I wasn't the only child of Thanos, although I was his first. He brought in more that I called my brothers and sisters. I remember a young boy brought to us by Thanos' men when I was I young teenager. His name is Ben. I can remember Thanos believing the boy had great power, but when I was a child I couldn't see it. To me he was just weak and thin. I remember my father making us spar, and I realized quickly that I would easily break or crush him if I wasn't careful.

When Ben first moved in with us, he would just cry and cry for the first weeks. He was terrified a lot of the time and asked constantly for his mother. I had already lived with Thanos for a long time, I was annoyed at this boy and begged father to take him back wherever he came from. But my father got down on his knee and hunched over so he could look me in the eye. He took my face in his hands and he said, "Little one, don't you remember when you first came into this family? Don't you remember the long days and nights where your cried for your mother, already long gone? Don't you remember who held you late into the night, so you wouldn't sob? Little one, it was just as hard when you first came here, but look at you now. Look at how strong and fierce you have become in these years. Who will comfort Ben? Who will hold him when he cries? And who will teach him to be strong? You are his big sister now, it is your job to take care of him." So, I did. I cared for him, I raised him, I trained him. When he was still a little boy, he would come into my room at night and he would sleep while I sat watch. He feared the monsters that lurked in our house. He is the first, and maybe the only, thing I have ever truly loved.

Kara's fingers pitter-pattered on the keys of her laptop as she typed out concluding thoughts to her thesis. The past four months were the most challenging Kara had experienced in university, and she was glad to be nearly finished. Although she was working on her paper, her thoughts drifted elsewhere. She thought back to the day she had contacted Thanos. She wondered if she had been seen or found out and wondered if that is why she hadn't been contacted by the avengers in the past four months. She tried to shake that thought out of her head and focus on her typing… but again her mind drifted. She thought back to nearly four years ago when her father, Thanos of Titan, had given her this mission: to infiltrate the avengers, become one of them, and report back all information. Her father had told her this band of "super" humans on earth had been causing him trouble for a while. Individually, they wouldn't have bothered him, but as a team, they were difficult to take down. Kara was tasked to gathering intel that would help Thanos find their weaknesses, should a conflict ever come. Kara's sister, Nivana, told her she was being exiled-that this mission was just busy work to get Kara away from Titan and out of their father's sight. Kara shook this memory from her head, remembering her sister's hate and knowing those words were only brought on by jealousy, not truth. She was assigned an important mission, one only she could do, she told herself. She had to take it seriously.

DING-DONG

"Finally," Kara breathed as she put her laptop down on the couch cushion beside her. She had been waited for her Chinese food for a while. She hopped up and grabbed her wallet on the way to her small NYC apartment door.

"Thor?" Kara's eyes widened as she opened the door to reveal the avenger standing in her hallway.

He smiled at her as he strolled inside. Kara had barely recognized him as he no longer looked like a character from mythology. His long hair had been cropped short and he replaced his armor for a tee shirt, jeans, and a jacket.

"What are you doing here?" Kara asked, taken aback by this very surprise visit, "I thought you went home."

Thor smirked, "Surprised to see me?"

"Yeah," Kara said, marked with a little exasperation, "…I am."

He walked around the small apartment, stopping at the book self and lifting a copy and flipping it over in his hands.

"So, what are you doing on earth?" Kara asked again.

"I don't know," Thor said, a sly grin spreading on his face, "I guess I had a reason to come back…"

He locked eyes with Kara and they looked at each other in silence. Kara swallowed hard.

"…Tony asked me to." He finally said to break the silence. Kara let out a breath. Thor had a way of making intense and prolonged eye contact that made Kara feel like she couldn't breathe. She didn't know if it was one of his super powers, or if he just didn't really get how to do human interactions.

"So, Tony called you?" Kara asked, trying to regain her composure, as well as hide some jealousy.

"Something like that, yes."

"So then, why are you here, in my apartment?" Kara wondered if the avengers sent him to get her.

"I thought I would say hello."

"Hi."

"Hello."

Again, with the eye contact, Kara thought. Kara was the one to break it this time. "I'm actually kind of busy right now. I am just finishing up my thesis." She went over to her computer.

"What is a thesis?" Thor asked following her over and joining her on her couch.

It felt very odd to Kara. Her apartment had been her little haven, her little place that no other person had come in. In fact, she didn't even know how Thor got her address. And it was weird, to have him here. Not bad, just weird.

"It's my final paper for my graduate studies. After this, I am done." Kara smiled.

"Will there be a ceremony when you finish these studies?" Thor asked, genuinely interested.

"Um, yeah, actually. But I wasn't sure if I was going to go. I didn't go to my bachelor graduation."

"Why is that?"

"Oh, I don't know. I guess I don't really like attention on me." Kara shrugged.

Thor raised his eyebrows, "Really?"

Kara was taken aback by the implied accusation and threw her head back and laughed. She realized since her and Thor had met, she had been the center of attention, and I guess Thor knew she hadn't minded it then. Thor laughed with her and then he said, "You should go to the ceremony. I believe it is important to the humans and a high honor. You should accept that."

Kara nodded soberly, "I should… its just that I know no one in the audience would be there to see me. I don't really have anybody here."

"Well, I will go." Thor said, matter-of-factly.

"Really?" Kara asked, doubtfully, "Why would a god from another planet want to come to a little human graduation?"

"Because you're there."

Thor and Kara looked at each other again. She realized-this time-she didn't really mind it.

When the Chinese actually did arrive, Kara invited Thor to stay. They ate, talked, and drank, late into the night. Kara asked Thor to tell her about Asgard and he described the shining, golden city, the vast mountain ranges and the green plains. Thor asked about G'mai, but Kara had little to tell him of it. Thor was one of the only people she had met who had actually heard of her planet before and heard of its implosion. "I remember my father saying something about a small planet in the Apex Quadrant being completely annihilated. No one knew what caused it. As far as we knew on Asgard, there were no survivors."

"Only me and my parents," Kara lied, "We were able to escape."

"How old are you?" Thor asked, "Because that planet was destroyed a long time ago."

Kara nodded, "About 94 earth-years ago… I don't really know how old I am. It's hard to count years when I have lived on so many different planets with different rotations around their suns. How old are you?"

Thor had to think about it, "I suppose about 1000… I've never really kept track either."

The two continued to talk and drink, and they bonded over alien life on earth. They complained about human culture and exchanged stories of trying to fit in.

"I just don't understand it!" Thor boomed as him and Kara started talking about the weird things humans did, "why is freedom and democracy held on such a high pedestal? It's not just in America, I've seen this ideal held all over the planet. When will humans realize they won't get anything done if they don't have a king telling them what to do?"

Kara laughed at Thor's passionate, and slightly drunk, statements, "I know, but you need to recognize your own bias, you are coming from the ruling class on your planet. Just to play devil's advocate, you've never experienced what it is to be a commoner. Earth has tried the king thing, and I don't think they liked it."

"Yes, but that is why you have to have the right king," Thor continued, "if the minority of humans are intelligent, and the majority of people are stupid, then in a democratic society, where all people get an equal vote and majority rules, would it not be obvious that the stupidest choice will be made each and every time?"

"I agree with you on that," Kara said, "That people are never truly happy if they do what ever they want. They can only find true happiness when a more supreme being tells them what to do."

"Exactly!" Thor agreed.

"That's why humans rely so much on religion. They need someone telling them what to do."

Thor nodded in drunk agreement.

"So, who will rule earth? You?" Kara asked.

"No, that's more my brother's desire. What I desire for earth is that they have their own king. One that will love them and rule them in fairness," Thor poured himself another drink, "and I don't think my brother would be very good at that... No, I will rule Asgard one day. I hope to be the kind of king my father was." Thor leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes.

Kara smiled, "I think you will be a good king one day."

As Kara said this, she meant it. She could see that Thor had a good heart. It surprised her a little bit, that he had love for the humans and desired to protect them, even though he was objectively superior. It was an idea she had never encountered before. Thanos raised her with the same philosophy Thor had: that is that there are those who rule and those who are ruled, and that happiness, balance, and peace would only be brought to the universe when there was a clear line of who was who. Thanos believed that everyone needed a superior being to rule them, that they would only truly be happy if they served that being. Thanos also believed that he was that superior being and that he not only could, but was destined, to rule the universe. It had been his life's mission, ever since Kara could remember. Everything he had done, he had done for all the universe to be in balance. Kara had never doubted her father's beliefs. She knew in his heart his desires were for good-for peace. But, he would always tell her, there are those that profit off war; there are those that will fight my mission and stand in our way of peace. We will never achieve peace in the universe without first war; never balance without first destruction. Kara had come to earth believing the avengers where among those who profited off war. But now, as Thor slept, passed out, on her couch, she wondered if maybe he was just simply, genuinely, good.