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Post by dans on Oct 10, 2020 22:00:48 GMT
The Gravity Girl of Smallville
This is an alternate ending to the story titled "Gravity Girl of Smallville" from Adventure Comics #285, June 1961. You can read the original here: http: //comiconlinefree.net/adventure-comics-1938/issue-285/full (note the space after http:) or read a quick summary below. Summary
The story up to now: Lana Lang's dad comes back from an expedition to Africa where he discovered some ruins that were built by aliens who visited Earth thousands of years ago. In the ruins he found a belt that is too small for him; it will only fit someone with a 21" waist. When he gets home, Lana tries it on, and the belt gives her super powers. She creates a costumed identity, and starts a career as a super heroine. She works with Superboy several times, and he notes that she is not totally invulnerable, like he is, and decides therefore that it is too dangerous for her to continue her career. He is actually very rude about it, see the image below.
She takes umbrage at his smug attitude, and challenges him to find our her identity, without following her home. He comes up with what he thinks is a clever trick - he writes his name on the surface of a 2 ton wrecking ball, and compresses it to microscopic size, then hands it to her. She says she is going to go read it under a microscope, and flies away...
The Alternate Ending
On her way home, Lana was thinking furiously. 'I challenged Superboy to discover my secret identity - and what did he do? He as much as gave me his own secret, which wasn't even part of the challenge. That seems really suspicious to me. I saw that smug smile on his face when I flew away. There must be something about this pellet that he's counting on to give away my secret. Well, Mr. Supersmartypants, I'm not falling for that trick - whatever it is! I'm not taking this thing home with me! But where else can I use a microscope?' That was an easy question; a few seconds later she was in the biology lab at the high school.
She put the pellet on a lab table - and damaged the ceiling when she jumped in surprise when the two ton pellet crushed the table and then punched a hole through the floor, and continued crashing through into the basement. A split second later, Superboy flashed through the open window where Lana had entered earlier.
"Superboy! Y-you TRICKED ME!" Gravity Girl was furious.
"Yes, I figured you wouldn't realize that though the metal ball had been super-compressed, it would still weigh two tons. Therefore, when you'd placed it on the table: CRASHH! The pellet is now falling clear down to the CENTER OF THE EARTH!"
"Well, you're not so darned smart yourself! What if there had been someone in the basement under that thing when it smashed through? I'd say you're not so very darned clever yourself, Mr. Oh So Smug Big Shot Superhero!"
Alarmed, Superboy used his x-ray vision to scan the basement; what he saw there alarmed him even more, and he quickly scanned the rest of the school. He was relieved to see no one else in the building, so he quickly carried Gravity Girl outside, then smashed into the basement, where he inhaled all the air from the basement with his super breath, then used super pressure from his hand to seal off a damaged gas pipe that was leaking. Then he used his super powers to repair the basement and the chem lab, flew high into the air where he exhaled the explosive gas mixture from the basement, then joined his rival floating over the school building.
His expression was sheepish. "I'm sorry, Gravity Girl. I was so focused on tricking you, I used poor judgement myself. I was wrong to suggest you should give up your powers, and that crack about being clever was extremely rude. I've been using my powers for years and we just saw that I'm not perfect yet; you'll certainly get better with practice."
"That's certainly big of you, Superiorboy. And yes, that was VERY rude." Lana was still miffed about the 'not clever enough' crack. But she saw the truth of his words, too - she HAD actually said "It weighs at least two tons" when she'd flown off with the pellet, but she still hadn't thought about what would happen when she put a microscopic pellet weighting two tons down on the lab table. "So let's call a truce, OK? I accept your apology." She was pleased when he nodded. "So, since we both agree I need some practice with my new powers, do you think your friends in the Legion of Super Heroes might train me?"
"You know, they might at that. I'm going to a meeting tomorrow, I'll ask them then," he replied.
"Say, can I come along? I'd like to meet some other super powered girls, even if they won't train me," she asked eagerly. "I'll bet it's grand having super powered friends to talk with!"
That was actually one of the things Superboy liked the most about being a member of the Legion - there were things about being super that he couldn't talk about with any of Clark's friends, but his friends in the Legion had similar experiences they could share. "I can't promise they'll agree to train you... but I don't see why you can't come along. Tell you what, meet me at the quarry at 10. Let your folks know you'll be be back around 5."
"WOW, that's wonderful. THANK YOU!" she practically gushed. "See you tomorrow!"
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Post by johnreiter902 on Oct 11, 2020 12:53:40 GMT
this is a better ending than the first story
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Post by dans on Oct 11, 2020 13:47:42 GMT
this is a better ending than the first story
now, we need to rewrite a lot of stories since then to include Gravity Girl!
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Post by dans on Oct 11, 2020 17:51:01 GMT
You might recognize this story; adapted from Adventure Comics 355, April 1967...
Through the Time Barrier
Unknown to Superboy, Gravity Girl had been through the time barrier before - only about 6 weeks ago, actually, when she'd visited Xanthu in the 30th Century with Superboy and Star Boy, so she wasn't surprised when he created a bubble of super hard glass for her to ride in.
"We can experiment later, but right now we don't know if your magnetic force field will protect you against the stresses of breaking the time barrier," he explained.
She wanted to protest and test her own invulnerability against the time barrier right then and there, but she realized that if the Legion agreed to train her, one of the things she needed to test during training was the limits of her powers - so she could wait. The trip through time was 'routine' - Superboy accelerated and pretty soon they were passing through the 'time tunnel', a seemingly infinitely long tube lined with alternating dark and light rings which soon merged into a uniform gray. Along the way, Superboy was using his super ventriloquism to give his passenger the tour guide summary: "Those rings indicate day and night 'outside'." The rings got narrower and swept by them faster and faster and soon merged into a uniform gray wall, then eventually slowed their pace, transforming back into rings racing by them, which became wider as they approached 2961.
"This is Metropolis; it covers a good part of the continent by now, and we're headed for the area they still call Smallville, where you can see the yellow inverted rocketship that is the headquarters of the Legion of Superheroes, and here we are!" Superboy was enjoying being a tour guide.
"The Legion Headquarters!" Gravity Girl exclaimed in awe as they approached the Super Hero Clubhouse, a several story yellow metal building shaped like a science fiction rocket sticking tail up out of the ground, with red fins high in the air. "And I'll be admitted as your guest, won't I, Superboy?"
"Not right now, Gravity Girl. There's a closed meeting for Legion business! Later the doors will be open for visitors. Meanwhile, you can take in the sights of 30th Century Metropolis." A quick super-speed rub and the bubble was melted open, and Gravity Girl stepped out into a courtyard in downtown Metropolis, then Superboy zoomed off toward the clubhouse.
Lana took to the air; as she passed a tall super skyscraper, she saw a being who resembled the Tin Woodsman in the Wizard of Oz movie climbing the building, stopping at each window during the climb, and she marveled: 'Gosh, they even have robot window washers in this future city!'
In the cockpit of a giant rocket-driven airliner passing nearby, with 'Around the World Express' stenciled along the side, the pilot was yelling into his radio in panic. "Help! FIRE!' If it reaches our ultra-dyne fuel tanks, we'll be blown to the four winds!"
Gravity Girl noticed the flames shooting from the jets in the rear of the airliner. 'Heavens! I have to save them... but... the heat of the flames will incinerate me!' Then she thought about what she'd just seen, and zoomed back to the skyscraper, where she plucked two of the window cleaning robots from the side of the build, then zoomed back to the stricken giant rocket-powered strato-cruiser.
"Quick, both of you! Dump out your foam cleaning tanks now! Fire extinguishers in my own time use similar foam to smother flames!" she ordered. Each robot released its tank of highly compressed cleaning foam, drenching the flames, and a second later, the back end of the cruiser was totally swamped in non-flammable window washing foam, which quickly quenched the flames!
Gravity Girl followed the crippled rocketship to a landing. One of the departing female passengers, a short haired brunette wearing a short purple dress with an orange cape, called to her. "Who are you? I'm Triplicate Girl of the Legion of Super Heroes, on my way to their business meeting. A lot of passengers on this liner owe you their lives - no Legionnaire could have doused that fire more effectively than you did!"
"I'm Gravity Girl from the 20th century. I'm visiting the future with my friend Superboy. Nice to meet you. I'm sightseeing until the business meeting is over, then I want to meet ALL the Legionnaires!"
The girl in purple used her flying belt to lift into the air and join Gravity Girl. "That's great, fly with me to the Clubhouse, and then I'll see you again after the meeting." The two girls chatted as they flew together to the Legion Clubhouse, where they planned to part, Triplicate Girl to attend the business meeting, Gravity Girl to continue her sightseeing.
The Menace of Oggar Kon
But their plans were quickly changed when they heard an alarm sounding inside the clubhouse. Triplicate Girl raced inside, and when nobody stopped her, Lana followed. In the situation room, an older man wearing a transparent full head helmet was broadcasting an emergency appeal over a TV monitor.
"Ice City in Antarctica calling. We're being threatened by an alien criminal!"
Cosmic Boy, the current leader of the Legion, barked out assignments: "Chameleon Boy! Colossal Boy! You'll take this job. Fly to Antarctica... on the double!"
The two Legionnaires took to the air, followed, unnoticed, by Gravity Girl, who was thinking 'I wonder what I can learn watching these heroes in action? What a wonderful opportunity for me to learn how to use super powers!' What she didn't notice right away was that she had a passenger. She flew south as fast as she could until she caught sight of the two boy Legionnaires, then slowed to pace them, far enough behind that they were unlikely to notice her. It wasn't long before she spotted the icy shelf surrounding the continent of Antarctica. As they approached the South Pole, she was stunned when a voice spoke - right inside her lead helmet!
"Gravity Girl, I'm Shrinking Violet. I shrunk to tiny size and caught a ride with you so I can keep an eye on Gim... I mean, Colossal Boy! I'm inside your helmet right now, perched inside your ear."
"So you can shrink? What a nifty power!" Lana exclaimed in admiration. "I can't to do that! But every time I ever got in trouble and got caught, I sure wished I could just shrink until I vanished!"
"Yeah, and it's great for sneaking into the boys' locker room, too," Violet confided with a chuckle. "You should hear them squeal when I grow to normal size!" Her tone changed to that of a teacher. "What you see is Ice City. It was carved out of the Antarctic ice cap, and thousands of people live there."
"It's - it's BREATHTAKING!" Lana responded, a bit nonplussed over the locker room remark. "But aren't they always freezing from the cold?"
"No, because they wear heated plastic parkas," Violet explained. "I'll get one for you to wear over your costume."
"Well, thank goodness," Granite Girl replied enthusiastically. "In this costume, it won't be long until I turn into the Frostbite Queen!"
Gravity Girl spotted the two boy Legionnaires, standing on a mountain ridge overlooking the glittering Ice City from a couple of miles away. As she landed, Violet popped out from under her helmet and grew back to her normal size. "Violet, what are you doing here? We haven't spotted any trouble. And who's this other girl?" Chameleon Boy wanted to know.
Elsewhere, on a monitor screen, their every move was being watched. 'So, the famous Legionnaires are butting in, eh? I'll use my voice projector's microphone to speak to them!' thought a sinister figure, a dark haired mustachioed man wearing a red tunic with a green and white collar and curiously trimmed sideburns.
He spoke: "Greetings, Super Heroes!" The low, gravelly voice vibrated the air around the heroic group.
Colossal Boy spoke in stunned surprise: "A voice... from NOWHERE!?!?"
"You fools, you can't defeat Oggar-Kon! Listen to my story, and you'll see how HOPELESS resistance would be!"
As the alien's ruthless story ended, a powerful storm of incredibly hot air struck them from behind, almost knocking them down and almost instantly beginning to melt the ice on the plain below them.
"The City refused to surrender to me..." Oggar Kon's sinister voice continued to thunder from the air around them. "So I'll destroy it with... my HOT WIND MACHINE!"
"Great Stars!" Violet exclaimed in distress. "If those searing blasts reach Ice City, the whole place will be one big swimming pool!"
Colossal Boy activated his power and instantly expanded to his 30' size. "I'll stop the wind, after I shoot up to giant size!" the timbre of his voice dropped as he grew. He began digging up snow and ice. 'It's easy for me to build a high wall of ice and snow that'll cool off the hot wind before it reaches Ice City.' The pile of frozen building materials quickly grew into a long, tall dike, deflecting the hot wind upward and cooling it as it passed across the wall. "That does it, now to rejoin my buddies!" Colossal Boy gloated.
In his hidden sanctuary, Oggar Kon was furious. 'BLAST that overgrown lout! He'll suffer for thwarting me! I'll race there in my rocket ship!' It was only seconds later that the villain's red rocket raced over Colossal Boy's head and blasted him with a black cloud of engulfing smoke. "That cloud will keep you from seeing where you're going, you insufferable growing brat!" Oggar Kon's gloating voice thundered via an external PA system. From where they stood on the ridge, the other heroes could hear Colossal Boy's bewildered voice: "I'm blinded. Where are you, pals?"
Shrinking Violet was alarmed; she remembered a deadly terrain feature she'd noticed on her arriving flight. "Colossal Boy might stumble into that bottomless crevasse! His flying belt won't support him at his giant size!"
"Don't worry, Violet. I'll help him!" Lana reassured her new friend while thinking 'Here's where I do my stuff!'
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Post by dans on Oct 12, 2020 0:25:03 GMT
Gravity Girl Struts Her Stuff
Lana had spent a good part of the last day thinking about her powers, particularly in unusual ways to use them. She might have accepted a truce with the Boy of Steel, but she was going to remember his remark '...you're not clever enough to use the [powers] you've got...' for a long time. She didn't have super vision; she had to find some way to locate and reach Colossal Boy before he fell into that chasm! She started to fly toward the city, and started to spin around the axis of her body; her arms outstretched to the sides acted like a propeller, and the cloud in front of her was blown away - and the wind was trying to blow Colossal Boy back away from the chasm as well.
"Look sharp, Colossal Boy!" she shouted as the smoke cleared and she could see him, only a few feet from the edge.
He instantly stood still. "I'd have plunged into the huge fissure if you hadn't pushed me back and cleared away the smoke in the nick of time!" he said, relieved.
Meanwhile Violet launched herself into the air. "I'm going to tail Oggar Kon's rocketship and try to find his secret hideout!" she shouted to the other heroes.
'I'd better follow her!' Gravity Girl quickly decided.
Meanwhile, in his rocket, Oggar Kon watched on his monitor as Superboy suddenly appeared. 'It's a good thing I decided to follow Gravity Girl,' the Boy of Steel thought. 'I'll put an end to this diabolical weapon!" He smashed into it at top speed, and the side of the machine was crushed inward and somewhere inside, a series of explosions blasted.
'That darned Superboy has wrecked my Hot-Wind machine. But I have other weapons in my arsenal!' Oggar snarled as he brought his rocket ship to a hasty landing near the spire where he'd built his lair - unaware that he was being followed by Shrinking Violet. He raced through the entrance and she followed more cautiously. The lair seemed to be still under construction; the interior floors were still bare earth, and in fact, there were some flowering plants here and there - a very weird touch for the lair of an alien villain!
Until one of the plants proved to have a big mouth! "Master- look out - an intruder!"
He whirled, drew his ray pistol. "AHA! Surprised by the Sentinel Plant, my dear? Now, you'll die!" He fired, but Shrinking Violet was already shrinking. "ARRR! The blast went over her head!" "You still have something to learn about flowers," she taunted him as she shrank. "Especially Shrinking Violets!"
He reacted instantly, dropping his pistol and pulling something from his pocket. "But you still won't escape..." he threw a handful of seeds at the now tiny heroine. "Not after I sow my instant plants! They spring up as soon as the seeds touch the ground!"
"Is that some kind of substitute for a super power?" she laughed mockingly. Until the bud of one of the flowers opened up into an evil looking mouth, and the stalk started to rapidly stretch toward her.
"Among my plants is a Venusian fly trap - actually from the planet Venus, where they use them to control vermin like mice. I'm sure it won't mind a tiny girl in its diet instead of a rodent!" The plant was growing rapidly and reaching for her. She couldn't run, she was hemmed in by the other rapidly-growing plants.
"I can stay this size and be plant food, or grow bigger and become a ray-gun target!" she moaned desperately as she tried to wriggle between the stems of the other plants. The Venusian Fly Trap shot forward like a snake striking, showing tiny vicious looking claws around the edges of its closing petals, about to pull her into an open mouth, glistening evilly with some kind of juices.
Just before it reached her, a human-sized fist closed around it the flower and squished it shut, then yanked upward, snapping the elastic stalk. "Venus has a violet streak, looks like," she quipped. "Better stop this once and floral!"
"Thanks, Gravity Girl!" Violet sighed in relief. "I'm sure glad we're buds!"
While the two girl heroes had been occupied with the plants, Oggar Kan turned to another of his fiendish machines. A hundred foot tower with a giant horn on top began blasting BLATTTTS!!! of ultra-loud sound at Ice City. The evil alien snickered scornfully aloud: "My ultra-sonic horn's powerful sound waves will shatter all crystals... including ice! When they reach Ice City, it will crumble in ruins. HAAA!"
Superboy had just finished making sure the Hot Wind machine would never be used again, and he raced to smash this new menacing weapon. But it was bait for a cunning trap! As Superboy slammed into the tower, Oggar's rocket ship raced close. The nozzles that had sprayed smoke clouds at Colossal Boy were deployed again, as the villain sneered via his PA system: "I know your weakness, Superboy! A blast of Green Kryptonite dust will FINISH you!" The dust sprayed out; inside the ship Oggar Kon cackled with glee as he watched Superboy fall from the sky. "The deadly dust settled all over your uniform! You can't get rid of it! HA, HA, HA, HA!!!!"
The Boy of Steel crashed to earth. He panted as he fell "Too weak <gasp!>... to shake it out..."
Meanwhile, Oggar Kon was steering his rocket back towards his tower, pursued by a very swift duck hawk, whose thoughts were startlingly human: 'I'LL chase him down! Hey, wait! Why'd he toss out that huge egg?'
Oggar answered him over the rocket's PA system. "Behold, youth! My INSTANT EAGLE!" The egg exploded, discharging a human-sized bird of prey, which instantly swooped toward the much smaller duck hawk, claws extended and the vicious beak wide open.
The duck hawk instantly began evasive maneuvers, while thinking "Great Stars! If I remain a hawk, that king-size eagle will get me. Well, Oggar has a surprise coming when I change into a..."
"WINGED OCTOPUS!" Chameleon Boy instant switched forms, and his winged octopus was even larger than the Instant Eagle. "One side, ugly!" A tentacle knocked the stunned bird aside, and the winged octopus surged through the sky and wrapped several tentacles around the rocket - and squeezed!
"How about a coming-out party for you, Oggar?" the octopus laughed callously as he shook the rocket violently. "One squeeze of my tentacles cracks your ship open like an egg shell!"
"Help! I'll fall to my death!" Oggar Kon screamed in abject terror as he tumbled through the tear in the rocket's shell and fell earthward.
But he didn't fall far; the flying octopus caught him, not far above the ice. "Look what the egg I cracked has hatched - a JAILBIRD!" he mocked the captured, gibbering alien villain.
Meanwhile, Gravity Girl raced to the shallow crater Superboy had smashed into the ice when he'd crashed down, and landed at the side of her friend who was writhing in pain. She instantly began brushing him with her hands, moving at super speed, wiping away as much of the kryptonite dust as she could. Superboy recovered somewhat, but there were still particles of the poisonous metal embedded in the weave of his costume.
"Chameleon Boy, I need your help!" Gravity Girl called the shape-changing hero urgently. "Colossal Boy and Violet can handle Oggar while you help me save Superboy's life!" Chameleon Boy changed back to his humanoid form and quickly dropped to a landing next to Gravity Girl and the stricken Boy of Steel.
"We need ultrasonics to vibrate all the kryptonite off him!" she said urgently. "Can you turn into a giant Sphinx Moth? They can vibrate their wings at super speed and hover in the air. So if you hold Superboy and beat your wings, you can create vibrations which will shake the Green K dust out of his uniform. Hurry!"
He could - and he did. The two heroes could see the clouds of green dust being shaken free of Superboy's costume, and after a half a minute, Chameleon Boy carried him out of range of the deadly radiation emitted by the dust. A few minutes later the Boy of Steel sat up and shook himself. "Nice going, guys! I'm gaining my strength back! Let's turn Oggar Kon over to the authorities and head back to the Clubhouse!"
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Post by johnreiter902 on Oct 12, 2020 12:11:01 GMT
This is a wonderful rendition of a Legion story from the period. You have the language and pacing town to a T.
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Post by dans on Oct 12, 2020 15:16:24 GMT
This is a wonderful rendition of a Legion story from the period. You have the language and pacing town to a T. Only because I copied it virtually exactly from the existing story!
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Post by dans on Oct 13, 2020 0:50:15 GMT
Lana in Disguise
Back at the Clubhouse, Superboy introduced all the members, except for a few who were away on missions, and soon Gravity Girl was surrounded by a crowd of delighted Legionnaires. As he shook her hand, Cosmic Boy tried to make her feel more at ease. "That gray lumpy mask really doesn't go well with your costume, and it sure looks uncomfortable. You're among friends here, why not take it off for a while?"
"I'm not ready to reveal my secret identity to anyone, even Superboy," she replied. "That's why it's made of lead."
Chameleon Boy spoke up, sounding excited. "I know a bit about disguise - maybe I can help." He slipped away from the group and hurried off towards his suite.
"Your actions today were VERY impressive," Saturn Girl sounded very impressed. "You made very clever use of your powers - and cleverly compensated when your powers weren't perfectly suited to overcome a particular problem."
Superboy was standing next to Lana; he had definitely overheard. 'Did she say 'clever' twice on purpose?' Lana wondered silently, then, when Saturn Girl winked at her, 'Wow, it's great to have a super powered girlfriend who has my back! I wonder if I could join the Legion?'
Saturn Girl shook her head sadly and seemingly changed the subject of the conversation. "It's too bad the Legion Constitution says we can only accept members with 'natural' powers, Gravity Girl. After a showing like today's, you'd be a shoo-in at our next Legion try-outs."
Chameleon Boy was back. "This is something I've been working on, using Durlan 'biological technology'." He handed a small flat flexible disk, the size of a dime, to Gravity Girl. "If you put this behind your ear, it will stick in place - and it will let you change your features. It will even fool Superboy's x-ray vision."
Lana looked uncertainly at Saturn Girl, who nodded to her unspoken question. Reassured, she accepted the disk and slipped it behind her left ear. Although she couldn't see it, she could feel it molding exactly to her skin, and she later discovered that it had changed color to match her own exactly - it had became totally invisible! She couldn't even feel the difference.
"Now you can look like anyone you want!" Chameleon Boy repeated. "Concentrate and picture someone in your mind. Then take off your mask. Don't worry, it'll be fine."
Lana thought for a moment, then cautiously unlatched her helmet. "Superboy, turn your back - and DON"T LOOK!" she ordered, and he did. Chameleon Boy held up his hand; he morphed his palm into a mirror. Lana removed the helmet, looked in the mirror, and laughed. "OK, you can look now!"
Superboy turned back and was stunned. "Why, you look just exactly like Susan Heart, that girl in the beach bikini movies!"
"Perfect!" she laughed. "I hated that helmet too! Thanks, Chameleon Boy!"
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Post by dans on Oct 14, 2020 23:07:37 GMT
A Learning Experience
A committee of four, including Cosmic Boy, Bouncing Boy, Triplicate Girl and Saturn Girl, gradually worked their way to the front of the crowd around Lana. “Superboy says you’re here to test your powers,” Bouncing Boy began. “We should get started; you guys probably need to head out soon.”
Lana was disappointed; so far, her impression was that Bouncing Boy was pretty much a clown and Triplicate Girl seemed to be the weakest Legionnaire, when she’d expected to train with some of the more powerful members such as Ultra Boy and Star Boy, who she thought should be able to push her to her limits. 'Of course, I'll have to be careful around Star Boy so he doesn't recognize me!' she thought.
'Anyway, I'm just a guest here; I'll follow their lead.' She didn’t miss the quick mischievous smile that flashed across Saturn Girl’s face when she thought that, though, and her next thought was, ‘Maybe there’s more here than meets the eye…’ Saturn Girl gave her an approving thumbs up. “Before you go, put this on!” Invisible Kid interrupted, running from the science lab and holding out a package. “It’s a duplicate of your costume, but with tights. It’s a new super protective fabric I’m developing and it will give you additional protection against damage, heat and cold that your current costume and powers don’t provide. I hope you like it!”
Lana disappeared for an instant. “It’s a perfect fit – and the tights are invisible!” she crowed when she reappeared, and did a ballerina-like twirl, her arms outstretched over her head.
“I’m good at invisible,” Invisible Kid quipped.
The five threaded their way through the group of Legionnaires and Cosmic Boy led the way outside to the courtyard in front of the Clubhouse.
The first test was a speed test. “Gravity Girl, keep up with me.” Saturn Girl flew away as fast as her flight belt could carry her, and Gravity Girl kept up with her easily. They stopped about 5 miles from the Clubhouse.
Saturn Girl projected a map into Lana’s mind. “We’re here.” A spot on the mental map glowed. “Provincetown on Cape Cod is easy to find from high in the air. That way!" she pointed East. Another glowing dot on the mental map. “I’m going to fly back to the Clubhouse; you fly to Cape Cod and back to the Clubhouse and see if you can beat me back. Ready set Go!” Gravity Girl left behind a sonic boom and a vapor tube stretching to the horizon. Imra got back to the clubhouse in seconds. A couple of seconds later, Gravity Girl was back too. “Glad I had the vapor trail to follow on the way back, or I might have got lost and taken a little longer.” Bouncing Boy was making copious notes on a hand-held computer.
During the speed test, Triplicate Girl had been leaning against the wall of the Clubhouse, chin in one hand, elbow in the other. Now she spoke thoughtfully. “She said her professor friend theorized that the belt controls magnetism, at least for stopping bullets. Well, we’ve got one of the universe’s top experts on controlling magnetism here – let’s check that out!” She turned to Cosmic Boy. “Rokk, can you detect any magnetic forces from her belt?”
Cosmic Boy squinted in concentration, shook his head, and was about to speak when without warning Triplicate Girl threw something at Lana, as hard as a highly trained, extremely athletic woman with normal human capability can throw. A small steel sphere, about the size of a golf ball, thrown hard enough that it could have broken a bone if it struck in the right place. Instead, it struck Gravity Girl in the torso and it bounced away, and she didn't even feel the impact.
“WOW!” Cosmic Boy yelped. “At exactly the instant that ball hit her, there was an incredibly intense magnetic pulse that repelled the ball! I can generate magnetic repulsion, but I can’t generate a pulse like that!”
“The professor also theorized that anti-gravity gives Lana her super strength by cancelling the weight of whatever she picks up. I’ve never been OK with that particular theory; there's more to strength than just picking things up. Let’s test it!” Bouncing Boy proposed. He led them back into the Clubhouse, to a room below ground level that was fitted out as a weight room.
“Stand on that panel, Gravity Girl, it’s a scale.” The digital display on the scale showed Lana’s exact weight, but we're not going to have a chance to read it from here. "Cos, a little help here?" Cosmic Boy moved a big barbell, which had 500 pound weights the size of tractor tires on either end of the bar, close to her. "Now, without getting off the scale, pick this up.”
Lana shrugged, grabbed the bar with one hand, and easily picked up the dumbbell.
“Eureka!” Chuck yelled. He pointed at the readout on the scale – it hadn’t budged a digit! “She must cancel gravity under whatever she wants to lift.”
“But, does that mean she doesn’t really have super strength? She just cancels gravity?” Luornu asked. Lana’s face creased in disappointment, she had been looking forward to winning some arm-wrestling matches with some belligerent male classmates when she got back, but Lu wasn’t finished. “Let’s try something else. Cos, use your magnetism to hold the bar down. Gravity Girl, pick it up again!”
Lana grasped the bar and lifted. Again, she lifted the barbell easily, but this time, the weight displayed by the scale increased instantly. “Pull it down harder, Cos!” Lu requested. The scale display increased as Cosmic Boy increased his power, quickly rising past the 1000 pound actual weight of the barbell and climbing to several tons – and Lana didn’t show any sign of strain. “That scale is rated for 10 tons max – better ease off, Rokk!” Cosmic Boy relaxed his power, and the weight displayed on the scale dropped back to Lana’s normal weight. “OK, Gravity Girl, put the bar back down.”
“Outstanding thinking, Lu!” Bouncing Boy nodded approvingly. “Not only does she have REAL super strength, Gravity Girl can cancel the effects of gravity on things she’s touching. Let’s test that some more. Gravity Girl, get off the scale, and put the barbell down on the scale.” Lana and the barbell switched position. “OK, stand several feet away, reach out towards the bar – and try to lift it without touching it.” Nothing happened. “OK, start moving closer and keep trying to life it.” A step closer… nothing. Another step… still nothing. Another step – and the digital display began to show decreasing weight. “Hold on!”
Lana stopped, and Bouncing Boy measured the distance from her hand to the barbell. “Almost exactly 3 feet. Move a little closer.” Eventually they determined that just before she touched the barbell, she could cancel about half of its weight, but she had to be touching it to cancel it all.
Lana had thought that maybe Bouncing Boy was too much of a clown, and Triplicate Girl’s powers were too weak, for either of them to be capable of teaching her anything – but she was quickly learning to take them seriously! They'd discovered more about her powers in a half an hour than she'd known after having them for a week!
The four Legionnaires huddled together after some final tests, then Cosmic Boy gave her their conclusions.
"The Legion isn't really set up to do training, especially on heroes whom we can't admit because of the (perhaps silly...) limits set by the Legion Constitution. Plus, with you having to depend on Superboy to get here, it would be tough to set up a regular training schedule. But..." he saw the disappointment in her eyes and continued quickly, "but... if you ever hitch a ride with him again for a business meeting, Chuck and Lu are willing to spend some time with you after those meetings... if they're not off on other missions, anyway. And, from what we saw today, you're doing just fine on your own. Seven of our current members didn't get their powers until they were already in their teens, but they quickly learned to use them well enough and fast enough to be invited to join the Legion - and they're STILL teenagers. You'll do just fine!"
Time to Go Home
By the time they were finished, it was time to return to 20th century Smallville. As they were getting ready to leave, Triplicate Girl handed Lana an envelope. "Here's some ideas for testing and training your powers." Lana thanked her and dropped the envelope into the secret pouch in her cape, the said goodbye to all her new friends and promised she'd be back again, the next time Superboy would bring her. He sealed her into her bubble, jumped into the air, and they vanished into the time stream - and got back to Smallville just in time for the start of the next Gravity Girl story!
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Post by johnreiter902 on Oct 15, 2020 0:20:45 GMT
Great story!
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Post by dans on Oct 15, 2020 11:02:12 GMT
Thanks, John!
I think Superboy may have learned a lesson. Somebody ought to point out to him that virtually NONE of the heroes in his world have the same powers that he does, but they still find ways to be heroes anyway. And maybe rub his nose in it a little bit.
But Lana's Dad needs to be convinced as well. I'm thinking maybe he needs to insist that she gives up the belt anyway, like he did in the story, and insists that Superboy destroy it, and then gets into a situation where only Gravity Girl can save him. (Say, you think that maybe one of the other alien artifacts he brought back makes him super heavy, and only Lana's power of canceling gravity can save him from being squished long enough to figure out how to turn off the device that is about to kill him?)
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Post by johnreiter902 on Oct 15, 2020 22:08:01 GMT
Remember, Superboy is still young. Until he met the Legion, he had very little experience with superheroes aside from himself.
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Post by Dan S. on Oct 15, 2020 22:18:12 GMT
Superboy sees heroes with powers less than his every day, the police, the fire department, nurses and doctors. He never tries to talk them out of it because they aren't invulnerable. You're right, he's still young, but he has been hanging out with the Legion for years. Why didn't he ever tell Triplicate Girl her powers weren't good enough, or Bouncing Boy? Of course, the stories weren't written for old farts like me either, they were written for boys who all their lives had been told how weak girls are...
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Post by dans on Oct 15, 2020 22:20:14 GMT
Superboy sees heroes with powers less than his every day, the police, the fire department, nurses and doctors. He never tries to talk them out of it because they aren't invulnerable. You're right, he's still young, but he has been hanging out with the Legion for years by this time. Why didn't he ever tell Triplicate Girl her powers weren't good enough, or Bouncing Boy? I realize I'm being pretty rough on Superboy, but actually, it was the writers fault, and they were writing for a totally different audience than would be reading today, with a totally different set of sensibilities. I'll stop.
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Post by dans on Jun 18, 2021 0:28:32 GMT
I wonder if maybe Lana could convince Brainy to give her a force field belt like his? Alternatively maybe the alien belt has powers she doesn't know about yet? The next time she goes into the future, I'll bet Chuck has figured out some way to determine if the belt might have more powers than Lana knows about - he's a pretty bright guy when it comes to super powers...
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