It was about half past twelve when Claire found herself in the line at Taco Bell. She didn't like the smell of the 'chicken' that was frying in the back in what looked like an ocean of yellow grease. The people in front of her were impatiently chattering, talking about the latest films they had seen or just complaining about the sweltering heat and yes, Taco Bell itself.
Why wait for the food if you don't like it?
Claire thought to herself, thinking of the endless amount of fast delivery and endless drive thru windows that National City had to offer in the future. In her future.
"Won't be long now." Claire mumbled to herself as she patted the leather satchel situated around her shoulder that held the Larmatte stone wrapped carefully in Lena's gym bag. Reign's fortress was still standing, and it was almost too easy to retrieve a chunk of it without anyone looking. The DEO guards that 2018 J'onn had placed there as security were playing on their phones, trying to beat each other out of a high score. They hadn't even noticed her presence, and Claire congratulated herself in her mind; she had achieved a point in her depression where no one was noticing her – excellent!
"Next!" The sad lady behind the till practically shouted at Claire, looking her body up and down and chuckling at her outfit. Claire had forgotten to change out of the suit that Winn had made for her. Alex had packed an old plaid flannel and black leggings for her to change in to if she had to go anywhere, but Claire was so set on getting back to the future that she had forgotten the blue suit that was cinched tightly around her body with the faded 'S' on the front.
"Hello," Claire said in a soft voice, unsure if people talked differently in 2018. "A chicken burrito, extra salsa, and a few packets of hot sauce."
The lady, whose name tag read 'Beth', stood and stared at Claire, chewing a piece of gum out of the corner of her mouth. Claire thought the girl needed a haircut as her bangs hung too far over her icy blue eyes, and the large tattoo that clung to her neck was out of sorts.
"What's with the suit?" Beth asked instead of typing in Claire's order on the screen in front of her.
"Cosplay," Claire answered quickly. "It was supposed to be Supergirl's suit but, things didn't go as planned," she stood and looked at Beth, hoping for a response. It didn't come. "Chicken burrito, please."
Beth shook her head and slowly entered in Claire's order on the screen. "That's super weird, looks nothing like Supergirl's outfit. Are you at that creepy event down the road at that strip club? I've seen a few slutty Supergirl's come in. You sure as hell don't look like those girls."
"Give me a bottle of Vodka and maybe I will be." A few people behind Claire stifled a laugh and Beth managed a chuckle herself.
"Ten fifty."
"That's it?" Claire said, thinking about the inflation of fast food that she was used to. A ten dollar difference over twenty-seven years.
"That's a chicken burrito. For here or to go?"
Claire laughed to herself. "To go, please."
Claire watched as Beth fiddled with the cash she had handed her and stuffed it messily into the drawer of her till. Just as she was being given an order number, the double doors to the joint swung open behind her, glass shattering as the doors were blown off the hinges and struck the walls to the side.
Instantly, there was chaos.
Patrons of the restaurant dove behind booths and shielded themselves with plastic trays. Food from every corner hit the floor, smearing orange hot sauce on the faded linoleum. A man, or rather, Claire thought it was a man, charged into the store with what looked to be a large purple gun slung over his shoulder. He wasn't human, that's for sure. Six spiked horns lined his bald scalp and his hands looked as if they had been beaten and tortured and left badly bruised with only three fingers webbed into each other. He took the gun from off his shoulder and held it steadily. Claire assessed that the gun was made for him with no actual trigger, but a button on the side where his webbed fingers could reach it.
The deranged alien looked at Beth and took a step towards her. "I'm robbing you." He said with a laugh, pointing his gun at the cash register.
Claire remembered being in stores with her mother when she was younger, and on occasion they would come across a shop lifter or a robbery in process. Kara had been so confident and elegant even in times of distress.
"Stay right where you are and don't draw attention to yourself. I'll be right back." Kara had told Claire on one particular night when they had decided to go grocery shopping later in the evening. It hadn't been an alien that was robbing the local small town store, but a man in a black ski mask with a loaded automatic gun. To Claire, that was scarier than any alien her mother had ever spoken to her about.
Kara quickly sped down an aisle, changing into her suit she always seemed to have kept hidden underneath her clothing. Claire noticed that she would always emerge dramatically from a window, the roof, or even the back door. She would then proceed to run at the target with her full force, and in situations with guns she would always bend the barrel back with the flick of her wrist, as if it were as easy as turning on a light switch.
After it was over, Supergirl would disappear and Kara would appear by Claire's side, bending down to her level, checking her over for any scrapes or cuts. Claire had always loved moments like those because not only had her mother saved everyone in the building, but she always bent down to kiss Claire's forehead and ruffle her hair. It always made her feel like she was loved more than anybody else on the planet. In the entire universe.
"What are you looking at?" The six horned alien grunted, startling Claire back into her current reality. She realized that she had spaced out, that Beth was slowly and shakily unloading the cash register into a brown sack that the bad man had provided.
Be like Mom, just, stay calm and treat everyone with respect.
"What's your name?" Was the first thing that came out of her mouth, and it didn't sound nice. Others in the restaurant were cowering and filming the scenario as evidence for the police.
"Oliver."
"Really?" Claire laughed. "That's so normal! I was expecting something whacky like… I don't know… something I can't pronounce?"
Oliver took a step closer to her, his warm breath creating a shower of rotten eggs on Claire's face. "And who are you supposed to be? Supergirl?"
Claire's fists tightened as she tried to ignore the anxiety slowly creeping into her chest. "No, definitely not."
Claire's fist met with the alien's face, sending him crashing into the deep fryer behind the counter. Many citizens screamed, others gasped in recognition of a new mysterious superhero in town. Although, as one man pointed out underneath a booth, that Claire did indeed look more like an antihero than a superhero. Her attitude sure implied it.
Feeling the deep electric pulse of adrenaline run through her veins, Claire shot up through the roof of Taco Bell with every intention to come in at full speed ahead towards her target; just like she had seen Kara do. The only thing that was different? She had forgotten she was half human.
Claire pounded again through the roof of Taco Bell, tasting the aroma of burning tatter tots and fresh blood. She had full intentions on landing on her feet and giving Oliver the swift round-house kick to the balls that he so rightfully deserved, but instead, she landed flat on her face.
"FUCK!" Claire screamed as she heard the snap and pop of her right arm as it violently tore itself free from the socket and white bone forced its way up through her skin. Beside her, Oliver had freed himself from the deep fryer, multiple burns starting to show through his purple skin. He grabbed his ray gun from the ground and pointed it against Claire's head. She could hear the whirring and humming as it generated its next blast from within. She closed her eyes, accepting her fate.
"No," Oliver murmured. "Definitely not Supergirl."
Before Claire could say a prayer or curse the world, another explosion was heard from the back of the room and through her blurred vision, Claire saw the gun practically obliterate to pieces in front of her, black dust falling in small particles on her face. Oliver groaned and Claire could hear the sounds of kicking, punching, grunting, swearing and she could also make out Beth in the background eating part of the chicken burrito she had ordered.
"Bitch." Claire whispered, barely getting the words out without feeling every rib in her body shift. She wheezed and coughed, red liquid seeping through her lips. This was the end, she was sure of it.
"Alright, we have him detained, get him back to the DEO for further questioning."
She swore that it was J'onn's voice, but what would J'onn be doing here? He should've been off on another assignment. Claire groaned; she had altered reality, and it was too late to go back. She thought of her ship cloaked near Reign's hideout a block away, and how she just had to crawl back to it and zap herself back into her era. They could take care of her injuries there, she didn't need to stay.
Claire began to stand, swearing and screaming as she went. She couldn't fully stand, but a halfway crawl would do her just as well. She had gotten halfway across the lobby when another person grabbed her hand, stopping her. The person bent down to her level and looked her deep in the eyes. Instantly, Claire wanted to cry, vomit, shout, curse, scream and punch a wall all at once. Those same eyes had rocked her to sleep, sung her lullabies when she was scared and brought her so much joy and happiness when everything else seemed so wrong. Claire imagined she was small again in that grocery store, waiting for her mother to come back and bend down to her level to kiss her forehead and ruffle her hair.
Kara stared at the newcomer dressed in a mock Supergirl outfit covered in blood. She didn't know what to think, but the thought of what she actually was never once crossed her mind. Carefully, she slid Claire into her arms, cradling her into a gentle place where she could nod off and be relieved from the pain.
Although unconscious, Claire had the distant feeling of being flown through the air and feeling at peace, as if nothing else could harm her ever again. For the first time in a decade, she relaxed her muscles and succumbed into a deep dark pit of love.
While the young Kryptonian slept, the monitor behind her bed beeped steadily and carefully, monitoring her vitals and her breathing. Alex stood by her bed, referencing a chart on an old chewed up clipboard. She bit her lip, puzzled by what the data was telling her. A knock startled her out of her thoughts as she looked to see who was entering.
"How's the mysterious newcomer doing?" Kara asked, looking over her sister's list at what the chart depicted.
"She needs a blood transfusion?" Kara questioned, not completely understanding all of the medical notes on Alex's sheet.
Alex nodded. "She lost a lot of blood. I can't tell if she dropped through the ceiling or was thrown through it by that alien. The girl at the counter had told us that she was attending some sort of convention, which sort of explains the weird dystopian Supergirl outfit, but what it doesn't explain is how she was able to punch Oliver into the deep fryer like that. It's just impossible."
"So she's not human?"
Alex shook her head. "That's the thing. Half of her blood cells are registering her as human, and the other half are trying to repair and replenish themselves. I gave her a transfusion of regular A+ blood, but she still needs an extra boost. I just don't know what alien I can draw it from."
Kara crossed the room, pacing, trying to think of an alternative to save this stranger who had tried to keep all of those citizens in that Taco Bell safe. She looked at the girl with great interest, and pain struck her heart. Besides the deep gashes and the bruises, this girl looked like she was in more emotional pain than physical. The bags under her eyes were tell-tale signs of severe stress, and based on the bite marks on her lips Kara assumed this girl had severe anxiety. She shrugged it off; perhaps she was just going through a bad break up. On the table next to her, Kara noticed the brown leather satchel.
"What's in the bag?" Kara asked, stepping towards it.
"I haven't gone through it yet. It cleared security scans though, there's no weapon or anything harmful."
Kara slowly crossed the room, drawing nearer to the bag. She traced her fingers along the smooth surface and began to unbuckle the straps. As she opened it, she laughed. She slowly brought the heavy gym bag out of satchel and showed it to Alex.
"Did Lena open up a gym? That's a new investment."
Alex chuckled. "Maybe it's new or a prototype. I haven't heard anything from her about a gym."
Before Kara could investigate further into the bag, Claire's hand suddenly tightened around Kara's wrist and pulled her closer to her. The machine began to beep wildly, her heart rate increasing. In Claire's mind, she couldn't see straight, didn't know who she was grabbing or speaking to. Her head throbbed and her entire body ached.
"Ow!" Kara gasped, surprised at the amount of strength the mysterious newcomer was able to emulate. Claire tried to form words with her lips as Alex ran across the room to grab another bag of blood and a large needle that Kara didn't like the look of.
"Help… Me…" Claire whispered, finding a small amount of her voice within her body.
"We're trying to, we're going to. I need you to tell me what type of alien you are so we can give you a proper blood transfusion."
"No," Claire gasped, remember what everyone in her time and told her. Do not reveal yourself. "I don't need it."
"Yes, you do, you're going to die without it!"
Claire paused, thinking about her options. If she died, her future would be ruined and her entire family and friends would be gone in a blink of an eye. She would be stuck in 2018. She looked at the blonde blur that her eyes saw in front of her and took a deep breath in.
"Kryptonian. The alien in me is Kryptonian."
Kara looked to Alex who was returning with all the necessary tools who hadn't heard the surprising response Kara had received.
"Kara you're probably not going to want to stay for this," Alex said, busying herself with attaching different tubes and needles into Claire's body. "It's going to be gross."
"Alex," Kara whispered, an unknown emotion filling her body. "You need to give her my blood."
"What?" Alex said, stunned.
"She's half Kryptonian."
Both sisters continued to stare at the girl in disbelief, thinking of all of the possible reasons why this young woman would be half human and half Kyptonian. For the time being, they didn't have time to ponder.
Chaos filled the room once again but this time, there was hope.
I guarantee from now on there will be consistent updates. I've had a tough go with jobs and depression, but I think I've started to turn my life around. I'm writing a book and I'm sort of using this Fanfiction as a warm up before I do my own writing, and it's been helping a lot! I already have the next chapter written as well. Stay tuned!