SoA Part 1
By Sirya Black
Chapter 1: Secret Identity
Who is Supergirl?
By Peggy Norton
Wall Street Journal Jan 30, 2009
Who is this girl who swept out of the sky and saved an entire plane from crashing down into the city of New York and missing the Brooklyn Bridge last week wearing a blue and black armor, knee high boots, short leather skirt and long red cape with a golden S stylized on the cape and chest plate?
The name given to her by the passengers of that plane was Supergirl.
She was born on the planet Krypton in another dimension she explained during an exclusive interview. When their planet suffered a catastrophic accident she and her cousin were sent off in escape ships to come to Earth. Her ship was knocked off course and the shock wave of the planet's explosion caused a rift that landed her in our universe, one in which her own planet seems to have never existed.
"I've searched for the star system that Krypton was a part of and that star system seems to be missing from your night sky." She told me. "I even had some friends look into it. The system never truly formed here. That is likely why I was able to cross the barrier between dimensions without damage to the space time continuum since I can't exist here. I was never born." She offered a much more detailed description but warned me it would require an advanced astrophysics and mathematics degrees to understand.
I took the explanation to several of Culver University's professors and alumni. I received a very detailed but affirmative agreement from most of them that the calculations and the information provided by Supergirl indicate that the system she was born in never formed in that section of space. Further investigation of Supergirl's information has suggested that the rift was a short-lived wormhole that sealed itself shortly after she arrived.
"I have been on Earth for a few years learning your languages and about your cultures." She admitted shyly. "I didn't want to stand out too much when I got here. I have spent countless hours learning all I can. I have tried to keep a low profile, but when I saw the plane falling out of the sky the other day I had to do something. I couldn't just ignore it."
She admitted to having done several such heroic acts in the past as she traveled around the world learning about Earth culture. She was responsible for the frosted over forest fire in Canada last summer, a welded ship that was leaking oil into the Atlantic Ocean last fall, and the tour bus that flew over a valley in India last spring instead of falling into a ravine.
"I tried to remain unseen." She admitted shyly. "I don't want to scare anyone. I just want to live my life, but I don't want to end up in a lab being experimented on either. I have these powers and it seems a waste to not help if I can."
Fury looked up from his tablet where the Wall Street Journal article was open. "Is there any way to contact this Supergirl?" He asked Agent Coulson. "She could help us, and she would possibly be a good candidate for the Avengers Initiative. She certainly has the right attitude for it, if she is on our side."
Coulson shook his head. "I left a message with the reporter, but she said that Supergirl came to her after reading and watching what all the newspapers and network news programs were saying about her. She wanted to get on the record before things got out of hand and caused a panic. She didn't leave any contact information."
"I hate that a super powered alien is flying around and we can't get a fix on her location." Fury scowled as he once more looked down at the article. "Even Stark Tech is useless in tracking her."
"She doesn't seem to be hostile." Coulson said mildly. "She is much like Steve Rogers in her regard for civilian lives." Coulson had been looking into each of the incidents as possible 098 sightings and each event had left people shaken but grateful to the unseen hero.
"For now," Fury said darkly.
Sept 15 2009
Nineteen-year-old Kara had thought long and hard about what she wanted to do with her life now that she had finished reviewing the Krypton knowledge bank about Midgard and built her Fortress in the place Loki and her had deducted would be the most hidden place she could build it. She had spent the last two years studying the planet and comparing the information from the Database to the reality of the Midgard she was living on.
It seemed that other than the names of some of the cities, companies, and their locations, most of the database was correct, on the surface. Metropolis was New York, Wayne Industries was replaced with Stark Industries and instead of the headquarters being located in Gotham (which was now named Chicago in this dimension) it was in New York and Los Angeles.
A few other things seemed to stand out as slightly different such as the metahumans that had begun to spring up on the Original Earth she was to land on were called mutants here. It was interesting but overall unimportant as the whole world was new to her and it was a matter of shifting jargon mostly.
The history component was a different story. Several major shifts had happened; one, Atlantis was still completely hidden from the human world or it no longer existed, she was still unsure about that. The second major shift seemed to be the presence of at least two infinity stones on Midgard. One was protected by a sect of sorcerers and not used often enough to gain any attentions from the other realms. They respected the power of the stone and kept it hidden from view. The other was being held by the spy agency SHIELD. While they were poking at the Tesseract, they had not attempted to do much beyond harassing some of the excess power the stone gave off. If they began to use it as the Nazi's and Hydra did in World War II then the realm of Midgard would send up another flare to the other Realms that would gather the combined notice of some of the more ruthless Races to come and investigate.
The presence of the stones had changed the course of history from the time of the Dark Ages. One such event was the spread of the Black Death. It had avoided parts of Northern Europe that they hadn't in the database's histories. This changed history by the sake of those that died in one timeline lived and had children in this one. Another major change was the destruction of the Island of Themyscira, home of the Amazons. It's destruction by mysterious means before the rise of Rome changed many smaller events in history and made the rise and fall of the 'Greek gods' rather quick.
She had updated the Database with the new information as she found it.
She liked the Fortress she had built in the underground frozen tundra of the northern most reaches of Norway. She had built it several hundred miles from the magnetic North Pole. Any closer she would have run the risk of being discovered by the North Pole Research Base by being too close to their equipment and flight paths. The station was unmanned most of the year so she really only had to watch for planes during the summer months. The Fortress being underground also allowed for her to have several passageways into the cavern she had built to help avoid detection of the actual placement of her home.
Above the Fortress was a flat ice sheet that gave no indication of her base, other than a slight heat signature that was easily disguised as regular earth geometric forces, which she had tapped into to actually heat the inside of the crystal palace. It was also close to an open pathway through the branches back to Asgard, the only path she knew well. There were two others she could use, but this one was the most discrete for coming and going from Asgard.
Loki had shown her these three pathways, and how to travel on them back to Asgard without needing to use the Bifröst. It involved a bit of time and concentration. It was not something she could do on a whim. She had to prepare and gather extra ambient magic into the pendent to open the paths. The small oval shaped Lokistone pendent she wore could absorb the excess magic to be used as needed. To open the gates required more power than the stones normally carried.
The spells on the pendent were very elaborate. Loki had layered the different spells into it so that she would always be able to hide, or return to Asgard regardless of the Bifröst being open or not. The seven Lokistones had been made centuries ago during an experiment with his magic. They were literally little pieces of his magic, diamond and opal. He'd often used them as batteries for his power when he'd gone exploring with Thor and the others. The spell layers used very little magic, but allowed her access to her pocket space, and power a glamor normally. Those two spells rarely provided too much of a drain on itself to require a recharging from the ley lines of Earth's magic, or from Loki himself.
Kara sighed as she looked out over the busy street of New York. She was in a professional looking pants suit, sipping coffee across the street from Stark Enterprises Headquarters. She had a used a glamor spell in her Lokistone pendent to cover her blonde hair and blue eyes with a complete illusion of black hair and green eyes and a slightly leaner taller frame. The complete illusion changed her features for all forms of pictures and recording devices as well as fooling anyone who saw her. She was always careful to make sure that her 'human persona' and her natural Supergirl one could not be confused.
Looking up at the building that housed Stark Industries she once more she bit her lip to stop it from trembling with nerves. She had an idea for how to earn enough money to consider going to university to gain a few degrees. She was unsure if the idea was wise and wished her foster mother was here so she could have asked her what she thought. Being so young was both an advantage but mostly a disadvantage.
She missed her foster mother Frigga. She had only been eight when she landed on Asgard. Thor, Loki and their friends had found her unconscious in the ship and had taken her back to the palace to be healed. When she woke she was very confused to not be on Midgard. She had been even more shocked to find out she was not in her own galaxy. The Queen Frigga had decided to foster her until she was old enough to allow her to make her way to Midgard. She had been given the name Kara Zor El Friggadötter while on Asgard. Her foster mother was a seer had told her the Norns themselves had asked her to watch over me. No one on Asgard would dare insult, or ignore a favor asked of the Norns.
It had been an interesting time for her. She had been granted the ability of "All Speak" when Loki had found her. Later she learned how to read Asgardian Runes and the other languages of the Nine Realms. She in turn had taught Frigga and Loki how to speak, read and write in Kryptonian. Loki had loved the idea of having a language only three people in the universe could read. Frigga had insisted on learning so she could help Kara with her Kryptonian lessons through Brainiac, the Kryptonian computer system that had come with her in her ship.
Kara had learned the basics of the history of the Realms and the World Tree, and the histories of Krypton. She knew what her people and the Asgardians knew of sciences, math, literature, arts. She was also taught warfare and fighting techniques by Frigga, Loki and some of the guards as she grew up. Asgard was a warrior culture it couldn't be avoided. She had learned; hand-to-hand defense, knife, shield, short sword, bow and staff fighting. Kara preferred hand, staff and knives to sword, axe and shield.
Asgard had been a severe culture shock for her. While the Krypton council positions were passed down through the families (the House of El having been on the council) it was still a government of the people with no single monarch. The citizens were all of equal rank. As a non-council member of the House of El, Kara and her parents had no special rank beyond their positions, such as her mother being a Chief Justice and her father being a leader in the scientific field. They were positions that were earned, not handed out by a lottery of birth.
She hadn't understood for quite a while why Thor and Loki were both considered important compared to Thor's friends. The idea of classes not being equal such as nobles, warriors and such was so strange that it was almost frightening. She was made an 'Honorary Princess of Asgard' because Frigga was her foster mother. She was not in line for the throne, but the title even today gave her status that she was uncomfortable with. The only perk as far as she was concerned was that it allowed her to sit with Frigga at special events and feasts, and allowed her to live within the palace. It cost her in that she was considered a member of the Royal Family and a Warrior of Asgard who could be recalled by Odin if the need arose. Not that she expected him to even do that.
Her position as a foster child of the Queen basically was equal to being a 'royal ward', and gave her almost as much authority as Prince Loki within the palace and with the people of Asgard. Had Odin accepted her fully, she would have been in line for the throne, but it was decided as she was mostly mortal, that it was an unnecessary step. As the Queen's daughter none would dare to harm her, but that didn't mean they treated her well. Most considered her the Queen's pet mortal and paid her little mind which had suited Kara. She didn't like many of the people she had to interact with in Asgard, especially the nobles and warriors. Most of them had a much too high an opinion of themselves, Thor and his friends being some of the worst offenders in her mind. Their arrogance and treatment of others were a disgrace as far as she had been concerned and she made sure to distance herself from them whenever possible.
The warrior culture of Asgard made the biggest impact on her. Krypton had used forces of arms as a last resort when diplomatic solutions had all been exhausted. Asgardians all seemed to want nothing more than to die in battle. Heavily regulated battle. They had so many rules about fighting and what was honorable and what was not that Kara refused to learn them. She had refused to spar with Sif when Thor and the others learned she was being taught how to fight. Thor stopped asking her to join them on the training grounds when she told them the first rule in a fight was there are no rules. The final nail in her no longer being asked had been the incident with her heat vision that had nearly killed Sif when her powers had started forming. Needless to say she rarely saw Thor, Sif or the Warriors Three except at mealtimes in the hall where they proceeded to ignore her despite her status in the household.
Then there was the idea of magic, something that she had never heard of before. Magic simply didn't exist in her home dimension as far as she knew, at least the way Asgard and the other realms used it. Watching Frigga and later Loki do magic was always fascinating to her. Loki would often indulge her desire to see a spell with a smile and a little wink when she had been younger, making him something of a personal hero to her, making her feel less lonely.
She rarely interacted with the other children. At first it was because she was a bit frail after so long in stasis, but afterward it was because of the amount of learning she had to do in comparatively such a short amount of time and of course her mortality was strange to the other children. Most of her day was spent with Frigga or a tutor learning her Asgardian subjects in the morning and her Kryptonian ones in the afternoon. The information on the Kryptonian database was age limited, but a complete copy of the entire Kryptonian knowledge base. As she aged she would gain access to more knowledge, but even now after she had left Asgard for Earth it was still somewhat limited because of her age and 'need to know'.
As she got older on Asgard, her powers began to develop. Frigga had involved Loki in some of her lessons, helping her to fine tune the abilities as they grew. They had manifested like magical abilities. They grew slowly at first, but stronger as time went on. As far as they could tell being on Asgard had changed the intensity of some of the powers she was expected to develop, at least temporarily. The database had suggested she would develop stronger abilities on Midgard.
By the time she had left Asgard at seventeen she had developed her flying, speed, heat vision, and the beginnings of her ice breath. None of them were as strong as expected according to Brainiac. Her strength had not been up to the level it should be either, nor was her aging slowing as expected. She had been almost as strong as Loki physically, but nowhere near as strong as Thor as Brainiac had suggested. Frigga had advised that with Midgard's yellow sun gave off a different level of sunlight, and that perhaps the strength and longevity would increase on this Realm.
She had been right. Kara's strength had astronomically amplified after a year on Earth and her other powers also seemed to become much stronger as well. The Earth's sunlight also seemed to increase her level of healing to super speeds, even by Asgardian standards. It had also slowed her aging, in fact it had regressed her aging slightly as old injuries had healed within months of her being on Earth.
While physically nineteen, her body had not aged since she had arrived. Instead it seemed as if she was a year younger, perhaps sixteen, but her age was not regressing any more after the initial months. Brainiac had alleged this was likely to happen, but Frigga and Kara had kept that information to themselves, deciding not to share it with anyone. They were unsure how far she might regress and the idea of immortality that was tied to another Realm was a weakness Asgard's enemies should not be made aware of.
The other thing Frigga had noticed was Kara had a very small and inaccessible core of magic within her, not much more than any other 'non-magical Asgardians'. Neither had any idea why that could be if magic was unheard of on her own planet. Loki and a few other seiðr users had theorized that when she passed through the tear in the World Tree her ship had touched the Tree or its leaves itself and her body had absorbed a small bit of magic through the ship. Frigga had done some studying and come to the same conclusion. The amount of magic was so small that Kara herself couldn't use it without the aid of another seiðr user or her pendent.
Her abilities in magic were not likely to be ever really developed as magic was nearly non-existent on Midgard, and she hadn't been expected to live the several millennia it would take to master the skills needed to become good enough to cast even very minor spells. She had never made it a priority beyond gaining control of it. Loki and Frigga had told her they would be willing to visit and help her out if the need for more lessons became a necessity. At this stage she wasn't even a neophyte at magic, never mind a master of anything. All of the magic she used was tied to the Lokistone in her amulet
She looked back up at the building. Tony Stark had come out as Iron Man only three months ago. Recently he had handed over the company to Ms. Potts in all but name, she was officially the VP, but rumor had it he rarely ever was in his office. In looking into what she would need to work for such a company she had noticed their plans for the future and had an idea she wanted to propose. She not only needed money, she needed an identity. A company run by Iron Man was likely her best bet to avoid unwanted attention.
She threw out her empty coffee cup and walked into the alley to remove her disguise and placing it in her 'pocket of space' and shifting into her cape and armor. She then flew to the top of Stark Headquarters and took the stairs down to the level that the CEO and VP offices were on.
Her entrance on the floor caused a stir. Her armor was made mostly of hardened blue tinted leather, modeled after Loki's black chest piece with her family crest in gold across the chest, and her golden tinted vambraces were decorated with the etchings of the Royal house of Odin. Her cape was attached by round golden pauldrons, one with the symbol of Frigga and another to symbolize Krypton etched into each. There was a mid-thigh length deep red leather skirt instead of leather leggings with a golden weapon's belt which had her daggers attached to it. To compensate for the lack of leather on her legs she had red leather greaves on her thigh high boots. She had a helmet for combat situations. It was a reproduction of the Valkyrie's helmet, but she never wore it on Midgard.
Everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at her as she calmly walked up to Ms. Potts secretary. "Hello." She said smiling at the dumbfounded woman. "I don't have a phone so I was wondering if I can make an appointment to see Ms. Potts as soon as possible, please."
The woman clumsily reached for the phone on her desk and after a few attempts managed to ring into the office. "Ms. Potts... Supergirl is here and would like to make an appointment to see you." The woman waited a moment as Ms. Potts answered.
Kara could hear the shocked gasp through the phone. "Supergirl? Did she say why or what she is here for?" Ms. Potts sounded confused, but not concerned which made Kara smile. She was glad that Ms. Potts seemed to not be afraid of her. Too many people were still, especially when she was dressed in her armor. It was another reason why she had made sure to have the press interview, so people could know she wasn't here to hurt anyone.
"Only that she didn't have a phone and wanted an appointment to see you." The lady said as she looked up at Kara.
"I had an idea and I wanted to see if Stark Industries would be interested." Kara answered softly. The secretary relayed the information to Ms. Potts with even wider eyes as she realized Kara could hear Ms. Potts.
"Send her in… And move my next appointment back." Ms. Potts said with a calm authority that seemed to help the woman to breathe a little more calmly.
Kara smiled and let the woman lead her to the door and open it. The office was huge with bookcases lining every wall; expect the large glass one behind Ms. Potts. The redheaded woman came forward and greeted her.
"Supergirl? I'm Virginia Potts." She said as she raised her hand for Kara to take.
Kara took her hand and waited for the door to close. "Please, call me Kara. Supergirl is more than a little pretentious," She softly said with a shy smile, "and was defiantly not my idea."
Pepper gave her a warm smile and gestured for her to sit down. "Kara it is then." She moved around her desk to sit in her chair and waited for Kara to sit. "So what can I help you with? You said you had an idea that Stark Industries might be interested in?"
Kara took a deep breath. "To be honest, in order for me to stay unnoticed on Mid… I mean Earth; I will be in need of a few things." She corrected herself midway. "I don't want to be Supergirl all the time. A job is one of those things I'll need. I was hoping that I could prove useful to your company by placing your satellites in orbit for a fraction of the cost. In return I was hoping to get some help establishing an identity here on Earth and a regular job with flexible hours so I could come and go as I need to. I have quite a bit of knowledge about your level of technology, but not a lot of experience using it." She admitted with a small blush.
Pepper began to smile. She found the young woman to be very trustworthy and honest in her demeanor and her Asgardian accent was charming. "You can fly in space?"
Kara nodded with a small bashful smile. "Not for too long since I need to hold my breath. About five minutes from the time I leave the atmosphere, but that's more than enough time to place a satellite… if I leave from the right place. With a space suit and an air supply I can fly for as long as necessary. I would much prefer to have a suit for the job so it isn't rushed."
Pepper sat back and was quietly trying to hold her excitement in. "What is your educational background. I read the interview you did with the Wall Street Journal. It suggested you know advanced astrophysics and mathematics. Satellites are expensive pieces of equipment as you can imagine. I'd need to know you could place them precisely."
Kara nodded and gave her another shy smile. "I know everything a young adult Kryptonian is supposed to know before taking on an apprenticeship in their chosen field. I have researched your educational requirements of your different degrees in each field. My education level is easily the equivalent to a master's degree in all your math, and sciences. Except for your Literature and World History, I'd say I possibly have an associate college level of understanding in those, but I could increase those as well if you need me too."
Peeper sat up straighter in her chair and leaned forward trying hard to keep her expression from showing how impressed she was. "How are you at engineering?"
Kara looked a little apprehensive. "With a little studying I could be at a master's level in a few months. Building on Krypton was mostly physically done by Artificial Intelligence Drones, but city planning and design was still done by people. What I consider basic engineering was part of the mathematics I learned. That would be a little less than Masters Level. My problem would be more limiting what I know to your type of technology as Krypton used different systems."
"So AI experience…" Pepper made a note but looked pleased at her experience with technology. "And computer programming?"
Kara looked even more confused but answered her questions as honestly as she could. "Nothing as far as Earth technology is concerned. I have never needed to program anything, although I likely could, using my Kryptonian technology but the programs wouldn't be useable by your systems without doing some major conversion. The computers I use are crystal based, not metal and plastic." She didn't mention the Asgardian technology as it likely wouldn't be of use. It was also forbidden for her to mention Asgard to the Midgardians without approval from the Allfather.
Pepper sat back and smiled looking very relaxed and pleased. Kara felt her spirit's lift. Pepper looked to be very interested in her idea and it gave her hope.
"We can change that quickly and get you up to speed on Earth tech or at least Stark Tech which is slightly higher than most. In house tech is even higher than the public gets access to." Ms. Potts slowly leaned forward and began writing additional notes to herself. From where she was sitting Kara couldn't see what it said so she listened carefully. "I have a counter-proposal for you."
"Oh?" Kara questioned carefully.
Ms. Potts gave her an inviting smile. "I will give you a job, and I will get you an identity in whatever name you decide... In exchange Supergirl will place the satellites. Kara will be a personal lab assistant to Tony Stark, once you get caught up on those areas of study." She countered calmly. "Especially computer use. And you call me Pepper. It's a nickname my friends use."
Kara was extremely surprised. "What's the catch?" The situation seemed too good to be true. It was everything she's hoped for plus extra perks. Working with Tony Stark was the dream of most anybody who knew anything about engineering on the planet, and having someone as important as Pepper Potts as a friend was certainly an honor as well.
Pepper snorted but didn't laugh when she saw Kara's confusion. "Have you ever seen any non-Ironman footage of Tony?" She asked her is slight disbelief.
Kara shook her head. "I don't have a TV or phone. I just use my computers to research; I haven't really looked at any videos of people or the internet for pleasure, just a few movies for Pop Culture references such as Star Wars."
Pepper reached over to her phone. "Eveline, can you get me a full tech Stark phone and tablet for Supergirl please? And a laptop, best we have."
"Yes ma'am. The phone and tablet are already on their way up." She answered. "I'll call down for the laptop. It shouldn't be too long Ms. Potts."
"Thank you." Pepper smiled as she hung up. "I like proactive people." She turned back to Kara. "To be blunt Tony has issues that most geniuses do, and his personality is very abrasive on purpose to drive people away. I think you are one of the few people in the world he could respect." She stopped for a moment to consider something before adding. "He also has a few issues about his father that makes him even more difficult to get along with."
Kara smiled and nodded in understanding. "My brother is-" She cut herself off with a small blush at being caught saying something she shouldn't. "I mean he was like that too with most people." she looked down at her hands sadly. She missed Loki and Frigga so much today.
Pepper could tell she was hiding whom and how she'd been raised. The girl was a horrible liar, but Pepper didn't say anything to her about it. Kara's secrets were her own. She was certainly entitled to have some considering what she did for others so far. As long as those secrets didn't harm Tony or SI Pepper was content. "Do you have someplace to stay in the city?"
"No, my home is a very long way from here." She answered more secure once Pepper ignored the family slip.
"How far?" Pepper asked curiously.
"Give or take about four thousand miles," Kara deadpanned. Inwardly she waited to see how Pepper would react.
Pepper's eyes widened in shock but otherwise she didn't respond negatively. "That's quite the commute."
Kara's eyes darkened as she remembered Loki's reasoning for hiding the fortress from the humans. Without the stealth employed SHIELD and other spy agencies would likely try to take everything she owned. They would also quite possibly lock her up in a lab if they ever found a way to negate her powers. "I had to find a place that wasn't watched by your spy agencies and especially SHIELD. But it's not a long commute for me, only a few minutes." She added with a playful smirk.
Pepper nodded slowly as she returned the smile. She purposefully didn't think about where that would place her 'home'. That kind of information would have her end up in Fury's interrogation room and that was something Pepper did not want to experience. "You know Stark Industries does business with SHIELD."
Kara gave her a humorless nod. "And I know anyone I took my idea to would have to deal with SHIELD in some capacity. But while I don't watch TV for pleasure I do keep up with the important news, and your company seemed the best bet I had." She bit her lip softly. "Mr. Stark stood up to the US Government about his suit and not making weapons. I hoped that attitude will extend to not telling them Kara is Supergirl."
Pepper sat back in her chair. "I am going to get you everything you need to begin your studies, and set up an apartment here in the city for you… off the books for now."
Kara looked surprised. "You don't have to do that. If I can get the course material I can go home and study from there. Besides I can't afford to live here in New York, Pepper. All my wealth is in wergild which you don't use here on Earth." She actually also had a fortune in gold, but if she started exchanging it in the quantities she needed, she'd be very quickly found by not only SHIELD but every other government agency that could and would search for her. She could actually hurt the financial status of the world economy by dropping that much gold into the marketplace was the secondary reason she resisted the idea so far. When she had first arrived on Earth Loki had come with her to help her exchange a bit of gold for Earth currency. They had only exchanged about eighty-five thousand worth of gold in very small quantities in several different countries over the course of several months. Once she built the Fortress she hadn't needed to pay rent or hotel room costs, but she still had other expenses. So the money was nearly gone.
Pepper waved it off. "I will advance you an allowance against your first paycheck, which we should discuss. Placing a satellite in orbit costs us a minimum of fifty million dollars each, even at twenty-five percent minus production costs of the satellite you are looking at roughly ten and a half million each, and we have four that need to go up this year alone."
It was Kara's turn to be taken completely by surprise. "I don't need that much. I was thinking about fifty thousand each."
Pepper laughed at her flabbergasted expression. It made the young hero look like the young teenager she was. "No one needs that much money, but it's what you'll earn, unless you want more?"
Kara shook her head frantically. "How would I even be able to legally earn it? Supergirl is an alien, and I don't have a past or a Social Security Number."
Pepper smiled at her sat back further in her chair. "We can arrange for it to be placed in an account for your use only within Stark Industries. We can also arrange for some of the money to be placed in several accounts after we get your identity set-up. We also will not advertise that Supergirl is working with Stark Industries; instead it can be for services rendered by your secret identity. We'll set up times and places and clear the area for your launch dates. Only a few will know and they will be sworn to secrecy. That should buy you a little time to establish Kara separate from Supergirl."
Kara sighed gratefully. "I accept as long as the apartment rent is accounted for too, and the price of making my identity as real and legal as possible."
Pepper gave her a warm genuine smile while nodding slowly. It was nice to deal with someone so honest after dealing with government officials and two-faced board members all day. "Do you have a name you want to use?"
Kara bit her lip, she knew she was going to need to trust someone on the planet with her details and so far Pepper was going out of her way to be accommodating. "My real name is Kara Zor El Friggadötter."
Pepper was both confused and surprised by the complete name. The Zor El was alien enough but the last bit... "The last name is Norwegian, is it not?"
Kara chuckled softly. "Close… It's Old Norse actually."
"But you're from Krypton." She said as her brows came together. "Why would you have an Earth name?"
Kara bit her lip, looking down and blushing she answered quietly. "I'm not allowed to say any more about that. I'm sorry."
Pepper nodded her head slowly as her mind tried both to figure out the mystery and to ignore it, so she wouldn't be visited by Fury. "I can understand that." And she did. She had millions of secrets she couldn't tell people. Mostly Tony's secrets, but she understood a need to know situation. When it came to Kara's past, she didn't need to know. It was likely Kara was protecting someone or several people. She certainly could understand that considering the situations she'd been in after Tony returned from Afghanistan. It was most likely a family who had found her and helped her out the past several years. The name Frigga was gnawing at her, like she knew it. "I think staying with the first name Kara would be a good idea. You'll answer to it naturally."
Kara sighed with relief when Pepper accepted the secrecy, and nodded her agreement. "I really don't know what to use as a last name however. I suppose I could use Friggadötter."
Pepper laughed as a wicked thought past through her head. "I am almost tempted to use Stark just to play with the press and of course Tony's mind. I've had to deal with many women over the years claiming to have been impregnated by him... And we'll need a disguise to keep people from the press putting together that Kara is Supergirl."
Kara gave her an evil smirk she'd picked up from Loki. She stood then activated the glamor of her human illusion in her pendent before she looked back up at Pepper. "How is this?" Standing there in a simple white shirt and long grey pencil skirt with black high heels was a lean, tall woman with thick long black hair pulled back behind her ears, and piercing green eyes. Her face was just a shade thinner than Kara's natural features, but it was enough that a facial recognition program wouldn't put them together. No one could mistake the dark hair woman in front of her with Supergirl; even her height was slightly altered.
Pepper covered her mouth with a gasp before she laughed out loud. "Oh with that hair color, I think we could easily make people think you could be Tony's daughter if we wanted to. And with your age, and the degrees we are going to get..." She smiled smugly, her chuckle too bright to be called sinister, but Kara was glad to hear the mischief in it. "I think we are going to do this, but we'll say you have no relation… But the jokes will be fun. Plus if Kara is in the spotlight as 'Tony's possible and secret illegitimate daughter' no one will think twice about you and Supergirl. Your secret identity will be too high profile, but we can fake footage as needed to cover for both Kara and Supergirl to make sure we keep you safe."
Kara deactivated the illusion and sat back down. "Oh this will definitely be fun." She chuckled softly. Her pranks on Asgard had never been malicious, unlike Loki's tended to be. She had always been trying to produce embarrassment in her victims, not complete humiliation.
"Yes, I'll set you up in our penthouse on 67th. I rarely use that one since it doesn't have as good view compared to the others, but it does have a large private balcony for you to come and go from." Pepper said thoughtfully. "Once you are ready let me know. I'll check in with you every few days or so. We'll see how you are doing. And I'll get your account setup and have everything by started by tomorrow."
Kara stood and shook Pepper's hand. "I really can't thank you enough for all this."
"It's my pleasure. Once you're settled we can go out for dinner and get to know each other better as friends." She said with a large smile. Being thought of as Tony's side piece had been a limiting factor in making friends since she had become Tony's assistant. She was looking forward to getting to know Kara better even if she was ten years younger than herself.
Kara beamed at the use of the word friends. Friends beyond family had been something she'd been without for a long time. "I'd like that Pepper."
Dec 15, 2010 (Three months later)
Surprisingly there wasn't that much to learn as far as engineering went. She already knew the hardest parts of the engineering textbooks. The toughest and most boring part was learning the Earth jargon for everything and their measurement systems. Metric took an hour, Imperial still made no sense to her but she understood it easily enough.
The computer programing information was much harder, but she now knew how to take a computer apart and read basic code, without breaking anything. She was no hacker by any stretch but she could read a very basic program now. Pepper had only wanted her to understand how to use a regular computer and the holographic interface she had brought over. The AI based technology was different as it required both touching and voice commands. It took a few days for her to remember to touch the holographic displays with the right amount of pressure. At least they weren't breakable.
Her new identity was Kara Aurora Stark. She was born July first nineteen ninety-four, making her identity sixteen, since that was how old she looked. Aging herself was going to be in issue that could be put off for a while, since she would need Loki to adjust the shapeshifting spell to do it. Kara never asked who Pepper had arranged to create her identity and Pepper never offered it.
Pepper had set her up with MIT. They required her to take the final exams for all the courses before they were willing to supply her with her master's degrees in engineering, mathematics and astrophysics (with a full tuition payment and a large donation from Stark Industries, which Kara insisted she pay for). She had passed with an A average and was given the degrees with no fanfare to draw attention to her.
Kara had placed the first satellite last week. With it fully operational she was now in the black and no longer dependent on Pepper's generosity. Even with all the costs of setting her identity up, and buying the New York penthouse apartment from Stark Industries, Kara still had over four million dollars in her account. Pepper had attributed her "payout" for services rendered in 'consultation of cost saving initiatives' and a new computer program that Tony had actually written with the help of JARVIS. She said the subterfuge was to hide some of the future payouts to Supergirl as 'royalties' and that Tony wouldn't care that she got the credit for the program.
Right now everything had to seem aboveboard and fudging of where funds where coming from could come later. Also it was easier to move Tony's money around to create her a 'Trust Fund' than it was to use Stark Industries accounts for the first while. Kara had paid the money Pepper had appropriated from Tony with gold bullion from her Wergild since Tony having that kind of personal gold reserves wouldn't hurt the economy or create questions as she wasn't likely to spend it before Kara could buy it back a little at a time with each satellite placement.
She had also spent some time doing research on Tony Stark. The older webpages looked like a porn search. It consisted of a list of who he'd been with, and there were photos with lots of blurred out spots when he'd been caught without clothing by paparazzi. The newer stuff was mostly on Iron Man, his kidnapping and the death of Obadiah Stane.
So with her new degrees and her new Identity as Kara Stark she walked with Pepper into the Malibu home of Tony. Pepper was a little scary today. She was getting into the idea of this prank a little too enthusiastically.
They walked into Tony's lab and Kara took a moment to take in all the beyond state-of-the-art equipment and the robots that buzzed around the workshop. Tony himself had his back to them and was talking to his AI unit JARVIS about what changes he was devising to what looked like one of his suits.
"Tony." Pepper called out to him. "I have someone here for you to meet."
Tony turned and looked her over before dismissing her and turning back around. "Not interested."
"Too bad Tony, she's your new assistant." Pepper said calmly but her face was just a little too bright. "Her name is Kara Stark."
Tony, who had already started absently to wave them away again, froze. He slowly turned around and looked her over more intently. "You ran all the tests I assume." He asked sternly and with some concern now. Pepper had never brought one of his 'children' to him before; none had ever passed the paternity testing. Despite being drunk half his adult life he'd always been careful to keep his own supply of condoms on hand so situations like this were not likely to happen.
"No need to." Pepper said off-handedly waving her hand back at him, as he had started to do. Kara nearly snorted at the mimicry. "She is not related to you, nor claiming to be." Pepper said with a smirk. Her eyes were dancing with mirth and Kara knew she'd asked JARVIS to record Tony's face as she did this little act. Kara had to admit the look of shock on his face was really funny. "She does however have degrees in astrophysics, math and engineering from MIT. She is too brilliant to let go and too good to waste in regular R and D." She glared at him sternly and Tony flinched slightly at the look before turning his attention back to Kara, looking very closely at her face, before he leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms.
Stark sarcastically asked. "How old are you? Twelve?"
"I am sixteen." Kara told him firmly. It was kind of true to had told herself as she prepared for this encounter. Physically I am sixteen, she had repeated to herself often so she wouldn't give the prank up too early.
"When did you start at MIT? The dean would have mentioned a prodigy in his halls at the last party we attended." He stated flatly with fist tightening and his chest puffed up, drawing attention to his glowing chest. Kara could hear the hum of the arc reactor and see the indent in his shirt and the lights where the device sat.
Kara smiled at Pepper. "Four months ago. I was home schooled before that."
Tony's jaw dropped and his arms slackened. "Home-schooled? Who the hell were your teachers?"
Kara looked to Pepper. She laughed and nodded encouragingly to Kara. "He'll need to know. And if he ever read the legal papers I placed in front of him he'd already know since he had to sign off on the satellite placement deal, and the gold. You can trust him, I promise."
Tony didn't look all that impressed so Kara magically let her glamor go and faded into her Supergirl armor. Once more Tony was completely flabbergasted. "You're Supergirl? The flying alien girl."
Kara nodded bashfully. "Yeah, not too fond of that name to be honest. My name on Krypton was Kara Zor El. And I'm nineteen, I think. There was a bit of an accident with my space craft while I was in stasis. I should have arrived here in in the fifties or sixties so we aren't sure exactly how old I am."
Pepper snapped around to face Kara. "What about the Norse name?"
"Norse name?" Tony asked looking completely bewildered for a moment as he looked back and forth between the two women.
"Friggadötter, I got that when I was fostered. I was only seven when the planet of Krypton blew up and my ship kept me in stasis until I was found." Kara admitted. "I was… somewhere else before I came to Midgard… I mean Earth, but I can't talk about it."
"Other planets. We knew about that." Tony said thinking deeply looking at her. "Obviously," He said waving at her absently referring to the fact she herself was alien.
"So I am going to let you guys get acquainted." Pepper said as she began to walk out of the room. She stopped and handed two keys to Kara. "Here are the keys for the small house I showed you on the way in. That is now yours and the route for the tunnels should be sound according to JARVIS, just please don't deviate near the cliff. And keys to the front door to the mansion here. If you need anything you have my personal number or JARVIS can help you."
A voice for the ceiling answered. "It will be my pleasure to assist you Ms. Stark."
"Thanks Pepper… JARVIS" Kara said softly. Pepper waved happily and left.
Kara and Tony looked at each other for several minutes before he finally shook his head and told her to sit. "So I guess we should get to know each other." Kara shifted back into the Stark persona gave him a nervous nod.