“Need any help, Chief?” Power Girl asked as she landed at the fire chief’s side. A large office building smoldered nearby – New York City’s fire brigade were in the final stages of containing the blaze.

  He glanced at her with a puzzled look for a moment, then gave his head a shake. “Oh, sorry, for a minute I thought you were the other one. I was confused. No, we’re all good, uh, Power Girl, right? One of your people came by a little earlier and pulled a woman out of the thirtieth floor for us. We can handle the rest.”

  Now it was Power Girl that looked slightly confused. “The other one?” she asked.

  The fire chief ran a gloved hand across his brow before responding. “Yeah, you know… she looked a lot like you. I don’t know. I can’t keep track of all you people. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back at it.”

  He turned his back on the heroine and began shouting orders at his crew.

  Power Girl blinked several times, then ascended into the air. She tapped her inner-ear communicator.

  “Power Girl to Watch tower. Anyone got your ears on up there?”

  Martian Manhunter stood at a large bank of controls and blinking lights inside the orbiting space station known as ‘The Watch Tower’. He pressed a key on the console in front of him.

  “I read you, Kara Zor-L,” he said, referring to Power Girl by her Kryptonian name in his signature monotone voice. “What is your situation?”

  “Not sure,” Kara responded as she flew through the sky. “Do we have anyone in the area that could be mistaken for me? I just got a report that someone that looked like me helped out at a fire earlier.”

  “No,” Manhunter replied. “You’re the only metahuman we have deployed in that sector. Do you suspect a new Kryptonian or a shape-shifter has appeared?”

  “Unknown,” Kara replied. “Just reporting the incident for now. Will update if any further information comes to light.”

  “Understood,” Manhunter replied. “Watch Tower, out.”

  Kara continued to ponder the situation as the transmission ended with a soft beep. She ran through the heroes she knew that vaguely resembled her, but none of them seemed like a good match.

  One other name came to her mind, but she snorted and quickly dismissed the thought. It couldn’t be her. She was a villain and hadn’t been seen in years. There was no way it could be her.

  Kara frowned slightly as she neared her penthouse apartment – something she had recently acquired after receiving a generous package for stepping down as CEO of Starrware Industries – a company that she had founded and run for many years. Her super hearing picked up the sound of her shower running.

  She landed softly on her deck and cautiously used her X-ray vision to view the inside of her home. A distinct female form could be seen toweling off in her large bathroom.

  “Oh no…” she muttered to herself and opened the deck sliding door.

  “Are you home?” a familiar voice asked. “I’ll be right out.”

  “Oh no,” Kara said a little louder as she quickly strode toward her bathroom. The door burst open and a mirror image of herself emerged wearing nothing but a couple of towels and a thin band on her wrist. The other woman shot her a sly smile.

  “Oh no!” Kara shouted in disbelief. “It’s you! Divine!”

  “Nice to see you too, Power Girl,” Divine said as she strode past the other woman.

  Kara doubled-up her fists and took up a fighting pose. “I’ll give you five seconds to get dressed before I introduce my fist to your face! I don’t feel like fighting you when you’re naked!”

  Divine waved her off as she pulled Kara’s drawer open and began rifling through her clothes. “Fists down, sis. I’m not here to fight.”

  Kara watched her for a moment, but kept her fists raised. “What do you want, Divine? You can’t just break into my home! How did you even find me?”

  Divine ignored her question for a moment as she held up various articles of clothing. “Don’t you own anything black?” she muttered out loud. “Anyway, I have super vision and super hearing. How do you think I found you? I’ve known where you lived for months now.”

  “What do you want!?” Kara demanded again.

  Divine pulled a pair of Kara’s pink shorts on. “I pulled someone from a fire earlier and my clothes were mostly destroyed – and I happen to know we’re the same size, soooo…”

  “So, you’re just here to rob me?” Kara demanded.

  “Borrow,” Devine replied as she dropped her towel and pulled on a white T-shirt with a pink heart on the front. “And maybe I just felt like saying ‘hi’ to the closest thing I have to family, Karen. That’s all.”

  Kara stood stunned by Divine’s statement. “I go by ‘Paige’ on Earth, now,” she managed to sputter. “No one calls me, ‘Karen’ anymore”.Divine pulled the towel from her head to reveal long, flowing black hair. “Okay. That’s a cute name, Paige. I go by ‘Cammy’ now. What do you think of my hair? I grew it out while I was away. Does it suit me?”

  Paige blinked several times and gave her head a shake as her clone began to preen herself in the mirror.

  “D-did you say… ‘family’?” Paige sputtered, incredulously.

  “Well, I was created from your DNA, so… yeah,” Cammy replied.

  Paige felt her cheeks begin to redden at the thought of this woman referring to herself as her family. The woman that Maxwell Lord had ordered to be created to challenge and destroy her. She felt her hands involuntarily curling into fists.

  “Get out,” Paige hissed through her teeth.

  Cammy turned with a frown. “I said I’d return the clothes. There’s no need to be angry.”

  “Get out!” Paige said louder, a feeling of rage welling-up inside of her. “We are NOT family! You – are NOT my family! You will NEVER be my family!”

  Cammy scowled. “Hey, that’s not fair. I don’t work for Maxwell Lord anymore. You don’t need to–”

  “You broke into my house!” Paige screamed, cutting her off. “You’re stealing my clothes! Every other time we’ve met, you’ve tried to kill me!”

  Now Cammy was the one that could feel her temperature starting to rise. “Hey! Okay, so this wasn’t the best way to re-enter your life, but I’ve changed! I’ve grown as a person! I want to connect with the–”

  “A person!?” Paige screamed louder. “You’re not a person, you’re a clone! A THING! You weren’t born, you were GROWN! You are here right now because my DNA was stolen! I’m reminded of that EVERY TIME I LOOK AT YOU AND SEE MY FACE!”

  Now it was Cammy’s hands that curled in fists. She stomped over to the blonde and got right in her face. “GROWN!?” she screamed back. “Were you or were you not GROWN in a Kryptonian Genesys Chamber? Huh? Just like every other Kryptonian except for Kal – who was the first naturally born Kryptonian in over a century! I get that you’re mad, but you don’t have to be cruel!”

  “My parents WILLINGLY contributed their DNA to the Genesys Chamber,” Paige roared back. “They did that on purpose. I was PLANNED! I was WANTED! I’m not some ABOMINATION that apparently even Maxwell Lord DOESN’T WANT!”

  Cammy’s eyes started to moisten as she pressed herself into the other woman.

  “You wanna go?” she said quietly. “Right here? Right now? Cuz if we start swinging, we’re taking this whole city block with us.”

  Paige was silent for a moment as the two women breathed into each other’s faces.

  “No,” she finally replied in a calm, measured tone. “I just want you to go. Alright? I don’t actually want to fight.”

  Cammy took a half-step back and continued to stare at the woman that she had been cloned from. A tear broke free and rolled down her cheek.

  “Want your clothes back?” she asked with a hint of emotion. “I’m sure at least half of New York would LOVE to see what we look like naked.”

  “Keep them,” Paige replied in the same measured tone. “They’re yours now. Get out.”

  “Thanks,” Cammy replied as she turned toward the deck. Tears freely streamed down her cheeks now. “…FOR NOTHING!”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Paige watched as her clone took to the air and quickly disappeared from sight.

  “That was… odd,” she muttered to herself. “What game is she playing?”

  The blonde entered her bathroom and pulled the burnt remains of a sweater from a small garbage can. She examined it, then looked back to the sky where Cammy had disappeared.

  *****

  “Kal?” Paige called out as she landed at Superman’s arctic Fortress of Solitude.

  The Man of Steel looked up from a cluster of crystals with a smile. “Kara, how are you? Thank you for visiting.”

  She greeted him with a smile and held up the burnt sweater. “This will sound strange, but can you use your Kryptonian technology to analyze this? It belonged to Divine.”

  Superman gave his cousin from Earth 2 a puzzled look as he took the burnt garment from her. “Divine? The villain that was created from your DNA?” he asked.

  Paige nodded. “She paid me an unexpected visit today. She wasn’t hostile, but… something was… off. Can you see if there’s anything odd about her sweater?”

  He shrugged and motioned to one of his Kryptonian robot servants. “Six, can you have Seven run a full spectrum analysis on this?”

  “Of course, Kal-El,” the little robot said excitedly. “I will assist Seven with this task. We will have an answer for you shortly.”

  “Thank you, both,” Paige said with a smile.

  *****

  Cammy contorted her face as she neared the small apartment she had rented in one of Boston’s poorest neighborhoods.

  “Come on…” she grunted. “Just… a little… further…”

  She tried to slow her flight as she entered the open window of her bedroom, but ended up crashing into the bed and her dresser. She laid on the floor gasping for breath for several long minutes. She finally sat up with a groan and looked at the band on her wrist.

  02:14:03

  A lump welled up in her throat. She buried her face in her knees and began to weep softly.

  *****

  “The analysis is complete!” robot six proudly declared as the two Kryptonians visited inside the fortress’s main lounge.

  “What did you discover?” Superman asked.

  Robot seven appeared and digitally cleared his throat. “The fabric revealed that this was, indeed, worn by a being of Kryptonian nature…”

  “But the cellular make-up is significantly degraded!” robot six continued.

  “Yes,” robot seven asserted. “And they appear to be continuing to degrade. Much faster than is expected. The wearer of this garment is clearly in a state of crisis of some sort.”

  “Nothing else would explain the rapid decomposition that we’ve observed!” robot six concluded.

  Paige considered their words for a moment before giving them a nod. “Six, Seven, thank you for this information. Kal, I think I know why Divine contacted me now.”

  *****

  Cammy took the steaming kettle from the stove and poured herself some tea. Her hands shook ever so slightly as she did so.

  “Cammy?” Paige asked as she flew into her clone’s apartment and landed softly in front of her.

  Cammy’s cheeks instantly reddened. She launched herself at the blonde woman.

  “Oh, so you used your powers to find me now!?” she screamed and landed a punch to Paige’s cheek. “Come to reject me some more!? Come to call me a VILLIAN and a THING again?”

  The raven-haired woman peppered Power Girl with punch after punch, but Paige barely registered them. She finally caught the other woman by the wrists. Cammy roared with anger, but was unable to free herself.

  “So, it’s true…” Paige said softly. “You’re sick.”

  Cammy stared at the other woman for a moment, then hung her head and began to cry.

  “I’m not sick,” the raven-haired woman said through her tears. “I’m… dying.”

  “What?” Paige whispered and relaxed her grip.

  Cammy sank to the floor and covered her face as tears streamed down her cheeks.

  “But… you’re Kryptonian…” Paige said softly as she knelt beside her. “We have long lifespans under a yellow sun. Probably a few hundred years at least.”

  “Well, I guess the joke’s on me then!” Cammy blubbered. “Apparently, when I was created, they didn’t get it quite right. They screwed me up. I guess I really am a failed experiment!”

  Paige helped the other woman up off the floor and led her into the little living room.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” Paige said softly. “What happened to you?”

  Cammy took a minute to bring her emotions under control. “The last time we fought…” she said, “when I failed to beat you. Maxwell tricked me into entering a red sun room. He took his frustrations out on me. He kept me there, chained to a wall, for days. When he finished having his fun, he ordered me to be ‘recycled’.”

  Paige put her hand on Cammy’s. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “I fled,” Cammy continued. “I left the earth and began exploring the Galaxy. I needed to discover who I was as a person – not just as a tool to be used against you. That’s where I’ve been the last few years. I met many wonderful beings. I saw many wonderful things.”

  “That sounds nice,” Paige said softly.

  “About a year ago, I started to feel a little light-headed every once in a while. I ignored it, but it started lasting longer and happening with more and more frequency. I found some alien doctor that said he’d studied Kryptonian physiology. He told me my ‘sun cell’ count was low. He gave me this wrist band so I could keep an eye on it. My count has been steadily going down – then, last week, it changed from a number to a count-down. At first, I thought it was a malfunction of some sort, but I can honestly say that I’m getting weaker by the hour now. I was barely able to keep it together when I saved that office worker this morning. I basically crash landed when I got home after our little ‘visit’. I’m pretty sure I can’t fly at all now.”

  Paige pulled her clone into an embrace. “So that’s why you broke into my apartment. That’s why you called me family. You were reaching out because you can feel the end coming.”

  Cammy nodded and started to cry again. “It’s stupid, I know. You’re totally right to see me as an enemy. That’s all I’ve ever been to you, but Paige, I swear… I SWEAR I’m not that woman anymore. I grew during my time away. I want to do good. I want to help where I can. I want to be more like you.”

  Now it was Paige that felt her emotions starting to well-up. “I can’t deny the desire for family hasn’t ever crossed my mind before. I mean, I sort of have Kal and Kara, but sort of not. I’m not from this reality. They’re not actually ‘my’ family. But you… Divine… like you said – we actually DO share DNA. Maybe it doesn’t matter how you came to be. Maybe the point really is the choices we make in life and the type of person we choose to become.”

  Cammy brushed her eyes with the back of her hand. “Does this mean we could at least pretend to be sisters then? I mean, if I dyed my hair blonde, we’d basically be identical…”

  Paige smiled and pressed her forehead into Cammy’s. “Yeah. Why not? The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me – the more I like it. We don’t need to pretend. We ARE sisters. Twin sisters!”

  Cammy’s face exploded into a smile and she threw her arms around Paige’s neck. She began to sob again, but this time, it was for joy.

  Paige felt her eyes spill over as well. For several long minutes, the new sisters held each other tight and rejoiced in their new-found sense of family.

  “Well, sis,” Cammy said as she pulled away and wiped her eyes again. “What should our first official sister-act be? Should we gossip and swap bras or something?”

  Paige threw back her head and laughed. “Uh… nah. But I’d be up for watching a cheesy rom-com or something.”

  Cammy’s face lit-up. “Oh, I love it! I could order pizza and beer too! Let’s have a trashy night in!”

  Paige laughed again and clapped her hands several times. “Let ‘sisterhood 1.0’ begin! Which streaming services do you have?”

  “Like, all of them?” Cammy said with a smirk. “I might kind of be stealing access from all my neighbors. Sorry, I might need to work on being more like you a little bit more.”

  Paige gave a wry smile. “I never said I was a perfect person,” she said with a shrug. “I might be stealing Batman’s Hulu account right now. What he doesn’t know won’t kill him.”

  Cammy smiled and high-fived her sister. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun! What kind of pizza do you like? I’ll order in.”

  “The same kind you like, obviously,” Paige said and stuck out her tongue.

  “Oh, duh!” Cammy said and rolled her eyes. Both women laughed.

  “Okay, there’s a great place a few blocks away,” Cammy continued. “They make a killer South Shore Bar Pizza. Have you ever had it?”

  Paige shook her head as she began scrolling the stolen streaming services.

  “K, you’ll fall in love with it,” Cammy said with a big smile. “Tonight’s going to be so fun!”

  “K, sounds good,” Paige muttered under her breath as she continued to scroll. “Hey, have you seen the new–”

  Paige was interrupted by a loud thump from the kitchen.

  “Cammy?” she called out. There was no reply.

  “Hey, are you…” Paige trailed off as she entered the kitchen to see her sister sprawled out on the floor.

  “Cammy?” she asked and gently shook her shoulder. A feeling of panic suddenly gripped her heart.

  “CAMMY!”

  *****

  “KAL!” Paige screamed as she landed hard back at Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. “It’s Divine! We talked. She’s changed. We decided to be sisters – to be FAMILY! She collapsed! SHE WON’T WAKE UP! Kal! Please help us! PLEASE! PLEASE SAVE MY SISTER!”

  Superman engaged his super speed and appeared at Power Girl’s side in an instant. Power Girl held Divine in her arms. She had been wrapped in Power Girl’s red cape. Superman gently took Divine and quickly sped into the infirmary at the back of his fortress.

  “We’ll do everything we can for Kryptonian Divine, Kara Zor-L,” robot two assured her.

  “Yes,” robot five affirmed. “This is the only place on earth with technology well-suited to Kryptonian repair.”

  “Kal?” Paige called out. “Can I come back there? Do you need my help?”

  “Yes, come,” Superman called out.

  Paige entered the fortress’ infirmary. Cammy lay naked on a scanning table with bits of Kryptonian crystal tech covering most of her body.

  “What’s happening to her?” Paige asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

  Superman looked at the scanner’s readout and slowly shook his head. “She isn’t a full Kryptonian,” he said in a low voice. “Something else is mixed in with her… with your DNA. The scanners can’t identify it. It appears to be artificially enhancing the Kryptonian DNA that she does have. In theory, it would have made her slightly more powerful than you, but the trade-off is her cells do not last anywhere near as long as a full Kryptonian’s would. Unless that process can be stopped… repaired… she’ll die, Kara.”

  Paige felt a tear run down her cheek. “How long does she have?” she whispered.

  Superman shook his head. “Not long. But…” He pressed a button on a console and a clear tube quickly slid over the table and filled with pink gas.

  “What did you do?” Paige asked.

  “I’ve placed her in a state of suspended animation,” he replied as the gas began to clear. Cammy appeared perfectly still. Little crackles of electricity arced from her body to the plastic tubing encasing her. “I can’t cure her condition yet, but at least I can keep her from getting worse.”

  Paige reached up and wrapped her arms around her cousin-from-another-dimention’s neck and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Kal,” she whispered.

  “You’re welcome, cousin,” Superman said with a smile. “Anything for family, right?”

  Paige wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. She gently placed her hand on the tube now keeping her adopted sister alive.

  “Rest, Cammy,” she whispered. “We’ll find a way to save you. I swear it.”

  Cammy didn’t move. The electrical discharges continued to erupt from her skin in a rhythmic pattern.

  Paige turned and slowly walked from the infirmary.

  “I love you… sister.”

  THE END