"Extreme Kryptonite poisoning."
I couldn't grasp any emotion to that verdict, seeing as I had nearly no knowledge on the subject, but Clark certainly could.
"What?" he cried, "How is that possible?"
"I have no clue," Hamilton said, sitting back in his chair. We had been at S.T.A.R. Labs all weekend, running test after test, even attempting to flush my system, only to find that it had caused barely a dent in my problem. I could now see all the way through three walls, and I could now hear a conversation three floors above us, but I was still at a loss for heat vision, super-breath and speed anywhere near Clark's.
"Maybe there's a lot of it in Gotham? You know, in the ground or something?" I suggested, only to draw incredulous looks from both Clark and the doctor.
"The largest specimen of Kryptonite on Earth is the size of a text book," Hamilton answered, "Nowhere near enough to cause the sort of complications you display."
"As it is, that piece is locked away, hopefully indefinitely," Clark added, with a slight edge to his voice, "Any other pieces running around are no bigger than my fist."
"And there's nothing that can fix it? Nothing that can get it out of me?"
"We already tried dialysis," Hamilton sighed, "I'm not sure what else I can use! It is nearly impossible at this point to understand how exactly it got into you, and therefore I have no clear idea of how to get it out."
Clark and Hamilton continued to talk, but that was all I needed to hear.
I had no cure. I had no hope.
I needed to find my beginning.
I'm not gonna lie: that meeting really killed my spirit. I couldn't see myself fighting crime as only a half-Super girl. My little spurt of happiness was gone, with only Cassie in its wake.
"Kara, you can't stop just because of that," she told me half-way through July, when she had finally convinced me to go flying with her. I looked up to the empty skies of Gotham, still unable to look down.
"Cassie, if anyone comes who is even slightly stronger than me I'll get my ass handed to me. I don't have the same invulnerability as Superman, and I don't plan on waking up in a hospital again if I can help it."
"Ok, then learn karate!" Cassie seemed so desperate, "You can't put what you have to waste!"
"Why do you care so much?" I asked, tired of the topic.
"Look," she said, grabbing my shoulders, "Where I come from, girls literally rule. We stand by each other, growing and fighting for our sisterhood. Here, in the outside world, it's all men! The only women fighting crime in Gotham are Huntress and sometimes Catwoman, but those two fight purely for themselves. They constantly flirt with both B and R and it doesn't matter if they actually win, their fighting style belongs to thieves and thugs. But you—you, Kara, have the unique ability to fight for a team, even if the team isn't there. You fight for the right reasons—because you know you can make a difference."
I took her hands from my shoulders, and held them in my hands.
"Cass, before I can go back, I need to figure out how to fix me. To do that, I have to figure out how I got here, and what happened to me." I let go of her hands and stepped back, "So I'll figure it out, and if that leads to answers, then maybe I'll come back."
"If not? Kara, you're just as strong as I am—we can still fight."
"I…" I looked away, "I don't know."
Cassie refused to let it rest though; she knew I wouldn't listen to her arguments, so she sent someone else.
I woke up one night to the distinct feeling that someone was in my room. In the fog of sleep I forgot I had super-strength and picked up the baseball bat I always kept by my bed and slowly sat up.
"You won't need that, Kara,"
"Dick?" I recognized the voice immediately. But as soon as I said it, the lights flicked on, and I found Robin standing in my room.
"Not quite," he grinned, but even that smirk screamed Dick Grayson.
Oh stop it, a little voice in my head whispered, like that idiot would ever be bold enough to become Robin.
"What do you want?" I put my baseball bat back. I could still take him if I needed to. His smirk disappeared, and he crossed his arms.
"Don't quit." He said simply, as if that was enough.
"I don't have much of a choice," I said, smoothing out my blanket, "I'll get my ass kicked; I can't do half the things I'm supposed to."
"So?" he asked, "I can't do half the things Superman can either—hell, I can't do most of the things Superman can do. But I can fight. I can solve crimes. I can take bad guys off the streets. You're stronger than me Kara; you could kick my ass without blinking an eye, if you wanted."
"Like now?" I grumbled.
"But," he ignored my suggestion, "I would still fight you, if I needed to. I would still do everything in my power—which can be surprisingly great—to keep this city, this country, this world safe. Because that's what needs to be done."
"Look, I know why Cassie wants me to keep going. She is one of my best friends, but what—on earth!—do you gain by having me keep fighting. Why care enough to sneak into my house and tell me?"
His face dropped to a grimace, and he turned away, not willing to look at me.
"Cassie was kind enough to remind me of a time not so long ago when I let someone else leave the business. She did everything right, but I never let her know. She was the best thing that ever happened to Gotham, and I let her leave without…" he trailed off, and beneath his mask, I saw him shut his eyes tight, with real remorse. Then he turned back around, and he fixed on me, ready to be done. "The point is, I made a mistake with her, and I'm not going to let it happen again. You have all the makings of a superhero, Kara: don't let one little detail take it away from you."
"Robin, as touching as that sentiment is, I can't. There are things I need to figure out first, things about me I need to know." I shook my head, "I just can't do it yet."
To my surprise, he smiled, "Cass said you might say that." He opened a pocket on his belt and handed me a USB drive, "This should help your search at least a little bit."
I took the drive, and he moved back to the window.
"So, do you ever expect her to come back?" I asked, catching his attention, "Batgirl, I'm assuming. Or did she retire for good?"
An empty smirk appeared on the hero's face.
"I never said she retired."
It took me a few days to finally pull up the courage to look at the contents of the chip. Something about Robin's behavior had spooked me. Probably the fact that he looked so much like Dick Grayson, and the parallels I could pull regarding that. But my curiosity was greater than that. Like Pandora before me, I couldn't resist.
The only file on the drive read "Kara Kent". Already, that bugged me. But I needed to know.
The file spanned about nine years from beginning to end. It started with a single newspaper article.
Freak Meteor Strikes Gotham
Early Wednesday morning, Gotham was hit with its strangest wake up call yet. Scientists have called this a rare case; this meteor came from deep space, and most of the time, this sort of debris would be caught up by one of the larger planets in our solar system. This meteor, however, managed to avoid all obstacles, and struck Earth at 4:34 AM. Unfortunately, unlike most debris strikes, this meteor managed to hit a populated area, destroying a section of Gotham's lower tenement buildings. Only one inhabitant of the buildings survived. A young girl, about five to six years old, whose name is being withheld until family can be reached, somehow managed to avoid the impact and fire that left the other sleeping inhabitants dead.
Commissioner Loeb reported on the immediate arrival of GCPD and GCFD to the scene…
That was only the beginning.
Several more articles followed, each building only slightly on the original base story of the impact. They built up slightly when, after a few days of cleaning the crash site, several workers reported signs of radiation poisoning, and then rapidly shut off after a report saying that the government, in conjunction with S.T.A.R. Labs had come in to properly clean up the site, and hopefully find the source of radiation.
A year later, the last article on the subject appeared, citing only that since the take over of investigations, no answers had surfaced.
After that, the content changed from newspaper articles to neatly typed reports, appearing to have been copied from S.T.A.R. Labs. I skimmed through the information until I found the conclusion:
In conclusion, due to the large amount of kryptonite recovered at the site, as well as the significant amount of treated metal and what appears to be some kind of motor device, the meteor that struck Gotham City Lower Tenements on Wednesday, December 3rd, 19-, was actually an alien shuttle encased in kryptonite. The owner of the shuttle appears to have perished in the crash, along with everyone else in the buildings. S.T.A.R. Laboratories has acquired all pieces of kryptonite from the scene, and the radiation has been completely neutralized.
I felt myself freeze. That made sense—it all made sense! The crash, why I was the only survivor—how all of the kryptonite got into me; it also made sense of the memory flashes I had experienced since the accident. If my parents really had lived elsewhere, they really had put me on a ship, and maybe, I really had crash landed here.
I could be an alien.
I could be Kryptonian.
I had to show Clark.
*POV Shift here, I don't know why it doesn't keep the line breaks I put in*
"Kara, this is Clark. I know you said you needed to see me, but I'm going to be away for a while. I promise we'll talk when I get back, and I'd love for you to watch my apartment if you would, but due to the…uh…nature of this business, I won't be there when you arrive. Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to talk later. See you soon, hopefully. Bye."
*Here's another POV Shift, again, I don't know why it doesn't stay*
Diana put down the phone and frowned. I was instantly intrigued.
"What is it, Sis?" I asked, pulling on my boots. We had just finished packing.
"A friend," she said, turning to me, "He needs us to watch his city for him."
"Who?" I was suddenly praying that she wouldn't say Gotham.
Diana crossed her arms, and gazed at me with her 'don't-argue' look. "Superman. Babs, we're going to Metropolis."