2015-11-14 - The Circus of Crime's in Town Part 3 - Battle Under the Big Top

Last time on ComicAdventures.

For most people, trying to pry Kara's finger would be a futile effort, and biting would result in a bunch of broken teeth. Fortunately, Mia's half Kryptonian, and a five year old bending back an adult's finger is still going to hurt! So does biting!

Kara quickly lets go of Mia's throat and yells, "OW!!!!" as she pulls her hand back, giving Mia enough time to gulp in some much-needed air. Not to mention not having a hand trying to crush her trachea, which is always a plus.

So... Mia actually managed to hurt Kara, if only for a second or two. Because now Kara, aka Shan-Rina, looked angry. Or maybe confused. Or both? And as Mia managed to stumble to her feet, she saw a fist hitting into her face with... well.... more force than Mia's EVER had to experience before. Including from Mongul.

Which results in Mia going flying, tearing a hole in the big top tent roof, and hurtling Mia in a backwards arch as everything below her was spinning and a blur of motion - assuming Mia was able to retain being conscious.

Mia crashes into the side of the mountain. Fortunately the snow blunted the crash a bit, through Mia still gets hit with enough force to cause an avalanche, causing snow to pile down on her.

When Mia digs her way out of the snow, the first obvious question was... why is there snow?! There wasn't snow by the circus. Though the skiers the next mountain over would give an idea where she was.

Aspen.

Fortunately there were no skiers on this mountain, but still...

Kara punched her from New York to friggin' Colorado.

After digging herself out in a desperate subconscious need to survive, Mia collapses under the sun's rays and lets unconsciousness take her. The last thing she knows before going under is an image of Kara's face just as her fist hit Mia into another state.

It looked almost like Kara had a different look in her eyes. Something that regretted what she was doing. And given that the punch probably saved Mia's life, by getting her OUT of there before Kara was forced to kill her? Well. Maybe.

"Hey. Dude. You okay?"

The voice wakes Mia up. Prodding her with his ski pole, Mia groans and pulls her face out of the snowbank to find herself mostly not dead. She rises out of the snow like a red and blue phoenix, letting the sun work its magic on her body, and pauses to adjust her underpants which have been riding up in her butt since Kara had her by the neck. Not the best image to go on, but she nods at the skier and says, "Thanks. If you'll excuse me..."

And then she's gone, into the sky like a mach one explosion. I'm gonna need backup on this one. Fuck me, what do I do now?

-

Mia has a cellphone and isn't afraid to use it. Calling Clark, she tries the direct method to get ahold of him. "Hey Clark. Mia here. Meet me over Aspen. Colorado. Yes, it's serious and no I don't need you to bring skis. I could use an ice pack though, if that's any indication of what's going on. Your cousin hit me." She hangs up, knowing that's probably enough to bring him and right snappy.

Clark was at home, curled up with Lois and munching on popcorn while watching Gone with the Wind for the umpteenth time. Lois' choice, not his. However, when his phone rings and he sees Mia's name on the ID, he answers immediately. And then he listens. "Uh..okay." After kissing his wife goodbye, about a minute later, he is hovering in front of Mia with his arms across his chest and an...irritated expression on his face. "Cir-El. What do you mean that my cousin hit you?" He does a quick scan of Mia and sees the damage from her fight with Kara. Granted, it was healing, but still...his brows furrow hard. "What's happened?"

Mia has a hairline fracture in her cheek. Which was much more interesting a few minutes ago, but the sun is visibly healing it right in front of Kal's eyes. The fact that she's got a hairline fracture at all and is visibly in pain, that's huge. "I found Kara. She's at a circus in New York." She rubs her jaw a bit, turning her face so the sun can hit the hurting bits. "She punched me all the way here...not sure how long ago, I kind of blacked out a bit. Going by the name Shan-Rina."

She shrugs a little, going 'ow' as she works her jaw. "Nothing wrong with her arm, by the way. I think her noodle's a bit fried though."

Kal was having some very bad deja vu. However as Mia explains his expression softens and he cups her face gently turning it to the side like a concerned..well, like a concerned parent would. "The important thing is that you're not permanently damaged. I can see the wounds healing as we speak." He releases her and then says, "Take me to her. The last time this happened, Darkseid was behind it." He turns and gets ready to fly. "Let's hope it'll be easier to break her out of it this time. And when I find out who did this to her, they're going to wish I didn't." That was a bold faced threat. Something he doesn't do often...but it was friggin' Kara. NOBODY messes with Kara.

Mia says, "I really need to read up on you two's villain list," as she turns toward New York. Then pauses, trying to get a fix on what direction that is. She wasn't really paying attention on the way in. Rubbing her chin a little and pursing her lips, she looks confused, then nods, and flies west.

And then she's back, pointing southwest. "This way." And totally manages to do it without sounding like a moron who failed Geography.

And as a small aside...totally wearing the long pants this time out.

--

Back in New York, Ringmaster was quite pleased with Kara, aka Shan-Rina the Mighty's performance. They had already fleeced all the money from the audience and had them leave. "Well we should get going to another location now that our strongwoman has destroyed the wannabe superhero! Time to move the circus to our next location. I've heard good things about Madripoor."

Many of the other members of the Circus of Crime gathered round, although Bruto the Strongman was sulking. Clown comes over. "What's up, buttercup?" Which gets a frown from Bruto. "I coulda handled that girl, yknow. Lookat me, getting bumped from my part in the show for some chick." he says, looking over at 'Shan-Rina.' "I could take her too."

Clown responds, "You did see what Shan-rina did to that girl right? That dame had an S, and you seen the news? She's like Superman's daughter! Killed 'er with one punch! Well ... after all the other punches."

Bruto grips Clown's frilly shirt. "Hey, I stood toe to toe with the Hulk once!"

Clown responds, "You got yer keister handed to you by the Hulk actually. And She-Hulk too. Remember that Glamazonia bit?"

Bruto lets go. "Ah whatever. I think those Kryptonians ain't as tough as everyone makes em out to be."

The rest are gathered around the Ringmaster while he figures out the take for his crew. Minus Shan-Rina. Mind controlled employees are... lets say,.... unpaid interns.

After Mia gives him a direction, he flies towards it. "Mia, when we get there, your job is to find out who is mind controlling her and punch him in the face." A pause. "... gently. We don't want to kill anyone."

There is a gust of wind and a red and blue blur as Superman comes in from the top of the tent, ripping it and then landing in a crouch that cracks the ground beneath him. He didn't have to do any of that, but the gaze in those intense blue eyes show that he's not in a good mood. "Whoever has my cousin under their mental power will release her immediately...or else." His eyes glow red at the last part of that statement and his fingers curl into fists as he stares at the small group of circus performers. His gaze settles on Ringmaster first, before moving along to the rest.

From Mia, who's trying to catch up but isn't anywhere NEAR as fast as Kal, there's a mumbled "Is it wrong that I didn't even think that someone might be doing it? Oh, of course not, because there's a retard course for the special girl, you'll be taking it when we get home. Shut up. You started it." Luckily, mostly lost by the wind at the speeds she's flying.

She'll be along in a moment. Give her time, kids. She's a little slow.

Ringmaster gulps when the Man of Steel lands with such force. Generally a coward at heart, he suddenly smiles.

Bruto gets up and says, "Lemme handle him boss, he ain't so tough!" Bruto turns the dial on a belt from the last heist they did which augments his strength and punches his hand in his fist.

Ringmaster responds, "No, no... he wants his cousin. Well.. I think she wants to talk to him too. Shan-Rina!" he calls out.

Which is followed by Kara, dressed in what looks like a cavewoman bikini made of leopard hide, flying at Superman to punch him in the face!

Bruto looks dejected about not being the go-to muscle.

Superman frowns. Yeah, it was like Darkseid all over again. He drops a leg back and lifts his hand, catching Kara's fist in his own. But not without cost. It hurt more than just a little bit, and the shockwave from the force of the blow itself and the sudden stop, billows out along the room. Kal shoves at Kara hard, mostly to just get her out of his personal space. "Not only did they dress you in that god awful outfit, but this is happening way too often, Kara." He takes on a defensive stance. "Come on, Kara. Snap out of it."

A moment later, Cir-El comes in through the hole in the Big Top that she recently exited through, followed by a crack-boom of the sound barrier being given what-for. Slowing down and settling to the floor, a new warrior has entered the ring. And finding herself faced off against NOT Kara, but instead a horde of humans, she tries not to admit to exactly how scared she was of coming back. "Okay, who's mine? I got ...."

She trails off, not really sure she's got snappy chatter in her at this exact point, and looks at the strongman who seems to be looking for an opponent. Shrugs visibly, and says, "Just don't die, Kal. She's still got the skills."

Before Superman can push Kara away, but after he stops her punch, Kara responds with an acknowledgment of still having those 'skills' of which Mia spoke - by headbutting her dear cousin in the nose as hard as she can, after which she's pushed away from Superman with the shove, but stops short of going too far as her eyes turn red to fire off a blast of heat vision at her cousin. Something she did NOT do with Mia for some reason.

Speaking of Mia, Bruto grins. "FINALLY I get to show I'm better than a couple of broads!" Bruto gets in between the Ringmaster and Cir-El, looking all menacing. "You see this belt, girlie? It gives me a force field which also amplifies my strength! I can punch with almost 200 tons of force with this thing! Like this!" And with that, he throws a fist at Cir-El's midsection, expecting to be able to do the same thing that happened earlier in Mia's fight with Kara. But instead, what happens is....

Mia gets punched in the stomach. Oddly the whole 200 tons of force isn't exactly a match for getting hit by Supergirl, which is what she was taking in the gut earlier. Multiple times. So what happens is that the guy hits something that is not only not giving, and hurts his hand rather badly, leaving him crying out in pain.

His target is also kind of pissed off.

"Forgive me for being a little worried?" Mia says, as she reaches out and picks up the strongman by his shirt and looks him in the face. "I am really getting tired of being punched in the stomach by the way. So I'm going to ask you once. Who's your..."

And she's cut off as she finds a rather large snake coming down over her head, wrapping around her face. The strongman finds himself being dropped, but the only thing that you can hear from Mia is, "Ewwwww! Ew ew ew!"

Kal's head is rocked backwards from the force of Kara's headbutt. It causes his eyes to water and bloodies his nose, but he was already healing from the damage. Her heat vision fires, and he lifts a forearm to block it. A hiss comes from his mouth before he moves out of the way. "Cir, don't underestimate me, please." In a blur, he's in front of Kara as he delivers a rabbit punch to her solar plexus, followed up by a rising elbow towards her chin. "Snap out of it..." He grunts in a low voice as he looks her over, trying to figure out how to deal with her without actually hurting her. "Cir, take down the others. I'll help you in a minute, but I suspect you won't really need it."

Meanwhile, Kara and Kal are still fighting. Combat with Kara is always a dangerous proposition, especially if she's not trying to hold back at all. Since even Batman can attest to how good a fighter and trainer Diana is. Plus since Darkseid, Batman's trained her as well. And according to most tests and accounts, Supergirl was actually the more powerful of the Kryptonians on Earth. The last time a fight between Kara and Kal happened, Superman needed to use a Kryptonite ring to knock her out. Something Superman did not have this time. Not to mention, on top of who his opponent was, Superman was trying to figure how to beat Kara 'without actually hurting her.' But Shan-Rina didn't have that problem.

She does oof and double over from the rabbit punch, but puts up her hands to block him from uppercutting her and grabbing his hand with both of his to twist it to the side and kicking her leg into his midsection.

Back on Mia's side of the fight, there's an audible crack from how the force field generator overloads when he punches Cir-El with absolutely no reaction from her and is lifted off the ground for his trouble. Fortunately, Princess Python sent snakes to attack Cir-El! While they couldnt actually pierce her invulnerable skin, they were SNAKES! And they were trying to squirm around her everywhere, including ... oh god one's gotten in her costume! Plus there's a big one that was trying to crush her. And not succeeding, but still. Bruto is on the ground, grimacing and holding his hand in pain. Clown calls to him. "I toldja!"

Superman notices that there are high-pitched sound-waves which are echoing his last order to Kara. Apparently the thing that's controlling Kara is Ringmaster's Hat, preventing her from snapping out of it - or rather a device IN his hat.

Kal doubles over from the hard kick from Kara. Taking his own leg, he attempts to sweep her off her feet and then fires a shot of heat vision at her leg to get her to back for a second so he can think. His brows furrow slightly as he murmurs under his breath, knowing Mia can hear him. "Cir-El. There is something inside Ringmaster's hat that's controlling Kara. Aim for it. I don't care how you do it, just get the guy with the large top hat." He then moves fast, so fast that he leaves speed clones in his wake. It's a trick that he picked up from Flash. It would at least buy him enough time hopefully so that Mia could help Kara.

Kara Zor-El stops herself from getting thrown, stopping in mid-air and she pauses a second from the speed clones. Either she's trying to speed up her perception or.... Nope. Her eyes glow red as she starts firing a wide spread of heat vision at an entire area of Superman's 'speed clones' and Superman himself. However hot the heat vision is, it's intense enough that a good deal of the surrounding tent catches on fire!

Meanwhile the lions and other animals are freaking out, running out from the broken cages (from the earlier fight Kara had with Mia), and rush to attack the squirming Cir-El who's being doused with lots and lots of snakes! EW!

Ringmaster yells at the rest of his Circus of Crime, "Well don't just stand there! GET HER!" he says, pointing at Cir-El, since no one in their right mind should be getting in between the conflict between Shan-Rina and Superman. The Fat Lady then runs at Cir-El, jumps up, turning a dial on her belt and... well... increases her mass to 200 tons as well. Which is like.... 200 times her normal weight. Fortunately that means the snakes, having a sense of self-preservation, get off of Cir-El and slither out of range when a big shadow forms over Mia and a fat woman is about to land on her!

And the strangest thing happens through all of this. Mia, for all her powers, is apparently ticklish because the snake in her shirt is making her laugh. "God no please not there oh my god," she's saying, digging at her shirt and trying to take it off. Which is when, not bracing for it, the Fat Lady lands on top of her and...Mia vanishes.

Driven into the ground like a hammer hitting a nail, the Fat Lady sits there and looks satisfied. "I got her! Hah!" she says, calling out with glee. "Totally got one, you suck Bruto!" Then suddenly Mia just bursts out of the ground and hovers in the air, her shirt in her hand and in a sports bra, shaking out a snake as if the whole being pushed into the ground didn't even happen.

"Finally, gawd. Seriously. And that's another image I'll never get out of my head." Eyeing the Fat Lady, she cracks her knuckles, lifts her up with ONE HAND, pulps her belt device with a quick punch.

Sending the woman into the remaining group, she goes for a strike and sends clowns and snakes flying all over the place. She growls, pulling on her shirt, and then looks around for Ringmaster.

Superman hunkers down and crosses his arms in front of his face in the typical X fashion as Kara's heat vision impacts him. He lowers his smouldering arms as his own eyes glow crimson and he fires short bursts, rapid fire towards Kara in an attempt to at least stun her a little. As he fires, he's moving rapidly towards her location. His intention is to get close, grab her and then go straight up. Perhaps the control will lessen if he can get her away from Ringmaster. He'll keep going up until he breaks Earth's orbit if he can.

Soon as Superman grabs Kara and flies upward, Kara shoots another blast of heat vision right into Superman's eyes to temporarily blind him, then rams her knee into his groin and breaks free of his hold, flying behind him and slamming herself down against him, flying down as fast as he had been flying up to make them both crash into the ground, with Superman between Kara and the ground.

Upon impact, everything in the area shakes like there was a mini earthquake.

Mia adjusts her top as she looks around. Specifically for anyone who isn't trying to hurt her, though the clown bombs being tossed her way aren't even managing to annoy her enough to make her react. "If anyone, any ONE of you, lays a hand on me again, I SWEAR!" and at that moment she stamps her foot on the floor.

Which would be scary, but at that moment Superman and Kara hit the ground, and everyone but Mia goes all funky.

Mia takes a moment and looks at her foot. Then gives her head a bit of a shake, then goes off to find Ringmaster.

Which is like the easiest thing she's done all day. The guy's huddled under a bench, shivering. "Oh for heaven's sake. Come out of there or I'll just pick the whole damn thing up."

Superman actually cries out sharply when Kara heat visions him in the eyes. That was a dirty trick that he never taught her. But he doesn't have time to dwell on it, as her knee impacts his groin. The last time he felt pain like that was when Divine hit him there. It's enough to send him into a rage, but he has to reign himself in. It was Kara, after all, and she has no control over herself. His body impacts the ground with the force of a small earthquake, and temporarily, he is unable to move due to the massive damage that she caused. He coughs, and a trickle of blood spills out of the corner of his mouth. His body is healing, though, and quickly as they are both in direct sunlight. He reaches out and attempts to grab her wrists. "Please... stop this! I love you too much. Don't make me fight you." It's spoken softly as his eyes are closed while his eyes heal from the heat vision attack.

Kara Zor-El's eyes again glow red, and she fires another blast of heat vision directly at Superman's face - a prolonged, focused, painful blast. Apparently she's not feeling the cousinly love. When Superman manages to grab one of her wrists, she pulls back her other fist and is about to slam it into his throat.

Yes. Kara fights dirty. She did get taught how to fight by Wonder Woman, Artemis, Batman, and... oh yeah... Darkseid and his Elite. Fighting dirty is fighting effectively. Which apparently wasn't dulled by the mind control.

Anyway, Shan-Rina's fist is about to slam into Superman's throat when ...

There's the sound of a crunch. Not from Superman, but from under the bleachers where Mia makes a little sound of victory! "Got you you squirrely bugger," she says as she tosses a badly mangled form that once was a mind control device out into the ring. It bounces a few times, sparks, and stops doing anything except look ridiculous. Which it does very well indeed.

Her head peeking out from under the bleachers, Mia stands up and lifts them right off of Ringmaster, who she's wrapped in her cape and is being held on her shoulder. "Did I get the right one? What's going on?"

Kal takes another prolonged blast in the face and his body arcs upwards from the ground as he hisses in pain. He throws his arm over his face in an attempt to block some of it, but by that time....

Kara Zor-El stops where her fist was about to punch her cousin in the throat, with a confused look on her face. "Kal what are you...." Then sees herself in the leopard cavegirl bikini. "What in Rao's name...?" She quickly gets off of her cousin and sits on the ground by him. "Did I just get mind whammied. AGAIN!?"

With Ringmaster on her shoulder, Mia casts her eyes over the henchmen. The look she gives them more than makes up for any threat she could have made. That and the fact that she's crumpling up the steel bar in her free hand. Slowly. "Sorry I didn't bring you a change of clothes, Supergirl," she says. More for the carnies' benefit than anything. She nods, fully aware that they're not going to be hard to track down, and turns to look at Kal and Kara. And keeps a little bit of distance, as if not really sure it's safe. Kara did punch her across half the country just a bit ago, after all.

Kal moves to a sitting position. "Yes, you did. That settles it. I'm teaching you some mental exercises to make it harder for people to do that from now on. Because it hurts, in more ways than one." He opens his eyes and squints a little bit. His vision was still a little blurry, but he takes off his cape and wraps it around Kara. "Cir-El came and got me when she saw that you were being controlled by Ringmaster." Kal looks over at Mia. "She's fine now that you've smashed his hat." He stands up and exhales softly, tilting his head up towards the sky. For a moment, he just stands still in the direct sunlight, basking in it almost.

Kara Zor-El peers at Kal with a wincing look. "I don't really remember what I did.... was it bad?" She looks over at Mia as well, who seems to have the rest of the Circus of Crime pretty cowed and not wanting to make any move at her after she just crunched that metal.

She holds up a finger. "Although um.... a couple of those times, it was because of red Kryptonite. Jimmy told me about the time you made yourself Earth pope." She looks at herself. "Although I'm sure you had more clothes on than this..."

Kara Zor-El adds, "Hopefully."

Mia hesitates before answering Kara's question. But she gives a grin after that short hesitation, and says, "Nothing that can't be taken care of with a healthy dose of chocolate liqeur," as she rises off of the ground. Since Kal told her not to underestimate him, she only gives him a concerned look and not the slightly panicked speech she wants to say. But seeing him alright, and Kara acting all babbly again...she relaxes.

"I think I'll be out of town when the circus goes through Metropolis next month though. No offense." And at that, she zips off to grab Brutus. Someone else can get the snake lady and the clowns. First come, first not squicked.

Kal asides to Kara. "Nothing that you need to worry about. You didn't kill anyone and that's what matters." He pauses and then says, "And reminding me of what happened when I was exposed to Red K doesn't excuse anything that's happened to you. This wasn't Red K." He speeds away and then returns, carrying the fat lady and the clown. "Let's drop these guys off and then talk later." And with that he goes skywards without another word.

Kara Zor-El watches Superman fly off after the ... mini-lecture... although he made a good point. Kara looks at herself and the outfit she was in again. "Could be nice for Dedrick..." she says to herself, before she and Mia get to work on carrying off the rest and flying after Superman for a nice little trip to prison.