Updated chapter 6! Hope you enjoy!

Kara floats, somewhat listlessly, into Stark's workshop, answering JARVIS's summons. "Rao's not even up yet, Stark. Do you ever sleep?" –she asks, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and adjusting her glasses.

"Sleep is for those who lack caffeine." –Stark says, not even bothering to look up from whatever he's tinkering with. "What's a 'Rao'?"

"Rao's not a what, he's a who. He's like...God? Well, was, to us. Rao's the Kryptonian god of the sun."

Stark raises an eyebrow. "Interesting, that your futuristic alien society would still have any interest in theology...does it have anything to do with the whole 'Kryptonians as solar batteries' thing?"

"Honestly? I don't remember all that well. My parents weren't very fond of scripture." –she says, forlorn. "I only use it in conversation so I don't, y'know...forget."

The inventor hums. "You do know your pod is in a S.H.I.E.L.D. cold storage facility, right?"

Kara tilts her head. "Is it? Fury said they needed to study it. He promised to give it back someday, but I have a feeling that is not happening anytime soon."

"Well, you're an Avenger now." –he reminds her. "Pretty sure that means you get all kinds of clearance you didn't have before." –he suggests.

Kara purses her lips. "Maybe. I'll...think about it."

Stark nods. "Square deal. Remind me to send you the coordinates for the base later. I wouldn't mind exchanging them for a little favor, though."

Kara narrows her eyes. "What's on your mind?"

"Oh, the usual – new inventions, alien invasions, rapidly developing PTSD...talking about this, though." –he says, pointing at the object he's fiddling with – a small, hollow triangle made of an almost lavender colored metal she's never seen before. "I need you to zap it."

Seeing Kara's confused expression, he rolls his eyes. "...and by 'zap it', I mean 'use the particle beams you can shoot out of your eyes'."

"Oh. Um, sure, I can do that. I hope you don't want me to hold it for too long, though." –she says, taking off her glasses."

"Why's that?"

"Well, it's very draining, for one. Like you said, my body works like a battery. When I'm out in sunlight, it's no problem – I 'recharge' as fast as I use up my solar energy, so I can use my powers as much as I want. Indoors or at night, though...that's a little trickier."

"JARVIS, make sure to log this for the Avengers' playbook." –he says, absent-minded. "And the other issue?"

"Hurts my eyes. If the beam is low power – y'know, if I'm reheating my coffee or something small like that – I can't even feel it. A higher intensity though, or holding the beam for too long? That hurts." -she holds up the glasses. "I legitimately need to wear these because of the first time I used my heat vision."

Stark smirks. "'Heat vision', huh?"

She blushes. "Quiet, you. Alex and I came up with that name as kids." –she admits. "As soon as I started to take in Earth's sunlight, my powers started manifesting – and they came in strong. By the end of the first day, I could hear the neighbor's breathing. In a week, my skin was nearly impenetrable, and I could lift the family van. Another week, and I became an indestructible pinball – I couldn't stop floating around. And then came the dang heat vision – took about six months to fully develop, and it was miserable. It was like a permanent cold; my eyes hurt like I had a fever, and my face felt stuffy all the time. Eventually, I couldn't hold it in anymore, and I, uh...well, I may have blown up our kitchen."

Stark's eyebrows shoot up. "You're kidding."

Kara shakes her head. "I wish. S.H.I.E.L.D. covered the repairs, but I'll never forget Alex and her parents' faces. They were terrified of me, if only for a minute. Plus, my invulnerability was still a little...superficial, so the blast kinda destroyed my corneas. Most of the injury healed up, but the damage was so extensive that my eyesight became permanently damaged. I'm a little near-sighted."

Stark doesn't say a thing, so Kara narrows her eyes, focusing on the triangular object. She thinks of anger and frustration, of aggression and violence. The skin around her eyes glows, the air between them and her target superheats, and the sky blue orbs disappear under a torrent of raw power, pencil-thin beams which immediately make contact with the triangle. She grunts as the familiar burn manifests, but holds the beam, until Stark snaps out of the trance he's in. "Shit, stop, that's enough."

Kara closes her eyes, and the beams stop. Her vision blurs, and blinding lights dance across her vision for a moment – she knows to expect them, so she attempts to blink them away. Once recovered, she dons her glasses again, only to find a gob-smacked Tony Stark staring at her. "Uh...what is it?"

Stark blinks. "JARVIS, how hot was that?"

"Miss Danvers' 'heat vision' measured in excess of twenty-seven million degrees Kelvin, well above the necessary temperature required to synthesize the arc reactor's proprietary vibranium isotope core." –the AI reports.

"Not what I meant, but thanks anyway." –he says, ignoring Kara's indignant blush. "That is seriously fantastic. You could slice through my toughest armor plating, easy. JARVIS, remind me to figure out better ablative materials for the next one. Wouldn't want a stray beam cutting Iron Man in half."

"Noted, Sir."

Kara shakes her head. "Is this all you wanted me for?"

Stark shakes his head. "Actually, no. I designed a miniaturized particle accelerator just for making more Iso-8 last year – not that my arc reactor has run out of juice since I first synthesized that vibranium core. It doesn't hold a candle to the real stuff – actual Wakandan vibranium, which is what Cap's shield is mostly made of – but I can make bucket loads of the stuff." –he says, nodding at the now glowing triangle. "Really, I just wanted to record and measure this awesome power of yours. Now that you're here, though, and since the clean-up from the battle is mostly done, I thought you could deliver a package for me."

Stark walks towards one of the workshop's walls, which opens up like a closet. Inside are various drawers; he pulls one out, grabbing a suitcase, very similar to the one her own suit came in.

"Is that another suit?" –she asks, curious.

"Yep. Bridging the gap between yours and mine, kind of." –he says, popping it open.

Kara gasps once she sees its contents. "You made him a suit? Already?"

"I made everyone a suit. But yeah...I owe the kid." –he says, suddenly downcast. "I've been keeping an eye on him, ever since the Expo debacle."

Kara raises an eyebrow. "The Hammer drone rampage?"

He nods, the weight of guilt plainly visible on his expression. "His parents were exhibitors for OsCorp. They...didn't make it. He's lost his parents, his uncle, and gained superpowers, just in the last year. No one should have to go through that – least of all a fifteen-year old. Given he's got the same...hero complex you and I've got going on, this is the least I can do for him." –he says, nodding at the case. "I only managed to throw in a fraction of the cool shit I wanted to into it. Still, it should be more than enough to keep him safe for a while.

The suit inside is red and blue, accented in black in the style of a spider's web. Comically large, stylized white eyes stare back at her, almost mirroring her own reaction. "How the heck am I supposed to find the Spider-Man?"

"I don't know, run a flying search pattern or something. Just don't do whatever Rogers is doing, and you should find him in no time."

"Why's that?"

Stark offers her a smarmy grin. "I've been trying my best to throw Cap off the trail."

Kara's eyes widen. "Seriously?"

"The kid hasn't exactly been the epitome of carefulness, y'know? Rogers would catch him in a heartbeat if I weren't playing buffer between them. But that would mean putting him within S.H.I.E.L.D.'s clutches." –he says, scowling. "I don't trust Fury to keep the kid's best interests in mind – with him, there's always an angle, and the fact that Spider-Man is his first pick for recruitment speaks volumes. And don't get me wrong, I think Rogers does care, but I can't agree to these recruitment practices. Even he went to war at twenty-three."

"And you'd rather do this behind his back?" –she asks, more than a little worried.

"I'd rather avoid the argument, at least for a little while longer. Rogers' heart is in the right place – the kid needs training and support, more than perhaps any of us. The fact remains, though, that he is a kid. Underaged. Having him on as an Avenger, even if he weren't on active duty, just wouldn't sit right with me. Not to mention, it probably wouldn't fly with the public. You're twenty, and you're kinda pushing it."

The Kryptonian purses her lips – it's concerning, somewhat, to see the two Avengers she'd consider the closest equivalents to team leaders have such fundamental disagreements already. And she's torn, too – the Captain's approach seems much too 'hands-on', while Stark's idea is too...removed for her tastes. Surely, the Spider-Man needs a bit more support than just a fancy new suit.

...maybe she can do something about that.

"I'll give him the suit." –she says, taking and closing the case. "But you've got to at least give me a hint. Where do I start looking for the guy?"

"Where the urban legend started, of course." –he winks. "Queens."

As always, thank you for your attention! Make sure to comment or message me if you have any questions about this story. Look me up on Twitter as Darthkvzn or Tumblr as darthkvznblogs if you'd like - and on Ko-fi, as Darthkvzn, if you like what I do and have a buck to spare.

Until next time!