Kara Zor-El, daughter of Alura and Zor-El was born under the Zodiac of the Deity of Beauty, Kara, and as such was given her name. Her parents knew it was an old custom to name their children after stars, but as they gazed down at their new daughter with hints of golden blond hair that shined like the rays of a distant sun they felt it was appropriate as they immediately fell in love with her.
In her early years, Kara was raised believing she must bring honor to the House of El. So during her education she did as expected of someone who was genetically enhanced and inclined to favor the intellectual side of her brain, she went above and beyond to destroy the records previously set in Krypton's academy. She succeeded in beating the top score previously set by her Uncle Jor-El's and she gloated said fact to his face at dinner that night when she received the scores, much to his amusement and her parent's disappointment at her rudeness.
At the age of 12, Kara knew her day of choosing which path she would take for the rest of her life was fast approaching. Did she join the Science Guild like her father and Uncle, or did she follow her mother in the Justice System to become a judge?
Whatever her eventual decision might have been, for Kara Zor-El, both options were taken from her reach when her parents woke her not long after her 13th birthday and told her of Krypton's imminent destruction. She was shoved into a Symbioship or "pod" and told to look after her cousin Kal-El in this strange world called Earth, where the yellow sun would give her powers before the shield to the pod closed and then all she saw was space. Barely an hour later she felt the explosion as Krypton imploded from its core collapsing, ignorant to how or why, only that her parents had been aware of it.
The shockwave reached her pod and disturbed its flight systems, making her veer off course. The last thing she remembered before she fell unconscious was flying through a wormhole to the Phantom Zone, where Krypton stored its most dangerous criminals in Fort Rozz.
Her pod was fitted with an artificial intelligence system to feed her an education from Kryptonian holograms in her mind that should have lasted until she reached her destination as well as when she raised Kal-El, but her pod never realized the Phantom Zone was preventing her from aging due to the blast.
She had no idea Kal-El would land on Earth and be able to grow up hiding his powers until he could become the hero known as Superman. She didn't know she would be stuck in the Phantom Zone for 24 years, and she certainly didn't know her future arrival on Earth would drag the occupants of Fort Rozz behind her. No, Kara Zor-El would believe everything was exactly the same when she woke up again in her pod once her flight systems reset and continued her travel to Earth.
—O—
Kara's welcome to Earth came in the form of a meteor shower. Her pod was disguised as one of many rocks and she was due to hit somewhere in the Midwest of what she would learn is called the U.S.A., but strangely her flight was halted by the strong hands and flying form of the hero Superman who carried her pod to somewhere observers would have a difficult time listening in.
"Uncle Jor-El?" Kara asked, when the shield was removed and looked at the face of someone who was so familiar, except it was like he'd lost a decade of aging. It was a false hope to see someone she knew and capable of reassuring her after learning everything she knew was gone! Doubly so because the person standing before her was not Jor, but Kal.
She failed. She failed her parent's last wishes before she ever had the chance to begin. Logically she knew there was nothing she could have done, but Kara Zor-El was not feeling very logical at the moment. Kara collapsed against her pod as Kal tried to speak to her in one of Earth's languages, but she didn't care. All she wanted was her mother to sweep her into her arms and tell her everything would be alright while her father would be beside her agreeing and backing everything her mother said like it was gospel.
She sort of got her wish when Kal carefully collected her in his massive arms and flew in the air. We'll have strange powers within the yellow sun, she remembered. As she flew in the air, Kara for the first time since Krypton's destruction felt a sense of peace. The despair returned tenfold when they landed and Kal's halting form of Kryptonese told her she was being abandoned with these strange people who knew nothing of her language, her religion, her life, or of Krypton. They weren't her family. Why was Kal-El leaving her?
No matter how much she screamed and shouted for him to stay with her, Kal refused and flew away before the sun finished setting after speaking to "Mr. Danvers."
'What a strange name,' she thought. But she couldn't deny he had a nice smile when he beckoned her inside and gave her a glass of what she would learn is called hot chocolate. The warm drink lulled her to sleep and she nearly collapsed on the counter. Mrs. Danvers carried her to the guest bedroom and she fell asleep within her warm embrace. It wasn't the same, but it was… nice.
The next morning, Kara had looked at her white suit holding their House's crest and an inexplicable amount of rage took over. Her eyes glowed red even as her hands tore the crest from the center of her suit. She threw the crest across the room as her eyes calmed down and sobbed with the remaining piece clutched to her chest.
Stupid Kal. He doesn't know the meaning of family, she thought.
But if her Head of House won't accept her as family, then she doesn't need to pander to his whims or desires. She would make her own path here on Earth.
—O—
The following year had Kara learning how to "fit in" to Earth's culture. Kara was less than pleased to be told by her "parents" she was doing something wrong when absolutely everything about Earth was outdated or incomprehensible compared to Krypton. Their hygiene was atrocious, their transportation was rancid (especially to her sensitive nose) and Rao numbingly slow, but the worst thing was that the public was rude and unwilling to accept "outsiders."
Whether that meant aliens from lightyears away or from someone out of state, Kara was still struggling to understand, but as she joined Midvale High School as a freshman she learned it was apparently a bad thing to be "different."
In fact, one of the only good things about Earth compared to Krypton was that their food was amazing (especially potstickers) and their music was so much more diverse and interesting. There was a genre and song for every emotion she had screaming to get out of her chest. While Kara would always be interested in science, she could acknowledge music was something her home could have learned something from them.
Her home. She still couldn't stop herself from thinking about Krypton as her home. Her adopted sister Alex squeezed her hand in support before she left for her own classes and left her alone again in this strange, unfamiliar world.
"Ms. Danvers? Hello? Kara Danvers?" Kara whipped her head around at the last question. That's right, she remembered. She was Kara Danvers. It was so difficult to remember that sometimes. It was sickeningly funny she could remember the exact wavelength light bends around the gravity well of a blackhole, and the amount of energy Rao, Krypton's star- not the deity-, gave off, but remembering a simple name was almost impossible.
"Yes," she responded, standing outside the main office of the high school.
"Please follow me. Because of your lack of credentials regarding your last school, we require you to take a simple test to know where we should place you."
An Earthling test. How quaint. Kara sat down in a room by herself except for the woman who guided her there and after handing her the test she sat behind a desk and started reading.
Kara looked at the questions on the test. They were all… really easy.
"'Simple test' is right," she muttered, flipping through the pages of the various subjects. Math was performed differently, but the textbooks she had been lent from her adopted sister Alex four months ago were helpful in explaining the steps. Science was even easier, but History was where she had some trouble. She tried her best to bring up the pages she had only flipped through on America's past wars.
A crystal clear page was there behind her closed eyes as her photographic memory came to the rescue. From there it was a simple matter of finding the right page and writing down dates.
English was also something she struggled to complete. Krypton's written and spoken language were so different from the rather bizarre English, where it seemed like they wanted to do nothing but confuse those who spoke a different one with all of their rules and exceptions to those rules. Why build a language that has dozens of exceptions to every rule? Why even call it a rule in the first place?
After she wrote a short five paragraph essay about one of her hobbies. She had chosen music for convenience and so she wouldn't say something she shouldn't- it would not be good if she started explaining an advanced field of science Earth hasn't even begun to study- she handed in her test after only two hours. The teacher was startled to receive it two hours early.
"Are you sure you've completed everything?" she asked, worried. Some students didn't seem to care about the placement tests and just filled in random answers or bubbles. Their lack of care had them placed in remedial classes and hurt their overall chance at education.
"Of course," Kara answered in confusion. Why would she have left an answer blank?
"Well…if you're sure." The teacher sighed. Once Kara was picked up for the day, the teacher got to work on grading the exam. As she went on, her eyebrows crept further and further up her skull. This exam was amazing. No, it was beyond amazing. It was almost perfect. Except for a few issues in grammar in the English section, Kara would have had a perfect score.
She rushed the test to the main office and convinced the Principal to agree to place her into a higher grade level. It was the start of Kara's worst three years of her life.
—O—
Kara hated high school. She was placed into sophomore year alongside Alex, and the students did not really like seeing a "nerd" who was younger than them all show them up in every test and class. So naturally, if they couldn't beat her academically, they ruined her social life. They ensured she couldn't have any friends and the few that were brave enough to still stick it out found themselves turned away by her cautious attitude as some boys tried to "have some fun" with her by making her believe they wanted to be friends before humiliating her in the lunchroom and covering her in paint they stole from the art room. Kara was less than pleased and Alex rushed her out of there before the boys were given an intense burst of heat vision.
College life… was better. Deciding she needed a change from her identity and previous life, Kara Danvers changed her public name to Karen Starr. Her adopted family were hesitant about the change, but Kara assured them it had nothing to do with them or how much she had grown to love them.
In college, Alex had decided to take a different path in life to follow her dream of biology while "Karen" decided to study computer science. It was something she was familiar with and it ensured she stayed present in what advances Earth was making. She wanted to remain under the radar unlike her ex-cousin Clark as he called himself.
Kara enjoyed the phone calls the sisters shared at night once she returned from class and felt like Alex was the one person who understood her. They most definitely had their sibling quarrels over the years, but perhaps because their relationship was strained and tested Kara knew they would always find their way back to each other. She knew she could always count on Alex.
The Danvers had been the ones who taught her how to control her powers, how to drive, how to cook, how to read and speak English, even how to look presentable for a job interview. Clark Kent barely made an effort to visit once a year. Karen understood he was busy "saving the world," but that didn't mean he couldn't call her every night like Alex tried to do. Hell, make it once a fortnight or even once a month if he was that busy.
Between summer classes and the 15 to 18 credit load she took every semester, Karen Starr was the first to graduate among the siblings, but she admitted to her sister she cheated by using a liberal amount of super speed to read and answer everything she needed to do. Alex felt a bit put out for a few weeks, but had the fortitude to graciously accept Kara's apology especially as Alex went on to get an M.D. and PhD. as time didn't really matter for education.
While Alex pursued her interests, Kara looked for a tech company she could join as she learned more about how it applied in real life. Studying what made a company successful, how to generate a great work environment where the workers actually enjoy coming in (especially if the work they're doing is boring and yet still challenging).
Something Kara took to heart was Alex saying she didn't have to wear a suit to save people's lives. While Alex probably meant she could become a doctor or entrepreneur, Kara had a whole other planet's wealth of knowledge inside her head that could improve the lives of people on Earth and she could save people that way. Kara liked the idea so much that she eventually decided to take online classes at night after her work shift as an IT to gain a Master's Degree. It was there she re-explored her love of science and tried to take Krypton's method of mass producing clean water and restructure it around Earth's technology. It was… much harder than it sounds.
Securing enough lithium alone for fueling and building the device was difficult, much less the other alloys not manufactured in the U.S, and that wasn't even mentioning the devices she had to rent to build the initial failed prototype in the first place. Karen's work ethic in the IT company she chose as well as her charming personality (and probably her gorgeous looks) eventually paid off as she was promoted to a supervisor. Her new job and pay certainly made it easier to secure the parts she needed and after another three years, Karen Starr, formerly known as Kara Zor-El and then Kara Danvers, was happy to hold the first successful model of the device that will revolutionize mass production of clean water, hopefully around the world. Unfortunately for Kara, her adopted mother Eliza was less than supportive when she showed her invention.
"What do you mean I shouldn't sell it?" Kara demanded. Eliza looked hesitant from her reaction before she soldiered on.
"Do you have any idea the kind of attention you'll be receiving for this? Your entire life hiding here will have been for nothing if they realize who you are," she implored.
"For nothing? For nothing? Why would me trying to help people make me believe that everything you've all done for me is for nothing?" Kara asked in disbelief. "Will I be getting a lot of attention, yes. But why would they think I'm an alien for using technology that already exists here? The only way anyone would think that is either someone who already knows tells them, or they were someone in the same field and are jealous I managed to create the same thing they were going for. No one's going to believe them."
"You know I just worry," Eliza said, making Kara draw her into a hug. Her height had her almost a head above her adopted mother as she wrapped her deceptively strong arms around her mother's slight frame and curled her into her neck.
"I thought I told you to stop doing that," Kara teased, making Eliza produce a weak chuckle.
"I'm your mother, it's my job to worry. Especially after…" Eliza trailed off. After Jeremiah disappeared, Kara finished in her head. Eliza shook her head to clear the somber atmosphere in the room.
"I'm sorry. You looked so excited bringing your device here and I stomped on it. Can you forgive me?"
"Of course…" Kara thought for a moment, "...If you make potstickers for dinner tonight."
Eliza laughed at that and her eyes glistened as she looked at her unexpected daughter who turned her life up on its head. Accepting Clark's cousin into their home had been the best decision she had ever made.
"You drive a hard bargain, but potstickers it is," she said warmly.
"Yes," Kara shouted, throwing a fist in the air and actually hovered in the air from the force of the fist pump. Eliza's glare had her sheepishly dropping to the floor. Eliza shook her head again, but this time in resignation of her daughter's antics.
Her super hearing caught Eliza saying, "What am I going to do with you?" before Eliza started up the stove top to start cooking Kara's favorite food..
—O—
Karen was dressed in a short blue dress and heels on a blind date from a site her sister had insisted she try so she could try to improve her social life before she left to the airport that afternoon, but it… was not going well. At all.
The guy whose name she couldn't bother to remember was staring mostly at her chest or glancing at other women who passed by. When she excused herself to the bathroom she even heard him chatting up another girl to take her home that night! As she was returning from the toilet, Karen spotted the tv showing the news.
Flight 237 towards Geneva was experiencing engine trouble, it read.
"Alex," she breathed. Her sister was going to kill her for this, but at least she would be alive to do so.
Kara sped in a blur to the alleyway behind the bar to throw off her heels before flying after the descending plane. She observed the right engine turbine was on fire and carefully aimed a "freeze breath" as Superman called it to put out the flame but still allow the turbine to spin. Unfortunately it didn't solve the problem, so Kara changed positions underneath the belly of the plane and spread her entire body out and tried lifting from there. If they didn't raise their altitude by at least 150 feet, they would crash into the bridge and everyone on board the commercial jet as well as hundreds of people stuck in traffic on the Otto Binder Bridge would perish.
Kara Zor-El grunted as she pushed with all of her strength into the bottom of the jet only for her hand to go straight through. She cursed as she repositioned herself farther along the center. Slowly she was able to level off the plane, but they were still far too low.
"Come on! You stupid piece of machinery!" She shouted, flying to the broken wing and spinning the plane so it took as little room as possible before it scratched its other wing along the surface of the bridge before exiting relatively unharmed to land deep in the river. She really hoped no one was crushed under the wing. It would be more than a little embarrassing if she just crushed a scuba diver on vacation.
She grunted as she climbed on top of the soaked wing and nearly slipped. She was still barefoot. She caught Alex glaring at her stonily before the redhead went back to helping her fellow passengers.
She is pissed… and I'm probably gonna die.
Kara blasted off the wing just as a news helicopter arrived and stopped to aim its spotlight down on her. Not quite ready to rejoin normalcy once more, Kara took a moment to breathe in the night air as she accelerated high into the atmosphere, high enough for the city to look no larger than a car to her normal vision and simply floated, kicking her legs like a child laying on the couch. Things are so much simpler up here, she thought. No responsibilities. No drama.
Eventually the grime on her dress made itself known and Kara was eager to strip it off. Kara sped back to her flat to take a quick shower to rinse off the river water which completely trashed her favorite dress, the stench alone would stay forever and that wasn't mentioning the oddly colored stains it picked up from touching the jet fuel that leaked out from the hole she punctured.
As she collapsed onto her leather couch in her apartment, the news coverage was showing the silhouette of her standing on the plane before she flew away. Three more seconds or if she was turned in the other direction and they would have had her face. She had no intention of wearing a mask though, so it meant her identity as Karen Starr would have to add another layer of disguise. She opened the drawer holding a glasses case Clark had given her that she had shoved into the back after receiving. It was lined with lead and prevented her from seeing through things with her "x-ray vision."
She hated to copy one more thing from her ex-cousin, but sometimes sacrifices must be made. Oh well, at least she could still pull off the sexy nerd look. It might even add credence to her identity as a computer scientist! People judge appearances upon their first meetings regardless of what they say because that is nature's way of identifying threats. Everyone does it and if they say they "don't judge people" they are either lying or have short term memory loss, because they definitely do. It is only once they take the time to listen to what it is the other has to say that they overcome their initial observation and biases. Her glasses will add another layer to her public mask because the public refuses to believe a cute but nerdy girl is capable of achieving the same feats as a superhero.
Her apartment door opened with a slam, announcing her sister's arrival as if her super hearing hadn't already picked up her stomping footsteps and annoyed mutters.
"Karen! What were you thinking!" she demanded after slamming the door shut.
"Can you be a bit more specific?" Kara asked, knowingly riling her sister up further.
"You know damn well," she hissed. "You exposed yourself to the world. You're out there now and there's nothing you can do to take that back."
"I saved you. There was no other option," Kara said firmly. Alex swallowed the lump in her throat as she shook her head.
"You don't know what you've done. The kind of danger you will face. I can't help you with this," Alex whispered hoarsely, revealing part of why she was so afraid. Kara swept her sister into a hug and tightened to the point it was uncomfortable but not crushing her.
"Sometimes I think you forget how strong I am," Kara murmured, leaning her forehead against her sister's. "Nothing will take me away from you, and nothing in this world is going to hurt you when I'm around. I promise."
Kara heard her sister's fist tightening behind her back in anger. Alex was hurt that she couldn't bulldoze her way through Kara's thick skull this time.
"I wanted to do as you asked. I wanted to save people just using Earth's technology, but it isn't enough. Do you have any idea what it's like to hear people screaming for help and knowingly not doing anything to assist them? For years I have stood by on the sidelines, letting sick and evil people get away with their crimes while I write computer code and pimp our company out to clients with overinflated egos and fix their minor software problems because they don't know anything more than basic-"
"Karen," Alex said, cutting off her rant. Kara smiled sheepishly before returning to the heart of her argument.
"I just can't stand it anymore. I need to help them and I have the power to do so. Isn't that what Jeremiah always said? To help those less fortunate than ourselves?"
"I'm pretty sure he was talking about financial burdens and those suffering from physical ailments, but… yeah" Alex admitted quietly, so quiet it took her super hearing to understand. Alex then gained a new level of strength as she leaned back and adopted her more serious persona.
"But I am serious Kara Zor-El," she said, poking her chest and using her Kryptonian name to ensure her sister understood the gravity of the situation. "It's not safe for you to do anything like that. Ever again. Ever."
Alex's eyes bored into her own and for the first time in a while, Kara felt the connection of their bond being seriously strained. She just bared her soul out to her sister to why she couldn't stand it anymore, but still she refused to take her side? Why? Why couldn't she just be there for her the one time she needed it most? A tear formed from the mixture of betrayal, anger, and sorrow slipped down her cheek as she faced off against her sister.
"I see," she said finally in the dragging silence. Her eyes flicked to the door before she said, "Get out."
"Kar-"
"Out!" Kara shouted, as her tears spilled faster.
Alex understood. She was overwhelmed and wanted to ensure her emotions didn't make her say something she'd regret for the rest of her life.
"Okay. We'll speak later." Alex slipped through the door and shut it quietly for once. Alex saw a half dozen doors open as their occupants looked on awkwardly. They all heard the shouting and were concerned for their resident bubbly blonde neighbor.
"What are you looking at?" Alex growled, storming away. Her sister was going to get herself killed. She had no idea of the monsters hiding on Earth. Hopefully she never would.
On the other side of the door, Kara slipped down to sit beside her liquor cabinet and drank straight from the bottle, welcoming the pleasant burn as it spilled down her throat. She really wished she could get drunk from it but her physiology prevented such low grade alcohol from giving her even a minor buzz even if she chugged ten of them. Kara's grip on the bottle tightened and the glass shattered as the empty bottle went everywhere, covering her in broken glass.
'Great. Just great. This is exactly how I wanted to spend my evening.'
—O—
On the other side of the city, a Valeronian male descended into his truck's tanker-turned-hidden-base where a holographic screen was already on and a call was coming in.
"What happened with the plane, Vartox? You were ordered to bring it down," the figure on the screen said.
"Our trap worked. The DEO agents were on board and the bomb detonated," Vartox said.
"Then why aren't they dead?" his superior demanded.
"A complication. A female. She flew into the sky and caught the plane."
"Who is she?"
Vartox smiled tightly.
"Jor-El saved his child before Krypton's destruction."
"Alura's daughter," he deduced.
"She's working with the humans," Vartox said firmly.
"For twelve years we've been forced into the shadows. But the General's arrival is imminent. Nothing must interfere. You were instructed to eliminate the human operatives. If this girl is working with them, you can add her to the list."
"I can't promise her death won't be public. And messy."
"Human casualties are irrelevant."
"Good. And if she is Alura Zor-El's daughter, then she will pay for her mother's debts. And so will her city."
—O—
Kara Zor-El stood inside her closet staring at the white fabric contained with an old shoe box, hidden from plain sight from any guests that she might one day host. The fabric was the clothes she had worn on her arrival to Earth and Krypton's destruction. It was one of the last pieces she had of her home. Kara gently picked it up and let the suit unfold, showing her how much she'd grown over the years. She was so small at that age. And yet, it felt like only yesterday as she looked at the hole she had torn when she ripped her house's crest off the fabric in her anger at Kal-El. She almost regretted it.
But, perhaps it is a good thing. If she was going to be saving people, she wanted them to see her as herself, not some replica of the Man of Steel off in Metropolis. So she decided she would use that last piece of Krypton as her own symbol.
She had a friend from college and her first year at working as an IT who owed her a favor that was very handy with materials. He would probably love to help her out even if she didn't cash in the favor. Winslow "Winn" Schott was sweet like that. Kara took the box with her as she leaped out the apartment's window before flying toward CatCo. It was time for her to make her debut as a hero while at least looking the part.
She landed not far from the building in an alleyway before joining the crowd as they scurried back and forth in the chaos that was National City in the early morning as most businesses were opening up shop. It was startling how simple it was to flash her badge and say she needed to speak to an IT employee and security waved her through without a thorough glance or even checking her history. Or perhaps she just looked trustworthy enough?
Why were they even there, she wondered, taking the blessing and slipped into the crowded elevator on its way up to the top floor. By the time it reached her floor, Karen was seriously considering to say screw it and just flying to the roof next time she wanted to visit before descending down because the amount of times she'd been jostled and bumped into was ridiculous with the constant traffic of people so engrossed in their work to notice others in their way.
But that was a problem for later. Winn was already seated at his desk and plowing through his full inbox of emails that were mostly full of complaints. She remembered it well.
"Hello Winn," Karen called, making the brown haired IT jerk around in his seat in surprise.
"K-Karen," he greeted in surprise. "You're here. Not that it isn't great to see you, but… w-why are you here?"
Karen smiled as she held up her box.
"I need some help. No one knows materials quite like you, (at least of the people she personally knew, but there was no need to share that) and I was hoping you could assist me in finding something similar."
"Ah, sure. I would love to," he said without thinking before he glanced around and realized where he was. "But, can this wait until the afternoon?" he asked, wincing. Waiting for the rejection that was surely coming his way. "CatCo is a madhouse after last night and I don't think I have two minutes free all day."
"Of course. It isn't anything too pressing."
"Great," he said, relieved. "Maybe… we could grab a bite as we work later?"
"Do you still like potstickers?" Karen asked tonelessly.
"Yes?"
"Then absolutely," she said with a wide smile. It was then her super hearing caught the conversation within CEO Cat Grant's office.
"The most incredible event in the history of National City and yet we have no exclusive of any kind."
Karen smirked at how frustrated she sounded. Her reporters listed off speculation of what they observed on the low resolution photo they managed to capture of her in the edge of the spotlight. They might as well have had a silhouette with how accurate their guesses were.
Then a rather baritone voice said, "Or maybe her hair is just dirty. From the plane's exhaust."
Finally someone with something between their ears, she snarked internally.
"Do you think there is any connection between this girl and-"
"-To my friend in blue?" he interrupted, drawing a frown onto Karen's face. Rude.
"I don't know. I mean, not that he mentioned, if she's anything like him, she's a hero."
'I am nothing like him,' Kara Zor-El spat in the safety of her mind.
"Saving people is what they're born to do. She'll be back."
Kara's frown deepened. That hit particularly hard. On one hand, technically yes, he was correct in saying that she was born to help people. Krypton's people. In the artificial birthing chambers on Krypton, Kara was genetically altered to be more intelligent to assist Krypton's prosperity and raised to further the influence of her House. But on the other hand, James Olsen's words had an expectation to them. As if because she had her powers, she was supposed to be flying around the city and saving people. The only reason she had done so in the first place was because Alex was in danger. Yes, she was happy to have saved the other passengers and yes she wanted to continue saving people. But it was because she chose to do so. Not because she wanted to pander to humanity's expectations. That was just insulting.
"This girl is the answer. She is exactly what I need to save the Tribune. Besides fatty foods, there is nothing people love more than a hero," Cat said. "I need images, we need video, exclusive interviews. So go, find her and get me that girl."
Kara sighed. Somehow she knew this was going to explode back in her face. As the entourage of workers left Cat's office Kara was almost surprised when James Olsen stopped and gave her a knowing glance. It told her Clark had exposed her identity to him. Her fists tightened even further. That was not his secret to tell! It was supposed to be her choice of who and when can know her identity. She was starting to think a visit to her cous- no, to Clark Kent's- apartment might be in order soon where she can voice her complaints (and possibly raise her fists) to the farm boy.
Her annoyance made her want to hit something, so she insisted to Winn that her matter was actually more pressing than she thought and within the hour they were headed off to an early lunch to discuss recreating her suit. They then spent the next hour trying to figure out a suitable replacement (or in Winn's case stall for enough time to enjoy her company) until they settled with a structured polymer composite that was both flexible for full range of movement while still being mostly impervious to damage outside of something extremely powerful like a nuclear meltdown. The energy Kryptonians unconsciously release also acts as an additional buffer that extends their durability to most clothing just over their skin, so Kara Zor-El was confident their creation would turn out just fine.
"You know Karen, you never did tell me what this was for," Winn said.
"Do you really want to know, or would you rather see it on the news tomorrow?" she countered. Winn was stuck for only a moment.
"I think it would be better coming from your lips," he said at last. 'Your very beautiful, kissable lips,' he thought.
Kara said nothing for a minute, gathering her thoughts of whether it was a good idea to tell Winn or not. He was one of the few people who stuck by her even when she was still figuring out who she wanted to be… hell, she was still figuring that out. But Winn never got angry when she snapped at him when she was having a bad day or looked envious when she immediately figured out a problem he had been trying to solve for a week (that's probably a little white lie, he totally did but he could overcome it because she was so pretty- NICE! It was because she was nice!) and Kara truly valued his friendship and missed having him around. He was like that adorable, dorky friend everyone needs. If she couldn't trust him though, who could she?
"Alright," she said, swallowing heavily and praying this wasn't going to end in her having to move and change her name again. "I'm her."
"Her?" he wondered. Could she be any more vague?
"I was the one who caught the plane," she revealed. Winn thought she was having him on until it looked like she suddenly grew a couple inches.
"Look underneath the table," she explained to his confusion. Winn reluctantly ducked his head and froze. Karen was floating about three inches in the air, just enough to show him the back of the booth they were seated in but her bag at her side hid that from view to the other occupants in the restaurant. Winn rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things or dreaming, but the view didn't change.
"Y-you're her," he whispered in awe. "You're actually her. You know a lot of things about you suddenly make sense. Like how you can eat ten servings of potstickers and still look as beautiful as you-" he stopped realizing what he revealed and tried to change it. "As toned- as slim as you do-" he stammered, wishing to just jump in a hole. A very deep hole that even her x-ray vision couldn't see.
"Winn," she chortled, "You are one of a kind."
Was that a compliment or an insult? he wondered. "Right, so," he coughed. "I can get you the suit for tomorrow morning and then maybe… act as your support?"
"I'd like that," she said warmly. "See you tomorrow, I still have some work due before the night is out."
Winn watched her speed out of the restaurant after checking that no one was looking… and leaving him with the check, he sighed. Typical.
"Check please," he waved the waitress down.
—O—
The next morning Kara stood in front of the mirror with her suit, taking in her appearance with an appreciative eye. The suit had a high collar that extended to her jaw, long sleeves, and a cut out in the center of her chest that portrayed her lack of symbol and her figure. Over her shoulder was a red cape pinned only to one shoulder that was connected to a golden rope that tied under her armpits. A similarly gold and red belt was around her waist. Lastly she had dark royal blue boots and gloves that brought a sense of patriotism even if it was actually just her House's colors. Kara still wanted something to remain of her House without calling obvious attention between her and Kal.
Kara flew out of her window into the fresh air and listened, focusing her super hearing for her first crime of her new life as a superhero. Kara would use her earpiece later for WInn's help in stopping the more serious crimes, but for her "first" one she wanted to do it herself.
Then she heard it. Tires squealing, people shouting in panic and pain, dogs barking, and finally gunfire. Kara smiled as she flew, enjoying the sense of freedom that can only come from unassisted flight, weaving through buildings at a blistering pace as she closed in on her first crime.
Three vans full of gun toting criminals were firing at a stream of cop cars chasing behind them. Kara used her x-ray vision to observe everyone and spotted a hostage in the last car as well as four duffel bags full of stolen cash in each van. Her first stop would be saving the hostage. Kara flew as fast as she could without losing control to appear between the goons shooting at the cops out the back doors and gave a 'soft' punch to their heads, knocking them straight out and scaring the other two guys in the back. One latched onto the hostage and placed a pistol to the woman's head.
"You don't want to do that," Kara said. "If you place your weapon down I promise you that you won't be harmed and things can end peacefully."
"We're already being harmed. The government is-" he argued.
"I won't say it again. Put. The. Gun. Down," she said firmly. The thug's smirk could be seen through his ski mask even without x-ray vision.
"No."
Kara narrowed her eyes. She wanted to stop things relatively peacefully, oh well. At least her need to punch something will be fixed. The gun fired… and Kara's palm was over the muzzle. The criminal widened his eyes at how fast she moved.
"Wait, we can work something out-" he didn't get the chance to finish as Kara swatted him with her arm, sending him flying out the back door and rolling painfully on the street. One cop car stopped to cuff him while the rest trailed closely behind.
The last thug, a rather slim one, did the smart thing and dropped his gun while raising his hands.
"Don't move," Kara warned, cradling the hysteric woman in her arms.
"Where am I gonna go?" he asked, indicating they were still moving over fifty mph on a busy street in the back of a van. Kara turned away to hide her flushing.
"Right," she muttered, doing a half jump- half controlled flight to land and stopped in front of another cop car for them to take care of the woman. With everything clear, Kara rushed in front of the first van and simply stood firm in the center of the street. The driver and passenger surprisingly waved for her to move out of the way, but they weren't expecting the impact to abruptly halt their forward momentum. The front of the van wrapped around her and the back lifted up in the air and Kara grabbed the vehicle and placed it upside down, ensuring their escape was impossible. The second managed to squeeze through the gap with some minor scratches to pedestrian vehicles and a light post, sending Kara to curse colorfully.
She flew around the sharp corner they took and abruptly slammed into the windshield and roof of a speeding sports car.
'Are you kidding me?' she groaned, shaking her head. The driver looked more stunned than harmed, so Kara raced after the second van. Hopefully he had insurance. He could blame it on those criminals right?
Kara caught up to the van in seconds and the passengers looked on in confusion.
"What's happening man?" one said.
"I don't know!" the driver shouted.
"Drive you idiot!" a third yelled.
"I am!" the driver shouted again.
Behind the vehicle Kara was holding onto the back wheel and chassis, giving them no chance to escape. Kara flipped the van onto its side and began her smackdown. Four slaps, punches, and even a forehead flick had them concussed or unconscious on the ground.
"You bitch," one of them groaned. It was the concussed one. Kara scowled at him. She was being nice earlier. Now he was just asking for it. Kara kicked him through the (partially open) back doors and onto the street. He didn't get back up.
Her last stop was the third van once again where they had already been cut off by the cops predicting their route and formed a blockade. The driver and front passenger were pinned down and trying to shoot their way out while the last thug, the one she saw earlier was noticeably crouching between two cars and looking resigned, his gun discarded to the side.
Kara flew in front of the gunmen and unflinchingly floated there as they emptied their magazines into her chest. Kara was happy to notice it didn't even leave a scratch on her suit. One thug dropped his gun to pull out a knife and Kara deflected his stabs before grabbing his wrist and threw him across the street. She felt a punch hit her back and turned to see the last thug looking terrified it had no effect on her. Kara's smile would give him nightmares. She clutched his jacket collar and threw him head first into their van's window.
Finally she approached the man who hadn't fired at her. He pulled off his mask as the cops started making their way forward after realizing the gunfight was over. The remaining gunman wasn't a man at all, Kara revised. He was a teenager, no older than 14.
Kara frowned. Why was someone so young involved with this? She decided to ask.
"Hey, what made you turn in with these idiots?" The teen sighed and pointed to the thug still hanging halfway through the window.
"He's my older brother. He said he needed an extra hand with just moving the money. 'It's easy money,' he said. Then our leader Stuko handed me a gun and stayed at my side."
"Stuko?" Kara snorted, "Who's that?"
"The guy you threw out the back," he deadpanned.
"So he… forced you into this?" Kara frowned, that wasn't what an older sibling should do. They're supposed to protect their siblings and act as a guide.
"It's not like I could say no. My brother raised me, I owe him that much."
Kara couldn't relate. But still she wanted to understand.
"When you get out of prison, come find me. I'll see if I can't get you a job where you don't have to shoot guns at people."
"What if that's all I'm good at?"
"Well, you'll have several years to find that out. Use it well."
Just as Kara was about to fly away one of the cops stopped her.
"What's your name?" He shouted. Kara said nothing for a moment. She actually hadn't thought of one yet. Her brain moved at superhuman speeds, creating and discarding hundreds of ideas. She didn't want to be associated with Superman. She wanted to be seen as her own person. Eventually she settled on one name that was striking and yet still led credence to her numerous abilities.
"I'm Power Girl," she declared before blasting away fast enough to send cars rocking.
—-O—-
Kara was watching the news that night and saw herself making an amazing entrance, stopping the firefight in its tracks. The childish part of her let itself be known and she kicked her heels in the air in excitement. She was going to be an awesome superhero, even better than Metropolis' Boy-In-Blue. She just… needed a bit more experience first, she nodded. A lot of experience.
The news switched to an interview of the cop giving away he heard her name and her efforts to try to help turn around the teen criminal's life.
Cat Grant wasn't going to be happy she wasn't the one who labeled her like Lois Lane from The Daily Planet did to Kal-El, but… tough. She liked it.
Power Girl had continued to save people the entire day by using her super breath to put out a fire, stopping yet another bank robbery on the other side of town (and seriously, how many banks need to be robbed to upgrade their security before this stops being a problem), preventing three muggings, a man hitting on a woman who didn't understand what no meant (where she pushed said man into the alley wall) and then piggybacked off Winn's hacking skills to get into the Police radio frequency for constant updates on ongoing crimes.
It was a pretty good first day as a debut for Power Girl in her completely unbiased opinion.
Of course that was when Winn informed her of another fire across town and she sprinted to change back into her suit (hero uniform?) and flew to the fire engulfing an abandoned warehouse. Kara was using her x-ray vision to see where the fire was originating from and was so caught up in her investigation that she didn't see the three darts which somehow stabbed into the back of her neck. Power Girl had just long enough to pull them out and look at something actually capable of injuring her before she suddenly felt weak and dropped like a stone.
"Kara? Kara?" Winn shouted into her earpiece before a man dressed in black removed the device and crushed it under his foot, silencing her friend as she finally gave up on staying conscious.
When Kara finally awoke, it was to find herself in a bare room with handcuffs around her wrists and a rather serious looking black man coldly staring at her with some hint of curiosity. Kara tested the bonds to see she couldn't break them. How was Earth capable of producing such technology that could stop her kind? How did they even know how to do so?
"Those cuffs are made of low-grade kryptonite. It's a radioactive mineral from your home world that weakens your kind."
"Why did you kidnap me?"
"That's a bit complicated."
"Uncomplicate it," she sassed. The man snorted.
"This is the DEO, the Department of Extranormal Operations. The DEO monitors and protects Earth from extraterrestrial presence and/or invasion. Which includes you. My name is Hank Henshaw, I am the head of this department and as such, your fate lies in my hands," he warned.
His tone did soften as he finally said, "Having said that, I believe you already know Agent Danvers."
Kara snapped her head to see Alex walking towards her with the key to her cuffs. Alex. Her Alex. Why was her sister here? What was happening? How long has she been consorting with these people? How much did they know? Did they know everything she said in confidence to her? Why, she wanted to scream. Why did she betray her?
"She doesn't need these," Alex said, undoing the locks and Kara rubbed her wrists to regain feeling, but more to distract herself from the downward spiral of unanswered questions she couldn't face at the moment.
"The DEO exists because of you. The day you arrived sent our government scrambling for answers and the need to protect itself."
"Kal-El was here two dozen years before me."
"His arrival triggered the need for our organization, you just made it more of a necessity. We already knew we weren't alone in this universe, but we hadn't thought we would be getting more… immigrants. Then you came along, and with you Fort Rozz."
Kara felt a cold sensation ripple through her. No. No, no, no. Her eyes widened in panic. Kara knew exactly what Fort Rozz was. It was the prison ground of the worst criminals in the galaxy, where Krypton and its planetary allies sentenced them into the Phantom Zone. Essentially a void of chaos itself.
"Your ship dragged along the prison when you escaped the Phantom Zone. Because of you, every criminal managed to escape and is hiding somewhere here on Earth."
It was worse than that, Kara knew. Her mother was the judge that sentenced them there. She was going to be their target. Perhaps even worse than that though was the thought of what they were capable of. Kryptonians weren't the only species affected by the yellow sun. What nightmarish powers do they have access to?
"For the last decade they've stayed hidden, but over the last year many have been emerging, making themselves known."
"Do we know why?" Kara asked.
"No, but we think… that they're preparing for something. What that would be though, we have no idea."
Kara considered this for a moment before she voiced her thoughts.
"I will help you stop them."
"How? You couldn't even stop us from capturing you."
"I was under the illusion that there was nothing on Earth that could harm me. Would you have your guard up if you had the same belief?"
Henshaw had to concede her point there, but her very existence went against the DEO's nature.
"Our job is keeping people ignorant of alien life on Earth, and nothing says covert like," he paused to flick his eyes over her bright white and red suit, "that."
Kara was affronted. Her uniform was awesome, and she could be stealthy when she needs to be.
"If you want to help, go back to saving people's software," he dismissed, turning to a display on another possible trail of one of the missing aliens. Kara's smile was more a baring of teeth at his back as she stopped herself from kicking him through the high vaulted ceiling of stone.
Kara ignored Alex's pleading gaze as she stalked away.
"Wait! Kara!" Alex called, rushing after her. Kara whirled around and snarled, "It's Karen or Mrs. Starr to you! Only my friends and family can call me that. It's clear you are neither."
"I wanted to tell you every day," she implored softly.
"Oh, did you now? That's great." She laughed mockingly before her tone became completely frigid. "But instead you looked me in the eye every day and lied. To me. You lied to me, Alex."
"Please, just listen to me."
"I can't. How am I supposed to trust a word out of your mouth? I'm leaving, unless you want to try and stop me," she dared. "See how well you do now I'm actually ready for a fight."
Alex just looked at her sadly as she stormed away. She glanced at the ceiling, praying for an answer that could solve her issues, but alas there was nothing.
"I know you don't want to hear this Agent Danvers, but she's dangerous. You of all people should know that."
"I do, but I also know how she thinks. She is not a threat to the people of Earth."
"Are you really willing to risk the lives of billions of innocent people, for her?" Henshaw asked.
" ...Yes. There's no one else I would trust to have her powers. As much as I hate to see it, I know she will be a great hero."
"Very well. I'll trust your judgment, but I'm still keeping our supply of Kryptonite well stocked."
Alex snorted at his humor. He was a real riot. He was one of the few people she knew who could make a legitimate threat and warning sound like a joke at the same time.
"Yes, Sir."
—-O—-
If her anger wasn't already high enough, Kara certainly felt it increase the next morning where she was forced to finish everything she missed due to being kidnapped and drugged the night before as well as the massive laundry list of tasks for that day. It was safe to say that her expression sent no less than eighty people scurrying out of her way on the way to her lunch break as she got fed up with the complete stupidity of some people. And then a high pitched squeal sounded in her cranium and she just about lost her shit.
'What now?' She growled.
"I'm communicating at 50,000 Hertz, if you can hear this, you are not of this Earth. Painful, isn't it?"
'Buddy, you have no idea.'
"The humans of National City will suffer 10 times this pain if you don't face me. Meet me at the National City Power Plant."
'Excellent. Someone finally capable of surviving more than a light tap.'
The anger that had been building since the reveal of her sister's betrayal was finally going to have an outlet. Already her fists were shaking in her need to punch someone and make them feel the exact same pain she felt.
"I will kill one person every hour until you show your face. How many people are going to die before you prove you aren't a coward, daughter of Alura?"
Bringing her dead mother into this was a real smart plan. It really heightened the odds of his survival… said no one ever.
Kara flew straight up into the clouds before breaking the sound barrier as she rushed to the power plant. No innocent was going to die for her, she vowed. It would go against everything her parents and House had taught her. She arrived in under a minute and looked around the abandoned plant. Her x-ray vision was practically useless, there was so much lead around. It seems this criminal knows about the weaknesses of Kryptonians. She had to be even more wary. Then she heard the slow heartbeat of someone. It was too slow and powerful to be a human's.
"You claim I am a coward, but I'm not the one slinking in the shadows!" bellowed Power Girl. "Come and face me."
Kara turned to see the alien lunging at her from behind with a fist cocked back and ready to knock her head off.
'Oh crap,' Kara thought, speeding left just in time to miss the punch, but unable to dodge his quick spin and caught a kick to the stomach which sent her hurdling for the cement below. She coughed as dust exploded in the crater she created and got a closer look at the Fort Rozz escapee. A Valeronian, she realized, seeing his ridged skull. Their abilities were similar to Kryptonians.
"Females bow to males on my planet," he stated.
"Is that so? Maybe that's why your people suck at fighting and have been conquered by three different empires."
Vartox evidently didn't like her digging up his planet's history because he rushed her again. Kara blocked the first two punches before a third hit her cheek, nearly sending her flying before she got control and engaged him once again. She waited for him to send another punch and used her speed to her advantage, ducking down and sweeping him off his feet before kicking him through a concrete wall… which did nothing to him.
Right, superhuman, duh. Kara met a similar fate, a punch to the stomach threw her into the main building of the power plant and created a massive hole in the wall and yet the punch hurt far more than the impact against what felt like the equivalent of cardboard.
"Daughter of Alura. Do you have any idea how much I want to kill you?"
"I think I can guess," she quipped, deflecting another punch before gasping as he landed three quick punches to the ribs.
'OW. I really need to learn some martial arts.'
Kara's powers became stronger as she aged; the organ that humans lacked allowed her species to store the radioactive energy the sun releases even when outside the sun's rays. After years of not using her stronger abilities, her storage was quite full and waiting for her to use it.
So the fact that she was actually getting her ass kicked came as a surprise. She threw a punch as hard as she could, but Vartox was more experienced fighting those with similar strength and could easily avoid and counter, sending her through another half dozen walls.
"Fighting your cousin would be an honor! You are just pathetic! Have you ever thrown a punch before?" he mocked.
Vartox retrieved his ax from his back and Kara took a cautious step backward out of instinct. She snarled and scanned for anything that she could use. A piece of rebar was next to her, but that was about as useless as a twig. She picked it up anyway and watched Vartox jump to cleave her head in from above. Kara threw the rebar but Vartox just deflected it and continued his path without losing a drop of speed. Kara spun and punched him, making him stumble a few feet before he threw his massive ax like it was a small tomahawk. It was so unexpected for him to "discard" his weapon that Kara was unable to dodge completely. The ax tore through the side of her arm and wedged itself in the wall behind her. Kara grit her teeth as a scream threatened to escape.
That was the worst injury she'd ever had. She clutched her arm to staunch the wound and missed the foot headed for her chest. She didn't miss the explosion of dust from the wall as she was hurled outside or the pain originating from her ribs however. She groaned as she looked up at the clouds.
"When was the last time you bled? Does it hurt? I really hope it does," he growled, swinging his ax for her stomach. Kara rolled aside and saw him instantly adjust again. He planted his boot on her chest so she couldn't escape. Kara panicked and blew as hard as she could. The super breath sent him flying back into a wall and gained her the necessary space. Kara glanced down to see the sun's rays were already going to work on stitching her flesh and skin back together. She tested her arm to find it mostly functional again except for around a small filament left behind from his ax.
"I will make your whole city bleed! The buildings will be painted red and your streets will have rivers of blood!" he screamed in anger, lunging for her head again. Kara had had enough of acting like his punching bag. She caught the handle of his ax and Vartox looked at her in shock right before she showed why she had her name. Using the handle as a guide, she tugged Vartox towards her and lashed out with a powerful punch that knocked his head to the side and flew a hundred meters away before slamming into the side of a hill.
Kara winced as the metal shard in her arm sent a new wave of agony through it. She just tore open new flesh with that punch. When she looked up again Vartox was speeding right for her! She just had time to raise her arms when an explosion rocked the ground right in front of the Valeronian and sent him tumbling away. It was a rocket from a heavily armed and armored helicopter. An Apache? Alex rappelled down before the helo chased after the alien escapee.
"Are you alright?" Alex asked. Kara clenched her jaw, but was privately grateful for their assistance.
"Fine," she grunted. "Just a scratch." Given how much blood was coating her arm, it was obvious that wasn't the whole truth, but there was only the wound around the metal left to heal, so… technically, it wasn't a lie.
"Come on, let's get you back to the lab," Alex said, seeing the shard in her arm and the blood still oozing.
"I said I'm fine," Kara snapped.
"You can be stubborn all you want after I know you won't drop dead on me. But until then, get going!" She waved, indicating a second helicopter headed towards them. Kara tried to suppress a traitorous smile that was making its way onto her face. She was supposed to be mad at her! Stop it! She knew that Alex meant well, but knowing and feeling are two very different things. Which is why it also was so hard to stop the smile because despite how much Kara wanted to punch her sister, she still (grudgingly) loved her.
"Fine," she groused. "But only until I get this out, then I'm gone." Alex smirked in victory and took out a bandage to staunch the bleeding until they reached her lab. Alex didn't move from her side the entire time no matter how much she glared (read pouted) at her sister. Alex thought she looked adorable. It was like a child pretending they hated a gift when they were angry at their parents when it was what they had been anxiously waiting for all year.
Back at the lab Alex was inspecting her wound with a large magnifying glass, seeing how the shard was fit in her arm before attempting removal to cause the least amount of pain necessary to get the piece out. Kara hissed as the tweezers pulled it out and morbidly watched herself heal instantly. It was kind of cool. Not that she was going to get into cutting herself to watch it, but still… cool.
"It's been so long since I've felt pain," Kara admitted to Alex. "I almost forgot what it was like."
"Did you miss it?" she asked, genuinely curious.
"It sucked… but in some strange way… yes. I don't want to get stabbed again though. I can give that a hard pass," she joked, making Alex smile at the familiar ground.
"You're not indestructible, Kara. It's not just the Valeronian either. Everyone in that fort wants you dead."
"So you knew about that too," Kara said bleakly, ignoring for the moment what her sister called her. "You know my mother sentenced them all to that inhumane prison."
"It was why I didn't want you to reveal yourself. All I have ever wanted was to protect you. Why do you think I became an agent at the DEO? I did it for you."
Kara hid her face behind her bangs in shame. Everything she had ever said or done was being called into question, she reevaluated and remembered every conversation they had shared. It all pointed in the same direction. That Alex truly loved her.
"I need to go," Kara blurted, trying her best to hide she was crying and sped home. Alex just felt lost as her sister escaped once again before she could learn how to help her. Why did she have to be so difficult sometimes?
'No,' she thought. 'Not this time.' They were going to have that conversation whether Kara wanted to or not. Alex rushed after her sister and eventually arrived at her sister's apartment after a brief stop home to retrieve something.
"Kara," she called, knocking on the door. "Kara, please open up."
"Go away," she cried.
"No. I'm not going to do that. I will sleep outside here if that is what it takes for you to see me."
"You better get comfortable," she groused.
"I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry I lied. I'm sorry I never told you what I was doing and most of all I'm sorry I hurt you. But if I had to do it all over again, I would make the same decision. And why? Because I did everything, and I mean everything, for you. I don't think you understand how hard it was to hide that part of my life from you. Some of these people we are tracking… They are complete monsters. I can't sleep at night sometimes after stumbling after them.
"I didn't want to see you end up like them, so I selfishly hid you away from the world. I backed up Mom and told you to hide what you could do because I love you and I don't want to lose you. It would break me in a way that I could never recover from. And yet it seems like despite my efforts, I am doing exactly that and driving you away. I-" Alex stopped as she leaned her head against the door as tears dripped down her cheeks.
"I don't know what to do."
Her support suddenly vanished as Kara opened the door and she stumbled forward into her sister's arms. Kara tightly wrapped her arms around her and buried her own face into her shoulder.
"You're an idiot," Kara cried against Alex's chest.
"Sorry I can't compare to a genetically enhanced superhuman's intelligence," she weakly joked back. Kara silently giggled but her laugh quickly transformed into larger sobs as the stress of almost dying from Vartox's ax came to the forefront of her mind.
"I thought I was going to die. He had me pinned and I almost forgot I had my powers. If I didn't-" she stopped and Alex just hugged her harder.
"Shh, it's okay. You're safe now. You're safe."
"He'll be coming after me. They all will."
"Last time you fought him by yourself," Alex said, finding her hand and delivering a squeeze of support. "Why don't we see what happens if both Danvers sisters were to team up? Just like old times?"
Kara nodded weakly against her chest before turning to give a smile.
"Nothing can stop us, right?" Alex asked, holding out a fist jokingly. Kara eyed the limb with a raised brow.
"I'm not lowering this until you give me some," she warned. Kara huffed and met her fist, sending a small crack through the room.
"Ow, ow, that really hurt," Alex complained, waving her hand from her knuckles popping.
"Too hard?" Kara asked innocently. "Sorry."
"I probably deserved that."
"I didn't mean to-"
"I said it's fine," Alex interrupted, flexing her fingers. "Besides, we have something more important to worry about."
"Hmm?"
Alex pulled out a hexagonal prism with Kryptonian markings inscribed along the sides.
"Where did you get this?" Kara gasped, running her hands over the familiar device.
"Where else? Your ship back at home. I thought you could use some encouragement from someone who isn't me of why you're still here fighting," she said softly.
"Alex I-" Kara began.
"You don't need to say anything. Just listen."
Kara gulped as the device activated and a hologram of her mother Alura appeared in the room. Suddenly Kara wasn't standing in her apartment. Instead she was back in the hangar on Krypton moments before her mother and father said their goodbyes. All of the terror, anger, and unending sorrow that she would never see her parents again flooded her mind right before they closed the cockpit. It all came rushing back like it was only yesterday.
"Hello Kara," the hologram said, making Kara break down as she heard her mother's voice for the first time in decades. Alex held her as Alura's digitized consciousness started relaying her mother's wishes.
"By now you have grown into the beautiful woman I knew you would grow up to be. Though you were sent to Earth to protect young Kal-El, you should not define your life behind that one mission. Your destiny is not solely tied to his. There is no correct path in life and you may find yourself straying from time to time. But that is alright. You need to remember that it is okay to stumble, so long as you manage to pick yourself back up. I don't know what the future may hold for you or what challenges you may face, but I do know that if you are anything like the brave little girl I saw growing before my eyes then there is nothing you cannot do. Be wise, be strong, and always be true to yourself."
Kara kneeled over sobbing as the hologram disappeared. It was like losing her a second time. She furiously wiped her tears away when she heard Alex talking on the phone. She heard the communications officer telling her that Vartox had been found. Kara channeled all of her hurt into a simmering rage just waiting to explode on the unfortunate alien who dared threaten innocent lives.
"How quickly can you change?" Alex asked rhetorically. Kara looked her sister in the eye and tossed her glasses straight up in the air before disappearing in a flash only to reappear a second later dressed in her uniform to stop her glasses from shattering.
"You practiced that didn't you, you nerdy poser?"
Kara refused to deign that with a response… even if it was true.
"Want a lift?" Kara asked.
"You know, I'd rather not-"
"Good." Kara picked her up and Alex shouted profanities in her ear as Kara flew hundreds of feet in the air towards the DEO.
"I said no!" Alex shouted, hitting her chest ineffectually.
"Would you like me to drop you?" Kara asked.
"Don't you dare!" Alex warned. "Kryptonian or not, I will hurt you."
Their flight went by in silence following that and Kara soon descended smoothly outside the DEO's base entrance where the two descended into the command area where Hank was waiting with a scowl.
"I thought I told you to get lost, Kryptonian?" he asked rhetorically.
"Sir, she can help."
"How? By taking another ax to the arm? Or maybe the head this time?"
"She also stands the best chance of catching him. Now, what's this I hear about knowing how to track him?" Alex asked, leading to the communications officer to pull Vartox's location up on the main monitor.
"Thanks to the shard left behind in… Power Girl's arm, we learned it has a unique nuclear signature. Satellite has him heading towards the city."
"It seems Vartox is intending on following through on his threat to kill civilians to draw me out. Are you sure you don't want my help?" Kara asked, causing Hank to scoff.
"Just get out of here." Kara took the acceptance for what it was, but before she could leave Alex blurted out, "El mayarah!"
"El mayarah," Kara echoed with a small nod in her direction before beginning her pursuit of Vartox.
"What does that mean?" Hank asked. Alex smiled at the screen where Kara's location was racing to meet the truck Vartox was driving head on.
"It means 'stronger together.' It is something the House of El say to each other."
"So?" He asked, trailing off.
"It means she has forgiven me. And I'm not going to break that trust again," Alex vowed.
Power Girl flew through the air with a boom as she raced to catch the truck and slammed down on top of the hood, shearing the front of the vehicle in two and Vartox crashed out of the window.
"Coming back for round 2? That was stupid. You should have stayed away. You'd have lived longer," he threatened.
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," Kara responded, baring her teeth in a mockery of a smile.
Vartox roared and lashed out with a dozen punches within a second, but Kara deflected or dodged them and managed to get an elbow into his ribs before Vartox kicked her in the side. Kara was launched away but she slammed her hand into the black top and slowed her momentum, leaving a trench in the ground. Vartox widened his eyes when two superheated rays blasted toward him before he could do more than raise his arms. They cut into his skin, causing Vartox to scream in pain, but otherwise didn't do much damage. It barely penetrated his flesh, much less the bone. But it did manage to piss off the alien criminal enough to make him sloppy and distracted because it was a female who had injured him.
Vartox grabbed his ax off his back and tried to cleave her head off her shoulders, but Kara backed away, leading him towards the sand dunes. Vartox was almost single minded in his pursuit but his combat experience still outweighed hers. Small tears and knicks developed on her suit and skin when she was too unbalanced to dodge completely.
"Kara, in order to destroy his ax it needs to reach a temperature greater than 2,500 degrees celsius."
"That will take a while to reach temperature."
"You need to draw him in, bait him," Alex ordered.
"I think I have a better plan."
"Kara? Kara?" Alex called.
But Kara was too busy to answer. She followed Alex's advice to be bait, letting Vartox punch her, but she knew simply aiming her heat vision at a target and expecting a superior opponent to just let her do so was not a very smart plan. Vartox wasn't stupid. He built that ax with his own hands and as a prideful warrior, he took great care to maintain it. So no, he wouldn't let her fire her lasers at it for long. He'd sooner place his foot over her eyes than lose his weapon. It meant she had to get a bit creative.
While Vartox wound up for a diagonal slash, Kara made her move and punched him in the neck. Vartox gagged as his throat caved in and his grip on his ax loosened slightly as one hand came to protect his throat instinctually from further damage. Then Kara kicked his wrist as hard as she could and threw the ax away before getting tackled to the ground by the enraged Valeronian. Kara kept up her arms to weather the storm of blows and flipped them over with her legs, locking her ankles and pulling his arm to hopefully dislocate it. Power Girl roared and then a crack emanated from the limb as Vartox howled. Kara continued to pull the arm and then shoved down, fracturing the grinding bone and ensuring he won't be able to quickly heal before the end of the fight.
"I'm going to kill you bitch!" he snarled through his clenched teeth. They both scrambled to their feet and Vartox flicked his eyes in the direction of his ax.
"Oh no you don't!" Kara yelled, flying to catch his foot and throwing him back into the earth with a loud crash. Vartox caught her in the stomach with a vicious punch and slapped her aside before rushing to grab his ax. Kara tackled him to the ground just before he reached it. The ax was sticking out of the ground by its handle. Kara wrapped her arms around Vartox's neck as he reached for the weapon and started pulling him back. Then she followed Alex's plan, shooting her twin beams of heat into the weapon. Blue beams of fire shot from her eyes and the ax started glowing so hot it would blind a normal human should they have been staring at it. But all too soon it reached critical levels and suddenly imploded from the atomic charge surpassing the metal's limits.
"No!" Vartox screamed at the loss as they were blasted away from each other. With no weapon and a near useless arm, they both knew who was the victor in this fight. Kara still gave him a brutal punch to the face to knock him back to the ground though when it looked like he would get up.
"It's over," Power Girl snarled. "Stay down."
Vartox laughed and his hand slid to grasp a shard of metal.
"No, it's only the beginning. Your time will come, daughter of Alura. I will see you in Hell."
Then he lashed out with the shard of metal. Kara took a step back thinking he was going to stab her leg, but he turned the shard inwards and plunged before she could react.
"No, don't!" Kara shouted, but it was too late. Vartox let out a gurgle as blood flooded his lungs and then stilled. Kara's hand shook. She had never seen someone take their own life before. She'd seen accidents, murders, but never such a vicious looking suicide. Kara dropped to her knees before raising her hand to her ear.
"Vartox is down and the ax destroyed. We won."
Alex sighed in relief and leaned heavily on the table in front of her. Thank goodness.
"We're sending in a clean up crew, now… Good work," Hank bit out like someone was pulling his teeth.
Kara eyed another shard of metal on the ground and picked it up, testing the weight in her hands. It was about the size of a knife. A prick of blood dripped off her finger when she tested it. It was still sharp. If it was true what Vartox said, and there were more enemies coming, then Kara knew she would need as much protection as possible. Alex would need a weapon to protect herself if she wasn't there. Kara gripped the shard in Vartox's chest and pulled it out, nearly gagging at the sound it produced before taking the two shards in her hand and applying her heat vision to the metal and then shaping the shards like they were putty. At the end there was a very rough looking piece of slag that was cooling into the shape of a blade.
'Well, it is a start.'
She wondered if Winn knew of any recommendations of a site that explained how to forge weapons for beginners.
—O—
Karen Starr didn't find Winn at his desk at CatCo, but she was pulled aside by a certain James Olsen who heavily hinted he knew who she was before directing her to follow him to the roof.
'Let's get this over with,' she sighed. James was holding a shoe box close to his hip as he eyed her with a curious look.
"You are not what I expected when Superman told me about you."
"Why? Am I not living up to his expectations?" she asked sarcastically.
"Just the opposite. He only told me praises and I thought he was just being biased because you were his cousin. As it turns out, you were even greater than he said in person."
Kara stamped down a blush at the compliment. She wasn't supposed to feel anything for the man who tossed her away, even if she did love the Danvers family.
"What do you want?" Kara said at last, trying to think of anything except her cousin.
"I know you and Clark are having some… issues… at the moment, and while I don't know everything by any stretch, I do know he still cares about you- very much in fact. He gave me something to deliver to you."
Kara took the offered box and removed the lid. Her vision turned blurry at the familiar red blanket.
"This was his blanket. He was wrapped in it when we left Krypton."
"It's more resistant than anything you'll find on earth," James said lightly. "It means you won't have to replace that cape of yours as often."
As far as make up gifts went, it was… suitable as a start. Kara wiped her tears from behind her glasses and quietly thanked him.
Kara had spent a long time with Kal after he'd been born. Her relatives had known for a while Krypton was on its last legs and had wanted Kara to form a bond with Kal before she had to take care of him. It would be easier in the long run, they figured. It was partly why Kal's 'rejection' had hurt so much. Kara knew he was busy, but that didn't mean he couldn't have partly raised her alongside the Danvers family. He was fast enough to circle the planet in under an hour, he could have taken the time to fly over in the evenings after work and she'd gotten out of school to speak for even just five minutes.
"Do you… want to get a coffee?" Kara asked as a peace offering to the man who was simply a messenger to the person she had problems with. "As someone still new to National City I figured you don't know the best place in town," she explained. James smiled in relief.
"I'd like that."
"Ever heard of Noonan's?"
—O—
In a ship orbiting Earth, Astra In-Ze, the identical twin sister of Alura and General of Krypton waited for the arrival of the Commander to inform her of the second fight between the two out in the desert.
"Vartox killed himself to avoid capture."
"How typical of their race," Astra commented blandly.
"At least he was able to identify that the girl was indeed Alura's daughter."
"I knew my sister would be selfish enough to send her here alongside her cousin."
"Except she is much less a threat to our endeavors compared to him."
"That is where you are wrong," Astra said, making the Commander frown. "Kara Zor-El is much more resilient than you give her credit for. Believe me, Alura's daughter will not stop until we are in the ground or she is."
"Are you certain, General? She is of your blood?"
Astra hardened her expression to let nothing escape.
"I will not let anyone stand in my way of ruling Earth, even my niece. I lost one planet and I will not lose another. Find her." Astra's eyes darkened. "Then kill her."