Days passed. Kal eventually left her with Jor-El, and she started to ask questions. About what had happened, about Earth. Using Kryptonian learning techniques, she started to learn more. In a few weeks, she learned about the world she'd been sent to. Its languages, its customs. The knowledge was abstract, and she would still have difficulty integrating with society. But it was something.
The pain she felt didn't lessen, but she learned to get on with things. She got better at focussing and getting past it.

Eventually it was time for her to leave. Everything she knew about human culture said that it would be difficult for her, especially given her age and appearance. But she would have to do the best she could.
She thought for a while about what she wanted to do, but she ended up deciding to continue in the field she knew best- computing. Unfortunately the best they had were massive computers that couldn't do much more than process raw data and spit it out looking slightly more meaningful, but she was nevertheless interested in it. She just needed to find a job.

The head office of Wayne Enterprises in Coast City was what counted as a large building on Earth. Of course it was only a fifth the size of the larger buildings in Argo City, but it was nevertheless impressive. It was also very busy, and Kara had to dodge a few people on the way in. She was met by Hank Phelps, a man in his mid-fifties who seemed to be the only one around who wasn't hurrying to do anything. Kal and his adoptive mother had bought Kara a suit and some glasses to wear. The suit she didn't like very much, but the glasses were strangely stylish. She found an affection for them, and they would probably help her for the interview.
Kara followed Hank to the room where they'd be having the interview and sat down where he indicated. "The others will be along shortly. I should warn you, you face an uphill battle here. Normally we don't consider anyone without a degree. But you seemed passionate enough in your letter. Something others might not appreciate, but I do."
"I appreciate that. I know I'm an unknown."
"Yes, having no experience or qualifications is something that normally counts you out. But I've learned that character is more important."
At that, the other two interviewers entered the room. Kara was introduced to Brian O'hara and Terrence Patrick. They sat down and Hank told Kara, "Brian and Terrance are our top IT guys. I just manage the department, I don't know all the technical elements."
Brian asked, "So you're applying for the engineer job? To keep the mainframe running? You know that's a pretty complicated job, right? Not like being a secretary or whatever."
Kara nearly rolled her eyes. She'd heard about sexism, and it was almost amusing to experience it firsthand. "I've done my homework. You use VAX-11's, right? Thirty-two bit, with virtual addressing? Those looked pretty decent. I had a quick look into assembly language."
Hank smiled, while Terrence replied, "We also still have some PDP-6's. Good machines too, but the assembly language makes them a lot more dynamic."
Kara would see the two men re-evaluating her. It must be strange, she reflected, having the pretty little blonde girl challenge their assumptions.
Hank asked Kara, "So do you live in the city?"
Kara shook her head. "I live in Kansas, actually. In a small town, with my aunt."
"Quite a distance to come."
Kara shrugged. "I really want a job in this field. I find it fascinating. And of course Wayne Enterprises is always on the technological edge. You guys must get the best toys."
"You'd think," grumbled Brian. Hank grinned and replied, "We're usually ahead of the curve. Not just in getting the best technology but in using it in revolutionary ways. Even though we're not technically in the research business, but our engineering starts to verge on that."
"I've always been intrigued by that crossover between research and implementation. Especially with more accessible programming interfaces."
Hank nodded and they continued their conversation for a couple of hours. Kara felt confident that she'd impressed them enough, and the test they gave her at the end was easy enough. Some basic binary maths as well as other bits like hexadecimals and assembly.

It took a few more days for her to get the call telling her that she'd gotten the job.

Kara had to quickly find an apartment in Coast City. She was on barely enough of a wage to afford to share one, and she found an advertisement for one in the local newspaper. After an interview, she moved in.
Her new roommate, Siobhan McDougal, was surprised that Kara didn't have many actual possessions, beyond a few essentials that Martha Kent had given or bought her. The place ended up underfurnished, but it felt more like home to Kara. On Krypton people generally hadn't cluttered their living spaces like humans did. Still, she was glad to have a place of her own. Even under the circumstances.
She wished she had more things from Krypton to put up. At least one thing to remember her home. But all she had was a skinsuit, made by Jor-El in the Fortress. It looked the same as the one she wore at home. But that, like everything else, got destroyed. The only possession she had from home was what she wore to the lab.
As she sat on her new bed, tears welled up in her eyes. She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and went to find something to do.

Siobhan was a nice girl. Apparently from the UK, some island to the east. It was sometimes hard to be around her, because she had to pretend, but on the other hand, she was a positive person and it helped to drag Kara out whenever she felt in a rut.

Kara was attempting to learn about her powers while working and sorting other things out in her life. She was able to run extremely fast- fast enough for her to get to the Fortress in under an hour. And while like most on Krypton she always kept herself fit and healthy, running for an hour would damn near kill her. But here, she just felt fine. It was an incredible feeling.
She would sometimes go to the Fortress to test her powers on the ice nearby. She could pick up a massive boulder and throw it, then run and smash it to pieces before it hit the ground. She could jump miles at a time. She could hear the wings of a fly beat from a city block away, or see inside things (she was more careful with that after she briefly saw Siobhan undressing, although she only saw bones). There were two things she hadn't yet been able to do- Kal's heat vision, as they called it, and flying. The former she didn't care about, but the latter was a source of frustration for her.
She tried for hours to cause that. The most she could do was jump and land on her feet. Kal told her she'd get it eventually, and that it had taken him some time to get the hang of it too. That was no comfort.

Kara's enhanced senses had a cost. She had trouble, initially, sorting it out. There was too much noise to hear any one thing, unless she could see it or it was exceptionally loud.
But one night as she was sat listening to some music Siobhan had given her, she heard something through it. It sounded like it was coming from outside. A scream.
Kara was flooded with adrenaline, and her reactions and thought processes went to superspeed. She knew what Kal did in these situations. And for a nanosecond, she hesitated. But then the glasses came off, she took off the t-shirt she wore over her skinsuit, and she ran to find the source.
A couple were looking terrified as a trio of armed thugs held them up. One was rummaging through a purse when Kara came across them. She decided to have a bit of fun, so she slowed down and coughed to get their attention. One spun and shot his weapon at her. She caught bullet in midair. "You could put someone's eye out with that thing."
She smirked and found a long metal cable in the garbage nearby. She pushed the three together, tied them up, and pushed them to the ground.
The couple were of course very grateful, and Kara asked them to find a phone to call for the police. They obliged. When the police came, Kara took off.
Back in her room, she found herself grinning at the memory of the encounter. It was thrilling, and terrifying too. Those weapons would have killed her back on Krypton.
But on Earth, she just caught the projectile like it were drifting in zero-g.
Kara found it hard to sleep that night. She kept thinking of other things she could do with it. She was looking forward to trying.

The next day, Kara got a newspaper on the way to work. She found herself grinning widely as she read the article in the breakroom, drinking a coffee.
Terrence sat opposite her and said, "You see that? 'Supergirl'. Another alien."
There wasn't any disapproval or malice in that, he seemed to just be describing her. Kara decided to prod him. "What do you think of it?"
"I think that-" and he pointed to the well-drawn illustration of Kara in her skinsuit, "-is really fucking hot."
Kara blushed and held up the paper to hide it. Terrence added, "Sorry, I guess that was a bit indelicate."
Kara got her blushing under control and put the paper down. "I just wish you could think something other than about her desirability."
Terrence frowned. "I have other thoughts too. That's just the first one. Like, they've both said they're the last, but they keep on coming. Gotta wonder how many there are. I hope they keep plenty of that Kryptonite stuff."
Kara had heard of that. Of course, she knew that some minerals on Krypton emitted harmful radiation. Their ability to absorb radiation like Sol's seemed to extend to that, as well as other minerals.
She asked, "You think they want to hurt people?"
Terrence shrugged. "People hurt each other without meaning to all the time."
Kara thought about that for a while before she realized that her shift had started, and she hurried to the server room.

A few weeks later at the weekend, Kal called and asked her to come to the Fortress. She actually managed to make the trip in only forty minutes this time, so clearly she was getting faster. She found him in his skinsuit, preparing her pod for a journey.
"Kal, what are you doing?"
He took a look at her and said, "I need to go to where Krypton used to be. Normally the trip would take years, but I think I can be there and back in a few weeks."
Kara instinctively said, "No!"
She was taken aback by the feeling. Her only family leaving her on a strange planet. "I don't want you to leave me here."
He walked over to her and smiled reassuringly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You'll do fine without me. You have Jor-El, your roommate, people at work. You can ask them if anything concerns you."
Kara looked away for a moment, then asked, "Why do you need to go?"
"I need to learn more about Brainiac. See where he might have taken Argo City, and Kandor. There's a slim chance... and if there are more of our people, we need to know."
"Then I should go," Kara insisted. "I know Argo City. And Krypton. And I'm a Kryptonian scientist!"
Kal shook his head. "You have things to do here. To learn about your powers, and human society. And anyway, I can disappear from my job for a few weeks. I have leave built up. You leave, you get fired. And I know you love your job."
Kara didn't have an answer for that. She didn't want him to leave, but he seemed determined.
"Jor-El, tell your son he's an idiot."
"Kal is many things, but he is not an idiot."
Kal smiled at Kara one last time, then got in the pod. It closed itself, then rose into the air, its crystalline structure glistening in the air. Soon it was gone, and Kara felt dejected.
Jor-El must have sensed it, because he said to her, "Kal does not need your protection, and you do not need his. This world is yours too, now."
Kara nearly said some harsh words to her uncle's shadow, but bit it off. The humans were getting to her, talking without thinking as they did.
She ran back home, her mind ablaze with worry, fear, and self-doubt. But she knew she had no choice but to live on this alien world the best she could.