Gotham City had been more eventful than usual these past few years, with the arrival of Batgirl on the scene. Then her friendship with Poison Ivy began, with more entertainment of a different kind. San Francisco, too, had been struck with a marvel in the form of Supergirl, with a combination of powers unseen on this world before. And far away, yet close by, two good friends had long been enjoying the show.
They were starting to get restless, and that was never good. The two imps sat together in a world of their own making, currently a wood-paneled den with an old patched couch and a wide-screen TV. One sat with a pair of ears on his head that mimicked his idol Batman's cowled head, and the other with a bright violet bowler hat over a shock of white hair.
Bat-Mite fell backward onto the couch cushions in a puff of dust. “There’s nothing on anymore!”
“Tell me about it.” Mxyzptlk idly flipped through the channels. Some of the Earths were still vibrant, teeming with heroes and villains and excitement. But an old favorite sat in silence, punctured only by the occasional special broadcast. “I miss Earth-Five. Used to be so much going on.”
“Yeah, all kinds of stuff. Wish there was something we could do about it.”
The imps looked at each other, and both grinned.
“Wanna take a road trip?” asked Mxy.
“Where to?”
“San Francisco.”
“Aw, come on, I wanna go to Gotham.”
“Then we can go to Gotham second, I want to see Supergirl.”
“But Batman! Batman!” Bat-mite repeated for emphasis. “There’s only Supergirl in San Fran, there’s a whole team of them in Gotham!”
“But Supergirl has powers!”
“The Bats have smarts.”
“She’s got both. And a cooler costume.”
Bat-Mite’s lower lip trembled, and the ears on his makeshift cowl drooped. “Take that back.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” Mxy patted his friend’s shoulder. “But you’ve got to admit, Supergirl is the best.”
“I don’t got to admit anything, cause the Bats are better.”
The two stood perfectly still and glared at one another. An ominous clap of thunder rattled somewhere in the distance.
“A test?” proposed Mxy.
“A challenge,” returned Bat-Mite.
“A tournament!” Both sets of eyes gleamed at the prospect.
“But where?”
“Right here!” Bat-Mite soared up into the air and clapped his hands. The den vanished, leaving a wide open expanse, and with a snap of his fingers a gladiatorial stadium popped into being a few miles off. “That way no one has the home turf advantage.”
Mxy nodded his approval. “Very well. Here, and as soon as possible, Batman vs. Supergirl!”
Bat-Mite bit his lip in thought, and then shook his head. “No, it can’t be Batman.”
“Why not?”
“It wouldn’t be fair. Batman always wins.”
After a moment’s pause, Mxy shrugged and nodded. “Alright, true. Here, and as soon as possible, Batgirl vs. Supergirl!”
*****
Renee walked up to her apartment building with a heavy bag of groceries dangling in her hand. It was a day like any normal day, and Renee found her key sticking in the lock to her home.
“Oh come on,” she grumbled, set down her bag and fought with both hands to tug the key out and try it again. “Babs, if you changed my lock for me again…”
But not only did the key not turn, it was well and truly stuck. No matter how hard Renee pulled, it wouldn’t come out of the door. She gritted her teeth and gave it one last tug with all of her strength – and flew backward past where the wall should have been in her hallway. The floor fell away from her, and Renee sailed backward into empty whiteness.
Before she could manage a startled “What the hell?,” Bat-Mite joined Renee on her flight and introduced himself. “Hi! Hello! It’s so great to meet you, I’ve been waiting a long time for this – well, 20 minutes for
this but forever for something like it! I’m Bat-Mite, and tonight, I’ll be your tour guide, host, trainer and number one fan!”
Renee blinked a few times. “Yeah, you’re not actually explaining anything, little guy. I’m dreaming, right?” She looked over her hands, and still saw the marks from how hard she was pulling on the key.
“Even better! We’re on our way to the Fifth Dimension! You’ll love it, we’ve got it all set up special just for you!” Every word that Bat-Mite spoke may as well have been punctuated with its own exclamation mark; in the strange white world they traveled through, Renee could almost see the excitement that oozed out of his little body.
“Okay. Two questions…Bat-Mite.” Renee hesitated to use the name the creature gave her, for how silly it sounded. “Who’s ‘we’, and what do you know about me?”
Bat-Mite gasped, then smiled again, as the landscape started to dot with color all around them. “Oh! Don’t worry, we’d never tell anyone on your Earth,” he promised, grabbing up Renee’s hand in his. “You’ll understand when we get there. Me and McSpittle…Myaxis…well, call him 'Mixy', we all do. Me and Mxy know everything about all your superheroes. But we’d never tell anyone else you know who Batgirl is, that’d spoil all the fun!”
Now Renee was really worried, but she did her best not to show it. The imp didn’t seem to mean her any harm, at least not yet, and she didn’t want to make anything worse than it already was. “So let me get this straight. You know everything about me, and you and your friend live in some other dimension. Can you tell me why you’re taking me there, at least?”
“Because you and I, we’re going to prove that the Bats are the best there is!” Bat-Mite’s hands suddenly held a pair of black-and-blue pom-poms, and he shook them vigorously. “Nothing dangerous or anything, nope, just some good old-fashioned gladiator action!”
The concern whipped through Renee’s eyes, and she swallowed, and decided not to ask whether Bat-Mite did or didn’t know what gladiators had been. There wouldn’t have been time for the question anyway; the landscape swirled into place around them, and the floor came up to hit Renee with a heavy thud.
*****
Mxy found Supergirl in the air. The sun was bright over San Francisco, the air crisp and cool coming off of the sea and Kara enjoyed hers her patrol. Nothing ever said that just because she was looking out for crooks, she wasn’t allowed to do a few loops. Kara twirled and bent herself backward as she flipped through the sky, and only stopped when she came back up to find Mxy’s face greeting her.
“You!” Kara righted herself instantly and put her fists up as she floated. “Didn’t get enough last time, you need me to think circles all around you again?”
“Not around me, no,” Mxy answered. He was sitting calm as could be, cross-legged and floating at eye level with her. “But have I got a game for you! Come with me, and find out.”
“Hm, let me think about – NO.” Kara began to circle him. “I’ve got a lot of work to do around here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Mxy shook his head and followed her in her circles. “Pish tosh, you know me, Supergirl. When we’re all done in the fifth dimension I’ll bring you right back here to…” he checked a watch that had appeared on his wrist, “2:43 and 37 seconds PM on Tuesday the fourth. Good enough for you?”
“No.” Kara folded her arms. They rose higher and higher into the air, spinning around one another, both keeping themselves turned toward the other. The circles started to come faster, and tighter, and before Kara quite understood, she could see the colors bleeding off of them and down into their spiral – the blue and red of her costume, the green and purple on his bizarre outfit, blending together and becoming the vortex that quickly swallowed them both up.
“You’ll see, by the end of the day, when you’ve proven yourself for me, you’re going to be glad you came.” Mxy flashed a bright and cheery grin.
“Prove myself? Listen, you creep, if you’re thinking about doing anything slimy –“
Mxy cut her off with a swipe of his hand through the air. “Oh not at all, not at all. You’re just helping me settle a bet.”
“That’s slimy.”
“But fun,” he countered. “Trust me, with your powers, it’ll be easy. You’ll just have to beat one opponent.”
The vortex swirled around them, and Kara could look up to see the white sky of the Fifth Dimension coming nearer. “Well…fine, then, who?”
*****
“Ta-da! Na-na na-na na-na na-na BATGIRL!” Bat-Mite stood back to admire his creation. Renee held her arms out to look – the black suit hugged her body perfectly, even if it was wrong. It was the red hair that she first felt on her shoulders, then pulled out to look at, that was really not right. “Oh…wrong one? Hmm…” Bat-Mite swished above her head and snapped his fingers, and the costume changed. This time, the black was interspersed with armored bits of purple, and the hair that fell around her shoulders was blonde. “Oh, definitely wrong one. That has nothing to do with your Earth.”
“You know, if you hadn’t ambushed me in my normal clothes, I could have brought my own costume.”
“Look, I said I was sorry, just give me one more chance,” Bat-Mite’s ears drooped. On his third take, the bodysuit was a bright and glittery purple through and through, with a yellow-lined cape that opened up under her arms. “Close, but no cigar.” Finally, he managed to dress Renee in her own costume, with her own hair tied back under the cowl. The color was still brighter than the midnight purple that she usually wore, but Renee shrugged and nodded. “There we go! Now you’re ready.”
Batgirl looked around the set that he had created. Gladiator had been right. Tall tiered seats surrounded a large circular arena, and she kicked at the dirt that packed down for a floor. “So you’re going to have to tell me what you expect me to do here. If I’m fighting, who?”
“You’ll see, they should be here any second,” Bat-Mite answered. He looked up impatiently at the sky, and then time seemed to pass too quickly; Batgirl felt her breath and her heart rate sped up as the world fast-forwarded, and went back to normal when a bright multicolored funnel swirled into the air.
Mxy blinked into existence next to Bat-Mite, and Supergirl caught herself just before falling hard on her rear the way Batgirl had. The two heroines looked at one another, and immediately relaxed, while the imps took turns tweaking the landscape to their specifications.
“Hey, cool, Batgirl! I’ve been reading a lot about you, this is great,” Kara smiled, and shook Renee’s hand.
Batgirl shook her head along with the handshake. “What, me? You’re Supergirl. The whole world’s been following you, no one’s heard of me.”
“I heard of you. Word gets around in the super-circuit,” Kara smiled and winked. “Besides, I hung out with Nightwing. Someone had pretty good things to say about a certain ass-kicking female Bat.”
That made Renee laugh hard, putting a confused frown on Kara’s face until she explained. “Oh no, that would be Batwoman. Not me. Believe me, Nightwing knows better.”
Mxy clapped his hands twice, and a hush fell over the world. “Ladies and Gentleimps, we are here today to witness a battle beyond all battles, an epic masterpiece, to once and for all determine the champion of Earth-Five! In the red corner, representing herself, the Girl of Steel, the Maiden of Might, the one and only Supergirl! And in the blue corner, representing a whole family of like-minded heroes, the Domino Daredoll, Batgirl!”
“Domino Daredoll?” Renee raised an eyebrow and looked over at Kara.
She shrugged. “I dunno, I kind of like ‘Maiden of Might’.”
“Ladies, to your corners, please!” Mxy had conjured an old-style microphone, the type that came down from the ceiling, although there was none here. “And may the best girl win!”
Supergirl and Batgirl gave each other the same look, and turned to their emcee.
“Yeah, we’re not going to be fighting each other,” said Renee.
“At least not for free,” Kara said offhand, and quickly added, “I’m kidding!” at Batgirl’s glare.
Bat-Mite flew in front of the girls, too close to each of their faces in turn. “But that’s what we brought you here for! You have to!”
“Not if we just don’t.” Kara meant to bat the Mite away like a bug, and accidentally backhanded him across the arena.
Batgirl nodded thoughtfully. “Not if we just fight them instead,” she suggested.
“Eh, I don’t know we want to do that.” Bat-Mite popped back into existence in front of Kara’s face again, and he blew a large raspberry before he let her continue. “You can’t underestimate these guys. For all the Looney Toons antics, they’re smart. Well, the other one is, at least.”
“I appreciate the compliment,” Mxy tipped his purple bowler hat. “But my good friend is right. You two are in our world now. And you will battle it out for the title, and you will have fun doing it!” The words seeped into the fabric of the world, and something changed just slightly in the air.
Batgirl turned to her counterpart. “Look…I’ve had much worse requests from supervillains. Best girl wins?”
Kara threw her hands up and started to smile. “Fine. Sure. But no hard feelings when it’s me.”
“What, you don’t think I’m a threat?”
“Corners!” Mxy called again, and this time Batgirl and Supergirl went willingly.
“You will be tested in – “
Bat-Mite swerved in front of Mxy and grabbed the microphone for himself. “Hey, I wanna do some of it too!”
“Fine, go ahead, my friend.”
“You will be tested in the areas of speed, strength, and smarts,” Bat-Mite announced. “But be warned that the tests will not be as simple as they seem! And now, for your first challenge!”
Bat-Mite waved his hand, and before they could even use it, the arena changed. In front of each competitor, a sprawling obstacle course sprang up. The twin courses faced one another, lining up enough spike pits, flamethrowers, crushing walls and whirling blades to take down a dozen C-list heroes (as the imps measured such things). Supergirl and Batgirl found each other’s eyes across the arena, and both nodded.
Mxy took over the mic again. “There will be a bell at the end of your course when you reach it. The first to ring the bell is our first winner!” He took out a whistle and blew it, and they were off.
Batgirl began her ascent – the first obstacle was a tall scaling wall, several stories and slick. She was pleased to discover her tools were all still in her utility belt, including several that she had never seen before, and could not imagine a use for.
What would I ever need to do with shark repellent spray? She put the question out of her head and pulled out her grappling hook. The line took her halfway up the wall, requiring a tricky maneuver for Renee to jump away and shoot again to catch the top. Finally, she surfaced to look over the rest of the course – only to hear the bright tingling of a bell from just behind her.
At the end of her own course, Supergirl stood with the bell in one hand, and the other on her hip. She had taken herself over the wall and through the dangers with quick ease. “Dudes, I can fly.”
Both imps floated in the air, lost for a moment in thought, and they dismissed the courses, depositing Batgirl back on the ground. “Damn,” said Bat-Mite, “She’s right. You said it wasn’t gonna be unfair like that!” He rounded on Mxy.
“Have a little faith, won’t you?” Mxy rubbed his chin in thought. “I told you that Supergirl was going to win this thing. But you’re right…It’s no fun this way. How about we even out the score?”
Mxy whispered something into Bat-Mite’s ear, and his face lit up. “Oh, I like the sound of that. Can I do it? Please? I won’t screw it up.”
“Oh, go ahead.”
Bat-Mite jumped in his joy and worked his magic over the two superheroines. Supergirl felt herself heavier on the ground; Batgirl’s body was seized with a sudden and strange lightness. The utility belt that had been filled to the brim fell away from Renee, and suddenly Kara found herself with a few choice trinkets in pockets that hadn’t existed moments before. Batgirl’s cape fluttered behind her as she rose into the air, leaving Supergirl agape on the ground.
“There, that should work,” Bat-Mite grinned, and soared upward, encouraging Batgirl to follow him. Renee followed her instincts, and learned how to fly. “A fair split, now each of you have half the powers. Now go, Batgirl, I know you can do it this way!”
Renee looked down at the earth far below her feet, and let out a whistle. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”
“Nope, real, hundred percent, I promise!” Bat-Mite crossed his fingers over his heart.
On the ground, Kara pouted and crossed her arms. “Hey, how come when she gets to fly, it’s in a world where there’s no bugs to catch in your mouth?” she asked, with a grimace as she remembered her first attempts.
Mxy clapped his hands twice, and the landscape changed again. The two competitors and two spectators were inside a large steel-and-concrete building of ambiguous design, and his magic transported Batgirl back to the floor next to Supergirl. “Now that we’ve evened the odds, so to speak – not that it’s going to make a difference,” he added with a tip of his hat to Supergirl, “we begin again! Ladies, your new first test, the test of smarts!”
A wave of his hand, and both women stood still as tall, tight structures formed around them. They recognized the set dressing of the traps; Mxy was still working well within the traditional villainous tropes, if taking them over-the-top. The death traps were finely constructed, even if they were cliché. Each hero was bound tightly in a length of rope that attached to all four corners of her tight space. Under her feet was a roaring fire, above her head a rough grate that was already starting to descend. In either cage, something growled and roared just out of sight, and from their trapped positions, both could see the huge, red, ticking countdown that Mxy clapped into existence.
“Escape the death trap! Your time starts now!”
They were off. Supergirl struggled with her rope bonds, still ticked off at having her speed and flight taken away from her. But her limbs were still super-strong, and when she glared down at the rope, a bright heat beam shot down from her eyes and severed it. “Yes, still got it!” Kara whooped to cheer herself on as she zapped the rest of the ropes, and felt them slip away from her body. Once detached from the wall, though, she began to fall, no longer able to hover in the air, and the flames below were quickly rising up to meet her.
In the death trap next-door, Batgirl was in the same predicament. Once she'd slipped out of her rope bonds, using basic tricks that were some of the first taught her, she used her flight to hover above the flames. But while floating might rescue her from the flames, it did nothing to prevent the sharp grate on the ceiling from coming down close to her head.
Kara struck out her limbs, letting out a battle-cry as her feet and hands slammed onto opposite walls, the traction just enough to slow her before she fell downward into the flames.
Renee began to circle in her small cage, and unhooked the cape from around her neck. She gathered speed enough to whip the flames into the center of their surface; although they grew taller and licked at her heels, Renee dropped the heavy cape and smothered the fire.
Supergirl glared at the ground, her heat beams beginning to cut a hole out of the floor, ever so slowly. She held herself up with her strength, not yet tiring but slipping somewhat. The ceiling was coming down over her; outside the traps, the countdown rang for one minute remaining.
“Come on, girls, you can do it!” Bat-Mite cheered, applauding as Batgirl landed on the warm but no longer flaming floor, and turned her attention to the next threat.
Angrily, Supergirl smashed her fist against the wall. Her heat vision left the ground crumbling beneath her, and the flaming earth fell into an abyss. But Kara was still stuck straddling the air. The punch did nothing against the slick metal, even though Supergirl’s fist was strong enough not to hurt from hitting it.
“Pure strength won’t get you out of this one,” Mxy called out to her, his voice as irritatingly sing-song as ever. “Use your brain!”
The timer ticked thirty seconds. Batgirl threw her steaming cape back around her neck and looked up. The grated surface was sharp, but her gloves were thick, and Renee took a chance on the fluid reality of the world that she was in. Bravely, she grabbed one of the small openings on the grate, one finger crammed into each side and she started to pull it apart. The metal resisted, but as she continued to stubbornly pull and crouch, it gave way. With one huge tug, Renee opened a hole in the ceiling that she could crawl out of, and she flew up away from the twisted, simmering wreck of a death trap.
Mxy blew his whistle, and Kara’s own prison disappeared. She slumped down into a split without the walls to hold her up, and grunted and glared at the imp. “Very well. I suppose the test of Smarts has been won, and the point goes to Batgirl.”
“Yes!” Bat-Mite waved his arms wildly, a black-and-blue pompom in each hand. “I told you, I told you!”
“Yes, you did tell me,” Mxy agreed reluctantly. “But there are two tests to go! Ladies, may I present your next target.”
They were all in the coliseum arena again now, with nothing more than a puff of smoke. The heroes stood at a starting line, and just before them sat a regal cheetah, carelessly licking its paw.
Bat-Mite put a hand to his chin, and then beamed; the literal image of a lightbulb popped up brightly over his head and he flew to Mxy’s ear. “Hey, you know who else we haven’t seen in forever?” he asked, and whispered something more.
“Well I’ll be, that’s a great idea,” Mxy snapped his fingers, and the cheetah vanished. In its place, stuck idly licking at his own wrist, stood a tall and lanky man in a bright red-and-yellow suit.
“..the hell?” Wally West quickly stuck his hand behind his back and looked around. “Supergirl? Batgirl? Where am I?”
The whistle blew, and Wally found himself overcome with the urge to run. “Your test of Speed,” Mxy announced with a flourish, “catch the Flash!”
Batgirl and Supergirl gave each other a glance, and then took off. For Renee, the challenge seemed easy; she’d mastered her newfound flight, and couldn’t imagine that flying fast would be much harder than flying slow. For Kara, the world seemed to slog past her as she ran, as if everything around her were stuck in tar. Wally was a bright red blur somewhere in the arena, still confused but playing along.
As Batgirl flew, she discovered the answer to an age-old question: Supergirl really couldn’t outrun the Flash. The faster she flew, the more she was buffeted by the currents of air she created, and the more her body bounced out of optimum flying position. She dropped to the ground, shook the dizziness out of her head, and tried running – but she could barely even see the Flash in the arena. All she could do was run blind, and try to keep her speed under control. More than once, Renee slammed into the stone walls of the bleachers before she could stop herself.
Kara winced at the sight. She jogged along one side of the arena, not feeling right standing still among the chase, but waiting, and watching. Soon, she had found the pattern; Wally ran a long and complicated lap that took him over just about every inch of the ground before starting all over again. The whole thing only took him a handful of seconds, and Kara jogged, making sure not to cross his path and throw him off course, all the way back to the starting line. When she felt the rush of air that signaled his pass, she turned around and prepared herself.
The next time he was due, Kara whistled loud to catch Wally’s attention. Part of her was racing with nerves at what she was about to do, but more of her found the idea pretty fun, and really the only chance she had. Across the arena, Batgirl was already getting better at her turns, and she was by far faster. If Kara couldn’t catch the Flash, she’d just have to make him stop.
“Hey buddy, over here!” Kara yelled. As soon as she saw the blurred figure on its way toward her from the other end of the arena, she whistled for his attention, and pulled up her shirt.
Wally skidded to a sudden halt. His jaw dropped and his eyes locked forward, and the woman attached to the chest that he was staring at ran forward and grabbed his arm. With one hand, she tucked her shirt back into her skirt, and with the other she raised Wally’s arm into the air. “I got him!”
Bat-Mite slumped, and Mxy soared, but both applauded. “Even without her superpowers, Supergirl has won the test of Speed!” Mxy announced.
“Totally worth it,” Wally said, still in a happy daze, before Bat-Mite snapped his fingers and returned the Flash to his home.
“There, we’re evenly matched,” Batgirl said, clearing her throat and pointedly looking away from Kara’s chest. “Can’t we call it a tie and go home?”
Bat-Mite shook his head vigorously, and both imps together began to work their magic to change the scenery again. A city grew up around them, steel and concrete blossoming out of the ground. “Don’t give up, Batgirl! There’s one test left, and this one I know you’re going to win!”
“One test indeed, that Supergirl will be far better-suited for,” Mxy countered. The city was not quite either Gotham or San Francisco, but an amalgam of the two, dingy colors alternating with bright sunlight, bridges and rivers and skyscrapers thrown next to each other in an urban planner’s nightmare. And once the city was built, a set of hulking footsteps stomped their way toward it. A dinosaur-like creature, as tall as the highest of the buildings and thicker than two of them combined, let out a roar and swiped at a nearby radio antenna.
“Your final test, the test of Strength,” said Bat-Mite, bouncing in the air in his anticipation. “Whoever takes down the monster and saves the city is the Champion of Earth-Five!”
The creature smashed its way out into the buildings like a child given a pile of blocks to knock down in glee. Batgirl and Supergirl were both inwardly grateful that the imps hadn’t seen fit to make the game more realistic by adding civilians. It was only their own skins and honor on the line.
Batgirl took to the air to get a better look at the surroundings. Next to the beast, she was the size of some small bird, and just about as threatening. It was easier for her than for Kara to get close to the animal, but once she was there, Batgirl was at a loss for what to do. Her weapons had been traded for powers, and Renee didn’t want to see what would happen if she just flew headlong into the monster’s scaled skin.
On the ground, Kara found her own problems. It wasn’t hard to find her target, all she had to do was follow the trail of dust and destruction. But standing next to its huge, clawed foot, Kara felt like barely anything. She moved as quickly as she could with her first instinct – she clenched her fist and slammed it into the monster’s ankle. It roared in pain, but more the pain of an irritating stubbed toe than a crippling injury. The scales all over its skin were thick armor. “Okay, fine, plan B,” Kara said, and shoved her hands into the pockets on Batgirl’s utility belt. She picked a pellet at random and threw it at the creature’s feet. The puff of thick smoke that came out of it was enough to send her into a coughing fit, and drive Kara back away.
Renee grit her teeth and swooped down toward the face of the beast, feeling only as strong as an exceptionally large fly. She turned herself in the air so that her feet faced forward, and stabbed the monster’s eye with the toes of her boots. It screamed again, louder this time, and the sound rang in Renee’s aching ears for a full minute afterward as she flew away to regroup. When her hearing finally came back, she caught the call of a whistle from down below, and went to meet it.
Kara was waiting, every pocket on her belt open and rifled through. She waved Batgirl over vigorously and started speaking as soon as the other woman was in range. “Okay, I don’t know about you, but I can’t do this on my own. Not with this stuff, at least,” she gestured to the belt.
Renee nodded. “I don’t know how you do it, but I know I can’t without super-strength, or my weapons.”
“So there’s only one real solution to this whole mess.”
“We team up,” Batgirl realized with a small grin.
“Let’s kick its ass!”
One quick huddle later, the girls soared into the air. Batgirl carried Supergirl, who carried Batgirl’s smoke bombs carefully in her hand. This time, when they reached the creature’s sharp-toothed maw, they were ready.
“Hey Scaly, your breath stinks!” Kara yelled as they swooped down. When the creature looked up, she tossed the smoke pellet, now that Renee had shown her the proper way to throw it.
The smoke puffed out of the monster’s mouth and ears, a cartoonish explosion that puffed out its jaw. It stopped still in its tracks, and the heroines descended. Kara landed on the back of the head, near the ears, and Renee hovered on the other side, in front of the mouth.
“On three?” called Renee.
“Three!” Kara answered, and they both acted fast.
The double hits, between the concussive blast that Renee had taken out of her own belt, and Kara’s super-strong punch, slammed the monster’s head so hard that it nearly flattened out. Batgirl came back around to catch Supergirl as the monster swayed, let out a final, meager squeal, and toppled to the ground.
The city faded away as the girls landed back on what passed for ground. Nothing was forming in the landscape’s place, just a soft white void holding the four of them. Bat-Mite and Mxy were deep in a two-person huddle, whispering furiously among themselves. When they came apart, neither looked exactly happy or triumphant.
“Okay, okay, which one of you hit first?” Mxy asked.
“Nope, none of this,” Renee said firmly. “We’ve settled this whole contest of yours.”
Kara nodded. “We’re equally matched. We hit at the same time. And we want our powers back. Well, I do.”
Bat-Mite’s ears drooped, but he turned to Mxy. “We said the final hit wins…and if it was both of them, I guess they both win?”
Mxy’s violet eyes were fixed unwaveringly on Supergirl. “Has anyone told you that you’re too smart for your own good?”
“Not as smart as Batgirl, though, she won that test,” Bat-Mite said proudly.
“But Batgirl isn’t as fast, not even given speed,” Mxy countered.
“Ahem! Not important,” Kara interrupted them. “Powers, important! Us going home, important! Your stupid little squabbling, not important!”
Mxy began to announce something with a dramatic flourish, but Bat-Mite’s hand tugging at his sleeve stopped him, and he deflated. “Very well. A tie. A worthless, time-wasting tie.”
“Good enough for me,” Batgirl smiled at Supergirl. “I don’t think I could have accepted the honor, anyway, against you.”
“What, are you kidding? You’re a Bat,” Supergirl grinned back.
Mxy snapped his fingers, and set the women back to normal; Batgirl with her proper utility belt, and Supergirl with her flight. Then with little more than a wave good-bye from Bat-Mite, he sent them home, and checked his watch. “2:43 and 37 seconds, Pacific time.”
“Oh come on, you’re not really mad, are you?” Bat-Mite waved his arms and returned the wood-paneled den that they had started in. “That was a heck of an afternoon!”
“I suppose.” Mxy sulked on the soft couch, even when his friend popped a fresh, fizzing bottle of soda into his hand. “It was a pretty exciting game.”
“Watching Supergirl all determined like that,” Bat-Mite offered.
Mxy admitted his enjoyment in a smile. “Batgirl did learn to fly very quickly. Of course, not as graceful as Supergirl.”
“Yeah, but then Supergirl wasn’t gonna know her stuff as well as Batgirl.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, really!”
They bickered good-naturedly, nested in their home dimension, and all was right with their world again.
