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The Supergirl Serum

What if Supergirl came before Superman?

By Michael OnstottPublished 6 years ago 15 min read
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Photo courtesy of: medisave.com

I know it has "Supergirl" in the title, but this is not an origin story about her. This is a story about a world in which women are physically stronger than men basically from birth. I hope everyone enjoys it. Thanks!

“You’re overacting. Look, come to the party tonight, you’ll have fun.”

“Patsy, I can’t. I have too much work to get through at work. I won’t make it until the party is halfway over.”

“What time do you think you’ll be done by?”

“Maybe … 10 o clock? 11 the latest.”

“Angelica.”

“Patrice.”

“That’s the time the party starts!” Patrice exclaimed.

“Who starts a party that late?!?” Angelica exclaimed.

“Girl, we’re not in high school anymore. They started that time and later back in college.”

“Yeah, and I never went to those parties either.”

“Don’t remind me. I had to explain your absences many times by telling them you went to these other parties at other colleges and you were still recovering from those so you couldn’t make it to their party.”

“Is that why all these sleazy guys kept asking me out, thinking they had a shot with me?”

“Probably. Are you sure it wasn’t cause of the time I said you slept with a professor to get a higher grade on your test?” Patrice joked.

“Patrice!”

“Okay! Fine. It was that. But on the plus side, I made you appreciate it when a real guy came along, huh?”

“Look—if I have the time, I will try to make it,” Angelica reluctantly said.

“That’s all I ask. Besides, it will be pretty hard for me to tell them you’re at another party on another planet.”

“Yeah. Tell them I’m on their anus,” Angelica joked.

“Why would I tell them you’re on their anus?”

“Because when you tell them, you would say I’m on Uranus and it's funny beca—Never mind. I’ll call you later for the details, alright?” Angelica sighed.

“Alright. Talk to you then and don’t work yourself too hard, got it?”

“Got it.”

“That’s my girl.” Patrice hung up.

Angelica looked at her watch. “Crap, I’m gonna be late if I don’t hurry.” She rushed down to the subway station, pushing past the people shuffling this way and that before the doors closed. Luckily, she was on the right side of the closed doors. Until she remembered she forgot the keys to her apartment in the bowl by her door. She muttered something… unsavory in another language and an old woman heard her and slowly backed away from her.

The train stopped and she again pushed past the people pushing back and she ran up the steps. She wasn’t that far from her office building when she looked down the street and saw that police were blocking the entrance and turning people away. All she could hear were the cops shouting, “Nothing to see here, folks. The situation is under control and will be finishing up soon.” So she decided to walk down the alley to have a smoke.

Since smoking on the premises was banned (and her potential third strike with her job), she walked further down to avoid the onlookers. As she did, she got out her pack and her lighter when she walked into a wall. She was shocked she walked into a wall that looked like it belonged in a lab. The more she looked around, she started to see that she was in a lab.

Angelica saw many strange and wondrous devices but couldn’t make heads or tails of what they could actually do. She kept looking back, hoping that something will appear and show her the way home, but nothing did. She saw a mirror, like the ones from cop shows on TV. Then some noises from behind the mirror caught her attention. A voice suddenly came over a speaker.

“Hello there, young lady,” a woman greeted.

“Hello?” asked a confused and frightened Angelica.

“Yes, hello! Great to finally meet someone from another dimension.”

“Another dimension?”

“Indeed. I am sure you have lots of questions running through your mind and I plan on answering as many as I can. But first things first: I wanted to tell you that I will be entering the room wearing a hazmat suit and holding a Geiger counter. I am telling you this so that you will know what to expect and not get frightened and do something that could harm us both. I find that this should be the simplest way in getting this done quickly and efficiently, no? Okay. I will be entering in a moment so please, take this time to compose yourself. I am sure you must need a moment.”

“Or 1,000.”

“Ah! Yes! Good one!” the woman excitedly agreed.

The speaker clicked off. Angelica awaited the entrance of the woman and decided to take her advice and gather her thoughts. She couldn’t believe what had happened to her. She thought the entire incident must be some kind of a dream or a crazy drunken haze. Although she doesn’t remember having a drink in the last 24 hours. Then, the woman entered, just as she said: Wearing a hazmat suit, holding a Geiger counter.

“Hi,” Angelica greeted.

“Hi,” the woman greeted, as she began to wave the Geiger counter over Angelica. She wondered if it worked the same way as in the movies in her dimension. In her dimension. She still couldn’t get over the fact that she was in another dimension. She still thought it was an elaborate prank. The Geiger counter clicked off.

“Well, good news: You give off no more radiation than the amount anyone else on this world gives off.”

“That’s good news.” Angelica sighed, and then paused. “So what’s the bad news?”

“How’s that?”

“Well, when people say something like that, it’s usually because there is good news and bad news.”

“Oh! I’m sorry. I should have just said the radiation thing and not the preceding part. Sorry about that.”

“That’s… okay.”

“So, ready to move to the next room while I change out of the suit?”

“Yes, please.”

The woman opened the door for her and they entered the next room. Angelica couldn’t believe how normal it looked. It looked like a normal living room. There were a few chairs, a table, a television—it looked perfectly normal. The woman walked to a door and put her hand on the handle.

“Feel free to talk to me through the door.” Then she opened the door, went in, and closed it behind her.

Angelica walked around, searching for something that didn’t look normal.

“So, about this dimension….”

“Yes, this dimension is a little different from yours, but it isn’t really all that different. For example, we have smart phones, fast food places, stores, healthcare, space programs, etc., etc.” The woman explained.

“Where are we?”

“We’re in Illinois, eh Chicago to be more exact.”

“What year is it?”

“2017.”

Angelica walked to the window. “Where’s the snow?” she asked.

“Oh, we built something that takes care of the snow. Well, for the most part. We let it snow sometimes, and not that much when we do.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, we thought the weather shouldn’t affect what we do too much, so we took Mother Nature’s matters in our own hands and made the “Weather Maker” machine. Hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, snow storms—they’re all a thing of the past.”

“What else is different?”

The woman opened the door and Angelica turned to face her. “Well, I suppose there are more than a few things that differ in our dimensions.”

Angelica was stunned. “For one thing, you look like my mother.”

“Oh! Sorry about that. I probably should have told you that you will see people who look like people from your world that could be completely different from the people here in this world. For example, I have never had children.”

“Holy crap!” Angelica exclaimed. “Are you telling me that I’m in a dimension where I was never born!?!”

“Essentially… yes. Some people from your world could possibly not even exist here in this world,” she said.

“So, is your name also Helen?”

“Yes,” Helen said.

“What about my father? Did you even meet him?”

“What was his name?”

“Daniel. Daniel Holmes.”

“I did meet him. Unfortunately, he died in a car accident. He was on his way to meet me for our date.”

“This wouldn’t happen to be a date at a restaurant called Luigi’s, would it?” Angelica inquired.

“Yes. I take it this was an important date?”

“Yeah. It was the date where he was gonna propose to you.”

“Oh my,” Helen gasped. “See what I mean? That’s just one thing that’s different. There are many more differences like that to discover in this dimension.”

“Tell me.”

“Tell you what exactly?”

“Tell me why our two worlds are different. Tell me what exactly happened that made these two worlds different.”

“Gladly!” Helen squealed. She grabbed Angelica’s hand and dragged her back to the lab. Helen sat Angelica in a chair by the projector. She took out an old projector from a cupboard and set it up. She pulled down a screen and flipped the switch. The projector started playing.

“Forgive me. I haven’t had the time lately to transfer this to a digital copy yet.” Helen cleared her throat.

“The history of your dimension and mine are not all that different. Both had the Renaissance, the 1800s, and World Wars 1 and 2. But that is kind of the point in which our worlds split from the same path. You see, what were the crime rates like, in your dimension, against women?”

“I’m not sure. I guess they were average or decent, not that it’s okay to commit a crime in general, I’d say. Why do you ask?”

“Because in this dimension, the crime rates against women were very high. The rates were so high; the government wasn’t sure what to do about it. So they got a group of the best scientific minds in the entire world together to figure out a way to deter criminals. Ultimately, they came up with the “Supergirl serum.” It was named after the first superhero, Supergirl.”

“That is another difference. On my world, it wasn’t Supergirl, it was Superman.”

“There you go. Supergirl made women feel like they could do anything. Drawing on her as inspiration, the scientists, (female and male, mind you), developed the 'Supergirl serum.' It was an injection that was first administered to women who weren’t pregnant and then women who were pregnant. It was eventually administered to every female on Earth. That was part of the deal the scientists made with the government. It had to be given to every woman everywhere.

"Not only that, but the serum is still administered today to baby girls. They want to make sure that they covered every woman from the 1940s until about 2060. That is the only way we can make sure that every female is either born with the serum in their bloodstream, or given to them shortly after birth. The serum has an element about it that allows it to not only combine with the DNA of the woman, but it will be able to be passed on to a female baby if the woman has one.”

“What if she has a boy?” Angelica asked.

“The serum won’t bond to the male DNA. Not even if a male were somehow able to get his hands on an injection, it wouldn’t take. It is gender specific. Only works on females.”

“Would it work on me?” Angelica asked.

“I’m actually not sure. I imagine your DNA is similar to ours. I wouldn’t recommend trying it until we compare a DNA sample and compare it to mine, for example,” she responded.

“So how has the world changed since the 'Supergirl serum'?”

“Well, the males were not happy at first. Some thought we were doing this to create a female dominated society. Others thought they did something wrong and wanted to know what they specifically did.”

“They didn’t know about the crime rates?”

“No, no. They knew. But it wasn’t the ones who committed the crimes; it was the nice ones who were raised right. Not all of the males were bad. Not all males are bad. Like I said, the 'Supergirl serum' was created as a deterrent to the crimes taking place, mostly sexual assault.”

“The serum was created as a deterrent to sexual assault specifically?”

“Not specifically sexual assault. Women were being beaten out on the streets, stolen from whether they were home or not, and kidnappings of all ages. It was designed to deter all of that.”

“What does the 'Supergirl serum' actually do?”

“It gives you superhuman strength. It makes you 20xs stronger than the average male. You can choose to gain more muscle to make it even more potent if you want, but it kinda seems like overkill.”

“It gives you super strength!?!” Angelica excitedly said.

“It’s called the 'Supergirl serum.' What did you expect it to do—make you teleport?” Helen responded.

“Has anyone ever taken advantage of their super strength?”

“Yes, a few. But they were all dealt with and put in jail. Of course we built the prisons with the latest technology to hold the criminals who happen to be female, but there are not as many prisons as there are in your dimension. We have maybe… 25% of the prisons that your dimension has and that extra space is used as housing for the homeless.”

“Damn,” Angelica sighed. Angelica got up and walked around a bit. “This is a lot to understand and I’ve only been here… 10 minutes.” Angelica looked back at the screen. “This is the footage from the first injection?”

“Yes. We saw the scientists talking about the serum, creating the serum, and this is them testing the serum. What you are looking at is the first successful test of the 'Supergirl serum.' Her name was Aileen Reuben. She was 22 years old at the time. She was sexually assaulted a few months before that. Shortly after the injection she ran into her attacker.”

“What happened?”

“Aileen was being interviewed by a reporter at the time. They talked and at first, she said she wasn’t going to harm him. Then he said some words he shouldn’t have and she slapped him. He flew right across the street. He laid on the ground trying to figure out what just happened to him and then he got up and ran away. She turned to the camera and said that she knew he was a coward.”

“Did she really hit him that hard?”

“She sure did. As a matter of fact, look at the screen.”

Sure enough as they were talking about it, the entire scene played out on screen. Angelica saw him get sent flying to the other side of the street and his body lying there on the street. The rest of the scene played out just as Helen said.

“Aileen must have felt really good after that.”

“Yeah, she did. I got a chance to talk to her before she died 10 years ago. I think I have some pictures before –”

“Wait a minute! Wait one minute!” Angelica interjected. “If everything is so great, then why was I brought here?”

Helen sighed. “Because I need your help.”

“Because WE need your help,” a voice from the speakers said.

“Can’t I finish a thought!?!” Helen yelled at the woman on the speaker.

“Sorry, Helen.” The speaker clicked off. Then the woman walked in the lab. “Hope you don’t mind, but I let myself in.”

“Sure, why not, General Walker.”

“If you didn’t want me to drop by unannounced, then you shouldn’t have given me a key to your place,” General Walked teased.

“I did not give you a key; I gave you a key to collect my mail when I was on vacation a few years ago. You decided, against my wishes, to keep the key.”

“Tomato, Tamato. You know we go way back, old friend. And I do mean OLD.” General Walker chuckled, and then looked at Angelica. “I’m so sorry to have you dragged away from your… dimension, is it, Helen?”

“Yes, dimension, world, take your pick, old friend,” Helen said.

“Excuse me. Why was I picked out of billions of people and many, many other universes? And for what purpose?”

“Well, we basically did a bunch of complicated calculations and you came out the winner.” General Walker pointed to Angelica.

“It was much more complicated than that, but what General Walker said… about… sums it… up.” Helen reluctantly agreed.

“What you’re trying to tell me is I… was chosen.”

“Yes,” Helen and General Walker agreed.

“Wow. This keeps getting more and more unbelievable.”

“Yeah, you’re mind might be blown after you find out why you were chosenm” said the General.

“Oh! Yeah. Why was I chosen?”

“You were chosen, my dear Angelica, to –.”

“Uh please, call me Angel. All my friends back… home call me Angel,” Angelica said, thinking back on her life about a half an hour ago.

General Walker and Helen exchanged a look of understanding and agreement.

“Yes, well … Angel. You, my dear Angel, were chosen to help us figure out who is trying to steal the 'Supergirl serum.' We need you to help us track them down and bring them to justice.”

Just then, the General received a call. “Excuse me,” she said. “I must take this in the other room.” She walked over to the door and opened it to the living room. “Status update.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to doubt you two or anything, but I do have another question to ask.”

“Oh. Please, ask away,” Helen said.

“Why am I the one to help you find these people?”

“Good question. It is because you were the one the calculations said would be the person to help us. You must have some set of skills or hidden talents that will aide us in the quest to prevent this group from getting their hands on the serum.”

The General walked in. “Correction, Helen; we need Angel here to help us with a retrieval mission. The group calling themselves “Fear Mongers” just stole the serum from the storage facility.”

“How the hell did they steal it!?!” Helen screamed.

“I don’t know. Even I didn’t know the location. Until now. Pack everything you think we might need, doctor. We’re heading to Canada.”

“First of all, you’re a doctor? Second, why was it kept in Canada?” Angelica asked.

“Yes, I am a doctor. Scientifically, of course. Although, I can be if I wanted to be a medical doctor. You know, it’s funny. I did think about becoming a doc–.”

“Canada was the perfect choice because they are in a cold climate that makes it difficult to maneuver. Not to mention, they have some of the strongest guards guarding the serum. Well, had.”

“Did they kill them?” asked Helen. General Walker nodded. Helen gasped and turned around.

“That’s why we are leaving immediately. Let’s head out.” With that, the three gathered some equipment Dr. Helen said they would need and they left.

fan fiction
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About the Creator

Michael Onstott

I hope my writing makes your day a little better. :)

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