Superheroine Spankings [for CrookedOnceMore]

[Aeternam]

Themyscira — the sacred island which the amazons called home for the last thousands of years. Immortal women warriors who dedicated most of their eternal life to the improving of combat skills, it only felt right to Diana that, when Superman's long lost teenager cousin crashed on Earth, this would be the place for Kara to improve. Of course, as overprotective as he was, at first Clark had refused to agree with that at first, but with time (and a little help from Batman), Wonder Woman eventually managed to persuade him into that. So now she and her amazon sisters were focused on helping Supergirl to learn how to control her powers. Unlike Superman, who'd grow on Earth and get used to his powers as they slowly grew up with him, Kara was a teenager already, and thus she didn't have any previous experience with her powers. As Clark put it — Batman never had to worry about Robin or Batgirl cracking the planet in half in an adolescent tantrum —, so did Diana worry about that. Gladly Themyscira, as an island blessed by the gods, should be able to resist better than any other place in the world if such a thing ever happened.

As the thoughts ran across her mind, so did the sounds of conflict a few meters below in the arena, where Artemis and Kara trained once again. Artemis was a strict mentor - more than most amazons, at least - and everyday wouldn't give Kara a break after they started training. For the last weeks, they didn't get too much into her powers. Diana knew no amazon besides herself would be able to help Kara with that, but first she wanted to give Kara some fighting experience, which is why she didn't get involved too much for now. However, she knew Kara herself was growing impatient with that, since they hadn't made any significant progress so far.

"Hah!" Diana heard Artemis's yell as she managed to take Kara off her feet with a low kick and then put her sword against the kryptonian's skin. It would be a funny sight, since both of them knew the blade would shatter to pieces if Artemis tried to pierce Kara's skin with it, but Artemis didn't seem to be bothered by that. It didn't stop her from starting to point out Kara's flaws one by one.

Adjusting to life on Earth was definitely a… “work in progress” for Kara Zor-El. Having crash-landed on this alien-inhabited planet years ago and being taken in by her fellow Kryptonian cousin, she was akin to a bull living in a world of paper and glass. Kal-El was very quiet about how to control her powers in a vain attempt to get her to not worry about them, but all it had done was peak her curiosity. She flew around the world, explored the stratosphere, and observed the human skeleton on living specimens on a daily basis and was still home in time for supper. It became apparent to Kal fast that he was losing control of Kara the more she aged.

And so, with some puppy eyes and played-up pleading, Kara had successfully convinced her experienced cousin into letting her train under the idealized super-heroine of the Justice League. At least, that’s what she was promised. What she instead got was her big-breasted best friend who seemed hell-bent on sapping all the fun out of hero’s work. Not in her nature to be that judgemental, of course, but geez was she about to get upset.

Swords and scythes were weapons of humans and so Kara didn’t bother with them, instead plenty content to block blows with her forearms and spar with hands alone. Of course, since she had to reduce her power to an eighth of what she really could do just to keep from levelling the island with a single punch, Kara found training only more tedious than it already was. This made it harder to focus as well, something that found her swept off her feet for not the first time that day, and an unwelcome reuniting with the grass field as Artemis towered over her.

“Ugggggh!” Kara groaned childishly, smoothing her skirt down with one hand while the other gestured Artemis’ sword out of the way. Gliding herself up and off the ground, she dusted off her back from the dirt picked up after her tumble while giving her trainer a look of knives. “This sucks! Why do I have to train like a human, again?...” She asked.

[Aeternam]

"Don't complain. This is meant for you to learn how to fight if your powers somehow aren't available for you to use, and most important, for you to improve your self-control. Think of that, you are handling a random thief. You grab his arm, but can't contr your strength well enough and instead you blow up his body with the pressure" Artemis explained as she stepped away. The angry look on Kara's face should get any human trembling in fear considering the difference in their power levels, but Artemis just kept her strict expression as she positioned once again. "Besides, let's say your enemy has a weapon which can pierce through your skin. How are you going to block his attacks? With your forearms? Get back into position"

Meanwhile, Diana sighed at Kara's reaction. At first these discussions weren't as often, but now almost every day the girl would complain about it being useless. She knew Artemis did have a point. Hell, there were weapons in Themyscira which could pierce Clark's skin, although these were rare. Kara was not as experienced as Superman, and unlike him, so far hadn't found any actual threat. Nothing she'd come across so far could hurt her, and as such Diana supposed it was only natural that she felt invincible. However, if she was going to help them in the future, there would be many foes who could kill her in a single blow, and so being able to fight back without having to count solely on her sheer power would be essential to Kara. But she didn't say anything. She hadn't even made her presence in there known so far.

"After we are done here, you are going to make a thousand push-ups. And no, you can't rely on your super speed." Artemis spoke up. A thousand push-ups would probably kill most humans if they tried to do that, but in Kara's case, it was only enough to make her start sweating. Artemis had suggested a few times that they used magic to block Kara's powers while she was training, but Diana insisted that if they did that, Kara's self-control wouldn't improve since she wouldn't have to keep her powers at bay. Right now Artemis knew perfectly that Diana was the only person on the island who could possibly stop the girl if she threw a juvenile tantrum, and that's why she was spending so much time in Themyscira for the last few weeks, only going out when a real threat showed up. Gladly, none had appeared so far.

"Now protect yourself." And with that Artemis attacked again. Despite her blade not being able to pierce through Kara's skin, it was resistant enough so that unless she tried a direct blow, it wouldn't break. Diana had been talking about asking Hephaestus to create something to help with that, but so far nothing had been done about it. So she danced around Kara all the while shouting instructions, telling her how to move and where to step whenever she made a move. Regardless of that, however, it always ended the same, with Artemis kicking Kara's feet off the ground and pointing her sword at her, then pointing out everything she had done wrong or imperfectly.

Like with most of her objections to their training styles so far, Kara found herself with her mouth open, and no good responses on her tongue. Her first instinct was to say “random thieves are Batgirl’s job” but knew doing so would only set her up for failure. (Also, it called out her best friend, and she liked Barbara too much to do that to her.) Still disregarding Artemis’ words, though, she only felt like more time was being wasted here that could be used toning her powers. When Kal-El and Diana agreed on “training” for her, she expected to be practicing accuracy with her laser vision, or measuring her speed from point A to point B. Instead, she was being forced to numb down her powers to the most boring possible level and play fake battles against this vile woman again and again.

“I bet Powergirl never had to take fencing lessons.” Kara grumbled under her breath, before re-equipping the sword she had been asked to work with in the first place. Holding the wooden blade like it were a toothpick, Kara sighed with frustration, and stepped back into her fighter’s stance. Everything about this felt unnatural. Her feet were awkward, there was no good way to hold the damn thing - these inconveniences all being fueled further by the knowledge that one flick could topple her opponent into next week. “Happy thoughts, Kara, happy thoughts…” She muttered to herself, feeling ridiculous with her sword drawn. “They know what’s best… or something.”

Parry. Engage. Dodge. Feint. Kara put every trick she had learned down to practice, light on her feet that she kept anchored to the ground as she watched Artemis with pinpoint precision. That wasn’t enough, though, since keeping her powers dulled down meant holding a massive burden on her shoulders, and practically perpetually being distracted from her mission. She tried not to let this bother her, but one loose slip-up, and the Amazon got the best of her again, disarming the sword from her hand. Kara instinctively raised her arms up for defense, which just left her entire lower body open - another sweep of the leg, and she was down.

Rather than unceremoniously collapse onto the ground this time, Kara stopped herself just before hitting the grass, hovering lightly over the field. Her arms crossed in front of her as her eyelids dropped to half-mast, taking deep breaths to control herself. “Okay.” She huffed, moving a hand up to pinch the end of her nose. After a moment to breathe, she floated back to her feet, sweeping her blonde hair behind her as she sulked. “Okay, okay. I get it, you want me to be protected in case I lose my powers. But seriously, miss, people don’t use swords anywhere but here!” Kara tried to appeal, scooping her test sword from off the ground. “Just let me use my hands once, I promise you’ll see how much more effective that is!”

[Aeternam]

"Don't talk to me like that. And you could be surprised. A few months ago, a being called Steppenwolf appeared on Earth. He didn't wield a sword, but he did have a powerful axe, powerful enough to curb through Superman's skin" Artemis told her as she once again stepped away. Like Kara, she was growing a bit annoyed, though in her case it was due to Kara's complaining becoming more often with each day they spent in her training. Despite that, she remembered Diana's words about that: She's just a teenager, Artemis. You can handle that. So she once again got in position and sent Kara a glance. "Are you going to use your arms against something like that when it shows up? Believe me, sometime it will show up. And you will need to be ready. However..."

As she stopped and dropped her sword, Diana was a bit surprised. Artemis was headstrong. She figured it her amazon sister's wish was to let Kara have a little break from the sword fighting, as she got into a nele position. "Since you want to try out with your bare hands, let's try out unarmed combat. Don't use your powers, I want to see your technique." Although she said that, Artemis knew the truth; there was no technique. Superman would usually simply go right into the battle and simply punch things down, only recurring to martial arts when his enemy surpassed his physical capabilities. If Kara was to fight unarmed, she'd make sure in her case that would be different.

Meanwhile, Diana was a bit nervous by that. She knew Artemis was strong, but also knew Kara could easily lose her temper. With technique only Artemis would managed to knock her to the ground again, but if powers get involved, even by accident, it was a risk. However, she did not intervene. Kara had been training for weeks now, so maybe she had self control enough to keep her powers at bay even when fighting like that. Besides, Diana was fast enough to get there in time if things got out of control.

Once again, Artemis advanced and moved around Kara. Like before, at first she didn't attack, simply giving the girl instructions of how to move, how to position properly, and what to do. Then she attacked, shouting the directions of her next attacks so Kara could predict and avoid them. However, as this went on, Artemis shouted one instruction - "Left!" - and instead came from below with a low kick to knock her off her feet once again.

Having turned her back to Artemis as she chided her for her tone, Kara looked over her shoulder with surprise as her weapon landed against the ground harmlessly. Glancing between the sword on the ground, and the Amazon who dropped it a couple of times to be sure there was no trick, Kara felt a huge load being taken off of her back as her face lit up joyfully. “Really?” She asked, her hands chipperly held with eager excitement in front of her. Kara let her feet touch back down to the ground as she sped up, skipping quickly over to her trainer with her hands up. Of course, the idea of any one - no matter the super powers - trying to defeat Supergirl in one-on-one hand-to-hand was a death wish, but Kara knew this. She happily lowered her powers, more than content to not have to deal with finicky swords any longer.

That smile didn’t last long as they got into sparring - once the obligatory boring lesson part was over, Kara realized how much of a disadvantage limiting herself put her at. She could see all of Artemis’ attacks coming from a mile away, whether she announced them or not - yet, she couldn’t move her body with her mind fast enough to always block them. What resulted instead of a one-sided fist fight she was hoping for was a clumsy, pathetic display where she only managed to block half the attacks that were coming on. Feeling her anger build up inside of her, Kara growled viciously, trying to keep up with the Amazonian’s movements.

“Left!” Having started to get a hang of this routine, Kara moved her arm swiftly to block a punch that never came. “Huh?” Kara questioned, “Whoa!”

Once again, a sliding foot wedged it’s way beneath her nimble feet and sent the Kryptonian sprawling backwards onto her back. Having been through this enough times to be tired of it by now, Kara caught herself mid-fall and hovered back onto two feet, where she crossed her arms. Steam would’ve blown out her ears as she glared straight into Artemis’ eyes. “What was that?! That’s cheating!” Kara argued, pointing down at Artemis’ feet.

[Aeternam]

"No, my dear - you've cheated yourself. You don't expect your enemy to keep telling you where the attack is coming from, do you?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow, her voice tone like she was saying something Kara should've known all the time. "My mouth says left, but got eyes saw it never came. You have to follow your instincts, not mine. What if your enemy suddenly fakes an attack and comes down with another one? Are you going to complain that it was cheating as your body is smashed against the ground?" Just like before, the amazon stepped back and positioned herself once again. She could see Kara was quickly growing more angry with that, but if it phased her, Artemis didn't show it.

"Now get back into position, Kara." She said that in a demanding voice. "You were the one who wanted to train unarmed, wasn't it? So don't complain. Your reacting was slow, and your movements were clumsy. If you can't block, dodge it. You have more than just your arms. Get ready." And with that, Artemis bolted forward and threw more attacks, once again yelling directions to Kara. Most times she'd yell it correctly, but from time to time, Artemis would yell "Left!", but instead come from right or vice versa. Every three times she didn't lie, she would tell a fake instruction. Of course Kara wouldn't know it, but it was Artemmis's intention that Kara got used to that pattern - three right and one wrong directions.

Meanwhile, Diana watched in amazement as Artemis managed to keep the kryptonian under control like that. Out of everyone in Themyscira, Artemis was probably the best at teaching combat tactics. She was an experienced warrior, and a strict teacher, but also a good person. Even now, Diana knew she cared for the kryptonian girl, in her own way at least. Although she wasn't sure if Kara shared this opinion right now, as Artemis tricked her over and over again.

"Left!" Just like she said that, the third right instruction, Artemis punched Kara from the left. Then the fourth came, and the amazon, as predicted, yelled a fake one, coming from the left as she yelled "Right!". But then, as the next movement followed, Artemis stepped forward as she once again yelled an instruction. "Step to the right!" It should've been a true one, but not this time; as she pretended to come at Kara just as she said she would, Artemis put one of her legs in the gap between Kara's and tripped the blonde girl when she tried to step aside.

“But-!” Kara opened her mouth to object, but closed it quickly after, keeping her head down poutily as Artemis re-explained their upcoming routine. Growing tired of aimless antics, she rolled her eyes and got back into her proper stance, hands out front and legs spread far. Determined to come out on top this time, she analyzed every move and was quick to react, throwing in a dodge every so often to appeal to Artemis’ former critiques. Every time she felt she was getting the hang of it, her trainer would throw a wrench her way and surprise her with a fake call-out. Kara was quick to correct and sometimes even caught her in the act, but most of the time suffered harmless blows against her body or legs with every swipe Artemis took.

She grunted angrily as she took a step back from the action, dipping right back in after and trying to keep pace with her. More than ever fueled to prove herself, Kara was light on her feet, becoming more accurate with her dodges and blocks every time until she reached a near perfect record… all the way up until a new command was called out. Briefly confused by an unrecognized order, Kara blinked and followed along blindly, only to find a foot wedged underneath her shoe which sent her stumbling over to the side and out of their ring. With plenty of time to react, yet her powers still too limited to allow her to do so, Supergirl had to watch in practical slow motion as she reconnected with the ground for what must have been the tenth time that session.

With her face planted in the dirt, Kara laid still on the ground, running what had just happened through her head a couple thousand times or so. There was a pattern. There were clear cut instructions. Everything was set up for her success… until Artemis took advantage of her, and used an unpredictable cheap shot to throw her off again. At this point, it hardly felt like training, and more like mockery. Having thought she was doing so well up until that point, Kara felt a surge of emotions run through her body as red sparks ignited in her eyes. It was hard to feel powerful when she was laying face-first in the dirt. Simmering down, the red vanished before anyone could see them, and Supergirl pushed herself up and off the ground again.

Kara kept her back turned to Artemis, running her hands along her face as she breathed in and out. Turning around, she stared through her trainer, with a quizzical look that tried to deduce what she was even doing. “Okay…” She huffed, keeping her temper within limits. “One more time.”

[Aeternam]

"You've done good this time." Artemis spoke, figuring out a compliment could help Kara to get less frustrated at the situation. However, as soon as she said that, she went back to the same lecturing she'd always do once Kara foundherself at the ground. "You're probably asking yourself why I did that. I created a pattern for you to follow, and once you got used to it, I purposely broke it. As a result, you failed to predict what wasn't going to happen." She said that like it wasn't an obvious thing. "However, you fail to realize the true reason for that. Many enemies will fight you with an attack pattern. However, they'll also suddenly change that pattern once they realize it's not working, and if you're not ready to react, it can end up much worse than simply being thrown to the ground."

As she lectured, Artemis went backwards and got again into her fighting stance. Just before they started, she spoke again: "I know you're frustrated, but you have to get over it. Being angry in combat will only make you commit mistakes and get yourself killed. Your cousin knows that pretty well. He's tried to take on Darkseid a few times while he was mad about something from what Diana told me, and it didn't end up well for him in most cases. And unlike you, he's an experienced combatant, that's why he managed to survive." She finished speaking and waited a bit before she finally decided it was time to engage again. "Okay, one more time"

Diana watched as Artemis once again stepped towards Kara. This time, the weird instructions - step to the right, jump, crouch - were inserted into the training. Unlike Kara, Diana knew it all had a specific purpose - to make every amazon understand they were not invincible, and that perfection was the key to survive. However, Kara was doing well so far.

"Jump!" Artemis spoke as she went for a low kick. Once Kara landed again, she immediately followed up with another one: "Crouch!" And this time a high roundhouse kick came. This time Artemis was most interested in Kara's dodging skills as it seemed, although from time to time she'd yell "Right!" And send a punch for her to block. Unlike before, the fake call-outs didn't show up at first, but eventually Artemis started again with them. And unlike before, there wasn't a pattern, the fake instructions were given in a random order, sometimes two or even three in a row, making it harder to predict. "Roll away!" This was a new one, and probably unexpected - as soon as the order was given, Artemis once again flipped Kara to the ground by kicking her feet off the ground.

Words of encouragement would’ve been appreciated in any other circumstance but it was far too late for Kara to feel moved by positive reinforcement. At least when they were sword-fighting, she could pin her constant stream of failure on unfamiliarity with outdated weaponry; when engaged in hand-to-hand, she had no excuse. It didn’t occur to her that, without powers, she was just a teenager going up against a fully trained woman raised on the principles of combat; her mind was much more set on the belief that her powers should give her an automatic advantage. Dusting off her cape for the a thousandth time, it felt like, Kara touched down onto the grass and reapproached Artemis, a look of contempt on her face.

With a new strategy in mind, Kara put her advanced sight and sound to use; Artemis seemed to want to drive home a message of unreliability, and so she’d appeal to that. She ignored the Amazon’s directions, instead focusing her attention on Artemis’ facial expressions, posture, movement, tone of voice - with lightning quick reflexes, Kara was able to keep up, blocking appropriate attacks and dodging others. The new commands didn’t even throw her off; she just listened for the warning, kept her attention on Artemis’ next visual cue, and then did what felt right. Sometimes, her actions didn’t match up to what Artemis asked of her, but she remained untouched for the longest time.

A cocky smile blazed across Kara’s face as she got into the swing of things. Now that she was in more of a pattern, she was even having fun - guessing the next attack and responding appropriately became a game, rather than a chore. Her expression softened, her guard let down, and when she stopped trying so hard, things only came more naturally. The improvement was obvious - up until Artemis threw in a new trick. Blinking with surprise as Kara snapped out of her focus, she froze up with uncertainty of what to do next - Artemis’s foot came fast and took her down, prompting a grunt of surprise as Kara tumbled to the ground again.

This time, Supergirl didn’t stand up. She stayed down, her world spinning around her as she processed what had just happened… all those feelings of temporary bliss faded in an instant, and replacing them came spite and irrational anger. Kara pushed her face off the ground, but stayed down at Artemis’s feet, breathing to herself louder and louder as she tried to keep control.