Chapter 34: People Who Notice Things (Out of Time – Epilogue)

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.

Lana Lang noticed things.

She had always been an observant child, which was why she had been aware that there was something strange about Karen Kent and her best friend, Clark Kent, almost from the moment they met. Sure, she would never have imagined that the strangeness was due to her friend and his mother being aliens from another planet, but she had noticed the strange things. Things that made even more sense now that she knew the truth.

It was the little things, really. Such as Ms. Kent often seeming to hesitate a fraction of second before speaking, as if she was mentally translating what she was about to say from another language into English. Clark didn't do it, which made sense because he had grown up with English as his first language, but Ms. Kent had grown up speaking... whatever language was spoken on Krypton. Her English was perfect, not a hint of an accent to be found, but occasionally she needed that extra moment, which showed that she was thinking in another language first.

It was also apparent in the way both of the Kents ate. Or rather, how they inhaled food. Lots and lots of food, much of it of the rather unhealthy variety. Despite that, though, neither of them ever showed any sign of putting on weight. Ms. Kent had had a perfect figure as long as Lana could remember and Clark was rapidly growing into his rather wide shoulders, becoming one hell of a beefcake. And yes, it was weird to think of the boy who was practically her brother in that way, but Lana did have eyes.

So when Ms. Kent returned home one evening for dinner, it was with those eyes that Lana noted several weird things all at the same time. The first was that Ms. Kent's blonde hair – of which she was terribly jealous, truth to tell – was a good deal longer than it had been yesterday when she had last seen her. Did Kryptonians have some sort of alien hair-growing power she was unaware of so far?

The next thing was when she came right up and hugged Clark with enough force to nearly knock him off his feet. As far as Lana knew they had seen each other only a few hours ago, but Ms. Kent hugged her son like she hadn't seen him in months and Lana thought she even spotted some tears in her eyes. Clark actually begged to be let go after a minute, more out of embarrassment than anything else, but still.

"I missed you so much," Ms. Kent whispered, just loud enough that Lana could hear her from where she was standing, watching in confusion.

"Mom?" Clark asked, equally confused, it seemed.

Ms. Kent finally let him go, regaining her composure and noticing that Lana is there, too.

"Oh, hello Lana," she said, seemingly a bit flustered. "I..., are you staying for dinner? I... sorry, I've had a really, really long day and... yeah."

When she looked directly at her, Lana noticed another weird thing. There was the faintest hint of a scar over Ms. Kent's right eye. As if something had cut her there ages ago. Which was weird, because as best as Lana knew, nothing on Earth could cut Ms. Kent. Clark had been close to invulnerable ever since his powers had kicked in at puberty and Ms. Kent had had her powers ever since arriving on Earth. What could possibly have cut her? And why did the scar, which she was positive Ms. Kent hadn't had yesterday, look like it been inflicted ages ago?

Lana was about to ask after the scar, but Mr. and Mrs. Kent came into the living room at that moment. Mrs. Kent was about to set the table for dinner, but she was immediately accosted by a whirlwind as Ms. Kent gathered her aunt and uncle into her arms and hugged them, too (though somewhat more carefully than Clark). They were too far away for Lana to hear what, if anything, Ms. Kent was saying to them, but she did see the look of confused concern on the faces of both the elder Kents.

Though she was brimming with curiosity, Lana finally decided that it was probably best for her to make a discreet exit and leave the family to themselves for tonight. Clearly something had happened, something very weird, and while Lana knew that all the Kents liked her, they preferred to keep the weird within the family at times.

Besides, Clark would tell her everything later on anyway. She'd just have to be a bit patient.

Diana noticed things.

Ever since she had first brought her friend Kara to Themyscira, she had noticed that some of her sisters were acting... peculiar. At first, she had thought that it was simply due to Kara being the first outsider ever to visit the island and thought nothing further of it.

With subsequent visits, though, the peculiarities began to pile up. It started when her mother, the queen, offered Kara a permanent room in the palace. A room that Diana had walked past hundreds of times while growing up on the island. She had seen the diamond-shaped symbol carved into the doorframe many times, but had never connected it to the coat-of-arms of her best friend. Until Kara told her how flattered she felt that her symbol had been made part of the palace.

It got even weirder than that, though. Every single time Kara came to visit the island, many of her sisters seemed to almost hold their breath in anticipation, apparently waiting for something to happen. Only to sigh in something like disappointment when whatever it was they were waiting for didn't materialize. It was especially noticeable in her mother and – strangely enough – Philippus, who was probably the one Amazon who kept the most distance from Kara. Diana had queried her mother about it, actually, but Hippolyta had remained tight-lipped, just telling her that she would find out eventually.

Everything changed, though, when Kara came to visit the island again. She had actually called Diana beforehand, asking her to accompany her to Themyscira. She hadn't given her a reason, only saying that it was something important. When they walked into the throne room, where Hippolyta sat with her closest advisors, Diana saw the same barely concealed look of anticipation on her mother's face that she had noticed several times before.

"Diana, Kara, it's good to see you," Hippolyta said, rising from her chair. "What can I do for you?"

Kara simply smiled. "Remember Steppenwolf, Lyta?"

Diana could only remember a handful of times in the past when she had seen her mother smile as broadly as she did now. A moment later she had crossed the distance and hugged Kara, who immediately hugged her back. Now Diana was even more confused. Her mother had always been very fond of Kara ever since they met, but right now, she hugged her like a long-lost sister.

"It's so good to finally have you remember that, Kara," her mother finally said. "I was not sure how much longer I would be able to hold my tongue."

Kara smiled. "Admit it, until younger me appeared here a few years ago, you never quite believed my story, did you?"

"I ... will admit I had some doubts. 3,000 years are a long time, even for the immortals."

Diana had had about enough at this point. "Can somebody please explain to me what is going on here?"

Within the next few minutes Diana learned the incredible story. Of how Kara had been sent to the past by somebody called the Flash, only to meet the Amazons, fight an alien god, save her mother's life, and spend seven months on Themyscira before travelling back to the future. She had the feeling that Kara was leaving a lot out of the story and fully intended to quiz her about it later, but right now she was simply overwhelmed.

"How is this even possible?" she asked. "How can you have saved my mother's life 3,000 years before you ever met her in the present? It doesn't make any sense!"

"I don't pretend to understand how time works, Diana," Kara said. "It appears a lot of things are possible. And some aren't."

Diana noticed the deep pain echoing within those last few words. She took her friends hand, making a silent promise to talk with her about it later. "Thank you, Kara. It appears that I would not even have been born if not for you."

"There are no thanks necessary between friends, Diana. You know that."

"Not friends," her mother intervened, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. "Family! You have been one of us for 3,000 years, Kara. And now we can finally acknowledge it."

Kara nodded, smiling, but then her smile faltered a bit. "Lyta, where is...?"

Her mother seemed to know exactly what she was asking. "Where she always is, Kara."

Kara nodded, turning to Diana. "I know you'll want to know more details, Diana, and you will get them, I promise. But I need to look up someone else first."

Still confused, Diana merely nodded and a moment later Kara was flying out of the window. Looking out, Diana saw her heading towards the Palace Guard training grounds and touching down next to Philippus. She was too far away to hear the words, but Kara spoke only a few of them before Philippus' entire body language changed. From distant, almost cold, she transformed utterly. A moment later the stoic, reserved captain of the Amazonian Palace Guard had Diana's best friend wrapped up in a tight hug and... yes, she was kissing her, too. Kissing her as if she wanted to climb inside of her.

"Mother?" Diana asked, her brain refusing to process the scene she was seeing.

"Philippus and Kara became... close during her stay here," her mother said, stepping up beside her. "It was difficult for Philippus when... when Kara returned to the island, but didn't know who she was."

Diana remembered how distant Philippus had always been to Kara when she came, doing her best to stay out of her way and keeping their interaction to a minimum. Now she understood. She couldn't even imagine how hard it had to be to encounter someone you had once loved and not be remembered."

"Did... did Philippus wait for her for all these years?" She scrambled her brain, trying to remember if Philippus had ever had any significant relationships within Diana's lifetime.

Her mother simply put her hand on Diana's shoulder. "I honestly do not know, Diana. Maybe she doesn't even know herself. I am just glad that we are finally caught up with each other now. I believe everything else will take care of itself, one way or another."

Diana frowned a bit. This whole situation was so strange, even coming from someone who had battled demons, gods, and been to other worlds. Kara was her sister. So was Philippus, though she was technically more of an aunt. The thought of the two of them together...

"Does it trouble you, Diana?" her mother asked.

"Only in that I have no idea which of them to threaten not to hurt my sister."

Hippolyta threw back her head and laughed.

Clark Kent noticed things.

It was one of the consequences of having one's senses constantly enhanced by Earth's yellow sunlight. Ever since his power to absorb solar radiation had kicked in properly, his powers to see, hear, and smell everything around him had grown and grown. His mom kept reminding him to be grateful that they had kicked in gradually instead of all at once, like hers. And he was thankful, no doubt. He could barely imagine how difficult it must have been to gain all these abilities overnight instead of growing into them over the course of a few years.

By now, though, his senses were fully enhanced and he had to concentrate and focus not to get lost in the sensations. He was able to filter out most of the background noises of the world, he only saw through solid matter if he wanted to, and was able to block most of the unpleasant smells, too. Which was a vital survival skill, mind you, in a community where so many people worked manual labor on the farms and in the fields and there was plenty of livestock around.

Still, even with his ability fully controlled, he did notice far more than the average human. When his mom had come home that evening, he had immediately noticed that she had changed. There were smells clinging to her that he had never smelled before. Her hair was longer. The tiny scar over her eye was new. And even if he had somehow managed to miss all that, her near-painful hug had clued him in that something weird was going on.

It took two days for him to learn what "something weird" was. His mom had gone to visit the Amazons first. Clark had been to the island a few times himself, but was self-aware enough to notice that the inhabitants weren't a hundred percent comfortable having him there. Plus, ever since he had hit puberty, it was... difficult to be around so many drop-dead gorgeous women who considered clothing to be more of an optional thing most of the time.

There had been that particular dream a few nights ago, featuring Batgirl and a few Amazons... but that was another topic entirely.

Anyway, after returning from Themyscira, his mom had sat down with him and his grandparents and told him the entire story. A journey through time, visiting the distant past and even the distant future. She remained sparse on some details, but what she did tell them was more than enough to blow his teenage mind. He knew that his mom had been to outer space, had battled aliens, and that Diana regularly threw down with gods and demons, too. But a journey through time? That was a new one.

He was a little bit jealous, he admitted to himself.

Once dinner was finished, though, and Martha and Kent had retired to the living room, his mom motioned for him to join her outside with a very serious look on her face. He knew that particular look only too well. It was the look his mom always had when it was something to do with Krypton.

Krypton was a difficult topic for his mom, he knew that much. Much less so for him, which he sometimes felt a little bad about. But given that he had only been a few months old when his birth world had died, he had a hard time finding any emotional connection to the place. He was sad, of course, that an entire world had died, but it was a distant kind of sad. He could no more get emotionally worked up about the death of Krypton than, for example, the death of Cousin John's people. It was terrible that it had happened, sure, but it didn't really feel like a personal tragedy to him. The only world he had ever known was Earth, the only family his mom and the Kents.

Still, it was different for his mom. She had lived on Krypton, had grown up there, had known the people. So he listened when she taught him about Kryptonian culture, learned the Kryptonian language, and studied Kryptonian technology. And he was there for her when the memories became too much, when she needed to let the sadness out, and held her in his arms. It was the least he could do.

"There is something I haven't told anyone else yet, Clark," she said when they stood outside on the edge of the Kent property. The night was still around them and the stars were out, not a cloud in sight.

She told him about her side trip to Krypton then, more than century in the past. How she had set foot upon their lost world, had felt the sunlight and gravity of home. How she had planned to change history, save their people from their own short-sightedness, only to be thwarted by a stranger calling himself Metron. How he had taken her to the far future instead, showing her a utopian world that would only come into being if Krypton's fate remained unchanged.

Clark simply listened. He wasn't sure what he could possibly say. The whole thing was so far out of his teenage experience that he couldn't think of anything. So instead he just held her, thankful that his latest growth spurt had finally put them at eye level, otherwise holding her would have been really awkward.

Clark Kent, human in all ways that mattered, simply held his mom, the last daughter of Krypton, as she cried for the loss of their world all over again.

Wallace "Wally" West noticed things.

It was one of the things that made him want to pursue a career as a forensic scientist. He tended to notice the little things, the details, the tiny clues left behind that most people overlooked. Most people who looked at him saw a goofy teenager, a joker, someone who never took anything serious. But even when he made jokes or pulled pranks, it was always with an eye for detail. Even if it was just knowing exactly how, where, and when to place a whoopee cushion.

When career week came along, it was never a question where he wanted to go. The Keystone City Police Department's forensics division was not the largest or the best in the country, but it was more than exciting enough for a teenager interested in the field. He noticed the scientists working on clues, he noticed the huge rack of chemicals, he even noticed that the rack was not entirely stable, as it slightly wobbled when he walked past it.

He had noticed the bad weather outside, of course, but he never did have a chance to notice the lightning bolt that would alter his life forever. Not until it crashed right through the sky light above, hit the rack of chemicals, and caused them to explode. He was showered with a veritable deluge of electrified chemicals and fell unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Following that, Wally wouldn't notice much of anything for a few days.

End Chapter 34

Author's Note: The Flash in my story will be Wally West as seen in the DC Justice League cartoon series. What can I say? I never liked Barry Allen, he was so utterly boring. Wally, on the other hand, was a fun guy, the ultimate approachable superhero, and the heart of the animated Justice League. The cartoon only hinted at Flash's origin story, but since he worked what was actually Barry's job (police forensic scientist), one can safely assume that chemicals and lightning were involved.