Chapter One:
Meet Kara Danvers...Kara Zor-el...Supergirl
Kara didn't hate her job, it could open doors in becoming a reporter, there was Winn, one of her best friends (if sisters didn't count, Winn was her only friend), and she worked for Cat Grant, a woman who built an print and online news empire. But then there were the cons, one Ms. Grant never remembered her name, two she was in complete agony by the work Ms. Grant gave her, and three she was an alien trying to live a human life. Alien, huh, that was one of the constants in her life along with the daily threats against her employment as Ms. Grant's assistant.
She snapped back from her dreary daydreaming when the elevator door dinged and opened, too slowly for Kara, the latte she was holding getting colder with each passing second and the cramped public elevator filled with hot air. She quickly slipped out trying to not splash around the latte too much. Waiting for her was Winn and she smiled as they walked towards their desks.
"Did you see this? There was an armored car robbery last night. There were no witnesses except for this homeless guy - who swears the perp had horns." Winn said, showing her the article on his iPad as they weaved through the desks. Kara glanced at the screen, only to quickly skim through it.
"Thanks." She said as a man handed her a file for Cat, her boss.
Like on his head!" Winn said, making Kara wonder where else would horns go? "I'm telling you, they're out there."
Or right next to you. "Aliens! Winn, there's no such thing as aliens." Once again, Kara pondered telling Winn she was an alien, something she told everyone didn't exist.
"Well, you might feel differently if you read this website." he said pointing to the url for the website on the screen as they neared their desks.
She quickly disregarded him (though she did read it once or twice, not that she would tell Winn) saying, "You write that website." she said, setting down the latte and her bag on her desk before leaning back on the desk as she talked with Winn.
"I contribute," he said, stuttering, "Hey, um, I was wondering if maybe you wanna… I don't know, go see - go see movie tonight?" he scratched the back of his head, slightly more nervous than he was normally (not that Kara noticed).
She stopped, her brain freezing over and slowing her thought process, she suddenly blushed and stuttered, "I'm-m c-cat sitting for one of my neighbors but you-you could come over and we could binge watch this new show I-I be-been wanting to see." She stopped with her mouth slightly open which she snapped close after she regained feeling in her entire body except her legs, still refusing to become more solid than their current state Jell-o. She smiled at him, not knowing what to say, even if she did having her brain frozen over would have made it impossible.
He started to reply, "Great, I'll come over with the pot stickers and pizza. You just make sure keep the cat away from me, I'm allergic it anything with hair… not humans j-just pets and stuff-" he floundered.
Kara coming to his rescue, "Ok, don't worry, it's furless, which in the case of its looks does not help any."
Suddenly she heard Ms. Grant in her private elevator, luckily she almost always complained to herself, "Ugh, this elevator is a human petri-dish. It's like standing up in coach."
Kara, fortunately for their conversation, called out to the entire office "She's here." The normally coffee-rushed office went up in chaos as people scrambled to get to their desks or finish their work.
"How do you do that?" Winn asked, as both him and Kara stood up to greet Cat Grant.
"Good morning, Miss Grant." Everyone said as the elevator doors opened and Kara grabbed the latte for her.
"The only reason I bought this building was because it had a private elevator. That way, I don't have to get soaked in cheap cologne every morning, getting to my office. Find out who used it, have them reprimanded, or bathed, I don't care which." Cat Grant told Kara, who quickly scribbled down her demands, fumbling between holding the latte, the notebook, and writing everything down.
"Here's your latte. Hot." Kara said as she followed her boss into her office, handing the latte over to her.
Cat sighed, "That'll be new and different." She took one sip, then dropped the latte into the trash can and sat down. "I have a meeting with the board today at lunch, so cancel sushi with my mother. Oh, and cancel my therapist. I won't be needing it if I'm not having lunch with my mother."
Kara continued to write down everything she said, and said "Got it."
Cat continued to speak, "Also, I've emailed a list. Prepare termination letters for the Tribune employees as noted. But it would be so nice if you handwrote them. Use the lesser card stock."
Kara frowned, "You're downsizing the Tribune? But that was your first acquisition."
"Go see if the new art director has the layout ready." she stopped talking, waiting for Kara to leave "It's not that I don't see your frown, it's just that I don't care enough to ask why it's there."
"All those people, they're going to lose their jobs." she put on her brave face and ventured, dangerously close to the line of being fired, "What's going to happen to them, to their families? They don't have to downsize at the Daily Planet."
"Metropolis has a person who wears a cape and flies around performing heroic acts. The Planet puts this superlative man on their cover 54% of the time. You wanna save the Trib? Go find me a hero, Kerah." she glared at Kara, signaling 'leave or get ripped to shreds'.
Kara said, very softly as she left correcting Cat's interpretation of her name, "Kara."
~{}~
Kara entered the office of the new art director, the old one quitting after Cat made one too many complaints about his choices for pictures and graphics. There were a few boxes, apparently the art director was a bit slow making his office his own. Kara called out "Hello?"
The art director replied from the other side of a few boxes, "I'll be just a minute." His head popped up and smiled at her.
Kara, getting a little impatient (god, Cat was rubbing off on her!) said "Miss Grant sent me for layouts and she doesn't like to wait."
He replied, with a little sass, also Grant-like, "Well, she can wait a minute."
Kara stepping forward, she wasn't liking this guy. "Have you met Miss Grant?"
He stood up, giving Kara his complete attention at last. "Yeah, what is she gonna do? Fire me right after hiring me? Her loss."
She's done it before.
Then he noticed Kara as a guy seeing a girl, "Hey. I'm the new guy." he said smiling at her right after low-key getting into a fight with her.
Ugh, men. She was glad Winn wasn't like this. He was a guy but he didn't hit on a girl just because. Then she saw his face, shocked her eyes widened just slightly, oh, god I just thought-insulted Jimmy Olsen! Miss Grant is starting to really start to rub off on me!
"Oh, my God, you're Jimmy Olsen. The photographer from the Daily Planet." She said, taking a step back.
"It's James Olsen. Only my mom and super pal call me Jimmy." James said, taking a step forward.
Right, he knows Kal-el … Clark. Did he set this up?
"Oh, here you go, but first you have to tell me who you are." he replied, waving the layouts in front of her.
"It's Kara, I'm Miss Grant's personal assistant." She said as James handed her the layouts.
"See you around, Kara." He called as she left, as quick as she could.
God. She walked towards her desk after she gave Cat the layouts, almost bursting to tell Winn who the new art director was.
~{}~
Kara opened her door, her foster sister standing outside, with a rather grumpy look on her face. "I have a conference in Geneva and I need to be on the plane in two hours." Alex said walking past Kara into her loft.
Kara closed the door and challenged Alex's complaint. "And I have Winn coming over in fifteen minute to watch Netflix and I need you to pick out what I should wear. I win." Alex turned around the grumpy face replaced with one of interest, she quickly walked over to her racks of clothes. She had always wanted her to invite Winn over for reasons Alex wouldn't tell. She thought it was because the one time she got drunk (by drinking several bottles of rubbing alcohol) and she had told Alex how she had met the cutest and nicest guy at work (After a week of Cat, Kara for once in her life wanted to get shitfaced drunk, so Alex and Kara found a way, Kara never wanted to do that again, super hearing with a hangover was not as fun as the night before).
"Why do you do this to me?"
"Because I'm your sister and you love me." After a while Alex asked why she hadn't been as cheerful as normal. "I don't know, I feel like I'm not living up to my potential. I went to work for Cat Grant because I thought working in a media company run by a powerful woman who actually shapes the way people think would be the way that I could make a difference. But, instead, I just fetch layouts and coffee.
"You always wanted to be normal, right? So, having a crappy boss and absolutely nothing to wear - This is what normal looks like." Alex said moving to another clothes rack, disdain with her clothing very evident.
"I am not normal! I have the same powers he does. I can lift a bus, stop a bullet. Alex, I can fly. At least, I think I can. I haven't done it in years." Kara said, following Alex from rack to rack.
"Kara, you've got a good job, you're cute, and thanks to your alien DNA - you can't get pimples. Life is not so bad." She stopped and faced her alien sister, "But, if you really wanna help somebody, you'll pick between one of these two, so I can get on my plane."
"Uh…yep." Kara picked the pink sundress. Alex handed her the other choice, a beautiful blue blouse with yoga pants (Cat would kill her if she wore this to work) and she took the other one and threw it in the garbage can, not that she complained, it was a thrift store buy from 3 years ago.
"Good choice." ALex said. "When in doubt, go with blue, it is your color. All right. Text me every detail from your movie date with Winn and I will call you back when I'm back from Geneva." She quickly kissed Kara on the cheek. As she left the apartment building, Alex saw Winn get out of his car with a pizza and pot stickers. He looked nervous but so did Kara who was no doubt freaking out upstairs.
~{}~
Kara could hear Winn heartbeat, very fast just like her own, she guessed he was nervous too. She briefly wondered if Alex had given her 'big sister' talk (funny since kara was technically a lot older than herself) when she left but she didn't have a lot of time to think since Winn quickly knocked on the door. She smoothed her hair before opening the door and greeting Winn with a smile and hungry look at large box of pot stickers and pizza.
"So…" Winn said after they both had wolfed down all the pot stickers and pizza. Both had big appetites, Kara a necessity because of her alien biology and Winn by choice, however neither gained any weight.
"So what?" Kara said, while getting out some ice cream. "Chocolate, vanilla or strawberry?"
"Chocolate. So what do you think might happen to James Olsen. After you left, Cat called James over to her office then gave her 'cat' glare and yelled at him a little but Cat didn't fire him." Kara threw the jar of ice cream to Winn and then walked over and handed him a spoon.
"What? That's a first. Cat yelling and not firing. Someone must have pulled in a favor or something." Kara said, wondering if Clark did something to help out his friend. She moved to her couch with Winn quickly following. She turned on the TV, a news report on.
"If you're just joining us, shortly after take-off, National City Airlines, Flight 237 bound for Geneva, is experiencing some loss of altitude. The pilot seems to be circling the city after apparent engine failure."
"Did he say Geneva? Alex." she whispered more to herself then more loudly, "um, I just remembered I have to feed the cat and let it out, it won't go in a litter box."
"O-oh, ok." Winn said as she darted out. She didn't want to leave but she had to save her foster sister, Alex.
Kara ran out of the apartment building and into the alley, she ran as she tried to fly, jumped up an impossible distance before she finally stayed in the air. She zoomed to the crashing airplane and grabbed the bottom of the airplane, just as another engine burst into flames. She heard people scream in terror as the bumpy ride got even bumpier. Kara yelled into effort, the plane she was carrying was leveling off. She thought that saving a plane was pretty easy… then she saw the bridge.
"Oh, come on!" she started tilting the plane, more screams of terror as the plane went sideways. She grunted with the effort, and her hands made indents into the plane itself. The plane narrowly missed the top of the bridge, one wing etching a line on the bridge below, luckily missing any cars stuck on the bridge. She landed the plane in the water and climb on top of the wing, she looked around then flew off.
~{}~
When Kara got back, soaking wet, she made up a very cheesy excuse saying that the cat jumped into a pond, the best she could come up with at the time. Luckily, Winn was kind enough not to pester her, choosing instead to tell her what happened on TV while she was gone. Winn left soon after, his apartment only being about a block away, wanting to get home and catch up on work (what work a IT got at a media empire she didn't know.). She turned on the TV watch the latest report on the plane she saved.
"The passengers of Flight 237 appear to have a guardian angel. When, what many report to be a female flying form-" Kara squealed in happiness, no wonder Clark was a superhero, it was very rewarding. "-rescued them from certain death. Leyne Nguyen is live from the scene." the screen changed, with the bridge in the background now cleared of cars.
"Thank you, Rick. Guardian angel or human wrecking ball?"
"What?!" Kara jumped up from the couch, yelling at the news reporter.
"There is destruction all over Otter Binder Bridge." The reporter continued.
"Well, You try saving a plane for the first time. See of you don't make a mess." She said as the TV screen turned blank. She turned around to see her sister.
"Oh, my God." ALex said as Kara walk toward her.
"I know!" Kara walked over to her sister, grinning like mad. "It's incredible!"
She hugged her sister, with a little more force than human. "Ow." Her sister said, Kara didn't need super hearing to hear sme bones popping, her sister must be really stressed.
"Oh, sorry." Kara said sheepishly, "That was-that was too hard. I'm just so excited. I still can't believe I did it." she said sitting down on the couch.
"Yeah. Neither can I." Alex said, her face filled with worry for her sister. "Are you okay?"
"Me? Am I okay? Are you okay?" Kara said, fidgeting around, too happy and excited to stay still.
"Yes, thank you." Alex said, strangely formal and back rigid.
"Were you scared? I mean, I was scared too, but you; you had to be terrified. Because you had no idea I was coming to save you." Kara said, getting up from sitting on the couch.
Alex turned around and sighed, "I need a drink."
"Right!" Kara said, walking into the kitchen, and pouring a glass of alcohol for her sister. Alex chugged it down. "Yeah, we need to celebrate. It has been so long. I almost forgot how to fly. Well, not so much as how but more, more how it feels, like scared, but good scared. Like, like that moment right before you kiss someone for the first time. And now… now it' like I'm not sure what comes next. Or maybe I am sure and I'm just afraid of what it means." Kara paused then stated again, "And if it means what I think it means-"
"WHat were you thinking?" ALex scoffed, "you exposed yourself. To the world. You're out there now, Kara. Everyone will know about you and you can't take that back."
"I don't want to. This is what I was talking about, Alex. I've always felt the need to help people, and tonight I finally got that chance. I-I didn't travel 2,000 light-years just to be an assistant."
"What if people figure out who you are? What you are? It's just- it's not safe for you to do anything like that." Alex put down the now empty glass. She looked her sister into the eyes, "Ever again."
"Oh." Kara said, glancing down at her feet. "I'm kind of tired, I-I just carried a plane on my back. I'm gonna go to bed. You should go." She said, the last sentence said with a glare.
Her sister sighed, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
~{}~
Kara walked out of the elevator, trying keep as small as possible. Her ears still rang with Alex's warning, she knew no one got a clear shot of her but someone might make a wild guess. Luckily no one noticed her (like normal). She quickly walked to her desk, glancing at Winn, who was riveted into the news. "Pretty cool, huh?"
Winn scoffed, "A plane-saving lady? How is the world supposed to take her seriously if she can't even come up with a suit? What Metropolis gets him and what does National City get? Some rookie superhero?
Kara told herself if Winn knew that she was her, he wouldn't have such thoughts, or at least, keep them to himself.
"I know many of you are used to being second best but it's new to me. The most incredible event in the history of National City and yet we have no exclusive of any kind." Cat said, she had called an emergency meeting, and Kara had raced to get all the directors from the 30 floors of the Catco building."
"We don't have much to go on." Cat glared at the director making the excuse.
"The image we're working off is low res I guess she's around 5'9" It's tough to gauge with her height measured up against an airplane." the director raced to present her with the facts.
"Hair color brown."
"Or black."
"Or maybe her hair is just dirty. You know, from soot. The plane exhaust." James arriving late for the meeting, made the comment.
"James, you make an excellent point." Cat said, however there was a disconnect between them, Cat never looking directly at him. "Do you think there's any connection - between this hero and -"
"To my friend in blue? I don't know. I mean, not that he mentioned, but if she's anything like him, she's a hero. Saving people is what they're born to do. She'll be back."
"Hmm. She better be. This girl is the answer. She is exactly what I need to save the Tribune. Besides fatty foods, there is nothing people love more than a hero.
We are going to blow her up. We will feature her online and in the paper, but we need images, we need video, we need an interview, and exclusive content. So go. Go get me that girl." Cat shooed them out of her office then went back to work. "And, Kerah. Go get me a lettuce wrap."
"It's funny. That was the first thing he did. Save a plane, I mean." James said as Kara and him left Cat Grant's office. She blinked at him as he left to his office. Suddenly, she was overcome with the wanting to tell someone, anyone who she really was. Better Winn than anyone else.
She walked over to Winn's desk, who was casually searching the web. "Winn, I need to talk to you. On the roof."
"The roof?" Winn said as Kara left, straight to where they were going to meet.
"Kara? Hey, up, just whatever you have to say, can you make it quick? I'm not really into being this high up."
"Okay, um…" she only had about 5 minutes to prepare… not a lot to figure out how to tell her friend (crush) that she was an alien. "Winn, I'm going to tell you something about me that only three people in my life know…Can I trust you?
"Yeah, yeah, of course."
"Good." she paced back and forth, her mind going blank. "Um, I just... I really want someone to be excited for me." More pacing. "And I, um... Right, how do... Uh, there's something about me that for most of my life, I've run from it. But last night, I embraced who I am and I don't want to stop." she said stopping her pacing and looking him in the eye.
"Oh, my God, you're a lesbian. Oh, Kara, that's why you're not into me. This is, this is great news!" Winn said, rather happily, Kara might add.
"What? No. I'm not gay! I'm I'm her!" he didn't get her reference "The woman who saved the plane!"
"Okay. Yeah, okay." Winn said turning back to leave,
"Right." she said as she walked to the edge of the building.
"Kara, what are you doing? Hey, Kara! Hey, get away from the ledge, you're gonna get hurt." Winn walking toward her. "Kara!" Kara fell off the edge with an exasperated expression. "Hey!" Winn ran to the edge, knowing that she was mostly falling to her death. What he didn't expect was a pink and brown blur to come flying past him. Kara landed on the other side of Winn, who looked a little shocked "You're-You're her!"
"Yup." Kara said, raising her arm in an 'I don't know' way.
~{}~
"So, how is it? Huh? How does it fit?" Winn called, he had come over to help kara make a super suit (which Winn bluntly pointed ot she didn't' have).
Kara walked out, dressed in a blue, skin tight, swimsuit-like "super suit" with an underwear-like bottom. "I'm not flying around saving people in this... thing." She wrapped her arms around her belly, covering her more than the suit did. " I-I wouldn't even wear it to the beach. Where's my cape?" she asked, not wanting to wait another second in the suit.
"Capes are lame. You can tell your cousin I said so." He stopped, eating another bite of chinese take-out. "Actually, never-never do that." He said on a second thought.
Kara walked into her living room, 3 suit fails later. This one was the one, not too revealing but with a short skirt (something Winn said was a must). She gave a whirl, and then realized she still had her glasses. "Oh." she hesitated before taking them off. They were comfortable thing more than a disguise.
She looked up at Winn. "Kara, you look really pretty without your glasses." He said. Kara broke the silence by blushing and looking down at the ground. "So, uh. To be a superhero you need a crime. I hacked into the NCPD. There's a car chase on the 112 freeway."
"I could do a car chase." Kara said.
She quickly caught up with the car, she followed it but when it turned sharply she tried following but lost control, landing into the curb, hard, she might add.
"A cape aids with aerodynamics, I should have thought of that." he said as Kara came out with the cape attached to the suit. Winn had gotten a radio, which was now, very loudly reporting crimes, 'West National City Bank. Reporting a 432. Sixth and Spring. Suspects are armed and dangerous.
"You, uh You're sure you're bulletproof?" Winn said.
"Hope so." Kara said as she flew out the window
Kara came back from the robbery, with a cape filled with bullet-holes, which made Winn almost throw a fit.
"All right, the new cape is made from a structured polymer composite. It's much sturdier than And, uh" he chuckled, "This one has the "S." For "Super" just like your cousin."
"It's not an "S". It's my family's coat of arms. The House of El." She looked back at Winn, "Thank you...for this… the suit… the help." She took a step forward, mirrored by Winn.
"Well, its nothing you wouldn't have… done… for… me." He said, as they neared each other.
The radio went off again (with the worse timing in all time), 'Four-alarm fire at Gates and Igle.' They both took a few steps back, whatever trance telling Winn a snippet of her life of her homeworld had on them had been broken by the staticky voice of a backstreet cop.
Winn cleared his throat, "I'm assuming you can't catch on fire."
~{}~
Suddenly, she was flying then she woke up dazed and confused, shackles around her wrists keeping her down. She tugged at them, surprised when they didn't break. She was starting to get worried, someone did their homework. "Made of low-grade Kryptonite. Radioactive mineral from your home planet. It weakens you." A man came into her view
"Where Where am I? Who are you?" she asked, her mind still sluggish with whatever they used to drug her.
"Name is Hank Henshaw. And I believe you already know Agent Danvers." Wait, her sister? She was a scientist not an agent.
"She doesn't need those." her sister came into her view, she undid the shackles and Kara recoiled from her. She lied. That much her mind could work out.
"Welcome to the DEO, the Department of Extranormal Operations. The DEO monitors and protects Earth from extraterrestrial presence and/or invasion. That means you. Your ship. We keep it here as a reminder of the day you crashed on Earth. You're the reason for all of this." Hank said as she followed him, apparently giving her a tour.
"Me? But My-but my cousin was here two dozen years before me." She said.
"And it was his arrival that triggered the need for this organization. We realized we weren't alone in the universe and we might soon be getting more immigrants. Sure enough, you came along. And with you, Fort Rozz." he said walking towards a wall lined with screens, all showing images of a giant crashed-landed spaceship
"Fort Rozz?" The name didn't sound familiar.
"Krypton's maximum security prison. Banished to the Phantom Zone, same place your ship got stuck. But just like yours, it didn't stay there. We're not sure how your pod got loose. What we do know is this. You pulled Fort Rozz with you. When it crashed, the alien convicts, the worst criminals in the galaxy, they all escaped. And you brought them here. These beings, some of them have powers from your darkest nightmares. For over a decade they've stayed hidden. But in the last year many have been emerging, making themselves known. They're planning something. We're just not sure what it is yet." photos of aliens replaced the spaceship, some she recognized, others were unfamiliar.
"Your plane. That wasn't an accident. They were trying to kill you. I can help you stop them." She proposed a partnership between them.
"How? You couldn't even stop us from capturing you. I'm still job is keeping people in the dark about alien life on Earth, and nothing says covert operation like a flying woman in a red skirt."
"They know about my cousin, they don't fear him." she argued
"Plenty of people do, just not popular to admit it. You wanna help? Go back to getting someone's coffee." She huffed as he walked away.
"I know you're mad and you're hurt. I wanted to tell you every single day." Alex started to aplized.
"No, instead, you told me every single day not to be who I really am." she said.
"You have to listen to me." ALex tried again.
"I can't! This just kind of feels like one big coincidence, doesn't it? You working here, hunting down aliens, me being one? I I can't help but think the real reason that you were recruited was because of me." Kara was starting to see red.
"They recruited me because my background in bio-engineering makes me an expert on alien physiology. And, yeah, it helps that I shared a bathroom with one." Alex said, defending herself.
"I'm leaving now. Unless you wanna try and stop me. Which I wouldn't." Kara said, leaving before she exploded at her sister.
When she got back, Winn was freaking out, not having contact between them in over 3 hours. Kara told him about the DEO and the information, excluding her fight with her sister.
When Kara got into work the TV by the elevator was on, "Of course, leave it to media magnate, Cat Grant, to put a name to a face. Miss Grant dubbed National City's new female hero, 'Supergirl'. And if Twitter is any indicator, the name appears to be catching on."
"'Supergirl'? We can't name her that!" Kara said to her boss, anger at her sister boiling over as she channelled it at Ms. Grant.
"'We' didn't." Cat said, not looking up from her work.
"Right, I'm sorry. It's just, uh I don't want to minimize the importance of this. A-a female superhero. Shouldn't she be called Superwoman?" She said, trying to minimize the fact that she just exploded at her boss.
"I'm sorry, darling, I just can't hear you over the loud color of your cheap pants." Her boss insulted her, making her week just a bit more terrible.
"If we call her Supergirl, something less than what she is, doesn't that make us guilty of being anti-feminist? Didn't you say she was a hero?"
"I'm the hero. I stuck a label on the side of this girl, I branded her. She will forever be linked to Catco, to the Tribune, to me. And what do you think is so bad about 'Girl'? Huh? I'm a girl. And your boss, and powerful, and rich, and hot and smart. So if you perceive Supergirl as anything less than excellent, isn't the real problem you? And if you're so smart, Kerah, could you please give me one reason why I shouldn't fire you?"
Oh God. She really did it this time.
"I printed it. And it's an even higher resolution than you hoped for." James walked in, saving her, at least for a few minutes.
"James. You are interrupting a very craftily worded termination."
"Kara wanted to surprise you, but she has a teller friend that works at West National City Bank - the branch that got robbed." he really was going to save her.
"Right! Right, yes, I went there. You know, it took me a while to park my car in the streets. The one-way streets are so confusing." she said, not really knowing where this was going. "You tell it so much better."
"Kara convinced her source to allow us to use a photograph that she captured." He showed Cat a image of Supergirl.
"You got a clean image of Supergirl? Kerah, if you can't take credit when you do something well, you are gonna be at the bottom of the pile forever. But, mazel tov. You bought yourself another day." Cat shooed both of them out.
"I was handling the situation." She said as they walked out.
"Oh, yeah? What was your plan? To get yelled at and fired? 'Cause that was working."
"I don't need you or anyone else - fighting my battles for me."
- a high pitched squeal came across her hearing. She stopped by her desk, and put her hand over her forehead. I'm communicating at 50,000 hertz. If you can hear this - "You okay?" James said. - you were not born on this Earth.
"I, uh Yeah, I-I have a headache. I need some water."
Painful, isn't it? The humans of National City will suffer. Meet me at the National City Power Plant.
How many innocent people are going to die until you prove that you are not a coward Daughter of Alura?
Kara landed at the Power plant, she tried using her x-ray vision but nothing happened. Lead. "Clever. Picking a spot lined with lead. But I can still hear your heartbeat."
Suddenly she was kicked in the back with enough force to send her flying. She looked up to see a man, not a man, an alien, an ax-wielding alien at that. "On my planet, females bow before males."
"This is not your planet." she said, standing up.
"You look like Alura." he said taking a step forward.
"How do you know my mother's name?"
"You don't easily forget the name of the woman who condemned you to prison."
"Fort Rozz?"
"She was our judge and jailer. Can't kill her. So killing you will have to do." He said, as a full blown fight broke out between them, she kept getting thrown to the ground a lot. He was stronger than her. She didn't want to admit it but this time, she bit off more than she could chew.
"Just because you wear that symbol on your chest doesn't mean you're him. Fighting him would be an honor. Fighting you is just exercise. You actually think that you could stop me? That you'd be able to stop any of us?"
The man threw his ax, Kara expecting it to bounce off her harmlessly but it cut through her suit and her flesh. She gasped and watched as blood dripped through suit and onto the ground.
"Now you know what it's like to bleed. Soon, your whole city will bleed." he gripped her throat, choking her. The edge of her vision turning black.
She was never as glad to see her sister to come to her rescue.
"Trap One, pursue the hostile." She said, the man tried to flee.
"Hey, hey, I'm here. I got you, I got you."
"You're gonna be okay." Alex said as she took out the fragment that prevented Kara from healing the wound.
"I never felt pain like that before." She said. "Uh, I've never felt pain."
"You're not indestructible, Kara."
"Nice move nearly letting that alien cut you in half." Hank said, glaring at Kara, who glared back.
"If we can ID his weapon, it might give us a way to defeat him." Alex said, distracting them from the glaring contest.
"Look at that. You did help." Hank said as the results from the scan of the fragment came on the screen, he smiled, the first smile Kara had seen him have.
"Did you know about my mom? That she was the one who locked up all those aliens?"
"It's why I didn't want you going out there. Showing yourself, showing this. The Fort Rozz escapees would give anything to get revenge on your mother and the only way that they can do that now is to hurt you. I'm trying to protect you."
"You were right." Kara said, turning to leave. "The world doesn't need me."
"Kara, it's me." Alex knocked on her door, Kara was inside wallowing in self pity. "Can we talk? I know you can see me. I know what you're thinking. That this is all your fault. But it's not. Before you came to live with us, I was the star. And then, I mean, how could I compete with you? With someone who could touch the stars? You know, I was happy when you decided not to use your powers. You know, you feeling like less, somehow made me feel like more. Now the world needs you to fly, Kara."
Kara opened the door "I can't, Alex. I can't do it."
"Yeah, you family believes in you."
"I know you do."
"Oh, I don't mean me." Alex took out a slab of metal, etched with writing.
"That's Kryptonese writing. Yeah." Kara took it and walked inside.
"Hank and his old team recovered it from the pod that brought you to Earth." Alex followed her to the table. Kara pressed a button on the slab. A hologram showed up. It was her mother.
"Mom."
'Kara, my brave daughter. By now you have become the woman I knew you would grow up to be. And though you were sent to Earth to protect young Kal-El, your destiny is not tied to his. There is no correct path in life. You will lose your way many times. What's important is that you find your way back to the brave girl you always were. Be wise, be strong and always be true to yourself.'
Kara reached out wanting to touch her mother cheek, but the hologram disappeared, the recording over. She sobbed, her loss coming back as strong as it was when she first got to earth.
She cleared her head and she said "So, what do we do now? First things first."
"You need to change." Alex said.
Hank chuckled, "It's Agent Danvers and her sister from another planet."
"She's here to help us fight Vartox."
"I told you I don't trust aliens." He growled at her.
"There's no one I trust more. Like her cousin, she was sent here, too, to help us. And if you want any more of my help, we're gonna let her." She said, her ultimatum standing strong.
An agent came up to them, stopping the conversation from getting worse."I found Vartox. Sir. Uh, ma'ams." She said, trying not to stare at supergirl.
"Where?" Hank said, demanding like always.
"The sliver of metal you extracted from Supergirl's arm. Vartox's ax has a unique nuclear thumbprint. Satellites picked him up heading towards the city."
"Vartox said he was ready to start killing humans."
"Order a strike team to intercept." Hank ordered.
"Your men will not be able to stop him." Kara said, facing Hank.
"Thank you for your opinion, Miss Danvers."
"Director Henshaw. People of this city will die because of something I did. I started this. You have to let me stop it."
"Make sure you win." He sighed, knowing she was right.
"Do you have eyes on the target?" Hank said over the speaker in her ear.
"I got him." She said as she landed in front of the truck, stopping it and throwing him out the window shield.
"You never should have come back for more." He said, standing up.
They fought, Kara now wary of his ax, weaving around the weapon.
"She's not strong enough." Hank said, not caring that Kara still heard everything they said.
Why? Because she's just a girl? It's exactly what we were counting on. I analyzed the metal on the ax. It's powered by a self-generating atomic charge reaching temperatures up to 2500 degrees."
"How does that help?"
"If it gets any hotter than that it's gonna explode. She just has to get close enough to do her thing."
Kara was thrown to the ground, his strength overwhelming hers. He lifted his ax, preparing to kill her.
"Stop, I give up. I don't wanna die." She said, 'faking' her being scared, she was a little (not that she was going to admit).
"Give your mother my regards." He said, brought the ax down. She stopped it, blocking it from hitting her head.
"Kara, do it now." Alex said in her head.
Kara used her laser vision, the ax blade getting hot but not as hot a it needed to be. "It's not working. I can't do it!"
"It's why you were sent here. I believe that now, you have to believe it too."
She screamed, max out her powers. The ax exploded. The alien was thrown back from the explosion. Kara got up, a bit slower than normal. She panted "It's over."
"You think I'm the threat?" He said, he shook his head. "You have no idea what's coming." He took a shard of his ax and stabbed himself, the way he took his own life shocked Kara. It was custom for his race, but not on Earth or Krypton.
~{}~
"Uh, if-if I believe the comments on the website, they mentioned a Female/reptilian boxing match in the desert." Winn said, he was waiting for Kara at work.
"I'll tell you all about it at our next crime-fighting lunch hour." She said weaving through desks and picking up documents for Cat.
"Wait, so the Super Friends are back?"
"We're not calling ourselves that. And yes, we are back, baby." Kara said, smiling at him.
"James. Uh, do you have time to grab lunch?" She wanted to apologize for her rude comments after he saved her from Cat. They headed toward the elevator.
"You must be hungry." he said, walking into the elevator. "You probably burn up a lot of calories fighting an ax-wielding alien. Meet me on the roof." He said as the door closed.
"You knew. This whole time. He told you.
"Well, he knew that I was trying to expand my own horizons, so, as a favor, he asked me to expand them here, National City. Hang out. Be near you."
"So, so, wait a minute. He-He wanted me to do this? Why didn't he just tell me? Because he wanted you to choose it for yourself. The same way he did. That's what makes a hero, Kara. Here. From him. It's the blanket he was wrapped in when he was a baby. Apparently, this cape won't shred." She opened the box, and fingered the fabric, she remembered him being placed in the pod, wrapped in it.
"Thank you." she said, and she really meant it.
"He's really proud of you. Me too. Now, don't you have a city to protect? You know Up, up and away?" he pointed to the sky, and she flew up, just for show, she still needed to work.
~}{~
The End
Sorry it's so long, I promised the next one won't be as long, just a lot of content I wanted to change.
P.S. some scenes were omitted because I want to write through Kara's eyes. And I'm lazy.
