Supergirl flew down Market Street. Before her she could see the giant lumberjack, a good three stories tall. The young woman heard it creaking while it stomped down the street, and heard the screams and shouts as people flew from the creature. As she zoomed towards it, she heard some of the screams turn to cheers, as the crowd saw her approach. Putting both of her fists in front of her, she increased her speed, aiming for the lumberjack’s head.
There was a loud metal clang as she connected with the creature, knocking its head to the side and zipping past its body. She turned around, preparing to make another strike. However this time the creature was ready, showing a speed it hadn’t before. It quickly struck out with its empty hand, sending Supergirl crashing into a nearby building.
“Wow! You’re Supergirl, right? I’ve always wanted to meet you!” Kara shook her head and pulled herself from the rubble to find a little man, dressed in a purple suit and bowler, standing before her. “Can I get your autograph?”
“Now’s not the best time,” Supergirl replied, looking towards the lumberjack that was moving her direction. “In fact, you’d better get somewhere safe!” she added before blasting off into the air. This time she avoided the creature’s attack, hitting it again as she sped past, landing behind it.
She grabbed an abandoned vehicle and hurled it at the creature, the automobile bouncing off the lumberjack and almost knocking him off balance.
“Ah crap!” she hissed, diving to the side just as the giant ax of the lumberjack sunk into the pavement where she had stood. “Okay, time to end this!”
While the creature struggled to pull its ax from the ground, she zipped into the air and aimed for its head. The lumberjack let go of its ax, struggling to stay standing. Supergirl quickly turned around, grabbed the enormous ax— easily three times her size— and lifted it as if it were a feather. Using all her strength she swung the ax around, through the waist of the lumberjack, cleaving the creature in two. There was a loud creaking, the creature standing still for a moment before the top half tumbled backwards, followed by the rest of it falling forward. Fortunately Kara had made sure the nearby area was empty before her final attack and the two halves of the lumberjack landed harmlessly on the empty road.
While the crowd cheered in the background, Supergirl looked at the remains, confused. The insides were completely hollow; no gears, no electronics, no man sitting at some sort of controls, nothing. No hint at all as to how the metal man was able to move.
* * * * * * * *
Rudy Jones awoke confused. This wasn’t his room, he’d never seen it before in his life and yet… it felt so familiar. He got out of bed, trying to think back while he located his clothing. He remembered the incident at S.T.A.R. Labs, being covered in that goo, but after that… Everything seemed to be in a fog, almost like he was watching through someone else’s eyes. Finally, he dressed and headed towards the door.
As he approached the door it slowly opened. A middle-aged woman started to enter and froze the moment she noticed Rudy. “Who are you?” she asked, stepping back, one hand fumbling with her purse. “What are you doing here? Where’s my sister?”
He opened his mouth to speak when a strange thought entered his head. He knew this woman. He’d never seen her before but… “Sally?” he said.
The woman looked at him shocked. “How do you know my name?” she asked angrily as she pulled a bottle of mace from her purse, aiming it at him.
Ruby opened his mouth, but nothing came out. How
did he know her name? Unable to answer he instead turned and fled out the back, while the woman shouted for help.
* * * * * * * *
“It was the second-biggest lumberjack I’ve ever seen,” Kara said to Linda. The two were walking through the California Academy of Science, Kara telling Linda of that morning’s events while they examined the exhibits.
“Do you think it was made by whoever created that Supergirl robot?” Linda asked.
“That’s the weird thing,” Kara replied. “I mean, that robot of me was obviously a robot. Mary and I damaged the thing enough before it escaped to see that. But this… lumberjack. It shouldn’t have been able to move. It was like…” She frowned, unable to thing of the English word from her limited but growing knowledge of the language, instead clicking on the translator she still wore. “Magic.”
“Magic? Strange,” Linda said, deep in thought.
They were continuing down the hall when they heard a loud voice call out.
“McGurk! Hey McGurk, where are you?!?”
The two turned to see the same little man that had asked Kara for her autograph that morning, now wandering down the corridor towards them.
“Hey it’s you!” he shouted as he walked up to Kara. “Have you seen McGurk?”
“Um… I don’t think so…” Kara told him.
“Who’s McGurk?” Linda asked.
“He’s… Oh there he is!” the man said, moving past them towards a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. As the two women watched he took off his bowler hat and pulled a huge bone out of it. “Took me millions of years but I finally found you boy! Here! Go fetch!”
He waved the bone in front of the dinosaur and tossed it down the hall. After a second the skeleton actually started to move.
“You’re seeing this right?” Kara said to Linda. “Cause otherwise I’m going insane.”
“Good. I was afraid I was the only one,” Linda replied. The crowd screamed and dashed for the exit as the skeleton lumbered down the hall, picked up the bone and turned back towards the little man. It lowered its head and dropped the bone in front of the man, wagging its tale as if it was a dog.
“Good boy,” the man said, throwing the bone again. The dinosaur turned, its large tail knocking over another skeleton.
By now Kara had found a place to change and, as Supergirl, appeared before the small man. “Listen, I don’t know who you are or how you’re doing this, but you have to stop before someone gets hurt,” she told him.
“Where are my manners?” the man replied, holding out a hand. “I am Mr. Mxyzptlk.”
“Mr. Mixey… what now?” Supergirl asked, taking his hand, then yanking it back after the small man kissed it.
“It’s simple. It’s mix-yes-spit-lick. Mxyzptlk.”
“Okay then, Mister Mixyesli… Whatever. Listen, can you stop whatever it is you’re doing?”
“Ah, come on!” Mxyzptlk replied. “I’m just having some fun with my pet! Of course I guess I could stop, if you agreed to say… a date.” He gave her a grin and batted his eyelashes.
“Um… no,” Supergirl told him.
“Well… your loss,” he said, disappearing in a flash, but leaving a living dinosaur skeleton, one that now started to rampage now that its ‘master’ was gone.
“Great!” Kara hissed as she leaped towards the skeleton, quickly shattering it before it could damage anything else. “Oh this is going to be real fun,” she sighed.
* * * * * * * *
“Who or what is that guy?” Linda asked, her and Kara back home in their kitchen.
“I have no idea,” Kara replied.
“Ooo! I know! I know!” came a voice from behind them. They turned to find Mxyzptlk sitting at the table. “I’m a brilliant, godlike life form from a dimension twice removed from yours.”
“Why are you here?” Kara asked, eyes narrowing after going wide in surprise.
“Because of you,” the little man replied. “Supergirl!” He snapped his fingers and suddenly Kara was back in her costume. “You see for millennia I’ve been playing games with these wonderful humans, but I admit it’s getting boring. But then… you came along! And boy are we gonna have some fun!”
“A game has rules,” Linda pointed out.
“And this one is simple,” Mxyzptlk replied, turning back to Kara. “All you have to do is get me to say, spell or otherwise reveal my name backwards and I’m gone. You win. But if I win, we go out on a date, or I keep causing chaos.”
“I can’t even say your name forwards, how do you expect me to say it backwards?” Kara told him.
“No!” the small man said. “You don’t have to say it backwards. I have to.”
“Say what?” Kara asked.
“Kltpz… Oooo! You’re clever! We’re really gonna have some fun! See you around,” he told her before vanishing again.
* * * * * * * *
Rudy wandered through the streets and alleys of the city, confused. Why did he have these memories that weren’t his? He headed down another alley and almost ran into a tall man. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Rudy told him.
“Not as sorry as you’re gonna be,” the man replied, pulling out a knife. “Give me all your cash!”
“I don’t… I don’t have anything,” Rudy told him, backing into one of the alley’s walls.
“Yeah right!” the man growled. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”
“I’m telling you—” Rudy started.
“Quiet!” the man replied, pointing his knife towards Rudy’s neck. “Guess I’ll have to check you myself.” He reached inside to check Rudy’s jacket. The moment his hand made contact with Rudy’s body, he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him. Just for a second. “What the…” he muttered, shaking his head.
Rudy, on the other hand, felt a surge of energy. Feeling stronger then ever before he grabbed the man’s wrist, causing him to drop the knife. “That wasn’t very nice Frankie,” he said to the man.
“How did you?” the man asked, wide-eyed as he was caught in Rudy’s strong grip.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Rudy replied before smashing the man into the wall, knocking him out. “Pathetic,” he sneered as he knelt down, grabbed the man’s wallet and knife and walked off down the alleyway.
* * * * * * * *
“Kara!” Linda shouted out from the living room. “You might want to see this!”
Kara quickly entered the room, where Linda was motioning towards the TV set. It showed a typical late night talk show set. “And now, everyone’s favorite fifth dimensional imp,” they heard the announcer say, “here’s Mxy!!!”
Mxyzptlk walked through the curtains to a loud applause. “Thank you! Thank you!” the Imp said. “We’ve got a great show for you tonight so don’t change that channel. Well you can, but it won’t matter, cause we’re on every channel!”
He walked over to the desk and hopped into the seat, putting his feet up. “Anyway our first guest tonight, radio talk show host and Supergirl hater…” The audience booed at that. “Leslie Willis!” The camera panned to show Leslie sitting on the couch beside the desk. “Now then, Leslie. Why don’t you like Supergirl?”
“What the…” Leslie sputtered. “How did I get here? What did you do to me you little creep? When I get my lawyers, you’re gonna be in real…” Mxyzptlk cut her off by waving his hand and turning her into a dog.
“Well Leslie, some people thought you were a real
*beep* and it looks like now they’re right,” he said with a laugh. “Of course if you folks watching want to be in the audience, just come down to the studio.” The studio’s address appeared on the screen.
There was a gust of wind from beside Linda; she glanced over to find Kara already gone.
Within moments Supergirl had arrived at the studio, having spent the entire flight attempting to figure out how to trick the Imp. She sped into the building and to where the show was being aired, only to find a new set up, and two Mxyzptlks, standing in front of a table with various props sitting around them. One Mxyzptlk was wearing a beret and had a large mustache.
“So what’s our myth today, Mxyz?” one said.
“Well, Ptlk,” the other replied. “The myth is that Supergirl is faster then a speeding bullet, more powerful then a locomotive and able to leap the tallest buildings in a single bound.”
“Then let’s test it!”
* * * * * * * *
Rudy was still walking down the street, trying to deal with his new memories and abilities when the world flashed and he suddenly found himself on the opposite side of the studio from Supergirl and Mxyzptlk, tied to a post with a rifle aimed at him.
“Our first test,” Mxyzptlk said, “is to see if Supergirl can stop a bullet before it hits our test subject here.”
“Test subject!” Rudy cried out as he struggled with the rope.
“In three, two, fire!” the imp yelled out.
As the rifle fired, Supergirl sped towards the man, stepping in front of him as the bullet bounced harmlessly off of her.
“Myth confirmed!” one of the imps said.
“You okay?” Supergirl asked as she untied Rudy, feeling a short-lived wave of tiredness when she touched Rudy’s arm.
“I’m fine now, Supergirl,” Rudy replied with a smile as he quickly fled the studio.
Supergirl turned back to face the Mxyzptlks. “Time for the second test,” one said, and a TV screen turned on behind him. “This poor train is headed for a bridge, but the bridge is out. Can Supergirl stop it in time?” A map then flashed on the screen showing Supergirl the location of the train.
“I’ll be back to deal with you!” Kara said to the imp before speeding off. She quickly found the train and landed in front of it, grabbing the front as she planted her feet on the rails, wincing in pain as friction built up. The train started to slow, finally stopping just before the bridge. Supergirl checked her feet to find the soles of her shoes completely burnt away, but her feet unharmed.
“Myth confirmed!” she heard Mxyzptlk say, looking over to see the two standing next to the track.
“The final test involved you rescuing a damsel from the top of the cities tallest building,” one said.
“And you’d better hurry up. She might not stay up there long.”
Kara growled as she shot off, finding the building and the ‘damsel’ atop it. Leslie Willis. “I know this is all your fault,” Leslie shouted as Kara grabbed her and lowered her to the ground.
“You’re welcome,” Supergirl replied sarcastically before flying back towards the studio.
“You haven’t heard the last from me!” Leslie shouted watching Supergirl fly off.
* * * * * * * *
“So what do we call this one?”
“Well she really didn’t leap, she flew,” the second Mxyzptlk said.
“Myth… plausible then?”
“Sure.”
“That’s it!” Supergirl shouted, bursting back into the studio, the two Mxyzptlks rejoining into one. “You might as well just say your name backwards cause there’s no way I’d give up and have to go on a date with a little shrimp like you!”
“What?” the imp yelled, face turning red.
“I said, you’re a
little shrimp,” Kara replied.
“I’ll show you who’s little!” Mxyzptlk growled. Supergirl suddenly found herself shrinking, ending up about an inch high and standing in model city. “Here comes Mxzilla!” the imp laughed as he stomped through the model, after Supergirl.
Supergirl flew off, out of the model and out of the studio, with Mxyzptlk chasing after her. She led him through the building and to one of the writer’s rooms, landing on a typewriter. “I’m tiny and you’re still too slow,” she laughed in a squeaky voice.
“Too slow!” the imp yelled. “Take that!” He jammed his finger down on the key Kara had been standing on, Supergirl moving out of the way just in time.
“Yup. Too slow!” Supergirl shouted, avoiding Mxyzptlk’s finger time and time again, finally she floated up in front of his face, grinning triumphantly.
“What are you so happy about?”
Kara nodded towards the paper in the typewriter, Mxyzptlk seeing what he had accidentally typed while trying to squash Kara. ‘Kltpzyxm’.
“Dang it!” was all he had time to said before he vanished in a flash, and Kara and everything else returned to normal.
Supergirl sat back in a nearby chair, letting out a sigh of relief. Then she heard Mxyzptlk’s voice.
“Oh. I forgot to mention. I’m only vanquished for three months.” The imp’s laughter faded as Kara slumped her head on the table.
