoulders.

A hand on Mattie’s shoulder reassured her, “Don’t worry. I heard from my cuz that Supergirl is pushing for Dr. Williams to get all the help she can from the government.”

“Thanks Kara, see Dick not even Supergirl is holding a grudge.” Mattie smirked.

“I said I’m sorry, hey Kara.” He said greeting their last arrival.

Kara smiled and sat down, “Mattie I think poor Dick deserves a little slack.”

She was of course wearing her glasses and clothes over the uniform. Mattie had no idea of what was actually going on. She didn’t really notice the discomfort between Dick and Kara as the two settled in. She did give them a chance to talk though by getting up to order some food. With Mattie out of earshot Kara looked at Dick and started to talk, “Listen…”

“Let me go first.” He offered. Kara nodded; they both had a lot to talk about.

“Kara, a lot has changed.” He started. The blonde dipped her head in acknowledgement but also regret. She suspected this was coming. Knowing about her real identity was as Barbara said, ‘a lot of baggage’ and Dick might not want to deal with that. If he didn’t want to see her again, she would understand.

Dick must have picked up on her mood because he said, “You think I want you to go away?”

Kara was surprised, “I thought you might want that. Dick, I’m sorry I lied to you but…”

He didn’t let her finish, “I understand. I’m not happy about it but I understand it.” He pulled his chair closer and took Kara’s hand, “Kara, you were my friend long before I realized who you actually were. You’re sweet, kind, funny, always willing to help others, I should have known better since all the clues were already there.” Dick paused and looked at her with a smile, “I became friends with Kara Kent, and if Kara Kent is…well more than meets the eye, than I’m okay with it.”

The Girl of Steel smiled, her eyes a little damp, “Thank you Dick…I’m glad we’re still friends.”

They looked at each other and for a moment both had the same thought. Dick and Kara closed the distance between their lips. Just as they were going to meet, Dick pulled away, “No…we shouldn’t…”

“You’re right; we should let this new…openness work itself out first.” Kara quickly finished, her cheeks despite being able to resist tank shells were red now.

Dick too looked pretty flushed, “Right, good idea.”

They both saw how the other looked and laughed. Mattie coming back with a tray of food shook her head, gesh will those two just kiss each other and get over with it! I mean what more does Dick want in a lady? God Supergirl probably wouldn’t be good enough for the man!

[ksire_99]

Thanks for the cool story sgz! Poor Supergirl is used as a self recharging battery, has to be saved by the guy she has a crush on who now knows her secret id, then is almost choked out before prevailing, and then is left wanting in the end! sux to be Supergirl.

btw, I thought the hero always got the girl (er... other way around here) in the end

[tallyho]

Nice job, I enjoyed it.

[valugi]

another great story of supergirl