Chapter 84: Secret Identity Crisis
Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.
Metropolis
"So, this is the Super Dorm then?" Wally asked, smirking.
Clark sighed, placing the last of his boxes on the bed in his new dorm room. "You've been hanging around with Kona too much, Wally. Not everything needs to be a super-this, super-that!"
Wally shrugged. "Whatever you say, Super Student!"
Clark shook his head, but could not help but smile. Wally would always be Wally, it seemed. Even now that they were both over 18 and going to college.
"This all your stuff?" Wally asked, looking at the relatively small number of boxes.
"Didn't see the need to bring everything," Clark shrugged. "Home is just a few minutes away, after all."
As far as anyone else was concerned, Clark Kent, freshman at Metropolis University, was very, very far away from home, of course. After all, he was a farm boy from Smallville, Kansas. Given his abilities, though, home was always within reach, whether it was to wash his things or simply to visit his family for dinner.
"Yeah, I hear you," Wally replied. He was in a similar situation, after all, being freshly enrolled at Keystone University to major in Forensic Science and Criminology. As a matter of fact, unless Clark was very much mistaken, Wally should be there right now, moving into his own dorm.
"Why are you moving into a dorm anyway?" Clark asked Wally. "Your university is in the same city as your home. Even without super speed it wouldn't be a problem for you to go home every evening and be in time for classes in the morning."
"Yeah, but then I'd still be living under my parents' roof, you know?" he replied. "Don't get me wrong, I love mom and dad, but I'm 18 now. I need a space of my own."
Clark chuckled. "Yeah, I get that."
Wally sat down on the bed. "It's weird, though, isn't it?" he said. "Moving out from your parents' house?"
Clark nodded, sitting down beside him. "Yeah, pretty weird. I mean... I've been to all sorts of places. Halfway across the galaxy, the future, everything. But at the end of the day I always wound up back in my room at home, in my bed."
"Not anymore, though," Wally said. "It's all different now."
"Scary and exciting, all at the same time," Clark added. "Even if we know we can be back home in a couple of seconds if we want to."
For a moment the two young men just sat there, but then Wally slapped Clark on the shoulder.
"Okay, that was more than enough deep thoughts for one day. I need to get back to Keystone before my dad returns with the next batch of boxes. You want to come take a look?"
Clark looked at his wristwatch. "Maybe later, buddy. There is an orientation meeting in a few minutes for the journalism freshmen. Some recent alumni giving speeches and such."
"Okay, have it your way," Wally said, standing up. "We still on for that Titans meeting on Saturday?"
The two of them clasped hands. "Of course, wouldn't miss it!"
"See you later, super-gator!" Wally vanished in a blur of super speed.
Chuckling, Clark left his dorm room at normal human speed and headed out onto the campus. He was barely out the door, though, when someone carrying a stack of boxes almost ran him over.
"Sorry, watch out! Oh no!"
The boxes started to topple, and Clark needed to add a tiny little bit of super speed in order to keep them from falling to the ground. Having caught them all, he finally had a chance to look at the person behind the boxes.
"Thank you! I think there is a very breakable laptop in one of those boxes."
The young woman standing in front of him was a tall redhead, a dusting of freckles across her nose, and looking quite beautiful, he had to say. She also spoke with the thickest Australian accent he had ever heard.
"No problem," he said, setting down the boxes he had caught. "Quick tip, though: don't stack the boxes higher than you can see!"
She gave him a smile. "I fear my refusal to make another run to the car overrode my common sense. Thanks for the help, … eh?"
"Kent," he told her. "Clark Kent."
She gave him an even bigger smile and put down the boxes remaining in her arms to shake his hand. "Well, thank you very much, Kent, Clark Kent. I'm Lena Ruthlo."
Keystone City
Kara, wearing her Superwoman-dresses-casually clothes, dropped down from several kilometers up directly towards Keystone City. Accelerating to super speed, she was no more than a blur as she landed in the West family's back yard. Taking another moment to make sure that no one had seen her arrive, she walked up the porch and knocked on the door.
Mary West smiled brightly as she saw her visitor. "Kara, so glad you made it. Come in!"
"Thank you, Mary." Kara entered the house, quickly looking around. "Robert not home?"
"No, he's helping Wally move his stuff into the dorms at Keystone University," Mary replied. "He should be home in a few hours."
Kara chuckled. "Now that is interesting."
"What is?" Mary asked, even as she put two glasses on the kitchen table for them.
"I fear your son has abandoned your husband, Mary, because I just saw him visiting Clark in his dorm in Metropolis."
Mary sighed, shaking her head. "That boy is going to be the death of me. I swear the only reason he got super speed is to drive me towards an early grave."
Her fond smile belied her words.
"Well, given said super speed, he will probably be back at Keystone University by the time Robert has made a single trip to his car and back," Kara assured her.
"Probably, yes," Mary said, sitting down at the table together with Kara and pouring them both some wine.
Kara pondered how quickly her friendship with Mary had grown during the last few months as both their sons prepared to head off to college. It might have seemed strange to some, given how little the two women had in common otherwise, never mind Mary being more than a decade older than her, but facing the challenge of letting their beloved sons go out and live their own lives had forged a bond between them. As a result, Kara had been more open with Mary, even telling her her Kryptonian name. Mary did not know about Smallville or K-Solutions, mind you, but Kara was rather open with her about most other things.
"I envy you; you know?" Mary said, sipping her wine. "With your powers, you can check in on your son anytime, make sure he's fine."
"True," Kara conceded, "but it does not really make it easier for me. I have gotten so used to hearing his heartbeat and breathing as I go to sleep... I am really going to miss that."
"Yeah," Mary agreed. "Wally always seemed to hit that one squeaky floorboard in the hall whenever he snuck into the bathroom or the kitchen at night. I'll probably lay awake waiting for that sound for weeks before I get used to it."
She sighed, raising her glass to her lips again. "Well, here's to the joys of children growing up. At least you still got your girl at home, Kara. My nest is quite empty."
"Kona is probably already dreading the increased attention," Kara chuckled. "She was starved for it at first, but I fear she is rapidly reaching hat age where too much fussing from her mom is all sorts of embarrassing and uncool."
Of course, Kona was really just somewhere between three and four years old, but she looked and behaved like a teenager in all other ways. Plus, there was Sandy, a part of the Kent household now, but Mary did not know about her yet. Kara was still keeping her under wraps for the most part, at least until the energy being turned pseudo-Kryptonian was better at acting somewhat human.
The two women kept talking for a time before Mary noticed that Kara had barely touched her wine.
"Not to your liking?" she asked.
"Oh, sorry," Kara replied, distractedly taking a sip. "It's just that wine is not really doing much for me, you know? I drink the occasional beer, but just for the taste."
Mary looked puzzled for a moment, then seemed to understand. "Alcohol doesn't affect you?" Mary asked. "At all?"
Kara shook her head. "Nope, even vodka might as well be water to me. That is one part of being a super-powered Kryptonian I do not like, at least sometimes, you know?"
Mary nodded. "I get it, believe me. Not that I condone heavy drinking, mind you, but there are times when one wants to get just a tiny little bit sloshed."
"Like today," Kara said, toasting Mary.
"Like today," she agreed.
Pushing the wine glass away from her, Kara took something out of the handbag she was carrying with her.
"Thankfully, there is one way for me to get... well, sloshed, as you put it."
"Really?" Mary asked, leaning forward. "What is it?"
Gotham City, 15 Months ago
It was not often that the woman known only as the Joker was taken completely aback. Right now, though, she was simply standing there, gaping like a fish at the woman standing opposite her. And it had nothing to do with said woman being the world-famous superheroine known as Superwoman. It was entirely due to the words that had just come out said superheroine's mouth.
"Run that by me again?" Joker finally said.
Kara sighed. Maybe this was a stupid idea after all. "I said I want you to give me the formula for your Smilex gas!"
"Yeah, that's what I thought I heard," Joker said. "Look, sister, I kept to our bargain, right? At least I'm reasonably sure that I kept to it. I mean, I'm reasonably sure we had a bargain to begin with and..."
"It has nothing to do with you or your activities," Kara stopped her rant before it could grow out of proportion. "And yes, we have a bargain, of sorts, and you kept up your end of it so far. The reason I want the formula for the gas is because of how it affected me."
An understanding smile, more like a manic grin, appeared on the other woman's face.
"Ah, yes, I remember. You were a cute drunk, buttercup. Looking to repeat the experience?"
An explanation involving how it was necessary for her to develop a resistance against anything that could intoxicate someone of her power was already on her lips, but she could feel the treacherous flush of her cheeks and knew that the words would not do anything. Joker squealed in delight.
"Oh, honey, of course I will help you get sozzled!"
Joker's laughter was so loud, it made Kara wince.
Metropolis, the Present
Lois Lane felt much too young to be giving a speech to Journalism freshmen at Metropolis university, to be honest. Yet at the same time, looking at all these young people listening to her, she felt old. Had that really been here just a few years ago? It felt like a lifetime.
"In closing let me just say this," Lois said, finishing her speech. "A lot of people have said that making it in this business is simply a question of luck and being in the right place at the right time. And that is certainly one factor, true, even though figuring out where the right place is and when the right time will be is oftentimes more skill than luck.
"But happening to be in the right place at the right time to see history made, whether by luck or skill, is not enough by itself. Not if you are not capable of putting what you saw into words. Words that make the people that read them believe that they were there and saw it right along with you. That's the true hallmark of a great journalist in my mind. Oh, and it also helps if you know your words and grammar, so the proofreaders don't start hating you."
Thankfully that last line got the required laughs and Lois was able to wrap up her speech on a high note. Now she just had to get through an endless litany of questions and could hopefully make herself scarce very soon.
It took another half hour until she finally managed to extract herself and the only thing left on her mind was to head home as quickly as possible and hit her couch. She wasn't due at the Planet again until tomorrow and intended to make the most out of her free time.
"Kent? Hey, Kent, wait up!"
Lois stopped, looking to the side. A red-headed young woman was chasing after a big, well-built young man with black hair and glasses. He stopped, turning to look at her.
"Hey, Lena. Got those boxes all safely stored away?"
Lois almost chuckled at the smile the young woman was giving him. If that wasn't a come-here-boy smile, she had never seen someone flirt before.
"Yeah, I just wanted to say thanks again. Treat you to a cup of coffee for your gallantry?"
The two of them walked off and Lois followed them with her eyes. The name Kent had caught her attention. Of course, it was a rather common name, admittedly. Very common, in fact. She was not even sure whether it was his first or last name. Still, Lois knew someone with that name who was very much uncommon, extremely so. Someone with a black-haired son who should be about 18 years old by now, give or take.
Lois had only gotten a brief look at his face. She tried to imagine it without the glasses and with a different hair style, the rather loose clothes replaced by a skintight blue suit with the famous Kryptonian symbol for hope on the chest. No, that couldn't be, right?
Could it?
Keystone City
"The Joker?" Mary asked. "That violent anarchist from Gotham? Really?"
Kara shrugged. "She is that, yes, but we... well, we kind of have this thing going where I do not take her in as long as she restricts her activities and no innocents get hurt."
Mary gave her a somewhat skeptical look, but then gestured towards the object Kara had taken from her bag. A portable inhaler like those used by Asthma patients.
"And this is that... Smilex gas?"
Kara nodded. "Yes. A refined version of it, to be precise. Using Joker's formula, I actually created several different versions of it. One is a pain-killer that works on Kryptonians, just in case anyone in my family ever gets seriously hurt."
"Not this one, though, is it?" Mary asked with a knowing smile on her face.
"No, not this one," Kara agreed. "I... well, there were a lot of times, especially when Clark was still very young and the pain of losing Krypton was still very fresh, that I would have given anything for a chance to drown my sorrows. Nothing ever worked, though. So now... well…"
"I understand, believe me," Mary told her, patting her hand. "It's harmless, though, right? You tested it?"
"Extensively," Kara assured her.
She had gone through many permutations of the formula Joker had given her. Well, calling it a formula was very generous. It had been an odd mixture of cooking recipe, chemical formula, cartoonish drawings of various preparation steps, and random incantations that Kara was sure Joker had written down merely to mess with her. Still, it had worked. The hard part had been figuring out a dosage that did what she wanted it to do, namely cause a very, very slight feeling of intoxication, without causing a repeat of that particular night in Gotham.
It had taken her a few months, including a few failed trials, but she had finally gotten it done. The incident where she had rolled around the floor of the Fortress for a few hours, giggling the entire time, would certainly not happen again.
"Well then," Mary told her. "We are here to lament our sons growing up, aren't we? So, get to it, alien mom, I'm two glasses of wine ahead of you."
Kara laughed and took the inhaler.
Metropolis
When Clark returned to his dorm room a little later, he was in a pretty good mood. The orientation event had been mostly entertaining, especially the speech by Lois Lane. It had been a surprise to see her here, especially given what his mom had told him about Lois figuring out her identity as head of K-Solutions, but he did not worry too much about it. After all, he was just one student among hundreds and Lois had never actually met Superman face to face.
And going for coffee with Lena had been... fun. Did that already count as a date? Given the way she had smiled at him, he figured she was not exactly opposed to the idea of seeing him again. Well, whatever was going to happen would happen. He was here to enjoy the college life. No need to figure everything out on day one. He had time.
Flying across town to help put out that big fire in one of the city's signature big skyscrapers had taken an extra five minutes out of his day, but saving lives was always worth the time it took.
"Someone is in a good mood," a voice greeted him as he entered his room.
Kona was sitting on his bed, grinning broadly at him.
"Shouldn't you be in school back in Smallville?" he asked, grinning back.
"Finished 15 minutes ago," she told him cheekily. "And I thought I'd check out the Super Dorm."
Clark shook his head. "Did Wally put you up to that or vice versa?"
"Pff, as if Wally would think of something like that on his own." She got up and looked around. "So, already got plans to have female company over?"
Clark mock-glared at her. "Did you spy on me, super-short?"
"Moi?" she asked, placing her hand over her heart in mock outrage. "Shame on you for accusing your innocent and virtuous little sister of something so dastardly."
"Dastardly?" he asked, ruffling her hair. "Big words, little sis."
"You can blame that on evil dad," she told him, swatting his hand away. Clark was glad that she was able to joke about having Lex Luthor for a DNA donor by now. "So, who is the redhead?"
"Her name is Lena, she is a freshman here as well, and she likes coffee. That is pretty much the extent of my knowledge so far. Sorry, no more sordid details."
"Well, don't let it get you down, Clark, there is always tomorrow," she winked at him.
Jumping up from the bed, Kona looked around.
"Okay, I believe I've seen enough now to satisfy mom's need for a report about her baby boy's new lodgings."
Clark snorted. "You realize that she probably checked this place out with her supervision half a dozen times in the last few days?"
"Sure she has," Kona agreed. "Doesn't mean she won't grill me anyway."
"Remember to give my love to Aunt Martha and Uncle Jonathan after giving your report," Clark said, getting up to hug his little sister. "And thanks for coming by."
"Sunday dinner," she told him. "Don't forget to show up or mom and I will fly over to drag you there by your ears."
They hugged for a moment longer, then Kona headed towards the door.
"Make sure no one sees you take off," Clark reminded her.
"Hey, I'm down with the whole secret identity thing, big brother. Don't worry!"
She opened the door and almost ran into the person who was about to knock.
Lois had been about the leave the campus, ready to write off the presence of a young man named Kent as mere coincidence. Sure, he had kind of looked like Superman a bit, but hundreds of young men did. Then, though, she had heard that Superman had been spotted in Metropolis, putting out a fire across town. Again, it might well be a coincidence. Given the Supers well-documented super speed, Superman might have been on the other side of the country when he heard the alarm, not hanging out at a campus in the same city.
Still, her reporter senses were tingling, and she just had to be sure. It took but a few minutes to figure out where the freshmen dorms were and questioning a few people quickly led her to the door where one Clark Kent now lived. Biting her bottom lip, she tried to figure out how to approach this, and then decided simply to wing it. She raised her hand to knock on the door.
Only for the door to open and a young blonde girl to nearly barrel into her.
"Oh, sorry, I...," the blonde began, then trailed off.
Lois had not been sure about the young man, but it only took her a second to recognize the girl. She had interviewed her, after all; had spent nearly an hour sitting directly across from her, studying her face. She was older now, wore her hair differently, and was wearing clothes clearly intended to blend in, but there was no denying it. She quickly checked the corridor to make sure that no one was within hearing distance, then looked at the girl again.
"Hello, Supergirl," Lois greeted her.
"I... uh... what?" the girl stammered. "Su... Supergirl? Ha, nice one! No Supergirl here, no sir! I'm just... yeah, I'm just leaving and... bye!"
The girl vanished in a blur of super speed.
Lois blinked, her hair settling back on her shoulders after being swept up by the girl's backwash, as the young man she had actually come to see approached the door.
"Smooth, sis," he muttered, smiling in exasperation. "Hi. Lois Lane, right?"
Wow, he did have a great smile, Lois thought.
"Uh, yeah. And... well, Superman, I assume?"
He ran his hand through his hair in a textbook "aw, shucks" gesture and looked utterly adorable doing it. Lois noticed the way her eyes were following the movement of the muscles in his arm. Down, girl, she admonished herself.
"A bit late for denials, I guess?" he said. "Come in, Ms. Lane!"
"Call me Lois," she said, walking inside. "I hope Supergirl will be okay?"
"She will probably calm down once she has cleared Metropolis air space," he said, chuckling. "And then she will panic all over again once she realizes she has to explain this to mom. And please, call me Clark."
He closed the door. "Can I offer you anything? Fair warning, I have some bottled water here, that's it."
"You are awfully calm about this," Lois said. "Aren't you worried about your secret identity?"
He shrugged. "Well, I haven't seen any headlines outing K-Solutions CEO Karen Kent as Superwoman yet, so I figure 'Superman enrolls at Metropolis U' won't be seeing the light of day anytime soon, either."
"Not from me, no," she assured him, not that he seemed to need the assurance. "So... is that really what you are doing here? Simply studying?"
He nodded. "Yes. I'm planning to become a reporter."
She sat down in the only chair on the room. "Really? Why a reporter? I mean, you have all sorts of amazing superpowers, but they won't really help you when it comes to putting words down on paper, you know?"
He sat down on the bed. "That was kind of the point," he told her, still smiling that adorable smile.
They ended up talking for several hours and when she finally made her way home, Lois realized that – after the first few minutes – she had not thought of him as Superman even once.
He was simply Clark.
Keystone City
Robert West thought of himself as a pretty laid-back guy who enjoyed the simple things in life. A tasty meal, spending the evening on the couch with an entertaining movie, reading an exciting book, those sorts of things. Finding out that his teenage son was the superhero known as the Flash had thrown him a bit, he had to admit, but overall, he figured he had dealt with that revelation pretty well. Sure, he was worried that something might happen to Wally, but he had been worried about that before, too.
Learning that Wally was best friends with the son of Earth's greatest and most well-known superhero, Superwoman, had been something else, though. And that Mary – his beloved, beautiful, yet oftentimes rather reserved and shy Mary – had somehow struck up a friendship with Superwoman? That had indeed come close to blowing his mind. How many people could say, after all, that Superwoman came over for coffee sometimes?
Having spent the day helping his son move into his dorm room at Keystone University, Robert was all set to enjoy a quiet night at home. He was well aware that Wally could have done the whole moving thing on his own and probably in a hundredth the time it had taken them, but apart from the whole secret identity thing, Robert had wanted to do this together with his son. It was something of a coming of age ritual, after all.
Mary had told him that Superwoman ("call me Kara, Robert!") would be coming over this afternoon so the two mothers could lament their little boys growing up together. He had figured, though, that she would be gone again by the time he made it home, seeing as he could hardly imagine a busier person than her.
He had figured wrong, though.
"I tell you, the birthday cake was splattered ALL OVER the far wall. Some of the candles were actually EMBEDDED in the wood paneling."
The words, accompanied by plenty of giggling, were uttered by a familiar voice, but Robert needed a moment to actually recognize it. Usually the owner of said voice did not giggle, nor did she slur her words slightly, at least not that he knew.
"Oh, now you're having me on," the voice of his wife answered, also sounding slightly intoxicated.
"No, I promise you, it was a disaster! I had spent hours preparing that cake."
"No super-speed-baking?" Mary giggled like a madwoman.
Robert spied around the corner and saw his wife sitting at the kitchen table, along with the most famous superheroine in the entire world. Both women were shaking with laughter and he could see two empty wine bottles on the table, too.
"I tried that once," Superwoman said between fits of laughter. "Used my heat vision to try and make the yeast rise faster. We needed to renovate the kitchen afterwards."
Mary toppled forward, pounding her fist on the table as she laughed. Apparently that was enough to set off Superwoman, who laughed so hard she toppled off her chair and floated across the room instead of hitting the floor.
Chuckling, Robert turned away and headed towards the living room, leaving the two of them to it. Even if he had ever entertained any notions of sharing his family's secrets with anyone, he was sure no one would ever believe him.
End Chapter 84
Author's Note: One of the first things my mom told me after I had moved out was that she missed the sound of me walking down the hall at night or early in the morning and those two squeaking floor bords I always seemed to hit. I guess it's just one of those things one gets used to and misses when it's gone. With her enhanced senses, I would assume Kara would always keep an ear open for the heartbeat of her son.
And if you are wondering: yes, Lois' line about knowing your words and grammar was a bit of a jab at Margot Kidder's version of Lois Lane, who seemed to have a lot of trouble with spelling. So this chapter was light on action, but big on foreshadowing. Don't worry, though, we'll get back to the action part very soon.
Up next: To the Stars!
