Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Survivors

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 21: Faster than a Speeding Bullet

Dante stood in front of Kara, his torso, head and legs padded, heavy target mitts on his hands.

“Why are you dressed like this?” the blonde mini hero asked.

“You are going to fight me. We are going to spar. I will attack with my hands in different sections. You are to use the skills you have gained to dodge the blows, strike the pad and then follow with a strike to my chest.”

Kara stepped back, thinking her favorite mentor had lost his mind. “I can’t do that! I will kill you! You have seen how hard I hit. Those pads won’t protect you. I will shatter your hands, shatter your chest. No, I refuse.”

The girl crossed her arms and glared at Dante, not giving an inch. The man knelt down in front of her.

“You want to be a hero one day. I know you do and it has more to do with Non and Astra. I told you once that you had the soul of a warrior and a peacemaker. You want to help others, you want to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. Am I wrong?”

Kara shook her head.

“No, you are not wrong but what does that have to do with me killing you?”

“Because you may not always be fighting super strong Kryptonians. You may be fighting human criminals. Alien prisoners are not the only ones who do harm in this world. You are working on controlling the intensity of your heat vision. Now you need to work on controlling your strength while fighting. You have absolute control in everyday life but when the adrenalin is pumping, it is going to be difficult for you to hold back. If someone is trying to steal from another person you would stop the thief, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“Do you want to knock him or her out or send your fist through their skull? You have to learn to fight at different intensities. We will take it slow. Play with your strength, don’t go all out, just tap, tap the pads on my hands and I will let you know if you need to hit harder.”

“And how will I know if I hit too hard?”

“You will know because I will be on the ground crying, holding whats left of my hand. No pressure.”

So the two began, Jeremiah walking over from where Alex had been training with Connolly. They had decided to practice today in a wooded area behind Connolly and Jessica’s house. After making sure Connolly wasn’t teaching Alex how to gut a person he walked over to check on his blonde daughter and was surprised to see her actually hitting. Not wanting to distract Kara, he stayed back, watching silently. She was doing well, if being slow to the point of over exaggerating. The pops on the mitts were sound, not crushing and she was following up with shots to the chest.

“Harder, faster. You can go harder and faster. Fight like a human, control your speed and strength.”

Kara did put a bit more into it, beginning to get into a rhythm. He could not catch her off guard. At times like this when she really wanted to, the world slowed down for her. When she focused in on a moving object and was moving herself, it was almost as if the object was standing still. The strength was another obstacle. She had never had to gauge her strength when fighting. She usually went all out against a wall or went through the motions with no opponent.

Dante was doing his best, which was considerable… for a human. Eventually he stopped giving her just pads to hit, kicking at the short girl’s head which she easily ducked and countered with an uppercut to the pad in his hand.

Jeremiah was impressed with the dance the two were having, noticing that Kara’s punches were becoming crisper and the man had a hard time holding his ground. The blonde was becoming more confident and for a split second her concentration slipped. A tiny fist struck his padded chest and sent the Seal into the tree behind him.

“Dante?! Dante, talk to me!” Kara begged, running to the slumped over man. To her relief she saw him smiling.

“Now that was a jab. Perfect. My sternum is in one piece and you knocked me off my feet. Good job Kara.”

Kara helped him up and used her X ray vision, for the first time ever trying to look through the skin of a person. She saw his lungs breathing in and out, she saw his heart beating and she saw his ribs. None appeared to be broken. Looking harder she backed her vision up, trying not to focus on the heart but the sternum covering it. She saw no cracks but her vision faded in and out, heart, sternum, tree behind him, his padded chest, and back. Kara had not realized the effort was making her dizzy till she fell backwards into Jeremiah’s arms.

“I got you. Stop with the X ray vision. You haven’t gotten good enough to do a Cat Scan yet. You are making yourself dizzy. Relax, I got you.” the father whispered in her ear.

“I’m okay.” she told him shakily. “I had to make sure I didn’t hurt him. I don’t want to do that again.”

“Why?” Dante asked. “You were perfect. Just like with your heat vision the more you do it, the more comfortable you will feel. Tomorrow we start controlling the temperature of your heat vision. I know the risks Kara and I have faith in you. I do not wish to be injured. I have been shot, stabbed, had bones broken, I have dealt with a lot of pain. I can handle this if you can. One day you may have to fight someone who is not superhuman to save another person, maybe Alex. I know you don’t want to kill that person so you need to learn this. It was a good start. One more exercise.”

Dante walked to his black bag lying on the ground, where he had kept the pads. Jeremiah nearly grabbed Kara and ran when he saw what the man pulled out.

“What the hell?! You are not shooting her! Have you lost your damn mind?”

Jeremiah moved in front of a confused Kara, blocking her body with his own. Dante just stared at him for a moment before dropping his head.

“I appreciate the dedication to protecting her but are you ever going to stop jumping to the worst conclusions about us? I am not going to shoot at her!”

“Oh.” the man said, shoulders slipping in relief. HIs brain had been working on a dozen scenarios to disarm a Navy Seal and not one of them had worked out, short of Kara flying them both away. “I’m sorry. But you brought out the gun and I have seen enough movies to know that is a silencer… so what? You want her to shoot the gun?”

“Nope. The gun is silenced. She is going to stand on the side of that tree. I am going to shoot at the tree. She is going to catch the bullet before it hits the tree. Just reach out into the path of the bullet and catch it, Kara. Do not try to block it with your arm or body, fingers only. Catch it in an open fist if you must. Just make sure you catch it.”

The father shook his head. “This is only slightly better than shooting her and it is still a bad idea. Number one, what makes you think she is fast enough to catch it? Number two, it could slice her hand. She has never had anything metal moving that fast towards her.”

Dante took the nervous man in and asked the question he wanted to avoid. “Can a bullet harm her? You have been studying her. You know she is impenetrable. Her skin can’t be harmed by anything as weak as a bullet and you know it. She needs this. If she should ever fight another alien for her life, for Alex’s life, for anyone, that alien could be conceivably as fast and strong as she is, maybe more so. Weight lifting and running on the track won’t make her stronger or faster. But exercises to perfect her speed, her reflexes, even by a split second could be the difference between life and death. Kara, do you think you can catch the bullet?”

The blonde looked up at Jeremiah, who was now looking down at her, deciding that she didn’t need to be shielded from a bullet. Kara could see the indecision and stress on her adopted father’s face.

“I won’t if you don’t want me to.” Kara told him.

Jeremiah remembered his last session with Jessica, three days before. She will do whatever you tell her to. She will crave your approval. You have to stress that some choices, not involving her safety, will be hers to make.

“I trust you Kara. If you think you can do it, give it a shot. If not we don’t have to. I’m good either way.”

“You sure?” Kara asked doubtfully. “You don’t seem like… I won’t do it if you don’t want me to. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Yes it does.” Jeremiah told her, bending down to one knee. “I can see it in your eyes. He thinks you can’t do it and I think we both know you can prove him wrong. Don’t you want to prove him wrong?”

“Yeah… I really do. You think he doesn’t believe I can do it?”

Jeremiah shrugged his shoulders. “I bet he doesn’t think you can get it on the first try. The question is, do you want to do it? I can watch you do it, or you can zip over there and bring me his gun and we can see if he can catch bullets.”

Kara actually laughed at that, something Jeremiah considered a win. Since the emotional night of Kara’s first therapy session since their return the girl had loosened up a bit it seemed, smiling more without being prodded, and playing with Clark, building castles on the beach with Alex and painting, a lot of painting.

“I don’t think he would be very good at that. I will do it, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“You won’t. I back you and I always will, no matter what. Go show him that you are faster than a speeding bullet.”

And Kara did. Dante couldn’t hold back a smile when he fired at the large tree and a tiny arm was in front of the trunk holding a bullet between her thumb and forefinger. The blonde had a wicked grin on her face and tossed the bullet to Jeremiah.

“Not bad. Now lets see him many you can catch. I have fifteen left in the clip.”

Dante fired and a wide eyed Kara trying to keep up. When she focused, truly focused, the world around her seemed to move in slow-motion. She saw multiple bullets coming towards her tree. Kara did her best, grabbing six of the slow moving objects, but the world sped up as she concentrated on each one and dropped six to the ground while nine more struck the bark.

“Let’s see, eight out of 15? No, looks like 6. Not bad for a first time. Want to see if you can heat up a frozen pizza? It is almost lunch.”

Kara immediately looked at Jeremiah who she was relieved to see was grinning and let her know it was okay.

“That was amazing.” the father whispered as he walked her to the lunch box Dante had brought.

“ I love you.” Kara told him quietly.

Jeremiah was confused for a moment. It had been a while since Kara had slipped into Kryptonese and doubted she did it accidentally this time.

“What does that mean? I love you?”

“It means thank you.” she told him, not meeting his eyes. She had told Alex often that she loved her. She had been told many times by Jeremiah and Eliza that she was loved but never said it back. She felt it, but it almost seemed as if admitting it would be betraying her parents memories. So Kara did what she did often. She hid her true feelings, maybe not through a lie this time but behind her own language.

“Well, you are very welcome. Heat me up some pizza and I will go check on Alex.I am sure now that I am not watching, Connolly is teaching her to knife fight or something. This afternoon you both owe me. We are going fishing. I have the boat rented and the gear packed.”

“That is good. We can trick living creatures into swallowing what they think is food only to have a hook pierce their mouths and be ripped out of their home, brought into an atmosphere where they cannot breathe and feels absolute fear while the poor creature waits and wonders how it will die.”

The man stopped walking, taking her in for a moment. Kara never could hide her grin when she was being sarcastic, not that she often was.

“You are not going to guilt me out of this. You are both coming.”

Later that night, after a less than enthusiastic trip from the two girls, in which Kara used her superior vision to peer under the murky water and ensure her hook came nowhere near a poor fish and Alex followed her lead, the eldest Danvers sister found herself across from her shrink.

“How was today?” the woman started off.

“Fine. Okay, it was decent. Fighting was fun. Connolly was showing me some basics of knife fighting until we heard Dad coming back.”

“Thats great…”

“Kara is learning to control the temperatures of her heat vision. She almost had a pizza heated up today until it turned to ash. Its not easy for her to control the temp but…”

“Alex, for once, can we talk about you and not about Kara?”

Alex let out a sigh and dropped her head. “What do you want to know?”

“Anything.”

“Anything? Fine. I guess since someone is paying you I may as well make use of you.” Alex admitted.

“Thanks for not making me feel like a cheap call girl.” the doctor responded, trying to decide whether to be annoyed or humored.

“I have been feeling out of place lately. Maybe you can help me out with that.” Alex asked, and Jess noted that she didn’t seem to be hiding by sarcasm for once. This had her a bit worried.

“Out of place? Are you feeling distant from your parents?”

“No, God no. They are making very sure I am included. Even as far as my father trying to ensure I smell like fish. He expected me to not only catch a fish but to reach into its mouth and unhook the thing. Luckily Kara doesn’t really care for eating fish so she used her eagle eyes to spy the little guys and toss her line far away from them. I kept mine in the same general area or tangled my line in Dad’s when she gave me the sign that he was too close. Mom insists on teaching me how to cook and wanting to get involved in my science fair project. I don’t know what you have been telling them but its okay for them to lay off for a bit.”

“Then what are you feeling out of place of?”

Alex looked around, then stood up and walked to the door, opening it and shouting.

“Hey Kara!”

“She went for a walk in the woods!” her Dad yelled back from downstairs.

“By herself?! Thats not part of the plan!”

“No, Eliza is with her, Mom. Relax and enjoy therapy time. No one with super hearing is around.”

Alex closed the door roughly and walked back to her seat, then met Jess’s eyes. “See here is the thing. I notice that a lot of boys like Kara. I mean okay the popular kids avoid us like a plague but whatever. Its the boys in choir and some of the other nerds like us. I understand biology obviously. I know everything about hormones and puberty and all the other crap that goes with it. Acne is a side effect I battle everyday and until I knew about the Astras and Henshaws of the world, it was my mortal enemy. But the girls I know, I watch… they don’t… they are into guys. Like some are always falling all over themselves to be noticed by these idiots. Kara doesn’t but she has a lot going on. Plus coming from a culture of arranged marriages at birth based on societal needs and DNA matching I doubt the idea of dating has ever occurred to her. But it should occur to me. Only it hasn’t.”

“Okay. This bothers you? So you aren’t into boys yet. Consider yourself lucky. They only bring trouble. If not for boys I would probably still be on track to become the youngest FBI Director in history. Not that this isn’t interesting. I’ve actually been enjoying it. Its neat to watch the family…”

“Hey weren’t we talking about me? Hello? Sorry you won’t make Director. Seeing how Kara isn’t anymore emotionally stable or hurting herself any less than when you arrived you can always go back to chasing psychos.”

Jess cleared her throat. “Sorry, you are right, I kind of got off point. But we are making a lot of progress. I told you all this wouldn’t be easy. Maybe if you would open up more…”

“Hey, I’ m trying to open up now and you are playing the blame game? Are you not in therapist mood today? Because I can go talk to Clark about this. He will probably just offer me a rock or some dirt but at least I will have his attention.”

Dr. Ryan dropped her head and rubbed her temples.

“Sorry. Not on my game today. Out to late, drank too much and you don’t need to know the rest. Okay, you have my complete attention, you have since the start. You are the… and I am not playing the blame game. You aren’t into guys. Not a big deal, like I said, Some girls do not become interested in…”

“Girls do it for me.” Alex blurted out quickly.

“Okay so… Oh! Oh you mean… wow. Okay. I admit I didn’t see that coming. Why the hell can’t we talk about this stuff all the time instead of you complaining about me not helping Kara? How long has this been on your mind?”

Alex rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, a while. Not anyone I go to school with, just… ugh. But there are certain times and certain things I see on TV that… yeah. I mean… yeah. So I am beginning to see a little of how Kara feels being on Earth. I used to think about it a lot, but then Kara and Clark came into our lives and I kind of pushed it to the back of my mind. It didn’t matter, you know? But Mom is going to expect me to date or at least be interested, Kara is going to think she is holding me back from guys… there is a lot going… I can’t just talk about this to anyone. Since you can’t say anything and I don’t care about your opinion very much, you are perfect. So there. We have something to talk about besides Kara okay?”

“Great! So how do you feel about… this revelation?”

“Wonderful! I feel great. I can come out so young and everybody will be so accepting of me at school because people in Midvale have officially seen more aliens than lesbians!”

“They have?” Jess asked, confused.

“Well, I am pretty sure if I am gay I am the only lesbian this town has ever seen whether they know it or not and they have seen Kara and Clark and they are aliens whether know it or not so technically they have unknowingly seen more aliens than lesbians.”

Jess took a deep breath. “Wow. I never thought of it that way. But at least you won’t grow up all confused, wondering why you aren’t like… you can tell your parents.”

“I’m 14 and they will probably believe it is a phase or a cry for attention. They won’t believe me or…”

“They believed you when you said the girl and baby you were hiding in the woods were aliens. Please stop with the excuses.”

“What if I am wrong? What if this isn’t something or is something that will change? What am I supposed to do? What does it matter? As long as we are in this lost world of the United States…”

“Lost world?”

“Yeah, like it’s set back in time million of years. More like a couple decades but you get the idea. Bad analogy?”

“Not your best.” Jessica admitted, “So what if you are wrong? I don’t think this is one of those things you are really wrong about. It seems pretty cut and dry when you reach puberty you start to feel attractions and if you feel attracted to one sex over the other that could be a major clue. Maybe it won’t make a difference in Smallville, but having your parents to talk with about it could ease that burden until you can get to college.”

“Did you just say Smallville?”

“This place is too small to even warrant being called Midvale. Not my best?”

“You’ve had better. I don’t want to tell my parents. I don’t know how they would react.”

“Again, I hate to keep bringing this up but they love Kara and she has had the potential to burn the house down many times now and is an alien to top it off. I think maybe telling your parents might make it real to you and that has you afraid.”

“Seriously? You want something to talk about, I give us something to talk about and the first advice you have is tell your parents?”

“Yes. Just because it is cliched doesn’t mean it is bad advice. Cliches sometimes become cliches because they are correct. Would you at least tell Kara?”

“No! Kara cannot know! Why the hell did I bring this up to you again?”

“Because you obviously need someone to talk to since you seem intent on keeping this a secret.”

“And you are someone to talk to. The Martian does pay you, right? I cannot tell Kara. I just told you what kind of society she is from. I doubt the term gay was used or needed on Krypton. The society was literally designed around male and female couples being assigned to each other. Hell, the men controlled the planet. Don’t tell Kara I said that, but it is true.”

“Why do you say the men controlled the planet? From what I understand it was a council that governed the planet? Were no women on the council?”

“I doubt it. Lets think about it. Clark’s given name is Kal El. His name and his father’s last name. Kara’s name is Kara Zor El. Her name plus her father’s full name. Staking a claim much? Do you wonder why Kara doesn’t look like an ape despite her hair being impossible to break?”

“Oh… I never gave it any thought. She can’t shave her legs?”

“She doesn’t have to. Apparently Kryptonian men had the same taste in women as Earth men. The women were given dispositions such as hair length and even body hair or lack of, before they were born. It is more efficient than having to keep razors around. Kryptonians were all about efficiency. Don’t want millions of razors clogging up the trash heaps? Get rid of body hair. The hair on her head is a determined length and will reach optimal length when she is 20. Sure she could have cut it on Krypton but wouldn’t. Who in society would care about how long a woman’s hair was, or where she had and did not have hair? Men, thats who. She ever tell you about that hologram of Clark’s father?”

“Yes. I understand he was… a…”

“An asshole, a dick, a pig? Basically told her she was still alive because she had to protect his son. I doubt he was the only one who acted like that.”

“But Astra is Non’s superior.”

“Yep, but she wasn’t the head of the military. I’m not saying it was a completely male dominated society but it seemed as far as relationships went the men got the better deal. I feel sorry for Clark. Since he wasn’t tampered with, if he becomes as strong as Kara, he is going to look like one of those rednecks on Duck Dynasty before High School graduation. Probably look like Tom Hanks in Castaway before he finishes college.”

“Oh wow. I didn’t think about that. I’m sure your parents will figure out something. Lets get back to you being gay.”

“Maybe. It may just be a thing…”

“Are you having… dreams… the kind that aren’t nightmares, about…?”

“Yep.”

“Pretty strong sign Alex. This is good though. A lot of women deny this part of themselves or try and make themselves bend to what they believe society wants. You are coming to grips with this early. You should still tell someone. I think it would be good if you told Kara. No matter what her culture was like I think we both know she isn’t like that.”

“Kara has too much going on. She is never alone when she is home. Even at night, Mom and Dad are taking turns waking up every few hours and making sure she is actually sleeping and not cutting herself. I told them I could handle it and was told I needed sleep more than they did. Point being, she has a lot going on and doesn’t need my crap on top of it.”

“Maybe she does.” Jessica argued. “You wanted a sister to bond with, to share and have no secrets from. You were angry when she told you all what she had been doing on vacation but your anger had more to do, in my opinion, with the fact that she kept it secret from you. You want her to be totally honest with you, maybe if you showed her that you can do the same it may give her some confidence. Right now she is constantly feeling as if she is letting you down and frustrated because in her mind she has to be taken care of by you. It could be a major step in your relationship if you were to tell her a secret and let her listen to your problems. Maybe she wouldn’t feel as if she were such a burden on you and feel more of an equal. Alex, you know Kara would never judge you. You could murder someone and she would hide the body while complimenting your aim. She practically worships the ground you walk on. Tell her and think about telling your parents.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No. You don’t get to tell me what to do. You get to make suggestions.”

“Maybe but I do get to tell Connolly what to do and if I tell him not to teach you anymore tricks with sharp edged weapons or anything past basic self defense skills he will obey. Since I am seeing him every day now I have him completely in my control. Its fun. So tell Kara or I tell him to stop teaching you the cool tricks when Daddy isn’t watching.”

Alex glared at the women, trying to burn her with her eyes and wishing Kara could share that power. “Thats not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair and I told you when we started I wasn’t a great therapist. Times up. Next week we can talk about your dream journal, nightmares, emotions and how your conversation went with Kara and maybe your parents. All the emotional touchy feely stuff you love so much. Take care little Danvers.”

Jessica stood and walked out, leaving a fuming Alex.

“Had to open your mouth, didn’t you Alex? Tell Kara. Yeah right. I’m sure that would…”

Alex let out a deep breath and slipped out the window onto the roof, to wait for her sister to return. She didn’t have to wait long. Ten minutes later as the sun was setting a smiling Kara and Eliza were walking hand in hand from the nearby woods. They were easy to see in the darkening sky thanks to Kara’s white t shirt.

As part of the new safety measures Kara agreed to wear light colored tops so she would not be able to hide the blood stains so easily. She was also to write in a log book of sorts every time during the day something made her slightly anxious.

She would also be watched constantly by someone and agreed to spend no more time than necessary in the restroom, unless she wanted Eliza to follow her inside. Kara had agreed to these measures and seemed to be taking it in stride but Alex wondered how long before she snapped. Despite her wanting Eliza and Jeremiah’s approval, Kara had a lot of pride, pride that could only be pushed so far. In exchange for the concessions, Eliza, Alex and Jeremiah had agreed not to ask her constantly how she was feeling or show any parts of her arms for inspection, since the white shirts would give her away. Alex wondered if she had been cutting her legs under the sheets at night but doubted it. There had been no tears in her pajamas or blood on the sheets.

Alex knew this because she checked every morning after Kara went down for breakfast.

The blonde walked inside their room, and sat on the bed, opening her drawer and pulling out a magazine of some sort.

“Hey, how was bird watching?”

“Good. We found more species I had not seen here before. The cold weather is keeping many of them away unfortunately but another couple months and Spring is here.”

“Yeah, look at you being optimistic. Have you updated…”

“I was bird watching! How nervous do you think I was?”

Alex opened her mouth and then closed it. Kara’s eyes opened wide and her hand slapped over her mouth.

“Alex I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”

“Nah, its cool little sis. I shouldn’t ask about it all the time. I know you have to be sick of it. If… if you didn’t think Clark needed to stay here so he… he isn’t the only reason you stay, is he? I know you have got to be tired of all of us watching you. I know it probably…”

“I stay because I want to be here, with you. You are my sister. I know I hurt you by not telling you what I was doing at the cabin. I am sorry. I am sorry that I did it and I am sorry that I didn’t tell you.”

“Hey, I know you are. I shouldn’t have asked that. I’m just not on my game this evening.”

“Problems with the science fair project? If you want me to help I will. I know I said I didn’t want to…”

“No, it was Dr. Phillis time. Not really, she just wanted to talk about something new and so I popped something up I haven’t thought about in a while. She thought I should tell you, but…”

“But?” Kara asked, eyebrow raised.

“Its just you have so much going on and…”

“And you want me to tell you everything but you won’t tell me this? You obviously want to since you brought it up. Why are you talking yourself out of it now?”

Alex began sweating a bit. “Because it is something I am not entirely sure you will be comfortable with.”

“It can’t be worse than the tampon discussion.” the blonde fairly pointed out. “Besides you want me to tell you everything. I won’t have the whole discussion reminding you that I was the eldest daughter of the honored House of El and I now have someone standing outside the bathroom door when I am inside. But seriously, there is something you are not comfortable telling me? Why did you bring it up?”

“I want to tell you. But you can’t tell anyone and I am honestly not sure how you are going to take this.”

“You took me being an alien well. I think I could extend you the same courtesy, Alex.” Kara told her.

“Wow. You are getting really good at sarcasm. Is it our practice or does bitterness play a major role in this newfound ability?”

“Probably a bit of both. I haven’t been feeling my best lately I guess you could say. Besides the guilt and lying and spending most of the day wondering why I bother getting out of bed to go to a school I don’t need with horrible children and the constant nightmares are fun to deal with. I actually am enjoying the arm inspection and pray to Rao no other parts will be subjected to inspection later on. By the way, I am not fond of Dr. Ryan but I have this strange desire to tell her everything whenever I am in her presence. If you hadn’t told anyone I burned my arm none of this would have happened.”

“Okay, yeah I should definitely tell you some other time. Bird watching with Mom didn’t agree with you today.”

“I had a good time. Why didn’t you come with us?”

“Because I thought you like bird watching, she likes bird watching, I would rather scratch my nails across a chalkboard than look for birds in the winter, or any season really. Seems like the two of you didn’t need me. What are you reading?”

“Dr. Strange. Its a comic book. Jeremiah got it for me when we stopped at the gas station on the trip back from the Mountains. You were asleep and drooling against the car window. I liked the art. I also have one about a young teen who sticks to walls. I like his suit. Red and blue, I am pretty certain they are my favorite colors. I like Dr. Strange’s red cape. Besides… no, you are trying to distract me. What is it Jessica thinks you should tell me?”

“Uh…” Alex let out a deep breath. “okay, on Krypton was there… no… okay you know how we reach a certain age and things start to happen to us? Things…”

“We had the tampon talk Alex, I am pretty certain you are speaking of puberty. It is apparently universal since we had the stage on Krypton as well.”

“Right, puberty. So when puberty set in, you had… you came to see things like… boys, differently, right?”

“I was related to nearly every male I was allowed contact with. I would have a husband selected for me and the two of us would have a romantic night of giving DNA samples to the population distribution codex council. They would determine the sex and inclination of the product of our union and begin designing the blessed gift from Rao. In 8 months and 6 days by your solar cycle, we would be given a child and Kelex would do an excellent job at taking care of him or her. Yes, I certainly looked at boys differently.”

“Wow. Really good at sarcasm. I am so proud, I could cry right now. Okay so you are telling me when you started going through changes you didn’t feel any… other feelings?”

“This is going to be more awkward than the tampon talk. I thought we had mutually agreed that our mothers had given us all the information we needed to know about intercourse.”

“Yeah, but I may not have gotten all the information I need. The whole boys thing…”

“Are you physically attracted to a boy, Alex?” Kara asked, curiously, wondering what this was all about. It hadn’t escaped her notice that Alex was sweating despite the room being comfortable.

“No! Thats what I am trying to say! I’m not attracted to boys!” she whispered harshly.

“Okay. We are very young. You are 14. I am fairly certain the mating age for respectable girls is not for at the very least another 4 years. What are you concerned about?”

“Because I am attracted… to…”

“Yes?” the blonde prodded.

“Girls. Women I mean. Not any I know just… books and TV… and… you like Spiderman because of the color of his suit, right? I like… other things. It started before I met you and hasn’t stopped. I mean we have had a lot going on with the learning to fly and home invasions and special forces teams and self harming and panic attacks but I saw this girl on TV today and it sort of reminded me and I blurted it out to Jess but I thought it might be a phase or go away or…”

“Wait! I know this! I saw this on TV. MTV or maybe Lifetime. You are coming out. I get to be first? Not Eliza or Jeremiah? This is awesome! Okay start again and try to stay calm, stop stuttering. Lets do this right.”

Alex looked at the suddenly smiling blonde in disbelief. “Are you seriously getting excited about this because you are part of a coming out situation here?”

“Can I not be?”

Alex shrugged her shoulders. “No reason you can’t. This doesn’t bother you? I know you didn’t have this on Krypton.”

“Of course not. From what I gather homosexuality is genetic in a way. All our genetics were tampered with to ensure our race continued in a productive manner. There were many things on our planet we did not have because it would not be in the so called best interest of Krypton. I am glad I don’t have to shave my legs though, considering how often you cut yourself. If I had a razor, Eliza would literally watch me shave my legs. Okay, so you have come out to me. Thank you. Was that so hard? Are you going to tell your parents?”

“Our… so thats it? You are good with this?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? You thought I would turn you away? You think so little of me? I would accept you no matter who you loved or what you did. I am glad you aren’t hiding this. You should tell Eliza and Jeremiah.”

“No! You cannot tell them! This is our secret!”

“Why are you afraid to tell them? You think they would care?”

“I don’t know! Maybe. Maybe not but they could think a million things. They could think its a phase or… or…”

Kara sighed.

“Fine, I will tell them I am gay. That way we can see what their reaction is and you can decide if you want to go forward or keep it to yourself for now.”

Alex looked at Kara in disbelief, realizing the girl was being serious.

“You can’t just tell them you are gay. You aren’t gay!”

“I may as well be. I think we both know the odds of any coupling between myself and a human at any point in my life would not end well for the human. So it really doesn’t matter. I will get the lay of the land so to speak…”

“Kara stop. Please, can we just keep this between the two of us?”

Kara nodded and opened her arms. Alex walked over and hugged her, the two girls laying on the mattress.

“Thanks for telling me.” Kara whispered. “I really feel bad about not telling you about what I had been doing. It means a lot that you trust me. I will never tell anyone. My loyalty is to you first. Always Alex.”

“Thanks Kara. I’m glad I pulled you and stinky out of that hole in the ground.”

Kara snorted and began tickling Alex in her ribs gently, enough to send the girl squealing off the bed. Alex hit the floor right next to Kara’s fallen comic book. Inspiration struck her.

“Hey brat? I think I figured out a way you can control your flight better.”

“Oh really? You had inspiration when you hit the floor on improving my flying?”

“No, I have been inspired by Doctor Strange. You have two blankets from Krypton. They are pretty much indestructible and have pretty good weight to them. Water doesn’t soak them, nothing can pierce them, right?”

“Yes…”

“A cape could help you control your aerodynamics. You could feel the wind under the cape, use it on turns to catch air, streamline you to pick up more speed… a cape could help out a lot.”

“A cape? You want me to turn Kal’s blanket into a cape? You think this will help?”

“Considering you can’t make a turn to save your life or stop for that matter without hitting something, it really can’t hurt to try.”

“You do have a point but its a blanket. How can I cut the top into a cape? How would I attach it too me? We should probably wait on that. You saw the video. Astra and Non did not need capes to fly. I won’t use one either.”

“A cape would look really cool. Don’t you think Doctor Strange looks cool in his suit? What the hell is this comic about anyway?”

“Nothing. Magic I guess. Besides the point. Once again I need your help this weekend. You need to be my jailer Saturday.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “We are not jailers Kara.”

“I was using sarcasm again. It is cold, to cold for you to swim but I need to swim. I need to get the crystals.”

Alex look at her, shocked to see she was serious. “Kara, you still need to breathe. I am not going to watch you kill yourself. You said those crystals were against a ledge. How deep are they?”

“Only thirty or so feet. I can make it. I was hasty throwing them away. I need them back. We are going to keep them at the cave.”

“The cave is flooded.” Alex reminded her.

“Which is why it will be perfect to hide them.” the blonde reasoned. “I need those crystals, I need the information, I need a small sample of Kal’s blood and I need a place to keep them hidden. I don’t want anyone to know about this. Not Jessica, not Dante or Connolly, not Eliza or Jeremiah. Only you Alex. I don’t want Clark to ever know about them.”

“Okay… you are kind of scaring me. Why do you need these crystals so badly?”

“Because I want to see Jor El again. I realize it is only his conscience downloaded into an AI but it is him in a manner of speaking. I want to know why the planet blew up, how long they had known, if anything could have been done to stop it and I want to let him know…”

“Know what?”

“I want him to know that his son is calling someone else Daddy. I may not be able to speak to him in Rao’s flames but angering his AI is the next best thing. It will make me feel better.”

“You will feel better? Pissing off a dead man’s hologram is going to make you feel better? Shouldn’t you run this by the shrink or Mom and Dad?”

Kara shook her head. “Of course not. They will tell me it is a bad idea. I know it is a bad idea but I want it. I want to face him in some way. I want him to hurt. Will you help me?”

Alex let out a breath, knowing this was a bad idea. But if she didn’t help her Kara would try on her own. Not that Alex could save her if she drowned but…

“Yeah, you know I got your back. Saturday morning?”

“The perfect time for a swim.” the blonde agreed. “Now come here and let me hold you for once. Its going to be okay. Our secret right?”

Alex grinned and laid down on Kara’s bed, feeling her small, strong arms holding her.

“Thanks for telling me Alex.”

“Always. No secrets anymore between us, right? That goes both ways.”

“I promise. Go to sleep and… I think I will update the log book and say good night. Don’t move, I will be right back.”