Chapter 3

Hal Cooper came to a stop just short of Knott's Bridge. He didn't know what had happened all he knew was that the police had told him that Betty was involved. The bridge was blocked by a police car and there was a fire truck and ambulance on the other side. Hal got out of his car and ran across the bridge.

"Betty? Betty?" he called out.

"I'm right here dad," Betty replied.

Hal saw that she was talking with a police officer and he ran over to his daughter. The police officer nodded that he was finished to Betty and she turned and hugged her father.

"What happened?" Hal asked.

"I, uh, helped somebody who was in an accident," Betty replied.

Hal glanced over to see the car upside down partially in the creek. He took note of the ripped off door and looked up at the bridge where the car had gone through.

"What really happened here?" Hal asked in a whisper.

Betty looked around to make sure nobody was listening in.

"The girl driving the car hit me," Betty responded. "I'm perfectly fine though."

"You're sure?" Hal asked.

"Not a scratch on me," Betty replied. "But there's something you should know…"

Before Betty could continue another man came over followed by Veronica. He had grey hair and wore glasses and an expensive navy suit.

"So you're the one who rescued my daughter," the man said.

"And who are you?" Hal asked.

"Hiram Lodge," the man responded. "And I believe I should thank you for raising such an upstanding young woman."

"I was just trying to do the right thing like anyone would have," Betty mumbled.

"Nonsense my dear," Hiram said. "Unfortunately this day in age most people wouldn't have reacted as you did, and I'd have gotten a call that my daughter had died in an accident not just that she had been in one."

Betty blushed and looked down at her feet, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Let us thank you for saving my life," Veronica said. "Why don't you and your family come over to our house for dinner?"

"We've already got plans for tonight," Hal said.

"Well perhaps tomorrow night then?" Hiram suggested.

"Yeah, we'll think about it," Hal replied.

"Well here's my card, call me," Hiram said holding out a business card.

Hal took the card and glanced at briefly before putting it in his pocket. He then grabbed Betty by the arm and led her back to his car without another word.

"That was kind of rude dad," Betty said.

"You don't want to associate with people like the Lodges," Hal said. "They profited on the disaster that hit the town on the day you arrived. They turned it into a multi-billion dollar fortune."

Betty knew about the Lodge's and where there money had come from. What struck her as odd was that her father had said arrived instead of born.

"What do you mean arrived dad?" Betty asked.

Hal sighed; he had been dreading this day but he knew that he would have to tell Betty eventually.

"Get in the car," he said. "We're going for a drive."

The car ride was awkwardly silent. Betty wasn't entirely sure where they were going at first as her father was driving away from Riverdale out into the country. However as they turned down a familiar rural road Betty soon realized where they were and moments later they turned down the driveway to a farm.

"Why are we at Grandma and Grandpa Munroe's farm?" Betty asked.

The farm belonged to her mother's parents. Grandma Munroe had died back when Betty was only five years old and Grandpa Munroe had developed Alzheimer's and had been living in an assisted living facility for the past two years. The farm house wasn't being used and the neighbour was being allowed to use the fields.

"You'll see," Hal replied as he came to stop beside the farm house.

He got out of the car and Betty followed him still confused. He walked behind the house where the barns were. There were two of them, the new barn which had been constructed shortly after Betty had been born, and the old barn which was falling apart. Hal led Betty over to the old barn and went inside.

The barn was pretty dirty and for the most part empty with the exception of some very rusted old farm equipment and something that was covered by a filthy canvas tarp. Hal walked over to the tarp and yanked it off. Betty starred at what was underneath it confused.

It was egg shaped and black but the back of it had a pair of small fins. Betty slowly walked around it and saw that it had what looked like a trio of small rockets on the back, but they didn't look like anything she had seen before. It looked like something from a science fiction movie, like a space pod or something.

"I don't get it dad," Betty said.

Hal didn't answer instead he just placed a hand on the side of the pod. Suddenly it hissed and the top opened to reveal a compartment that was perhaps large enough to hold a baby, maybe a toddler. Just then an image of a transparent woman appeared in mid-air hovering just above the pod. Betty wasn't sure why but something about her seemed very familiar.

"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."

And then the image of the woman vanished.

"Dad… what's going on?" Betty asked slowly.

"Betty, the day of the meteor shower, you weren't born." Hal struggled to explain. "Your mother was pregnant, and the shock of our house being struck by a meteor forced her into labour. Our daughter was stillborn."

Betty was confused, none of this made any sense.

"However it turns out that it wasn't a meteor that struck our house, it was this… ship," Hal continued. "And inside it was you."

"What are you saying dad?" Betty asked tears welling up in her eyes.

"Your mother and I, we had been excited to have a daughter, and then we'd lost her only for you to show up immediately afterwards, it was like a miracle," Hal said.

But that wasn't the answer Betty had wanted.

"Dad… are you saying… are you saying I'm an alien?" Betty asked as she choked back tears.

"If that message is to be believed… yes," Hal replied on the verge of tears himself.

Betty stood there in stunned silence, her mouth hanging open. It was like a bomb had gone off. Hal stepped over and hugged her while Betty just stood there staring at the space ship.

"That's why your middle name is Kara," Hal explained. "And I think that's why you've always felt weak around the meteor rocks. I think they're from your planet, perhaps why it was destroyed and that's probably why they make you feel weak."

"So that… that was my birth mother?" Betty asked.

"Yes, and you look so much like her," Hal replied.

"So why is the ship… my ship… hidden here in Grandpa's old barn?" Betty asked.

"Because if anybody knew we had an alien baby they would have taken you away from us," Hal replied. "From the moment your mother and I first saw you we knew that you were our daughter."

Betty smiled and hugged her father.

"Oh, ow, too tight Betty!" Hal grunted.

"Oh sorry," Betty apologized.

"It's alright," Hal said.

Betty stepped past her father and knelt down beside the ship. It was hard to believe that she had once been small enough to fit inside it, let alone that it had carried her here from another planet. She placed a hand on the ship and suddenly it began to hum.

"Uh, what's happening?" Betty asked standing up and backing away.

"I… I don't know," Hal stammered. "The only thing it had ever done before was play that message from your mother."

Suddenly the ship began hovering a few feet above the barn floor.

"Hello Kara," a voice came from the ship.

Betty and Hal both looked at each other confused.

"What's going on?" Betty asked. "Why are you calling me that?"

"You are Kara Zor-El, daughter of Zor-El and Alura In-Ze," the ship replied.

"How… how do you know?" Betty asked nervously.

"I have been programmed to protect you on this planet and to teach you about your heritage." The ship replied. "Now come with me."

The ship turned and its engines began to glow.

"No," Betty said.

The engines dimmed and ship turned back around.

"No?" the ship asked.

"I'm not going anywhere," Betty said. "I don't care where I was from this is my home now and this is father and I'm leaving with him, not you."

"Very well, if you will not come willingly I will make you," the ship said.

Suddenly a yellow beam shot from the nose of ship striking Betty and making her drop to her knees.

"Betty!" Hal exclaimed.

Without thinking of his own safety Hal stepped in between Betty and ship the beam striking him. Betty recovered almost immediately and saw her father struggling and crying out in pain. In a split second she leapt over him and kicked down on the ship causing the nose to slam into the ground. The ship then stopped humming and fell to the ground with a clang. Betty stared at it for a second, but it seemed to be offline. She then turned around to her father.

"Dad are you alright?" Betty asked.

"It hurts but I think I'll be okay," he replied as he climbed to his feet.

"Come on let's get out of here," Betty said.

They covered the ship back up with the tarp and went back to the car.

"Today has been a crazy day dad," Betty said as she got into the passenger seat.

"That it has," Hal agreed.

"I just want you to know that I meant what I said in there," Betty told him. "It doesn't matter where I came from or who my birth parents are; you are my father, mom is my mother and Polly is my sister."

"What about Chic?" Hal asked.

"Eh, I guess he can be my brother," Betty said with a laugh.

The car ride home was far less awkward than the one out to the farm had been.

I noticed that I had posted chapter 4 twice and left this one out, that has been fixed