The complicated story of Kara, her mother, and her aunt: People talk about us in mere tragedy, but infrequent are tragedies that do not have a speck of hope, a dreg of happiness, a split-second joy. (x)
Kara’s comment was soft. She spoke under her breath as she looked around.
Alex fully agreed with her assessment, but kept her expression straight. She, at least, had known about the plans for the new base, even if it was her first time seeing it. They hadn’t gone further than the command center, hadn’t explored the rest of the building, and it was already vastly different than the desert base.
There were windows, for example. Large ones that made up the entire wall and let the sun fill the room with light.
Light that shot through Alex’s eyes and pierced into her brain. She squinted behind the pink tinted glasses designed to help her migraines.
“Welcome to city base command,” J’onn said.
“It’s…wow,” Kara repeated, stepping up to a circular table that stood in the center of the room. “Not that I’m complaining, but why do we have a second base?”
“For faster response time to events in the city,” J’onn replied.
Kara raised an eyebrow.
“They’re your backup,” Lucy said. She stepped up next to Alex.
A grin erupted on Kara’s face.
“No,” Alex said.
“You’re my backup,” Kara laughed.
“We are not,” Alex said. “It’s a tactically sound decision that was in the works before Supergirl.”
It had really not been anything more than a concept thrown around every year or so. It hadn’t gotten any footing until Supergirl’s appearance had caused an increase in operations within National City itself. Neither were facts Kara needed to know.
“I’m sure Winn could make you a new uniform,” Kara continued. “Something perfect for my sidekick.”
“I’m not your sidekick.”
“You basically are.”
“I can kick your ass.”
“Bring it.”
“Enough,” J’onn cut in.
Alex bit her lip, ducked her head slightly to keep her amusement down. She glanced over at Lucy.
Who was smirking at her.
“While assisting Supergirl will be one of the tasks assigned to teams at city base, it is far from the only one,” J’onn told Kara.
Alex looked up to see Kara tilting her head in confusion.
“This location will be used to contain lower security prisoners as well as any in temporary custody. It has a full trauma center dedicated to agents injured on missions,” J’onn said.
“About a third of the research division is moving here,” Alex added.
“And,” Lucy jumped in. “With the new NCPD liaison starting soon, it works as a better meeting place than the desert. Along with any future political visits, like the president tomorrow.”
Kara nodded. “Wow,” she said. She smirked at Alex. “I just can’t believe you’re going to officially be my backup.”
Alex narrowed her eyes. She turned to glare at Lucy.
“See what you did.”
Lucy grinned at her. “Just told the truth.”
J’onn groaned. “Alright. Let’s go check the rest of the base.”
He gestured towards the stairs that led up to the next level.
Lucy slid up next to Alex as they walked.
“Sidekick outfits should be skimpier than the hero’s, right?” she asked.
Alex furrowed her brow. “What?”
“The sidekick suit? The one Winn could design for you? I’m feeling a mini-skirt.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “You’re not funny.”
Lucy glanced up to where Kara and J’onn were climbing up the last step.
“But I got Kara to laugh.”
Alex took a deep breath.
It had been a rough two weeks since Myriad. Especially for Kara.
The high of saving the world had quickly faded upon learning the impact Myriad had truly had on not just National City, but the entire country, upon hearing how many had died. Alex was sure she could count on one hand the amount of times she had heard Kara laugh since the number had been totaled.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “You did.” She shook her head lightly. “You ready to take over desert base?” she asked.
Lucy’s eyebrow twitched, noting the change in topic, but she didn’t comment on it. “You say that as if I wasn’t in charge the entire time you two were gone.”
“True.”
Alex looked around the new level.
Research. For the more sensitive research, directly related to current missions. There were labs spread throughout the skyscraper, under false companies, for the rest.
Alex peeked into each lab they passed, rolling her head every now and then to fight off the tightness in her neck.
“How was it?” she asked. “While we were gone?”
“Not bad. There was definitely some resentment from the ranks, a lot because of who my father is, but I learned to ignore those comments years ago.”
“Being a general’s daughter not always as cracked up as it seems?”
Lucy let out a short laugh. “Not really.”
They passed the last few labs in silence before reaching a stairwell. Alex held the door open for Lucy.
“How’re the logistics for the memorial service going?” Alex asked.
“As you are not an agent not involved in the operation, I’m not sure I can divulge specifics,” Lucy said.
Alex rolled her eyes.
“Just because I’m not on the field team doesn’t mean I can’t know anything.”
“Maybe, but too much information at once might overload that bruised brain of yours.”
“I’m glad you can joke about my brain damage.”
“We all have brain damage, Danvers, but you’re the one who flew directly towards the source.”
Alex shrugged, not able to argue.
If Kara’s pod hadn’t had any sort of shields on it, she would have died before she had gotten as close as she had. As it was, she was left with worse symptoms than the agents who had stayed in the base.
Like the near constant migraines.
Doctors had been hesitant to call the remnant damage from Myriad concussions, but the symptoms were similar enough all agents had been put on concussion protocol. Those with the worst symptoms had been benched.
Including Alex.
She would do it again to save Kara if she had to.
“Speaking of your head, how’s it feeling?” Lucy asked.
Alex shrugged again. “It’s been worse.”
Lucy scoffed.
The exited the stairwell. That floor and the one above were agent quarters, if Alex remembered the building plan correctly.
“It’s fine, Lane, really,” Alex said. “I took some meds before we came over, and the glasses really help.”
Sure, there was some pain. A decent amount of pain, really, but it was better than it had been a few days ago. No nausea at the moment, that was definitely a plus. No vertigo, either. All in all, not too bad.
A headache, but not a migraine.
Yet.
Kara looked back at them. Alex waved her off.
She didn’t want Kara any more worried about her than she already was.
“You’ll let us know if it gets worse before we’re done?” Lucy asked.
Alex watched her for a moment, searching for anything beyond concern, but found nothing. She nodded.
can i just say that i’m a slut for supergirl angst? like, kara zor-el remembers krypton. she’s not removed from it, like clark. every person she ever knew, everyone she ever passed on the street, went to school with is dead. the first boy she had a crush on in school- dead. the first girl she kissed, red-faced and young and embarrassed- dead. yorin, a student in her father’s lab who would keep sweets for her in his pockets.
dead
(she spends 3 months doing the calculations; her birthday is september 22 in earth time. this is what she tells her foster-parents when they ask why she’s holed up in her room, doing complex astrophysics.
krypton was destroyed in february and she mourns silently and alone)
the culture, too. she tries to teach clark kryptonese but he can’t buzz the words correctly in his throat, he can’t twist his tongue around the syllables all the way and he sounds wrong. she tells him the name Rao with reverence and he repeats it with flat incomprehension and she wants to cry and rage because she was supposed to teach him these things. she was supposed to pass krypton on to clark, but she’s twenty years too late.
her angst about not protecting her cousin is valid, but it makes more sense that she’d feel more about not being able to teach clark his heritage. clark may be superman, but kara is the last daughter of krypton.
Bonus:
Not even the sky is the same here on Earth. Everything is too yellow and blindingly bright. Her eyes have grown accustomed to the light, but there is a reason she like sunsets and sunrises the best.
She doesn’t know how to explain the animals that existed on Krypton. Oh, she tries, but there are just no words. None that can describe the breadth of diversity that was Kryptonese flora and the fauna because they’re too different, too alien to truly understand their beauty without experiencing it.
(”No, it was more like…It’s so…”
“I guess you kinda had to be there, huh?”
“Yeah. I guess.”)
Even the landscapes are beyond description. She tried painting a few a couple times, but the closest she got was only an echo of the real thing. A child’s memory that faded along the edges before her talent could catch up.
And even if she could draw the sharpest image of her planet, it would still be missing the sound and touch of the place. The way the air tasted and the feel of the dirt between her fingers. She doesn’t know how to capture the way the rain trickled down in a storm or how the winds sang against the spires of Argo and Kandor. And then there was the hum. Everywhere on the planet, there was always this slight vibration that she can’t quite describe, like a constant heartbeat thrumming from the ground all the way to her fingertips.
It’s not just the people, but the physical place that Kara misses. The one place that Kara will always belong to without question, where she doesn’t have to fight for the right to exist or justify her place in that world. It was her birthright. Her home.
Krypton.
She says the word as if doing so would breathe life back into it, as if her repeating it is the only way it can stay alive. It only exists now in softened images in her mind, in poisoned fragments of rock that are lethal to touch, and in the broken family links of the House of El.
Kara Zor-El, last true child of Krypton. There will be no one else after she is gone.
no one asked you kay
what the fuck no why get these feelings away from me
Interesting thing to note: of the times we’ve heard Kryptonian on this show, it’s always been Kara or J’onn speaking it. Clark understands but is never shown to speak it (which is a typical language thing with 2nd gen bi-cultural kids).
Just more things to think about in fannish spaces, since the show seems to have abandoned Kara’s Kryptonian backstory and how it informs her character in the narrative these days.
Well one, thank you, the balance has definitely one of my goals for the blog lately.
And two, I relate thoroughly.
Between Katie’s addition to the cast and her chemistry with Melissa and the mess surrounding Kara and Mon-El, there’s not much room for Kara as her own person.
I think one of the biggest problems within the Supergirl show and the Supergirl fandom is too much emphasis on romance and not on the characters themselves and their other kinds of relationships. Or perhaps… just not enough of the other stuff along with the romance.
From my Kara-focused world, I’ve seen stuff just about her turned into a “yes, and then Lena comes in and does x, y, and z!” or “and THIS is why she doesn’t belong with Mon-El!”, just as I’ve seen stuff about Kara and Alex but Lena is always there too or Maggie is always there too.
And as someone who loves romance but who values the strength, non-romantic relationships, and independence of characters more, it’s kind of exhausting.
I feel like I ship a rare pair and it’s Kara x Autonomy.
As much as we complain about the show’s writers not giving Kara her own storyline apart from a love interest, as much as we complain about a lack of Danvers sisters scenes, we’re doing the same thing they are.
Ok but imagine someone finds out that some journalist for a gossip website is writing an article on Kara and the DEO tries but they can’t get access to it and they’re all freaking out thinking it’s a Supergirl reveal and the article comes out titled ‘Who the hell is Kara Danvers?’ And it’s got a series of photos of her with Clark Kent and Lois Lane, her following after Cat Grant and interacting with Maxwell Lord. There are pictures from her college internship working at Wayne Enterprises – including candids of her eating lunch with the elusive Bruce Wayne himself. There’s a photo from years ago when she met Diana Prince while visiting Clark. A picture of her and Lena Luthor sitting close, leaning in to each other and whispering. There are excerpts of her quotes from supergirl, someone she seems to know personally.
At no point does the article mention her possibly being supergirl. It only talks about how this seemingly plain, average 20-something from a coastal small town is somehow connected to many of the most powerful and influential people from coast to coast. And thanks to the DEOs attempts to get the article before it’s published, there’s an editorial addition at the end that says after announcing plans to write on the reporter, their servers were attacked and nearly hacked in to in an attempt to stop its publication.
“So I ask you,” the article ends, “who exactly is this Kara Danvers?”
Kara’s obsession w food also makes a lot if sense when u remember that for kara, until she became supergirl there really wasn’t much physical activity she could do that gave her endorphins bc she wasn’t using her powers and just normal everyday activity does nothing for her like is there anything other than sex and food that would do much? I am not an expert on the subject so idk but when you have Massive PTSD and need stress relief and physical activity doesn’t work and all your other senses are constantly dialed up to a bajillion it makes sense Kara loves food
Question of Smoke 