Chapter 20

Nuvo-Gen

The night-watch security guard in the lobby looked up as his replacement for the night showed up. It wasn't who he was expecting; it was a muscular, blonde-haired man holding a lunchbox.

"Hi," said the man, "Ollie. I'm filling in."

"What happened to Frank?" the guard asked as he shook Ollie's hand.

"I heard some contest guy showed up at his door; got a free trip to Aruba!"

"Why him and not me?" complained the guard as he got up to leave.

"Tell me about it. You have a good one!"

"Good cold one's more like it." The guard put his keycard in the slot and opened the door, walking away without a backwards glance.

As the door began to close, Supergirl rushed in, holding Green Arrow's bow and quiver. "Free trip to Aruba?" she asked teasingly.

"Had to send Frank somewhere; shame how he dropped his keycard, though."

"And his lunch!" came a squeaky voice. Green Arrow opened up the lunchbox to find Grey Matter chewing on a sandwich.

"What are you doing?" asked Supergirl.

"I thought the plan was for me to sneak in with Ollie?"

"No, not that," said Supergirl, "I mean, why are you eating the sandwich?"

Grey Matter swallowed. "I was hungry."

The other two heroes rolled their eyes, and while Green Arrow got changed in a closet, Grey Matter turned into Ben. After a few minutes of wandering, they found the company record room. Unbeknownst to them, a white-gloved hand opened up the front door.

…

"I never heard of Nuvo-Gen, or Halstrom until last night; this girl I've been seeing slipped it to me, said I could run with it." Lasser confessed everything to Question.

"The girl," demanded the faceless hero, "tell me more."

"She's just a girl," said Lasser, not knowing where this was going, "blonde hair, blue eyes; real farmers-daughter type."

"And a handshake like a vice?" asked Question.

"Y-yeah, really strong, how did you…"

"How long have you been seeing her?" the hero interrupted.

"About a week."

"She have bad dreams?"

"More like tossing and turning."

Question tapped his chin in thought. "Can't sleep at night…"

A few seconds later, Lasser was hurled out of the taxi, and Question sped off towards Nuvo-Gen.

Nuvo-Gen

"Halstrom was getting a lot of emails from their legal department," said Green Arrow. He was staring at one computer, while Ben and Supergirl sat at another. "Looks like they were scared he was gonna blow the whistle on something."

After looking at another file, he sat back in amazement. "I don't believe this; that crazy old Hardcastle was right. These guys claim to be splicing hardier tomatoes, but they've really been experimenting with metahuman DNA."

"Not just any DNA," said Supergirl, her voice shaky. Arrow turned to see Ben's hand on her shoulder again, both of them staring at the computer screen. "They're using my DNA."

Green Arrow rushed over to see images and video clips of an older Supergirl. One of the clips showed the clone fighting jetpack-wearing enemies.

"This folder was marked 'Metropolis Training Exercises'." Supergirl sat back. "It's me."

"Um, a little more mature than you," commented Green Arrow when he saw the older-looking clone, "but I see your point."

"So I was cloned." Ben was a little unnerved how calm Supergirl was acting. "We must have some sort of psychic link; that's how I'm seeing things I didn't do."

Their heads jerked up when they saw a blur of motion outside the room. Ben reflexively activated the Ultimatrix, turning into the last alien he'd selected, Grey Matter. Not giving him time to change forms, Supergirl placed him on her shoulder and rushed off. Green Arrow ran to catch up. The trio entered a massive, empty room, with no one inside. The floor was covered in purple, hexagonal plates. As they walked inside, the walls, ceiling and floor lit up, and after a few seconds, they found themselves in Metropolis.

"What's going on?" asked Supergirl.

"We appear to be inside of a massive hard-light construct," explained the super-smart Grey Matter, "most likely used as training area."

"My training area."

The heroes looked up to see the clone of Supergirl flying down towards them. She collided with Supergirl, sending both her and Grey Matter through the side of a building. She then flew up into the air. Supergirl, after shaking off her daze, followed with Grey Matter still hanging onto her shoulder.

"So, what do you think?" asked Galatea, as she spread her arms, "It's important that you like yourself, and I'm you; just accelerated a few extra years, plus better trained, and I have to say, a heck of a lot smarter."

"I don't like her," said Grey Matter, "she's really full of it."

"Yeah," agreed Supergirl, "but she did lure us here, after her lackeys couldn't get rid of me at S.T.A.R, she decided to deal with me herself, on her home turf."

"It's like you're reading my mind," said Galatea, "which is actually the problem, and why you have to-AGH!" the clone was cut off when Grey Matter jumped and latched onto her face. He did everything he could to annoy her, even going so far as giving her a Wet-Willie. After a few moments, she grabbed him.

"What were you hoping to accomplish with all that?" she asked.

"I wasn't 'hoping' to do anything," said a smug Grey Matter, "what I did do was distract you."

Galatea looked up, just in time to see Supergirl land a punch on her jaw. The shock loosened her grip on Grey Matter, who fell to the street below. Before he actually went splat, he slapped the Ultimatrix dial.

"BIG CHILL!" the blue mothman flew up to rejoin the battle.

Supergirl found herself struggling to even hurt her clone, much less beat her. She was slammed through a building before she could capitalize on her surprise attack. As she got back up, she saw the clone engulfed by an explosion; Green Arrow had fired an explosive shot… that did absolutely nothing, save for making the clone fire a blast of heat-vision that knocked the archer into a car, and then into unconsciousness.

"Arrow!" Supergirl tried to help her friend, but the clone grabbed her cape and flung her into the street.

Galatea headed for her, but found her body encased in a layer of ice. She looked up to see Big Chill waving at her. Snarling, she flexed, shattering the ice. She rocketed towards Big Chill and thrust her fist through his chest!

"NO!" Supergirl saw her clone's arm going through her friend. But something was wrong; the clone had performed a fatal move, but Big Chill didn't even look worried. He flew backwards, showing that he wasn't injured at all.

"Sorry," he said in a smug tone, "intangibility makes it hard to hurt me."

"Doesn't matter," said the clone, "I might not be able to kill you, but you don't have the power to stop me, either!"

"Are you so sure?" asked Big Chill, "Then it's time to go Ultimate!" he twisted the Ultimatrix dial, then slapped it. Four spikes poked out, while Big Chill became red and yellow in color, while his wings and face took on a flame-like appearance.

"ULTIMATE BIG CHILL!" his voice was deep and gravelly.

Ultimate Big Chill took a deep breath, then breathed out a massive wave of fire; the clone raised her arms to defend herself, but when the flame passed, she was covered head-to-toe in an enormous chunk of ice. When she fell to the ground, Ultimate Big Chill flew over to Supergirl.

"How did you…?"

"Fire so cold it burns." Ultimate Big Chill said.

"I think you might need to do it again."

Ultimate Big Chill turned, just in time to see the clone, who had broken out of the ice, slam a fist into his face. With no time to turn intangible, he was knocked up into the air and through the window of a building and knocking him out. In a flash of green light, he turned back into Big Chill, then back into Ben.

Enraged, Supergirl grabbed a fallen streetlamp and swung it like a baseball bat, knocking Galatea through several buildings. Supergirl followed and tried to punch the clone, who dodged and kicked her into the street below. As Supergirl slowly got to her feet, the clone flew down and delivered a powerful uppercut. Before Supergirl could react, she was grabbed by the front of her shirt and felt a knee driven into her stomach, then an elbow in her back. She was able to counter with a punch that sent Galatea flying, which was followed by another blow that sent the clone through another building.

Meanwhile, Ben slowly came to. Glancing out of a window, he saw the fight between the two Kryptonians. Supergirl seemed to be getting the worst of it; Ben's eyes widened as he saw his friend get smashed by an entire building.

"It's Hero Time!" Ben said as he activated the Ultimatrix. After the familiar flash of light came a roar.

"HUMONGOSAUR!" the alien looked down. "Okay, I was going for Gravattack, but I suppose that this'll do."

He jumped out of the window; he was about forty feet up, but he simply grew in size, so that the impact was lessened. He ran towards the fight. He glanced to his left and noticed that Green Arrow was finally waking up, supported by Question. Humongosaur blinked; when had he showed up?

"Anything break?" asked the faceless man.

"Just my stride." Quipped the archer.

"Nap's over," said Question, "come on."

…

Supergirl slowly crawled out of the rubble that the clone had buried her under. Her costume was torn, and she was covered in cuts and bruises. It took a moment, but she started seeing only one Galatea approach her instead of three. The clone looked down at her.

"Next time," she snarled, "get your own dreams."

"Who do you work for?" Supergirl asked weakly. She was hoping to buy a little time so that her healing factor could kick in.

"Really? At the top?" Galatea looked amused, "Even I don't know that. But I do know that I can't work in secret if you keep seeing what I do." Her heat-vision began to charge up. "So, sayonara, sister."

"That's not the only reason, is it?" Galatea turned to see Question, Green Arrow and a much larger Humongosaur. Supergirl sighed; she was glad that her friends were okay, especially Ben.

"You were setting up this bait even before Supergirl started asking questions." Continued Question, as he approached the clone, seemingly unafraid of her, "It's because the link works both ways; while she was seeing what you were doing, you were feeling her conscience." The clone turned away, as if that could deny what he was saying. "That's why you couldn't sleep at night. And I'll bet that got in the way of your work."

He leaned In close. "It bites having someone in your head, doesn't it?"

"Y-you don't know what you're talking about." The clone denied.

"No?" asked The Question, as he moved in closer. "Prove it. Kill me."

Humongosaur's eyes went wide; that was one hell of a gamble. The clone drew back a fist; Green Arrow got another arrow ready, while Humongosaur growled and took a fighting stance. The clone's fist shook, then froze. Before she could make a move, Supergirl raised a truck over her head, and smashed it into her clone. The car exploded, while Question moved out of the way; he was smart enough to never get in the way of a super-fight.

Humongosaur, on the other hand, charged forward to help. He slammed a fist into Galatea, knocking her to the ground, while Supergirl ripped a steel girder out of a wall and charged forward. Humongosaur kicked the clone to her, and Supergirl knocked the clone right back at him. They did this back-and-forth for a minute or two, not giving the clone a chance to fight back.

Finally, the clone got her balance back; her costume was shredded, and she was covered in injuries. She took a fighting stance, as did her opponents. Just as they began to charge, however, the part of the floor between them exploded!

"NO!" shouted Galatea, to someone that the heroes couldn't see. "I CAN DO THIS!"

Humongosaur saw cracks form underneath the clone's feet, and knew another explosion was coming; he tried to save her, but he was too late. The blast knocked him back; all he saw was a faint silhouette of the clone, and heard a scream that he knew would haunt his dreams for a while.

"Come on!" yelled Supergirl, "We have to go!"

Humongosaur nodded, then transformed into Jet Ray. He grabbed Question, while Supergirl got Green Arrow; the four made it out just as Nuvo-Gen exploded.

Watchtower

A few hours later, after Supergirl got an undamaged costume from her room and the four made a report to the senior members of the League, the four made their way back to Question's room. Supergirl was currently on the phone with Professor Hamilton.

"…We searched what was left of the place, but we never found the clone." She finished.

"Maybe there was nothing left to find." Suggested Green Arrow.

"Or that's what they want us to think." Said Question ominously.

"I'm just glad you're okay, Supergirl." Came the worried voice of Hamilton from Question's communicator.

"Professor," said Supergirl nervously, "to make this clone of me, they would've needed a DNA sample. Is there any chance that it came from your lab?"

"No," assured Hamilton, "we always destroy genetic material after surgery, it's standard procedure."

Supergirl nodded, even though Hamilton couldn't see her. "Okay. Thanks, Professor."

"Give my best to Superman."

"Will do." She hung up, then placed her hand over the now-familiar weight on her shoulder. She looked up at Ben, who gave her a smile.

She turned her face away from him and closed her eyes for a moment; she just felt safe when Ben did that. Obviously, she was nearly indestructible, but when Ben put his hand on her shoulder, it made her feel safe in a way she couldn't describe.

Maybe Ben'll feel the same about me, she thought, but I won't push it; I don't want to open up old wounds.

"Why would someone clone you in the first place?" asked Ben softly. He could tell that she was still upset about all of this; all he could do was try to comfort her to the best of his ability.

"This all started because Superman went renegade." The Question was staring at his board again. "They want a superhuman alien on their side if it ever happens again."

"Whoever they are." Said Supergirl nervously.

Smallville, Kansas

In a flash of light, Ben and Kara appeared in the Kent barn; Superman had told his cousin to go home and rest, and Ben had volunteered to accompany her, before heading home himself. That wasn't necessarily untrue; he did want to walk her home, but he had another purpose as well. It had been made clear that Kara had feelings for him. Now he found that he had developed similar feelings towards her. He had worked up his courage, now he needed to ask.

As the two walked out of the barn and towards the house, Kara turned to Ben.

"Thanks for this, Ben," said Kara, "but you really didn't have to escort me home."

"I know I didn't have to," Ben replied, "but I wanted to."

Kara smiled, and the two spent a few moments walking in silence, before Ben spoke up again.

"Hey, Kara," he began, "do you remember when I said that if I had a problem, no matter how small, I could come to you?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, you know that that's a two-way street."

"What do you mean?" asked Kara.

"Well, if you have anything that you want to talk about, I'll be there for you." Ben said it in all seriousness, but he had a slight blush.

"Thanks, Ben."

"No problem." As they reached the house, Ben stopped. "Say, Kara…"

"Yeah?"

"Are you…" Ben swallowed nervously. He'd fought warlords, criminals and psychopaths; why did this make him so nervous? "Are you doing anything this Saturday?"

Kara's eyes went wide. Is he going to…?

"Uh, no," she said, cursing herself for her sudden nervousness, "I'm free this Saturday, why?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping you'd like to see a movie that just came out, plus there's this restaurant that opened up near the theater that looks good. Do you want to go?" Ben mentally applauded himself for managing to look Kara in the eye while asking.

Oh my god, thought Kara, he's asking me out! I can't believe it! Yes! Wahoo!

"Uh, Kara?" Ben asked, "You okay?"

Embarrassed, Kara realized that she'd been staring at Ben for several moments, not moving.

"Um, yeah! I'd love to!" Kara couldn't keep the smile, nor the blush, from appearing on her face.

"Great! See you Saturday!" With an equally strong smile and blush on his face, Ben turned to leave.

Kara also began to head to the house, when she heard Ben's voice.

"Oh! I almost forgot!"

Kara turned to see Ben heading towards her. Before she could ask what was doing, he had pressed his lips against her cheek. The kiss only lasted for a moment, before Ben backed up, turned into Jet Ray, and flew off. Kara stood on the porch for a minute, stunned, before pumping a fist and spinning around.

"Yahoo!"

Unknown Location

Professor Hamilton walked over to the operating room; there, surrounded by military and government officials, lay Supergirl's clone. Her hair was gone, and her body was one massive bruise; she was hooked up to life-support and clearly wasn't going anywhere for a while.

"You rest," said Hamilton softly, as he cupped her cheek in his hand, "we'll have you fixed up in no time, Galatea."