Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Survivors

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 14: Rage

Kara sat on the porch with Alex, gazing at the setting sun, Clark in between them, doing nothing, which in and of itself was strange to the blonde who had her days in her previous life mapped out. In the last eight months on Krypton she also had Kal’s days mapped out.

“Kal El, are you hungry? Want a bottle?”

The boy looked at her with a face that was obviously confused.

“ Bottle? Seriously? I have spoken to you in our language since you were born and since we landed and you don’t know what bottle is?

“ Hey Clarkie, are you getting hungry?” Alex asked.

“Uh huh.”

“Wow, he has never used uh huh… Kara? Your face is red. Are you going to have… are you feeling okay?”

“I feel fine.” she nearly snapped, looking away from Kal and Alex.

“Seriously, you can lie to other people but we don’t lie to each other, right? What’s wrong?”

Kara sighed. “I just asked him if he wanted a bottle and he had no idea what I was saying. We haven’t even been here that long and he is already forgetting our language.”

Alex closed her eyes, not having thought of that. “And you feel like he is the last link you had to that aspect of your home, right?”

Kara nodded her head. “He has gotten better with his speech but all he hears now is English. I understand… I guess I just had the idea that we would always have our language, even if he wouldn’t remember our home. I don’t know why it bothers me so much. It is not… isn’t a big deal. I’m just being… stupid.”

“Whoa! Never call yourself stupid. Never. I get it okay? You want someone to talk to in your own language. I can understand that. But Clark, he is going to… I don’t think babies are great at learning two languages at the same time. Maybe they are, I don’t want kids so have never had a need to research them but it seems it could be confusing.”

“I know.” Kara grudgingly admitted.

“But…” Alex reminded her, “I promised you, if you learned to speak English, I would learn to speak space talk. So maybe you can start teaching me. Your English has come a long way. I’m not saying that I would pick it up in three weeks like your super brain did but I like to think I am bright. We can start tonight.”

The blonde perked up a bit. “You would do that? Learn Kryptonese?”

“Sure. It would be cool. We could talk to each other in a language only we would understand. How many sisters can say that? Think of all the things we can plan to get away with right in front of Mom and Dad. Start me off however you want. We can feed Munchkin and then go to our room and start. I know you don’t have any Kryptonian Dora the Explorer DVDs around so I am game.”

“Thanks Alex.” the girl told her gratefully. “I would really like that. I know I am supposed to blend in but I love to speak my language. It feels natural. English feels forced. In my nightmares… dreams, I speak in Kryptonese. I think in it as well. I just can’t give it up. My home was nothing like Earth. It didn’t have clear blue skies, or beautiful lakes and rivers and the blue ocean. There were no mountains I could see from my bedroom window, though there were mountains in other parts of the planet. Seeing how this planet is, how beautiful the creatures and nature are, makes me realize how… not horrible, but ruined Krypton was. I never thought it was because I didn’t know any different. It was normal to me. Despite this, I still miss it so badly. I wish I could look out our window and see the red light of Rao over this beautiful planet. I think Krypton used to be like Earth. I hope Earth never changes. I wish I could have shown you my old rooms and my drawings. I miss our Kelex…”

“Your Kleenex? Like to blow your nose?”

“No, he was a robot. He didn’t have legs but hovered instead. He was very good for providing knowledge from Kryptonian databanks. He was also able to treat us when we were sick, he brought us food at meal times, he did my hair…”

“Whoa! Hold up, you had a robotic maid with a supercomputer for a brain? Are you serious? He did your hair?”

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “They were common among the higher-level families, mostly those who sat on the council. Every branch of the family had their own. My mother, father and I had one, Kal… Clark, had one assigned to him alone and his mother and father had one. It was no different than having a car on Earth.”

“That is so cool. You think we could build one now? We could steal… I mean borrow the parts from a garage or robotics lab and…”

“I don’t need Kelex here. I can do everything in seconds. I can read and understand any book in seconds. I have you to do my hair.”

Alex looked closely at Kara and could tell she was holding back a smile. “Did you just basically say you didn’t need Kelex because you had me to do your hair?”

“No… you are not my Kelex you are my Alex.” Kara told her. “He could float. You also snag my hair too often.”

“You little brat!”

Kara picked up Clark and ran inside, Alex close behind her, grabbing a pillow from the couch and tossing it at her, missing of course.

After dinner which Alex and Kara insisted on cooking, and Eliza and Jeremiah made themselves eat, the two girls went to their room and Kara began working on the Kryptonian alphabet with Alex. She would start with basic sounds and then numbers. The blonde was not sure how long it would take Alex to learn but didn’t suspect it would take long. Alex was brilliant, Kara figured out, in more than just biology.

Except with Alex, Kara stayed quiet most of the week. She took more of a role in caring for Clark and spoke Kryptonese to him often. The sad fact that he was forgetting was weighing on her the more she thought of it. Another thought, one that bothered her, was that she was jealous of him. A small part of her wished she could have arrived here and had no memory. She wouldn’t have the past hurting her. She wouldn’t remember her parents were dead, her world gone. She wouldn’t know the truth about Aunt Astra. She wouldn’t see Earth and wish for what Krypton could have been and wish that she still had what she had lost. There were many things wrong with Krypton, but to the day she left, the blonde loved looking out her window over Argo City. There was always something going on, or at least hovercraft moving. The stars were still bright and larger at night.

Life there was more restrictive in many ways, not as warm and cozy as Alex’s home, but at times here, she felt crowded, a stranger in a packed room of people who knew each other. She believed she was loved, of that she had no doubt, but Alex was still the only one she felt completely comfortable around and wished the girl had grown up with her, shared her memories, shared her powers. Perhaps she wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed with them as she did at times if she had someone to share the experience with.

The school that week was more subdued than usual, many kids missing parts of the week due to injuries sustained in the accident’s aftermath. Kara’s nightmares came back strong, though she had learned to hold her screams and only felt the power behind her eyes build up a couple of times, able to push it back down on her own.

She dreamed of the woman’s face, the crying baby right before the explosion. She dreamed of being paralyzed, standing, unable to move while a sharp piece of metal took off Alex’s head. She also dreamed of waking up, surrounded by complete darkness, reaching out and feeling something hard over and around her. She knew she was in her pod, her tomb for all intents in her mind, for who knew how long. How long had she been stuck in the Phantom Zone? She doubted she would ever know.

Her big sister had slept in bed with her three times that week, hearing every time the girl jerked awake and moving over to her. The other two nights Kara had simply given up on sleep and walked into Clark’s room. Kara would take the sleeping baby from his bed and rock him in the chair in his room. The blonde sang to him softly, quietly and always in Kryptonese.

Saturday rolled around and as always at 10:00 AM, a knock on the door indicated Dante’s arrival. Jeremiah and Eliza met him outside while Kara and Alex prepared swimsuits and towels for their post practice swim. The three adults spoke in very hushed whispers.

“How has she been? Anymore incidents of… hurting herself?”

“No.” Eliza denied. “We set some ground rules and I think she is doing much better. Alex said she has done well at school this week. I think she was just traumatized over seeing the woman and baby die, obviously, and was looking for some way to vent.”

“Some way to vent?” Dante asked, skeptically. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to do something painful to yourself and keep doing it? I had to dig a bullet out of my calve muscle once with a knife and while it was necessary, if I wanted to continue to my extraction point and I have a higher tolerance for pain than the average human, it was incredibly hard. Forcing yourself to do something that is causing you great pain goes against everything your brain is telling you to do. That is usually why when in the field, we dig bullets out of each other, sew each other’s stitches instead of our own unless necessary. It goes much faster.”

“You and Connolly should write children’s books.” Jeremiah told the man, wincing at the idea of digging a bullet out of anything on him or anyone else.

“I’ll think about it. My point is her beams are hot, molten lava hot at full strength which is all she knows right now. Controlling them takes a lot out of her. For four hours she practiced controlling them and then turned them on herself. I have been in that hot cave when she is at full power and never seen her sweat. If she did that to herself it didn’t take a moment. She had to intentionally hold her arm under her beams, ignoring her brain’s desire to stop and kept going. This was more extreme than venting.”

“She wanted to know if she could take down her aunt and uncle. She was experimenting.” Jeremiah argued. “Kara will be fine. She is handling things well. We have been talking to her and keeping a very close eye on her all week. She has laughed a lot, played with Clark, sang all the time like usual.”

“So you think after seeing something as traumatic as she did, being close to an explosion that claimed lives and then burning herself to an extreme degree, you set some rules and don’t find it abnormal that she is all sunshine and rainbows now? Okay. You are the parents. I have very little, actually no knowledge of children. That seems very strange to me but if you are happy, so be it.”

Neither Eliza or Jeremiah had any further comment, but his statement did catch them both off guard. Kara had been much better, or at least the same as she had seemed before the accident. Was it an act? Was her experiment with heat vision more than testing if she could harm Non?

The two girls came down before the conversation could continue, Alex bringing her phone with her to have something to do for the hour that Kara played in the cave, and the three headed off without a word. Once settled in the cave, Dante suited up. Kara took a deep breath.

“So I guess you heard I burnt my arm?”

“Yes, I did.” he said without further comment. Kara waited for him to say something, anything but the man seemed to be willing to leave it alone.

“Do you want to know what I discovered?”

“I would guess that you can feel pain. You want to battle your uncle. I am here to help you control your beams and to talk to you about anything else you wish to speak about. Would you like to tell me the real reason you burnt yourself? Kara, are you familiar with the human term bullshit?”

“No… I have heard it in movies. I am fairly certain that this is one of the terms not appropriate for a child my age to use.”

“You are correct, however just because you can’t say it, does not mean you do not use it. You won’t tell me the real reason. Perhaps the only reason was a genuine curiosity to find out if you could hurt your uncle. Only you know that and you will tell me if you wish. If you don’t want to you won’t and will make something up or rationalize something in your head and tell me. In that case it will be bullshit. I have a very low tolerance for it, so if you want to tell me, I am willing to listen and talk but do not lie to me. I would rather you say nothing at all.”

Kara shrugged her shoulders, not really wanting to get into it this morning, and appreciating that he wasn’t pushing.

“So what do we do today?”

“For the next ten minutes you are going to show me what you learned on your own apparently. Blast the rock, give it all you got and stop when you can, not closing your eyes but holding the power back. For the next fifty minutes afterward you are going to learn to meditate if you want.”

“If I want?” she asked.

“I can’t make you meditate. It is not something I can do for you. If you want to learn how it is done, how to become calm, how to empty your mind and escape your worries and anxiety, how to take control of your life enough that eventually you will take complete control of your powers, then you are going to have to do it on your own. So if you want to truly try then we can. If you don’t, we will be wasting time and can go swim. You are getting very good. I’m thinking next summer I can teach you and Alex how to scuba dive. So let’s begin. Show me what you got, Kara.”

And Kara did. Dante was impressed. Her abilities to start and stop were much improved. She had obviously found the mental link in the power and was using it as a muscle. At some point, she had mentally broken through and was owning it. Perhaps it was something as simple as she was not afraid of it any longer. Her justified fear of the power had made her want to ignore it instead of embracing it. Now somewhere along the line, Kara decided she needed to embrace it and was doing so with little to no problem. After eleven minutes he told her to stop once again and immediately the beams stopped. The Seal also noticed she was not sweating from exertion as she normally would be after stopping the beams.

“Do you want to meditate or swim?” he asked.

“Do you meditate often?”

“No. I did a lot growing up. My grandfather taught me. My parents died when I was very young and I had a lot of anger in my soul. It became important for me to control my anger so he taught me. As I have grown older, I have had less need for it. Sometimes after stressful situations or battles, I do it to clear my mind so I can sleep. For the most part I have no need for it. I have trained my mind to do it naturally.”

“Yes, I want to learn… your parents died when you were young and Jason Connolly’s did as well?”

“Yes. Jack’s parents were also murdered when he was a child in a robbery. Dan never knew his parents, he was left at a fire station as a baby. Ty is the only one who has parents still alive. His mother lives in Houston and is a good woman. His father has been in prison for most of Ty’s life. Vivian spent most of her life in the foster care system never staying at one home longer than a year. None of us have any relationships outside of Ty’s mother, which is why despite our bickering, we are a family. Family is what you make it. You and Alex will always be there for each other, the same way we six will always be there for each other, no matter what. Bonds like the ones we have with my brothers and sister and you have with your sister cannot be broken. In the end, they are all that matter. In our case we have dedicated ourselves to a mission, freely of our own agreement and will. We have dedicated ourselves to you and your family’s safety. That cannot nor will ever be broken.”

“So how do I start?”

“Find a position you are comfortable in. It can be any position, but one in which you can completely relax. Then close your eyes and listen to me.”

Kara and Dante worked the rest of the time on meditation. Kara was never able to completely relax though she tried. Pushing thoughts, worries and fear from her mind seemed impossible. They were there constantly on her mind during the day and vividly at night invading and interrupting her sleep. The blonde did her best, trying to push many aside and only a few coming through at a time.

Dante began sensing her frustration towards the end and called a close to the session. The two and Alex made their trek to the beach.

The next morning the family of five made the trip to the Hanger. Before they could walk in, Kara stopped them all.

“I feel… I don’t like when I am watched using these powers. Would you mind if I am… alone? Could you…”

“Are you sure, Kara?” Eliza told her uncertainly. “I can understand you do not like to be seen. It doesn’t bother us but if it would make you feel more comfortable, we can shop, stop by the lab. I need to pick up some results that Jeremiah was going to bring home tomorrow. I know a few people might be at the lab and they have been wanting to meet Clark.”

“I… Kara, I understand if you don’t want to be seen by us, but I don’t… like leaving you alone with them. They are good guys but…” Jeremiah started, leaving you are mine unsaid.

“No worries, Dad. I will stay with her and make sure there are no Martian mind tricks being used.” Alex assured him.

Eliza shook her head. “She said she wanted to be alone.”

“I don’t count, do I Kara?” Alex asked her sister in a tone that indicated she wasn’t asking.

“Of course not.” the girl agreed quietly.

“There you go. Have fun guys, do some shopping and be back in a couple hours. I will keep her out of trouble.”

Eliza and Jeremiah reluctantly drove off, leaving the two girls alone.

“So what is that about? Why the move to get rid of them?” the older girl asked. Kara shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t want to be seen using my powers. You have seen everything but they… it just makes me uncomfortable to be watched. I know you don’t judge me, but…”

“It was uncomfortable for me to explain tampons to you, but we got through it. I am going to be here. Let’s go say hi to the freaky computer witch and the Martian.”

Kara soon found herself in the familiar room with the Martian. J’onn seemed to be in a good mood today.

“How has your week been Kara? Have you been sleeping better?”

“No. How do you sleep?” she answered shortly.

“I… not very well.”

“It has been three hundred years for you. How would I sleep any better?”

J’onn was taken back by her sharp tone. “I guess you wouldn’t. I am sorry…”

“I want to practice flying. I want to know how to fly and fight. If I am ever found I need to protect my new family and myself.”

“You can fly away but there is no need to fight.” J’onn countered.

“You want me to only learn to fly to run away? Why should I run away? What if I can’t get away J’onn? Why do you get to decide what I need and don’t need to work on?”

J’onn shook his head. “Kara, that is not what I am trying to do.”

“That is exactly what you are trying to do. You can’t defeat Aunt Astra and Non because you could be burned. You aren’t strong enough to fight them either. I am the only Kryptonian on this planet who does not want to kill humans. Who or where am I supposed to run to? You say you don’t want me to die, but instead of teaching me what I need to learn to protect myself and my new family, you want me grabbing tags from the ceiling so I can feel like a freak in front of the people who took me in. You are deciding what I do and don’t need to learn.”

“If I teach you how to fight, how long until you decided to undertake another suicide mission?”

“That is what I am talking about. You are controlling me, not wanting me to learn what I need for survival and protection of the ones who have taken me and my cousin in. You sit there and think of ways I can use what you teach me in a way that does not fit with your plans. I am not controlled by you. Teach me to fly and fight or I will learn myself.”

J’onn shook his head and tried to reassert himself. He had not expected this bitterness and barely concealed anger and wondered what Kara’s real reason for not wanting the Danvers to come inside.

“I am thinking we are going to talk for the next few weeks during our time and should probably wait on anymore flying. I can see you are… Kara?”

The blonde had stood up and walked out the door, J’onn scrambling to keep up. As soon as Kara was in the main hanger she shot into the sky easily. J’onn floated up to the top, face to face with her.

“You are right J’onn, it is easy. All I have to do is think about it. I do not think flying is much different than swimming underwater. I would guess it is easier, less use of the muscles. Not that muscle is a problem for me.”

“We need to talk. You agreed…”

“No, you agreed. I sat there while you yelled at me. We both lost our people and I am sorry for your loss but do not think you understand me, know me or control me.”

J’onn felt his temper rise but did his best to hold himself in check. Alex was still standing at the far end of the hanger, wondering what was going on. Kara was being a bit loud and J’onn’s team must have noticed as they were slowly peeking out of their closed off training area.

“Let’s go to the ground and talk, Kara.”

“I don’t want to talk. I am tired of talking. Fight me. You are so strong, so fight me. Hit me!”

“I am not going to hit you!”

J’onn’s temper gave way to shock when he felt an incredibly strong, if small, fist strike his jaw. She had moved like a cobra, so fast. The punch was clumsy, her form all wrong and only utilizing the power of her arm instead of her body, but it had been a very long time since the Martian had been struck with this kind of power. He normally stayed out of the fights his team engaged in due to his position as an Admiral over a carrier fleet or his required presence in Washington. Now he had a suddenly angry Kryptonian girl to deal with. Luckily, she couldn’t control her ability to fly.

This thought was dispelled when Kara lay her arms out in front of her and dove, straight for him. Instead of attacking, something he would not do, he took the brunt and fell back to the ground, Kara on top of him. The girl stood back, a look of pure rage on her face.

“Fight me! Fight back! How can you stop the others if you cannot fight me?! Fight me!”

“Kara!” Alex yelled, running behind her sister and placing an arm on the shaking girl’s shoulder. The older sister had never seen her in such a state of fury. Her entire body was trembling, her cheeks red and Alex doubted she even noticed she was crying.

“Stay back Alex. J’onn wants to train what he wants me to learn. I’m going to learn what I want to learn or make him teach me. I will keep attacking you J’onn. I won’t stop until you stop me. When you do I will see how you do it and learn from it. I’m going to keep doing it. You do not control me!”

“Kara, please calm down. If you tell me what he did, I will kick him in his green nuts but you don’t have to do this. I’m getting worried here.”

Alex’s voice seemed to calm Kara as it usually did. She looked at the shocked Martian on the ground then turned and took in the team. Their faces were emotionless, but J’onn’s was shocked. The Martian was speechless, never having expected the day to go this route.

Alex looked… sad, Kara decided. She wasn’t worried or scared, just… sad? For her?

Shaking her head, the blonde could feel some of the anger leaving her body, her small muscles were uncoiling and her breathing slowed.

“Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you please call Jeremiah and Eliza and ask them to come and get us? I want to go home.”

“Yeah, let’s wait outside, huh?” Kara nodded her head and walked out. Alex looked at J’onn on the floor.

“You are a great therapist. Maybe you can start a suicide intervention hotline and help the world’s overpopulation problem.” she told the man and marched out behind her sister.

DEO Headquarters

“Sir?”

Hank Henshaw turned at the voice of his newest analyst, Agent… Vasquez. He couldn’t remember her first name and didn’t care. Usually these people reported to their supervisor who reported to him. For her to address him directly was irritating.

“What?”

“I… my supervisor…”

“Speak woman.” he barked.

“I was asked to look into the alien who stole from the grocery store a few months back. The blonde-haired girl with the baby?”

“Yes, the one whose video conveniently disappeared. The one the Navy swears Greer had nothing to do with. What about it?”

“I was asked to investigate on my own computer, not connected to the DEO.”

“Do you have a problem with that? I have no doubt Connolly’s team has someone watching our every move.”

“No problem sir. I found something. The video from the grocery store was gone of course, but I was able to capture a decent picture of her from a traffic cam before she entered the store. So I ran our facial recognition software on my own server and found a match this morning.”

Henshaw perked up at this. A pre-teen alien girl and an alien baby. He had wanted these two since he saw the video and suspected they had arrived in the pod that agents had lost their lives transporting to the DEO base.

“Where?” he asked quietly, no longer irritated at the young agent.

“A school sir. A school security camera has picked her up several times, three to four times a day. She is apparently enrolled. I checked the schools record server and only one new student has enrolled this year, a Kara Danvers. Her and her brother were apparently adopted by Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers, scientists that live in the town of Midvale, North Carolina.”

“She is going to school. Adopted… unbelievable… wait, do these Danvers have any connection to Greer or Connolly?”

“Not that I can find but since we have no records of Connolly’s activities or his background I have no way of confirming that. No one even knows where his team is right now.”

“And you did this completely off our server? There is no way whatever hacker they have can connect it to the DEO?” Henshaw asked, wheels in his head spinning. Not only does she have a weakness in the child but also people that have taken her in.

“Unless they were to look at my home computer I doubt it.”

Henshaw rubbed his hands together. “Tell you supervisor quietly to come into my office. I want a black op, completely off the grid. I am going to need a strike team, at least ten men maybe more if Connolly gets involved. Vasquez go home and get everything you can about this girl and the Danvers. Use Google Earth if you must. I want a complete rundown of the Danvers residence. The school is too public. We are going to have to assault the house, take the family and use them as bargaining leverage to get the girl to comply. If she is of importance to those two who attacked our convoy then she is most likely from their planet. That means we have a chance to study them in detail to find weaknesses, especially if we can get the kid.”

“Sir? The kid? You mean… the baby?”

Henshaw did not like that tone. “I gave you orders, so get to it. You have done very well. I see a bright future for you here. Now move. I want to be moving covertly by road in six hours and it’s a big country. I need everything off grid. Get your supervisor in here and get to work.”

“Yes sir.” Vasquez told him, feeling a bit sick to her stomach and wishing she had kept what she found to herself. Some of the agents killed had become friends to the new girl on the squad and she thought maybe Henshaw would question the alien girl. That did not appear to be the case and she wondered what she had done. Still the woman had a job to do and did it.

The Hangar (Two days later)

“Guys we have a problem.” Vivian told the team who were all in the weight room, cut off from the rest of the Hanger.

“Kara kick J’onn’s ass again?” Ty asked.

“Henshaw. I picked up DEO vehicles on traffic cams. They are fifteen minutes from Midvale.”

“Dante get the chopper ready and get us there now. How the hell did this happen Viv?” Connolly yelled.

“I don’t know! They must have used a system that wasn’t connected to the DEO. This is completely off the books!”

“Call the Danvers and tell them to run.” he ordered.

“I tried, but something has blocked all signals in the entire town. Everything is down, cell phones, wireless internet. I think the local towers have been damaged.” The team was on the move in five minutes, the roof opening and the Blackhawk in the air. The flight should take ten minutes but they were already behind Henshaw’s team.

Midvale

Kara and Alex returned to the house as the sun fell into the horizon, from the beach where Kara had gone on a search for seashells. She just wanted to be near the soothing sounds of the waves rolling in and enjoy the sea breeze but shell hunting was a good excuse.

They were in sight of the house when Kara heard unfamiliar voices inside the residence. Clark was crying. She held out a hand to stop Alex and used her X ray vision to see inside the house. What she saw chilled her to the bone. Four men in black, including masks had Eliza who was holding Clark and Jeremiah at gunpoint.

“Run Alex.” she whispered.

“What is going on Kara?”

“They found us. Run! I will get your parents out, just please run.”

“Not a chance.” Alex told her. She then sensed the movement in woods around them.

“Kara they are on both sides of us.” Alex whispered. Kara took her attention away from the house and saw her sister was right. Three men came out of the woods, to the right and another three to the left. All were holding rifles.

Inside, Jeremiah kept his cool, while Eliza held Clark tightly. Clark was not at all comfortable with the strange men who had burst into the home while he had been playing ball with Jeremiah. Eliza had been cooking and dropped a pan when the kitchen door was kicked in. Jeremiah tried calling but he was grabbed quickly, Eliza was pushed into the living room and grabbed a screaming Clark off the floor. One of the men pulled his mask off and smiled.

“My name is Hank Henshaw, Director of the DEO. I am going to assume since you are both very smart people you know exactly what the blonde girl and the baby here are. We are going to wait for the girl to return from the beach.”

“Kara will take Alex and run. You will never catch her.” Jeremiah told him.

“So her name really is Kara? Interesting. What is his name?”

“None of your damn business.” Eliza told him.

“Well, the birth certificate we found is legitimate but somehow Clark doesn’t strike me as an alien name. Where did you get the documents? They are real. It takes someone with a great amount of skill to forge but these aren’t forged. You wouldn’t happen to have friends in the Navy, now would you?”

“Sir, we have the girls.” a voice came through a radio clipped to the man’s belt.

“Tell the little alien if she tries anything we are killing everyone here including her baby.” Henshaw ordered. “These men are going to keep you three company. Parker, if any of them try to move kill the kid first. One less alien in the world. I need to explain to the blonde why she is going to do exactly what I tell her to do. She belongs to me now.”

Henshaw walked out, leaving a furious Eliza and Jeremiah who was thinking of every option out of this. Alex was out there and while he doubted bullets would hurt Kara they would certainly hurt Alex and the sound would cause Kara to drop, possibly into a panic attack and unable to save Alex.

Henshaw for his part, walked outside to see his six men surrounding a pissed off fourteen-year-old brunette and a younger blonde alien who seemed resigned and worried, fidgeting. Hank had hoped for this reaction. The two going to the beach made the breach perfect. The perfect timing, the perfect takedown and now he had her exactly where he wanted her.

“So you are Kara. Kara, I am…”

“I know who you are.” the blonde told him. “Let them go and I will do whatever you want. I will come willingly. You can test me all you want. But if you harm one of them, I will kill you all.”

“Oh don’t worry. You won’t be killing anyone.” he told her, amused at her threats. “They are all coming with us. If you do what you are told, all of you will be free to leave. We just have to find out what makes you so strong. Some others of your kind killed a lot of my agents. I want a chance to stop them and you are going to show me how. At least our scientists are going to figure out your weaknesses. After that, you can go back to school and they can go…”

“You are a liar. You will never let them go.” Alex told him.

“I only need one of you alive. I bet you would do what we ask for the boy, wouldn’t you Kara?”

“I will do as you ask. You can come back anytime if I do not cooperate. There is no need for them to come with us.”

“You aren’t in a position to bargain. Turn around. I have some strong binders that give out a strong electrical discharge if you misbehave. Be a good girl now and place your hands behind your back.”

“Kara run.” Alex hissed.

“No Alex, I’m not running. I won’t run.” Kara turned her back to Henshaw and he quickly was handed large metal cuffs which he snapped securely over her small wrists.

“Please, I will tell you everything I know, just leave them alone.” Kara begged.

“You are going to tell me…”

Henshaw stopped talking when the man next to him fell, blood splashing on the director’s face. No one outside heard any shots but they did hear the screaming from inside and it was not Jeremiah or Eliza.

Alex watched one more of the six men fall, his head missing. She hadn’t heard a sound or seen a shooter but Ty Gavin immediately popped into her head. The four and Henshaw looked around and another dropped, Connolly was running from around the house and fired three silenced shots without hesitation, dropping all three of the remaining men.

“Run Alex!” Kara shouted. Of course Alex stayed by her side, trying to pull her away. Kara looked inside the house and saw the men around Eliza and Jeremiah drop, as Jack Webb, and Dante came inside knifing the men from behind. Kara watched in fascination, the bright blood of the agents as their throats were cut open. Three more men who had been waiting in the woods, ran out, aiming at Connolly. Before Alex could warn him, Dan Hawk stepped behind them and gunned them down.

Henshaw was all that was left.

Kara’s nervousness, her hopelessness, her desperation disappeared and her anger took over. Henshaw watched as she snapped the binders, pulling the metal off her wrists like it was paper. The man made the mistake of pulling a gun from his back holster and Kara struck.

Kara struck hard, running into his gut with her head, throwing the man near the edge of the cliff. Connolly was right behind her, Dan Hawk picking up Alex by the waist and running towards the house, as she called out for Kara.

Henshaw gained some awareness and attempted to breath, feeling his broken ribs immediately and sending pain through his entire upper body. In a panic he reached for the gun holstered to his ankle and had it in hand when his world lit up in fire. Kara was standing over him, heat vision focused on the gun and his arm. The Director was quickly numbed from shock and saw what used to be his hand and the gun it held were now gone, just a blob of molten metal and ruined flesh. The girl’s eyes were still glowing.

“I never hurt anyone. We only wanted to be left alone. I never did anything to anyone. Why? Why did you do this?! You threatened them?! What have I ever done to you? You think I wanted to come to this planet?! You think I wanted to lose everything!? I lost everything and I finally get something and you want to take it away. I never hurt anyone but I swear to Rao I am going to kill you.” Kara finished, the malice in her voice, thick.

The Danvers along with Hawk, Webb and Dante rushed out of the house towards Connolly and an escaped Alex who were standing behind Kara but feet away due to the heat she was radiating.

“Kara, please don’t kill him.” Connolly pleaded.

“Why not?”

“Because that is a line that cannot be uncrossed. I swear I will make sure he never takes another breath but not you.”

“He attacked me! He attacked the only people who have shown me kindness on this planet since I arrived! They are in danger because of me! Now what am I going to do? Where am I going to go?! I can’t stay here. My own cousin doesn’t need me and I have been with him since birth!”

“Kara you aren’t going anywhere.” Jeremiah told her soothingly, walking as close as he could, breaking out in sweat and holding Alex back. They could see Henshaw on the ground, realizing his pathetic life was over. He looked terrified. If the Danvers had seen Kara from his vantage point they would have been scared too. “It’s over. We are safe. Everyone is safe.”

“Until the next man comes for me! I can’t leave him alive. I won’t. I am going to turn him into nothing. My people, my family were turned to nothing! Why should he live?!”

“Kara please,” Connolly tried. “I will kill him I swear. But don’t do this. You aren’t a killer.”

“What is the human saying? It runs in the family? Why aren’t I? Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill him? You are scared, aren’t you? Now you know how I feel every day!” she shouted at Henshaw. Kara slammed her foot down hard on the man’s lower leg, the bone snapping. She also dug her foot into the ground, disintegrating the bone fragments.

“Kara, once you do this you will never be the same. Trust me, I know. It isn’t worth it. He isn’t worth it.” Connolly begged once again.

“You die Henshaw.” Kara hissed, prepared to fry him. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. Even through the red haze of her vision and the anger fogging her brain she recognized Alex’s hand.

“Let’s go inside… or somewhere there aren’t bodies. They can clean this up and we can come back when they are all gone. He isn’t worth it Kara. He won’t be a problem anymore. His men are all dead and he knows he is next. It doesn’t have to be you. I am asking you not to. I will love you either way, I will always love you but don’t do this. Let Connolly. Henshaw isn’t worth it. We have school tomorrow… okay we are calling in sick but we you have to teach me your language. You have a solo at the concert in a couple months. It’s over. These guys will never bother us again. We are safe.”

“Until Astra and Non find me.” Kara argued. “The Martian won’t teach me to fight. He wants me to lose more. I must learn to kill. What does it matter? He is here now!”

“You don’t have to. They won’t find us. We will figure it out together how to protect ourselves. Kara for me, please don’t do this. You are too sweet for this. Kal is here.”

“I want him dead!” she screamed.

“I will kill him, I swear! Go inside and let me handle this, please Kara.” Connolly begged again.

“You are working on that drawing of the view of the beach. We were going to get paint so you could do it on canvas. We don’t need this Kara. We have too much to look forward to.”

“I have nothing, Alex.”

“You have me. You have all of us, and you will always have me. Please, Kara, leave it alone for me. He will never hurt us or anyone else. You aren’t him, you are better than him. He knows it. Come on Kara, for me.”

Kara’s eyes stopped glowing and the tears started flowing.

“I hate you so much.” she told Henshaw. “I don’t even know you and I hate you. I lost everything and you want to study me? You think I am some rat? My cousin, my sister, Jeremiah and Eliza, they… they… he needs to die Alex! I am so tired of everything good dying and people like this get to live? How is that fair?! How is any of this fair?! Why did… why did… I want my mother and father! I want Jor El to die again, I hate everything! I wish I was dead!” she finished in Kryptonese.

“Kara, come with me. I know… no, I don’t know, but I think I get it. He isn’t worth it. Let’s go to our room. Clark is upset. These guys can handle it. Come on, sweetie.”

Kara finally backed into Alex’s arms, her wet eyes never leaving Henshaw. The two slowly back away, Jeremiah grabbing both and trying to tug them towards the house where Dan Hawk was carrying bodies out of the living room.

Eliza followed with Clark who had finally calmed down and buried his head into the crook of the woman’s neck. Kara finally turned to Alex who kept her arms wrapped around the girl while Jeremiah stood by their side trying to shield them from the bodies now outside but nothing could keep Alex and Kara’s eyes from the blood on the floor. Kara felt it coming, but she couldn’t say a word. Her face reddened and her eyes rolled in her head, her breathing coming in short, quick gasps. The blonde dropped to the floor, beginning to shake. Alex and Jeremiah tried to hold her but she was too strong, knocking them both away whenever they got close.

“Kara! Listen to me! Listen to my heart!” Alex screamed but it was too late. Her eyes rolled into her head once more, her breathing worsened and, tight as a coil, she finally let loose a scream then passed out.

Jeremiah gently picked her up.

“She is breathing, right Jeremiah? Please tell me she is breathing.” Eliza begged.

“She had an attack. She will be asleep for a while. They entered through you and Kara’s window, Alex. We heard the glass break. I would imagine the window is shattered. I am going to lay her in our bed.” her father told the shaken girl. Alex was more upset watching Kara suffer another debilitating panic attack than the blood on the floor. The blood did not bother her, to her surprise. Seeing Kara screaming in rage, so close to killing the man, unleashing her heat vision. If Kara had killed him she would never forgive herself even if he did deserve it. It had been too close.

“She is going to want to leave.” Alex whispered after Jeremiah lay her down.

“She can’t. We must make her understand. We knew the risks. We took them on and we aren’t turning them away. They are a part of us now. She can’t leave us Alex.” Eliza told her daughter, part of her begging. Even in a haze of murderous rage, Alex could reach her. Alex would keep her with them.

“She has so much…” Alex wasn’t sure what to say. She knew Kara had issues, fears, depression, anxiety. But until tonight she never knew how much emotion the girl hid behind a sunny facade.

“We know.” Eliza told her. “She needs us. She needs… maybe we should let J’onn talk to her…”

“Not a good idea. She hit him yesterday. Basically attacked him and told him to go to hell.”

“So that’s why she didn’t want us there.” the father guessed.

“On the bright side she really has flying down…” Alex stopped, finally breaking down, the stress and fear of the last hour hitting her at once. She lay on her parents’ bed and wrapped her arms around Kara, crying, wailing, wishing her sister would wake up and afraid of what she would do when she did.

Outside, Jason Connolly, his team behind him, knelt next to Hank Henshaw.

“How did you get past us? Tell us and I may tourniquet your arm, cut it off and save your life. If you don’t I will let that burn fester. That infection is going to seep into your whole body while I keep you locked away somewhere, experiencing a very painful death. Now since we know you are too much of a coward to face death, answer the question.”

“One of our techs found a pic of her on a traffic cam and ran facial recognition on her own computer. She found her at the school. We did everything on a server separate from the DEO. I knew you were behind this. Do you have any idea of how screwed you are? You and your men killed federal agents.” Henshaw whispered through the pain.

“Yeah federal agents who were off the grid on a non-documented mission with no support outside of those who are dead. How did you mess with the cell service?”

“We sabotaged the towers. Now help me!”

“Calm down dumb ass. The pain is going to stop soon. Does anyone at the DEO besides those who are here know you did this?”

“No… Ahhhh!” the man screamed when Connolly pressed down on his shattered foot.

“Try again Henry.”

“The agent who found the information! Vasquez, Susan or something. She is new. I told her not to say a word.”

“No one else? I’ll know if you are lying.”

“No. No one else. If you save me I will keep this under wraps. We can work out an arrangement. You saw how dangerous she is Connolly. She could kill everyone just like the rest of her people.”

“Yeah, I know she is dangerous. That’s what I love about her. Neck or heart?”

“What?!”

“Neck or heart. You want me to slice your throat or shove this knife in your heart?”

“You said you would help me!”

“You believed me?” he asked. “You are dumber than I thought.”

Connolly flipped a screaming Hank Henshaw on his stomach, pulled his head back and with a swipe of his blade, the Director of the DEO was gone in seconds.

“Ty, nice shooting. Keep a look out for more hostiles. Dante check the woods to see if any hold overs decided to hide. If you find any make it quick, quiet and clean. Jack, check the front and main roads, discreetly check surrounding houses. I think he brought all his people here but I want to know for sure. Were there any shots that weren’t silenced?”

“No, even Hawk was quiet.” Jack informed him.

“Vivian, I want satellite of this whole area. I want to know what every living thing is doing, every car that is moving or neighbor snooping. There aren’t any close neighbors but I want to be sure. Jack if she finds anybody speeding off, steal a car, hunt them down and kill them. Hawk, you take care of the bodies?”

“The ones from inside the house are on the south side, hidden under a tarp. I can drag these others and hide them. I’ll take care of the blood on the floor.”

“Thank you, Dan. I will be there to help as soon as I make a call. See which one of those bodies is the most similar in height and weight to Greer. The Admiral is about to have an accident tonight and Henshaw has to report back to the DEO that a team on a routine training mission was ambushed and killed by an alien in North Dakota. Ty, we doing okay?”

“Nothing on infrared. The Danvers are all upstairs in the parents’ bedroom. I think Kara passed out as soon as she was inside.”

“Dante?”

“Woods are clear so far. Have about three hundred yards to still cover. Vivian you got any potential targets?”

“No, no sign of life except the nearest neighbor two blocks away. He just walked into the backyard but by heat signature I think he is grilling.”

“Copy. Keep alert guys. I need to make a call to the big guy.” Connolly took out his secure phone and received no signal then remembered the towers had been sabotaged. “Viv, I need sat com sent to my phone stat.”

The familiar sound hit his phone and he dialed the secure number that J’onn always answered.

“What’s wrong?” the Martian answered. He knew if Connolly was using this line something bad had gone down.

“Henshaw used a private server and caught Kara on facial recognition at school. The Danvers were attacked. Henshaw went off grid, no log in DEO server, totally dark.”

“Are the Danvers okay?”

“Yeah, we got to them but Henshaw got there first. They are okay but…”

“How many dead?”

“Uh… one, two, three… J’onn. I’m not going to lie, we killed a lot of people. He brought a squadron with him and we took them all out silently. The Danvers are uninjured, but Kara nearly killed Henshaw, melted the gun and the hand holding it then crushed his foot. She didn’t kill him, Alex talked her down but it was close.”

“And Henshaw?”

“I saw to it myself. Bodies don’t get much deader. I encouraged him to tell me all he knew using aggressive persuasion. He said only one person at the DEO knew about this, an agent named Vasquez. We have the chopper on the beach. Hawk is finding a suitable body and will meet you enroute. Admiral Greer has to have a tragic accident tonight J’onn. Hank Henshaw has to go back to the DEO. It’s on you now.”

“I understand. I am at the Pentagon. I am going to use a Government issued car to take a quick road trip tonight. Once a suitable body is found, load it into the chopper and have Dante and Hawk contact me. I’m thinking a high bridge. Vivian can change DNA results. You figure out where to hide the bodies…”

“J’onn we have hidden bodies before. This isn’t the first time. Listen they picked her up using personal computers and facial recognition from a traffic cam she crossed on the way to the grocery store. Is the device you were working on ready? If Henshaw thought of this those Kryptonians won’t be far behind.”

“They are ready. I will bring them. Once the car accident is staged I will fly there.”

“Take your time. I think she had a panic attack inside the house and passed out. If she can sleep through the night that would be good. We aren’t going anywhere.”

“Copy. After this we need to work on a rotation. You boys have just been drafted into the DEO. If I am stuck there so are you. A pair need to stay around the Danvers. You can rotate in and out. Take care of business. I would recommend borrowing a boat and dropping the bodies about fifteen to twenty miles off shore. Don’t forget to weigh the body bags…”

“J’onn you are starting to hurt my feelings. Do what you do and I will do what I do. I have ten hours of night to make Midvale think everything is normal in the morning.” Connolly ended the call and passed on the information.

“Jack, we are going to need a big boat. Go to the nearest marina and borrow one.” was his final order before getting to work.

The next morning as Jeremiah and Eliza sat in chairs by their bed, watching their sleeping children, they were instantly alerted by a knock on the door. Jeremiah looked downstairs and saw Connolly and Webb standing guard on the first floor as they had since sun up. Apparently, Gavin was still in a sniper’s perch somewhere. Connolly nodded to him and moved towards the door. A white man in his early fifties, dressed in casual shorts and a t shirt walked in. As soon as the door was opened J’onn took his natural form. The father beckoned him upstairs.

“They are all still asleep. Kara hasn’t dreamed tonight, she didn’t after the last panic attack. She needs her rest, they all do. You are going to have to wait until they wake up.”

“I understand.”

J’onn stood in the corner of the room for another hour until Alex stirred, followed by Clark who immediately started pulling Kara’s ear. That not working he stuck a finger in her ear, causing her to move a bit and finally waken. By her eyes, Jeremiah and Eliza knew she remembered everything that happened before her panic attack.

Kara noted J’onn was in the room.

“Wherever you need to take me I will go. I need to pack Kal El’s things…”

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Jeremiah told her. Eliza sat down next to her.

“We knew the risks,” Eliza told her. “Nothing has changed, except we don’t need to worry about the DEO again.”

“All of you could have been killed.”

“Like I said, all of us knew the risks. Nothing has changed. You are ours, Kara.”

Kara looked at her doubtfully and then at Alex who shook her head. “You go, I go. We stick together, remember?”

“Then why is he here?” she asked, pointing at J’onn but not looking at him.

“Because Hank Henshaw is gone but he has to stay in charge. That means I must take his place, using his form, Kara.”

“He is dead? Did I kill him? I remember wanting to but…”

“No, you didn’t kill him. Connolly did.” Jeremiah told her, taking her hand. “We are safe. J’onn is going to take over, change the DEO from a search and kill agency to what it is supposed to be.”

“I’m sorry.” the girl whispered.

“It wasn’t your fault, Kara. We knew the risks. We would go through it again. Henshaw is dead.” he assured her again.

“How did he find me?” she asked J’onn, finally looking at him.

“We were watching every move they made on their system. All the missions, all the travel reports were logged. He suspected this and had an agent use her personal computer to run facial recognition. We had destroyed the footage of you in the supermarket but you passed a traffic cam and she had your picture then matched to the security feeds at your school. Henshaw went on his own, bringing men loyal to him who could keep quiet on an unsanctioned mission. Since Lane has not tried to contact him last night or so far this morning we don’t think the general even knew about it. Vivian has gone back to the city and every city you might have been caught by a camera and has deleted the archived security footage on the school server.”

“If he could find me, Aunt Astra can.” Kara reasoned.

“I know. That is why Vivian and I started a project a couple months ago. You need to wear these whenever you are in public. The beach, the house, those are all safe places but if there is even the possibility of a camera keep these on.”

The Martian handed her a pair of glasses.

“Eyeglasses?” Eliza asked doubtfully.

“They emit a very low static distortion. Her face will be unrecognizable on any cameras. Obviously, you don’t want to put her on social networking sites. If you want to take a family picture or vacations she can take the glasses off or else the picture will show nothing but a blurry face. If you do take a vacation picture be absolutely sure that there are no security cameras or ones that don’t belong to you. She won’t be identified.”

Kara took the glasses and placed them on her face. They felt weird but she could get used to it. Once again the blonde looked at the parents.

“Are you sure? Men held guns to your head. They were killed in your home because…”

“Because Hank Henshaw is a bastard. Yes, we are sure. Don’t run now Kara. We got through the worst. The men are gone, there is no sign of anything happening. Jack even found time to fix your window this morning. Its over. We can relax.” Jeremiah tried to assure her.

How can I ever relax, was Kara’s first thought.

“You are certain these will work? If Astra and Non have this technology they cannot find me as long as I wear these?”

“Feel free to have Eliza take your picture. You will be unrecognizable on any image capturing device.” the Martian told her. “Keep your powers hidden. I am bringing the team with me into the DEO. Lane will be upset but it is time I cut ties with the military. Hank Henshaw is going to become a new man. Two will always be in the Hangar and Vivian will always be keeping tabs from her own set up even while she works at the DEO. I am sorry this happened. We thought we had ever angle covered and I was wrong. It won’t happen again.”

Alex wrapped her arms around Kara, hoping to comfort her and still worried about her taking off in a blur of blonde hair, Clark in her arms.

“Thank you.I… I need to take a shower if that is alright?” she asked, not directing the question to anyone in particular.

“Of course. I will make breakfast…” Eliza offered

“I’m not hungry. Don’t make as much. I think I will get back in bed after my shower if that is okay?”

“Whatever you need. I’ll be in the bedroom waiting on you. I’m not very hungry either.” Alex offered. Kara nodded and stood up.

“Thank you J’onn. Thank everyone for saving us.”

“I will. Dante will be staying behind to continue work on meditation and controlling the temperatures of your heat vision… if you still want him to.”

“Yes, I think it is necessary.”

Kara apologized to the room once more, not to anyone in particular, her head down and walked to the bathroom. Once inside she turned on the shower. Instead of undressing she placed the toilette lid down and looked at her forearm and brought her power to the forefront. This time when the beams hit her arms she did not scream