Rise of Supergirl Ch. 8 (Marvel/Twilight)

Interlude II

Nick Fury couldn't believe what he was seeing. An enhanced individual that outed herself over the damn internet. She took control of her own narrative before anyone even knew she existed. They couldn't even take down her Youtube account! The people already saw her as a hero, and she'd barely even done anything! She'd stopped some street-level crime, at best. 

If there was one thing that Fury had learned over his life, it was that appearance and first impressions were key. A bright, happy, young blonde girl was a much more palatable superhero to the masses than someone like Tony Stark.

Supergirl reminded the world of the days when heroes walked among them. Fury knew there were more special people than just Captain America who helped their country get to where it was today, but to the masses, Captain America was the representative of American heroes throughout history.

Supergirl brought back that same fervor for something greater than humanity. Something to aspire to above one's own mortality. Fury couldn't think of an organization on the planet that didn't want to get their hands on the girl. Literally everyone on the planet was interested in her, for good or ill.

Supergirl even had the same colour-scheme as Captain America! Whoever her marketing manager was, they deserved a raise. Though, now that he thought about it, for some reason, Fury couldn't see Supergirl having any sort of staff or employees behind her at all. She seemed far too lackadaisical to answer to anyone like that. She gave off the vibes of an inner-city co-ed away from home for the first time.

Fury scoured every database within his authority and hadn't been able to find a single piece of intel on Earth's newest hero. She just appeared one day, out of the blue. There were no paper-trails at all. He couldn't even find a birth certificate!

Not that he knew her name, but the facial recognition software he had at his disposal was leagues more advanced than what was available to the public. He should've been able to find out everything about this girl with a few searches and clicks of a button. Technology had made him spoiled, evidently.

Even still, Fury found nothing, and that unsettled him more than anything. Supergirl was a complete unknown, and yet... She may be just what Fury needed.

An Avenger.

As Fury looked out the window of the bridge of his brand new helicarrier, he imagined a future where the Earth was protected by a team of humanity's greatest defenders. Whether that fantasy could become a reality or not, only time would tell.

-x-X-x-

Tony Stark was a firm believer in the 'half-your-age plus seven' rule. If he wasn't, he would probably devote a significant amount of time to seducing the famous Supergirl. The key was literally in her name, though. Girl. She was way too young.

Way too damn young.

Tony only had to tell himself that about a dozen times before it sunk in. At least Supergirl had clarified that she was eighteen or Tony would feel like an even bigger pervert than he admittedly was.

At least he wasn't as bad as those horny bastards on the internet. Supergirl's costume showed off her thighs just a little and those incels lost their minds. They don't see her as a living, breathing person. Shit, Tony wouldn't be surprised to find the internet filled with Supergirl role-play porn by the end of the week, at the latest.

Tony wouldn't ever recommend surfing the internet if one was looking for bright, positive examples of humanity. The internet was a wild, lawless place and every day it evolved further and further. It was nearly impossible to truly regulate in its current form.

Tony might be able to manage it if he could take over the industry entirely, but he doubted any government would let that happen. Monopolies are only allowed for the people who are already in charge, apparently.

Tony was a little disappointed in the perverted tendencies of his fellow man, but he couldn't blame them that much. Supergirl was a world-wide sex symbol already, after barely a week! Her skin-tight top and tiny skirt weren't helping with her legion of horny fans.

At least she had an equal spread on both sides of the fence. Supergirl appealed to all genders. Her super-attractiveness was pretty much agreed upon unanimously. She was gorgeous, pure and simple.

Not that Tony was slut-shaming her for wearing whatever she wanted or anything like that. He'd worn more scandalous outfits to award ceremonies and company functions.

He was undoubtedly a bigger man-whore than anyone else on the planet, save for actual prostitutes. Tony was pretty sure he had an addiction to sex, but he wasn't too broken up about it. It paired well with his alcoholism, rampant drug use, and narcissistic personality disorder.

Tony was a bundle of fun, and he knew it. What others called personality defects, Tony called eccentric charm. He could get away with having a personality of his own, unlike the vast numbers of corporate drones who had to toe the line every second of their lives to preserve their jobs and livelihoods. The perks of being a genuine genius. People needed him. He didn't need them.

That was why Tony wasn't too broken up about Fury's rejection to Tony joining his cute little boyband. He couldn't help but think that the same wasn't true for his young, blonde contemporary. If the world ever needed her, Tony had no doubt Supergirl would answer the call.

Not that Tony wouldn't use his genius to help the world, but he didn't see himself as the hero type. No, that was more Supergirl's speed. The girl was already adored the world over for her charm and heroics. She flew around saving people for hours, every day, seemingly without rest, and certainly without reward. Monetary, at least.

Tony had watched hours of footage of Supergirl saving the day from cell phones and security cameras. Whenever someone offered a reward for her services, she turned them down. Whenever anyone needed her help, she'd be there, even if it was just to help get a cat down from a tree.

There were so many mysteries about the girl and his professional curiosity was the one thing he absolutely could not suppress. He had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind that he would meet her at some point in the future, and he looked forward to it eagerly. The scientist in him screamed out with joy for the chance to meet a genuine superhuman, far beyond anything the world had ever seen.

Tony couldn't help but wonder how Supergirl would measure up to the most famous hero of Tony's father's generation, Captain America. He who was widely acknowledged as the greatest hero of the Second World War. The man who defeated Red Skull and Hydra, bringing peace to a world ravaged by conflict, at the cost of his own life.

A true hero...

-x-X-x-

The three Kings of the Vampires, Aro, Marcus, and Caius sat silently on their thrones, discomforted after viewing a viral video along with a report from one of their guards. There was a new player on the board.

Supergirl...

"What do you make of this, Aro?" Caius asked, uncharacteristically somber.

"The girl is fascinating, brothers. I haven't seen anything like her before. I am... intrigued," Aro smiled with barely suppressed glee.

Caius bared his teeth in agitation, snarling his opinion, "She's a threat! She's stronger than us! Faster than us! What are we supposed to do against her in the air? We need to come up with some sort of countermeasure, but until then... We can't afford to provoke her."

Aro merely smiled placidly. "Oh, I do agree with you, brother," he said. "That's why it's best to sit back and let things play out as they will. We, the Volturi, cannot afford to provoke an unknown with such impressive abilities. Not yet. For now, we'll watch and wait, as we have always done. We are entering into another new age. It's up to the three of us to ensure the Volturi prevail."

Marcus and Caius nodded in agreement, the three vampire kings settling into an unnatural stillness upon their thrones, each with their own thoughts. They could wait for as long as was needed. If there was one thing vampires possessed, it was patience. They had all the time in the world.

-x-X-x-

Dru-Zod, General of Krypton, had never known despair as soul-crushing as he did in this moment.

Upon being freed from their incarceration in the Phantom Zone, Zod and his loyal supporters found themselves surrounded by the shattered remnants of a Krypton that imploded upon itself, just as Jor-El predicted.

And, just as Zod predicted, everything was lost.

EVERYTHING!

Billions of innocents! All of them, dead and gone! Reduced to the annals of history along with the very land beneath their feet! It was all gone! All dead!

Dead! Dead! Dead!

DEAD!

All because Zod wasn't good enough- wasn't strong enough- to take control of his people's destiny when it truly mattered. His coup was Krypton's last hope, and it failed miserably.

He failed. He was a failure, and this was his punishment.

Zod lost everything and Krypton paid the ultimate price. He should've been more merciless and done what needed to be done to secure a stable peace. He regretted a great many things, Jor-El's death foremost among them. Perhaps if things had been different... If they'd worked together... If Jor-El hadn't turned against him at the worst possible moment...

There were so many what-ifs and could-have-beens. Zod was practically ill from his regret and rage. He wanted to lash out and destroy everything around him, but this prison-ship he and his loyalists were sealed on was all they had left of Krypton. He couldn't afford to make any mistakes. They couldn't handle any more losses.

The survival of their race depended on Zod's abilities as a leader. He needed to start looking to the future. The past would need to be buried, along with his pain and burgeoning madness. He had almost nothing left, but that distinction was key. 

Almost. 

Krypton was destroyed, but that didn't mean the end for the Kryptonians. There were still a few of them left. Perhaps there was an intact Birthing Matrix somewhere among the old outposts from which would rise a new generation, unburdened by the failures of their predecessors. 

A new Krypton.

So long as he breathed, Zod would not rest until he'd restored his people to a semblance of their former glory. At the very least, he would find a way to keep their bloodlines alive in this terrible, cruel universe.

Zod would not fail again.

Never again.