Chapter 94

Black Canary PoV

We’ve only met only briefly, but my experiences with Supergirl have always been very positive. She was every bit Superman’s equal. Super strength, super speed, flight, heat vision, the works. Yet also like Superman, she didn’t let it get to her head.

Instead of going out and being a superhero like the others, she instead just wanted to…live a normal life. Learn about humans without being constantly supervised with superheroes looking over her shoulder 24/7. Striking it out on her own, and learning what it is that she wants.

In a way, she was just about the opposite of Galatea.

Despite having the natural ability to win against almost everyone on the planet, she was shy. A little bit unsure of herself. Something that could only be fixed with time on her own.

If the two were to actually fight…well, I’m sure Galatea would probably take it 9/10 times. She just had more experience, training, and confidence on her side.

But there was two strengths that Supergirl had, that Galatea didn’t. The first was that Supergirl actually liked humans. Maybe not to a point that most humans do, but it was definitely better than Galateas near complete ambivalence. That I could see being used against Galatea, as she would definitely fight on her own, whereas Supergirl would know when to ask for help.

The second…was independence.

The moment she was able to, Supergirl struck it out on her own. With no ones help or supervision. Getting herself an apartment and job in a city in less than a month. A rather decent job, at that.

Sure, Superman was there to help her out if needed, but she didn’t need him. Nor did she ask for his help. Heck, she didn’t even live in Metropolis. She lived closer to the west coast, two states away from the Titans.

Galatea on the other hand, was heavily dependent on Law. Both emotionally and mentally, he was her anchor. I doubt she’d even be a hero if it wasn’t for him. Honestly, it was possible that she’d be a Justice League level threat if left unchecked.

But that wasn’t exactly her fault.

No, the blame there lied with Cadmus. Of course, that was going to happen when someone is raised like a lab rat without socialization. Being trained as a weapon instead of a person. Experimented on by all sorts of disturbing individuals.

The outcome wasn’t exactly shocking, except to maybe Cadmus themselves.

Law was pretty much the only thing Galatea actually cared about. Well, besides beating and killing Supergirl, at least. While knowing when to rely on someone can be a strength, it was another thing entirely when it was a constant pressure. Despite being on a team, he was pretty much her only source of socialization.

Sure, Ravager was similar, but that was because Ravager was afraid of strengthening her bonds with the other members of the team. Galatea just didn’t care.

Supergirl maybe physically weaker, but emotionally she was much, much stronger than Galatea.

Which is why I was surprised when Superman reached out to me. Asking me to check on and have a little visit with his cousin. Originally, I was only supposed to check up on her with a yearly psych evaluation. Just to make sure everything was going alright and that she was adjusting, and said visit was only in another two months.

Yet Superman couldn’t help but be overly worried. Honestly, it was a wonder that he wasn’t already a parent. He definitely had the overprotectiveness aspect down pat.

Though to be fair to Superman, I could understand where he was coming from this time. Apparently, there had been a round of layoffs at her workplace, and that included Supergirl herself. But from what I’ve seen, that wasn’t something that would be capable of keeping Supergirl down.

It helped that due to her powers, she could easily save here and there with every paycheck. So, she was still in the green.

After shooting her a few texts, I made my way over to her apartment. Only to quickly note that it seemed that she had moved places. Likely to further cut down on costs.

A smart move. One that I should’ve expected from an independent girl such as herself.

Unfortunately, she seemed a bit busy to constantly respond to my texts, so I had to find her new address from Batman. Who, of course, had the information ready at hand.

No, he didn’t need to look it up. Because he already knew.

Of course he did.

Eventually I was finally able to track her down to a small strip of apartments downtown. It wasn’t the greatest of locations, but there wasn’t really anything to fear, considering her own abilities. I’d be surprised if she wasn’t able to hear me coming a mile away.

Literally.

My hand rapped against her door on the fourth floor. After waiting a few minutes, I did so again. This time when she didn’t respond, I started to get a bit worried, and texted her again.

It’d be one thing if she hadn’t text me back at all, but she was responding. Albeit with pretty ambivalent and disinterested answers. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I heard motion on the other side of the door. Slowly but surely, the door opened up.

Revealing…

“Oh, hey…”

Supergirl. Or at least, someone who had once been Supergirl. I had to actively fight from keeping the dawning horror and worry from appearing on my face as I took her in.

Her hair was an unwashed mess. Tangled and frayed out in places. Dark circles were under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept in days. She was currently wearing an oversized hoodie and pajama pants. Judging by the state of both, this wasn’t the first day she had worn them either.

Then…there was the smell.

She looked almost afraid of my presence as I met her gaze before smiling. Pretending like nothing was wrong as I gave her a nod.

“Hey girl. Was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by. Can I…?”

She brightened up at that.

…That…that wasn’t good. The fact that she was responding so positively at that meant that positive socialization wasn’t something she was receiving.

Oh baby…what happened to you?

“…Uh, yeah. C-come on in…”

She answered back, her cheeks reddening slightly in embarrassment as I stepped in. Yet despite being embarrassed, she still let me in. She was giving me her trust. Trust that I swear I wouldn’t betray no matter what.

Her apartment didn’t look…that bad. The dishes were piling up but…for someone with superspeed I guess that wasn’t a big deal. Out of the corner of my eye I could also see the groceries and brands she’s been buying.

Cereal, Cereal bars, milk, macaroni, frozen pizza, entire months’ worth of soda, Pringles, Doritos, Starburst, Nerds, Skittles, Oreos, Bread, Peanut Butter…

Oh dear. This…

This was bad.

It didn’t take a genius to understand what was going on, but what I really wanted to know was how? What had done this to her? The oversized hoodie…was it a boy? I think Clark did mention something about how they did dating differently over in Krypton. Maybe a cultural difference occurred and it ended up in a messy breakup?

Oh, that boy made the mistake of a lifetime. If I didn’t get my hands on him first…he was going to wish I did. Because if Wonder Woman or Superman does…

He wasn’t going to leave alive.

“So…what have you been up to?”

I started off, asking her with a calm look before looking around for a place to sit. She didn’t have any chairs, and the only couch in the living room was filled with junk on top of it.

Not that Supergirl seemed to mind, as she casually sat back on top of it.

“I’ve been busy with stuff…oh, I discovered video games and TV. Those are pretty cool; we had something similar on Krypton.”

She stated with a measure of excitement. It seemed Kryptonians were just as much as social animals as humans were.

“But more advanced?”

“…A lot more, yeah. But it’s still cool.”

Supergirl confessed while looking around the place. As if she was checking for something…no, was she almost…unfamiliar with her own living room?

…I had to see her room.

“Do you mind if we go to your room to talk? I’ve been walking for a while, and I just really want to sit down.”

She frowned at that before looking at her couch with a confused expression. And it was only just then that she seemed to internalize the trash that was on top of it. She bit her lip before looking back at me with an almost haggard look…before finally nodding.

“A-alright, but uh…just…give me a quick second.”

Supergirl disappeared in a burst of speed before I could even respond. Leaving me to slowly make my way to her room as she ran laps around the apartment with…what looked to be trash bags.

At the very least it seemed she was still physically fit. Once I opened her door fully, she stopped using her super speed watching a corner of the room with great interest as I looked about the place.

There was little else to describe it but the domain of someone who’s closed out everything else in her life. A few trash bags littered the right side of her room, with a few boxes of random trash scattered around the place. Instead of a TV, she seemed to just have a PC. One that was relatively well worn. With a…healthy supply of tissues scattered around her desk area.

The same tissues that were around the edge of her bed. There were quite a few stuffed toys inside, but they were more or less scattered around the floor. Showing a certain level of disregard.

 …There were also a variety of pill bottles that were scattered across the place. Thankfully they were just sleeping aids, albeit ones with pretty decent strength in them. Blackout curtains blocked any and all-natural light that could light up the room. Letting her live in complete isolation.

There was no longer any doubt about it.

Supergirl was severely depressed.

Once again, I pretended nothing was wrong as I made my way to the edge of her bed. Making sure to not look effected, even despite how gross her room was. Because even though I wanted to recoil, that would hurt her feelings, and possibly close her off to me.

And I wouldn’t betray her or Clarks trust so easily.

“So…what games are you interested in? Have you watched any new shows?”

Supergirl’s eyes widened before a small shy smile spread itself on her face. It was incredibly easy to get her to open up about her interests. What she was interested in watching, what she liked to see, and how she currently spent her time.

Which was all spent at home whenever it was possible.

Eventually I gradually started to peak into other parts of her life. Just to see what had caused all of this.

“I heard you got laid off a bit ago. I’m sorry to hear about that.”

Her expression shifted to one that was more guarded. Reserved. Rubbing the side of her arm, she looked away and nodded.

“Oh uh, thanks.”

…Something happened at her work. That much was obvious. She wasn’t going to talk about it all on her own though. But there were certain cues in her behavior.

For one, she didn’t seem sad. She wasn’t heartbroken over losing it, meaning she hadn’t been that close to it, despite working there for the better part of a year. Considering the fact that she also seemed strangely very starved for social attention…

I could venture a strong guess about why.

But…was that the only reason, I wonder?

“Are you having trouble sleeping?”

Supergirl opened her mouth, before closing it. Seemingly thinking about what she was going to say before finally deciding. She decided to scoot closer towards me, showing a level of openness and intimacy.

“Uh, well, kinda…”

“Do you want to talk to me about it? It might make you feel better.”

I offered. Causing her to chew on it, before gradually nodding.

“Um…working on Earth has been…very different from Krypton. Humans can be a bit…rougher...which was kind of hard to deal with.”

I turned to face her while nodding along. Showing I was interested in what she was saying. But surprisingly enough, it seemed she was getting absorbed into her own thoughts. As she wasn’t even looking in my direction.

“Then I started to have some really weird dreams. On Krypton, it was possible to simulate dreamscapes and even interact with them to some extent, but it was nothing like these.”

My eyes narrowed at just how excited and animated she was becoming. Vivid dreams…could it be a supervillain that was messing with her mind? Attempting to control her?

She continued.

“At first, they were pretty normal. Sometimes I’d just float around the sky, or-or I’d just talk to some random people. But then one day…uh…some things happened.”

Supergirl mentioned with a blush. Looking away while hugging her shoulders with pursed lips.

…Oh god. That…might be even worse. I really, really hope a supervillain wasn’t involved in this, or the Justice League might actually murder this man.

What monster would take advantage of such a lovely lady!?

“At first, I thought it was really weird, but overtime it started to…grow on me. It made me feel good. Great, even. I felt pretty confident and everything seemed to be going great…until I got fired, at least.”

Supergirl confessed, eventually looking away. Using her hand to brush back several strands of her blonde hair.

“But you know…I was kind of happy that it happened. Because it meant I could sleep in more. And keep dreaming. Because…I just feel better in the dream then I do her-“

She squeaked a bit in surprise as I rushed her. Wrapping my arms around her in a tight hug and reminding her that everything is alright. It was heart wrenching to see her this way…I couldn’t imagine how Clark was going to take this.

…No, Clark couldn’t know just how bad it is.

Not that I was going to hide it from him or anything. Supergirl obviously needed help, and he was one of the best to offer it. But I was definitely going to sugar coat it just a bit. If only to keep a bit of her dignity in tack.

Eventually Supergirl leaned into the hug and for several minutes neither of said anything. Until finally she excused herself to the bathroom.

As she did so, I decided to look over to her computer. I hadn’t planned on snooping, but as it was on, I could see what tabs she had currently.

As she said, it seemed she was watching shows on Netflix as well as playing a few games. But there were quite a few risqué sites opened as well. And…a dating site?

Please. She didn’t need that. Even now when she looked like a complete slob she was still a solid 7/10. Any guy would be lucky to have her. I…

I had been idly curious as to what she was doing on there, so I clicked off of her current tab, and onto a new one. Due to there being quite a lot of tabs, I had mis clicked onto the wrong one. Bringing up a rather raunchy video about a college girl inviting a boy over to her dorm.

It was…a pretty normal video, all things considered. Very vanilla. Any healthy woman could be caught watching this.

Yet what got my attention was the fact that she seemed to have left a comment on this video. Pointing out the color of the male actor’s hair color, and asking if anyone has anything similar.

…A suspicion started to form in my mind as I clicked on a few of the other sites. Realization dawned as a pattern started to form, until I finally clicked onto her dating site. Reading what she had put on it before hearing the sink turn on in the bathroom.

I decided to pause there and return to the bed. As she returned, I fully intended on informing her what I had done on her PC so that there were no secrets between us.

But there was something more important to ask beforehand.

“…Hey, this might be a strange question, but in your dreams do you ever see a boy with red hair?”

As expected, Supergirl’s eyes lit up. She started to nod enthusiastically as her cheeks reddened.

“Yeah! How did you know?”

“Would there also happen to be an orange lady, or a boy with green skin? Maybe a man with robotic limbs?”

I pressed, causing her to momentarily frown. As if attempting to think about it.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Hmm. Can you describe his hair?”

“It’s usually either long and flowing, or it’s tied up in a ponytail.”

…Yep.

That’s my sidekick alright.

Cadmus, what have you done?