"So," Cisco said. He clicked the pen in his hand a few times in a businesslike fashion and looked at Kara expectantly. "What are you thinking?"
"Um, I don't know," Kara said hesitantly. She'd been the one to propose joining Barry in his hero crusade, but now that that day was looming, she found herself reluctant to open herself up to that kind of exposure. The habit of keeping her true self hidden and living a normal life was so deeply ingrained that it was proving extremely difficult to break.
"Well, what exactly are your abilities?" Cisco asked, misjudging the cause of Kara's indecisiveness. "I mean, you're fast- we saw that at Ferris Air- but also said that you're more than just fast. So what else can you do? Knowing that will make it easier to design your suit to fit your needs." Kara sighed. It seemed there would be simply no chance of getting around her habit against revealing herself with anything resembling ease. She was in too deep to back out now, and she doubted it would work if she tried. Cisco didn't seem like the type to just let this go. The other problem, then, was figuring out how to explain exactly what she was and what she could do.
"You've heard of Superman, right?" she asked, finally deciding on how to approach it.
"Uh-huh," Cisco confirmed, nodding. "Metropolis' resident superhero. I'm familiar."
"Well, he and I come from the same place," Kara said. "He's my cousin."
"Your cousin?" Cisco asked disbelievingly. "But… he's an alien. Wait, you're an alien?"
"Yes," Kara said, nodding. "I would kind of have to be if I'm related to Superman, wouldn't I?"
"True, true," Cisco conceded, nodding. Then something seemed to occur to him, because he asked "Is Barry an alien?"
"No," Kara said, shaking her head, chuckling in spite of herself. "He's not. His parents found me after my pod crashed in the suburbs near their house, and they took me in. Barry and I are adoptive siblings."
"Uh-huh," Cisco said.
"And before you say anything," Kara went on, anger edging her voice preemptively of the response she was expecting to receive, "that doesn't make him any less my brother."
"Right, I get it," Cisco said, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Family doesn't end with blood."
"Exactly," Kara agreed, satisfied.
"So," Cisco said after a moment, "if you're Superman's cousin and come from the same planet as him, does that mean you have all the same abilities as him?"
"Yes," Kara said. "That's why I told you about us being related. I figured it was quicker than just listing all the things I can do."
"So," Cisco said. "Flight?"
"Uh-huh," Kara confirmed.
"Invulnerability? Except in the presence of kryptonite, of course?"
"Yes."
"Super strength?"
"Yep."
"Freeze breath? Heat vision?"
"Yes and yes."
"X- ray vision?"
"Mmmhmm." Cisco let out a low whistle.
"Damn," he said. "This might be the coolest thing I ever do in my whole life." Kara glared at him, frustrated by his lack of seriousness.
"I'm just saying," he said. "It's not every day that I get to design a super suit for an amazingly powerful alien being."
"You designed one for Barry," Kara countered.
"No, I didn't," Cisco argued. "I mean, yeah, that's what it's being used as now, but that's not the purpose I had in mind for it when I originally designed it. Besides, Barry's not Superman's cousin." Kara rolled her eyes.
"I never should have told you that," she muttered. "Now that's the only way you'll ever see me, and I'm going to be spending the rest of time being compared to him and trying to live up to a standard I can't possibly reach."
"I don't think that's true at all," Cisco replied. "I'm not gonna only see you as Superman's cousin, because I started getting to know you before I knew that you were. And it's not like he's some unreachable standard for you, either. After all, anything he can do, you can do. Right?"
"Right," Kara agreed.
"So don't worry about him," Cisco advised. "Just do your own thing. Anything else will come with time."
"That was some surprisingly sage advice," Kara said.
"What can I say?" Cisco replied. "I contain multitudes."
"Apparently," Kara said. They lapsed into silence, and Cisco took up his pen and started idly sketching designs on the pad of paper in front of him.
"Here," Kara said after watching him work for a few minutes. "Let me see." Cisco passed her the pad and pen without a word. She added her family crest to his sketches and passed the pad and pen back to him.
"Superman's symbol?" he asked, studying her addition to his sketches with a puzzled frown. "I thought you didn't want people to compare you to him."
"It's not his symbol," Kara explained, shaking her head. "It's our family crest, the crest of the House of El. And I have as much right to bear it as he does.
"Hmmm," Cisco said thoughtfully, nodding along to Kara's explanation, though Kara wasn't sure if he really understood it.
"Oh, and one more thing," Kara said. When Cisco looked at her questioningly, she gestured toward his sketches and added, "Lose the skirt. I'm not a schoolgirl."