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chaotic-super · 7 months

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Back To Krypton - Chapter 41

Read it on AO3 here!

“Good morning, sunshine,” Alex grumbles from the couch as Kara strides out of the hallway. “You look nice.”

“Thanks.” Kara smiles. “I’m just going to grab a quick bite and then head off. I want to get a good chunk of time at the lab today before I take you guys out later for another excursion.”

Lena frowns, sitting next to Alex before she is forced to move by the heavy weight of Alex’s glare. Kelly sits between the pair in the spot Lena just vacated not ten seconds later, and Alex’s glare lets up to make way for a soft smile.

Looking at her with pinched brows, Lena looks confused. “Wait, why are you going back again? You spent quite a while there yesterday after we got back from the Jewel Mountains.”

“I know. I just promised I’d help with what I can, I don’t want them to turn around at the end of these few days and try and say that I didn’t uphold any part of my side of the deal. I want this to be a clean break, and to do that, I have to make sure that I’m playing the good little girl I was back in the day when this planet was still my home. As long as they see that, I think they’ll behave themselves.”

Alex jumps in as she wraps an arm around Kelly’s shoulders. “Why are you going now though? Can’t you go later on?”

“I could, but the place I want to take you is somewhere quite warm, and no, it’s not the Firefalls just yet. It cools off mid-afternoon, making the trip much more pleasant for us. I think you’ll like it, but it’s very much something you can’t do earlier on, so I’m going to go and spend some time with my father before I come back and pick you up.”

Esme seems to pop up out of nowhere, her hands clutching at the soft pleats in Kara’s dress, a light lilac number that makes Lena create a mental note to buy her more purple clothes when they’re back on Earth. She looks downright regal, and she’s totally not resisting the urge to bow at her feet. That would be ludicrous.

“Aunt Kara?”

“Hey, bud!” Kara grins down at her niece, startled by her sudden appearance but way too excited at seeing her at her side to care.

“I want to come with you.”

Kara presses her lips together tightly, her smile straining. She doesn’t know how to handle this one and looks to Alex and Kelly for assistance.

Kelly, ever the hero, comes to her rescue. “Esme, baby, she has to work. It would be super boring for you in the lab with her and her father.”

“But I want to be like Aunt Kara and sit at the desk while she talks to me about science like she said she did.”

The pieces click in Kara’s mind. She has mentioned more than once how her father used to take her to the lab with him and use her as a sounding board while he worked through his projects. It made her feel like a real scientist and only gave her all the more enthusiasm towards her studies so she could one day stand beside him as an equal in that lab.

She supposes that on some level, she has gotten there now. Maybe not in the way she had imagined and not with the qualifications she aimed for under her belt, but she’s beside him nonetheless. Now Esme wants to be beside her and feel that same joy she once felt.

“I want to go.” Esme presses herself to Kara’s leg, wrapping her arms around it and leaning into her as Kara’s hand drops to the back of her head, stroking her hair out of her face.

Kara shrugs at the little girl’s parents. “I can take her but she might get bored. I have no doubts that it’ll be safe for her there. Nobody will try anything.”

“I’m not worried about that.” Alex shakes her head before continuing. “Well, I am, but that’s not my main concern. Will you be able to finish everything when you’re looking after her?”

Nodding firmly, Kara smiles at them. “I’ll be good. I’d love a little bonding time with my niece. It’s been a while.”

“If you’re sure, go for it.” Kelly gives in without much of a fight.

“Alrighty then, Miss Esme. It looks like you’re joining me for a trip into the city today. Do you want to take anything with you in case you get bored?” Kara tucks a stray tuft of light brown hair behind her niece’s ear.

Esme nods. “I want my teddy.”

“Go grab him then and once we’ve had breakfast we’ll head off.”

“Ok!” Esme shouts, running through the accommodation to go and fetch her teddy before either Alex or Kelly can call out and tell her not to run.

The group watches her go with fond smiles across all of their faces.

“She’s my favourite.” Kara declares until Nia walks over and hands her a plate of food. “I take that back. She’s joint-favourite with Nia.”

Nia punches the air with a grin. “Yes!”

“Hey!” Lena sticks her tongue out at Kara and Nia.

Nia sticks her tongue out back, raising her middle finger at her, which is quickly returned. “I win. I bet this means she’s going to tell me her plan before you guys too.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Kara says, sitting down and balancing the plate on her lap so she can dig in.

Alex tilts her head at her, clearly annoyed. “When are you going to let us in on the plan, Kara?”

“Later. When I take you out of the city tonight, I’ll tell you the plan. I have to. We start working on it tomorrow. For today though, I want us to have fun. Think you can wait?”

Alex sighs. “Do we have a choice?”

“Not really.” Kara shrugs.

“Then we can wait.” Kelly chimes in. “We trust you and we’ve got your back, Kara.”

“Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Now, I’m going to eat this and then Esme and I will head off. I want you to just relax and prepare yourselves for a nice day. Make sure to dress in something appropriate for lots of sun, and by that, I mean cover up. Sunburn sucks.”

Nia salutes her mockingly. “Aye aye, captain.”

“Kara? Is that you, Inah?” Alura calls out as Kara walks into the apartment.

In lieu of an answer, Kara just walks out into the living area where her parents are sitting on the couch, each reading from a separate information crystal.

“Oh, you brought Esme with you.” Zor-El’s eyes are wide with surprise.

“I did, I hope that’s alright. I thought that maybe I could talk her through some things the same way you used to when I was little.”

Zor-El softens his gaze, looking into Esme’s eyes. “Are you excited to learn about science?”

Esme nods her head rapidly, one arm clutched tightly around her teddy and the other clinging to Kara’s hand. “Aunt Kara is going to teach me.”

“She is? I’ve heard she’s an outstanding teacher.” Zor-El smiles.

Esme shuffles a little closer to Kara, her nervousness kicking up in the presence of Kara’s parents. Kara looks down at her and can’t help but wonder if taking her away from her friends and kids her own age could have done some damage to her socially. It’s been months, and to a four, almost five-year-old, that’s a long time.

Alura watches the way Esme nuzzles into Kara’s side with sadness. She knows Kara will grow up without them. At this point it’s undeniable, and Kara has spelt it out for them very clearly. However, facing her daughter standing before her, all grown up and with a small child beside her, makes it real. She’s never going to see Kara with a child of her own. She’s not going to see her mature and find her way in the world. Any world. She’s just going to lose her, and if she lives past sending her away, she’ll lose herself too.

Kara clears her throat. “I like to think I’m a pretty good teacher. I’ve been teaching her about Krypton on our travels and it’s gone great. She’s been learning, and I’ve had the chance to relive and remember many things I hadn’t thought about in a really long time.”

Zor-El swallows thickly. “I can’t wait to see you in action. It was truly wonderful to see you in your element in the lab last night, so to see you stretch your wings and add teaching young Esme here will be a treat for everyone to see.”

Kara is not sure what to do with that compliment, so she fixes a polite smile on her face and nods, placating him with a simple movement. “Shall we get going then so you can see it in person?”

“Of course. Please allow me a few moments to grab my things.” Zor-El claps his hands together once as he stands and passes the pair with a squeeze to Kara’s shoulder.

Kara’s gaze follows him dutifully as he leaves the room with hurried steps before she focuses on her mom. “Will you be joining us in the lab today? I half expected you to be there last night.”

“I can only join you for a short while, unfortunately. I have an important meeting to attend that I cannot miss. Likewise, I also had an important meeting last night. The council is very aware of the planet's state now and they know we don’t have much longer unless something is done. Your father’s plan has been approved now. Your plan has been approved now.”

“We were working on it before it was approved?”

“Did you think we would wait for it to be approved when the planet is in danger?”

“Good point.” Kara gives in easily. She can’t deny the logic.

Zor-El reappears with a smile. “I’m ready.”

“Ok, let’s go,” Kara announces, looking down at Esme and their linked hands for a moment before they head back out to the pod.

Finishing up in the lab for the day, Kara carries Esme’s teddy out to the pod for her, carefully holding it close, both arms wrapped around it. Her niece skips a couple of steps ahead of her with more excitement than she expected her to have. She may have mentioned where they’re going for their day trip and a few cool features of their destination that now have her practically vibrating with enthusiasm and excitement.

Zor-El walks beside her, his eyes naturally falling on Esme and watching her to ensure she doesn’t get hurt as he talks to Kara. “We got much done today. We should complete a large portion of the project before you leave.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Kara says. They’ve been avoiding the topic of her leaving while they are in the lab, but she guesses that now they’re out of there, her father has garnered the courage to bring it up, albeit passively.

“Will you be joining me in the lab again tomorrow?”

Kara hums. “Yeah. I’m just thinking. I think I’m going to take my family to the Firefalls tomorrow. Would it be better for me to take them early in the day or wait for the evening?”

Zor-El takes a moment to ponder the question, one hand coming up to stroke his stubbled chin. “Hmm, that’s an excellent question. If you visit in the morning, you will have a better view of the general area as well as the falls. However, if you go in the evening and wait for dusk, you will see the true illumination of the falls. I would say that the latter will be a much more memorable sight for Esme, perhaps something she will carry with her for a long time.”

“I’m really hoping that she’s made a lot of memories here that nobody can take away from her. She’s only young but I hope she doesn’t forget.”

“She will. We all will one day. You won’t though. You won’t forget her smiles. They’ll be scarred onto your heart, just like yours are scarred onto mine.” He pauses, a wistful smile gracing his lips. “I took you to see the falls in the morning. I wish I had waited, but I was impatient to take you. Take them in the evening.”

Kara ducks her head, her gaze falling to the carpeted floor as her feet shuffle forward. She takes a deep breath before changing the subject somewhat. “How has your time with young me been working out for you?”

“Great.” He smiles to himself. “You’ve been practically attached to my hip the past few days. You love that your mother and I have been making sure to have at least one meal together each day, and we’ve been reading a book by Kir-Wat. It’s about the—”

“The planet in the next solar system over. Jespern, if I remember correctly. Pretty much every creature there is radioactive, and the only reason we know is because of the probes that were sent down to the planet’s surface and then brought back up killed every scientist on board the ship sent over to investigate.”

Zor-El nods approvingly. “Yes. You remember it?”

“I do. It's not the kind of bedtime reading the average twelve-year-old goes for, but I quite enjoyed it. Plus, I was proud I beat you.”

“You remember we agreed to race to see who can finish first?”

“Yes. I was convinced that you let me win, but now I see that it was just because your mind is somewhere much more important.”

He shrugs, his pointer finger drawn as he grimaces guiltily. “I actually already won. I’m not telling young you that, obviously. My competitive streak won out and I read the whole thing in one night. I had to sleep in considerably later the next morning but stayed late in the lab to ensure my work was still done. I get to win and young you will get to win too. Apparently, I don’t hide it well though since you had an inkling.”

“Your poker face really needs more work.”

“My what?”

Kara’s brain freezes for a second before she understands why her father isn’t understanding her. “Your lying face. Poker is a game of cards on Earth that requires players to be able to fool their opponents. To do so, they must not express their intentions and feelings through facial their expressions, hence why it’s called a poker face. You have a terrible one and would lose that game rather quickly.”

“I do not doubt that you’re correct, Inah. That game sounds fascinating. Perhaps we could discuss it over lunch tomorrow?”

“Sure, but I think Esme will want to come again, and any card game will get derailed so she can teach you how to play Go Fish.”

His eyebrows furrow. “I’m not certain how fish relate to cards, but I’m certain that I will try my best to learn the game quickly so I can play with Esme. She’s a delightful little girl; no doubt she takes after her aunt.”

“I’m not going to take any credit. She’s just amazing. My sister is doing a great job with her. I couldn’t be prouder.”

Shaking his head, Zor-El runs his fingers through his hair as they reach the pod. “That still sounds strange. I’ve had time to process it, but it still doesn’t sound quite right to me. You have a sister. My daughter has a sister.”

Kara’s not sure where he’s going with it so she focuses on getting Esme into the pod. She settles her into her seat before placing the teddy down beside her, tucking it under the little girl’s arm.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you.”

Kara turns around to see her father looking at her, a vague look of shame overtaking him.

“I’m not upset. You’re welcome to your feelings and I can understand how this isn’t easy for you, just as it’s not easy for me. You’re facing your child who has grown up without her parents being able to be there for her teenage years and having to come to terms with the fact that other people filled the role you and mom vowed to fulfil back when you submitted your application for use of the birthing matrix.”

“That doesn’t give me the right to make you feel as though I’m criticizing those people. They took care of you when we couldn’t and for that, I will always be eternally grateful.”

Kara swallows thickly. “If it helps at all, they never replaced you. I do count them as my parents too, but they’re not replacements. I have room in my heart for all of you. I just view you all as my family.”

Zor-El sniffs, wiping his eyes before tears can even threaten to escape. “That does help, and I’ll be sure to relay the message to your mother. I think she will take comfort in the knowledge too.”

It brings Kara comfort to see this side of her father. She’s aware of his other side, which is selfish, manipulative and dark. She can’t forget that side of him but she likes seeing him how she remembers him. It’s nice and it’s not something she’s upset about.

She offers him a tight-lipped smile and climbs into the pod before making space for him.

He shakes his head at her. “I have been able to acquire a temporary pod so we don’t have to share. I don’t like the thought of you being left at the accommodation without a means of transportation, but I cannot be without the pod as I was last night either. It unsettled me to know that I couldn’t get to the lab in an emergency.”

Kara hums understandingly. “I get it. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For thinking of me.”

“I will never stop thinking of you, Kara. Now, go. I think your passenger is restless and aching to go and collect the rest of your family. The Plane of Wanan awaits.”

Kara lands just in front of the accommodation, excited for them to get moving so they can go and see another wonderous sight Krypton has to offer. Esme pushes her teddy towards her and Kara takes it once again. “Come on, let’s go and make some food to take with us and round up your moms so we can go,” Kara says, tucking the teddy under one arm and lifting Esme down from the pod with the other. She’s sure there’s a button she can push somewhere that will make steps protract from the side of the pod, but she hasn’t had enough time to figure it out yet.

They walk into the accommodation like celebrities arriving at a movie premiere, all smiles and waves.”

“Are you guys ready to go see a thing or two?” Kara asks with a grin so wide that not a single person can resist smiling back. Despite that though, not even Lena gets up to greet them.

Esme doesn’t seem to mind, running to her moms with the intent of filling them in on her exciting morning with her aunt. However, Kara is left standing there, teddy in hand as she tilts her head in confusion. “Are you guys not ready?”

“We are. We just know you well enough that we’re certain you have things to do before we leave.” Nia offers up helpfully. “You’re pretty much the queen of doing things at the last minute.”

“I resent that.” Kara huffs, crossing her arms.

Alex pins her with a knowing stare. “So does that mean that we can all go and climb into that pod right now because you’re ready to go?”

“Well, yeah. I just have to pack us some food to take, but other than that, yes.” Kara answers defensively and rolls her eyes when the group starts snickering. “You know what? You guys don’t deserve a nice trip out; you’re all being mean to me and I think I’ll go alone.” She turns on her heel and marches towards the kitchen to the melody of her family’s laughter, all of them seeing through her flimsy threat.

She comes out of the kitchen a while later, food all packed up and ready to take with her and Esme’s teddy still with her since she forgot to put it down before she stomped off. She sets the picnic basket down on a nearby table and walks right past everyone to go and put the teddy away before coming back.

“I’m only taking people with me who apologize for laughing at me.” She announces.

Lena gets up, smiling at her fondly before kissing her cheek. “Darling, you’re not going to win this one. Give it up.” She says, taking her hand and pulling her to the door, her other hand snatching up the basket as they pass it.

Kara is almost to the door before Lena’s charm wears off enough for her to put up a fight. “Wait, no.”

“Come on.” Lena tugs her hand, using their linked fingers to make sure she doesn’t stop. “I want to get going.”

Kara quickly finds herself ushered out of the building and towards the pod, the rest of the group trailing behind them and talking amongst themselves. “You know that I’m offended, right?”

“Kara, you have to admit that you’re kind of known for your last-minute plans.”

“Not always.”

“No, not always, but a lot of the time.” Lena smiles softly, tucking a lock of blonde hair back behind her ear and leaning in once again to press her lips to her cheek. “Don’t worry, I find it endearing.”

Kara huffs but steps back to let everyone climb into the pod before getting in herself. She’s a little grumpy now but Lena sets her hand on her thigh right after she starts up the pod and that helps alleviate her souring mood somewhat, even more so when her nails start softly dragging against the bare skin she finds through the thigh slit in her dress. Lena knows she can’t stay mad when she scratches her softly with her nails, it’s too relaxing. Damn it. Sometimes, it’s annoying just how well Lena knows her.

Kara steels herself whilst simultaneously turning to jelly in her seat under Lena’s tender caress. “You don’t play fair.”

“And you’re only just figuring this out now?”

Kara shrugs. “Sometimes I forget just how many scenarios you can run in your head at once and how you can pick and choose which one to move forward with at any moment.”

“Really?”

“No.” Kara laughs. “Why do you think you haven’t been told the plan yet? I have a very good plan and while you could probably improve it, I think it’ll work.”

Lena shakes her head. “Are you actually going to tell us today?”

“Uh-huh. We start working on stuff tomorrow, so I need you to know what’s happening.”

Stretching her legs as much as possible, Lena rolls the stiffness out of her shoulders. “So, you wouldn’t be telling us if it wasn’t time for us to help with your plan?”

“Exactly.” Kara points at her. “See, I’ve always known you’re smart.”

Fixing her with a deadpan expression, Lena speaks. “And sometimes I think the opposite of you. Do you really believe that taunting a Luthor is a good idea?”

“I’m taunting my girlfriend, not just a Luthor.”

“Double trouble then.”

“What are you two doing? This is disgusting to watch.” Alex complains, her eyes positioned firmly on the back of their seats so she doesn’t accidentally catch her sister canoodling. She doesn’t want to be traumatized more than she already has been by her kid sister and her apparent overwhelming appetite to somehow merge her body with Lena’s based on how much time she spends touching her.

“Babe, let them flirt, it’s cute.” Kelly nudges her.

“If that’s what flirting looks like, then I need to re-evaluate a lot of things in my life.” Alex mutters through her hands as she covers her face, well and truly exasperated.

“Chill out.” Lena turns her head to glance in Alex’s general direction. “This is just how we express our love.”

The redhead huffs in response. “That’s the problem. You can express your love however you want, but that doesn’t mean you get to do it while in a pod with the rest of us.”

“Fine. We’ll tone it down.” Kara jumps in, nudging Lena when her mouth drops open, ready to fire back at her. “We’ll wait until we’re on our own next time, ok?”

“You better do.”

All the while, Nia and Esme are huddled together, utterly oblivious because they’re too busy playing eye-spy out of the window, completely taken by the views the flight is offering them.

Kelly and Alex follow their lead and refocus on looking out of the window for the rest of the flight, and Alex tries to let the sights alleviate some of her irritability.

While they do that, Lena shuffles closer to Kara, resting her head on her shoulder and pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

“Don’t you want to look out of the window too?”

“I’ve already got a good view,” She shrugs, “I’m happy here.”

They fall into a semi-comfortable silence, all of them thinking the same thing. They could use a break from these people when they get back to Earth. They all love each other, but after months of being together almost every minute of the day, they’re done and need a break.

After a while, Kara takes the pod off autopilot, referencing some notes for the directions for a moment, hovering the pod in place while she looks before continuing on for a while.

“We’re here.”

Alex squints, her eyebrows furrowed as she tries to understand how they have reached their destination when they’re very clearly just in the middle of a bog-standard desert. “Did you forget to turn on autopilot?”

Kara rolls her eyes, turning her head slowly before pinning her sister with a freezing cold glare that even has Lena grimacing.

“Darling, I’m excited to see whatever it is you want to show us. Do we get out here?” She squeezes Kara’s thigh softly.

Kara shakes her head. “Not yet. Hold on.”

She had completely stopped the pod, but now she starts it up again, flying close to the ground and going slowly, barely more than a walking pace.

“Are we lost?” Nia asks tentatively, not wanting to be on the receiving end of a Kara Danvers stare-down. She can be scary, and in many ways, she’d prefer to go up against Lena than Kara.

“No, just wait. You’ll see it in a minute.” Kara says, the annoyance evident in her voice even though they can all tell she’s trying to have a little more patience.

They all lean back into their seats, trusting that Kara knows what she’s doing, even if they aren’t one hundred percent certain of that at this exact moment.

The pod keeps crawling forward at a snail’s pace, taking them slowly across what looks like a pretty standard-looking desert, nothing to write home about. The white sand glistens beneath the red sun, coating it in a blood-red hue that is nothing short of magnificent, yet it doesn’t impress them compared to all the other things they’ve seen.

“Kara, last time we were in a desert, you told us there were snakes. Is there going to be snakes here too?” Nia questions.

“Snakes? No. Not snakes.” Kara rounds a large sand dune and waits for the gasps as everyone spots what she really brought them out here to see.

“Oh, Rao.” Kara gasps, taken aback by the sight she thought she would be unaffected by, but alas, even after all the years away from such a remarkable view, it still has a pull over her she will never be rid of; something she couldn’t be more grateful for. “Now, this is what I brought you out here to see.”

Lena’s grip on her thigh tightens, her jaw slack and hanging open as she squints out into the desert plane ahead of her, a sight taking hold that she never thought she’d see, a picture she couldn’t dream of even if she sleeps for the rest of her life.

Kara tilts her head to look at the rest of the group and smiles smugly at their dumbfounded expressions. “See, I told you, no snakes in sight, just an awe-inspiring view that you’re never going to forget.”

“With a sight like that, I wouldn’t even care if there are snakes.” Nia leans forward, itching to get a closer look.

“No snakes, but there are ducks.”

“In the desert?”

“Yeah…desert ducks.” Kara points generally out of the window.

“You’re lying.”

“I am not.”

“Lena,” Nia whines, trying to get her to step in.

Lena doesn’t react at all, too busy staring out at the vision ahead. Before them lies a quarry of sorts, a large, sunken hole in the ground. That’s not what’s impressive though. What is impressive is the gigantic, majestic sand pillars emerging from the pit's base.

The sand has hardened, or it’s stone or something along those lines. Kara’s not entirely sure, but the sand pillars are taller than the quarry itself, and they imitate the pointed tops of Christmas trees, flaring about halfway down and then sitting steady on a solid ‘trunk’.

Somehow, that’s not what’s taking their breath away though. No, that’s the great sandstorm billowing through the shapes, carving them into their elegant forms with the mighty force only a haboob can hold.

The sand blows up within the wind, forcing it into a dance of abstract shapes, harsh lines and soft gradients in the sky that even a physicist would struggle to explain. It’s nothing quite like what they’ve ever seen before.

“When I was a little girl, my aunt Astra brought me out here to see the ducks and the lizards. She wanted to teach me about them and decided that we could hang out here too. This is a place not many people visit because of the haboobs.”

“What’s a haboob?” Kelly asks, head tilting in confusion and looking like the human embodiment of a Shih Tzu.

“It’s basically a sandstorm. The Plane of Wanan is known for them, but this one is the most famous. It’s trapped in the quarry, never-ending, just lingering and slowly eating away at the pillars. One day, it’ll completely break them down into nothing, escape its confines, and eventually die out. It lives on through its capture. There’s a strange kind of beauty in that.”

“Can we get out and take a closer look?”

Kara shakes her head. “No, I’ll have to move away from it, but there’s a good dune just South of here that’ll be perfect to sit on while we take it all in. When I was little, we used to stare into the sand and try to make out shapes of animals and landmarks.

“Sounds awesome, but I haven’t seen a duck yet.”

“They don’t come out when impatient people are around.” Kara sticks out her tongue at Nia. “Just wait, they’re coming.”

Read the entirety of Back To Krypton on Patreon here!

Find out more about a new Supergirl fandom event for writers and artists here!

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chaotic-super · 9 months

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Back To Krypton - Chapter 36

Read Back To Krypton on AO3 here!

Her feet aren’t particularly accepting of the rough stone floors as she gets to the ground floor of the building. At that point, she’s forced to put her heels back on because of the pain from the constant jabbing of the sharp edges of the rocks. It means that her sneakiness levels just plummeted but there’s nothing she can do about that, she can’t run if the soles of her feet are bleeding.

She starts off running but has to give up on that pretty fast because the second she’s out of the building, the streets are really quite bustling and it would only serve to draw a lot of unwanted attention to herself.

Now that she is in public though and she’s being immersed back into the culture that’s so far into her past that she barely knows how to absorb it all, she’s very aware of every glance in her direction and it makes her a little self-conscious of her make-up, afraid that it’s obvious that she’s not well-practised the way she should be as a woman of her age.

There’s music playing, a jaunty tune that makes her want to forget what she’s doing and just stop and dance along to it, her body conducting her into moves that her mind has long since forgotten but her soul has not.

Kara keeps her head moving, her eyes darting in every which direction to keep tabs on anyone following her, getting so distracted that she barely stops to think that she needs to look at her notebook for the map of the city so she can figure out which way she needs to go to get to the labs.

With a good glance around her, she spots a shady corner beneath some stairs leading up to the second floor of a building and ducks beneath them so she can open up her notebook with sweaty palms. The adrenaline is making her shake slightly, the fear that her parents are going to come after her and stop her before she can get the blueprints for the team.

Of all the people she’s been expecting to have to go up against, her parents are the last on that list. She’s known for quite a while now that they aren’t the amazing people she was led to believe they were when she was younger, actually learning more and more dark secrets about them as the years have gone by, but this takes the cake, well, not in terms of terrible things they’ve done, but in terms of the thing they have done that has caused her the most pain.

It's a pain that she can genuinely feel in her chest. It’s one she can feel sitting there heavily and with each motivational speech she gives herself to get her moving to complete the mission and leave them behind, she’s chiselling away at the weight but it’s far too large, it helps but barely, a band-aid on a stab wound.

It’s hard for her to decipher the map when her mind is moving so fast and her hands aren’t steady. She had marked very clearly where the lab is before they left on the mission so she knows where she needs to get to but she never marked anything other than the major monuments and buildings directly around it and leading from the part of the forest she assumed they would have been travelling from, nowhere near where she is now.

She knows she’s on the North side of the city. That’s something. She just has to head south-west and she’ll be able to spot some of the buildings she has marked on the map. That shouldn’t be too hard to figure out since Kandor has a special feature in its architecture. The city is built with The Great Temple of Rao in the centre of it and every building faces the temple so that everyone can pray towards it should they so wish to and that means that Kara knows where the centre of the city is. She can get to the temple, which is on her map, and from there she can get to another monument closer to the labs and from there, the labs themselves.

“Come on, Kara. You can do this. Do it for your family.” She hypes herself up, glancing out of the shadows out into the street she was walking through just a minute ago.

She’s about to step back out but stops when a small collection of guards start making their way through the streets, their heads turning left and right as they walk, clearly looking for someone. She can’t help but wonder if they are really after her because she can’t imagine that she’s all that important enough for so many people to be looking for her but when her mother and her father walk out and join the guards, worry and barely subdued anger written across their faces, she knows.

Her back presses against the wall further beneath the stairs. She has to get out of here. The streets are the best place to stay hidden, even with the guards everywhere. The alleys are wide and there’s nowhere to hide. No obstructions are allowed there so it’s just an empty road space for people to walk through, nothing to duck behind and even fewer people to mix in with than the streets.

Her mother hadn’t lied about her looking the part when they were getting ready at the accommodation, there are plenty of people dressed up as nicely as her but they do stand out and her beautiful blue dress might as well be a big neon sign calling for the guards to look at her.

There’s a window on the second floor, she can see it when she peers up the gap between the stairs and the building. She could get into whatever place this is and go out the back way. She would have to find a way to get up there without being spotted though and even then she could be mistaken for a thief and draw more attention to herself.

She could just wait for a group of similarly dressed people to walk by and try to blend in with them. That’s her best choice but it somehow feels like the riskiest of them all. She’s wearing the crest of her house; she can’t hide that. Unless she can.

There’s a store just down the street selling wraps, shawls, overcoats, jackets and robes. She doesn’t have money but she has one thing on her she can trade and pray they won’t hand her over because she’ll be giving them much more than they’ll be giving her, not including their silence. Bingo.

“Ok, Kara. Just act casual.” She waits for a group of well-dressed young individuals to walk in the general vicinity of her, which doesn’t take long because the street she’s on is getting busier by the minute. Bells are ringing out, the universal sign on Krypton that prayer will begin soon at the nearest temple and so everyone is heading there, and if they can’t, they are opening their windows and gathering on balconies, joining the community in their prayers in the best way they can.

She keeps close to these people, standing to the back of the group and keeping her head as level as she can, fighting the urge to duck her head, something that could be spotted and seen as a sign of deception.

The voices of hundreds of people gather into one collective drone she can’t makes sense of, making it impossible to decipher whether or not there are guards surrounding her or whether or not she’s been spotted by anyone.

Finally, she gets to the store, ducking inside as smoothly as she can and breathing out a sigh of relief for having reached her first checkpoint.

She’s celebrating too soon though because guards follow her in and she just barely manages to duck behind a stand holding many long, blue robes, thankfully a similar enough colour that her flowy dress moulds right on in with the display.

Kara peeks between the robes, watching the guards move to the counter and the older gentleman standing behind it, most likely the owner of the store. They question him in low tones, glancing around the store between sentences. A fresh wave of panic washes over her as she hears them give the man a brief description of her, specifically her blue dress and her golden hair.

She isn’t sure whether or not he saw her come in but he doesn’t seem to be giving away her location, just shaking his head to everything he’s being asked.

The guards ask to take a look around and her eyes grow wide, she can’t move from behind this display without walking into the open, she’s trapped and there’s nowhere she can really go unless she makes a break for it but she probably won’t go far.

The man behind the counter shakes his head. “Khuhp skilor zha shed fis ukep.”

He has an accent, one quite distinguished from the usual Kandor or Argo accents, he must have moved here from somewhere else, somewhere that the matrix gives Kryptonians shiny spines. Kara has to mouth the words to figure out what he’s saying. “I see no people here.”

The guards lean a little closer to him, their words so quiet Kara can’t pick them up at all but the man leans in just as far, their heads close together as hushed words are exchanged. It doesn’t last long though because, she supposes, the guards are more inclined to keep looking elsewhere than fight with a ballsy store owner.

Once they leave, she’s hesitant to step out but upon peeking between the robes, she can see him looking right over at her, one bushy eyebrow raised. The jig is up.

She steps out hesitantly. “Thank you.”

“You welcome.” He replies, now frowning because it’s not often anyone speaks English around here, or any kind of Earth language. “I speak Earth not good.” He makes out in broken English.

Kara holds her hands up. “Zhalish khuhp, khuhp ehwor kryptahniuo.” Forgive me, I speak Kryptonese.

He simply smiles at her. “Khuhp ehwor Rth.” I speak Earth.

Kara shakes her head. “Zha, rrup ehwor ehngiuo.” No, you speak English.

He nods slowly. “Thank you. Still learning.”

Kara smiles at him. “Thank you for protecting me.”

His gaze darkens slightly and Kara knows that the help wasn’t free. “You owe.”

“I know. I need to change my clothes, if you can help me with that, I’ll give you this.” She pulls her necklace out from under the neckline of her dress. It’s one that has always meant the world to her, one that has gotten her through a lot of dark times when she had nothing else to remind her of the people of her past.

She unclasps it and holds it up for him to see and he holds his hand out for her to pass it to him. She does. She doesn’t have a whole lot of room for negotiation here. He looks it over closely, his face giving nothing away but Kara knows he’s impressed. That piece of jewellery wasn’t just her mother’s but it was her great grandmother’s originally and as much as she doesn’t want to part with it, it’s all she’s got and Earth is kind of in danger here so she’s got to do what she’s got to do. That and she’s pissed at her mom.

He keeps staring at it, flipping it over in his hands several times before looking up at her and nodding once. “I help. You leave.”

Kara can’t argue with that. “Good. Clothes?”

“Come, come.” He beckons her to follow him through the store and into what appears to be a back storage room. There’s a little stool in there, usually used for reaching rails of clothes high up but he pushes her down to sit on it with gentle yet insistent hands. “Stay. I go get.”

He goes back out into the front of the store and for all Kara knows, he’s going to go and get the guards. He pocketed the necklace before bringing her back here so he has what he wants, he’s got no real ties to her and no reason to uphold his end of the deal other than his word but the word of a stranger doesn’t mean much to Kara and nor should it, that’s how you get killed.

He comes back in just a minute later. That minute was enough to keep her on edge but he does his part, carrying in a bundle of clothes.

“Dress. There.” He points to a little curtained-off area and she takes the clothes, heading right in.

Upon closing the curtain after her and hearing the door to the storeroom close after he leaves, she takes a look at what she’s been given. The clothes aren’t particularly inspiring but she supposes that’s the point. He can probably guess that she doesn’t want to stand out and he probably doesn’t want to just hand over his best clothes when he can sell them later on.

There’s a pair of pants, a soft cream colour that she wouldn’t choose for herself but every other person outside is wearing, and a shirt, loose fitting and a darker grey. There’s a small diamond shape embedded into the breast of it but it’s empty other than a few faint lines. At first glance, it looks like a real family crest but if anyone looks too closely, and she very much doubts they will, they’ll see that it’s not real or just assume that her family isn’t high up enough socially to have a proper family crest and she is merely trying to show herself to be of a higher social standing than she is.

There’s a jacket too. It’s a deep blue that’s dark enough to pass for black when in dimmer areas and Kara falls in love with it the second she sees it. It has a lighter blue trim that is just beautiful and a hood that is going to be very useful when she gets back outside in a minute. She can’t afford to dawdle and lose the crowd for the temple.

She slips them all on and tucks her notebook into the inside pocket of the jacket and folds the dress up to the best of her ability. She might as well give it to the man, maybe he can take the crest off of it and sell it.

She comes out and then peeks her head out of the door, checking the coast is clear. There’s nobody in the store except for the man so she heads right for him and drops the dress on the counter. “Here, maybe you can do something with it.”

He slides the dress closer to himself. “Shoes.” He points at her heels. She very much needs them but if giving up her shoes gets her to the lab, that’s what she needs to do. She takes them off and hands them over, placing them delicately into his waiting hands.

She’s about to turn to the door but he hits her with a stern look. “Wait.”

He marches back off into the store room and is back before the door even has the chance to swing closed behind him, a different pair of shoes in his grip, much more sensible. Plain brown leather and durable. He passes them to her and inside the left shoe, there’s even a pair of socks. Perfect, no blisters today. “Thank you.”

“Rao helps us all to help each other.” He replies back simply.

“Bless Rao and bless us all.” She replies back.

He smiles his approval of her answer.

She makes quick work of the shoes, tying them up tightly. She’s not losing a shoe in this mess, not when she’s just traded away a family heirloom for them.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you.” He retorts and with that, Kara flips her hood up and steps out into the crowds, thinner than they were but still enough to provide her adequate cover. It’s definitely a good idea to up her pace and try to catch up to the bulk of the crowd though.

She follows the flow of the streets, her feet tapping rhythmically against the stone in her new shoes that she’s totally taking back to Earth with her because they are incredible. She almost wishes that she asked the man’s name but that wouldn’t have gone over well, he would probably have turned her out the second she asked that, afraid of being turned in for helping what he must presume to be a fugitive.

That’s not completely the case. The guards are those under the employ of prestigious families. They patrol the streets in combination with Krypton’s peace enforcement teams. It means that while she’s not being labelled as a criminal, there are still a lot of powerful people out there looking for her because her parents said so and if they find her, she’ll probably be taken right to them and won’t get the chance to get the blueprints back to the team before it’s too late.

There’s still music playing, the beat only urging her along. The hood threatens to fall down with the wind but a sold tug to pull it down as far as it will go does the trick to get it to stay in place enough that it won’t fall off on its own.

Kara’s breathing is increasing. The crowds are getting thicker and she’s darting between people now. Her arms are brushing other people’s and she hates it, everyone is far too close to her but she can’t risk moving away. She tucks her hands in the pockets of the jacket and her heart stutters. There’s something in there.

She knows what it is without pulling it out but she does so anyway, clutching it in a tight fist. The necklace.

That gentleman was the best of Krypton. He’s the person she misses, the good, kind, true kind of person she believed her parents to be. They aren’t good but there’s still good here. She wishes she could do something to protect Krypton from the fate it’s sealed in but she can’t. For Earth, she can’t even try, even if it does make her want to curl up into a ball and cry until she can’t anymore.

She can deal with that when she’s not actively in the thick of the mission. Now is not the time for another mental break. She’s had enough of those and this would be the most inconvenient place for it to happen.

With the brutal speed-walking pace she’s set, it doesn’t take her all that long to get to the temple. That or she’s just so caught up in her own head that she can’t tell but since nobody around her looks too annoyed at the time it’s taking to walk across the city, she’s certain that it’s not been that long.

The temple is just as grand as she remembers it being and no less impressive than she was expecting. She is faced with a challenge she hadn’t thought about before though. With everyone piling into the temple, she would make obvious waves by walking in the opposite direction while everyone is entering and getting ready to pray. In theory, she could find an alley or a smaller path out of the way of the temple but she can’t risk being questioned and all strange behaviour will be spotted by the guards, which are in sight again now, although their thorough searching has turned into more of a lazy meander through the crowd with the occasional head-turn.

There’s a clock outside of the temple counting down to prayer time. She hasn’t prayed properly since she was a child, not since when she first arrived on Earth and attempted to pray to Rao whilst under Sol. Nothing had ever felt so wrong and that was her last attempt at strict prayer, the way she was raised to do it.

There are only a few more minutes until prayer starts. Once it starts, she can just sit through it and use the crowds once more to cover herself as everyone heads back home or to work.

Kara takes a deep breath and she strolls into the temple and a sense of pure serenity overtakes her. All she can do is wait and while she’s waiting, she can pray and find peace she hasn’t felt in a long time. She can scarcely remember how to do it properly but with a little practice, she’ll be up and running again in no time.

She finds a spot. There are circular cushions laid out on the floor across the entire temple but there are no worries about running out of space. The place is so large, Kara’s certain it could house everyone in Kandor and Argo should it be the last temple standing between the two cities.

Crossing her legs as she sits, Kara ducks her head and closes her eyes, resting until a bell rings to mark the official start of the prayer. Candles are distributed along the rows of people, a basket passed from person to person and each person takes one and lights it with a special lighter, also from the basket.

Kara takes a couple of attempts at using the lighter, her nerves still present despite her newfound calmness. The person beside her pays no mind though, patiently waiting for their turn and minding their own business.

With the candles lit, the temple falls into silence and then everyone begins to pray. The initial prayer is simple, it’s whatever that individual person needs. It’s a prayer in which Kara can ask for whatever it is she needs and in this case, she asks for mental fortitude and the blessings of her god to give her the ability to save Earth. There’s a kind of disgust that bubbles deep in her gut for wishing for the ability to save Earth rather than Krypton when she’s in a Kryptonian temple, praying to a Kryptonian god. Her god. The god she abandoned long ago when the world felt too different.

The second part of the prayer is a group prayer led by a priest who reads out the scripture of Rao. Kara’s attention never strays from the words spoken until the prayer is dismissed and actually finds herself disappointed when it’s over but the feeling of safety and accomplishment she leaves the temple with makes everything worth it, the entire mission, the pain of facing her Kryptonian demons head on. All of it.

She steps to the side of the main entrance so she can pull out her notebook and find her way, spotting her path very quickly and making it look easy the way she figures out where she’s going next.

With the crowd surrounding her, she feels safe where she only felt suffocated before and she pays them no mind, just walking with her purpose in mind.

Kara stops up the street from the lab. She’s got to be careful now. There’s every chance that there are guards everywhere inside, along with her parents too, so she’s got to get inside without anyone noticing. That’s easier said than done.

Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean there aren’t options though. She’s got the Alex option which is by using stealth. She’s got the Lena option which is using smarts and she’s got the Supergirl option which is what she would say is using both stealth and smarts but everyone else would just call winging it and punching a couple of people.

She’s going to decide which option she’s going with when she gets closer to the labs.

The building isn’t discreet in the slightest. It’s a massive silver structure with a gigantic sign out front detailing exactly what it is. Kandor’s Science Guild Laboratories. Helpful.

Alright, they are probably expecting her to try to sneak in through the back door so she should just walk through the front and see what happens. If push comes to shove, she’s got to play along with her parents until she can get what she wants.

Kara makes a point of pushing away any tension in her body and lowering her shoulders. Time to be brave. Time to be like Lena. Lena could do this so how hard can it be?

She strolls right in the front door and is greeted by a guard wishing her a good afternoon. She can roll with that. She raises a hand in a wave and greets him back cheerfully, smiling at him happily. He doesn’t bat an eyelid. Score.

This is a building she remembers and she knows exactly how to get to her father’s lab here. It’s right across the other side of the building. She’s not going all the way across to the other side of the building the usual way though. She got by one guard, that’s luck. She’s going for the Alex approach. She would be so proud.

She ducks into the bathrooms, grateful for the floor-to-ceiling separate stalls for the toilets that are apparently illegal in the US because clearly, someone likes perving too much. She walks along the space, seeing that all of them are empty and choosing the one in just the right place.

Not too fast though. She’s taking a real bathroom break.

Real bathroom break complete and hands washed, she goes back into her chosen stall and relocks the door before climbing atop the toilet and pressing her hands against the ceiling tiles. They are much sturdier than any she’s seen on Earth. She purposefully chose this one because it’s hinged, the perfect placement for a serviceman to enter the ceiling to check on the wires or the pipes or whatever else it is they need to check. Kara’s not checking anything now, she’s just taking a detour through the building.

She heaves herself up and closes the hatch after herself. It’s a good job she traded the dress for pants, if she had someone with her, they would have just gotten an eyeful. She wouldn’t have minded if it were Lena with her. Anyone else and it would have been weird though.

Kara smiles, starting on her way. She has to duck because the space isn’t very large but she doesn’t mind, she’s totally going to prove that she can be at being a secret agent and spy as Alex is.

“Ok, Kara. Sneaky mode activated.” She whispers.

Read the next couple of chapters early on Patreon here!

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