Chapter 71: A Day in the Life: Kona

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.

She moved through the house without wanting to, her mind but a helpless passenger in her own body. She approached her brother from behind, trying to shout a warning to him, but her lips refused to move. When he finally turned around, she slugged him with her full power, sending him flying off into the sky.

Looking to the side, she saw Martha and Jonathan watching her, their faces filled with fear and horror. Using her super speed, she was right in front of them before they could even blink. Her hands flashed forward, palms flat against their chests. She screamed in denial as she felt her tactile telekinetic powers activate, energy surging out through her palms and...

With a start Kona came awake, breathing heavily. Just a dream, she reminded herself. Nothing but a dream. She had not hurt Martha or Jonathan and Clark had recovered from her attack without any lasting damage. Everything was fine. The chip was gone from her body. No one could control her again, never again. She was safe to be around.

She needed almost a full minute until her heartbeat finally slowed down to normal levels.

A quick shower and fresh clothes sufficed to chase the memories of bad dreams away and she was ready to greet the day. Walking down the stairs and towards the kitchen, she caught the tail end of the conversation between Clark and mom.

"You do the crime, you do the time," mom told Clark, ruffling his hair. She had to bite back a grin at the affronted look on his face.

"As long as it's not time travel," Kona chirped, announcing her arrival and plopping down into the chair beside Clark.

"You're just jealous," Clark told her, smirking. Well, yes, she was. Who wouldn't want to time travel to the 30th century and have adventures with future super heroes? Well, this called for an adult response. She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Behave, children," mom reminded them both as they all sat down at the breakfast table. "You still planning on that visit, Kona?"

"Yeah," Kona said, recalling her plans for the day. "Not really sure why I bother, but..."

"It's okay. You do what you need to do, baby girl!"

Jonathan came in at that point, fresh eggs from the barn in tow. The Kent family settled down for breakfast and Kona allowed herself to forget her worries and nightmares. Nothing but dreams, nothing to worry about. Her family was safe.

Two hours later Kona was sitting in a classroom and doing her merry best not to fall asleep. Not because she was tired, mind you, but rather because the teacher's droning voice refused to say anything even remotely interesting. Last weekend she had been studying Kryptonian crystal growth patterns in order to help her mom reverse-engineer the technology for use in advanced Earth-built computer systems. Today? She was being lectured about the difference between direct and alternating current.

It was not that Kona did not like school as such. As someone who had never had much opportunity to be among kids her own (apparent) age, she enjoyed the social component. She made friends easily, though being the daughter of one of Smallville's most famous citizens helped, of course. Everyone knew about Karen Kent, teenage mother, and Smallville's richest woman, even if no one was quite sure what she actually did for a living (something with computers, right?) or how rich she really was.

During her first few weeks here, Kona had to tell her cover story about a dozen times. Parents died in a fire, closest living relative was Karen Kent through her mother Alya Jones, so she came here to Smallville. Thankfully, the novelty had worn off and now Kona was simply another freshman student here at Smallville High.

So yes, Kona enjoyed school as a social exercise, but when it came to actually learning something, it was not much of a rewarding experience so far. When Cadmus had created her, they had also supplied her with a solid education, probably supplied subliminally during the time she had matured in the cloning cylinder. There were some gaps, naturally, especially when it came to things like art, music, philosophy and such, but Kona had begun to rapidly close those gaps even before coming to school. That, plus her extracurricular education with her mom, meant that there was very little she could actually learn here.

"Are you paying attention, Ms. Jones?" the teacher asked, wrenching her out of her thoughts.

"Sure thing, Ms. Meyer," she replied, smiling brightly.

"Then I am sure you can answer the question I just asked?"

Kona grinned, accurately answering the teacher's rather simple question about direct current without even breaking stride. Ms. Meyer looked a bit miffed, but had to concede that she was one hundred percent right.

After class was over Kona met up with her friends Dolly and Jen for lunch. The two girls were as different as night and day, Dolly being a short, curvy Latina, while Jen was a tall, lean, freckled ginger. Nevertheless, she liked the two of them and the three girls had quickly become friends during the last few months.

"I thought Ms. Meyer was going to put you in detention, she look so grim," Dolly said, laughing.

"Well, she can hardly put me in detention for correctly answering her questions, can she?" Kona replied, giggling.

"Hope your brain hasn't drained all your brawn," Jen told her. "I expect you to give me a bit of a challenge on the track after lunch."

Jen was an athlete through and through, she lived and breathed sports. Of course, Kona could easily have beaten her in any and all physical activities, but that was one of the first things mom and Clark had drilled into her head before she had been sent to school: do not show off! Or at least not in any way that made people suspect she might have super powers. Showing off her smarts was fine, but no super-sonic running around the field.

Clark had told her that he had done a lot of sports as a kid, even entertained the notion of becoming a football player, but then his powers had started to kick in. Slowly, in his case, but eventually he had to stop playing for fear of hurting someone else. He still participated in all the mandatory stuff, but was careful to remain unremarkable.

Ending up with Jen as a friend had actually been a blessing for Kona in that regard (apart from really liking the girl, too). Jen was her measuring stick when it came to all things sports and she ensured that she always remained slightly behind her friend and pretended to be out of breath when Jen was. So far it was working like a charm and Jen was happy to have someone who could (almost) keep up with her, too.

"Just my luck to be friends with two jocks," Dolly sighed dramatically. Her other friend was not a fan of sports of any kind.

"Just your luck that you are friends with your big crush's sister and it's not availing you anything," Jen shot back, grinning, and motioned over to another table where Clark was sitting with Lana and several of their friends.

"I keep telling you, there is nothing going on between Clark and Lana," Kona replied, even as Dolly was busy making mooneyes at Clark.

"Not buying it," Jen said between chews. "No boy and girl can hang out that much without something going on. Unless Clark is into boys?"

"He is not," Kona replied, having learned of Clark's unrequited crush on the Gotham heroine known as Batgirl. "Can't speak for Lana, though."

"Oh, she is so into Clark," Jen told her. "Just watch her when Clark is not looking!"

Kona did and had to admit, there was something weird in Lana's eyes whenever she looked at Clark. She remembered the strong reaction Lana had had when she had first met Kona, before knowing that she was Clark's sister. She had tried to explain it as being afraid of losing her best friend, but maybe it had been more than that?

"Wanna hang out after school?" Dolly asked, trying to change the topic.

"Sorry, can't," Kona told her.

"Ah, right," Jen nodded. "Another visit to the sperm donor, right?"

Kona had given her friends a modified version of the truth. Yes, her parents had died in a fire. Yes, Karen Kent was her closest living relative. Yes, she had recently found out that her dead father was not actually her father, and that her biological father (well, genetic material contributor, at least) still lived, but was in prison. She had made him out as a tax-cheating businessman, though, not a murderous megalomaniacal businessman. Then again, Luthor actually had cheated on his taxes more than once and it was part of his list of charges, so it was kind of the truth, too.

It was something else mom had told her. Telling lies to their friends and acquaintances was sadly unavoidable, but stick as close to the truth as possible when doing it. Made it easier to keep the stories straight, too.

"Yeah, I'll be gone all afternoon," Kona told them. "We can hang out tomorrow, though."

The rest of the school day passed normally, Kona struggling not to be bored out of her mind during class, but enjoying simply being a girl among friends in between.

"No, you are wrong about this," Kona said, a sweeping gesture of her hand underlining her words. "There is no way Dabney Donovan came up with the gene splicing sequence on his own. Brainiac supplied him with the studies of Kryptonian scientist Kan-Z, that's where he got it from."

Lex Luthor, sitting on the other side of the bulletproof glass, just sniffed. "You forget, little girl, that I had access to all the data Brainiac supplied Cadmus with. He delivered the blueprints for the necessary hardware to stabilize and accelerate the growth of a cloned hybrid embryo, but the actual splicing of the DNA sequences was done by Donovan himself. With quite a bit of assistance from me, of course."

"You're flattering yourself," Kona replied. "Sequencing a combination between human and Kryptonian DNA requires half a dozen human-built super computers. And you want to tell me that you did it with pencil and paper during a single visiting hour in prison?"

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "I merely corrected the mistakes Donovan made in the sequencing algorithm. Writing out an entire DNA sequence on paper would be an utter waste of my time."

"If you are so brilliant, which base pair in the Kryptonian DNA sequence is responsible for our ability to fly?"

"Trick question," Luthor shot back. "There is no single base pair responsible for the genetic quirk that allows Kryptonians to generate an energy field with gravity-negating properties. It is a combination of 11 different genes."

"12 actually," Kona corrected him.

Luthor shook his head. "The 12th gene is redundant, basically the appendix of flying power. Donavan left it out of your genetic code."

Kona frowned, considering whether the missing 12th gene might be the reason flying had come so much easier to her than to Clark and mom. Something worth researching, maybe.

"The point is," she got back on topic, "that the process of creating a viable hybrid from two species that, while superficially similar, are fundamentally different, is beyond the current understanding of human science. Neither Donovan nor you would even know where to begin without outside assistance from Brainiac. It's not a matter of intelligence, simply one of lacking the necessary background knowledge."

"It might have been but a fruitless thought experiment without Brainiac there to supply the necessary hardware," Luthor refuted, "but the actual science behind it has existed for quite a while. Cadmus or some other think tank would have been able to create a human-alien hybrid on their own within the next 30 years. 15 if I had been more closely involved."

"More like 50," Kona scoffed. "With or without your help."

"You are awfully dismissive of human ingenuity," Luthor told her, "for someone who is 30% human herself, girl."

"And you are mighty arrogant about your own ingenuity for someone who was once tricked by a simple change of costume and a wig."

Luthor actually chuckled at that. "Touché! However, one specific event is not indicative of a general trend. And I propose that said specific event was not a result of lacking ingenuity, but rather of monumental hubris."

"Even your flaws need to be bigger and better than anyone else's?"

"You will find, little girl, that when you are so much better than everyone else, then the mistakes you make, few as they might be, are correspondingly larger as well."

Kona frowned. "Was that some kind of back-handed compliment?"

Luthor leaned back, smiling. "Well, from your visits and our discussions, I have taken the impression that you might just be possessed of above-average intelligence. Maybe DNA does breed true in some regards, at least. We'll see."

"That might be the nicest thing you have ever said to me," she replied in a small voice, not at all certain how she should feel about that.

"Don't get too used to it, little girl," he simply replied.

Their discussion on genetics went on for some time longer, but Kona was distracted throughout. Luthor noticed some minutes later and declared their meeting over, his time being too precious to waste on someone who was not paying full attention.

Leaving the prison behind and flying back towards Kansas, Kona was so distracted that she was almost to California before she noticed. Well, if she was all the way out here already, might as well visit a friend in Nevada.

"Ah, the lovely Ms. Kona," Giovanni Zatara greeted her as he opened the door. "Come in, my dear. Come in."

"Thank you, Mr. Zatara," she replied, stepping into the living room. "I was hoping to visit with Zatanna, if that is all right?"

Zatara's charming smile turned stern for a moment. "You are not planning to abscond with her to fight another elemental, right?"

"No elemental fighting today, sir, no," she assured him.

"No illicit travels through time, either, I hope?"

"Eh, no, none of that planned, either."

The smile returned. "Very good. Have fun then. And give my regards to your lovely mother, my dear."

As he walked away, Kona briefly wondered whether there was something going on between mom and Mr. Zatara. Obviously, they were talking to each other, at the very least, how else would he know about the time travel thing? She doubted there was anything more than that, though, given how besotted Kara was with a certain Amazon.

"Hi, Zee," she greeted her friend as she walked into her room.

"Kona, hi," the girl replied, jumping to her feet to give her friend a hug. "I didn't expect you to come by today."

"Spur of the moment thing," she replied, sitting down on the edge of Zatanna's bed. "Okay if I hang out for a bit?"

"Sure," she replied, squatting down beside her.

For a few minutes the two girls chatted about nothing and everything. Finally, Kona decided to cut to the chase.

"Zee, I visited Luthor in prison again today."

Zatanna nodded. Kona had told her the whole story, how Luthor was the donor of her human DNA, and how he had refrained from killing her when he had the chance.

"How was it?" Zatanna asked.

"It was… weird. The first few times I was there, he barely spoke to me and when he did, it was to insult me, my mom, or the world in general."

"And yet you kept visiting him."

Kona nodded. "I'm not sure why, to be honest. It's… I just feel like I have to, you know? Just... part of me comes from him and..."

"Don't worry, I understand," Zatanna said, putting her hand on the other girl's shoulder. "If I had the chance to meet my mom, even if she turned out to be some kind of criminal or evil witch, I would want to get to know her."

Kona was glad Zatanna understood. "Anyway, today was... different. We... we kind of got into a discussion about genetics, the process behind my creation, and... I know it sounds weird, but... he seemed to enjoy it. And even weirder, I did, too."

"And that's... bad?" Zatanna asked.

"Not bad, no, but...," Kona sighed. "I don't really know how to explain it. I know who and what he is, Zee. Lex Luthor is, at best, a sociopath. He likes to blame his deeds on my mom, but he was a murderer long before he ever knew she existed. I shouldn't... I don't want his approval or anything, but... when he, in a very roundabout way, complimented my intelligence today, I... it felt good."

She looked at her friend. "Does it make me a horrible person for feeling good about praise from a murderer?"

"No way," Zatanna replied. "I mean, if a really tough supervillain complemented you on your strength while you were battling him to protect some innocents, wouldn't that feel good, too? It doesn't mean you're suddenly sympathizing with him."

Kona nodded, seeing the logic. Lex Luthor, for all his failings, was one of the smartest people on Earth. A suspicious voice in the back of her head kept reminding her, though, that he might just be trying to manipulate her somehow. To what end she did not know, but she resolved to remain on her guard around him.

"I guess you're right," she said to Zatanna. "It just... really weirded me out, you know?"

"I can imagine. Don't stress yourself out over it too much, okay? It's not worth it either way."

"Thanks, Zee!"

The two girls kept chatting for an hour or so, updating each other on what was going on in their lives. Another three superhero names for Zatanna (Esoteric Girl, Black Witch, and Ms. Occult) were shot down and consigned to the rubbish bin. Finally, Kona noticed that she was supposed to have been home some time ago, so she said goodbye to her friend and rose to leave.

Stopping in the door of Zatanna's room, she looked back, grinning. "Hey, you think your dad is sweet on my mom?"

Zatanna's grimace at that thought made Kona laugh.

Having talked things over with Zatanna, Kona felt somewhat more relaxed when she finally returned to the Kent farm later that day. Upon entering through the skylight of the barn (and carefully making sure that no one was watching first, as her mom had taught her), the first person she encountered was Martha, who was busy in the kitchen.

"Hello, Kona," she greeted her. "You were out quite a while."

"Made a quick trip to Nevada to chat with Zee," Kona replied. "I think we lost track of the time a bit. Sorry."

"No problem, dear," Martha told her, smiling. "Just let us know where you are going next time, okay? You know how Karen worries."

Kona nodded and was about to leave the kitchen, when she paused. Remembering her nightmare from last night, she hesitantly stepped towards Martha.

"Something the matter, Kona?" Martha asked, clearly seeing the worry in the younger girl's eyes.

"Just… can I do something?" she asked. Martha looked confused, but nodded.

Stepping closer to the older woman, Kona carefully laid her hand against Martha's chest. She vividly remembered what had happened during the nightmare. Taking a deep breath, she simply let her hand rest there for a moment, nothing happening. She wasn't hurting Martha. Everything was fine.

"Thank you, Martha," she said, withdrawing her hand.

"Uh, anytime?" Martha replied, still confused, but apparently sensing that Kona was feeling better now. Giving the woman a quick hug, Kona left the kitchen and met Clark on the stairs.

"Hey, Clark," Kona chirped.

"Hey, Kona," he replied. "How was the latest visit to the Big House?"

"Does anyone really call it that?" she asked. "And... I'm not sure. Can we... you know, not talk about it?"

He smiled. "Sure! Hey, we can talk about the 30th century if you want."

She lightly punched his shoulder. "Nah, I'd rather talk about riding kangaroos on Paradise Island, doofus!"

"How about lighting up stuff with heat vision?" he offered.

"How about making stuff blow up just by touching it?" she shot back. For a moment she hesitated, once again remembering the dream, but it had just been a dream, nothing more. Her power would never be used to hurt the ones she loved, she vowed.

They walked up to their rooms, bantering as they want. Kona really enjoyed it. Clark might not be the type to discuss advanced science with her, but he was her brother. That was more than enough for her.

She heard the click of the front door and Martha greeting someone.

"Are we expecting company?" Kona asked, certain that Clark had heard the door as well.

Clark squinted the way he always did when he used his vision powers to look through walls and stuff. It was so unfair that he could do that while she couldn't. For a moment his brow furrowed in confusion, but then the confusion quickly gave way to panic. Kona opened her mouth to ask what was going on.

"Let's go," he simply said, grabbing her by the shoulder and super-speeding towards the front door.

End Chapter 71

Author's Note: I hope the genetics talk between Kona and Lex makes at least a bit of sense. I am not a geneticist, I just strung together some stuff I looked up on Wikipedia, combined with dim memories from my high school biology class, that's it. I'm sure the actual process of creating a hybrid of two divergent species is far more complicated and involved.

Dolly Granger and Jennifer Bard are characters from the "Supergirl: Being Super" mini-series from 2016, an Elseworlds story about Supergirl growing up in Midvale without ever meeting Superman. One of the better official Supergirl stories out there in my opinion.

Up next: Martha and Jonathan's day (and the answer as to who is at the door).