"Caramel Macchiato, Venti, Skim, Extra Shot, Extra-Hot, Extra-Whip, Sugar-Free." Kara said out loud as she sat upright on her bed with beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
She'd been dreaming that she was once again running errands for Kat Grant. She was glad that she'd moved on from that and was now a full fledged reporter. Even though she did miss Kat, she'd learnt a lot from her, she didn't miss the complicated coffee runs to Starbucks.
It was a Saturday and she'd taken the day off from work. She'd been out late last night trying to stop a bank robbery. Kara sometimes wished that criminals wouldn't work late nights, that way she wouldn't be permanently sleep deprived but that was the life she'd chosen to lead.
She got up and stretched. Her muscles weren't too happy about it. They were still recovering from all the gunshots from last night. Even though bullets never caused her any permanent damage they did make her body sore and she's gotten shot a lot the previous night. The robbers has been packing some major heat. Everything from sub machine guns to bazookas. She even had a slight headache from getting shot in the head more than a couple of times. She didn't like that. It always left her with a temporary ringing in her ears and a headache that felt like a hangover. Kara wished she would get her hangovers the usual way, from actually drinking, and not from getting shot in the head. She'd also taken a headshot at almost point blank range which had seriously pissed her off. Kara knew she was going to have to apologise later to the National City police department for hanging the lead bank robber from the spire a skyscraper. It must have been a pain for them to get him down, but she really didn't like getting shot in the head. Definitely not at close range.
The late night combined with the bullet hits had made her sleep in late. It was almost noon by the time she rolled out of bed in a hunt for coffee to try and get rid of the bullet induced hangover. There was little left over from yesterday evening after she'd returned from work. It didn't taste particularly good but she was feeling too lazy to make a fresh pot.
She gulped it down.
The coffee didn't work as advertised. But then it was also well past it's expiry date. Kara decided she would just go for a short flight. The warmth of the sun might be enough to charge her up and she wouldn't crave coffee anymore.
She was wrong. She had seriously underestimated her craving for coffee.
After about twenty minutes of flying lazy circles around the city, she found herself floating in a single spot and realised that all she was doing was trying to spot a Starbucks. She did spot a few cafes but maybe it was the dream that was making her crave Starbucks instead of just regular coffee.
Kara knew there was one close to where she lived but it was always crowded and she couldn't go there dressed as Supergirl. She would just end up spending twenty minutes signing autographs and posing for selfies before she would actually be able to get her coffee and she didn't feel like flying back home and changing into ordinary clothing, so she floated up there trying to spot the least crowded Starbucks.
And she did.
It was near a suburban neighbourhood and luckily there was also a donut shop next to it. Her stomach grumbled to inform her that just a coffee wasn't going to cut it and she agreed with her stomach.
Kara landed in a small alley behind the Starbucks. There were a few kids near the coffee shop and she did get a few stares but no one decided to approach her and she was grateful for that. She entered the coffee shop and it had a grand total of three customers and two employees. Two of those customers had their heads buried in their cellphones and the third was busy staring at her laptop. Probably answering some work emails. They were all too busy to notice a superhero entering the shop.
Kara Zor-El walked up to the counter. Her cape gently swaying behind her. The sun shining behind her made her look rather picturesque as if she'd just stepped out of a comic book panel.
"Coffee" she said as she stepped up to the panel.
"What kind?" the young woman at the counter asked as she stared at her costume.
"Aaaa... no foam latte with caramel" the Kryptonian replied.
"No foam latte with caramel" the woman behind the counter shouted at her partner who was standing no more than five feet away.
Kara took out her credit card to pay.
"That's a nice costume. Looks very authentic. Fancy dress party?" The woman asked.
"Yeah, lasted pretty late and thanks." Kara replied and smiled coyly.
"Where did you get it?"
"I made it myself. Well... a friend helped me out."
"You and your friend did a great job. It's very impressive. I really like the texture of it. The slight wear and tear gives it a very natural feel."
Kara looked down at her dress. The woman was right about the wear and tear. The suit had seen its fair share of action. She was going to have to repair it a bit.
As Kara was inspecting her cape, the woman kept staring at her and a thought slowly swept it's way into her mind. Could it be that the woman she was talking to was the real deal? Could she really be Supergirl? Her brain told her there was no harm in asking and so she did.
She cleared her throat to try and get Kara's attention away from her cape. Kara looked up, expecting her coffee to have arrived instead was faced with another question.
"You're not HER... are you?" The woman behind the counter leaned forward and whispered.
"Who?" Kara whispered back pretending to not understand the question.
The woman looked around to see if anyone was watching her. Seeing that the coast was clear she thrust one arm in the air and said, "Up, Up and away."
"I'm pretty sure I'm not a dude." Kara gently mocked the woman.
"Nooo... I meant..."
"I know, I was kidding. And no I'm not HER. But I'm flattered you think I look like her."
"No, I thought not." The woman sighed. She looked a little disappointed.
Kara felt bad for lying to her but she really didn't want the attention at the moment.
"Could you imagine though, someone like that actually walking in here." The young woman shook off her disappointment and continued the conversation.
"That would so wild, right?" Kara replied.
"Yeah. But... you think she drinks coffee. She's not from here, you know."
Kara stared back at her.
"I mean, Earth. Like, do they even eat food?"
"I wouldn't know." Kara shrugged in response.
"I guess not. But you're right, it would have been wild if she would have actually walked in here and ordered coffee. It would have been the highlight of my year."
At that moment Kara got distracted by the smell of hot coffee.
The woman took her cup and handed it to her.
"Sorry for being this chatty, it's been a slow day. Honestly, they're all slow days."
"It's fine. I can't say I mind being mistaken for a superhero." Kara smiled, took her coffee and just as she was about to walk out she saw someone making a poor attempt at trying to enter the shop.
The newcomer on the scene trying to open the door had the look of man who'd turned an amateur drug habit into a professional one and was now figuring out a way to sponsor said habit. After a few attempts the junkie finally managed to get the door open and stepped in. His clothes looked more worn out than he did which was something of an achievement and he had right hand shoved into deep into left side of his jacket. Kara turned on her x-ray vision and she could clearly see the gun he was holding. Before either one of them could make a move their eyes met.
The man froze in his tracks. Just like the woman behind the counter he wasn't sure if the he was facing the real thing or a facsimile. Kara let her eyes glow red for a brief moment to confirm that she was indeed the real deal. The man immediately turned around and ran out of the store to a car that was parked by the curb. Kara could see had a compatriot behind the wheel.
"Go." Said the man to his to his junkie wheelman as he got into the car.
"Why, where's the money?" The wheelman asked.
"Just go. It's that bitch Supergirl. She's in there."
"What, you sure?"
"Yeah, just go."
And the car drove off.
"Bitch." Kara said to herself. That's the thanks she got after she'd been kind enough to let him walk away. She memorised the make and the number of the car. If she ever ran into the man again she was going to have to teach him how to address woman.
She turned around and saw the woman at the counter trying to figure out what just happened.
"I guess he just wasn't in the mood for coffee." Kara said as she walked out of the store.
As she stood outside the glass panel taking a sip of the hot coffee she could feel the woman's eyes on her. She took an exaggerated flight pose and stared at the Starbucks girl who was looking back at her with wide eyes and then just ran out of the frame. Her super hearing allowed to catch the young woman's chuckle, who for a second had almost expected her to take flight like the real thing and a few minutes later Kara actually did. With her coffee and a dozen donuts from the donuts shop, she flew right past the Starbucks. She would have given anything in the world to have seen the young woman's expression who just realised that she had indeed been talking to the real thing and that the Real Thing liked "No foam latte with Caramel."
Kara was pretty sure that within the week the sale for Caramel coffee was going to go through the roof. Starbucks might even rebrand it to the Supergirl Coffee or something like that. If nothing else, at least the young employee would have something to talk about for the rest of the year.
Having successfully ended her hunt for coffee Kara was immediately faced with a new dilemma.
How exactly was she going to eat all of this?
She couldn't eat it in mid-air.
Kara was going to have to land somewhere and she had no intentions of landing in a park, that would just attract too much attention. She floated awkwardly in the clouds holding her coffee and her box of donuts trying to find a secluded spot. Kara looked down at the suburban neighbourhood where all the houses looked as if they'd been taken of an assembly line. They all had well manicured lawns, a mid-range car in the driveway and all the houses had a similar paint job. All except one. In the corner of a cul-de-sac stood a house with worn out paint job, an overgrown lawn and no car in the pockmarked concrete driveway. Kara deduced that the only reason for its dilapidated look could be attributed to the lack of any occupants or at least that's what she hoped. She was tempted to use her x-ray vision to scan the house but she didn't want invade anyone's privacy in case the house did have an occupant. She just hoped that her deductions were right and decided it was as good a place as any to have her coffee. Kara figured she could use the sloping roof of the house as a place to finish her meal. She spotted a patch of the roof that looked sturdy enough to take her weight and landed gently on the rooftop to enjoy her coffee and donuts.
Just as she was taking her first sip she saw that her landing hadn't gone unnoticed. A little boy of no more than six to seven years stood in a well manicured lawn facing the dilapidated house on which she'd landed. He was staring at her as if he'd seen a ghost or most likely his first superhero encounter.
She smiled and waved at him as she shoved a donut in her mouth.
"Hi." Kara said.
"Mooommmm." the kid screamed and ran into the house to which the well manicured lawn belonged.
A few minutes later the mom was dragged out of the house by the little kid. She too stood there staring at Kara.
The kryptonian waved at both of them.
The woman stepped forward and shouted, "How did you get up there?"
Kara stared back at her incredulously.
"I didn't... I flew down."
The woman stared back at here. Her brain trying to make sense of the sentence she'd just heard. Kara could understand the poor woman's confusion and to help her understand she gently floated off the roof while trying to ensure that she didn't spill her coffee.
The woman's face finally lit up with recognition.
"You're Supergirl." She exclaimed with joy.
"Of course, what did you think?"
"I don't know, we sometimes get kids trying to play pranks."
"You don't mind do you, me sitting here? I just wanted to finish my coffee." Kara asked as she finished her sixth donut.
"No, no, not at all. It's not everyday we get a superhero around here." Replied the middle aged woman, "I did see you once in National City. You were fighting some alien. I even have a video of it on my cell phone. I showed it to all my friends at the book club. We meet every Thursday." The woman informed Kara.
Kara just smiled and nodded in reply as she shoved another donut in her face. She sat there in silence hoping the woman would leave her alone to finish her meal but both the mother and son just stood there staring at her as if they'd spotted an exotic animal at the zoo.
Eventually they realised it was getting really awkward watching their local superhero sit on a rooftop eating donuts and drinking coffee so they just waved at her and went back into the house. Kara heaved as sigh of relief but a few seconds later she saw them peeking at her through their window. Pretty soon she could spot faces half hidden behind curtains spying on her from least half a dozen houses in her immediate vicinity. Kara guessed the woman had called her friends to inform them of the arrival of their local superhero. They were definitely going to have something fun to discuss at their weekly book club meetings. Kara didn't care, as long no one stepped out to strike a conversation. She just wanted to finish her late breakfast in relative peace and quiet. But the peace and quiet wasn't meant to last for long. Just as she was attacking her final donut she heard a sound.
It was the sound of a little girl crying and a man trying to console her and Kara got curious.