Alien Encounter Part 2


    Kara Zor-El awoke in unfamiliar surroundings again.  This time, however, the unfamiliarity was only temporary.  Oddly enough, it was the soft, comfortable Earth clothing called pajamas she wore that clued her into where she was.

    She opened her eyes, and though the room and the apartment were completely dark, she managed to find her way from the guest bedroom she was in to the kitchen by the pale glow of warmth the walls and floors gave off.  She could hear sparse vehicle traffic outside, and Lois Lane breathing in her bedroom.  The clock on the microwave - she familiarized herself, at least, with daily Earth timekeeping during the day before - reminded her that humans seemed to need to sleep a lot longer than Kryptonians.

    The view of the city at night from Lois’ living room was spectacular.  It was full of lights and reflections everywhere, and though there were so few of those small fragile human transports moving around, they were beautiful from that high up as well.

    Silently, she slid open the patio door just enough to squeeze through, and she looked over the edge of the balcony.  Kara then had a realization that this is the first time since she arrived on Earth that she felt she could take the time to really appreciate some of its beauty, even if it was human-made.

    Then she looked up.  Her extended vision allowed her to make out the tiniest floating object high in the clear sky.  It had lights, like the city.  She wondered if that was the Justice League satellite that Lois talked about, and if Clark was still up there.  

    She also wondered if she could fly straight up there, but then she remembered her lessons from school.  The satellite was geosynchronous - it was gravity acting on her below that made it seem like it was staying above her.  Once she flew high enough to escape gravity, she would be chasing down that satellite for ages, always feeling like it was out of reach, as it moved away from her rather than remaining still.

    That thought amused her as she went back inside to look through the refrigerator.  There were fruit juices she hadn’t tried yet - she thought they might be interesting.  Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something blue, red, and gold, and neatly folded.

    Kara went over to check it out.  She found her Kryptonian clothes with a note attached from Lois.  It said ‘I cleaned it’, along with instructions for how to use the washing machine and dryer next time.  She made a mental note to find the washing machine and dryer and investigate them.

    She looked up, and Lois was squinting at her from the doorway.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What are you doing up?”  Lois asked tiredly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I do not need as much sleep as you,”  Kara told her.

    Lois thought for a moment.  Clark was always getting up at odd hours too, but he never said anything about it.  She shrugged, and decided it wasn’t important.  “What’s with the clothing you came in, and Superman’s too?  I always wondered.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It is a flight suit.”  Kara told her.  “It goes with the ship I came in.  On Krypton we dress almost like you, only with different style.  Looser clothing that is more comfortable.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hmm.”  Lois nodded tiredly.  “I kind of like the flight suit.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It is pretty,”  Kara agreed.  “It is amusing that Kal-El has misunderstood its purpose.  Though...”  She sighed lightly.  “...I guess now that he wears it often, I should too.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Misunderstood its purpose, eh?”  Lois chuckled a little.  “Don’t worry, I’ll keep that part between us.  Secret, I mean.”  She clarified that last part in case the Kryptonian girl didn’t understand the slang.  “You should wear it, though.  It’s more of a uniform than a flight suit now, kind of a symbol of your family.  Plus, it would be a shame to waste it.”

    Kara nodded.  “You are right.  I need to retrieve the others soon, I have more than one type.  I had them stored in the ship.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Go for it, kid,”  Lois encouraged her.  “I’m going back to bed.”

    With that, Kara had a plan, and Lois stalked off to bed.


---


    Kara left Smallville by day, and by night the highway leading back to it was much harder to follow.  It was only lighted sparsely, but fortunately the signs were beacons in the dark, leading the way.  She made it there in less time than it took for her to get to Metropolis - since she was more familiar with the route this time, she didn’t have to take it slow.

    She didn’t bother to enter the town, though as she flew over the Kent home she wondered about them.  Instead, she went directly to the forest outside town, where her ship crashed.

    There was a blackened area among the trees.  Strips of yellow tape were tied to tree trunks, bordering the area.  In the center, there was a sunken, blackened area of ground with a small hole in it - the hole she clawed out of after her ship buried itself in the crash.  Around the hole were large, yellow painted machines with huge shovels.  The humans were planning to dig her ship out at some point.

    Thinking ahead, Kara wore her blue, red, and gold flight suit.  By now she realized that people associated the colors, and the ‘S’ symbol on the chest, with Superman.  While she might have to answer questions if she were caught, nobody would assume she was hostile, at least.

    She stared at the hole in the ground and started to think.  She didn’t really want to crawl in there and get covered in blackened dirt again - Lois was so kind to clean her clothes, she didn’t want to insult her.  Those machines were just sitting around at the moment with nobody around.  Maybe she could borrow one?  They couldn’t be any more complicated than her space ship.

    Kara climbed into one of the machines with a giant arm and shovel, and started to move the levers.  Nothing happened.  There must be some kind of start mechanism, she thought.  She remembered that the Kent’s pickup truck had a key...so she found one, and turned it.

    The diesel engine started with a roar.  She hoped nobody heard it, but it meant she would have to learn fast, and then work fast.  Some more pushing around levers and pedals, and she started to figure out, basically, how it worked.

    After a bit of digging with the shovel, Kara hit metal.  One more deep scoop lifted the small ship to the surface, but the shovel was not large or deep enough to lift it out of the hole.  So she pushed the ship up the edge, and then shut off the engine of the yellow machine.

    At that point, enough of the ship was exposed that she could grab onto it and pull it free, so it was lying on the ground.

    Then she had a problem.  She was strong, but the ship was fairly large and difficult to carry.  Walking or flying around with a huge metallic tube was sure to attract attention, even if it was still dark outside.

    Like when she first arrived at the apartment where she was staying in Metropolis, she had to swallow her pride and independent spirit, and ask for help.  She flew back to the Kent farm, and tapped on the back door, which led to the kitchen.

    The door simply swung open when she tapped on it.  Kara found that alarming, so she snuck in and started looking around.  She froze when she saw a hunched-over figure in the hallway, but relaxed when she realized it was Jonathan Kent.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hi,”  she whispered, figuring Martha was still asleep.

    He slowly rubbed his glasses on his pajama shirt, making sure the lenses were nice and clean, and then he put them on to get a good look at the intruder in his home.  He recognized her right after that.  

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.  Kara.  Do you know what time it is?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No,”  she replied honestly.  “Um...but I urgently need help.  Oh, and your door was open.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It always is.”  He shrugged.  “Not much crime around these parts.  Let me get dressed, and I’ll see about this urgent help.”

    With that, he disappeared into one of the bedrooms.  While he got dressed, Kara looked around the living room.  It hadn’t changed much since she was there last, except that the front door was new.  Her heart sank at the sight of that - she broke the door, and he was still willing to help.

    Jonathan emerged then, squinting and unshaven, with messy hair, but dressed and ready to help.  “Now what’s so urgent?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“My ship,”  she replied quickly.  “I dug it up, but I need some help...I’m not sure where to hide it.”

    He smiled knowingly.  “I have just the place for it, young lady.”  Then he picked up his keys with a jingle, and led the way outside.  He didn’t lock the door then, either.

    The old pickup truck started with a rumble, but no one was anywhere near it to hear anyhow.  The driver’s door was still open, as Jonathan started it only to warm it up before going anywhere.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Mind giving me a hand with the trailer and tarp?”  he asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“The...?”  she started to ask, but he already was pointing them out to her.  She lifted the heavy plastic tarp and rope, and threw them into the back of the truck.  Then she grabbed the trailer hitch and dragged the entire trailer to the back of the truck, latching it on.

    He laughed when the job was complete.  “Reminds me of when I had Clark around the farm,”  he said.  Then he hopped into the pickup, and Kara took the hint and got into the passenger side.

    It was a short drive to the crash site, even with the relatively slow pickup truck, and having to follow roads in a roundabout route to get there.  Jonathan backed up the truck so the trailer was close to the edge of the yellow tape surrounding the scene.

    Without waiting for a cue, Kara hopped out.  She raced to the small space craft, and dragged it to the trailer, placing it as balanced as she could.  Jonathan got out of the truck too, to help.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, no,”  she stopped him.  “Let me do this.  It’s the least I can do after I broke your door and woke you up.”

    He nodded, but he didn’t get back into the truck.  He stood there watching her pull the tarp and rope out of the pickup bed, and cover and tie down the ship.

    Finally, she asked - “Where can I hide this?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’ll see,”  he replied with a smile.


---

    
    Far at the edge of the Kent property was a broken down barn.  It had two large wooden doors that were held by a rusted metal bar, which was held in place by a padlock.

    Jonathan wrestled with that lock for a bit before it finally let go of the metal bar.  He slid it aside, and then pulled one of the doors open.

    Then he shined a flashlight inside the dark barn.  It was built strong, though it had a dirt floor the beams were heavy and thick.  He pointed into the dusty place, and up to the partial second level, accessible only by a thin ladder.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I think if you put it up there, it will be difficult for anyone to remove it,”  he suggested.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where is Clark’s ship?”  Kara asked suddenly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It was up there.”  Jonathan said.  “But after he joined the JLA they came and got it.  Said it wasn’t safe for us to keep it here.  Probably they’ll come for yours too, once you get friendly with them.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“They don’t even know I exist.  So for now, this is home for my ship.”  Kara lifted the ship by the center, her arms and hands barely able to hang on to it.  She floated to the second level, where she deposited it lying down toward the back.  Then she returned for the tarp, which she used to cover and wrap the ship.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Nice work up there,”  Jonathan complimented as Kara stood at the edge of the second level, looking down.  “I can’t even see it from down here.”

    Without having to think about it, Kara dropped off of the edge of the upper level, and landed on her feet, with a slight knee bend and a puff of dust, on the dirt floor below.  She was carrying a small pack of items salvaged from the ship, wrapped in a silver foil-like material.

    Then Jonathan led her to the house, and into the kitchen where Martha was now awake too, making coffee.  

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I misjudged you,”  Kara admitted to Jonathan.  “When I first arrived, I thought you were a time waster.  But I see now when there is real work to be done, you work quickly.”

    He just nodded knowingly.  And then he added, “I taught Clark the same values, Kara.  He may have gotten a little soft moving to the city, but he’s still not far from home.”

    She looked down slightly, and her voice softened.  “Maybe I misjudged him, too.”

    Kara took the coffee cup offered to her.  She tasted a sip of it, and wrinkled her nose as she judged it to taste far worse than it smelled.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Put a cube of sugar in it,”  he suggested, motioning toward a bowl of sugar cubes on the counter.  “It’ll taste better.”

    She happened to glance out the window, and noticed that Earth’s yellow sun was rising above the horizon.  “I probably should return to Metropolis, before anyone wonders where I am.”

    Just as she said that, there was a creaking of the front door, and footsteps coming from the living room.  A quick count told Kara that everyone who should be living there was standing in the kitchen, so she steeled herself for an intruder.  Or worse yet, a guest who would wonder who she is, and why she wore a similar outfit to Superman’s.

    Fortunately the intruder was Superman, and he wouldn’t wonder why she wore a similar outfit.

    Without a word, Jonathan handed his son a cup of coffee.  “Did you come out here to see what kind of trouble Kara was getting into?”  he asked with a chuckle.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, not this time.”  Clark looked down at Kara.  “She seems to be handling herself pretty well.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why are you here?”  Kara asked quietly.  She finally gave up on the coffee and put down the cup.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I just returned from the Justice League orbital station.  They want to meet you.”

    Kara stared at him for a moment, her expression moving from shock to hurt, and then anger.  “You told them about me?”  she asked angrily, but softly, so she didn’t break the early morning quiet.  “Why?  What right did you have?”

    Jonathan stepped in to calm her down.  “Easy...easy Kara.  Take a deep breath.  Relax.”

    She sat down in one of the kitchen chairs, but only with a sigh of protest.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m sorry, Kara.  They already saw your ship crash.  They picked up the news reports.  They wanted an explanation.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Aren’t you one of the founding members?”  Jonathan asked.

    Clark nodded.  “Yes, but we treat each other as equals.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“And yet I hear you saying they a lot.  You didn’t think to tell them it was your own family business, and ask them to trust you?”

    Kara tried hard not to grin that Clark, Earth’s most powerful hero, was getting a dressing-down by his foster dad.

    Clark sighed, and lowered his gaze.  “I’m really sorry, Kara.  I...I try too hard sometimes not to make trouble for the other JLA members.  I can’t really reverse what I’ve done, so...I hope we can make the best of it and move on from there.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s okay.  I will meet them.”  Kara stood again.  “When do we go?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Martian Manhunter is waiting outside to transport us up to the station,”  Clark told her.

    Kara began to follow him through the house to the outside.  “He is a hunter?  He hunts and kills men?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No...I guess haven’t seen him do any actual hunting.  Especially not of men.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hmm,”  she wrinkled her nose.  “Then he has a stupid name.”

    Lowering his voice to a whisper, Clark said, “He can hear as well as we can.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t care.”

    And Kara meant it, too, because the first thing she said to Martian Manhunter just outside the Kent house was, “You have a stupid name.”

    Clark looked embarrassed.  But then he felt a little less so when his fellow JLA member just smiled.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Your name is Kara Zor-El?”  Martian Manhunter asked.

    She nodded.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“If you promise to accept my pseudonym, I promise not to tell you what your name means in my native language.”

    Kara thought about that for a moment, and considered that he didn’t specify what it meant, but he did imply it wasn’t something nice.  She didn’t know what his native language even was.  “Okay.”


    She craned her neck curiously as the green man twisted something hanging around his wrist.  There was a gentle but intense ‘puff’ sound, and a translucent and luminescent ring appeared in midair ahead of them.  The ring filled in, so that it looked like a translucent yellow window.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Here.”  Superman handed Kara a red piece of fabric he was carrying rolled up.  She took it, but didn’t really think to do anything with it at the moment.

    Without further hesitation, Superman stepped through the yellow window.  It shimmered as he stepped through, and then he was gone.  Kara glanced at the green man, took a deep breath, and stepped through herself.

    The air was different on the other side of that window.  It was colder...much colder.  Everything around her, including the floor, was made of a very strange metal, and her soft soled boots squeaked a little as she walked.  The cold could not harm Kara, but she also wasn’t used to it.  It prompted not a need for warmth, but a craving.

    She looked at the rolled-up fabric under her arm, and then grabbed the end of it, letting it unravel.  It was the small, red and gold edged emergency thermal blanket which matched her flight suit, including the ‘S’ symbol.  She salvaged it from her ship and brought it back to the Kent house, and Clark must have taken it from there.

    But then when she glanced at Superman, she made an amusing connection.  He had been wearing his own thermal blanket permanently as a cape all this time!  She shrugged, then, and figured, at least it was warm.  So she wrapped herself in it and followed Superman and Martian Manhunter.

    The trip ended at a large room that was hard to place.  The furniture made it look like a lounge, but the height of the ceiling, and the visual coldness of its surfaces, made it look far too clinical for lounging.  That aside, though, the roster of costumed people led Kara to believe this had to be the Justice League.

    Superman spoke up first, though it may have been because Martian Manhunter stared at him like he expected something.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is my cousin, Kara.  She’s a new arrival on Earth.”

    Unsure of what to say in response to that, Kara simply bowed her head slightly.  She also noticed that they were so used to people knowing who they were, they didn’t introduce themselves.

    There were some scattered greetings, which Kara returned, and a couple of them attempted to shake Kara’s hand, a gesture which she didn’t understand at first, but got the hang of pretty quickly.

    At least one of them she could figure out who he was right away - there was a man dressed as a giant bat, who was keeping mostly to himself, and didn’t greet Kara at all.  Each time she looked at him, he was staring at her with an unwavering gaze, looking a little annoyed.

    The man in the bat costume, however, just said one terse phrase.  “You two, in the conference room, now.”


---


    Of course when he said ‘you two’ he meant Superman and Kara.  When the two Kryptonians joined him in the conference room - a small metallic windowless room off of the main meeting area - and Superman shut the door, he finally spoke again.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I hope your cousin can keep a secret as well as you can,”  he said.  “Since she can identify all of us.  And I hope she can use her powers as carefully.”


    The way he said that, it sounded like he was expressing doubt about both Kara’s identity and her ability to keep a secret, as well as the ability to control herself.

    She didn’t like it one bit, but she tried to curb her anger and respond as calmly as she could manage.  “I did not ask to be invited to your little club in the sky.  You don’t tell me what to do.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Kara--”  Superman tried to protest her somewhat angry response.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, let her vent.”  Batman said.  “She’s fiercely independent, self-protective.  That’s a good thing.  If we can’t tell her what to do, neither can anyone else.”

    He moved closed to Kara, so she was looking up at his bat-resembling head.  She didn’t move, but she didn’t try to look intimidating either - she just stood still, waiting for him to say or do something.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I look forward to working with you someday,”  he said.  Then he moved very suddenly, and left the conference room, shutting the door behind him.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“He’s famous businessman?”  Kara asked Superman.  Clark simply touched his index finger to his lips, indicating that she shouldn’t say that out loud.  Then he led the way out of the room.

    
---


    The rest of Kara’s visit consisted of her walking around the Justice League station wrapped in the red and gold cape to keep away the chill, following Superman on a tour.  She only half paid attention to what he was saying, because he was so excited about all the amenities it had.  

    That did not impress Kara, because she saw a lot of that on Krypton, only....unlike Krypton, it felt like Martian Manhunter’s tech had all the natural familiarity removed from it.  It was cold, utilitarian, much like the air in the station that she shielded herself from with a cape.

    But Superman was impressed, so when he spoke she smiled occasionally and nodded.

    Her mind was elsewhere, on what Batman said before he left the conference room.  That he looked forward to working with her.  He was the only one who even implied she might be doing so, almost like he knew something she didn’t.  Or maybe like he was judging her character, and knew she would not be able to resist the pull of being a super-hero in the spotlight of public attention for long.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You look bored.”  Superman finally noticed.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, I’m not--”  She began, but then she decided that he deserved more truthfulness, so she changed her tune.  “Yes, I am a little bored.  This is...things I have seen before, and I am not impressed with.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“On Krypton, right?”  he asked.

    She nodded.  “Only there it is more...comfortable.  Like your Fortress.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay.  But we have to tell the others we’re leaving.  It’s only polite.”

    Kara nodded again, and followed Superman back upstairs to a lounge, with tables, chairs, couches, and food.  The others were hanging around there and chatting.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I think we’ll get going,”  Superman told them.  “I hope you all enjoyed meeting Kara.  Maybe you’ll see her again soon.”

    There were a few scattered ‘bye’ and ‘see you later’ greetings, and then Kara turned and started to follow Superman out of the lounge.

    Just as they got outside, Kara saw someone approaching out of the corner of her eye, and she turned around quickly.  It was, of course, Batman again.

    He didn’t say anything this time, though.  He walked quickly past Kara, and stepped into one of the teleport pods.  He made eye contact with her briefly before vanishing in a flash of yellow light.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“He had to leave too, I guess.”  Superman noted.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“He is trying to get into my head.”  Kara replied.  “I figured it out.  He wants me to do something.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What do you think he wants you to do?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t know yet.”  Kara replied.  “I think he needs a favor from me soon.  A favor he can’t trust any of you with.”

    Superman agreed.  “Or he’d ask one of us.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes.”  Kara nodded.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“If he does ask you for a favor, Kara, be very careful.  He can’t protect you the way I can.”

    That made Kara smile, ever so slightly.  “I am supposed to protect you, remember?”


TO BE CONTINUED

Story written by Jason Froikin.  Most characters are property of D.C. Comics, used without permission.

These stories are making me interested in a character I'd often found a bit lacking in the comics.  I like that you show her gradually piecing things together rather than making huge sudden leaps of logic.  And if Batman's making plans, it's time to worry...