Kal-El was crying. A lot. Kara held him to her chest, trying to quiet him, but the infant wanted his mother, wanted to be back in his bed on Krypton. His young guardian wanted those things, too. She looked around. She'd learned a small bit about Earth, in school, but it had been a long time ago, and the lesson hadn't been particularly in depth- after all, there was absolutely no chance any of them would ever step foot there, her professor, Kir-Ah, had said. It was an isolated planet- it did not believe in any other life forms besides its own inhabitants. It was also primitive, its technology was less advanced then Kara's bathrobe. Kara had found that amusing, but still not worthwhile enough to listen to the lecture. After all, there was absolutely no chance she would ever step foot there.

Despite her limited knowledge of Earth, Kara was sure she was on the right planet. The pod wouldn't have opened, otherwise. And she spoke English, as well as several other Earth languages. In total, she spoke over nine hundred languages, but fewer than twenty of them would be of any use to her here. She'd learned most of them on Krypton, but the pod had downloaded Earthly lingual information while she slept. That was all it had done, though; there hadn't been time to program it to teach her anything else. Kara didn't know where she was, but she did know she couldn't stay there. Anyone or anything could see the pod, and Kara didn't need an intricate knowledge of Earth to know that an isolated planet would not take kindly to two aliens. Singing quietly to Kal-El, she grabbed a small box from under the seat in the pod, dumping its contents into a bag. She knew what it contained: a bit of food and water, some communication crystals from home (useless on this primitive planet without the proper network, of course), the Book of Rao, a knife made of a black star alloy, a baby sling, and some warm clothing. Shouldering her bag and slinging Kal-El, she began walking. She was surprised to find the bag and Kal-El not heavy at all. As she walked, she realized Kal-El had somehow fallen asleep again.

Before long, the tall, green sticks began to become fewer and farther between. Kara saw lights in the distance, the lights of a large structure. She realized it was a dwelling, a house- she'd seen a picture of something like this on Krypton. She walked up to the house's fence, wishing she could see inside.

Suddenly, she felt her eyes burn. Before she knew what was happening, she was seeing through the house's walls! Suppressing a scream, she jumped backwards. Kal-El stirred, but did not wake. Kara thanked Rao. What had just happened? Her mother had told her she would have extraordinary powers on this planet- was this one of them? Before she could contemplate it further, however, a piece of wood swung outwards from the structure, and two figures emerged. Kara gasped- they looked Kryptonian!

"Who's out here?" the male called. Kara was surprised to realize that she understood those words. She clutched Kal tighter to her, willing herself not to make a sound.

"Jeremiah", the female said, a warning time to her voice. The male was undeterred, however. Kara reached into the bag at her side, finding the knife's handle. She pulled it out. She heard the approaching footsteps of the two figures. Her breathing grew heavier.

Please don't look behind the fence, she thought, Please don't look behind the fence. Please don't look behind the fence...

They looked behind the fence.

The girl began to cry. She was unsure of what else to do. Taking a tentative step backwards, she wielded the knife. She'd been trained slightly in combat, enough to know how to stab someone, even if that someone was a fully grown adult. The two figures- humans, Kara remembered, Earth beings were called humans- stiffened.

"Look, we don't want any trouble", the man began, moving towards the girl. She clutched her knife tighter.

"Stay back", she said, saying her first words in English, "Don't come any closer!"

"Sweetheart", the woman said, "we don't want to hurt you. Really, we don't. We came out to investigate because we heard a crash. I'm Eliza Danvers. This is Jeremiah. Please, just relax for a second."

Kara looked at the woman. She had light eyes and light hair, like she herself did. None of the women in her family had had light eyes and light hair before her, making her something of a rarity. This woman seemed to be genuine. Slowly, cautiously, Kara lowered her knife.

"Kara Zor-El", she said, pointing at herself. She gestured to her baby cousin. "Kal-El. We... we are lost."

"Well, Kara Zor-El... if you are lost, do you and Kal-El need a place to stay?"

The man, Jeremiah, began motioning to Eliza, signaling that he thought this was a horrible idea. But Eliza Danvers was a kind woman, and was not about to leave two children to die of hypothermia, no matter how strange the circumstances were, even if one of them was wielding a knife.

"Yes", Kara said, making up her mind. She wasn't sure why, but she trusted this Eliza woman. It wasn't like she had many choices, anyway. "Yes, we do need a place to stay for the night."

"Well, then, Kara Zor-El, we would be happy to have you", said Eliza, despite the man's clear indication to her that they would not be happy to have her. He interjected.

"If you'll put that knife down", he said. He didn't say it unkindly, just apprehensively, which was understandable. Considering her options, Kara sunk to the ground, keeping eye contact with Jeremiah the entire time. She laid the knife down, then stood back up, never breaking the eye contact.

"Come on", Eliza said, "it's late. You and that baby should both be in bed. I'm afraid we don't have a baby crib, we got rid of our daughter's ages ago, but we can prop the baby up on some pillows. You're welcome to sleep in our daughter Alex's old room- she's all grown up, now."

As they entered the house, Kara looked around, taking it in. Eliza watched, puzzled, as the child looked around as if she had never seen a house before.

"Here", Eliza said, "Why don't you hand the baby... Kal-El?"

Kara nodded.

"Okay, why don't you hand Kal-El to Jeremiah, and he'll set up a bed for him..."

"Kal-El stays with me", said Kara forcefully. Eliza didn't protest, simply turned to Jeremiah and gave him a meaningful look. Understanding, Jeremiah left. Eliza turned back to Kara.

"No problem, sweetheart. Would you like help setting up a bed for him?"

"No, I'm sure I can manage. Is this your daughter's room?"

"Yes", Eliza said, unsure of what else to say, "The bathroom... the bathroom is across the hall, and some of her old pajamas are still in the top drawer. Do... do you need anything else?"

"No, this is more than enough", Kara said, suddenly exhausted despite all her time in hypersleep, "I think I'll just go to bed now." Taking the hint, Eliza closed the door.

Kara looked at the bed. While it wasn't like a bed on Krypton, it was blue and had strange fluffy things on top of it, she still gently placed Kal-El on it, right in the middle. She lay down next to it, positioning herself so that if he rolled off, she'd cushion his fall. Then, before she even had time to realize what was going on, Kara Zor-El was asleep again.

Eliza was worried.

She'd suspected, from the first time she'd seen the child, that something wasn't right. The strange clothes? The hair that went past her waist? Her strange name? The baby? There were so many questions, and not enough answers. Eliza had begun to suspect some sort of cult. Possibilities raced through her mind, each more horrible than the last. Did that baby belong to Kara? If not, who was its mother? Who was Kara's mother? How had Kara ended up barefoot in their yard, carrying a baby and a knife and bag? Suddenly curious, Eliza practically ran to Jeremiah's lab. She knew he had the bag, and the knife- he'd picked it up off the ground.

His back was to her when she walked in, and he was hunched over a microscope. His face was grim. He looked up at Eliza, a what have we gotten ourselves into kind of look on his face. Eliza apprehensively nodded at him to continue, unsure if she wanted to hear what he had to say.

"This is the lightest knife I've ever held. It's also sharp enough to cut all the way to bone with the lightest touch to the blade- which, by the way, I learned the hard way. Naturally, I was curious, so I examined it. Eliza, I don't know what this thing is or how that kid got it, but whatever metal it's made of, it's not on the Periodic Table."

Eliza gasped. "It's... what?"

"Whatever material this is made of would hover at around 320 on the Periodic Table, though it may be an alloy- if it is, I've never seen any of its components before. Eliza, this is bad. This is really, really bad."

Before Eliza could respond, however, she heard a knock on the door. The two looked at each other, both thinking the same thing- there was only one reason they'd have someone knocking on their door at four o'clock in the morning, and it was sleeping in their upstairs bedroom. Eliza cautiously made her way to the door, grabbing Kara's knife on her way out. Jeremiah stood behind her, holding a baseball bat. Taking a deep breath, Eliza swung open the door.

Standing on their porch was their daughter, Alex.

And she was holding a gun.

Heyyyyy! Thanks for coming back, or thanks for reading if you're new! So, storytime. I sent this to my cousin across the country to review it, and she somehow managed to accidentally airdrop it to some girl in her physics class! I've literally never been more embarrassed, even though I'll never know these people, and I'm too old for high school drama, damn it! Anyway, thanks again for reading- I've decided to update on Mondays and Fridays. Stay tuned for the next chapter, and drop a review if you're so inclined!