Prologue – The Arrival
16 Years ago…
"Daddy come on you said you would take us to the Pickens Day festival," the blond young boy complained.
"Yeah Daddy you promised," his blonde sister also whined.
Hal Cooper sighed. His two young children Chic and Polly who were six and a half and four years old were excited to go to the Pickens Day festival. It was an annual event in the town of Riverdale celebrating the victory of General Pickens for the Union Army during the civil war. There were carnival rides and games, food stalls and trinkets for sale, clowns and entertainment for all ages.
"Let me just check with your mother, I want to make sure she is okay," Hal said.
He went upstairs to the master bedroom where his wife Alice was lying on her back. Her stomach bulged outward from her pregnancy; she was already more than a week past her due date.
"Honey, the kids really want to go to the festival, will you be okay?" Hal asked.
"I'll be fine," Alice said turning her head to look at her husband while she rubbed her belly with one hand. "If worse comes to worse I'll call an ambulance."
"You sure?" Hal asked again.
"Yes, now come on the kids are really excited," Alice said. "And I don't want them to resent their sister."
"Alright," Hal said. "But you call me if anything happens."
"I will," Alice promised. "Now come on, go before Polly and Chic start yelling."
Hal kissed his wife, first on the forehead, then on the belly and finally on her lips, before he turned and left the bedroom letting her nap. Chic and Polly were waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him, the two bouncing around like barely contained bundles of energy. Hal looked at them a sad expression on his face. They stopped jumping and looked at their father on the verge of tears, thinking that they weren't going to be able to go to the festival.
"Alright you two let's go," Hal said breaking out into a smile.
The two kids screamed with joy and ran to the door flinging it open.
"Hey wait up," Hal called.
However a split second later there was an explosion as their minivan was destroyed in an instant leaving nothing but a crater in the ground. The force of the explosion was enough to knock Polly and Chic to the ground. Hal quickly ran to his kids and dragged them back into the house. Outside he could hear more explosions and as he looked around he could see things streaking down from the sky and slamming into the ground.
"What the hell?" Hal muttered.
However he knew he didn't have time to think about what was happening; his first priority was to protect his family.
"Get down to the basement!" Hal ordered Polly and Chic. "I'll be down their soon with your mother."
The two frightened children nodded and ran down to the basement. Hal ran back up the stairs to find Alice struggling to get to her feet.
"Hal what's going on?" Alice asked.
"I don't know," Hal replied. "It's like we're under attack or something."
Just then something ripped through the roof tearing a hole into the ceiling just above Alice. It then slammed through the wall before landing in the backyard in an eruption of dirt and grass. Alice fell to the floor clutching at her stomach.
"Oh god, oh god," she moaned.
Hal ran to his wife's side.
"What's wrong?" Hal asked. "Is it the baby?"
"I… something isn't right," Alice said.
Hal looked at his wife in concern and suddenly she started screaming in pain.
"Oh no!" she yelled as she clutched at her midsection.
Hal ran to the phone in their bedroom but the line was dead; he realized that the lines outside must have been knocked out by one of the… whatever they were.
"It's coming!" Alice screamed.
Hal ran out into the hallway looking for towels. He opened the linen closet but couldn't find any. He then remembered that they were all downstairs with the laundry in the basement. Worriedly he ran downstairs; in the basement he saw that Polly and Chic were huddled frightened under the stairs.
"You two just stay here," Hal said as he grabbed some clean towels. "I'm going to help your mother."
"Daddy I'm scared," Polly sobbed.
Hal wanted to comfort his daughter, but the life of his second daughter probably depended on him.
"You'll be fine," Hal promised.
He ran back upstairs but it was too late. Alice was lying there on her back sobbing, clutching a dead little girl against her chest. Outside the explosions had stopped, replace by the sounds of people crying for help and the sirens of emergency vehicles.
Hal went to hug his wife but she pushed him away. Hal said nothing and just let her have her space. He decided to take a look at the hole in their roof. He hoped that their insurance would cover the damage; he was going to have to take a look at their policy. He looked out into the backyard to see just what had wrecked their home. His eyes went wide at what he saw.
"Alice, Alice come here," he said.
Alice ignored him the first time.
"Alice, you need to see this," Hal urged her.
Alice came over still holding their dead infant and crying. She wiped the tears from her eyes to look out. Her sobbing stopped and was replaced by a look of shock by what she saw.
Out in the backyard was a black egg shaped object. The top of it had opened up to reveal an infant girl inside.
"Hal, is that…?" Alice asked not finishing the question.
"I don't know." Hal replied.
They ran downstairs and out into the backyard. Hal picked up the little girl who didn't seem to be more than a few days old.
"What is she doing here?" Alice asked. "Who are her parents?"
Suddenly a transparent image of a woman appeared floating in the air just above the object.
"Thank you for finding our daughter," the woman said. "I am Alura of the planet Krypton. Our planet is much like yours but we are far more technologically advanced. However that technology has come with a steep price and unfortunately our planet is dying. My husband and I have sent our daughter Kara to your planet so that she may live. Under your yellow sun she will end up being different to the beings of your planet, she would almost be a god. Please raise her to use her abilities for the betterment of your race."
With that the image of the woman disappeared.
"It's… it's a miracle," Alice commented.
"I like the name too, Kara," Hal said.
"We already agreed we were going to call our daughter Elizabeth," Alice said firmly. "But I think Kara is a fitting middle name."
Hal looked at the little girl he was holding.
"Elizabeth Kara Cooper," he said trying the name out. "I guess welcome to Earth."