Disclaimer: I do not own Supergirl, Superman, or Valor

Story Title: The Traveler

Chapter 4

DEO Headquarters

Supergirl stood on the balcony at the DEO, overlooking the skyline of National City. She couldn't believe that Clark wanted to trust a Daxamite. He didn't know them like she did. He hadn't heard the stories, seen the pain in the eyes of the Kryptonian elders as they told their stories, the nightmares of the great and terrible war between Daxam and Krypton.

"So, it seems like this balcony gets a lot of use," Alex said standing at the entrance to the balcony. Kara didn't even attempt to smile. "Wow, a tough crowd, I think I would have at least have gotten a tiny smile from J'onn with that one."

Kara turned around, her arms crossed in front of her. "Did they send you to scold the petulant child?" Alex shook her head. "That's why you think I'm here?" Kara shrugged her shoulders. "No, I came here to see if my sister was okay." Kara sighed. "I just don't get it. They act like I've gone crazy or something." Alex stepped toward her sister. "They don't believe you've gone crazy. They think you're just a little too close to this one. Too many stories. Too many memories from Krypton." Kara frowned. "They think I'm paranoid, irrational." Alex finished the short walk to her sister, wrapping her arm around her sister's shoulders. "I think they took your advice. J'onn increased security outside. I don't think we want to incite an incident by crowding that room with armed agents. J'onn and Clark are right there. We need to give this alien a chance. We know nothing about him. Listen, Eliza and I will keep our distance. I think J'onn, Clark, and you are enough to stop one guy, right?" Kara sighed. "Yeah, you're right, but I won't trust him, I can't." Alex patted her shoulder. "Give it time, let's see what, what this guy is like, okay?" Kara nodded. "Okay, I can do that." "Good, now let's get to the infirmary before he wakes up." Kara nodded. The two sisters walked back into the DEO and headed toward the med bay.

Clark and J'onn stood on either side of the bed, looking down at the unconscious alien before them. Kara and Alex entered; Clark and J'onn both smiled at them. Kara joined her cousin, bumping him in the arm with her shoulder, showing that everything was okay.

Alex led her mother to stand on the other side of the room, whispering that they should keep a distance.

"It shouldn't be long now," Eliza said. J'onn nodded looking down at the patient.

The monitor next to the bed began to beep louder. "Everything okay?" Clark asked worriedly. Eliza checked her monitor. "Yes, brain activity has increased, he's waking up."

The alien on the bed began to stir. His eyes began to flutter. His breathing picked up. He opened his eyes; they were blue-gray in color. Kara stared at them, thinking they were the most unusual color, but also remembering similar eyes from someplace before. Had she seen eyes liked his? "Who… where… am I?" he asked, his voice raw from lack of use. Clark smiled down at him. "Please relax, you are on the planet Earth; we mean you no harm." The alien looked up at Superman. His eyes focusing on the symbol for the House of El. Clark noticed his eyes. "Have you seen this symbol before?" he asked, hoping to get any information that he could. The man shook his head, his brow creasing, trying to remember. "Who are you?" Superman smiled. "I am known as Superman by the people of this world. I am a Kryptonian, my name my parents gave me is Kal-El." The man nodded slightly before he shook his head. "Do you know my name?" Clark felt a pain in his heart. He had hoped to learn more about the younger man, but now he understood just how thoroughly his mind had been affected by the malfunction. "I'm sorry friend, I do not. I… we hoped you would remember." The man sighed. A pained expression crossing his face. His eyes watered slightly. "Why can't I remember?"

J'onn cleared his throat; the man turned to look at him. "My name is J'onn. You cannot remember because you were in an accident. You are not from this world and the pod that you were in malfunctioned. I'm afraid that it damaged your memory." The man nodded, seeming to understand what J'onn had told him. "Will I remember?" At the question, Eliza ignored her daughter and walked to the foot of the bed. "My name is Eliza. I am a healer in this world," she began trying to choose words that were not foreign to this poor man. "I cannot say they won't return, but I can say that it could take a while. The portion of your brain that holds memories was traumatized by the malfunction. I am just thankful that you can speak and reason." The man was a little overwhelmed. "What happens next?" J'onn smiled. "You can stay here. We are in a government facility known as the DEO. We are here to help aliens that come to this planet. We look out for them. You will be under our protection and assistance until you are ready." "Ready for what?" "Ready to do whatever it is you choose." The man nodded. He reached to grab the rail next to the bed and bent it in half with just a simple touch. He pulled his hand away in shock and fear. "I… I'm so… so sorry… I didn't mean to." Eliza nodded. "You are not to blame. Your physiology on this world gives you great strength. You need to be careful at first until you can fully understand and control your powers."

The man just leaned back on the bed. It was clear that he was afraid to move, worried that he would hurt someone.

Kara hadn't spoken since the man awoke. She didn't know what to say. He wasn't like the stories that she heard as a child. He seemed like a child himself, lost and scared. She felt sorry for him. She internally chastised herself for that thought. "My name is Kara Zor-El, I am from Krypton as well. Kal-El and I have similar powers as you." The man looked over at her, his eyes widening slightly as he looked at the beautiful girl. "Thank you, I… I wish I could remember my name." Kara nodded.

J'onn cleared his throat. "On my planet of Mars we have a name for those that wander, that travel; they are called M'onel." "M'onel," the man repeated. Clark smiled. "Well, since you have similar powers to Kara and me, maybe a name in line with ours would work, maybe similar to what J'onn said." Kara was speechless, Clark offered to give him a Kryptonian name. Clark looked at the calendar on the wall, it was Monday. He smiled. "How about Mon-El?" "Mon-El," the man repeated. He smiled. "I like it." Clark smiled in return. "Good, I would like everyone to meet Mon-El, the Traveler." Alex stepped forward. "Nice to meet you Mon-El. My name is Alex Danvers. You've met my mother, Eliza," Alex said as she touched her mother on the shoulder. Mon-El smiled. "Nice to meet you," he replied.

"Mon-El, if you will excuse us I need to speak with my cousin," Kara said as she pulled Clark out of the room. As soon as the door closed she groused, "Are you crazy, giving him a name after our family?" Clark sighed. "You heard the name J'onn was going to give him. He is half-Kryptonian, he deserves a name from his people, and I don't know about you but I don't know any Daxamite names." Kara put her hands on her hips. "Well, Mon-El is not a Kryptonian name anyway." Clark frowned. "It's close enough for the guy until he hopefully remembers his own." Kara sighed. "I still don't think its right. I don't believe our family would like it." Clark frowned. "We are all that's left of that family Kara. We don't need to worry about anyone but us." "One of us needs to worry about tradition and it is a tradition to respect the past. To believe in our ancestors, to ask for them to interfere on our behalf with Rao." Clark walked towards her but Kara stepped back and away from him. "I wasn't raised that way, Kara. I don't believe in those customs." Kara's face grew hot; she was getting mad. "Is that why you abandoned me when I got here? Why you didn't seem to care?" Her words felt like a slap in Clark's face. "Kara, I did what was best for you. I wasn't in the right place to raise you. You needed a family." Kara shook her head. "I needed someone with the same powers, someone who had gone through what I went through. I needed to be with you. Don't get me wrong I love the Danvers, but we are blood Kal-El, that should mean something," she said before she stormed off. Not wanting to look at him.

Clark stood outside the med bay, his head lowered, avoiding the eyes of the agents that stood outside the med bay. He composed himself and walked back into the med bay. The lack of Kara with him made Eliza and Alex give him questioning looks. He composed himself before forcing a smile. "I hope I didn't cause a problem," Mon-El said. "No, it's just a little family squabble, nothing for you to be concerned about," Clark replied. Eliza and Alex giving him looks that told him that he would be having a long conversation with both of them. "So, Eliza, how is our friend here?" Eliza smiled looking through the checklist on the clipboard in her hands. "He looks perfectly healthy, besides the memory loss that is." Clark smiled. Mon-El sat up on the bed, careful to not use too much strength; he didn't want break anything again. "We have a room for you. It has a bed and a few items for you to use," J'onn said. Mon-El smiled at the thought of leaving the med bay. He wanted to explore this place and the world beyond. He didn't know where that motivation came from but he knew that he wanted, no needed to see this place, experience it for himself. "When can I go?" he asked. Eliza stepped toward him, careful not to startle him. "You need to stay overnight for observation." Mon-El slumped back on the bed. Alex felt sorry for him. "How about I get you some magazines?" Mon-El gave her a strange look. Alex wanted to smack herself; he had no idea what she was talking about. "Magazines contain printed information about this world." Mo-El's blue-gray eyes lit up. "I'd like that, thank you." Alex smiled. The young man was grown up, but he was also very much like a child in his enthusiasm to experience new things. He was a blank slate, who wouldn't want to experience things, to learn when their mind was so empty of experiences? "I'll go get them for you." Alex left the med bay. Eliza smiling after her. "I will be back in a little while. I need to take these latest samples to the lab, it shouldn't take long." Eliza left the med bay.

J'onn tentatively placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Mon-El, I need to get back to work. I'm sure Clark will keep you company," J'onn said, giving Superman a pointed glare. Superman nodded. "Sure, no problem." J'onn smiled one last time before he too left the med bay.

"So, do you want to talk? Do you have questions for me?" Clark asked.

Mon-El nodded. "Yes, this planet is known as Earth, correct?" Clark smiled. "Yes, some other races call it Terra, but people on the planet call it Earth.

Mon-El smiled, eating up the information. "Why do we have powers when others like Eliza and Alex don't?" Clark nodded; he had anticipated that question. "Eliza and Alex were born on this planet. Their species is known as human. They evolved on this planet with its gravity and yellow sun. Kara, you, and I were not born on this planet and we are not human. Kara and I are Kryptonian. We were born on Krypton, which had higher gravity and a red sun. The lower gravity on Earth and the yellow sun give us our powers." Mon-El nodded, but the questioning look on his face told Clark that he had more to ask. "So, where am I from? What is my species?" Clark nodded, trying to figure out how to explain it. "You are different, unique actually. From what Eliza tells us you are half-Kryptonian and half-Daxamite." "Daxamite?" Clark nodded. "Yes, Daxam is a planet in the same solar system as Krypton. Both planets had similar gravity and they both had a red sun, so your abilities stem from that." Mon-El nodded, soaking up the information like a sponge. "So, which planet am I from, Daxam or Krypton?" Clark sighed. "Mon-El, that is a question that we'd all like answered."

Kara had left the med bay, walking around the DEO lost in thought. She didn't like yelling at Clark, but he was pushing her buttons today. She knew that she held a longstanding resentment against him for abandoning her. She knew in some ways it was irrational, but she also truly believed that he had failed her. She was willing to give up a life to raise him, even if she was a child at the time. Clark was a grown man when he found her; he could have raised her, not shipped her off to a strange family that she knew nothing about. She sighed. It had all worked out in the end, but sometimes she fell back into those abandonment issues she had as a child. She couldn't help it.

She didn't know where she was going until she was standing in front of the door to the holographic database room. The door slipped open as she stood before it. She entered the room. "Computer show me program Alura Zor-El," Kara said. The holographic display shifted until the image of her mother appeared. "Hello, Kara," the hologram said. "Mother, can you tell me about Daxam?" The hologram frowned. "Daxam was an uncivilized, authoritative state. Upon the eve of the destruction of Krypton, Daxam was ruled by King Kel Gand and Queen Rhea Gand; they were young rulers, but very much allowed the vices of their kingdom to continue. Your Aunt Lara Jor-El was very familiar with the King and Queen." Kara frowned; she didn't know that Aunt Lara knew so much about Daxam. "Do you have any of the reports that Aunt Lara filed on Daxam?" "I have all of the reports." "What can you tell me about them? Are there any consistent themes?" "Processing," the hologram replied. "One hundred and thirty-two responses were diplomatic reports related to negotiations on trade, non-aggression, and other treaty-related issues. Fifteen were specific dispute resolution discussions. Forty-six reports were intelligence briefings related to the activities of the Prince, and …" "Stop there, can you summarize the reports on the Prince?" "Processing. The reports focus on specific discussions that Lara Jor-El had with the Prince. His concerns regarding politics and logistical information." "Logistical information?" "Yes, the report states that he was interested in planetary trade routes, inter-species relations, customs of other species, and political distinctions." Kara frowned; that seemed odd that the Prince was concerned about other races, especially discussions of customs and other species political systems. Why would a Prince from a xenophobic species care about those things? "Is there a description of this Prince?" "Yes, a rudimentary description, his age that was last reported a month before the destruction of Krypton was eighteen Earth years. He was described as six feet in height with a slight build. He had dark hair and gray-blue eyes." Kara frowned. The hair and eye color matched Mon-El, but the age, height, and build didn't match. Kara sighed. "Thank you, terminate the program."

The image disappeared, leaving Kara in a semi-lit room. She sat down on a bench against one of the walls. She needed to know more about this Mon-El. Something didn't seem right to her. She couldn't trust him. She frowned. He was a Daxamite, even if he was half-Kryptonian; she wouldn't let that fact cloud her judgment. She had to be cautious, but she wouldn't stay away, no she would watch this Mon-El, wait for him to screw up, and then she would strike, end his threat before it could hurt her friends and family.

AN: Stay locked on target more to come.