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Chapter 326: The Berserk Power Girl
On the other side of Earth, in the middle of a remote wilderness.
Rumble...
It was like the crash of immense thunder, but it exploded out of nowhere over the open ground. The roiling clouds seemed to be shaken apart, and cracks continuously spread across the land, as if a giant beast were struggling deep underground.
A huge mountain peak began to shake, as if its very foundation was collapsing. Sheets of rock broke off from the cliff faces, tumbling to the ground and kicking up dust that soared to the sky. The mountain peak's silhouette, faintly visible through the smoke, appeared particularly terrifying and sinister. The successive roars and explosions were like the wrathful shouts of God in the heavens.
But that wasn't God, just a girl who had lost control.
A white uniform, a red cape. The blonde girl clutched her head, screaming in mid-air. Even though she squeezed her eyes shut with all her might, a searing red glow still seeped out from between her eyelids.
It was Power Girl.
She flew erratically up and down in mid-air, like a headless fly. When she occasionally crashed into a massive mountain peak, the mountain was effortlessly pierced by her body as if it were butter, sending rocks tumbling down.
"Karen, you have to stop!"
A peculiar purple-and-black jet fighter followed closely behind. It was Huntress, piloting the "Hunter Jet" that had been built for her using technology from Starr Industries. However, its design was largely based on her memories of the Bat-Jet from Earth-2, basically making it a repainted model.
"Helena? Don't follow me, stay away!"
Karen struggled to keep her eyes shut, trying to suppress her Heat Vision, but this also left her blind. After crashing through several high mountains, she spiraled and plummeted to the ground.
Although the vicinity was a no-man's-land, so no innocents were harmed, this mountain range might have been the biggest loser.
If the mountains had spirits, what they would most want to say right now is probably, "First of all, I didn't provoke any of you..."
"I can't control it, do you hear me? I can't control it! My Heat Vision... I swear I don't want this, but my body feels so strange, it won't listen to me at all! It's as if... as if something has been dragged out from deep inside my body."
"Listen, you need to calm down." Helena's aircraft hovered in mid-air. "I've called for help; he should be here soon. For now, try to control it... think of something cold, anything you can."
"Cold things?"
Karen covered her eyes, desperately wracking her brain.
"The North Pole, ice cream, icebergs, the Titanic..."
The red glow still seeped continuously from between her eyelids. Karen shouted, her voice tinged with tears, "It's not working! My body is still so hot..."
"Then think about my father, think of his disapproving glare!" Helena said.
An image of Batman immediately appeared in Karen's mind—his stony face wearing a "you're in deep trouble" expression.
Her Heat Vision dissipated instantly.
"Whoa," Karen said, cautiously opening her eyes. "That actually worked..."
But the next moment, her expression changed abruptly again.
"Wait, Helena, I feel it again..."
She was instantly alarmed and yelled frantically.
"You have to get away, quickly! I can't hold it in, it's... it's coming out—
—Achoo!"
A violent sneeze, the kind that freezes hell over. Endless ice crystals erupted from her mouth, freezing a vast area before her in a hurricane of frost.
Helena struggled to keep her fighter jet balanced in the storm. "Uh, okay. Looks like we overdid the cooling a bit..."
From the corner of her eye, Karen caught a glimpse of an afterimage on the horizon. A streak of red and silver light, amidst surging lightning. Even from thousands of miles away, her eyes could already see it.
"Ah, he's here... Looks like this is the end of it," Karen murmured.
"I'm the one who called him," Helena said. "He's here to help, he won't hurt you..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Orin Vale had already descended from the sky with an electric arc, slamming straight into Karen. With a deafening rumble, the two of them shot into the ground, causing the earth to crack and dust to fly.
Helena...
Right, as if she never said that.
That dive punch was incredibly heavy, so much so that even Karen felt like her lungs were about to be blasted out of her chest. She was driven deeper and deeper, feeling the continuous impact, the astonishing speed, and an electrifying sensation, like a flash of lightning.
After a dizzying tumble, they finally stopped.
She didn't know how far she'd been driven into the ground, only that they went so deep even she could feel a suffocating, scorching heat. Dazed and disoriented, she pushed herself up, panting, her hands propped against the ground that was thousands of degrees hot.
Her mind felt groggy, but she was quickly surprised to find that her eyes were no longer burning, and the cold air she felt was about to burst from her throat was gone.
Her arms no longer felt like they were brimming with inexhaustible power. Although her body still felt strange, at least it was no longer a powder keg ready to explode at any moment.
"Phew~ Thanks." Karen let out a long sigh of relief, finally relaxing her tense nerves and sitting down.
She had been completely focused on fighting the berserk energy in her body, and only now could she finally catch her breath. She looked up at Orin Vale, who had landed in front of her.
"What did you do to me? How did you make my body listen to me?"
"I didn't do anything. Earth did."
Orin Vale smiled.
"You might not have noticed it yourself, but besides the basic enhancements to your strength and speed, many other parts of your superpower are closely related to the conversion of electromagnetic energy.
I just scanned you with my Super Vision and discovered a strange magnetic field inside you was interfering with the functioning of your body. Although I can't yet identify who's behind this, it's clear it was done by someone who knows a lot about Kryptonian physiology, triggering the loss of control over your abilities."
Orin Vale wagged his finger.
"So I brought you here. This place should be able to calm you down."
Karen was startled. Only then did she look around and notice their location.
All around them were red-hot rocks that seemed forged in an inferno, etched with lines as if branded by time itself. They looked like the very veins of the Earth, radiating intense heat in the darkness.
And there was the liquid, red as a blazing flame, constantly churning. It was magma, like the blood of the Earth, dancing like an invisible fire phoenix in this space hundreds of miles underground.
Oh, so her legs were currently soaking in magma.
Karen was a scientist, after all, and she had a sudden realization.
"This is between the upper and lower Mantle. At this depth, the magnetic field generated by the Earth's Core is extremely strong. Whatever the enemy did to me, their magnetic field would inevitably be disrupted by the magnetic field of the Earth's Core... Brilliant! So that's why I'm back to normal. You came up with this idea the moment you arrived on the scene, just from a single glance?"
Her gaze toward Orin Vale now held a bit more admiration.
"I wouldn't say you're back to normal just yet. The thing inside you is still there; it's just been temporarily disrupted by the magnetic field of the Earth's Core." Orin Vale said, continuing to scan her. "I can still see its influence, right there in your body, spread throughout all your physiological organs..."
At first, Karen nodded along like an attentive student listening to a lecture. But as she listened, she seemed to realize something was wrong. Her expression changed abruptly, and she warily hugged herself.
"Wait! Does that mean... you're using X-ray Vision on me???"
Orin Vale...
So that's what you're concerned about?
(end of chapter)
On the other side of Earth, in the middle of a remote wilderness.
Rumble...
It was like the crash of immense thunder, but it exploded out of nowhere over the open ground. The roiling clouds seemed to be shaken apart, and cracks continuously spread across the land, as if a giant beast were struggling deep underground.
A huge mountain peak began to shake, as if its very foundation was collapsing. Sheets of rock broke off from the cliff faces, tumbling to the ground and kicking up dust that soared to the sky. The mountain peak's silhouette, faintly visible through the smoke, appeared particularly terrifying and sinister. The successive roars and explosions were like the wrathful shouts of God in the heavens.
But that wasn't God, just a girl who had lost control.
A white uniform, a red cape. The blonde girl clutched her head, screaming in mid-air. Even though she squeezed her eyes shut with all her might, a searing red glow still seeped out from between her eyelids.
It was Power Girl.
She flew erratically up and down in mid-air, like a headless fly. When she occasionally crashed into a massive mountain peak, the mountain was effortlessly pierced by her body as if it were butter, sending rocks tumbling down.
"Karen, you have to stop!"
A peculiar purple-and-black jet fighter followed closely behind. It was Huntress, piloting the "Hunter Jet" that had been built for her using technology from Starr Industries. However, its design was largely based on her memories of the Bat-Jet from Earth-2, basically making it a repainted model.
"Helena? Don't follow me, stay away!"
Karen struggled to keep her eyes shut, trying to suppress her Heat Vision, but this also left her blind. After crashing through several high mountains, she spiraled and plummeted to the ground.
Although the vicinity was a no-man's-land, so no innocents were harmed, this mountain range might have been the biggest loser.
If the mountains had spirits, what they would most want to say right now is probably, "First of all, I didn't provoke any of you..."
"I can't control it, do you hear me? I can't control it! My Heat Vision... I swear I don't want this, but my body feels so strange, it won't listen to me at all! It's as if... as if something has been dragged out from deep inside my body."
"Listen, you need to calm down." Helena's aircraft hovered in mid-air. "I've called for help; he should be here soon. For now, try to control it... think of something cold, anything you can."
"Cold things?"
Karen covered her eyes, desperately wracking her brain.
"The North Pole, ice cream, icebergs, the Titanic..."
The red glow still seeped continuously from between her eyelids. Karen shouted, her voice tinged with tears, "It's not working! My body is still so hot..."
"Then think about my father, think of his disapproving glare!" Helena said.
An image of Batman immediately appeared in Karen's mind—his stony face wearing a "you're in deep trouble" expression.
Her Heat Vision dissipated instantly.
"Whoa," Karen said, cautiously opening her eyes. "That actually worked..."
But the next moment, her expression changed abruptly again.
"Wait, Helena, I feel it again..."
She was instantly alarmed and yelled frantically.
"You have to get away, quickly! I can't hold it in, it's... it's coming out—
—Achoo!"
A violent sneeze, the kind that freezes hell over. Endless ice crystals erupted from her mouth, freezing a vast area before her in a hurricane of frost.
Helena struggled to keep her fighter jet balanced in the storm. "Uh, okay. Looks like we overdid the cooling a bit..."
From the corner of her eye, Karen caught a glimpse of an afterimage on the horizon. A streak of red and silver light, amidst surging lightning. Even from thousands of miles away, her eyes could already see it.
"Ah, he's here... Looks like this is the end of it," Karen murmured.
"I'm the one who called him," Helena said. "He's here to help, he won't hurt you..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Orin Vale had already descended from the sky with an electric arc, slamming straight into Karen. With a deafening rumble, the two of them shot into the ground, causing the earth to crack and dust to fly.
Helena...
Right, as if she never said that.
That dive punch was incredibly heavy, so much so that even Karen felt like her lungs were about to be blasted out of her chest. She was driven deeper and deeper, feeling the continuous impact, the astonishing speed, and an electrifying sensation, like a flash of lightning.
After a dizzying tumble, they finally stopped.
She didn't know how far she'd been driven into the ground, only that they went so deep even she could feel a suffocating, scorching heat. Dazed and disoriented, she pushed herself up, panting, her hands propped against the ground that was thousands of degrees hot.
Her mind felt groggy, but she was quickly surprised to find that her eyes were no longer burning, and the cold air she felt was about to burst from her throat was gone.
Her arms no longer felt like they were brimming with inexhaustible power. Although her body still felt strange, at least it was no longer a powder keg ready to explode at any moment.
"Phew~ Thanks." Karen let out a long sigh of relief, finally relaxing her tense nerves and sitting down.
She had been completely focused on fighting the berserk energy in her body, and only now could she finally catch her breath. She looked up at Orin Vale, who had landed in front of her.
"What did you do to me? How did you make my body listen to me?"
"I didn't do anything. Earth did."
Orin Vale smiled.
"You might not have noticed it yourself, but besides the basic enhancements to your strength and speed, many other parts of your superpower are closely related to the conversion of electromagnetic energy.
I just scanned you with my Super Vision and discovered a strange magnetic field inside you was interfering with the functioning of your body. Although I can't yet identify who's behind this, it's clear it was done by someone who knows a lot about Kryptonian physiology, triggering the loss of control over your abilities."
Orin Vale wagged his finger.
"So I brought you here. This place should be able to calm you down."
Karen was startled. Only then did she look around and notice their location.
All around them were red-hot rocks that seemed forged in an inferno, etched with lines as if branded by time itself. They looked like the very veins of the Earth, radiating intense heat in the darkness.
And there was the liquid, red as a blazing flame, constantly churning. It was magma, like the blood of the Earth, dancing like an invisible fire phoenix in this space hundreds of miles underground.
Oh, so her legs were currently soaking in magma.
Karen was a scientist, after all, and she had a sudden realization.
"This is between the upper and lower Mantle. At this depth, the magnetic field generated by the Earth's Core is extremely strong. Whatever the enemy did to me, their magnetic field would inevitably be disrupted by the magnetic field of the Earth's Core... Brilliant! So that's why I'm back to normal. You came up with this idea the moment you arrived on the scene, just from a single glance?"
Her gaze toward Orin Vale now held a bit more admiration.
"I wouldn't say you're back to normal just yet. The thing inside you is still there; it's just been temporarily disrupted by the magnetic field of the Earth's Core." Orin Vale said, continuing to scan her. "I can still see its influence, right there in your body, spread throughout all your physiological organs..."
At first, Karen nodded along like an attentive student listening to a lecture. But as she listened, she seemed to realize something was wrong. Her expression changed abruptly, and she warily hugged herself.
"Wait! Does that mean... you're using X-ray Vision on me???"
Orin Vale...
So that's what you're concerned about?
(end of chapter)
