Everybody Loves Kara II
Breakfast of Kryptonians
by Leighgion
The space-time continuum is a confusing thing.
It was a fact known to few that Power Girl and Supergirl were, in actuality, both Kara Zor-El of Krypton. Whereas the former lived through her journey to Earth and arrived an adult woman and the bearer of the most famous bust in America since Jane Russell, the later slumbered through the long voyage to land a far younger girl more subject to the wills of others. Each had dwelled upon their own versions of Earth until upheavals of reality deposited both to exist together. The mind-bending nature of the matter drove most superhuman associates to treat Power Girl as a completely different individual. Superman, technically cousin to both, had taken the ostrich policy and pretended the issue didn't exist. Power Girl outright avoided her "other self" while muttering darkly in private that cosmic meaning and spiritual connection was overrated and best done without.
There were, of course, circumstances when it was inappropriate to refer to either by their costumed aliases and thus impossible to ignore that both bore the same name. Such was the case in Wayne Manor with the young Kara in permanent residence and the elder emerging once again through the secret clock door from the Batcave, as she was doing more and more often of late.
"Good morning, Ms. Kara. Shall you be joining young Miss Kara for breakfast?"
Fortunately for the Wayne household, the contortions of reality were not sufficient to flap the unflappable English manners of Alfred Pennyworth, who simply seized on established etiquette regarding differences of age and carried on.
"Good morning, Alfred. I.. suppose so."
"Very good. The scones are fresh and Miss Kara is just completing her morning Quenya practice."
"Her morning what?"
"Best you see for yourself, Ms. Kara."
Power Girl frowned, but in a testament to the soothing presence of Alfred, the fiery-tempered heroine remained silent as she followed the butler into the picture-windowed parlor where small breakfasts were generally taken.
"Renich i lú i erui govannem?"
The sultry recitation of the alien speech drifting through the doorway sent Power Girl's eyebrow rocketing into her bangs.
You've got be shitting me...
Shortly, the private sentiment was vindicated by the sight of the younger Kara, clad in a long and ruffled blue dressing gown, gazing dramatically upwards while punctuating her speech with heartfelt hand-clasping.
"Telin le thaed," she exclaimed soulfully. "Lasto beth nîn, tolo dan na ngalad!"
"Does 'Uncle Bruce' know you pour your immortal Elven soul out to his portrait first thing in the morning?" Power Girl folded her arms and leaned in the doorway. She wasn't devoted enough to have actually looked up the lines, but like most of the planet, Power Girl had seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy and unlike most of the planet, had an excellent memory even for fictional languages.
Caught off-guard, Supergirl flushed pink as she turned to face the interloper.
"My acting coach says I should use whatever is available to get into the right mood."
"You have an acting coach?"
"She came highly recommended."
"One of the city's finest, regularly employed by Gotham's Repertory Theatre Company these twenty years," interjected Alfred serenely as he lifted the lid on a platter, freeing the aroma of fresh blueberry scones. "Miss Kara is in good hands."
"Mmmhmm. I'm sure 'Uncle Bruce' wouldn't settle for anybody second rate."
Supergirl folded her arms and thrust up her chin, embarrassment now forgotten. She'd tried to avoid confrontation with Power Girl, but there in the sanctum of her new home, Kara felt less inclined to overlook her other self's thinly veiled belligerence.
"Uncle Bruce only wants the best. After all, wasn't I the one he asked to stay?"
Blindsided by Supergirl's sudden turnabout, Power Girl narrowed her eyes. She'd walked right into that one.
"Ladies, breakfast is served. Should you require anything else, I shall be in the east drawing room."
"Thank you, Alfred, that'll be all," said the two Kara's, more or less in unison.
The unintentional jinx put both of them even more on guard, but neither were willing to allow their private conflict to boil to the surface while under the watchful eye of Alfred's British propriety, lest the full disapproval of the butler's Queen's English be unleashed. Fixing each other with wary, leonine gazes, Supergirl and Power Girl stalked over to opposite sides of the table and began eating in silence.
To the credit of the baker, both women had to privately admit through their preoccupation that the scones were very good.
...
Cruising at 35,000 feet, Flight 252 winged its way towards Metropolis with 317 passengers on board.
Plus one on the wing - squeezed against the fuselage to stay out of sight both from the ground and the plane's side windows
Superman was, of course, more than capable of flying any distance on the planet, at any time of his choosing, at speeds far greater than any commercial aircraft, but he had very specific reasons for hitching a ride pressed against a 747. Two-five-two was a regularly scheduled shuttle flight, making its presence in the skies routine and the venerable airliner's massive body gave ample cover to conceal a lone Kryptonian from all but the most detailed scrutiny while the plane was in Gotham airspace.
Stealth and discretion were always more important than speed and convenience when dealing with the Batman.
After his disastrous confrontation in the Batcave that found him overwhelmed by Supergirl and unexpectedly flanked by Power Girl, Superman had to rethink his entire strategy. Clearly, the frontal assault wasn't going to work. It had been painfully demonstrated that Supergirl, while not being his equal in experience, was his peer in raw power and her will was not proving to be malleable to exercises of vocal authority. The memory still rankled him.
Superman took a breath to calm himself. The stick had failed miserably. It was time for the carrot.
But first, an opportunity had to come to meet.
Superman knew that even entering Gotham at this point was certain to bring down not only the wrath of the Batman, but that of the very girl he wanted to offer an olive branch to. Nothing a bulletproof man couldn't survive, but the point was to get Kara to see reason. No, he needed to catch Supergirl somewhere outside of Bruce's territory. Somewhere that Kara wouldn't be on the defensive so fast and more willing to listen. To do that though, Superman needed intelligence about her movements. Inching forward on his belly, the Kryptonian prepared to peek over the edge of the wing and focus his superhuman vision towards Wayne Manor.
That's when his communicator beeped.
...
Awash in cheerful golden sunlight, Wayne Manor's designated breakfast parlor was silent through the morning meal save for the clink of silverware and the gradually calming of young Kara and elder Kara's chewing. Once the food was gone, the tension in the air had relaxed considerably.
"Nice use of the Lauren Cooper defense last night," offered Power Girl as she set her napkin down.
"Thanks." Supergirl's lips twitched. "He really had no idea, did he?"
"Not a clue. He's not letting it go though, you know that. What you going to do?"
Supergirl grinned. "Nothing, because I'm not bothered."
Power Girl laughed.
...
Muttering at lousy timing 35,000 feet above Gotham, Superman answered his call.
"Superman here."
"Clark, you said barring an emergency, you'd stay for breakfast with me today. I've checked six news agencies and there's no emergencies mentioning you. I called Diana and she assures me that if the Earth was being invaded, she wouldn't be watching "The Catherine Tate Show." You're picking up, so I assume you haven't been kidnapped and nothing is trying to kill you. What's the deal?"
Superman winced. Lois had gone so far as to call Wonder Woman. That wasn't good.
"I'm sorry, Lois, I forgot. But I'm kind of in the middle of something here, can I..."
"You're spying on Kara, aren't you?"
"No! I mean, yes.. but.."
"You know I'm pretty sure stalking a cute blonde ingenue violates the spirit of our marriage vows, even if she is your cousin."
For the second time in as many days, Superman found himself reduced to sputtering.
"Seriously, Clark, I can't see how this is going to do any good. Granted, this whole 'Uncle Bruce' thing is weird and sudden, but this is Bruce Wayne, not Darkseid we're talking about. Kara's at least as bulletproof as you, maybe more, and she passed the Poison Ivy test that even you failed. The worst she's going to get in Gotham is a broken heart and that's assuming a whole hell of a lot. Unless you've got a major inside track on Bruce Wayne that I don't, so far there's nothing on this situation but the society pages and even they're being much kinder than you.
"Look, I know this is important to you, but you're not convincing anybody of anything in your state. Come home and we'll talk about it?"
For an instant, Superman considered revealing that Bruce Wayne was Batman, but even through the angry haze he was lucid enough to realize that the satisfaction would last only as long as it took for the words to come out of his mouth. Lois would no doubt then press the case that he should be happy Kara had attached one of his most trusted friends and allies. Sighing, he yielded defeat.
"I can make it back for brunch?"
"I'll see you soon."
Fuming quietly, Superman stowed his communicator and settled back down to wait until the plane was well beyond Gotham air space. If he had it all to do over again, Kara would go straight into an orphanage.
...
Shared laughter had cleared the air of the breakfast parlor, leaving Supergirl and Power Girl the most at ease they've ever been in each other's company. Cradling steaming cups, the two Kryptonians from different Earths relaxed over tea.
"So.. " said Supergirl tentatively, "don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here this early? He doesn't get up for at least another couple hours on the weekend unless there's an appointment he can't get out of."
"Mm, fair question. Here's the deal: since Bruce has a couple of his engineers designing and fabricating my bras, I do him a little favor. When I've got time, I sneak into the house through the cave entrance. I hang out for a while, have breakfast, pick on an outfit that screams 'retro sexy sweater girl' then leave by the front gate where the paparazzi can get a load of me. The dogs rush off to make up all kinds of stories about Bruce Wayne's semi-regular mystery blonde. They sell more rags to pay their rent and feed their little paparazzis, Bruce Wayne's rep as a degenerate ladies' man gets a boost and I get some free casual outfits on top of the bras. Everybody wins, and it all happens without Bruce even needing to get up."
"Wow, that's.. really smart."
"Yeah well, what can I say? Photographers love me. They're all worked up about you now too, so today ought to have a heavy turnout."
Supergirl tapped pensively at her cup. "We could use that. I could see you to the gate. Give them something new and interesting to guess about?"
"You and me work together, huh?"
"We could say we're sisters. Sisters don't have to like each other." After a moment, Supergirl added, "And they're always different people, no matter how much alike."
Power Girl nodded slowly. "You'd do anything for him, wouldn't you?"
Supergirl smiled serenely.
Power Girl set her cup down. "We'll talk. For now, let's go pick some outfits."
...
Barbara Gordon, better known as the Oracle, had seen happier days. Confined to her wheelchair, without her long-time field agent the Black Canary and engagement once again off, spare time had become the enemy of her peace of mind. Even breakfast, normally not a time of keenest thoughts, was a combined activity where coffee and toast was joined by parsing the latest satellite images. It was dull, mind-numbing work she generally never expected to yield much of interest, but it served its purpose of distraction. Landscapes changed only very slowly and even aircraft captured in flight started to all look the same. Still, it was some variation and Barbara zoomed in on what she knew to be Flight 252 bound for Metropolis...
.. only to come out of her daze of shock realizing she was on the verge of drooling her mouthful of toast and coffee onto her lap. Hastily swallowing, she reached for the her handset and tapped the well-worn speed dial. Barbara had avoided the awkwardness of calling her fiancé's father, plus it was a bit early to boot, but this was exceptional.
"Bruce? Barbara. Three guesses who was hitching a ride on the wing of Flight 252 over Gotham."
Author's Notes: Thanks to all who left reviews! Your acknowledgment is my motivation.
Kara's Quenya lines were all spoken by Arwen in Fellowship of the Ring and translate thusly:
"Renich i lú i erui govannem?"
"Do you remember when we first met?"
"Telin le thaed. Lasto beth nîn, tolo dan na ngalad!"
"I've come to help you. Hear my voice, come back to the light!