Although this story takes place in the DC Comics' Metropolis and uses characters from the DC Universe, Star Bird is strictly my own creation. The story is not to be taken as using any known story lines from DC. It is purely fan fiction, and no profit is to be made by the author.
Note: Star Bird was first seen in Diana's story, 'The Final Fate of Superman 2, Replacement: The Further Adventures of Petra J'ane and Vr'Droxx'. SZ
Flashback time...
In the alley behind La Maison D'Metropole, a scene had unfolded before the eyes of a homeless man. He had watched as a tall man stepped from the shadows to confront a petite and incredibly beautiful woman who had a panicked look on her face. Oddly, she was dressed in what looked like a man's suit that was way too large for her. When she turned to face the man who was gloating she threw a fist at his jaw, but the man didn't even flinch as the fist connected. He didn't feel a thing, but the same couldn't be said for the much smaller woman. From his hiding spot, he could see the pain etched on her gorgeous face.
He heard the man tell the woman that her change was permanent, and she would now always be a young and beautiful woman thanks to the Kryptonite to which he had exposed her. What did Kryptonite have to do...'Oh, My God!' the man thought, as he watched the tall man pull the struggling woman to him and kiss her. 'Can it really be? Can that woman really be Superman?'
He watched helplessly as the man held the kiss until the woman in his arms fainted, and he put her into the car that was sitting there.
The tall man looked at the boxes he had taken out and showed the woman minutes earlier, closed them, and then threw them into the dumpster a few yards away against the wall. He needed them no longer, as he had what he wanted. He climbed in behind the wheel and drove off.
The down-on-his-luck man crawled out from behind the cans he had been hiding behind, and watched the car until he could see it no more. He climbed into the big trash container and fished around until he found those small boxes. "I don't know what these did to you, Superman, but I'm betting that STAR Labs will be able to figure it out," he said aloud, and to no one but himself. He pocketed the boxes and hurried from the alley.
STAR Labs - Metropolis Division
Professor Hamilton had been called the moment the homeless man had presented the twin boxes to the technician who'd met him in the lobby. The words Kryptonite and Superman had an immediate effect, and people started to jump.
For the fourth or fifth time, the man recounted how he had seen a tall man gloating over a much smaller and too beautiful to be true woman, referring to her as his old enemy and gloating about the changes that she had gone through thanks to the two different types of Kryptonite that were in the boxes. It was a hard story to believe, but then, Kryptonite had been the source of almost all the problems that the Man of Steel had gone through over the years. It just might be possible.
While all of Superman's friends were contacted for possible verification, a news story broke about reporter Clark Kent being changed into a woman while having lunch with Lana Lang, his wife Lois, and two of Miss Lang's models. Not much more info was given, as the new Miss Kent had seemingly disappeared, and Lois Lane Kent wasn't talking. Could it be? Was Clark Kent really Superman, Superwoman, or just a plain and un-super woman?
During the next few days, more details were released by Lois. Yes, it was true, her husband Clark had been changed into a female and yes, he was also Superman, or had been. Lois admitted these facts because she had to. The story of the Kryptonite found by the homeless man and his story of what he had witnessed wasn't just a national news story, it was global. There was no longer a need for secrecy, and since Clark/Superman was missing, Lois needed all the possible help she could get to find her missing husband. She made a public appeal to all the world's heroes to help bring her husband back to her.
Hamilton had ordered all resources to be brought to bear in finding out what caused the Kryptonite to make such drastic changes in Superman. He had, of course, some knowledge of the properties of Red Kryptonite, as he had helped Superman in the past to deal with some of the changes which that particular type of Kryptonite caused, but he knew that the changes were always of a random nature, and this one seemed to be planned, according to what had been overheard. The Gold Kryptonite rock was something new. He hadn't ever come across this type before, and had no idea of the effects it produced; again, he was just going on what had been relayed from the overheard conversation.
Days flew by and there was no news. The Justice League had used every resource available to try to find out where the mighty hero, their nominal leader, had been taken. They searched for his scent, his brain waves, his DNA, anything and everything they could think of. Nothing! They couldn't find a trace of him, because he had ceased to exist as Superman when the combined forms of Kryptonite rewrote his whole body structure. His mind was even then being rewritten on the homeworld of his/her new Master, VrDroxx. It didn't help that they were searching for Kryptonian DNA, and now the former champion of justice had an Earth woman's DNA, an amalgamation of four of them, to be exact.
STAR labs hadn't given up searching for a solution to the problem, but in their primary Metropolis unit, they weren't able to conduct the tests that could be done on the rocks at their Gotham City facility, and if they came up with nothing, there was always Wayne Industries. The rocks were specially packed, and under heavy guard, were transferred to Gotham.
STAR LABS - Gotham Division...
From the moment the red and gold rocks arrived, the scientists in the lab were kept busy. In less than two days they had made a little progress. Using new techniques involving lasers and electron microscopes, one even provided to them earlier by Superman himself, it had been determined that the very structure of the Red Kryptonite had been manipulated to produce a specific effect. On the other hand, nothing could be determined about the piece of presumed Gold K. It was decided to put the two samples together and see what effects, if any, one rock had on another by subjecting them to a simultaneous exposure to the laser and microscope at the same time.
There is an old cliché that time and tide wait for no man and so, even as the scientists were preparing their experiment, a bean counter was taking inventory in the very next lab. Steve Zink was tired as he started to inventory the equipment in the lab. This equipment wasn't nickel and dime stuff, not at this lab. No, the equipment that he was checking against a list was multimillion dollar equipment. God, he thought, I have to quit reading all night. I'll be glad when this day is done.
Back in the other lab, the experiment had begun. The two pieces of Kryptonite were placed side by side, the laser was focused to shine through one and then the other while the electron microscope was trained on both to monitor any changes. So far, nothing. The power was increased on the laser, still nothing. Again, an increase in power. This time, the molecules of the rocks began to change. Another increase, and then...the rocks vanished from sight.
Vanished might not be the right word. They simply vaporized and traveled along the path on which the laser had been focused. They passed through the box that contained the laser, through the wall of the lab, into the room next door, into Steve Zink.
As they flowed into the tired man, he felt a tingle spread throughout his body, and he passed out. Since he had been alone performing his inventory, no one knew anything had happened, and when Steve regained his senses, he didn't think anything of it except that he was ready to swear off sleepless nights for life. He decided he'd better call it a day, so he went down the hall to tell his supervisor he was ill, and left to go home.
The scientist that had been conducting the experiment had to report to Professor Hamilton that not only had they found out precious little, but that they had lost the specimens as well. Hamilton was not a happy man, as he had to call Lois Lane Kent and tell her they had lost any chance they had of finding a cure for her husband, should he ever be found.
Zink drove home, and as soon as he was in the door he flopped into his easy chair. He didn't want to eat anything, so he just flipped on the TV set to see what was on. He had never felt like this before. Maybe it wasn't the lack of sleep. Maybe he was coming down with something. It seemed like every fiber of his body was on fire, and yet he didn't seem to have a fever. He tried to take his mind off things by leaning back and putting his feet up. He started clicking through the channels looking for something to watch. He hated daytime TV with all the soaps for women. The only good thing about them was they were all babes.
He stopped using the remote when he came across a gorgeous blonde in the skimpiest bikini allowed on network TV, and just stared at the screen. God, what a stone cold fox, I wonder who she is? he thought as he concentrated on the beauty on the screen.
As Steve was staring, he felt a ripple run through his skin; it started in his feet, and quickly spread until he felt the hair on his head start to move, grow actually.
Still enamored with the beauty on the screen, he started to notice that something seemed to be interfering with his vision, and then he realized what it was. His chest was filling out into boobs, the same kind of boobs he was ogling on the woman on screen.
Stunned, he sat bolt upright in the chair and felt his now long hair fall down his back. He looked at his hands, and saw the long and dainty fingers with the long red nails and then, he did what anyone would do, he reached between his legs to feel...nothing! No, that's not right, SHE felt something, just not what HE was used to.
"What the hell is happening to me? Why am I a woman now?" she asked out loud, but not expecting an answer. She was stunned once again upon hearing the sexy voice that was hers. Then she glanced at the TV again. This time her gaze fell on another person, the male that was kissing the woman she had been staring at only moments before.
"Good God! What a hunk!" the former male Steve said, her hand still between her legs fondling her new sex. And then she felt a change once again. Steve's body didn't seem to know just what it wanted, nor his/her mind. She couldn't help but think what it would be like to kiss that handsome actor, even as her body reformed itself into an identical duplicate of the same man she was watching.
Everything that had just happened, everything he and then she and then he again had been feeling all day, was just too much for Steve. For the second time that day, he passed out. This time, as he lay there unconscious, his body's cells made the final changes. The combination of the modified Kryptonite, the laser light charge and the bombardment of electrons had made permanent changes to Steve Zink, changes that would forever alter his life, along with the lives of many, many more people.
As Steve lay on the floor where he had fallen, his subconscious took over, and his body changed time and time again. A small boy, a spotted dog, a calico cat, a teenage girl in a cheerleaders outfit. Yes, even his clothes changed with his body, now that the changes to his body had been completed. His mind, even his subconscious mind, could control the clothes he wore, for they were no longer just a covering for his body, but had actually become a part of him.
If anyone had witnessed the transformations that Steve was going through, they would have been amazed. Not only did his body take on the shapes of men and women, boys and girls, even animals, it took on the images of creatures from nightmares. Ogres, dragons, hideous and twisted forms. All from a man that some said had no imagination.
It was early the next morning when Zink awoke to find himself on the floor. He got up and said to himself, "Boy!! What a nightmare," and got up and headed to the bathroom. He threw some water on his face and used the facilities, washed his hands, then headed toward the kitchen to get himself some breakfast.
He went to the refrigerator and opened it...by ripping the door off. He looked at his hand holding the door and said, "What the F...!" His hand opened and the door started to fall, but before it hit the floor, Steve reacted, and with a speed so fast his hand became a blur, he caught it.
For the life of him, Steve couldn't figure out what was going on. He seemed to have super strength and super speed. If what he had thought was a dream was in fact real, he had the power to change shape as well. He started to wonder what, if any, other powers he had. He decided to find out. He called the lab, saying that he still felt sick, and would have to take the day off. Then he went to take a shower and change clothes.
When he went back into the bathroom and tried to remove his clothes, he found he couldn't. He seemed to realize that they were now a part of him, and so he concentrated. He found he could make them look like anything he could picture in his mind, but that didn't help him get clean. Then it hit him, and with total concentration, he willed the clothes into his body. Naked, finally, he stepped into the shower and washed his skin, and he felt invigorated. Drying afterwards, he stepped out of the bathroom and, with just a thought, he was perfectly dressed and ready for what faced him. It seemed so much easier this time, he didn't have to concentrate as much, just think it.
Steve got into his car and drove out to the countryside, a deserted place where he knew he wouldn't be observed or interrupted, and began to experiment to see just what powers he had.
Shape Shifting, Super Speed, Super Strength were now givens, and as the morning progressed, he found he had others as well. He could hear a bird singing, but when he looked in the immediate area, he found nothing. He started to look a little farther away, still nothing. Finally, he focused his sight and settled on a parakeet sitting in a cage, in a room in a farmhouse that had to be three miles away.
Two more to add to the list, Super Hearing and Super Sight. He started wondering why he had some of the same powers as the missing Superman, and then he remembered they were doing some tests on the rocks that supposedly had changed Superman into a female and left her powerless. Did that have anything to do with what had happened? He'd have to check that out later. He had to find out what other powers he had, first.
He tried to fly, but only fell on his face. He wanted to see if he was invulnerable, and so took a knife from his pocket and started to make a small cut on his finger. Blood started to flow from the small cut, but after half a second the blood stopped and the skin closed. Cell regeneration, but not invulnerability.
The next power he tried for was invisibility, and was rewarded by the 'observation', or lack thereof, that this was another power. Actually, it wasn't, and he soon realized this. All it was, was his ability to control his body. He found that with a thought, he could make the cells transparent, and if he could do that, could he also do something else? He thought again, and then tried to cut himself again.
This time, the knife broke as it tried to penetrate the skin. Instead of making the cells transparent, he made them more dense. Good! When he needed to, he could remain unharmed, and if he should be taken by surprise, he had the power to heal quickly. This was even better than the powers that Superman used to have. This one seemed to be borrowed from Wolverine!
The last power he tried for was telepathy/telekinesis, but he found nothing. Oh, well, he thought, I guess that's all I've got. Now I have to find out how I got them, and what I'm gonna do with them. He got back into his car and drove to STAR Labs.
"Zink! What are you doing here, I thought you were sick?" his supervisor growled, as he entered the accounting office.
"I felt better, Jim, and I know how important the inventory is. Plus, the fact that we're already shorthanded since Jamie left to get married last week," Steve replied.
"Good man!" Evers said. "At least something is going right around here. You've heard, I take it, that they lost the Kryptonite. At least we don't have to account for that. Somebody's ass is gonna pay, though. Now there's no hope of a cure for Superman, even if they eventually find him...err...her."
"No, really, they lost it? How?" Steve asked.
"Who knows. They said they were running tests on it in the lab next to the one you were working in yesterday. Say, you didn't see anything out of the ordinary, did you, Steve? You left kinda sudden yesterday," his super said with a quizzical look on his face.
"Not me, Jim; I was so sick yesterday, I couldn't see anything at all. That's why I went home."
"Okay, Steve, just asking. Nobody seems to know what happened, and I just thought you might have seen something. You'd better get back on that inventory and finish up." With that last, Steve's supervisor walked away.
Okay, he thought to himself, let's review. I get sick, go home, change, pass out, wake up, find super powers, come here to find Kryptonite has gone missing. Guess I don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize they must be connected.
Steve's mind began to work on deciding just what he was going to do with this new found gift as he went back to work on the inventory. The day passed quickly, and soon he was home again.
All day long, he had thought and thought hard about how he could use his powers. Becoming a villain was tempting, but not for him. He wanted to use the powers for good, like Batman or Superman. Yes, like Superman! Metropolis needed a hero now that Superman was gone, but he needed some practice before he could head for Metropolis, and he needed a foolproof secret identity, something no one would suspect.
He thought for half the night before he finally came up with the perfect solution. He thought for a minute, and the image of the newest superhero took form.
Make that...superheroine.
Steve's body shrank from his 510 inches to a very petite 53. His closely cut straw colored hair grew out to become the near waist length silky blonde of a beach bunny. Her eyes remained blue like Steve's, but had an extra twinkle in them that seemed to mesmerize. The clothes reformed to become a catsuit of shiny scarlet spandex that molded and hugged every curve of her fantastic body. Her arms were covered by opera length gloves in the same scarlet color and material as her catsuit. The outfit was completed by a pair of identically colored knee high, spike heeled PVC boots that made her short legs look longer than they were.
"Now, all I need is a name," she, for that was who Steve had become, said in a voice that was not only musical but dripped sex. "I think since I was born at STAR Labs, part of my name should begin with Star. I think I've got the second part as well. Since that sweet little bird was singing such a nice song, I'll add that to the name. YES, I like it. Tonight, Star Bird is born. Look out crooks, I'm coming to get you."
She opened the bedroom window and stepped out into the night for the first time, but not the last.
The End...for now.
Note from the editor: Since I presume you've noticed a decided similarity in name to the subject of this story, I've taken a personal interest in it. In no way am I going to claim coauthorship with Diana, but I did change a few things along with the usual edit job. I got approval from Diana in advance to do this. She will write the first few chapters of the story about Star Bird, but has given me an open invitation to do more with my own personal character as I get ideas.
SZ
