Chapter 4:Secrets Are Forged
Kara knew she would get into a lot of trouble if anyone found out about this, but she simply had to let it out.
"My name…" She hesitated, finding the words she used to be able to say freely back home were a struggle. It was a simple name, yet meant too much nowadays. "My name is Kara In-Ze, and I'm not from this planet."
Looking up at Mew, to see her reaction, she saw that her friend stared at her in surprise. Taking a breath, she decided to continue forward before she lost her nerve.
"A disaster had happened on a neighboring planet, and the after effects began to slowly freeze our planet," Kara took in a shuddering breath, reigning in her emotions. "My father was a scientist and he created a handful of cryo-pods so that we could wait out the disaster till help finally arrived. I was the only one who survived that long."
A heavy silence fell in the barn at her words, and it stretched on for many moments as the two simply sat there on the ground.
"That.." Mew's words trailed off, trying to think of what to say. Of all that she was expecting from today, that was not one of them. Turns out that she had stumbled upon another alien, one that might very well be the last of her kind. She now understood why Kara would seem hesitant and nervous around humans, because she wasn't one of them.
Looking at her friend, she could see that as the silence continued, Kara was shrinking in on herself. Whether it was from fear, self-doubt, or shame, Mew couldn't tell. Only that if the silence lasted much longer, her friend might regret this forever.
So, she might as well tell her some of her secrets as well.
"While I call myself Mew, I don't know if that's my name," Mew began, telling a story only a scarce few knew of her. "One day, I simply came into being. I'm not sure if that would qualify as my birth, or me being able to understand my own existence. There was no knowledge in my head of what I was, or what I was to do, I just existed."
Looking to see if Kara was listening, she saw her looking at her a bit skeptically, which Mew couldn't find fault in. Aliens was one thing, but a being to exist to exist was another. Lifting her right hand, she slowly moved her fingers as energies ran across it. Lightning crackled, fire popped, ice tinkled, metal groaned, and darkness swished.
"For so long, I simply drifted through space with no concept of time or age," Mew extinguished her hand's magic as she continued. "For as much as I know about myself, I could be old as dust or barely even a child. And I have searched for information about myself, but I could never find something like me. So, as far as I know, I am the only of my kind."
At her words, silence had fallen again, but it no longer felt as heavy. It was simply a lull, waiting for the next voice to speak up.
"Why did you talk to me at The Club?" Kara asked, causing Mew to look up in confusion. "Did you know what I was?"
"You looked like a human, so I simply assumed you were," Mew leaned back so she was laying on the floor, looking up at the cracks where she could almost make out the night sky. "I had only been on this planet for barely a month, I had no clue there were aliens other than Superman."
"You've met him?" Kara asked, she couldn't help but frown at the thought that Mew might already know him. She had enough people comparing her and him, thank you very much.
"I live in Metropolis, kinda hard to not know about him," Mew pointed out, and Kara had to give her that one. "What's your favorite color?" Kara found that question to be a bit random, but decided to answer it anyway.
"I've always liked the color blue," Kara replied.
"Mine too, it's the best," Mew agreed wholeheartedly.
"Yeah, it is pretty nice," Kara couldn't help but smile at her friend's sunny-disposition. "What have you been doing in Metropolis since you arrived here?"
"I've been working at a pawn store," Mew told her. "They pay me to go pick up stuff around the city that they can sell, and I get a percent from each sale my stuff makes." Kara raised her brow at that, but didn't really know much about pawn stores to say anything about it. "Do you prefer cherries or strawberries?"
"I suppose strawberries," Kara answered.
xXx
These meetings ended up happening several times a week, and quickly became the highlight of Kara's days. While there were some topics that she avoided, usually involving her cousin or planet, Mew had never once pushed her to give away anything she didn't want to. And Mew too had topics she avoided, so she never pushed for information as well.
But sadly, Kara had to put their meetings on a hold. Her cousin had gone missing, and she had left to try and find him.
All the while, Mew was getting stir crazy as the days began to stretch on since she left. Devon even kicked her out of his shop after she began to wear a hole in his carpet as she paced around.
Mew still had no clue who her mysterious cousin was other than his name, but after the amount of stress he was putting her through, she was gonna punch him through a wall!
And to make matters worse, she was beginning to think that Superman was on to her. She had begun to see the underwear wearing hero way more often than ever before. Mew might see the guy once every four days, but now she was seeing him no less than five times a day.
So now, she was hiding out in her own home, hoping that her stalker will give up soon enough.
"I need to relax," Mew muttered to herself as she flipped through her tv, looking to find anything that might pull her mind away from her current woes. "Kara is fine, and Superman isn't gonna come busting through my wall."
All attempts to relax ended when she was flipping past the news and she broke the remote.
"Superman and Supergirl had been neutralized by military force," The reporter on the news stated.
While she had heard of Supergirl in passing, Mew never took the time to look her up. The only one she had a problem with was Superman. But as she stared at the image the new had for Supergirl, the rest of the report fell onto deaf ears.
Standing up from her couch in an almost robotic manner, Mew held up her hand and a white orb of energy appeared on it. From the orb, an Unown popped out of it, then another one, and another one. Soon, a stream of Unown were flowing from the orb and were circling around her in rings.
When she felt she had enough, she dismissed the orb and looked at the swirling mass around her.
"Find Kara." Her words came out harsh, the only true sign of how she was feeling at the moment. But her words were more than enough for the simple Pokemon, and they rushed towards the window, busting it open and scattering to the winds to find what she desired.
Take a deep breath, Mew used Calm Mind to try and reign herself in.
It didn't pull away all her anger, but she was able to think a bit clearer now and wasn't going to level the apartment building anymore. With her Unown now looking for Kara, all she could do was wait.
Night turned to day.
She waited.
Day turned to night.
She waited.
It was when dawn of the second day that they found Kara, and she vanished from her living room.
xXx
Reappearing in the sky, her eyes were quick to lock onto the only thing nearby; Superman. He was flying through the air at a speed much slower than he usually went, and he had a woman wearing military fatigues on his back while Kara was being carried in his arms.
"What happened to Kara?" She reappeared next to the man, causing him to suddenly veer away from her, but she was able to keep speed with him.
"Who are you," Superman glared at her, his eyes already glowing. It was clear he was not in a mood much better than her's.
"A friend. Now, what is wrong with Kara?!" Mew snapped at him, growing more and more frustrated with the hero.
Superman remained silent for a moment as he regarded her before finally turning his head forwards, focusing on flying more than her potential threat.
"She got shot, I'm taking her to a doctor," His reply was simple, but more than enough for her gaze to turn to Kara. Mew could see how shallowly her friend was breathing, and wasn't sure if she would make it to a doctor in her current state.
Not wanting to risk it, Mew let out a Heal Pulse that washed over the three of them.
Which might not have been a good idea with a trigger happy Superman, as she found herself blasted away with his heat vision. Mew stopped herself a few meters away, and leveled a glare at the hero. Her chest was smoking from where he hit her.
It looked like he was about to hit her with another one when Kara started coughing in his arms as she came to.
"Why do people make those things," She groaned, rubbing at her chest where she got hit.
"Kara!" Superman said in surprise as his attention turned to her. Looking her over with both his normal vision and x-ray vision, he could see that most of the damage done from the gun was gone.
"You're welcome!" Mew called back sarcastically, her voice causing Kara to try and jolt up right. Failing at that, she managed to get Superman to let her go so she could fly on her own.
"Uh hey Mew," Kara waved sheepishly under her friend's stare, looking towards her cousin for support, but was met with an expectant look. "I might have made a friend a while ago."
"And how much does she know?" He asked, his eyes flickering to the now named girl following them.
"Don't worry, we didn't talk about anything big," Kara tried to wave off the question. "It was mostly just small talk about, you know, girl stuff?" She attempted to reason, but from the annoyed huff he gave, she knew she was going to be given the third degree later. "So, where we going?"
"S.T.A.R. Labs," Superman began as he stopped and turned to Kara. "I need you to take Lois back to Metropolis, I have to stop Darkseid for all that he has done."
"Wait, what?" Kara asked in disbelief. "I can help you, I can fight as well!"
"No, you are still too weak from the Red Sun Radiation," Superman began to move Lois from his back. "I nearly lost you once today, and I don't think I could handle actually losing you." He gave her a pleading look.
"I-" Kara's words died in her throat before she let out a frustrated noise before helping Lois off of him. "If you don't come back this time, I am going to kick your butt back to Krypton." She snapped before turning to Mew. "Thanks for the help, by the way."
"No issue," Mew waved the thanks away. "I have no clue what is actually going on, it felt like I needed subtitles for that little back-and-forth there."
"Its… It's a really long story," Kara sighed as the three of them flew back to the city.
"So, are you a new super hero then?" Lois finally spoke up, looking at Mew. "Pretty sure someone already had the cat theme in Gotham." She indicated the self-themed hoodie
"Nah, I don't really do that," Mew answered with a shrug. "Seems a bit too stressful for me. The only one I'm interested in saving is Kara, or should I call you Supergirl?" She asked with an expectant look.
"Oh, come on. Don't be like that," Kara began, and the two of them ended up going into some good nature bickering at each other for most of the flight back to the city. Neither one of them really gave a second thought to how their passenger might interrupt what they were saying.
xXx
When someone who is faster than you, stronger than you, and could see through walls wants to talk with you, there was no hiding from them unless you skipped town. And as tempting as that option was, Mew couldn't leave Kara to face Superman alone.
And she refused the skip town idea.
On the plus side, Mew was finally able to meet Kara's aunt and uncle. Kara refused to be too far from Metropolis in case Superman needed her, so the farm was the furthest she felt comfortable going. The meeting was inevitable since she had to reassure them that both her, and oddly enough, Superman were okay and safe.
Mew got a rather amusing show of the two humans fretting over Kara, much to her friend's embarrassment .She had found the aunt to be a rather sweet woman and the uncle to have a gentle stubbornness about him.
They were a bit unsure about her presence there until Kara ended up vouching for her, so Mew ended up spending the night there as they all waited for Superman to finally show up, which he did in the morning.
Which brings us to her current predicament.
Her and Kara sitting in the living room while Superman stood over them expectantly, the Kents waiting in the kitchen in the next room. Kara and Mew had very different reactions to the super hero stare down. Mew looked like she had all the time in the world, and would continue waiting till he gave up. Kara on the other hand looks like she was ready for the ground to swallow her up.
"Who wants to begin?" He finally asked after it became clear that neither of the two were going to be the first to speak up, and Kara was the first to break.
"I'm sorry," Kara said in a meek voice. "I was trying to do some work undercover, and I ended up meeting Mew. We started talking, hanging out, and I had a lot of fun. It had been the first time in a long time that I actually felt like Kara instead of Supergirl."
At that, Superman let out a tired sigh as his posture relaxed a bit.
"I know it can be rough, but it was still dangerous to tell someone you didn't know," He reprimanded her, but his tone was gentler than it was before. "I've trusted the wrong people before and paid for it."
"Her secrets are hers to give if she wants," Mew argued as she glared at the hero. "Who are you to tell her what she can or can't say."
Superman glanced at her before looking back at Kara.
"Uh, she doesn't know who you are," Kara supplied the unanswered question, looking away from him. "She knows I'm an alien, that I live here, and I have a cousin, so nothing big. Most of our get-togethers boil down to just small talk, eating some food, and just hanging out."
"Imagine my surprise when I saw your face on the television after the attack," Mew added, causing Kara to cringe. "The landlady isn't going to be happy about the hole I made in my wall. And speaking about your cousin, did you ever find him?" She turned to face her friend. "I promised myself I would punch him through a wall for all the stress he ended up causing."
…
"Mew, Superman IS my cousin," Kara stated after a moment of stunned silence.
"Oh…" Mew turned back to look at the hero standing over her, thinking over her next actions. "You're lucky we are in Kara's house, I don't want to break her walls."
"I'm sure you don't," A smile tugged at the hero's lips before sighing again. "Kara, I am happy that you've made a friend. You took a big risk, but I can't deny that it didn't pay off. Mew," He now turned to focus on her. "You have my thanks for saving my cousin."
"She's my friend, I didn't need any other reason," Mew waved off the thanks, but was starting to relax as well as it seemed no fight was going to break out in the next few minutes. "I might not be in the superhero business like the two of you, but I will pull Kara's butt out of the fire when she needs it."
"Hey, I can watch after myself just fine," Kara interjected, sending her a look. "I've taken down plenty of bad guys single-handedly."
"I don't know," Superman began, an amused look now on his face. "Would save me a few grey hairs if I knew someone else was keeping you out of danger." He joked before turning serious again. "But in all honesty, Kara might need this help in the weeks to come."
"What's wrong Clark?" Kara suddenly asked, concerned at the change of topic and his tone of voice. "Is it Darkseid?"
"No," Superman shook his head in the negative. "But what he made me do… It burned a lot of bridges with the people and regaining their trust will not be an easy feat. But, there might be some hope," His now stood up straight, and his shoulders set. From the look in his eyes, whatever he was thinking, he believed it to be the best way. "I've been approached by a government official who has a plan that might make the world a safer place, and has asked me to be a part of it."
"What are they having you do?" Kara's worry was easy to pick up in her voice.
"I can't say," Superman said with some regret. "You just need you to trust me, and help keep Metropolis safe when I'm not around."
"I-" Kara wanted to argue against this, but she couldn't deny his logic. After Darkseid's attack, people were going to be angry and scared. Angry and scared of Superman. The trust he had built up after so long, was shattered, and he had to build it back up again before it was all gone. "Okay. Just... be safe Clark."
"I shouldn't be in any danger," Superman assured her before looking at the two of them. "Mew, I might not know much about you or have known you for long, but I trust Kara. So if she trusts you, I do as well. Please keep Kara safe."
"When I saw brainwashed you hit Kara on the news," The two heroes grimace at the fresh memory she brought up. "The only thing preventing me from kicking your butt was that I didn't know where you were." Standing up, Mew poked the man in the chest. "So if I was willing to fight you of all people, you can bet your Argoan butt that I will keep her safe."
"He's not Argoan," Kara interjected, a smile on her face. She found Mew's words to be an odd sort of comfort. "He's Kryptonian."
"Find me a dictionary, you guys are making these words up."