2013.03.14 - Monkey Business

The middle of the day. While there was ~always~ something going on in the world, always some little wrong to right, always some injustice to balance - Karen Starr tried to have work-life balance. Meaning her life was work, and it was unbalanced. From the time she was a teen, though, she believed in humanity being able to save itself, and Starrware labs was her contribution to SCIENCE! in general. Even if she needed to give it a superpowered push or two, every so often.

Plus, it was just too much fun to go out and be POWER GIRL for a bit.

Anyways, right now, she was dressed in a super-professional woman's business suit, with a long skirt and a white blouse beneath, her heels that she had been wearing left beside her desk. Leaning back in her comfy leather chair, her hair was done up in a bun at the back of her head, and on her desk? The phone system she had was blinking rapidly, indicating that there was a call waiting - at all the buttons. Hanging up the phone from the previous call, she brings the receiver to her ear again, lifting her voice. "Karen...!" she begins, listening just for a moment before she barks back. "...Reginald, I /told/ you. It took about seventeen hundred permits to use that monkey, and it is both against the law, and against at least four dozen of those permits to fire Bananas into space! Besides - the psychology division...! Reginald, DO NOT TOUCH THAT MONKEY!" Karen says, jamming a button labeled 'Security' next to her desk.

The distress call is put out close enough to be heard by the mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent who happens to be having coffee at a nearby cafe after finishing up a story. This reporter is no regular print man, however, for under the shirt, tie, and pair of thick glasses, SUPERMAN is ready and able to jump into action at a moment's notice.

After a quick pitstop in the bathroom and after shoving his day clothes in a cabinet underneath the sink, Superman heads out the back door and up up and away into the sky, a cone cloud near his feet as he breaks slices through the air towards the rocket in peril.

The word 'rocket' was a bit of a misnomer. Karen didn't quite understand the whole concept of it, but essentially, it was an antigrav device that could lift a payload without the use of all those messy fossil fuels. It would be significantly cheaper to use fossil fuels, but... wasn't it cool?

Karen could feel her entire building quiver as the 'rocket', a device about twenty feet long, and as thick as a tree trunk, lifted smoothly past her window, accelerating as it passed orbit. And Karen's mouth dropped open, and she drops the phone receiver. "Dammit dammit dammit," she groans, hopping out of the stockings she was wearing as she goes to open a ~secret~ panel in her office. "Janice! Hold my calls! I'm going to be out! For a while!"

Then comes the superspeed, Karen quickly changing in a handful of seconds...!

And from the penthouse window of Starrware Labs emerges POWER GIRL! Streaking towards the lifting rocket, she grits her teeth, her mind filled with all the wonderful fallout that would come from this, her little minicape flapping dramatically behind her as she looks towards...

"Oh, hey! It's Superman!" she calls, giving a friendly little wave - she wasn't quite stopping her pursuit of the rocket, though.

As Superman speeds upwards, he's caught off guard by the blonde who flies at his side. "Power Girl, right?" the Man of Steel asks. "I sure am glad to see you. I'm going to go ahead and assume you're after the same ship I am. Any idea on the best way to tackle it without harming it?" He's taken a look at the technology with his telescopic and X-ray vision, but isn't readily familiar with the technology. He wants to tread lightly.

It was at that point that Power Girl winces a bit. "No idea at all, really. Near as I can tell, it uses something to free the projectile from the burden of gravity, soooo... it'll fly forever in that direction. I just want to save that chimpanzee before it hits space, you know?" she says, giving her head a little flick as she lifts her eyes up again. Superman's X-Ray vision would reveal an intricate series of electronics and otherwise within the device - most notable would be a gyroscopic thingie spinning madly dead in the centre of it.

What Karen neglected to mention was that it was shot at an angle - the rocket heading merrily over the sea at the moment. "You wanna stop the rocket, and I'll rescue Bubbles?" she asks then, tilting her head to the side. There was a moment, though, and she fixes Superman with a grin, before increasing her pace - pushing it to start barely making headway on it. Biggest problem was? Outside of the constraints of gravity, it was constantly accellerating. It may be out of reach for the both of them, soon.

"Not a problem," Superman says with a nod and kicks his powers into high gear. He closes the distance between himself and the rocket and grasps it by the side. He leans back, knowing that if he goes back too quickly, the force of inertia will splatter the monkey in the cockpit. The process of slowing is gradual, but he hopes it'll give Power Girl enough time to get the chimpanzee out of harm's way.

The Man of Steel does manage to grab the tail area of the rocket - and while the lack of adherence to gravity was causing it to accellerate rather quickly - it helped it slow down just as much. So Superman would have to vary his grip long enough for Karen to accellerate herself to catch up with the capsule at the front - likewise using her X-Ray vision to see one panicked monkey. "Bubbles is OK!" she says, giving a thumbsup back to Kal - before she reaches to the chassis of the rocket, and pries it open - reaching inside to extract the chimpanzee soon afterwards. The chimp clings to her like she were the last tree around in a flood, and she tilts up somewhat. "I think you can stop it now - although if you could, you know, not break the engine into pieces, I think that would be a help. I... erm... know someone who might be interested in looking at that!"

Superman nods, "Sure thing, POWER GIRL!" He leans back with a bit more force now, his neck muscles bulging a bit as he pulls directly against the force of the ship. He could mostly likely stop it dead in its tracks, of course, but that would smash the engine into bits. While he doesn't know POWER GIRL well, he does know her well enough to have his respect. And if he's curious, he can ask why she wants the engine intact later.

All in all, it was probably kinda an anticlimatic ending. Superman tugs the device back - and with a couple fizzles and pops, there was the sound of something straining against the metal there - before the engine - probably that gyroscopic-containing thing from his earlier examination, flies forward /through/ the chassis of the rocket, launching itself forward faster than the eye can follow. POWER GIRL unleashes a ragged groan as she sees that, starting to slowly slow her forward motion - so as not to freak out the chimp any more than the poor thing was already frightened. "Um. Thanks for the assist! I'm... sure that engine wasn't that important, anyways," says POWER GIRL to SUPERMAN.

Superman's face wrinkles a bit in frustration as the gyro keeps spinning off into the nether-reaches of space, to join with the hundreds of other man man satellites and billions upon billions of natural ones. "Do....do you want me to go get that?" he asks with a pained expression.

"I... uh..." Power Girl says. In all honesty, it probably wouldn't stop there. Not that Karen knew that, but free of the confines of gravity - if it magically survived the earth's atmosphere, it would shoot off into the depths of space. POWER GIRL's eye was drawn to a little flash of light, far in the distance - where the device did manage to light up in the atmosphere of earth. Chewing on her lip, she brings a hand up to scratch the back of her neck, the chimpanzee's grip starting to slacken now that he could interpret how much slower they were going, his head even going so far as to look towards Superman. "Well, no, I don't think so. But I have to say - I've heard a lot about what you've been doing lately, it's... uh... really great?" she says, smiling so wide it looked painful. "It's... kinda awkward now, huh?"

"Awkward?" Superman shakes his head with a moment of confusion as he begins to float downward, slow enough that she can follow. "I don't think it's awkward. I've bene looking forward to meeting you for a long time. Our powers are extremely similar. I wanted to ask you where you came from. Compare notes. That sort of thing." He, peculiarly, doesn't seem troubled at all.

Karen brings her hand up to kinda scratch the back of the chimpanzee she was holding, likewise starting to decelerate - until she was essentially floating in midair - America was some distance away by now, and Karen looks back to see the dot in the distance that was the mainland. "...huh," she says then, glancing back towards SUPERMAN. "Well, a little awkward. I mean, we just stopped a rocket - it might've caused an international incident - this is the part where we salute, smile pretty, and say, 'all in a day's work'! and fly off," she says, shifting the chimp to her other arm - where it starts taking an extreme interest in checking her hair for nits. "I'm from Krypton, supposedly, though. It's some planet out there, in outer space somewhere - I was basically born on a spaceship, though."

Well, that explains why they're similar. "Krypton?" Superman's face, which is either always jovial or pained in exertion during heroics, now takes on a terrible, confused twist. "Are you sure?" Born on a spaceship? It can't be. "I...I'm from Krypton. But ...I don't know how to tell you this...There is no more Krypton."

"I'm not... one hundred percent sure, no," says Karen, quite ignoring the chimpanzee sticking a finger in her ear. Although she kinda scrunches up, and tries to pull her head away. Which causes Bubbles to persue his goal with even more passion. "I mean, if you're from Krypton too, and you... well, your powers are a bit like mine, so, it would make sense?" she says then, tilting her head to the side. "Do you... remember much of Krypton?" she asks then, her expression turning a bit grim as she nods her head. "I know that much, though... my father said that it was gone."

Superman shakes his head, "I don't. I was just born when it exploded. My father was a scientist on the planet and predicted its demise. To save me, he created a spaceship and sent me to this place. Here, he knew I'd have great powers." Superman swallows with some difficulty, but eventually smiles. "Even though I hate to give you this news about your home planet, I'm elated that there's another Kryptonian. It's been very difficult sometimes here. Growing up different."

"I guess a lot of people didn't listen when some scientists were saying Krypton would be destroyed," says Karen. The chimpanzee, having tired of the ear thing, was now clapping a hand over her mouth, and making delighted hooting sounds. It went a bit something like this. Karen watches Superman's features carefully, a bit of emotion touching her face, "Yeah; I... well, I always kinda thought that about you, but I guess I always thought -- *clap* *HOOTHOOTHOOTHOOT*" Patiently, Karen reaches up to pull the chimpanzee's hand away from her face, clearing her throat before continuining. "I always kinda knew there'd be more of us out there. A whole planet being destroyed - I think that it isn't too strange to say that there was more than one fami- *clap* *HOOTHOOOTHOOT*"

With a longsuffering sigh, Karen pulls the hand away again - and this time, holds it away from her face, looking a bit annoyed overall. "Right. We should sit down and talk about it sometime, when I'm not holding a monkey with the humor of a first-grader," she says, the monkey pulling back its lips and making a face at Karen - she responds by crossing her eyes at him, and sticking out her tongue.

Superman can't help but laugh at the monkey. Though he was offput at first. Shocked, really. But now that it's growing on him, he can't help but smile. "Better yet, I should show you something..." His eyes peer at her for a moment, and she'll probably gather that he's looking 'through' her hand, down at her DNA to ensure she's telling the truth before he finishes his sentence. "I have....Some artifacts. From our homeland, that you might like to see."

Monkies, investors, employees - it was all pretty much the same at the end. Yeah, Karen looked at Superman for the longest moment when he stares at her like that, leaning forward a bit midair and frowning. "...that's... a little creepy, cuz," she says, a frown touching her features. "You actually /have/ artifacts?" she exclaims. "When I crashed, the government took all of that stuff away from me - how did you manage to keep it all?"

Superman shakes his head, "Sorry. I have a lot of enemies on this planet. I needed to make sure you were telling the truth." He chuckles as she says cuz. But it does get him to think for a second she looks an awful lot like Kara. Maybe all Kryptonian women look similar. "They actually never found any of it. My parents...my Earth parents...were very careful to keep things a secret."

"Well, it's fine," says Karen, giving SUPERMAN a bit of a fisheye regardless. Still, she relaxes some, putting a wide smile on her lips - far more natural than the first. "Do you think that's better?" asks Karen, "I mean, I suppose it might be, but... I don't know. You probably didn't have to register and everything. They keep it all secret, but I do have my name name in with the government, now. Not like I could disguise myself easily. We kinda stick out," she says, with a wide wide grin.

Superman smiles, "Well, I've only registered my codename. I like the anonymity, to be frank. I like having my own life. I don't get much of it, but I value it. Though biologically I'm fully Kryptonian, I feel a great deal like a human much of the time. I wouldn't change it for the world."

"Well; I can say that the government has never really given me /too/ much trouble," says Karen, chewing on her lower lip. "But I see your point. Me? I just feel... well. Our people are gone - why not do our best to help these people? We turned all superhuman when we got here to Earth - there's gotta be a reason for that. So maybe these people are our people, you know?" she says, tilting her head to the side, a little grin touching her l-- *clap* *HOOTHOOTHOOT*.

Superman nods, "I feel the same way. My Kryptonian father, in fact, pretty much charged me with the responsibility of becoming a hero here. He knew they'd need some." Superman can't help but laugh at the chimp as he keeps getting in the way, "I suppose we'd better get him back. We should meet again soon so I can show you the artifacts. It's quite a long trip, so you'll need some time."

"I'm surprised you didn't get the whole 'America is great stars and stripes' routine," says Karen, blowing air at the monkey to ward his hand away. This would be more comical than anything, if she didn't possess POWERBREATH. Which was really cold. The chimp, looking confused, darts his hand away from her mouth, looking at her suspiciously. "What?!" Karen asks him. "I fly all around, and tear open a rocket to get to you, and having cold breath is the wierdest part?!" she demands of the chimp, rolling her eyes and looking back to Kal. "I'd like that. Just... you know. I'm always flying around. Superheroing is a full time job, aha!" she says. "We'll catch up then."

Superman nods, "That sounds great. It was fantastic to finally meet you. It's nice to know that there's another Kryptonian out there." Superman smiles at her and reaches out to ruffle the chimp before floating off a bit, about to hit superspeed. "Looking forward to it!" With a final wave he bursts away, and is gone.

"Farewell, Superman - we'll spend more time together, alright?" says POWER GIRL, her grin tugging up the side of her lips. She flies much slower, in light of her precious cargo, but the longer she took to get back, the better.

Yllklyk 5, a planet many light years away from space, was on the verge of war. One leader - one brave leader, Grrrrrtktk-kahi, stood above the masses, his voice of peace being the one thing that stopped the various clans of his planet from falling into war.

"Noble... Yllkyasi!" he cries out, his breathing strained through his rebreather - the atmosphere of their planets mostly ammonia now, due to various biological weapons used through the wars of the People. "How long must we... *wheeze* suffer through war? Through hate? We must band together, and..."

A red hot meteor flies from the heavens, slamming into him, flattening him in a moment, much to the cries of many. "WAR! WAR!" they call out, hustling around the crater that once held the lone voice of peace in their council. In the centre of a crater, a gyroscope spun half-heartedly, spluttered once, and then died. Showing the emblem of Starrware labs rather openly. "NO! NOT WAR WITH EACH OTHER! WAR WITH STARRWARE LABS! ALIENS! DEMONS! DESTROY THEIR PLANET! TRACE THE PATH OF THIS ATTACK! WAR, WAR!"

"STARR MUST DIE!"