| Synopsis
| - Kara starts out in Crucible Academy, pegged as a champion of Earth , and makes several friends: Maxima, Comet, and Tsavo. She learns about history of millions of different worlds, tactics and combat.
In the meantime, the Crucible High Council is having several meetings regarding the direction of the Academy. Preceptor Amata and Professor Korstus have different visions about Crucible and don't like each other much: Amata thinks the school should instruct heroes and make leaders. Korstus sounds like he wants to raise an army and seems overly interested in cloning technology. The Council decides to look into the cloning initiative, but placing such an investigation under Amata's direct control.
Later it's revealed that Korstus already has a candidate for cloning in mind: Superboy.
Kara visits and has to heart-to-heart talks with Maxima and Tsavo .
Amata interrupts their converstation to warn the situation on Ngo is at a critical point. Supergirl's study group is being sent out by way of a peace-keeping force.
Supergirl and her schoolmates are teleported to Ngo. Quickly they engage the enemy, and Tsavo reveals he's a prince, and the royal family is being attacked by rebels led by his older brother Roho.
- After her time in the Red Lantern Corps and new battles against Brainiac and Cyborg-Superman, Kara Zor-El is making a serious effort to embrace Earth as her home and let her troubled past go. She has moved to New York City, is working as barista in Elixir Café and is dating a nice boy named Michael.
Wile working, Clark comes to see her cousin and both has a heart-to-heart talk. Clark thinks that place is not safe for her or for everyone else, and Kara reminds him that she was saving lives as a Red Lantern while he "turned into an uncontrollable monster whose path of destruction led to a Kryptonite bomb being dropped", and she actually reached out to him, so why he gets to judge her. Clark insists he doesn't want to fight with her but she'd be better off training with people who could help her. Nonetheless, she wants live among the people she fights to protect. Kara sees her cousin is worried about his power, the consequences of its misuse and about her, and she tells him she's sorry, but she has to make her own desicions. Before leaving, she says she hopes he finds the answers he's looking for.
Kara is walking home back from work when she is suddenly transported to an alien world in where she has to fight different adversaries in different environments to prove her worthiness. Then she is greeted by Lys Amata, one of the preceptors of Crucible Academy, an interestellar school in where heroes from different worlds train to hone their skills and fulfill their potential. And she would like to welcome Kara to Crucible.
Back on Earth, it's revealed that Superboy is still alive and trying to lead a quiet life while he figures things out.
- Kara and Maxima argue about Kon and it looks like they may come to blows at any time. Kara tells she isn't really sure what Crucible is about, and Maxima replies Crucible is exactly what it appears to be, she trusts Preceptor Amata, and reminds Kara that Kryptonians hate clones. When Kon points out how Kara herself treated him in the past, Kara replies she knows better now.
Kara doesn't want to give in but Kon settles the argument when he agrees to go with Maxima to Crucible, wondering whether that place will provide the answers he's looking for. Maxima teleports away, leaving Kara in charge of protecting Comet while he heals.
In Crucible, Amata is regretting that she agreed to acquire Superboy, which put several students in harm's way, when she is attacked by Korstus. He intends to seize control of Crucible and use it to raise his own army. And Roho and his men are working for Korstus.
Meanwhile, Kara brings Comet to Michael's apartment, and after expressing her gratitude for his help, she uses a teleporting device to head back to Crucible. There, she finds the place completely changed: the school is in shutdown, with defense robots patrolling the deserted halls and enforcing curfews.
As soon as she arrives, Kara is attacked by drones and then by Roho. As she battles, Korstus shows up and shuts down her powers with a failsafe switch . Then he reveals his plans: he wants to turn Crucible into his own private army. In order to achieve that goal, he intends to clone Superboy.
- As Korstus gloats, Tsavo and Comet -who had been hiding in the wings- join the fight. During the battle, Maxima and Amata are freed and the device depowering Supergirl is destroyed, although Kara's power isn't fully replenished.
Kara wants to get Kon out of the cloning pod, but her super senses tell her she can't just pull him out. All of the pods are connected to his body, and the filaments are buried in his skin. So, as her friends keep Korstus' allies at bay, she combines her heat vision and microscopic vision to destroy the filaments. Kara manages to save Kon, but the clonelings' growth has begun. If they try to stop it, they will trigger a fail-safe explosive mechanism what will destroy a section of the school.
Kara and Kon decide to stay to disable the bomb, guessing they have the best chance to survive. Supergir's friends protest but she send them away, stating the shool and everybody else will need them in the event that they fail.
Supergirl and Superboy destroy the cloning mechanism and manage to survive the explosion.
In the aftermath of the battle, Korstus and his allies are locked down, Amata accepts a position on the board of Crucible, Tsavo is named Preceptor and Maxima agrees to be his assistant, Comet decides to head back into space to rejoin his team -The Wanderers-, and Kon and Kara look to return to Earth. As they say goodbye to each other and hug, Maxima admits she's been inspired by Kara.
Back on Earth, Kara feels more controlled and more thoughtful. However, she realizes she appears to have lost her powers.
- In Rome, Italy, Kon-El comes out of the monastery he has been living in for weeks and hangs out at a comic convention. He's still trying to figure out his place in the world, but for first time in a long time he's starting to feel like he has a chance to be more than a biological weapon.
In planet Ngo, Supergirl and her crew engage Roho and his companions, Vax and Rendll. During the skirmish, Kara learns Roho and his friends were all Crucible students that were expelled for not following the rules. Right when she's about to take Roho down, Vax uses a paralyzing stare. Roho and his soldiers teleport to "a backwater world" while leaving Supergirl and her schoolmates alive so they can witness his "endgame".
Comet picks up a telepathic trail that the team can follow to track Roho down. Tsavo decides to stay to take care of her wounded parents. Kara wants to stay to help her friend out but Tsavo talks her out of it. Maxima opens a spatial gate, and the three friends step through it and in Earth, arriving at the same comic convention in where Kon is whiling away the time.
They find Roho trying to capture Superboy. Supergirl instinctively jumps into the role of the leader, telling Comet to telepathically disable Vax's paralyzing stare and Maxima protect the civilians. Kara battles Roho to protect Kon, but she cannot help but wondering if she can or must trust Crucible.
Seeing he cannot win that battle, Roho takes his wounded and escapes, reiterating they will not win the war and he'll see them soon again.
Then, Maxima lets Kara know that she has her own mission. Amata has ordered her to bring Kon to Crucible, and she isn't going to back down to Kara.
Kara doesn't know what is right and wrong or whom she can trust, but she wants to protect Kon, so she gets between him and Maxima and declares her friend will have to go through her.
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