World's Finest #20

Issue Details

Synopsis

FIRST CONTACT PART 2 After a blast of energy exploded from Power Girl's body, she woke to see that the blast seemed to have done more damage to Superman than her. Now, frustrated, Batman grunts that Superman should have listened to his warnings to stay away from Karen. Both Kryptonians' invulnerability is in question, and so Batman swoops down in the Batplane, hoping to catch the pair before they make contact with the earth or the ocean below. Coldly, he orders Huntress to get the med kit, and hope she doesn't have to use it.  Fortunately, both are alive, but Superman seems pretty heavily affected by whatever affected Karen. Despite the likelihood that Clark, too, will lose control of his considerable power, Batman refuses to get back. Instead, he kneels before Clark, explaining that he had intended to use the Kryptonite Ring on Karen, if necessary, but Clark may need it more now. He hopes that the Kryptonite will weaken Superman enough to balance the increase in his solar energies. Karen's powers, meanwhile, seem to have balanced out, and so Batman has her carry him while Huntress takes Superman in the Batplane.   Though Superman begins to regain consciousness, Huntress doesn't have enough time to get him to the plane before a new threat appears on the horizon. With Superman reduced to a mere human under the Kryptonite's effects, Huntress is the more effective guardian of the two, and thrusts him aside as a man in a metal suit appears, demanding to know where Power Girl is. Naturally, Helena will not say, and a fight ensues. Ably, she knocks him unconscious, suggesting that when he wakes up, they will talk more politely.   Elsewhere on the island of New Gamorra, Batman attempts to convince Power Girl to go in under her civilian identity, but she refuses to act as bait, insisting that they play it as equals. Annoyed, Batman enters through the sewers by himself, contemplating what plans the Gamorrans might have for Karen. As Karen enters from the air, she catches sight of Kaizen Gamorra, and realizes that he is this world's double of a man she had dated briefly on her world before he died saving her life.   Crashing through his wall, he recognizes her as Power Girl immediately, expressing regret that his scientists' experiments may have inadvertently inconvenienced her. He further expresses an interest in hearing of her world - of the world she comes from. His scientists had discovered left-handed molecules in her that could not exist in this universe, but could elsewhere, which led him to assume her other-worldly origin. As he explains that with her help, he can open a way back to her world via the nanites that affected her so negatively, Batman discovers that Kaizen Gamorra has been performing experiments in cloning and grafting of Kryptonian DNA, to monstrous effect. Power Girl is in danger. He is too late, however, to stop Kaizen from unleashing an army of those clones to bring Karen down.   Elsewhere, Clark and Helena adopt civilian disguises and head deeper into the island, against Batman's wishes, but they encounter some trouble with the local law enforcement.