Disclaimer: All characters are property of Time-Warner.
A/N: hello everyone here is the next chapter in the saga of Lois Lane. R&R.
Late September 2018, Metropolis, Kansas.
The summer was over and fall was creeping up on the city of Metropolis. Karen Kent walked down the side walk to her new school. New Troy High was a a medium sized high school located in the Kent's neighborhood. Karen turned a corner and ran right into a girl about her age.
"Oh jeez I'm sorry about that." Karen said leaning down and picking up her books.
"That's ok I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing." She said adjusting her carryall and brown wig before the girl noticed.
Karen held her notebook in front of her and smiled. "My name is Karen." She said energetically pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose..
"Laurie." The girl said in response. She looked at Karen's notebook and her forehead furrowed. "Is your last name Kent?"
"Yes it is." She said checking her watch. "Man were going to be late."
"Oh yeah." Laurie said looking at her own. Karen started walking toward the front doors of the school. Running to catch up Laurie had to hold a second before speaking. "My name is Kent." She said panting.
"Really that's so cool maybe we're related." Karen said walking up the front steps of the big brick building.
"You're not from here in Kansas are you?" Laurie wondered.
"Smallville." Karen said as she made her way to her home room. "Hey since we have the same name you wouldn't happen to know where to go for homeroom would you?"
"Oh yeah let me show you." Laurie said taking Karen's schedule from her hand she stopped dead. "I have half your classes."
"That's so neat." Karen said looking for the room number on her schedule.
"Wait a second did you say your from Smallville?" Laurie asked.
"Yeah I am." Karen said turning down another hall. "Where are you from?"
"Metropolis but I had an Aunt and Uncle in Smallville." Laurie said pointing down the hall in the other direction. "I think their names were Martha and Jonathan."
Now it was Karen's turn to stop dumbfounded. "Martha and Jonathan." Karen echoed.
"Yeah do you know them." Laurie said pointing to their homeroom.
"Martha is my mom." Karen said walking into her homeroom.
Karen's homeroom teacher walked up to her and took her schedule. "Ok, Karen." He read aloud from the paper. "You can sit down here." He said pointing to the desk right in front of the one Laurie had sneaked into. "Thank you for making sure she found her way here Laurie."
"No problem Mister B." Laurie replied.
Karen sat at her desk and looked over her schedule for the day. She was interrupted by the girl sitting next to her. She was a little shorter than Karen and had chestnut colored hair. She wore turquoise colored eye shadow and light pink lip gloss.
"Hey my name is Kim." The girl said squinting her eyes as she smiled. She looked like a character out of one of the anime shows Jason liked to watch.
"Karen Kent." She said in response.
"Wow cool are you two like related." She asked looking at Laurie.
"Yeah apparently we're cousins." Laurie said righting something down in her notebook.
"Oh my gosh you guys never met before." Kim said giggling.
"No but I just moved here." Karen said putting her schedule in the front of her notebook.
"Wow crazy maybe this is like destiny or something." Kim said giggling.
"Just ignore her, she's always going on about destiny and karma." Laurie said placing a hand on Karen's shoulder.
"I totally believe in destiny." Karen said smiling at Kim.
"Here take this." She said handing Karen a business card with the emblem of El covering one side. "I go to the church of Rao." She said turning the card over in Karen's hand. The back was covered in Kryptonian pictographs. "That's our message of salvation."
"You can read Kryptonian?" Karen wondered.
"A little bit I'm not fluent or anything." She said still wearing the same smile.
"How?" Karen said catching herself before she said any more. "I mean I thought superman was the only survivor of Krypton."
'Yeah well back a few years ago when Lex Luthor was arrested for trying to grow a Kryptonian land mass in the middle of the Atlantic. Part of the land mass broke off when Superman threw it into space and a priest named Nathan Gog found it. The center of the piece of rock had these Kryptonian control crystals. Father Gog learned of all Kryptonian history from those crystals. He was the man that founded the church of Rao."
"Oh wow, how odd." Was all Karen could say she had been afraid of her cousin starting a church of El and making all of earth subservant to him but instead a man of god on earth had taken it upon himself to start a church of Rao following the historical record of Krypton. "Does Superman know you have his command crystals?"
"His?" Kim exclaimed.
"Yeah I read in the Daily Planet that Luther had stolen those command crystals from Superman's home." Karen said trying to think of a good excuse.
"Oh, I didn't know that. Surely if father Gog knew he would have tried to tell our savior that we had his crystals." Kim said her smile had now completely gone from her face.
"See I told you she was crazy following Superman as if he were god himself." Laurie said shaking her head.
"Don't be so mean on her. Who could blame her for looking up to Superman. Karen said sending a smile to Kim.
The day past fairly quickly. As soon as Karen got out of her last class she jogged home. She was going to check up on this Father Gog. There was no way those crystals were programed to respond to anyone but Kal-El. Karen ran into the house and threw her bag down on her bed she ran to her closet took off her wig and glasses and put on her uniform. She flew out her window and made a long pass of Metropolis. The card Kim had given her didn't give an address so she focused on trying to hear for her voice. Karen hoped that the change in hair color would throw her off. It didn't take long for Karen to hone in on Kim's voice. She was walking up to what looked like a catholic church. The sign outside said the Church of Hope. Karen hovered in the air and tried scanning the building. The building must have been lined with lead because her x-ray vision couldn't penetrate the walls. She landed in the front of the building. She opened the two front doors and stepped inside the room was half full of the churches followers who all turned and gasped at the sight of her in their church. Karen walked down the main isle to the alter on the alter was a crystal structure with the emblem of El jutting out of its front surface. Karen looked at the symbol and laughed silently. These people were worshiping something they didn't understand. Karen turned to the side and saw Kim standing next to a man in priests cloths. He was tall and lean with brown hair. He looked like a man people could trust.
"Tell me were you learned of that symbol." Karen said looking the man dead in the eyes.
"Of course follow me." He said leading her out a back door. They walked down a long hallway with Kim right on their heels. "I knew either you or Kal-El would learn of this place sooner or later. For that reason I have been preparing for our meeting. It is not everyday that someone gets to meet their savior." He said opening the doors to a wood paneled office.
"I'm not your savior." Karen said walking into the room.
"Yes I know but you are related to him." Gog said pulling out a leather pouch from a set of wood cabinets.
"No Kal-El is not your savior he was sent to this planet to escape the death that was spreading across Krypton." Karen said becoming irritated.
"Are you so sure. Kal-El shares many similarities to the creator of your blood line." The father said unrolling the piece of leather. Inside were six long crystals each shone brightly under the rooms light.
"Yes I am positive that Kal-El is no more than an average Kryptonian." She said placing her hands behind her back.
"Really well then maybe your right. However these crystals tell a different tale. These crystals were recorded by a man named Jor-El. On them he dictates all the accumulated knowledge of Krypton and all literature that had been recorded in all the known galaxies. At least all the know galaxies at the time. As I understand it these were recorded a thousand years ago. Still it gives us a picture of the universe especially Krypton. I understand that your name is Kara Zor-El and that you were considered on your planet to be of dirty blood because you were not first born of El. So how do you posses your powers how is it that someone who according to her own people was born scorned by Rao?" Gog sat down on the edge of his desk and crossed his hands. "Can you answer me?"
"I have been forgiven by Rao. That is why I wear this symbol." Karen said touching the emblem on her chest. "I grew up learning that my pure blooded cousin was evil and that the only way to cleans myself was to see him destroyed. That's why I came to earth my only goal was to kill Kal-El so that my family could be cleaned." Karen sat down in one of the chairs and wept. "But when I got here Kal-El was nothing like what I had thought. He was kind and decent, he even had a son a half breed. Kon Jor-El is his name, and he is the most beautiful little boy I have ever seen in my life." Karen sniffled and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her uniform. "Kal welcomed me with open arms. He gave me this symbol as a gesture that I was as close to him as a sister. I couldn't kill him I have felt terrible about it ever since but I know I did the right thing. My father lied to me he told me that the blight of the pure El would never end. He told me that Kal-El would enslave the human race and pervert it with his purest beliefs." Karen looked up at the priest. "But yes I have these powers because Rao has found me worthy just as he has blessed Kal-El. He told me that Jor-El sent him here to show the people of earth hope."
"Yes but what is that hope? The chronicles Jor-El gave his son say that there is one mighty god that rules all the cosmos. This god is called by many different names Rao for instance is one of them. Here on earth many people call him Jehovah some call him Allah. However he is still the same all over the space-scape. Many worlds have been tested, and many have fallen. Jor-El said he sent Kal-El to earth because we still had time to learn from Krypton's mistakes." Father Gog got up from his desk and placed a hand on Karen's shoulder. "I know this might be hard for you to understand but you cannot give up on hope." Gog pointed to the emblem on her chest and smiled. "One of the first Kryptonian words I learned was hope. You literally were the word hope on your chest for all the world to see. It is up to you and your cousin to share that message to all the people of this planet." Father Gog gave her a smile and got and walked to the door. "You might want to rethink the wig and glasses idea it didn't fool Kim here and I doubt it will fool may others."
"What? You could tell who I was." Karen said looking at Kim.
"Yeah well it wasn't hard especially since we had been talking about the church this morning." Kim said as she smiled for the first time since Karen had arrived.
"Oh yeah well I'm kind of new at this." Karen she smiling back.
"Do not worry Kara we are dedicated to the teachings of hope that our god has given us we will not tell anyone. In fact this knowledge should not leave this room." He said smiling at the two girls. "Now I must return to the prayer vigil we are holding." He said as he left.
Karen gave Kim her address and invited her over to dinner. She was sure that Lois wouldn't mind. Karen flew over the city a few times checking to make sure that nothing was going on. She made it back home just in time to catch Lois setting the table.
"Hey Lois." Karen said walking into the kitchen. She had taken off her cape and boots but left on the top and skirt under a sweat shirt and sweat pants.
"Hey Karen how was school?" Lois asked placing a bowl of mashed potatoes on the table.
"It was ok I didn't really pay much attention to be honest." Karen admitted grabbing a bowl of sweet peas form the kitchen.
"What do you mean you didn't really pay attention?" Lois said looking at her cousin-in-law.
"Well it's kind of hard to get into high school geometry when I can easily do advanced quantum physics in my head." Karen said setting down the peas. "I mean sure I don't know all of the history stuff and I'm still not very good at English but seriously if I try I could just read the book and memorize it."
"You still have to try." Lois said setting out the silverware and plates. "Clark and I wont accept anything below an A+ from that solar powered brain of yours."
"Yes ma'am." Karen said rolling her eyes. "Oh I forgot to tell you I invited a friend of mine over to dinner."
"You did." Lois said walking back into the kitchen. "So who is this friend."
"Her name is Kim." Karen said putting an extra plate next to her seat. "She belongs to this church that worships Rao."
"There is a church of Rao here in Metropolis." Lois said puzzled. "I wonder where they learned about Rao."
"Well I went by their church and met the man that runs it." Karen said placing silverware next to the extra plate. "He found some of the command crystals that Luthor stole form the fortress. That's how he learned about Rao."
"What a strange happenstance." Lois said placing her roast on the table. "Well I don't suppose it hurts anything. In fact it might even make Clarks mission a little bit easier. So long as their not extremists."
"Don't worry Father Gog is harmless. He used to be a catholic priest before he found the crystals. He even lined the church with lead to keep Clark from seeing inside. I think he was afraid that we would shut them down." Karen said sitting down. "I plan on keeping an eye on them though just in case. Now Kim knows a lot, found most of it out on her own but I don't want Clark to now about any of this. At least not until I'm sure about Gog. I want to make sure Kim is safe."
"Ok I won't tell him. So you think that this Kim girl has been hoodwinked by this Gog fellow?" Lois said calling Jason to dinner.
"I'm not sure Gog seemed very convincing but he knows who I am so I'm not going to take the chance." She said pouring a glass of tea.
"He knows who you are!" Lois said hurrying back into the dinning room.
"So does Kim. On top of that she told him. I wasn't being very bright to be honest. She told me about the church this morning in homeroom and what was the first thing I do when I get out of school. I go right over to the church and barge in right when she was talking to Gog. There is a bit of facial detail you can pick up when you're sitting right next to each other. Plus I don't know English enough to throw off my voice like Clark. I guess I should have came in speaking Kryptonian seeing as how they can all speak it they would have understood me fairly well." Karen said averting her eyes.
"Ok first thing we need to work on your speech recognition because you speak in conflicting sentences that are far to wordy. Secondly Clark needs to teach you to be a little bit more mild mannered." Lois said pouring a glass of tea for herself. "And he needs to show you how to us electromagnetism to erase peoples memories."
"Sorry but that would involve me having to kiss them and I'm sorry but I'm not from Titan I can't do that kind of thing that haphazardly." Karen said taking another sip of tea. "Plus I want to see how Kim handles knowing how I am. Gog I can just throw him into the Phantom Zone if he starts to cause trouble."
Lois laughed Karen was much more care free than Clark. She didn't over analyze life the way he did. She was going to be ok she wasn't tied down to Clark the way Bruce's protégés were. She was her own person with all of her own problems and her own ideas about how they should be handled. She could only hope that the world was ready when Karen learned about boys. She could still remember the night Jason was conceived the bed in her apartment lost all four legs and half a dozen springs. She laughed to herself about it but wondered if Karen was emotionally ready. She could only hope and pray that she and Clark would now what to say and do. The next three years were certainly going to be crazy. God help Metropolis.
A/N: PS: Ah the final chapter has finally come but don't worry its not over. I still have to write Chloe's wedding (cause god knows you'd all kill me if I didn't). The next leg of this story is going to focus around Karen so I might include Chloe's wedding in that or I might write a one shot that covers her wedding. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to handle it. Well peace out and wait around for the next installment. Peace out true believers.