Return

Supergirl:

As The Man and I look at each other, my hand on his arm, I see he starts to lend closer in.

"What are you doing," I say, stepping back and pulling back my hand.

"I--I---I," The Man stutters, before running out the door. Meanwhile, I'm just standing there, looking at the door.

"What was that," I ask myself, now looking at my hand. Everything just feels weird now. I feel uncomfortable and empty and alone. I feel a headache coming on and replaying what just happened isn't helping.

"What was that," I ask again, slapping my hands against my head. "What was that?"

"Head up," someone screams, snapping me out of my thoughts. Looking up in time, I see Selina in the air, her foot stretches out. Before I could react, Selina hits me in the chest and knock me to the ground. Backflipping through the air, Selina lands gracefully on her knee.

"Supergirl," she starts, standing up. "0. Catwoman: 3."

Walking up to me, Selina then offers me her hand. I roll my eyes before taking it and letting Selina pull me back up.

"Hey," she says, hitting me in the arm. "What's up? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," I reply, "Why?"

"Because in the span of ten minutes, I knocked you to the ground three times. Come on, this is supposed to be an, in the man's word, 'an assessment test'. We're supposed to see how well we can handle ourselves in a fight."

"I can handle myself just fine in a fight."

"That what I thought too, before the last ten minutes."

"Okay. You want to see how well I can handle myself in a fight. Let go then. Round 3."

"4," Selina says, turning around to walk away. "It's round 4 for the record."

"Okay," I think to myself, "Okay. Time to focus. Just forget about him for a second. Time to fight."

Selina and I are only about ten feet from one another. The two of us in our fighting stance, I'm hovering while Selina is crouching, I am the first to make a move. Flying toward Selina, my fist outward.

About to hit Selina, she jumps right over me.

Stopping before I can hit the wall, I turn around to see Selina land once more on her feet. Pulling out her whip, she snaps it against the ground.

"You're going have to move a lot faster than that," Selina smiles, crouching down again.

"Fine then," I reply, shooting toward Selina again. Despite not jumping, Selina dodges my fist. Stepping out of the way, she then slaps something on my back and pushes me away.

Stumbling a bit, I try to fly but couldn't.

"What the," I scream, turning around only to see Selina's whip go around my feet. Even before I could do anything, she pulls and once again, knock me to the floor.

"Do you want a round 5," Selina asks, offering me her hand again. This time, I get up on my own.

"This doesn't mean anything. Okay?"

"Got it."

"And what did you put on me?"

Once more, I try to fly but can't. Jumping over and over, all that happens is that I fall on the floor.

"It called an anchor," Selina replies, grabbing and spinning me around. Grabbing something off my back, she then shows me something small and silver.

"An anchor," I repeat.

"An anchor," Selina says again. "Apparently, it called that because it can weigh anyone down. Basically, stop them from flying."

"How did you come up with this?"

"It's not mine, it's uh, his."

"His?"

"His. You know, The Man."

Almost immediately, as soon as I hear his name, something forms in my throat and I have to cough a little.

"Yeah, it came with the suit. Hey, watch this."

Selina slapping her wrist, an entire, hologram screen leaps out into the air in front of us. Stepping back, I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Neat isn't it. I discovered this a few days ago. It's a sort of catalog of all of the things our suits can do. Look."

Stepping forward, she taps on the screen, right on the word 'anchor'. On cue, a picture of the same anchor Selina used on me appears on the screen, with details of what it does besides it.

"Does my suit have one," I say, also slapping my wrist. Like Selina, a screen shoots up into the air, in front of us.

"Your can transform into a scuba suit," Selina says, "That's not fair. Mine can't."

Like Selina, I tap on the scuba feature and it shows my suit changing, from what I'm wearing now to a new suit, one with a glass helmet and a tank on the back instead of a cape.

"The man sure knows how to build."

Once again, I feel something form in my throat. Just as I cough, a voice echoes throughout the room.

"Everyone meet up in the meeting room," The Man says, "Now. There's something going on and it's something you need to see."

Selina and I looking at each other, we exit the dojo and head for the meeting room.

The Man:

Captain Cold and Poison Ivy are the last two to walk in. Once in, I uncross my arm and press the button, activating the table's holo-display.

"See anyone you recognize," I ask, lending back as the holo-display shows someone in a yellow helmet with a blue suit and yellow cape.

"Dr. Fate," Dinah yells, before moaning and falling back into her seat.

"Kent," Oliver shouts, before groaning and falling back into his seat. "No way. Where had he been this whole time? We haven't seen him since the invasion."

"That's because, during the invasion, he was killed."

"What," scream a majority of the Insurgency as they all get up but slowly fall back down.

"What do you mean he was killed," Barry moans. "How can you possibly know?"

"Superman makes mention of his death in the One Earth Archive."

I reach into my pocket to pull out my cell phone.

"Hey Higgin," I start, "I need you to upload some files for me. The one I told you to hold onto about a month ago. Yeah. Thanks."

Ending the call, I wait for the files to be uploaded to my phone. Once they are, I upload them on the table's display for everyone to see. The display is now a photo of Dr. Fate, with some hand-written notes beside the photo.

"According to this, when Superman and Batman entered Brainiac's ship, one of the first foe they encountered with Dr. Fate. They defeated him, but it was only seconds later that he was impaled and absorbed into the wall."

"So if that's true," Captain Cold asks, "Then how is the old doctor back?"

I switch the display over to the previous, surveillance feed showing Dr. Fate flying high in the sky. As we all keep on watching, we see Dr. Fate waves his arms around before shooting them outward. As he does, a massive, golden cross appears behind him. It's less than a second later when three more Dr. Fates fly out from the cross before it disappears completely.

"Well that's new," I say, still watching as all the Dr. Fates gather up. The four of them talk with each other for a bit, before they all fly away in separate directions.

"Let me guess," Selina says, pointing at the display. "They're in Gotham City."

"Yup. They must be looking for us, but we're not in Gotham City anymore. Still."

I think it over, wondering what possible reasons Dr. Fate could have for wanting to find us so bad. Especially considering his refusal to help when Brainiac invaded.

"We should talk to him," Oliver moans, pushing himself up against the chair. "Kent can help us."

"I doubt it," I reply, rewinding the footage.

"What do you mean by that?"

"There's something more going on here, but I do think you're right. We should talk to him."

I look up at Cold and Ivy.

"Congrats you two for not showing up for the assessment test. Guess what you won; a doctor appointment."

I then look to Kara and Cat.

"Are you two okay?"

"We're fine," Cat replies, "We can go."

"Thanks. I guess I'll be going by myself. Considering."

Making circles with my hand, I look toward the rest, most still wearing ice packs as hats.

"Wait," Oliver moans, coughing into his fist. "I can come with you. You didn't beat me up too bad."

"I didn't beat anyone up. It was an assessment test."

"For the record, most tests don't give you a throbbing headache when you wake up."

"Exactly what kinds of tests do you take?"