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A/N: Hello true believers, here is the first chapter of my newest story this is a continuation of where 'A Reporter's Tale' left off. I would like to thank those of you who have stayed with me you inspire me to keep this going.
Love and Capes: A Hero's Tale
New Troy High School was buzzing with students. Karen Kent approached the school and began plowing her way trough the horde of students. By the time she reached the front doors she had spilled her book bag at least six times and nearly broken her glasses. She had no idea how her cousin managed to act this shy and mild mannered. She walked down the hall to her locker. The combination never seemed to work just right. Before she could reach her locker her cousin Laurie walked up to the half bent lock and opened it for her.
"Thanks, Laurie." Karen said opening her carryall. She pulled out her geometry book and closed the locker.
Laurie was leaning against the locker next to Karen eating an apple. "So you going to stay awake in mister Brown's math class today?" Laurie asked playfully.
"Yes I am." Laurie said walking to class with Laurie. "Besides if Lois gets another note I'm going to be toast."
Laurie just laughed and gave Karen a stupid look. "We'll lets hope so. You know my reputation with the teachers was a lot better before you showed up."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Karen said lightly slapping Laurie on the shoulder.
"I'm just saying I wouldn't want to have to kill you if I get less than an A in this class." Laurie said taking one last bite from her apple before throwing it away.
The two girls walked into their math class together. They both always sat in the front of the class. Karen tried to pay attention in class but geometry was just so boring to her. As they walked into class mister Brown rolled his eye's. They took their seats as the teacher began his lesson for the day.
"Ok ladies and gentlemen if you would please open up your books to page seventy-five we will begin today talking about slope. Lets see how well you folks are doing your homework. Karen would you please come up here and show us how to solve for the slope of this line." He said holding out a dry-erase marker.
"Ok." She said getting up from her desk and taking the marker from her teacher. "Ok well first we need a reference for the line. Lets say that this line is the outline of a ramp. We have already stated that the peak of the line is thirty. So lets say that it's thirty feet off the ground now the base or the other end of the line would be zero because its resting on the ground however the distance from the objet that this line is propped against is fifty feet. so to get from the base of the line to the top you have to travel fifty feet over and thirty feet up or one foot by one point six repeating feet. So the slope of the line is one by one point six repeating." She said handing the marker back to her teacher and siting down.
"Very good Karen and by the looks I'm getting from the rest of your classmates they didn't do their homework. So I want you all to do every problem in chapter thirteen by the end of class today and turn it in on my desk." He said writing the page numbers on the board he walked over to Karen's desk. "Can I see you for a moment outside miss Kent."
Karen nodded and followed him out of the class room. "What do you need me for mister Brown."
"Your Mother called me yesterday evening." He said placing his hands behind his back.
Karen was confused why would Ma Kent call her school.
"She tells me that the reason you have been dozing off in my class is because it's not challenging enough for you." He said beginning to pace. "At first I wasn't sure I believed her but after seeing your performance this morning I would have to agree. That is why I have decided to give you a spot on the math team."
"The math team?" Karen said puzzled.
"Yes they meet once a week and go to coemptions about once a month." He looked at her and smiled. "This might be just what you need."
"Thank you mister brown. She said with a smile and walked back into the classroom.
How was she supposed to find the time to do another school activity. Karen sat down and buried her head in her arms. The rest of the class went fairly uneventful. Karen got up when the bell rang and walked with Laurie to their gym class. They walked through the locker room changing into their gym cloths and placing there things in assigned lockers. Every student at New Troy was required to ware school issue gym cloths. Most of Karen's class mates complained that the uniforms were uncomfortable but Karen couldn't tell. The shorts came about mid thigh and the T-shirts were a little too baggy. Their class was supposed to play volleyball today. Karen was weary about the sport sure she could easily win the game but if she did the other students might get suspicious. Karen walked over to the team she was assigned to and let herself get picked last. The captain of the other team was Jessica Maulrouny. She had to be the most stuck girl at their high school and that was saying something. New Troy was probably the richest school in Metropolis. As soon as Jessica saw Karen join the other team behind the net she looked right at her.
"Hey Kent you going to hit the ball today or you going to help us win again." She said placing her hands on her hips.
"Just ignore her Karen." Said Karen's team captain Veronica.
Veronica served up the ball hitting it slightly to far to the right sending it straight at Karen's head. Karen was so preoccupied trying to slower down her body so she wouldn't move to fast that she was oblivious to the ball as is smacked her in the side of the head.
"Karen are you ok." Veronica said picking up the ball and checking Karen's head. "That's weird your not even red."
"Yeah that's Kent for you just as weird as her crackpot father at the Daily Planet." Jessica said tauntingly.
"Just ignore her Karen." Veronica said throwing the ball over the net at Jessica.
Jessica served the ball up right in Karen's direction. Karen was sick and tired of people making fun of her. She leapt up in the air and smacked the ball as lightly as possible. The impact threw the ball straight at the ground far faster than any of the girls on the other side could stop it. Karen's team cheered, Veronica gave Karen a high five and handed her the ball.
"Lucky shot Kent there's no way it's going to stick." Jessica said giving and evil glare while still managing to smile.
Karen walked back to the edge of the court and prepared to serve the ball. Holding out the ball she reared back with her other hand and came at it fast. Just before she hit the ball she slowed her hand to a near stop and lightly taped the ball. As a result the ball flew out of her hand in a tall arc that came down hard. Jessica moved to deflect it back but the ball was moving to fast and she only hit it into the net.. Karen's team mates screamed in excitement as the ball was sent back to them. By the time the game was over every girl on Jessica's team had red marks on their arms. Laurie ran up to Karen and threw her arm around her cousins neck.
"Way to go cuz you are so my new hero." Laurie said a hug smile plastered on her face
Karen smiled she felt guilty for using her powers like that but not guilty enough regret it. She walked back to the locker room to change back into her cloths. When she got there Jessica's entourage had already left so the showers were empty. Karen was glad she had no desire to deal with those snobs. Karen showered and changed into her regular cloths. Lois had told her that looking good after gym was important. She even helped her select outfits to change into for the rest of the day. She had said that changing cloths would give other students the impression that you were both fashionable as well as a clean person. The past few weeks had been awkward for her. On Krypton no one worried about what clothing or making a good impression. In fact most people on Krypton wore the same thing all the time. Lois had spent a while showing her around various shops in the city trying to teach her how to think and act like a human teenager. The experience had taught Karen not only to be human but also how to be a woman.
Several weeks before...
Metropolis looked wonderful in the mid morning sun. Lois and Kara had taken the day to have some much needed girl time. Kara had spent most of the past few days hanging around the house either wearing her uniform or sweat pants. Lois had finally had enough she couldn't stand seeing Kara walking around looking like a butch Wonder Woman. Lois called her editor that morning and told him she was taking a personal day. They two women were now walking down the city streets of Metropolis. Lois's first goal was to make Kara look more like a girl so they were headed to her usual beauty salon. There they both had their finger and toe nails done and Lois taught Kara how to apply nail polish. They then went to Lois's favorite clothing stores. Kara had never seen such a variety of clothing before. Some of which she would not have classified as clothing due to the lack of coverage. On Krypton cloths had function and purpose. Here on earth however clothing seemed to only serve to attract the opposite sex. She nearly fainted when Lois had handed her a pair of tight fitting blue jeans. She was convinced that she wouldn't have been able to get them on if she had lacked super strength. Two hours and four hundred dollars later she now had a full wardrobe of human teen clothing. Lois had even taken her shoe shopping insisting that she needed more shoes than she did cloths. Lois also bought her a brown wig and a pair of designer reading glasses. When they made it back to the house Chloe was waiting in the living room carrying a large bag of make-up. Kara had made a very important step towards being a woman that day.
Today...
Karen slipped on her blue pleated skirt and buttoned up her pink blouse. Stuffing her gym cloths in her carryall she ran out to join her classmates as they made their way to lunch. The lunch room of New Troy was crammed full of students and the noise level was bordering on the unbearable for someone with hearing as sensitive as Karen. She knew that Clark was able to sift out everything but what he wanted to hear however Karen had yet to master that skill. Karen passed by the meal lines that snaked around the room and made her way to her usual spot. There was a table located right underneath one of the large skylights in the ceiling. She liked the spot because the view of the sky gave her the impression that she was out in the sky flying among the clouds. Laurie came over and sat down next to her. She had a tray full of food in front of her that looked like it could feed three people. Laurie, Karen and Kim had fallen into a pattern that one of them would brave the food lines, usually Laurie, so that the other two could secure their table. Kim ran up to the table and sat opposite the two Kent girls. Today was soy burger day Kim's favorite food which meant she would actually eat today. Karen didn't need food as often as humans so she usually just nibbled on a carrot while the other two girls devoured the rest. Lunch came and went and the three girls made their way towards their Chemistry class. Karen and Laurie always breezed by in that class leaving Kim to copy Laurie's notes.
When the bell rang signaling the end of the school day the girls made their way to Karen's house. Much to Karen's approval Kim seemed to hang around the Church of EL a lot less the past few weeks. Of course meeting the man you considered your savior in person could be quite humbling. Thanks to her friends Karen had started spending her free time watching Japanese anime. They would hang out at one of their houses for hours after school watching anime DVD's. They spent more time at Karen's house than Kim or Laurie's. Karen attributed this to Lois and Clark's carefree attitude however could also be the large HD television they had in their living room with surround sound. Karen had once asked Clark why he had spent so much money on a TV and he had responded saying that with his super hearing he liked being able to listen to whatever he was watching like he was actually there. She supposed that the explanation made sense but she found it hard to distinguish between the TV and the neighbors next door. Once she had learned to shutout everything but what she wanted to hear she was sure she would better appreciate the sound quality of what Lois referred to as his mid-life-crisis.
When the girls entered the house Karen went into the kitchen where Lois was already preparing dinner. From what Clark told her Lois had changed a lot since they got married. She would sporadically take off work and sometimes she wouldn't even bother writing anything at all. Some days she would just sit around the house and watch TV or Clark would come home and she would be sitting out on the deck reading a book. Karen had asked her why she had undergone such a change but she wouldn't listen. As far as Lois was concerned nothing was wrong at all. Karen wondered though she got the impression that Lois had finally accepted the fact that her life had come full circle. She had a wonderful son and a husband that loved her more than life itself. Maybe she hadn't given up but instead she had finally been able to return to the way she thought life was taking her when she was young. Ma Kent had told her stories about what Lois was like when she first came to Smallville. She had been driven and independent but she never had a passion for journalism. Her job at the Daily Planet had just sort of fallen in her lap, and with Clark gone off finding himself in Tibet she was all alone. Martha said that she had seen a change in Lois when Clark had gone she was much more focused on the sure things in life. She didn't leave room for the unexplainable or the extraordinary. The Lois Karen knew was not the same person her Lois was calm and steady under pressure. The Lois she knew expected the unusual she tackled the unexplainable head-on.
Karen walked up Lois and gave her a hug and a smile.
"What was that for?" Lois said returning the smile.
"I realized what you and Clark did for me." She said leaning against the counter.
"Oh really and what have we done know." Lois said her smile turning to a coy expression.
"You registered me at New Troy as your daughter." Karen said playing with the edge of her skirt. "Thanks-" she said giving Lois another hug. "Mom." She turned and left the room joining her friends in the living room.
The three girls sat watching the newest episodes of their favorite Shojo anime. Lois stood in the doorway looking on at the teenagers. Karen reminded her of Clark, they both had this infectious personality that made you fell like everything in your life was going to be just fine.