Author Note:
This is my first time posting, and the first story I've written in over a decade. I just had this idea in my head and wanted to get it out. I'm genuinely open to any and all feedback you may have. If you'd like me to write more, please let me know!
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Zane stared at the treasure before his eyes. A small emerald crystal, barely the size of a pendant, tucked inside a black jewelry box. Oh, the sacrifices he made to get his hands on a prize of this magnitude. Zane basked in its warm glow as he pondered the days ahead. He was almost there. Soon, this would all be worth it.
If Zane was going to be the ruler of this world, he was going to need someone to enforce his will. After all, despite his years of martial arts and strength training, he was but a man. And men were nothing but ants in the presence of a god.
Everything had changed when Hyperman first caught that reporter plummeting off the side of The Daily Globe's headquarters all those years ago. Some felon she wrote an article about busted out of prison, found his way to her office, and tried pushing her through the window. The entire world watched in awe as the man in the red cape wrapped her in his arms and gently descended to the ground below.
Everyone was chattering about how wonderful the world had suddenly become. God was real, and he had descended to save the human race. But Zane knew better. Hyperman wasn't a miracle; he was an omen. A sign that the human race was at its end. Their world would soon be run amuck with gods who did not have to live by human rules. In a society where success was determined by power, the efforts of man were pointless while living in the shadow of a god.
Zane was quickly proven right when a goddess emerged from that capsule that landed in Siberia. They said she was his cousin. Before long the Hyperman and the Hypergirl were tag-teaming monsters and military masterminds alike. The world was their sandbox and Zane was an insect praying they wouldn't knock the castle on top of him.
But Zane was cunning, and more importantly, he was patient. When he read the article detailing how Hyperman had temporarily lost his powers to that alien gemstone, he understood the implications just as much as anyone else. God could be killed.
Not by him, certainly. Zane knew that the odds of a plan going that perfectly was astronomical. None of the criminals who had attempted to do so had even gotten close. And even if he could do it, surely it'd be impossible to do it twice. No, only a god could kill a god. Zane needed a god of his own.
It took months of brainstorming and preparation to come up with this plan. He was thinking long term.
Very
long term. Hyperman had agreed to escort the world's first human launch to Mars. After the failed alien invasion a year ago, the government wanted to take no chances. This meant that for a few days, Hypergirl was going to have to protect Metropolis on her own.
By herself.
Zane spent months designing the collar. It was a new metallic-alloy that was light enough to be worn comfortably, but strong enough to require a plasma-cutter to break. The most difficult part was engineering the two ends of the collar to weld together upon contact. It was critical that once the collar was attached, it could never be removed by the wearer. At least, not by a human wearer. Getting the collar to fly straight and accurate while launched proved to be its own challenge, but Zane was able to figure it out in a matter of days.
By far, the most difficult piece of the puzzle was acquiring the stone sitting in front of him. Finding a Crystalite shard on Earth was as difficult as... well, finding a Crystalite shard on earth. It was the rarest gemstone on the planet. They say that as soon as the world witnessed the effects of Crystalite on Hyperman, the government paid no expense to find every last stone that trailed Hyperman's capsule to Earth and stored them in a top secret facility. Luckily, the arrival of Hypergirl was accompanied by a restock of Crystalite stones, and by that point people knew what they were, and did their best to hide them.
No shortage of blood was spilled by those seeking to find the stones. Being caught with one instantly painted a target on your back by those seeking to slay the gods themselves, and those seeking to sell them for profit.
Two years. That's what it took to finally acquire a shard for himself. It was a freak accident. Zane happened to be touring a military facility when what looked like a giant lizard appeared out of nowhere. Naturally Hypergirl made quick work of it, but not before several walls of the facility had come down, revealing a storage of Crystalite scheduled for transfer the next day. Zane took advantage of the chaos to take the smallest shard he could find and then disappeared.
Zane sat in his lab, trembling as he stared at the brilliant emerald crystal in front of him. This was it. All he had to do was affix the shard to the inside of the collar and wait. He had already waited this long, so what was a few more days? The moment that would define his entire life was upon him.
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Kara turned her head towards the bellowing crash that could be heard from miles away. She stood atop a skyscraper, her golden blonde hair reflecting the light of the setting sun. It had been several years since she introduced herself to the world as Hypergirl. She had grown several inches since then and no longer needed support from her cousin. Recently she had considered changing her name to "Hyperwoman" but it just didn't have the same ring to it.
Kara witnessed a cloud of smoke appearing from behind a building and then another crash echoed through the air. Kal had just left the planet in her hands while he escorted a spacecraft to Mars. That meant this was a job for Hypergirl.
Kara pushed off the building, careful not crack the steel frame against her feet, and flew in the direction of smoke. She zipped around a nearby building before arriving at the source. A 15 ft tall humanoid machine was tossing cars aside like toys. Two of the machine's arms were holding cargo that it clearly stole from the police station down the street, and the other two arms were being used to crush the first group of police officers responding to the scene.
"Hey Robot," Kara called out, "How well can you take a punch?"
Kara zoomed into the machine's chest, denting the steel plate with her fist, and launching it back a block down the street. Surprisingly, the robot landed on its feet.
"Hypergirl detected," said the robot, in a harsh, metallic voice. "Adjusting combat parameters." The robot's legs seemed to plant themselves into ground, as if gaining weight. Hypergirl hovered in place as she evaluated the change, her short cape fluttering in the wind.
"Okay, bucket-head, can you at least tell me who built you? Is it one of my usual-suspects, or do I get to meet someone new today?"
Just then, the machine picked up a parked vehicle and tossed it at Hypergirl. Kara quickly swiped down with her fist, smashing the car to the ground.
"Oookay, you must be new here then, cause that would never wor--"Kara cut off as another vehicle was sent over her head. Turning, she realized the car was headed straight towards a trembling couple behind her. Kara pushed against the air in an attempt to intercept the car, and then... something hit her.
Kara was launched into an alleyway, tumbling through the air and skipping against the ground. She might have been pushed one or two blocks before stopping. Her head was spinning, and her neck hurt.
"What the hell is going on?" she thought. As the world came back into focus, Kara realized she had been hit by some sort of metallic collar. Whatever it was, it felt tight around her neck. She reached to pull it off, but she felt weak. Kara hesitated as she realized she did not have the strength to remove the collar.
"I can't believe it actually worked," a man's voice said behind her. "I planned this for years, but here I am witnessing it in person, and I honestly can't believe it's happening."
"What... are you talking about?" Kara asked hesitantly, as she slowly stood and turned to see a tall, shadowy man in a trench coat. The sun had set and for some reason Kara seemed to be having difficulty seeing in the dark.
"In hindsight I should have been less worried. With Hyperman's scheduled departure being common knowledge, it's obvious someone would attempt to get away with some sort of heist. The tricky part was just getting to the scene fast enough that you'd still be distracted by them."
Kara could hear gunshots in the background as the police helplessly tried to stall the rampaging machine. They were waiting for her to come back. They needed her.
