Fanfic / A Force of Four

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Kara Zor-L stood beside the big star on the top of the Daily Star building and looked down at Metropolis.
Below her the cars meshed in traffic as they had been for most of this crazy century. The headlights, the streetlights, the glow of display windows or eateries or all-night shops, the occasional panhandler, prostitute, innocent bystander, kid needing supervision (but not the kind of super-vision she had, a joke which failed to cheer her up), dope dealer, policeman, wife, husband, teenager, and, yes, reporter, all of them milling in the maze of Metropolis.
Superman had called this city home since 1938. Now it was 1985, and whatever responsibilities it held for superhumans had been passed on to her own white-clad, red-caped shoulders.

A Force of Four is a Power Girl fanfic written by DarkMark.

Kara Zor-L, as well known as Power Girl, the Supergirl of Earth-2, has become the Earth's protector after her cousin the original Superman died fighting the Anti-Monitor. She thought she was the last surviving Kryptonian in her universe, until three others surface. The problem is, they're all criminals, they're all old enemies of Superman, and they're being led by a nemesis of Wonder Woman's to destroy the Justice Society, and then the Earth itself.

A Force of Four can be found in Dark Mark's Domain and Kara's Pocket Universe.

This story is part of Dark Mark's Fan Verse together with Hellsister Trilogy, A Very Kara Christmas, Dance with the Demons, Kara of Rokyn, With this Ring... (Green Lantern), Funeral for a Flash, Superman of 2499: The Great Confrontation and Superman and Man. Dark Mark has also written The Vampire of Steel, The Unfantastic Adventures of Bizarro No. 1, Here There Be Monsters, A Prize for Three Empires, X-Men 1970, FIRE!, Devil's Diary, Everybody's Gotta Leave Sometime and Maybe the Last Archie Story.

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Tropes:

• The Ace: Power Girl takes up the mantle of world's greatest protector after the death of the Golden Age Superman, being the mightiest hero of Earth-Two by far and Justice Society of America greatest asset when a trio of Kryptonian criminals comes along.
• Action Girl: Although Earth-Two is packed with less female heroes than other DC Earths, Power Girl, Wonder Woman and her daughter Fury, the Huntress and other heroines definitely make up for it.
• Act of True Love: Superman's ghost talks to Power Girl during an uphill battle to encourage her and assuage her pain and feelings of guilt by telling her that he loves her and Lois.
• After-Action Healing Drama: After the final battle, Kara collapses, hurt and worn-out. The Amazons take her to their Island and watch over her until Kara is up and about.
• Aliens Speaking English: Neither of the four villains have born or lived in Earth, but all of them speak English, even among themselves.
• Alliterative Title
• All There in the Manual: Dark Mark provides a useful glossary in his site.
• Alternate Universe: Earth-Two Superman dies in lieu of Earth-One Supergirl as fighting the Anti-Monitor. Earth-Two and the rest of The Multiverse survive the Crisis.
• Alternate Universe Fic: This story is set in an alternate Earth-Two that survived the Crisis.
• Ancient Evil: Mars is the Amazons' ancient enemy, and he is older than mankind.
• And This Is for...: Wonder Woman lays a beat down on Badra, dedicating each blow to her family and friends.
  Wonder Woman would have been surprised at her own energy, if she had had the time. Lately, she had been labelling her punches. "This, for my mother," she said, smashing Badra with a left to the chin. "This, for my daughter," she pronounced, sinking her right into the villainess's stomach. "This, for the sisterhood," she declared, with a double uppercut to Badra's chops.
  [...]
  Diana decided against trying to itemize the members of the Justice Society or Infinity, Inc., and even ruled out Power Girl. But it was forgivable, under the circumstances.
  "This one is for me," she said, and swung her balled fist forward.
• Antagonist Title: Named after the quartet of villains opposing the main heroes.
• Apocalypse How: Badra and her partners don't merely intend to take over the world. They want to blow it up.
• A Shared Suffering: Subverted. Superman and Power Girl bonded over their "last survivors" status, but not fully because Kal tried to be a father to Kara, who was an adult woman and didn't want a parental substitute.
• Ass Shove: The three rogues end up in the Phantom Zone and meet their Earth-One equivalents. When Earth-Two Kizo tries to taunt them by saying they came from a rip-off of their Krypton, Earth-One Jax-Ur suggets them to put both planets where he knows.
  Kizo: You came from a copy of Krypton. We came from the original.
  Jax-Ur: You can take both Kryptons, and you know where you can put them.
• Attempted Rape: When U-Ban finally attempts to rape Kara, the Supergirl of Earth-Two starts off with a heat blast to the groin and then she fights back until he's lying on the ground face down.
  U-Ban was already exposed, about to throw himself upon her.
  She focused her heat vision on full power and let him have it.
  "AHHHHHHHHH!" U-Ban screamed, looked very, very surprised, and grabbed his crotch. The very air was steaming around it. Not enough to injure him, probably, but damned well enough to make him hurt.
  "Pull up your pants," said Kara, getting to her feet. "You look ridiculous."
• Badass in Distress: Wonder Woman and Fury are captured by Badra and later freed by Power Girl.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: Kryptonians and Hatorians don't need to breathe.
  The atmosphere was not like that of Earth or Krypton. It was mainly carbon dioxide, at a pressure of about .15 psi, as opposed to 14.7 psi on Terra and a slightly greater density on their homeworld. Their voices sounded strange to themselves when they spoke. But the air's differing composition meant nothing to them. They could breathe almost anything, or nothing at all.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Wonder Woman goes out of her way to taunt Badra so the angry Hatorian woman zeroes in on her and forgets about her daughter.
  • Power Girl has been captured by the three villains, so she challenges Badra to a Cat Fight. Badra gets disgusted and leaves, and the man holding Kara gets distracted and relaxes his grip, allowing the Kryptonian hero to break free.
    Power Girl slipped out from under his grasp like a greased weasel.
    She had been gauging the pressure of his grip with great accuracy. Her talk to Badra had a specific effect on Mala, she could tell by a certain feeling against her back. And when a man starts to think down there, she told herself, he loses a little ability to think up elsewhere.
• Beneath the Mask: Kara couldn't allow herself to seem vulnerable when she arrived on Earth. She had to behave as a brash, self-assured and tougher-than-nails woman, even if she came across as a bitch with a chip on her shoulder, because she didn't want anybody to see the lost, afraid little girl underneath.
  Tough girl, her mental jester mocked her. Everybody thinks you're such a tough girl.
  But she had to be tough. Finding out that so many years of her life were a pre-programmed lie, coming to a strange world, finding only one man of Krypton and then losing him, turning from innocence into grim experience on a planet she never made... she had to be tough, or break. She had to wall the little girl off, most of the time, and put on the casing of the big, tough, capable bitch.
• Berserk Button: Don't remind Badra that she was an one-time villain who disappeared after Wonder Woman kicked her butt once. She'll not take it well.
• Beware the Superman: Superman was the Earth's protector for forty-seven years. Power Girl is his heiress. The two of them are decent people. Badra, Mala, Kizo and U-Ban… are not. They’re confident that their powers allow them to get away with anything: Killing, raping, destroying…
• Big Bad: Mars, the Amazons' ancient enemy. He plots to destroy Earth and relocate all souls to a kind of Valhalla where they'll fight forever, keeping him eternally fed.
• Big Bad Ensemble: The heroes are opposed to by an alliance made up of three Superman's old enemies -Mala, Kizo and U-Ban- and Wonder Woman's old enemy Badra.
• Big Brother Instinct: Whatever else you may say about them, Mala and Kizo are very protective from their little brother U-Ban, and they're not pleased when Power Girl beats him to the ground.
• Blinded by Rage: Badra successfully baits Wonder Woman into charging blindly by threatening her mother and daughter.
  A second after she had done it, Diana realized she'd been goaded too well. She should have harnessed her fury, and tried a move with more finesse.
  Instead she just charged, with a war-cry on her lips and a face twisted in hate. Badra managed a sidestep, no easy feat considering Diana's velocity, and swung a knee into her abdomen.
• Blood from the Mouth: Kara bleeds from her mouth when she battles U-Ban.
  Both were bleeding, Kara from one side of her mouth, U-Ban from a nose that had run into her knee.
• Blood Knight: Kara likes fighting a bit too much. She's happy to have the chance to let herself loose when she fights the Kryptonian trio instead of pulling her punches.
  And Kara had to admit that, despite the pain of his blows and kicks, despite the knowledge of what he intended to do to her if he beat her, despite the knowledge of his superior strength and the peril the world and her friends were facing...
  ...she kind of enjoyed this fight.
• Boldly Coming: Power Girl has a rather passionate relationship with Andrew Vinson. Her Infinity, Inc. teammate Fury thinks Kara has gotten more lovers previously.
• Book Ends: The story starts off with Power Girl and Jimmy talking about Superman and PG taking Jimmy for a flight; and ends up with Power Girl and Lois talking about Superman and PG taking Lois for a flight.
• Bound and Gagged: Badra chains Wonder Woman and Fury after capturing them.
• Brainwashing for the Greater Good: After the villainous foursome have been taken down, the heroes wipe the knowledge of the Grail from their memories so they can't use it against Earth-Two again.
  Badra thought that, if she ever got loose again, she might consider using whatever she had used against Earth-Two again. The problem was, she couldn't remember just what it was. Neither could the three Kryptonians. The other inmates weren't any help at all. They just laughed at them for having a memory-wipe imposed on them, and let them alone.
• Bring It: Mala promises to kill the young heroes quickly and painlessly if they step aside as he kills Power Girl.
  Fury: You know what our answer is, big man. Come and get it.
• Broken Bird: When Kara landed on Earth and was told her "life" had been a lie and her family but her cousin was gone she had two options: breaking down or making herself stronger. She chose the latter.
  But she had to be tough. Finding out that so many years of her life were a pre-programmed lie, coming to a strange world, finding only one man of Krypton and then losing him, turning from innocence into grim experience on a planet she never made... she had to be tough, or break.
• Cape Snag: During a battle Kizo grasps Fury's cape to prevent her from helping Power Girl.
  "No!" cried Fury, trying to hurl herself at him. But Kizo grabbed her cape and then her arm to hold her back.
• Category Traitor: Wonder Woman calls Badra "traitor to womanhood" for attempting to wipe the human race out. Wonder Woman's mindset is that a woman shouldn't want to inflict harm upon other women, let alone kill them, whereas Badra couldn't care less about female solidarity.
• Cat Fight: Lampshaded by Power Girl when she squares off to fight Badra.
  Power Girl: I've never really met a woman who I could turn loose on. I mean, Mala and company are nice, if they're not going two-on-one against you. But there's really nothing like going up against somebody of your own sex. It's fairer. It's more invigorating. I haven't gone a round with Diana, except maybe for some arm-rassling, and I haven't even done that with Fury. But you and me? Why, I can just see us both pulling hair, punching faces, kickin' and scratchin' to beat the band. I'll bet the men would just love it. The first Kryptonian-Hatorian catfight. What do you say?
• Chandler's Law: Wonder Woman has just been said her daughter has a lover. Before Diana can berate Lyta for keeping things from her, Paradise Island is under attack... which Lyta Trevor is actually grateful for.
  Wonder Woman's eyes widened. "Mother, what are you saying? Are you saying that Lyta has—"
  Lyta's eyes were widening at the same time that her skin was flushing crimson.
  Diana finally finished the sentence. "—has given herself to a man?"
  "Ohhhhhhh, hell," muttered Lyta, and hid her face in her hands.
  That was when a warning siren went off.
  Lyta was never so grateful for such a sound in her entire life.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Huntress is Power Girl's best friend and teammate, and yet she is barely mentioned once in the first chapter.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: After Superman's death, every denizen of Metropolis becomes Power Girl's responsibility, and she takes her duties very seriously.
• Collapsed Mid-Speech: Kara faints while speaking right after the final battle.
  "Okay," said Power Girl. "I think we can power down right now."
  "Kara," said Diana. "Let me—"
  That was the last thing Power Girl heard before, exhausted, she hit the ground.
• Combat by Champion: Subverted. Kara and the Amazons are being trounced by the Kryptonians, so Diana requests a duel between her and Badra. Mars allows it but Wonder Woman has to abide by his rules and with no guarantees of being spared if she wins.
  Wonder Woman: One there is who has not joined the battle. The one who proclaims herself your greatest ally. She, whose lust for my death is matched only by your own. She, who has not suffered the battering I have today and earlier, at her own hands. I challenge her to single combat. Upon the outcome of which our lives—and those of my mother, daughter, and Kara, and the people of Earth—will depend. Only stay the men from fighting me or my allies. That is what I propose.
  Badra: You are insane, Amazon. Mars has no need to make bargains with you. You have no power here...
  Mars: Silence. Since the days of the great war on your sphere, Amazon, you have frustrated me. With the power of Conquest, Greed, and Deception I opposed you and Aphrodite's other whores. Yet did you frustrate me. And, though my work on Earth has prospered in various places... though your ‘peace' has been shattered across your world, time and again... the nation in which you dwell has remained unconquered, and untyrannic. This has caused me pain. Great pain. I will allow you this much. I will allow my agent to battle you, should she wish to do so. I will keep both my allies and yours separate from both of you. But I make no bargains about the reward. All that will be done is to give you a chance to revenge yourself on your tormentress... to allow her a chance to kill you... and to afford myself a better spectacle. Well? What say you?
• Combat Pragmatist: Given that she has to beat three Kryptonians used to gang up on their prey coordinately, fighting "fairly" doesn't even cross Kara's mind. Heat beams to the groin followed with an uppercut are downright acceptable.
• Comic-Book Time: Averted. Kal and Kara were rocketed from Krypton in 1916. Superman began his career in 1938, had been on Earth for 58 years when Power Girl landed in 1976 (the year of her debut in real life) and was seventy when he died in the Crisis.
• Complexity Addiction: Mars wants Wonder Woman, her daughter and their ally dead. So that he builds a coliseum and forces them into a gladiatorial battle with his own champions.
• Combo Platter Powers: Power Girl has the standard "Flying Brick with Super-Senses and long-range attacks" Kryptonian package.
• Continuity Porn: The villains are three Kryptonian rogues who were seen for the last time in Action Comics #194 (1954), and Wonder Woman's enemy Badra from Comic Cavalcade #25 (1948). Power Girl also mentions that time she was beaten up by a mindcontrolled Superman in Infinity, Inc. #7.
• Dark Action Girl: Badra is cunning, murderous, ruthless and dangerous. As a Hatorian alien, she's powerful enough to fight Diana hand-to-hand, and is perfectly able to survive and fly across space on her own.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Fury's wit is immensely dry:
    Mala: I do not particularly relish what I must do to the cousin of Kal-L. She is, after all, the last woman of our race. It was a hope of mine, though an illogical one, I grant, that she might realize our position, join the alliance, and bear us the start of a new generation of Kryptonians.
    Fury: In your dreams. Maybe in her nightmares.
  • The line of Hippolyta is fiery-tongued:
    Badra: I am not so foolish as to relinquish my own advantage, Diana. Held by those man-joined chains, your power is negated. Freed, you might be a threat to me... so the fetters will remain until the time of your execution. Or should I say, your murder?
    Wonder Woman: Greater than you have tried. I assume you keep me alive to see your masterstroke? That's the usual pattern with you mediocrities.
    Badra: Mediocrities? No, Diana, the murder of a planet will be more than enough to satisfy even the harshest standards of those in my profession. I will allow you and your daughter to see it. You will know that, with your world's passing, your husband, your mother, your Amazon sisters, and your friends will pass as well. Then we will kill your daughter before your eyes. And then we will kill you.
    Fury: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before. Can't we just cut to the final reel, where we slap you back in jail, go back to the clubhouse, and crack a few corny jokes before the credits reel?
• Dead Person Conversation: As she fights U-Ban, Power Girl hears her cousin's voice encouraging her to fight on.
  Power Girl: I don't know. I can't say for sure. I was too near death myself. But... something was definitely there. Something, or someone, who gave me just what I needed when I needed it. I probably would have died if I hadn't gotten that bit of inspiration, just when I needed it.
• Death Glare: Badra didn't appreciate to be called a "one-shot wonder" by Wonder Woman.
  Badra stepped forward. Fire was in her eyes, and Fury was certain that her mother hadn't been wise in her choice of words.
• Defends Against Their Own Kind: Power Girl is the only who can fight the three Kryptonian criminals physically.
• Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: Subverted. When three rogue Kryptonians attack Earth, Power Girl looks for some piece of Kryptonite to build some sort of weapon, but it turns out her deceased cousin had done away with every fragment he stumbled upon.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Power Girl, Wonder Woman, Fury, the Amazons and Infinity Inc face up to Mars and manage -maybe- to blast him out of existence.
• Disappeared Dad: Power Girl's parents died when she was a baby. Several decades later she still misses them, and she can't help but hug their alternate counterparts when she meets them in Hellsister Trilogy.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Power Girl weaponizes her sex appeal, unsurprisingly. Upon being captured and held by the villains, she challenges Badra to a Cat Fight. The male Kryptonians get so distracted at the thought of it that one of them loosens his grip and Power Girl breaks free.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Fury doesn't know when to shut up, not even when finding herself in the presence of the God of War. Wonder Woman has to restrain her:
  "SILENCE!"
  At that word from Mars, even Hippolyte shut up.
  But Fury didn't. "You overstuffed, tin-plated, dorkless big bag of stinkwind," she began. "I'll shut up when I wanna shut up, not when some dumb smokeass tells me to—"
  "Lyta," said Wonder Woman, clapping a hand over her daughter's mouth, "shut up."
• Double Standard: Rape, Female on Female: Averted when Power Girl states rape that is never okay or acceptable, no matter the sex of the perpetrator or the victim.
• Eating Optional: Kara doesn't need food for as long as she has access to sunlight... although she is always willing to wolf down a good sandwich.
• Eldritch Abomination: Mars, the immortal personification of War and conflict, scheming to destroy Earth.
• Endangered Species: Kara believed she was the last Kryptonian until three more survivors appeared. Unfortunately, all of them are criminals and her late cousin's old enemies.
• Evil Is Hammy: Mars is a very pompous and verbose War God who loves histrionics.
  Power Girl: "Aren't you tied to Earth? If you destroy it, how will you survive?"
  Mars: "Mars is not tied to Earth. Mars is tied to war. And what better war than that of vast empires within the second Heaven? Where billions may die, billions more be enslaved, and the bloodflow which results nourishes my power with every drop. No. Earth is unnecessary. A canker in my being. When it is destroyed, only my pain will vanish. But it will not be destroyed yet."
• Evil Only Has to Win Once: Wonder Woman mocks Badra's "one-time villain" status. As striking her, Badra reminds her that one successful attempt is everything she needs.
  "A ‘great one-shot wonder,' am I?" asked Badra, slapping Diana again. And again. And again. "Perhaps I won't need more than two shots to achieve my objectives. Will I, Diana? Will I?"
• Evil Plan: Badra, Mala, Kizo and U-Ban intend to blow Earth up out of revenge before proceeding to conquer and plunder other worlds. Nonetheless, Badra is secretly backed by Ares, who wants to create some kind of Valhalla where the entirety of humanity will fight for his pleasure forever.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Kara pummels savagely U-Ban when he attempts to rape her, and then she lets him drop.
  She reproved herself for not having a snappy comment as she smashed him in the face with her right, but, after all, she'd been under a little stress lately.
  Kara didn't stop pounding. The knuckles of her right hand acquainted themselves with U-Ban's face again and again and again. Through main effort and determination, he struggled to bring his own hand up. She slapped it away and kept pounding and pounding and pounding. When her right got tired, she took hold of him with that hand and let her left get in some work. There was no time lost in any of these operations. To U-Ban, it was just the same fist hitting him in the face over and over, like a piston from a top-notch but antique Kryptonian motor.
• Eye Beams: The three outlaws use Kryptonian's heat vision wantonly to burn places down and punish or even fry enemies.
  The three outlaws of Krypton were standing in a circle about Power Girl, sending six beams of heat from their eyes at her caped back. One Kryptonian could cause pain. Two could injure. Three could destroy.
• Eye Scream: U-Ban tries to stab Kara's eyes but she doesn't allow it.
  He reached out a hand, fingers pronged to tear at her eyes.
• Face Palm: Fury covers her face when Queen Hippolyta tells her mother about her lover.
  "Ohhhhhhh, hell," muttered Lyta, and hid her face in her hands.
• Fantastic Racism: Mala, Kizo and U-Ban regard non-Kryptonians as lower races to be enslaved and possibly used as breeding stock.
• Faster-Than-Light Travel: Badra and her Kryptonian allies use their faster-than-light speed to quickly fly between Earth and Mars over and again. Power Girl is the only hero who can equal their speed.
  In the reaches of outer space, a green-glowing globe floated, undisturbed for 31 years. The three beings inside it were numb, in suspended animation, as they had been for almost all of their imprisonment.
  A female figure appeared, lancing in from a point unknown, laying her hands on the globe, and propelling it before her in the direction of Earth's sun. She was black-haired, beautiful, and colder than the emptiness about her. She wore a strange green dress with red trim, had Roman-style sandals on her feet, and wore ornate jewelry on her neck, her wrists, and her earlobes.
  Her top speed was far in excess of light.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Zor-L put his daughter in suspended animation before blasting her off into space. Kara woke up many decades later in a strange, unknown and comparatively primitive alien world.
• Flight: Kara and the four villains share this power. It also used to be Superman's favorite power according Jimmy:
  Jimmy Olsen: So he pulls up another chair in front of me, sits down, crossing one leg over the other, and said, ‘You seem like a fine young man. Anything you want to ask me, while I'm here?' Oh, man, what I didn't want to ask him! I asked him how it felt to fly, and he smiled and said, ‘Like nothing you'll ever believe. It's my favorite power. If I could, I think I'd be flying just about every minute of the day.'
• Flying Brick: Several: Power Girl, who has the full Kryptonian package; Wonder Woman and her family; Mala, Kizo and U-Ban, three Kryptonian criminals; and Badra, an old Wonder Woman's enemy.
• Flying Firepower: Power Girl and her enemies Mala, Kizo and U-Ban. The four of them can fly and shoot heat beams.
• Foreshadowing: At the beginning, Badra takes the three Kryptonians to Mars. It might look like a random choice, but it is not: several chapters later it's revealed that Ares — Mars — is her backer.
• Forgot to Gag Him: Subverted when Badra captures Wonder Woman, her mother and her daughter. Wonder Woman repeatedly tries to trick and/or bait Badra into releasing her, but Badra refuses to take the bait every time.
• Friendship Moment: At the beginning of the story, Kara and Jimmy remember the just-departed Superman by trading stories about him. And at the end, Power Girl picks Jimmy and takes him for a flight as her cousin used to do in the 1940's.
• Genius Bruiser: Kara is capable of learning how to create computer software overnight and is the world's mightiest hero.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: Subverted. Kara intends to call heroes from Earth-One to help fight the alliance of three Kryptonian rogues and a Wonder Woman's enemy, but she discovers the four villains have rendered dimensional travel impossible through magic.
• Good is Not Nice: Kara is an unstoppable, selfless force of good with a huge chip on her shoulder.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Ten-year-old Jimmy Olsen had some... creative curses such like "oh, yes, by golly gosh all hemlock" and "dad-blamed".
• Go Through Me:
  • Mala “invites” Fury and Nuklon to step aside as he kills Power Girl. Both heroes declare that is not going to happen.
  • When Mars reveals himself, Queen Hippolyte stands between him and the rest. Wonder Woman tries to persuade her to stay behind her, but her mother refuses to:
    Wonder Woman: Fury, Mother, get behind me.
    Hippolyta: Never. I stand between Mars and all others, no matter what the cost. I stand in the name of Aphrodite.
• Gratuitous German: Used by Paula Von Gunter when the three Kryptonian criminals are burning Paradise Island.
  "I'm burning up," said Paula Von Gunter, a human despite all her Amazon training. "Mein Gott, I'm burning up."
• Green and Mean: Mala wears a green outfit.
  He was black-haired, resembled her late cousin quite a bit, and was dressed in a red and green outfit with a green triangle upon his chest.
• Groin Attack: Kara heat-beams U-Ban's groin when he attempts to rape her.
  U-Ban was already exposed, about to throw himself upon her.
  She focused her heat vision on full power and let him have it.
  "AHHHHHHHHH!" U-Ban screamed, looked very, very surprised, and grabbed his crotch. The very air was steaming around it. Not enough to injure him, probably, but damned well enough to make him hurt.
  "Pull up your pants," said Kara, getting to her feet. "You look ridiculous."
• Guns Are Worthless: The four criminal aliens are completely impervious to gunfire.
• Heartbroken Badass: Lois resorts to immerse herself in her work as a coping strategy after her husband's death.
• Heroic BSoD: At the beginning, Kara Zor-L is recovering from a breakdown stemming from her cousin's death. She was so determined to prove she was her own person and get out of Superman's shadow she pushed him away constantly and never told him she loved him; and now it's too late.
• Heroic Lineage: Hippolyta, Warrior Queen of the Amazons, her daughter Diana, also known as Wonder Woman, and Diana's daughter Lyta Trevor, who is also a full-fledged heroine.
• Heroic Spirit: Kara fights U-Ban alone. Although he lays a beat-down on her, Kara perseverates and manages to knock him down.
• Heroic Second Wind: Kara when fighting U-Ban. She was hurt and weakened. Then she believed to hear Kal-El encouraging her. She stood up, fought harder and won.
  Power Girl: "I don't know. I can't say for sure. I was too near death myself. But... something was definitely there. Something, or someone, who gave me just what I needed when I needed it. I probably would have died if I hadn't gotten that bit of inspiration, just when I needed it."
• Hoist Hero over Head: During a gladiatorial match U-Ban lifts Power Girl and slams her down.
  "Rao is good to us, sometimes," said U-Ban as he grabbed Power Girl by the neck, pulling her up from the arena wall against which Mala had blown her and the other women. She tried to punch him, but he blocked the blow. She tried for a kick, but he grabbed her ankle.
  Then, holding her by throat and ankle, he lifted her high over his head...
  "No!" cried Fury, trying to hurl herself at him. But Kizo grabbed her cape and then her arm to hold her back.
  ...and slammed her hard, back-first, across his outstretched knee.
  White light filled Kara's skull.
• Hope Spot: Power Girl takes U-Ban down after a tough battle. Then his brothers come along.
• Ice Queen: Badra has an incredibly cold personality.
  A female figure appeared, lancing in from a point unknown, laying her hands on the globe, and propelling it before her in the direction of Earth's sun. She was black-haired, beautiful, and colder than the emptiness about her.
• Identical Stranger: Mala is nearly identical to Superman and impersonated him once in the past. Lois notes he looks right like her late husband.
• Immune to Bullets: Kara is invulnerable to bullets right like her cousin was, as noted by Jimmy Olsen when he reminisces Superman's first appearance.
  A man who could laugh off machine-gun bullets like they were spitballs?
• Inner Monologue: Kara talks to herself when U-Ban breaks into the Fortress to ravage her.
  Tough girl, her mental jester mocked her. Everybody thinks you're such a tough girl.
  But she had to be tough. Finding out that so many years of her life were a pre-programmed lie, coming to a strange world, finding only one man of Krypton and then losing him, turning from innocence into grim experience on a planet she never made... she had to be tough, or break. She had to wall the little girl off, most of the time, and put on the casing of the big, tough, capable bitch.
  Well, then, looks like he's just about here, said the jester. Are you going to be the little girl... or the bitch?
  She made her decision.
  U-Ban was already exposed, about to throw himself upon her.
  She focused her heat vision on full power and let him have it.
• Intangibility: Mars is able to make himself intangible. He uses this power to prevent Power Girl from punching him.
• Interspecies Friendship: Kara develops a close friendship with Jimmy Olsen in the wake of Superman's death.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Kara (Kryptonian) is dating Andrew Vinson (human).
  • Lyta (half human, half Amazon) and Hector Hall (Thanagarian) are lovers.
• Irony: Stepping out of Superman's shadow and becoming the world's greatest hero was Power Girl's long-held wish. She was not happy when it came true, though, because the prize was her beloved cousin's life.
• I Shall Taunt You: As fighting Wonder Woman, villainess Badra gloats that she'll go after her mother and daughter next. One second after charging into a reckless rage, Wonder Woman realizes she fell for it.
  Wonder Woman wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Expect no help from your patron. I've dealt with all his lackeys before, and beaten them. As I beat you."
  "Then deal with me a second time," said Badra. "If I get done with you soon enough, perhaps he'll let me help the boys deal with your daughter. And your mother."
  A second after she had done it, Diana realized she'd been goaded too well. She should have harnessed her fury, and tried a move with more finesse.
  Instead she just charged, with a war-cry on her lips and a face twisted in hate. Badra managed a sidestep, no easy feat considering Diana's velocity, and swung a knee into her abdomen.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Power Girl had just punched U-Ban out when Mala and Kizo showed up. Kara pretended to surrender to they took her their headquarters. She also warned if they didn't accept her surrender and tried to rape her, she would take her chances and fight anyway.
  Power Girl held up her hands. "Okay. You want me to go with you? I'll go. I surrender."
  The two Kryptonian men stopped, as she had hoped they would, and peered at her curiously. "You what?", asked Kizo.
  "I surrender," repeated Kara. "Look at it this way. You guys beat the hell out of me last time we met. I was fresh, then. Right now, I've just had a fight with your brother. I'm not a glutton for punishment. Let's just go wherever you want to take me and be done with it. It'll be easier on all of us."
  Mala looked at U-Ban. "You beat him thoroughly. And he is our brother."
  "Your brother tried to rape me," she said, evenly. "And if you try the same, all bets are off."
• It's Personal:
  • Badra wanted to keep Wonder Woman alive to force her to witness the Earth's destruction before killing her.
  • As far as Fury was concerned, Badra was just another loony whom her mother had defeated before her time. Then Badra bashed her mother's face, and Fury promised to tear Badra's face off.
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: Everything U-Ban can think about when he's being savagely pummelled by Kara is "I'm being beaten by a girl!"
  Kara didn't stop pounding. The knuckles of her right hand acquainted themselves with U-Ban's face again and again and again. Through main effort and determination, he struggled to bring his own hand up. She slapped it away and kept pounding and pounding and pounding. When her right got tired, she took hold of him with that hand and let her left get in some work. There was no time lost in any of these operations. To U-Ban, it was just the same fist hitting him in the face over and over, like a piston from a top-notch but antique Kryptonian motor.
  A girl. A girl was beating the crap out of him.
• Jerkass Realization: It happens to Kara after her cousin's death. Upon reflecting she never told him she loved him, she realizes her "I have to be a tough bitch to survive" massive-child-on-her-shoulder attitude did more harm than good and hurt people she loved.
• Just Between You and Me: When Wonder Woman and her daughter are captured and brought to the enemy base, Badra goes into their cell to brag about destroying Earth in revenge for being defeated and humiliated decades ago.
• Kid Sidekick: Averted with Fury. Wonder Woman makes very clear she's NOT taking a sidekick.
• Killed Off for Real: Mars gets blasted into oblivion by the Amazons' Purple Ray.
• Kryptonite Factor: Subverted. There's barely any Kryptonite on Earth-2, and Badra and her allies seal all magic in the world.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Inverted and lampshaded. Kryptonite can't be found at Earth-Two because Superman got rid of every piece he happened upon... which is a big trouble now because Power Girl needs to stop three Kryptonian outlaws. Kara complains loudly it can be found everywhere in Earth-One.
  Power Girl: Do either of you know where I can get some Kryptonite?
  Lois: I don't think so. I mean, Kryptonite is pretty rare. Every time Superman found a chunk of it, he wrapped it up in lead and threw it into space.
  Power Girl: Just great. And there's no way of tracking where those chunks are, right now. If this was Earth-One, I could find the stuff within half an hour. It's practically as common as coal in that universe.
  Jimmy: Not that common, Ms. Kara. But there's a lot more of it over there than there is here, from what Superman told me. It must be rough, being a Kryptonian over there.
• Laser Cutter: At the beginning, Kara uses her heat beams to burn grease off her hands.
• The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: After Superman's death, Power Girl was de facto the world's most powerful being. So she was quite shocked when she leapt into a battle and got unexpectedly hurt by two men. It was her first clue that she was engaging other Kryptonians.
• Legacy Character: Power Girl is Superman's heiress after his death. Huntress is Batman and Catwoman’s successor, and Fury is Wonder Woman's daughter.
• Legion of Doom: Wonder Woman enemy Badra allies herself with Superman enemies Mala, Kizo and U-Ban to destroy the Justice Society and Earth itself. Later, Badra forms an alliance with Faora to kill both Power Girl and her Earth-One counterpart.
• Lightning Bruiser: Power Girl's Kryptonian DNA ensures that after her cousin's demise she is the world's most powerful hero. She moves faster and strikes harder than anybody.
• The Lost Lenore: Lois Lane has to come to terms with her husband's death, at the same time other heroes have to protect Earth from old Superman's enemies who decide to take advantage of his absence to destroy his adoptive world.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Kara’s mind lived in a simulation for the duration of her decade-long trip to Earth.
  Kara: You know, Jimmy, I spent twenty years of my life—about fifty-eight of them, in your time—in a dream. In the Symbioship. There was no way I could have stayed sane on a rocket journey that took twenty years to complete. My father, Zor-L, he anticipated that and created the dream programming. I was dreaming for twenty years, with the computer making a simulation in which I... lived... I went to school, I met people, all based on real people my parents knew on Krypton, I did things, had adventures, fell in love—and the guys whom I fell in love with always had to leave. I never knew why. Then to find out it was part of a frabbing computer... great Rao, I almost hated Daddy. But I knew why he had to do it. I would have gone insane otherwise. We didn't know enough about suspended animation, and the spacewarp Kal's rocket went through had moved on.
• Lovely Angels: Power Girl and Huntress are a scarily effective crime-fighting duo.
• Luminescent Blush: Fury's face reddens when her grandmother reveals off-handedly she has a lover:
  Lyta's eyes were widening at the same time that her skin was flushing crimson.
• Meaningful Name: Lyta wanted to be a hero but she couldn't take up the "Wonder Woman" mantle until she earned the name. Following Hector Hall's advice to tie her hero name in with mythology she chose the "Fury" name.
• Mook–Face Turn: The sorceror helping the villains out tries to defect and free Wonder Woman and Fury when he realizes his bosses intend to destroy Earth. Unfortunately he gets caught by Badra and beaten up.
• Mythology Gag: Power Girl is called the Blonde Blockbuster at one point. A title used by Earth-One Supergirl but not by Earth-Two Kara.
• Mundane Utility: Heat vision has plenty uses, including burning grease off your hands after having lunch.
  She took off her gloves, stuck them in her belt, walked over, and took the sandwich from him—beef and melted swiss cheese on a roll; it was good—and chomped some of it, getting the grease on her hands. She'd burn it off later with her heat-vision.
• The Multiverse: A central theme. The Supergirl of Earth-1.5 -Kara of Rokyn- alters the outcome of the Crisis, a deed which saves the infinite parallel universes and spawns new parallel dimensions, Earth-1.75 -Hellsister Trilogy- and Earth-2.5 -A Force of Four- among them, whose heroes every so often interact with each other.
• Neck Lift: U-Ban has a penchant for neck-lifting Power Girl at least once when they clash.
• Never Be a Hero: When she was nineteen, Lyta wanted to quit college and become the next Wonder Woman. Her mother' retort was: "Like Hell". She would not allow it until Lyta was of legal age.
• Never Mess with Granny: Wonder Woman is in her sixties, at the very least. And she can still hit.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Kara Zor-L is as incredibly tough as any Kryptonian.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Wonder Woman tries to goad Badra into unchaining her and fighting her. Unfortunately the villain doesn't take the bait.
  "Would you like to punish me, Wonder Woman?" she cooed. "Would you like to try your famous Amazon strength against my mere Hatorian body?"
  "You know the answer, coward," said Princess Diana. "But unchain me now, and I'll let you have the first three blows. If your might is all you claim it is, then that should be enough, should it not?" Diana plastered a sneer on her face, trying to incite the woman to rage.
  Badra replied, "I am not so foolish as to relinquish my own advantage, Diana. Held by those man-joined chains, your power is negated. Freed, you might be a threat to me... so the fetters will remain until the time of your execution. Or should I say, your murder?"
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Power Girl savagely pummels U-Ban into unconsciousness when he attempts to rape her.
• Non-Action Guy: Andrew Vinson is an average reporter. He isn't particularly fit and has no fighting skills to talk about. And he's dating Kara, who is hands down the world's most powerful super-being.
• Oh, Crap!: Lyta's face when her grandmother reveals her mother that Lyta has a lover Diana knew nothing about.
  "Even so," said Hippolyta, "she has greater than mortal years ahead of her, but less even than her mother, who renounced immortality at a later date than her, and much less than a pure Amazon who has not renounced the Waters of Youth. So there are fewer days to you, Lyta, than you might expect. Use them wisely while you do have them."
  Wonder Woman's eyes widened. "Mother, what are you saying? Are you saying that Lyta has—"
  Lyta's eyes were widening at the same time that her skin was flushing crimson.
  Diana finally finished the sentence. "—has given herself to a man?"
  "Ohhhhhhh, hell," muttered Lyta, and hid her face in her hands.
• Oh, My Gods!: The Amazons are prone to swear by their own deities.
  Fury: What in Tartarus is that?
• Older Than They Look: Kara is 69 and looks 29. There's delayed growing and aging involved.
  Superman had called this city home since 1938. Now it was 1985, and whatever responsibilities it held for superhumans had been passed on to her own white-clad, red-caped shoulders. Some people below saw her, pointed, shouted at her, waved their hands wildly. She gave a half-hearted wave back, not really looking at them.
  Power Girl wore a white leotard, cut high on the thighs and low on the chest... a great distraction for evildoers, and any other males past puberty. Her feet were hidden in blue buccaneer boots, she wore blue gloves (none of that stupid bare-handed stuff for her; Kal's leaving fingerprints had gotten him in trouble more than once), and had a red belt with a gold buckle slung low on her hips (she had it and wasn't afraid to show it).
  She had been born in 1916, and had the body of a 29-year-old. Her origin was far, far stranger than Kal's.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Mars intends to destroy Earth and kill everybody:
  Mars: "Mars is not tied to Earth. Mars is tied to war. And what better war than that of vast empires within the second Heaven? Where billions may die, billions more be enslaved, and the bloodflow which results nourishes my power with every drop. No. Earth is unnecessary. A canker in my being. When it is destroyed, only my pain will vanish. But it will not be destroyed yet.
• One-Man Army: The three Kryptonian rogues set Paradise Island on fire and crush every military force thrown against them.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. One of the Kryptonian criminals and one of the Amazons are called Mala. Lois comments on it:
  Lois Kent had never spoken to any Amazons except Wonder Woman and Fury, and it was even odder to know that the one she spoke to had the same name as the Kryptonian criminal who looked like her late husband.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: When the three Kryptonian criminals learn Superman is dead, they feel cheated.
  Mala: We have not forgotten the thirty years we spent in the Kryptonite globe because of him. Nor have we forgotten being cheated of our revenge by his death.
• Parental Substitute: Subverted. Superman tried to be a father to his cousin, but Kara couldn't accept a father figure.
  Kara: We both cared about each other. We were both glad that we weren't the only Kryptonians left alive, when we found each other. But he wanted to play Daddy, because he'd never had a child. And I... couldn't do that, Jimmy. I had a daddy, and it wasn't Kal.
• Parting-Words Regret: Kara is feeling guilty because she was always snapping at her cousin and never, ever told him she loved her before his death.
  She wondered if Kal ever forgave her for never telling him she had loved him, despite it all, like a second father. She wondered if she would ever forgive herself for not doing that.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: Subverted. When Jimmy compares Kara with Christie Brinkley, Kara pretends to get angry and about to punish him by being a "male chauvinist".
• Phantom Zone: In the end, the four villains are banished to the Zone.
• Physical God: Mars is the main antagonist.
• Posthumous Character: Superman dies before the beginning of the history, and his demise affects everyone and everything. Power Girl wonders if she’s up to the challenge and ruing to have never told him she loved him, Lois and Jimmy are mourning him and Badra takes advantage of his death to set her plan in motion.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Kara faints after the final battle.
  "Okay," said Power Girl. "I think we can power down right now."
  "Kara," said Diana. "Let me—"
  That was the last thing Power Girl heard before, exhausted, she hit the ground.
• Power Echoes: Mars' voice is... booming.
  "Stop," said Mars, in a voice that might have reverberated throughout his entire world, somehow.
• The Power of the Sun: Being a Kryptonian, Power Girl draws her power from the Sun. Unfortunately so do her enemies Mala, Kizo and U-Ban.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
  • Mala tries to talk the young heroes into stepping aside as he kills Power Girl.
    Mala: We have not forgotten the thirty years we spent in the Kryptonite globe because of him. Nor have we forgotten being cheated of our revenge by his death. Should Kara Zor-L live, she will inevitably prove to be a hindrance to us. It is regrettable that she must die. But die she must. There is no need for battle. Our audience has left the stands. This show of combat pleased him, but it was most inefficient. Please. Let me do what is required, and I promise to make her death as quick as I possibly can. Your own will be even quicker, and as painless as possible. The decision is up to you.
    Fury: You know what our answer is, big man. Come and get it.
    Nuklon: Nope. Our answer is—go to hell!
  • Kara when U-Ban attempts to rape her:
    Power Girl: You want it, tough guy? You're going to have to fight for it.
• Precision F-Strike: Nuklon's answer when Mala promises to kill them quickly if they step aside while he kills Power Girl.
  Nuklon: Nope. Our answer is—go to hell!
• Primary-Color Champion:
  • Power Girl's costume is white, blue and red.
    Power Girl wore a white leotard, cut high on the thighs and low on the chest... a great distraction for evildoers, and any other males past puberty. Her feet were hidden in blue buccaneer boots, she wore blue gloves (none of that stupid bare-handed stuff for her; Kal's leaving fingerprints had gotten him in trouble more than once), and had a red belt with a gold buckle slung low on her hips (she had it and wasn't afraid to show it).
  • Fury's hero costume is red and golden:
    She made a short trip to Paradise Island in her mom's Robot Plane, had an Amazon tailor and an armorer help her create an outfit, swore them to secrecy, and came back in her "working clothes." A red leotard cut thigh-high, a red tiara with a gold jewel at the forehead, a gold-metal half-breastplate, an ornate belt of the same metal, golden boots and gloves and a cape, and that was it. She didn't bother with a mask.
• Prison Dimension: The Justice Society ultimately gets rid of the villain trio by throwing them into the Phantom Zone.
• Promotion to Parent: Superman tried to be Kara's father after her arrival, but she couldn't regard him as her own father.
• Psycho Supporter: Badra is completely committed to carry out Mars' plan to destroy Earth because she's also a raving, mass-murdering lunatic.
• Public Domain Artifact: The Holy Grail is used by the villains to banish all magically-powered heroes from the planet.
• Punched Across the Room: U-Ban breaks into the Fortress to ravish Power Girl. Kara blasts his groin and punches him through a roof.
  She brought one up off the floor and gave him an uppercut that smashed him right into the next level.
• Punished for Sympathy: Aldon Persis attempted to use a healing ray on Wonder Woman's scarred face. Badra caught him and pummeled him.
• The Quisling: Aldon Persis joins the Kryptonians and Badra. Fury even calls him "their little Quisling".
• Raging Stiffie: Mala gets one when Power Girl dares Badra to catfight her.
  She had been gauging the pressure of his grip with great accuracy. Her talk to Badra had a specific effect on Mala, she could tell by a certain feeling against her back.
• Really Gets Around: Lyta Tevor doesn't get along well with Power Girl because among other reasons she thinks Kara sleeps around and should stick to one lover.
  Besides, Lyta was never taken with Power Girl. Kara had an attitude problem, and Lyta figured she also slept around. She was pretty sure that Syl and PG had done the deed, and Kara might have had a one-nighter with that Firestorm guy at a JLA / JSA party. Plus there was Andrew Vinson.
  Nope, Kara was just too full of herself. Lyta suspected she was full of something else, too. Little Miss Longlegs from Krypton should just pick herself one guy to sleep with, like Lyta herself had done.
• Relative Button: Subverted. While fighting an injured Wonder Woman, Badra gloats that she will go after her mother and daughter next. Diana attacks in a fury... and realizes she was idiotically baited into a dumb, reckless charge a fraction of second before being pummeled.
• Revenge: Badra allies herself with Mala, Kizo and U-Ban to get revenge on their nemesis and destroy Earth. Unfortunately for the three Kryptonian rogues Superman is already deceased, so they'll settle for killing his cousin Power Girl.
• Revenge by Proxy: Since Superman is dead the three Kryptonian criminals decide to get revenge on him by killing his cousin. As for Badra, she manages to capture both Wonder Woman and her daughter Fury. Badra hits Fury every time she wants to punish Diana, and vice versa.
  "Fury, this is Badra," Wonder Woman said. "One of the great one-shot wonders of my career."
  Badra stepped forward. Fire was in her eyes, and Fury was certain that her mother hadn't been wise in her choice of words. "Hold it right there, bitch," said the young Amazon. "If you want to pick on somebody, make it me."
  The Hatorian woman looked at Fury with a smile of great maliciousness. "Oh, don't worry. I will. What I do to her will resonate doubly in your soul. That's how these mother-daughter things tend to go. Isn't that right, Diana?"
• Rousing Speech: Power Girl is being trashed by one of the villains until she somehow hears her deceased cousin's voice in her head.
  Maybe I shoulda let him, she snapped back at her mind-jester. Maybe I wouldn't be getting my last neck-massage now. Maybe it was useless from the start. After all, Sheol... I'm just a woman...
  <Isn't that enough?>
  A voice.
  Not her own mind-voice, not that of her counterpoint-sister, but a new voice. A voice which, she had to admit, sounded a little... familiar.
  A man's voice.
  <You are a woman, Kara,> said the voice. <But a very important woman. One who has been chosen to be the last surviving woman of Krypton. Beyond you, there are no more heroes of your world. Upon you lies the task of opposing its last surviving sons. For they are unworthy.>
  Yeah? thought Kara. And I'm supposed to be...worthy? Because I fell into something I would never have dreamed of doing, when I was a little girl? Because my planet blew up, and I didn't blow up with it? Because I was taken out of the very best lie I ever lived in, and made to live on this... little quaint backwater planet? Because I saw my cousin die? And I never got to tell him I loved him?
  <Kara,> said the voice. And she heard it clearly, despite the hands (both hands, now) wrapped about her neck, despite the pressure that would not let up, despite the fact that, within seconds, she was sure, she would cease to be the last heroine of Krypton. <Kara, I always knew. Even through all our difficulties, all our quarrels, I always knew. And, Kara... I loved you, too.>
  Great Rao, I am imagining things. I am dying... and dreaming...
  <Then make it the best dream you ever had, Kara. Make it a dream worth dying for.>
• Saving the World: Power Girl and the remainder world's heroes manage to thwart Badra and the outlaws' plans to destroy Earth.
• Screw Your Ultimatum!: When Mala assures the Infinitors that he'll kill them quickly and painlessly if they step aside while he kills Power Girl, Fury and Nuklon's retorts are immediate and predictable.
  Mala: Should Kara Zor-L live, she will inevitably prove to be a hindrance to us. It is regrettable that she must die. But die she must. There is no need for battle. Our audience has left the stands. This show of combat pleased him, but it was most inefficient. Please. Let me do what is required, and I promise to make her death as quick as I possibly can. Your own will be even quicker, and as painless as possible. The decision is up to you.
  Fury: You know what our answer is, big man. Come and get it.
  Nuklon: Nope. Our answer is—go to hell!
• Secret Identity: Lyta decides to not bother with a secret identity when she starts operating as a hero.
  She didn't bother with a mask. Her mother had revealed her secret identity years ago. Lyta didn't intend to bother with one.
• Secret-Keeper: Andrew Vinson knows his girlfriend Karen Starr is really Power Girl.
• Ship Tease: Between Power Girl and Andrew Vinson, who have been in a romantic relationship for years.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Queen Hippolyta to Mars:
  Wonder Woman: Fury, Mother, get behind me.
  Hippolyta: Never. I stand between Mars and all others, no matter what the cost. I stand in the name of Aphrodite.
  Mars: She does not rule here. She has no influence here.
  Hippolyta: She rules everywhere. Even in the depths of your alien world-dungeon.
• Siblings in Crime: The three Kryptonian rogues attacking Earth are three brothers called Mala, Kizo and U-Ban.
• Sole Survivor: Subverted in. Kara Zor-L believes she is the last survivor of Krypton after her cousin's death until three Superman's enemies surface.
• Space Base: Badra and her three teammates set their base up on Mars, where they and their prisoners can't be reached easily, and where Badra's patron's seat of power is located.
• Stalker with a Crush: U-Ban is determinated to have Power Girl, willingly or by force. Too bad for him, Kara pummels him to the ground when he actually makes the attempt.
• Statuesque Stunner: Badra is tall and considered beautiful or sensual by many characters.
  She was tall, almost 6 feet in height, and vaguely stirred their carnality.
• Stock Superhero Day Jobs: Kara owns and runs a software firm, "Starrware".
• Straw Misogynist: The three brothers are convinced that they can take on Power Girl or Badra because they are "only women".
• Stress Vomit: Andrew Vinson throws up when the titular heroine takes him for a flight a tad too suddenly and enthusiastically.
  Letting loose of a choice four-letter word, he yanked open the curtains, pulled up the blinds, unlatched the window, and stuck his head out. He still didn't see anyone. "Kara, if this is you—" he said. "And it better be you."
  She swooped down from just above his window, grabbed him under the armpits, and was off with him through the night sky before he could unleash a half-decent scream.
  Power Girl beamed at Andrew, who was as wide-eyed as a gangster hearing of an IRS audit. "I got a call back. Turns out I aced the interview. Dr. Ginsberg at UCC hired me. Isn't that fabulous?"
  "Oh, yeah," he said, gulping.
  "I was out with Superman the last couple of days. Luthor busted jail for the 4894th time, and I got to come along and help kick his butt. I think he'll stick to just Kal after his bruises heal!" She giggled.
  "Swell," he said, swallowing hard.
  "I'm so glad you reccommended me to Ginsberg, you little poop. Wanna walk me to work tomorrow?"
  "If I can," he said.
  Then he let go of his lunch and it spattered the roof of a Jamaican taxi driver's cab some 30 stories below.
  The guy didn't know how it got on his car, but he hoped he never run into that big a bird, ever.
• Superheroes Wear Capes: Most heroes wear capes. Wonder Woman's daughter Fury is the only Amazon to wear one.
• Super Hero Origin: Kara retells Jimmy her origin in the first chapter.
• Superpower Lottery: Power Girl is the world's more powerful superhuman by virtue of being the only Kryptonian alive.
• Super-Senses: Power Girl and Kryptonian villains Mala, Kizo and U-Ban have heightened senses.
• Super-Strength: At one point Power Girl points out she isn't as massively strong as her Earth-One counterpart, but she still can punch people through a wall.
• Super-Toughness: Power Girl can easily dive in magma without harm.
• Take That!: A subtle shot is aimed at the infamous The Supergirl Saga storyline where Superman executed three Kryptonian criminals. As the last law-abiding Kryptonian alive, Kara has to decide what must be done with three Kryptonian criminals. Rather than executing them, she gets them thrown in the Phantom Zone.
• Taking the Bullet: Kara shields both Hippolyta and Fury from Mala, Kizo and U-Ban's heat beams. The pain is unbearable even for Power Girl, but she stands her ground and takes it.
  The three women surged forward again, wearing grim battle-faces that might have been those of Greeks in the Trojan War.
  Before they had covered half the distance, all three felt the pain of searing heat along their bodies.
  Power Girl halted, grabbed her two allies, and tossed them to the ground. Then she spread her body over the both of them and stretched her cape to its full extent, shielding them as best she could. "Stay down, you two," she warned.
  "We've gotta fight ‘em!" wailed Fury.
  "They'd... broil you like a hot dog," grated Kara. "Stay down, and I mean it!"
  The three outlaws of Krypton were standing in a circle about Power Girl, sending six beams of heat from their eyes at her caped back. One Kryptonian could cause pain. Two could injure. Three could destroy.
  But Hippolyta and Fury lacked the Kryptonian durability to withstand heat vision for a time. Without her protection, both women would soon burn to death.
  Kara bit her lip to keep from screaming. The terrible beams seared her back like a grid of white-hot iron. That, despite her protective cape. There was only so much longer she could take it.
  Her brain rushed to formulate an escape stratagem before the three of them could die.
  But all she could really come up with right then was to lie there and take it.
• Technical Pacifist: After the four villains have been subdued, an Amazon suggests to kill them off, but Queen Hippolyta wants to exhaust all other options first.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Badra and the three Kryptonian brothers can't stand each other. They barely manage to work together, but Badra tends to treat them as servants and they often remind her they outnumber her.
• There Is Another: Power Girl believed she was the Last Daughter of Krypton. Then she finds out there three more Kryptonians… and they’re bad news.
• There Was a Door: Kizo bursts through a wall purely because it amuses him.
  She was interrupted when Kizo smashed through the outer wall of the building.
  The Kryptonian deliberately avoided crushing the communications board against the wall. He thought he might have use for that. But it was fun to make an entrance like this, and note the fear and surprise in his enemies' eyes. Superman must have done it like this.
• The Man Behind the Man: Ares is Badra’s true boss.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Lyta is not amused when Badra hits her mother.
  "Fury, this is Badra," Wonder Woman said. "One of the great one-shot wonders of my career."
  Badra stepped forward. Fire was in her eyes, and Fury was certain that her mother hadn't been wise in her choice of words. "Hold it right there, bitch," said the young Amazon. "If you want to pick on somebody, make it me."
  The Hatorian woman looked at Fury with a smile of great maliciousness. "Oh, don't worry. I will. What I do to her will resonate doubly in your soul. That's how these mother-daughter things tend to go. Isn't that right, Diana?"
  She drew back her hand and slapped Wonder Woman as hard as she could.
  "STOP IT, YOU BITCH!"
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: When the Amazon Mala suggests maybe they should execute the four villains, Hippolyta insists that the Amazons will not kill as long as they can find a better way.
  Hippolyta: Since the Krypts are the last men from your planet, both groups decided to let you decided what should be done with them. We'll decide about Badra afterward.
  Mala: Not even a Venus girdle can withstand that one for long. Though such is against our nature, O queen, perhaps execution is in order.
  Hippolyta: Not while alternatives exist, Mala. She will remain in stasus till we find a means of imprisoning her for life. We will find that means. Our hands will not be stained with blood... even hers.
• Thrown Down a Well: Superman imprisoned Mala, Kizo and U-Ban in a Kryptonite globe which he left drifting about the edge of the solar system. Decades passed before Badra released them.
  In the reaches of outer space, a green-glowing globe floated, undisturbed for 31 years. The three beings inside it were numb, in suspended animation, as they had been for almost all of their imprisonment.
• Translation Convention: Badra is an alien woman from Hator, and her three allies Kizo, Mala and U-Ban are Kryptonians. Yet still, all of their conversations are rendered in English.
• Uncertain Doom: Mars disappears after getting struck by the Amazons' Purple Ray. Mars was blasted into oblivion or he merely teleported away? Neither the Amazons nor Power Girl know.
• Underestimating Badassery: The three Kryptonian criminals are initially reluctant to take part in Badra's plan... until she tells them Superman is dead and his female cousin is the world’s guardian now. They think they can take on Power Girl easily. Big mistake.
  Mala's eyes went wide with pain and surprise. He'd expected this job to be a walk. Two of them against a girl? No problem. Three of them had taken down the great Superman.
  Now, the pain in his abdomen and his lack of breath were forcing him to reconsider matters.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Kara Zor-L and Andrew Vinson used to have this before getting together.
• Unwitting Pawn: The three Kryptonians are being used by Ares to further his own revenge.
• Use Your Head: U-Ban head-butts Supergirl when they brawl.
  Then he smashed his forehead against her own, and filled her head with pain.
• Villain Team-Up: Badra and three Kryptonian criminals – Mala, Kizo and U-Ban — join forces.
  "My name is Badra," she said to them, through Mars's alien gases. "I believe you are Mala, Kizo, and U-Ban, of Krypton. We have enemies in common. Let us talk."
• War God: Mars, Wonder Woman's old enemy.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The heroes use the Amazons' Purple Ray, a giant energy canon to destroy Mars once and for all.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The Amazons keep their Golden Age weaknesses: they lose their powers if chained by a man and they are vulnerable at a spot on the backs of their heads. The villains exploit said weaknesses wantonly.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the beginning, Kara and the JSA are wondering why most of super-villains have been gone since the last Crisis. It's revealed in another Dark Mark fanfic -Hellsister Trilogy- which they were forcefully recruited by Darkseid to conquer another Earth.
• What If?: What if Earth-Two survived the Crisis and Power Girl became the Earth's main protector?
• World's Strongest Man: After Superman's death Kara Zor-L is the world's strongest metahuman. No one comes close.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Even villains use wrestling moves every so often. Demostrated when U-Ban performed a Backbreaker on Power Girl.
• X-Ray Vision: Kara uses her x-ray vision fairly often to scan her surroundings looking for missing allies, enemies or weapons.
  Kara Zor-L stepped in, her footsteps echoing within the enclosed space. She began to use her X-ray vision on the structure, peering within its walls to see if she could detect the glowing, green, deadly mineral, or an enclosure of lead which would block her vision and probably indicate Kryptonite's presence.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: U-Ban attempts to rape Power Girl and he's savagely beaten down and into unconsciousness.

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Power Girl: He said that, if this was a dream, make it the best dream I ever could. That's just what I intend to do, Lois. I'll never try to make them forget Superman... hell, I want us all to remember him. But I'm going to make them remember Power Girl, as the new girl Metropolis can count on. In my own way."

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