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Supergirl and Wonder Woman are taking down a band of bank robbers together. Supergirl speaks she is going to find a cure for cancer in order to save the life of a five-year-old boy. Wonder Woman reiterates that curing cancer is beyond t


Quote1 Some days, people wake up and think they can change the world. Last week that was me. Me, when I decided to try and cure a boy named Thomas of inoperable cancer. But I failed... Quote2
Supergirl src

Way of the World is a 2010 Supergirl storyline written by Kelley Puckett, originally published in Supergirl (Volume 5).

Synopsis

Supergirl and Wonder Woman are taking down a band of bank robbers together. Supergirl speaks she is going to find a cure for cancer in order to save the life of a five-year-old boy. Wonder Woman reiterates that curing cancer is beyond their powers and she shouldn't have promised that boy to cure him. She is determined to end war herself but she never promised to achieve her goal. Supergirl still wonders if they aren't doing it wrong fighting criminals and saving dozens instead of saving everyone.

After sifting through some of the JLA's files, she decides to contact Mitchell Shelley -- the Resurrection Man. She finds him in Montana and inquires as to whether his ability to return from the dead could yield the cure that she seeks. Shelley admires her determination, but otherwise thinks that she is on fool's journey. Regardless, he gets roped into her scheme and together they seek out Professor Alphonse Luzano, the criminal scientist whose work with Tektites yielded a radical change in Shelley's physiology.

Supergirl breaks into the Garrett Federal Pentitentiary in Pendroy, Montana and frees Luzano. She promises the guards that she will bring him back when she is done with him.

News of the prison breakout quickly reaches the Daily Planet. Upon learning of Supergirl's involvement in the prison break, Clark readies himself for yet another encounter with his overeager cousin.

Supergirl takes a few hair samples of Thomas Price and flies back to Luzanos' secret headquarters, arriving just in time to break a fight between Luzano and Resurrection Man. Kara hands over the cell samples to Luzano and asks if he can help out. Luzano admits that programming tektites to target metastasized cells is a challenge but he's willing to undertake it for a child's sake. Then he shuts himself in his lab.

Mitchell tries to warn Supergirl that Luzano isn't to be trusted. Kara states she's aware, but she needs Luzano's expertise... and maybe he has never had the chance to do something good. Then she gets to line the roof with lead so her cousin can't find them yet.

Supergirl and Resurrection Man wait for a while until they realize Luzano is up to no good. When they check in on him, Luzano has replicated the tektites in Shelley's body and infused them into his own. Luzano blasts Shelley down and pounces on Supergirl, gloating over his new powers. Supergirl isn't impressed with his "hyper-sensual perception" and angrily demands to know if he has done anything what she asked him to. When Luzano admits he never had any intention to help Thomas, Supergirl gets mad.

Supergirl and Luzano trade blows and destroy most of the laboratory. As fighting they discover Resurrection Man has resurrected, this time with healing powers. Luzano attempts to kill him, and Supergirl decides she's had it with Luzano. She takes down and knocks him out. Kara blasts a hole into the roof so Superman can find him, takes Shelley and heads back to the hospital.

As flying over the country, Superman comes upon her. Kara apologizes for breaking Luzano out and starts explaining she may have found a way to cure Thomas, but Superman cuts his cousin off to tell her that her efforts are being wasted. Thomas is dead.

Superman narrates how Thomas Price died in spite of all their efforts and his parents are besides themselves with grief over his death. Kara is devastated but she don't want to give up yet. She flies Resurrection Man to the hospital and explains she wants to inject Thomas with his nanite-filled blood. Superman is very much against the idea. Even if he were brought back to life, he wouldn't be human anymore. Kara asks why it would be so bad. Kal insists that his parents would not understand it, and Kara wants to explain it to them. Superman agrees to explain her plan to them, but reiterates their word is final.

Mr. Price is against the idea; still Kara thinks it's up to her. Supergirl grabs Mrs. Price and flies off to a high mountaintop. She explains how her parents did everything they could to save her life, even if they had no way to save if she would survive the trip or lead a good life. They could have hold onto their daughter and waited for the end, but they didn't... even though sometimes she wishes they did.

Mrs. Price understands what Supergirl is trying to tell her, and agrees to use the Resurrection Man's blood on her son. They return to the hospital and inject Thomas Price's corpse with the nanite infected blood. They wait several minutes, but nothing happens. Thomas is still dead.

Superman and Supergirl -who has just had a nightmare where she was buried alive- attend the funeral of Thomas. Superman tries to comfort her, but Supergirl can't accept his death. She declares she will bring him back, no matter what or how long it takes.

Fifty years later, an adult Supergirl is working with the Krallian rangers in order to bring down interplanetary conqueror Dolok. Dolok is in posession of a time-machine device which he uses to go back in time and strike his enemies or try to escape from them. However Supergirl is ready to attack him every he jumps back in time. Eventually she takes him down for good and seizes his time machine. Kara reasons she can't bring Thomas back but she can get his parents see him again.

Supergirl heads to their house only to learn MR. and Mrs. Price have also passed away. Their daughter also says Mrs. Price was sorry for not having been more understanding and grateful to the girl who fought hard to save her son.

Supergirl visits their graves and ponders going back even further in time in the hopes of saving... or finding a cure for Thomas' cancer... or even redoing her whole life and undoing all her mistakes. Ultimately though, she realizes that she cannot manipulate the past. Such abuse of power would make her no better than Dolok.

Supergirl flies away, thinking it's time to move on.

In the present day, Supergirl gets into a fight with Clayface shortly after Thomas' demise. Clayface gloats after landing a few blows but Supergirl -who already faced him in the past-[1] rapidly disabuses him of the idea that he's something else than a glorified stress ball: she freezes him solid, takes him to the upper atmosphere and lets him go. After watching plummeting to Earth, Supergirl descends, expecting to see Clayface putting himself together in time to be put away; instead she finds Young Justice member Empress has encased him inside a hex bubble and is waiting for her.

Empress parents were killed and resurrected as children and currently, they are being held hostage by a man who calls himself "Aftermath". Supergirl agrees to help, and together they fly to Aftermath's mansion. Too late Supergirl realizes it was a trap: Eddie Rose, "Aftermath", kidnapped Empress' parents and blackmailed her into putting Supergirl into a mind-controlling hex and bringing her over. Eddie Rose was left crippled when Superman fought against Doomsday[2] and developed the mindset that heroes aren't real and he ought to unmask them. And he plans to use Supergirl as part of his plan to turn public opinion against all super-heroes. But beforehand he needs to look after loose ends, so he commands Supergirl to kill Empress.

Supergirl pounces on Empress, but retains self-control enough to tell her to summon a hex shield. Empress do so, and Kara manages to crash herself into the magical construct. The hex shiled's magic cancels the former spell and Supergirl breaks free of Empress's control. Before Rose can get Empress' parents killed, both heroines have taken his men down. Rose breaks into tears, crying he only wanted to do things right. Supergirl recalls her failure to save Thomas and states Eddie's intentions might be good but he was wrong, nonetheless.

Later Supergirl and Empress have a talk while Aftermath is being taken away. Kara pities Eddie Rose, maintaining he became that way because heroes like themselves weren't there to save him when he needed them. Still Rose has helped her realize she's spent too long fighting against something she can't win and it's time to go back to help people.

Issues


Recommended Reading

Links and References


Supergirl v.5 38
Supergirl Storyline
DC Rebirth Logo

This event or storyline is specifically related to the character of Supergirl and/or her supporting cast. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Supergirl Storylines category.

Superman Our Worlds at War Vol 1 TP
Superman Family Storyline
DC Rebirth Logo

This event or storyline is specifically related to Superman, or to members of the Superman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Superman Storylines category.

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