by Libbylawrence
Admiral Derek Trevor enjoyed inspecting the new Navy cruiser Victoria. He was old and a bit tired, but this kind of show of what the U.S. Navy could still accomplish in the nuclear age made him feel alive and eager. The uniformed sailors lined the deck in traditional formation as the old soldier passed among their ranks.
Suddenly, a terrible smashing sound shook the very deck as a gigantic piece of metal was ripped from its base and hurled overboard. The sailors rushed forward to investigate, and as one, they gasped.
The engine of destruction that had shattered their sparkling new ship’s control room was a gorgeous blonde woman wearing brief golden armor. She stalked forward with her blue eyes flashing. She wore golden chain-mail breastplates and a short skirt with golden sandals. Bracelets of gold flashed from each wrist.
“I warn you this day, males of America, do not presume to again trespass near the waters of Amazon Island, lest you suffer the complete destruction of your ships, weapons, and crews at the hands of Kara, warrior princess and firstborn daughter of Queen Elsha!”
Derek Trevor gulped as the stunning blonde flew off. “That woman!” he said.
“She was divine!” sighed one crew member.
“Those legs, those lips!” cried another.
“Idiots!” sputtered Admiral Trevor. “That was no Amazon. That was Power Girl! I’ve met her before! That was Superman’s cousin!”
***
A concerned Superman and Red Robin flew over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean after Derek Trevor had called the JSA Headquarters.
“She isn’t wearing her costume,” said Superman. “Her signal device is not registering.”
“Well, if Kara’s actually in a chain-mail bikini and calling herself an Amazon princess, then she’s obviously not herself!” said Red Robin.
Superman nodded. “Luckily for us, Admiral Trevor recalled her exact words. I’ve encountered Queen Elsha before, back in the late 1950s. (*) I can take us to her Amazon Island, but I sure can’t explain why Kara would claim to be her daughter!”
[(*) Editor’s note: Although a version of this story takes place on Earth-Two, the original story takes place on Earth-One, as seen in “The Super-Prisoner of Amazon Island,” Action Comics #235 (December, 1957).]
“The Amazons mingle magic and science in such an odd way that anything is possible,” said Red Robin. “Are these Amazons related to Diana’s on Paradise Island? Apparently, unlike them, these allow men on their homeland.”
Superman nodded. “True enough, son. I’ve never even asked Diana about them before. I encountered them when the JSA was disbanded, and with all the foes that came and went since that time, the Amazon Island warrior women just didn’t spring to my mind.”
Red Robin grinned. “Even a super-memory can’t easily juggle the hundreds of costumed goons, aliens, and monsters you and Batman battled over the years.”
Superman smiled sadly. “I know. I miss Bruce still, as I know you do. Those were some golden years we all shared.”
They neared the island, and Red Robin realized that the Amazonian nation shared the same styles of architecture on this isle as on Paradise Island.
Superman landed, and they were soon surrounded by warrior women in short tunics. “You remember me?” he said. “I’m Superman. I need to see your queen. I mean no harm to any of you!”
“Too bad, pig! Because Princess Kara wants nothing more than to hurt you!” cried Power Girl as she charged her cousin at super-speed. She slammed into him and belted him back into the water.
Flying overhead, Power Girl formed a tight circle that swept him upward in a whirlpool of water. As he rose, she dropped down to meet him with both feet. Her kick dropped him through the sandy shore.
Superman erupted through the sand a moment later and blasted her with super-cold breath.
She spun around until the icy tomb shattered, and she laughed, “Poor, pathetic male doesn’t know how to handle a real woman!”
Red Robin frowned as the woman he loved pounded her cousin again and again.
Superman finally had enough. He caught her wrist and spun her around at super-speed. When she slowed, he flipped her over his shoulder and carried her ashore, kicking and struggling in his grasp. “Kara, calm down! I’m your cousin, Kal-El!” He seldom used his Kryptonian name, since he didn’t know anything about Krypton until he was an adult, but he did so on this occasion to try to shake her madness or amnesia.
“Bah! Cousin?” she spat. “I have no male relations except for the unknown sire who fathered me years ago. Queen Elsha is my mother, and I am her heir — defender of Amazon Island!”
Red Robin pointed as a regal older woman emerged from the crowd of cheering Amazons.
“My child speaks well and fights well,” the blonde Queen Elsha said with a smug look on her face. “Superman, she is my heir and the warrior princess of Amazon Island. You may leave now. You are not wanted. Warn your males not to venture into our waters, or Kara will lead us to war!”
“Kara, you know me! You must!” said Red Robin.
Light gleamed off her golden bracelets, and Power Girl stared at him with no sign that she knew him. “I know two things — duty and power!” she said coldly.
“Look here, Elsha, when I rejected you years ago, you vowed to make me pay,” said Superman. “I’d thought you got over that and moved on with your life, as I did. Obviously not. You’ve brainwashed her and made her the heir I refused to father so long ago!”
Elsha laughed. “No woman could ask for a braver and bolder daughter. She will wear my tiara when I pass on. She will defend this isle like no other!”
Red Robin’s hands flashed in sign language, and Superman nodded.
“OK, you win for now!” said Superman. “But I’ll be back!” He grabbed Red Robin and flew upward, only to swerve back down and tackle Kara Zor-L. As he pinned her struggling form, Red Robin kissed her.
Power Girl blinked and slowly got up. “What is blue blazes is going on?” she said. “Why am I dressed like Red Sonja?”
Red Robin hugged her. “Glad to have you back. You had amnesia or something. These Amazons made you think you were one of them.”
Kara frowned and said, “I resent being used. Maybe I ought to show them the error of their ways!”
Superman stopped her. “No. Let’s just leave them with a warning. Don’t attack ships anymore. I’ll warn away the Navy and commercial shipping. Just let our peoples leave in peace, or I’ll be back.”
They flew away as Queen Elsha wept softly. “She landed here dazed and hurt and with no memory. I learned of her true identity and decided to make her my daughter. As Superman said, it was a way to get back at him for not helping me have a child of my own. But I had come to care for Kara as well. I’ll remember this as one more debt I owe you, Man of Steel!”
***
Superman, Power Girl, and Red Robin reached the JSA Brownstone.
Power Girl, still wearing her bikini, said, “The last thing I remember was fighting Hel. She said she’d rob me of my life. I guess she gave me amnesia and dropped me through space and dimensions to where I washed up on that isle.”
“I kind of like the new costume,” remarked Red Robin.
She elbowed him playfully and said, “That’s for after the wedding. That reminds me — I have unfinished business with Hel.”
“Hold it, Kara,” said Superman. “The Norse gods are dangerous. Suppose you explain why you picked a fight with her.”
She sighed. “Sit down.”
***
Later, as Red Robin held her hand and tried to come to terms with his possible fatherhood, Superman turned to Power Girl and said, “We will free Odin together, but first I’d say we need another doctor — namely Doctor Fate. He could tell us more about how to free Odin, and about the boon.”
Doctor Fate arrived as they summoned him, and soon the merged being of Fate spoke in clear and firm tones. “You are pregnant, but as Doctor Mid-Nite surmised, it is not natural,” said the being that was Kent and Inza Nelson. “But it is magical in terms of how it came to pass. It is magic that is not Norse in nature. It is magic akin to that of Johnny’s Thunderbolt — of the fifth dimension!”
Power Girl slammed her fists together. “Of course!” she shouted. “That’s why the T-bolt could tell I was pregnant when I’m nowhere close to showing. That means maybe I was wrong all along. Odin may have been behind the boon that allowed you and Lois to have Mary, but he isn’t behind my sudden magical motherhood.”
“Honey, calm down,” said Red Robin. “Odin may have misled you to get your help.”
“Sure,” she said, “he and his kind love playing with us poor, ignorant mortals. The one I want to kill is the one whose magic did this to me. The fifth-dimensional land of Zrfff is my next stop. Its queen, the giddy Yellow Peri, put this spell on me. I should have guessed it was that harem girl witch all along!”
“We’re going with you!” said Superman.
Soon, as they joined hands and spoke the word “Qrdmizf,” they found themselves in the realm of Zrfff. This magical kingdom was one that bordered the realm of the Thunderbolts, such as the one Johnny Thunder teamed with and neighbored a darker realm of foul magic called Darkworld or Fairyland, ruled by the evil Lorelei.
“Zrfff is ruled by an harmless old fellow,” said Superman. “The Yellow Peri, daughter of my old foe, Mr. Mxyztplk, married him and reigns as queen. Just as her father enjoyed pulling pranks on me, Peri loves to use her magic to torment Kara.” (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: See Power Girl: Cosmic Balancing Act.]
Doctor Fate nodded. “But this magic is dangerous. I know of magical births, since that which is Inza within me gave birth to three infants conceived in magic, for good or ill. (*) This magic within Kara has caused her pregnancy, and she may suffer for it, because I feel the magic is not of Zrfff!”
[(*) Editor’s note: See Doctor Fate: Children of Fate.]
“Easy, honey,” Red Robin said reassuringly. “We’ll settle this mess.”
Power Girl, now wearing her normal costume, nodded as she searched the land for Yellow Peri.
“Peri!” she yelled. “Get your harem pants out here, or I’ll shake this matchbox kingdom down around your bleached blonde curls!”
The Yellow Peri then appeared, wearing her customary yellow harem girl costume. Oddly enough, her pretty features were solemn, and she did not giggle as was her norm.
“Kara, I’m so sorry,” she pleaded. “I meant nothing more than usual. You see, my husband’s people demand we produce an heir, and I could not stand the idea of… well, you know! So we pooled our magic and sent it into your body. I figured I’d keep my girlish and gorgeous figure, while you carried our child for me and grew madder and madder in that adorable manner you have!”
Power Girl jumped for the dainty blonde. “I’ll kill her!” she said. “She’s far more annoying than her father ever was to you!”
Superman pulled her back. “He did drive me mad at times, but she meant nothing. She has different values than we do. She can fix it.”
Kara sighed. “Peri, take off the spell! Or do I have to be pregnant for ninety days or something?!”
Peri wept gently. “You don’t understand. I failed. My spell touched you, but it failed. Something else darker and stronger took it over and rests within your body!”
“As I feared, young Kara,” said Doctor Fate, “the magic within you which made you pregnant came not from this realm of whimsy but from that foul abode of evil called Darkworld. The Lorelei herself implanted yon magic seed within you by taking over Peri’s spell!”
Red Robin gasped in shock. “Great Scott! Fate, help us!”
Superman looked grim. “Peri and you must remove this seed now — here and now!”
Doctor Fate agreed, and as he and the Yellow Peri chanted, Power Girl floated in midair as Red robin and Superman watched with concern. Their loved one coughed, and black smoke poured from her lips. It enveloped her and then moved aside to take humanoid form.
“Great Scott! What is that thing?” asked Superman.
“Oooh!” Peri said.
Red Robin helped Power Girl to her feet and asked Doctor Fate, “Is she safe now?”
Fate nodded. “Indeed, we have wrested this foul magical being from within her body. The spell came from the Yellow Peri, yet was altered greatly by Lorelei, who remains trapped in her evil realm.”
Power Girl said weakly, “Thank Rao, I’m cured.”
“Invoke your prayers not for yourself, Mother, but for your world!” chuckled the inhuman monster that formed before them. “It shall soon fall to me, Scarabus!”
Scarabus was a monster of magic and malice. His head was vaguely oxen in form, and his arms rippled with odd sores and ridges.
Doctor Fate stepped forward and said, “The light of Ra blind thee, thing of the dark!” Magic blazed around Scarabus, who reeled back even as his huge fists caught Superman and knocked him down.
“His strength is magic-based! That makes this all the harder!” said Superman with a grimace.
Red Robin ran toward Doctor Fate and said, “I’ve got a plan! Can you take us to Hel?”
Doctor Fate stared at the hero and nodded briskly. “I believe I see your idea, young Robin,” he said.
A second flash of light brought all four heroes and Scarabus to Hel, the Norse realm of the dead, which was named after its ruler. There, Hel and the chained Odin greeted them with looks of surprise and interest.
Scarabus roared and slapped Kara down even as she rolled away from his feet. “I am a being of magic and am free of the laws that bind my true mother, the Lorelei, to Darkworld,” he said. “I may roam freely and conquer all in her name!”
“What creature is this that you’ve brought to me, maid of Krypton?” said Hel. “His hubris entertains me.”
Red Robin spoke up in Kara’s place. “Hel, he is yours in trade for Odin’s freedom. His magic power will keep order within your realm better than Odin, who remains here due to his oath but refuses to serve you.”
Kara frowned, then realization dawned on her. “Yeah!” she said. “His might will do you a lot of good if you can keep him here!”
Hel smiled coldly. “So be it. Odin will feel my cold embrace one day, anyway. Thus begone, and know the next time you enter my domain, you shall never leave!”
Scarabus roared as Hel’s magic bound him to her realm. “I shall make you pay for this!” he cried. “Power Girl, you will regret this day’s work!”
The heroes and Odin found themselves back in the fifth dimension, where the Yellow Peri rushed forward.
“That thing — did you defeat it?” she asked.
Kara Zor-L grinned. “We got him out of our hair. Now as for you, don’t try that stunt again. We freed Odin, here, and he owes me big time. Grant Peri here a child so she can avoid her hubby — then she’ll leave me in peace… I hope!”
Odin smiled. “Woman, you do me proud. Sly Loki has little upon you for cunning. ‘Tis done. Yellow Peri, return to the palace, where a healthy baby son awaits you. As for you, Kara, I still owe you a boon from before, though it will only take the form of something you desire in its own time. I thank you for your aid, and I say thee now and evermore are welcome as one of my shield maidens.”
Kara smiled and said, “Thanks, but I won’t quit my day job just yet!”
The End