It's time for the sequel that more than a few of you have awaited, for Under the Influence, that being Expanding the Influence. Kal-El and Kara are heading their way to the Marvel Universe, where I think we can all agree that there are no shortage of women there that could be added to their group. Enhanced version is located at Archive of Our Own, which is linked through my profile.

And now, your feature presentation.

A long time had passed since Clark Kent, Kal-El, Superman, had built the Fortress of Solitude and repelled the invasion of Zod and stopped the corruption of Brainiac. It had been almost like a lifetime to them, in fact, would you believe it had been seven long years?

Seven long years to build a brand new world. Oh crime still existed, it would always exist but now Kal-El was stronger, more secure and he would be more willing to rise up to any challenge that life would present itself.

The fact was he had help and he had some good help at that.

"So, we've got a situation…..yeah I know, must be another Thursday."

Clark Kent flew in the air from Watchtower. His red cape fluttered in the breeze behind him, the prominent Red "S" shined on his chest, it was like a blinking beacon for the hope that he would bring to the world. And he really hoped that people would follow his example someday.

"What is it, Chloe?" Clark asked.

"Well it's Toyman….yet again, seems like his good behavior didn't stick too long," Chloe said as she smiled. "He's right outside of Metropolis…..everyone else is on missions so…"

"I'm here."

Clark turned around and he saw her arriving, with a bright smile on her face. She had gorgeous blonde hair that hung down, framing her face as it blew gently in the wind. Her blue eyes were absolutely dazzling. She wore a black and silver version of his costume. Her black half shirt stretched over her large and full breasts, with the silver "s" shield emphasizing her womanly curves. She had a flat stomach and shapely hips, with the short black skirt and black knee high boots adding to her costume.

"Supergirl….."

The blonde looked at her cousin and corrected him. "SuperWOMAN thank you very much."

"Right, sorry, I remember….."

"I outgrew that name a long time ago," Kara said. "Especially when my measurements got Karen level."

'Nice to know I'm a level of breast measurement now,' Karen thought sullenly through the bond link.

'Well there's C-Cups, D-Cups, DD-Cups, and then there's Karen-Cups all the way at the end of the scale….' Lois thought.

'Okay, I got you,' Karen thought.

"Seriously, though, it's Superwoman, not Supergirl, Superwoman, not Supergirl."

'Okay, gotcha Supergirl,' Chloe thought and there was a lot of laughter through the bond link and Kara crossed her arms crossly, hovering in mid-air as she did so.

"Right, right, I understand," Kal said, shaking his head. Make one little mistake and suddenly you're raked over the coals for it.

"Do you?" Kara asked him, corking her eyebrow but never the less, they would have to have this discussion at another time.

Right now Toyman needed a time out. Was it just Kara or was he regressing in maturity every time? Or maybe he was increasing in annoyance, it was times like that where Kara honestly couldn't tell.

That being said, she could hear something and she turned to Kal who hovered in the air.

"It's a bomb," Kara whispered urgently to him.

Kal paused and shook his head with a labored sigh.

"Yes, I figured as much," Kal said as he moved forward. Toyman had his toy soldiers patrolling the city and he stopped.

The blonde looked at Kal and she scanned the soldiers. Letting out a low whistle, Kara turned to face him.

"Yeah, you saw it too, didn't you?" Kara asked.

"Each of them have triggers where if we fly near them….it activates the bomb that's in the city," Kal said.

"So Toyman has really learned his lesson," Kara said, she really hated when the bad guys did that. It didn't make her feel all that well at all.

'Yes, he's given his list of demands, he wants one hundred million dollars, and the first born child of every family in Metropolis,' Chloe thought.

'Okay, creepy demand is very creepy,' Kara thought, she could not wait to ring the bastard's neck.

'Well what do you expect, it's Toyman, he's always….he's been a bit on the odd side,' Tess thought. 'Okay, find, he comes across as the creepy personification of a neighborhood watch list.'

'Wish we were there to help….'

'I'm sure that he has precautions, but we have Chloe,' Kara said.

'Well nice to see that I'm so valued, and yes I'm on it,' Chloe thought, she was nearly bouncing up and down in excitement.

'Don't have a caffeine attack.'

'Fine, the good thing is that he's using some rather low level computers, which allowed him to slip underneath the radar,' the blonde commented to them. 'So that's a double edge sword. It would have been hard to detect because of the ancient legacy systems. But easy to hack, providing that I do it right.'

'And dare I ask what happens if you do it wrong,' Lois thought to them.

'Well, let's just put it this way, it's going to set the bomb off, taking half of Metropolis with it,' Chloe thought. 'He made it so that the suits need to be disabled in a certain order, in a certain time frame.'

'Working on trying to establish a pattern,' Barbara chimed in.

'And it's nothing if random,' Helena added to the group. 'Someone like Toyman, he likes playing his games but he changes the rules every time.'

'Of course he does,' Chloe thought, she should know by now, she really should know by now.

It was time to deal with the hostage crisis.

"Do you not understand that if you don't play by the rules, I will set off a bomb, killing your children and anyone else who gets in your way. And if I see Superman and Supergirl here…..I will set it off. My guards will make sure that your little heroes don't swoop in and ruin my game."

'Well, time to change your game,' Chloe thought, it was a matter of timing this just right. Thankfully her mind processed things faster than normal, which was a good thing, a very good thing.

One universe over, just around the same general time where Superman and Superwoman were dealing with Toyman's latest scheme, there was a young redhead who was in a great deal of distress. Granted, one could see why she would be underneath a lot of stress. She was graduating high school and about to start the often cutthroat world of university life.

They would have patted her on the back, consoled her, tell her that it happens to the best of them. That being said, that wasn't exactly what was going on. No the redhead shook the cobwebs out of her head.

Her red hair was tied behind her back in a ponytail, showing her beautiful face and gorgeous green eyes. She wore a purple top that strained across her breasts, showing her midriff area, which looked rather delicious and mouth-watering to anyone who came across it. The tight black pants that she wore sealed the deal.

"Jean!"

She ignored the sounds for now. The truth was this throbbing headache didn't seem to be going away any time soon. As a matter of fact, it was just getting more worse the longer that she tried to deal with it. A long heaving sigh escaped her lips as the redhead shook her head, in an attempt to regain some form of….well she wanted to say that sanity would be a good indicator right now.

A dark skinned woman approached Jean. There seemed to be no amount of words in the English vocabulary to adequately describe the woman's beauty, but never the less, one should not hesitate from giving it their best shot. She had long white hair that went down past her shoulders, along with a dazzling set of blue eyes. She wore a tight white top that offset her chocolate skin, along with a pair of jeans that fit snugly around her beautiful frame.

Jean, Jean Grey, turned towards her.

"Oh, hi, Ororo," Jean said, shaking her head at Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm of the X-Men. "Sorry….sorry that I ran off like that….it's just….."

"You're under a lot of pressure, we understand," Ororo said in a sympathetic voice as she looked at Jean. The redhead turned her full and undivided attention on Ororo, with a long sigh.

"Well yes…"

"So are you ready to go out there and face the world?" Ororo asked and Jean smiled. "Everyone is there…..Professor Xavier, Logan, Kitty, Rogue…"

"You're avoiding the elephant in the room on purpose, aren't you?" Jean asked.

"Well he did have his hopes up but….."

"We're better off as friends, although the way he's acting, I'm not sure if I could stand to be that with him too much longer, "Jean said, as she could feel a stabbing sensation go in the back of her head.

She heard the never ending stream of thoughts with the people out there on the stage talking about the wild parties they wanted to be a part of when they were finished. It was enough to drive anyone mad.

And it was enough to make Jean Grey really regret the fact that she was out here in the first place. Rubbing the side of her head, Jean sighed, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go out there, I just need a drink of water," Jean said, as she reached forward and allowed the refreshing cool water to hit her lips.

She felt a little bit better, but there was a pull of agitation to her stomach. There were more thoughts hammering her head, sounds that she could not even begin to block out.

So many sounds, Jean couldn't….no she wouldn't, she had to go out there and face them.

"And saying a few words for the Class of….."

Jean's head felt like it was on fire, she didn't even get to hear the year that she was graduating. Not that she didn't already know but still.

'I was locked away, but I can see that you're ready to embrace me and to find the ones that you're destined to be with,' a low voice whispered.

Jean shook the top of her head, making her way forward. There was a not so subtle pounding that continued to cause the back of her head to ache. The redhead moved forward, to give the speech.

"Thank you….thank you," Jean said and there was a loud round of applause. "This isn't all about me you know….this is about each and every one of you, and how hard you've worked. We're going to make this class of…"

Jean could feel a stabbing pain through her head that was getting worse. She could hear the thoughts.

Maybe she was on drugs.

Maybe she was pregnant.

Maybe she just went psycho.

"ENOUGH!" Jean yelled and she made her way away.

She really shouldn't have gotten up there.

"Jean, are you alright?"

Jean shook her head, as she could see another one of her friends on the X-Men approach her. It was almost like some kind of binding was breaking los, trying to claw out, there was some kind of primal force trying to exert itself against her.

Jean blinked, it was really hard to get to it. She saw Elizabeth Braddock standing next to her, a concerned look on her face. Her hair was dark, almost a shade of purple that went down her back. She wore a tight black top that wrapped around her ample breasts, along with a pair of tight pants. It seemed like it was a requirement that all female mutants were a pinnacle of beauty.

"Betsy….I don't want to hurt anyone, but I can't control it….."

"It's as I feared, it's the Phoenix," Charles Xavier said as he tried to get a lock on it.

'No not again, never again!' the Phoenix yelled, and Jean stepped back from Xavier.

"Jean, I….."

Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops was there, and then he was transported away from Jean, being the last person in the world that the Phoenix wanted to see.

"What did you do Jean?"

Jean didn't answer, rather she disappeared into a flash of fire, all of the thoughts around her finally overwhelming her.

She needed to get to a very safe place where she could calm down.

Jean Grey breathed in and out, she had to calm down, she was this close to losing it, and she almost did.

The thoughts had calmed down and she was sitting, her legs crossed, along with her arms.

'Okay, just chill out Jean, things will be fine,' Jean thought.

A more primal voice popped in. 'Just keep telling yourself that, things will be far from fine, however.'

Jean flew on full defensive mode, crossing her arms together. 'Just who do you think you are.'

The person on the other end of the bond link smiled. 'Well I'm you, but at the same time, I'm not you. I am a cosmic force greater than life itself but then again, I'm just…the parts of you that have been locked away. The parts that you have not been allowed to reach and reach your full potential.'

'Ooookay,' Jean thought, she wondered if her powers had driven her to the brink of madness.

'Believe me, don't believe me, but it's hard to dispute that you've been having your share of problems keeping your thoughts under control, and now I've broken out to fix the problem,' she said. 'You may call me, Phoenix.'

'Nice,' Jean said, but there was sarcasm dripping from her voice. The fact that she was a terrified eighteen year old girl without any sense of what to do continued to drive home to her. 'So….'

'Do not be alarmed,' the Phoenix continued. 'I'm not here to harm you.'

'Really, and nearly lashing out at my friends….'

'I should have attacked Xavier, but I didn't, even though it was his miscalculation that was the one that caused this entire situation in the first place,' the Phoenix said and there was such a matter of fact quality to her voice that Jean paused and asked her a question.

'Okay but you did attack Scott….'

'Well, not necessarily, although I should have atomized him on sheer principle,' the Phoenix thought to Jean and Jean opened her mouth. 'He was kind of getting annoying and let's face it….way below your station.'

'Yes, I guess,' Jean thought to herself or to the Phoenix or maybe….actually she was just giving herself a headache really thinking about it. 'Sooo….'

'I sent him into his car,' the Phoenix replied without missing a beat and Jean opened her mouth halfway open but then she paused it. 'He could be in a catatonic state for a while, but he'll live. And maybe if he wakes up, he'll learn his lesson.'

'If he wakes up?' Jean asked and the Phoenix's smile got even wider. Jean didn't know how that was possible but she sensed it.

'Naturally, I'm being realistic if nothing else,' the Phoenix chimed in and Jean sighed, crossing her arms before sighing.

'Of course,' Jean said, shaking her head. 'But, where exactly are we?'

'We're in a place where you can prepare yourself with what is going to happen,' the Phoenix thought. 'As you might have guessed it's not really safe for you to be out there in the actual world. You're going to put yourself in danger and others in danger.'

'I figured that out,' Jean thought, wondering why she was having this argument.

'Yes, I know you did,' the Phoenix replied, with a brief smile on her face. 'That being said, I think that we can find something that can help you stabilize your powers, or at least someone.'

'By someone do you mean….'

'Everyone has their ideal mate out there, Jean,' the Phoenix told, frowning as she looked around. The redhead woman smiled as she looked around. 'It just so happens that I'm feeling an extremely powerful pull.'

'Oh is that all?' Jean asked to her.

'I know it's difficult to believe,' the Phoenix said, making sure the barriers were strengthened. If someone interrupted this process, it could end very badly. 'But, once we find him…..or her….actually it could be both….'

'What do you mean….'

'Yes, I'm feeling a very strong bond between you and a male and a female and….well they are of immense power,' the Phoenix started, with a smile on her face. Once again, Jean was shaken exactly how strong that this bond was. 'Do you feel that?'

'Yes, yes, I feel that,' Jean said, she could have sworn that she heard voices, faint ones.

'Just relax and focus on them, allow the energies to flow in, stop suppressing the power, become it,' the Phoenix told Jean in a reassuring voice. 'Now, do you feel that?'

Jean could feel it, in fact it sent goosebumps onto her arms. She couldn't even hold her head up properly as she felt the power and the energy flow through her. Things were starting to get rather intense the more that she thought about it.

'Yes, I feel it,' Jean agreed.

'But do you also feel the problem?' the Phoenix asked and Jean caught onto it immediately.

'They're in another dimension,' Jean thought, managing to lock onto the threads, which were on the other side of an invisible wall.

'Yes, that's the problem with soul mates, some times they're born in different times, different dimensions,' the Phoenix told her. 'But that's only a minor issue, and one that we can work around…..'

'Are you trying to say what I think you're saying?' Jean asked the Phoenix and the Phoenix gave her a smile.

'Yes, I'm saying precisely what you think that I'm saying,' the Phoenix commented and she gripped hands with Jean.

If they weren't there, then they were going to try and bring them there. The sooner that this was taken care of, the sooner that Jean and the Phoenix could be stable and one.

The hard part was disabling Toyman's little detection devices but when they were in, they would be able to fly in and take him out.

"Okay, time to shut him up," Kara said and she looked over her shoulder. "So, why don't you take care of his yappy ass, and I'll save any hostages."

"Just exactly what I was thinking."

This looked like a job for Superman and there were a group of children trapped beneath a bus.

'The bomb is disabled, you're good to go,' Chloe informed Kara and Kara's smile got wide.

'That's what I like to hear,' she thought, shooting towards the bus at a speeding bullet and grabbing the bus, hoisting it over her head.

The children gave a loud cheer in joy.

"You really think that was my only plan….."

Superman reached forward, grabbed Toyman around the throat from where he was.

"We go around again and again like this, and you're just going to put me in time out, but I'll be back," Toyman said and Superman gave him one punch.

It was lights out for the Toyman and the Metropolis Special Crimes united appeared on the ground. It was time to put him back away.

"So, that was fun," Kara said with a smile but suddenly, there was a wave of energy that appeared in front of them.

Her mouth hung open for ten seconds but then Superman and Superwoman disappeared into a flash of light.

The two Kryptonians did not really know what hit them. And if they did, neither of them were actually sure whether or not they had a chance to stop. They landed on the ground, the damage from Toyman's little party was there.

They were in the middle of a large city.

"So….."

Well they didn't even have time to catch their breath as there was a sound of an alarm that jerked them into focus. Kara opened her mouth and suddenly she turned towards Clark.

"Is that a Gorilla carrying….'

"Yes, it looks that way," Clark said and Kara raised her eyebrow.

"Does Grodd have friends in town?"

Superman shook his head and decided to investigate this. They had dealt far too often with Gorilla Grodd and his regular schemes that would turn anyone in his past into primates.

There were two more apes, a baboon and an orangutan, and Superman stopped, and looked at them.

"Who do you think that you are?"

There was a man with a rather prominent Russian accent. He was dressed in a red cloak and he moved forward to face them.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Kara asked.

"You must be knew around here, I am Red Ghost and these are my Super Apes," he said as he looked towards them.

Kara looked at them, almost bored, and then she flew forward.

Seconds later, after a brief struggle, all of the Super Apes were down on the ground.

Kal looked at Kara, who smiled. "Really, they don't seem so super to me?"

"You….you will pay for that," The Red Ghost said and he went forward but it was Kal's turn to contribute to the fun and games, flicking his finger at his face.

The Red Ghost snapped to the ground and it was like a rubber band flicked him in the face, at super speed. He slumped to the ground, right next to his Super Apes, where Kara bound them for the police.

"Well, that was fun," Kara said and she opened her mouth, looking around. She decided to give her honest assessment. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Kal frowned, closing his eyes. He couldn't hear anything.

'Chloe, Lois, Karen, anyone?' Kal thought but there was nothing in his mind. It was almost like he had been disconnected from the connection.

Kara and Kal looked at each other, they needed to figure out where they were and fast. They weren't in a place that was familiar to them.

There was a click and they could hear helicopters approaching them. The blonde looked up and she frowned. There was one thing that came from her mouth.

'Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me,' Kara thought to herself, as she heard men drop to the ground, pointing weapons at her.

Superman and Superwoman stood up and they could see a group of men dressed in armor, with weapons pointing at them.

"This is a joke and not a really funny one at that," Kara said, frowning at what she saw around them.

"Well, I actually think that they're being serious," Kal said and Kara threw her head back.

"Hands in the air and come quietly."

"They have to be kidding, there's no way that they're being serious, I mean look at them, they couldn't have handle an army of unruly pre-schoolers," Kara said, ignoring the orders to have their hands up in the air where they can be seen.

So they started to fire.

They started to fire bullets at Superman.

Sighing, Kal-El grabbed the weapons and bent them back.

"Don't do that again, please," Clark commented, busting the guns underneath his grip.

Kara disarmed more of them, and they were lucky that she didn't literally dis-arm them in every sense of the word.

Then she decided to really have some fun with them, using her heat vision to cut the armor from them. The backed off with a slight yelp of pain but it was nothing too lethal.

They ran off and Kara looked towards Kal.

"Sooo, how much you want to bet that they come back with some rather heavy reinforcements or do you think that's a fool wager?"

Before Superman could answer, there was a clunking sound and he looked up.

"Well, does that answer your question?"

"Yes it does," Kara agreed with a smile on her face, as she prepared herself for what was about to happen.

"You will surrender or lethal force is authorized."

Kara could not help herself.

"Isn't it always?"

To Be Continued.