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Unstoppable Supergirl Chapter 3: Drowning

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Trigger warnings: Implied child abuse.

Carnival - Smallville

“Well this is boring,” Mara complained as she downed yet another ‘fake’ juice as she called it earlier. She threw the cup in the trash can with disdain and cleaned up her mouth as Kara followed her.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad. Look! Let’s get in that!” Kara pointed at what she could only describe as a weird train that went up and down. Of course she did not want to try and guess its name and look like a fool in front of Mara.

“Kara, if you’ve never been in a roller coaster before, I am not going to be the first person to introduce you to one. That you’ll puke all over my face.”

So that’s what it’s called. “Oh come on!” Kara tugged her arm like a child asking their parent for permission. Mara rolled her eyes and kept saying no while Kara kept insisting until both laughed.

“Fine. But if I get puke in my face, you are so paying for the next hangout.”

“Deal,” Kara said and pulled Mara’s arm, a bit too hard for comfort but she noticed soon enough and slowed down so as to not hurt Mara’s arm.

Thankfully for Mara, Kara did not puke and was, in fact, much more at ease than Mara herself. “You sure you’ve never gone to one before?”

Kara shook her head. “I wish!” She understood Mara’s question of course, but she could not exactly tell her that she was Supergirl, Superman’s older/younger now cousin, and she’s used to be at incredible heights and fall quickly like a roller coaster does.

Soon after, they stopped by a cotton candy spot. “Which one do you want?” Kara asked while looking at Mara.

Mara stood quiet for a second rubbing her chin and said “that purple one.”

“Two of that one, please.” Kara ordered and soon after handed the two candies to the two girls.

5 minutes later, they came across High striker. There was one group of people before them, with one guy swinging the hammer and hitting a respectable height. Mara gave Kara a smug look and handed her the cotton candy before stretching her fingers and arms. With one coin to pay, Mara lifted the hammer and swung down. The bell hit the highest and Mara stood with a look of superiority.

Kara rolled her eyes. “Show off,” she said while handing Mara her candy.

“I gotta do it. How else am I supposed to impress you?”

“Why even try impressing?”

Mara shrugged. “I don’t know. Ego? Got a reputation to keep.”

Kara rolled her eyes again and made way to continue their exploration.

Then it happened.

“Run!”

“Get away!”

“Monster!”

Kara turned to the source of the screams. People running left and right, no clear target. Only away from something. And that something was a 20 feet tall water monster.

“What the fuck!?” Mara said and grabbed Kara’s hand and ran before Kara could react and pulled her but she inadvertently resisted, causing Mara to almost trip. Kara catches her just in time and the two spring into a run as the creature crawled.

As they ran, Kara tried to figure out a good excuse to disappear. She does not want to just up and leave Mara without a warning. That would just worry her senseless. But she can’t figure out anything until she and Mara are already out of the carnival and the cops are rushing in.

“What was that thing?” Mara said while panting.

“A big ass water monster,” Kara said serious while staring at the carnival. She had to get in. She had to go back and quick. People were getting hurt right now because she did not have a good excuse to run away. She should have just disappeared when she could.

“Well, that’s one hangout ruined. Got any other ideas?"

It took Kara a second to process her question. They had just been attacked by a monster, people were probably getting hurt, and Mara was just fine leaving? “People are getting hurt, Mara. And the cops are gonna want our testimony. We can’t just leave.”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t want to sit around waiting for them to interrogate me and treat me like a criminal. We are safe, aren’t we? So I say we can leave. There’s nothing else we can do, anyway.”

“Mara, no.”

“You gotta be kidding me. You want to stay for the pigs to interrogate you? Fine. I’m leaving.”

Good to her word, Mara turned around and walked away while Kara stared at her friend, wondering if she had said the right thing. But there was no time to think about that. She had to act. Supergirl was needed.

By the time she arrived, cops were shooting the monster to no avail. Bullets went right through it and out of its back. She knew what she was planning probably would not work, but she wanted to try anyway to be certain. She charged head on fists first and as she expected, she went right through it like the bullets.

She thought Well, there goes my hair I spend two hours styling, when she noticed how wet her body was after coming out of the monster’s back. She flew in front of the monster to take its attention away from the terrified cops who were starting to spread out. They were not trained for this.

The monster turn its attention to Supergirl and reached out to her but its hand went right through her. The force, however, was strong enough to push her down and against the floor; floor that was made of wood. Supergirl went right through it and into the water below.

It does not take her long to fly up again. The monster roared at her or at least it looked like a roar. Kara smirked and in her own way, roared back while shooting her heat vision. The warm beam hit the monster and instead of going through it, it started steaming the monster. Gotcha!

The monster covered its face and roared Kara could only interpret as pain and retreated, one step at a time until it fell in the river again. Supergirl pursued but all she could find was water. Well crap. Now where did it go?

Changing back to civilian clothing, Kara pulled out her phone and searched for Lana’s number. The phone barely rang before Lana’s voice came out of the other end. “Kara? This about the attack on the carnival?”

“You heard, huh?”

“Who wouldn’t! I’m on my way there now. You staying?”

“Yeah, I’ll wait for you here.”

Ten minutes later

Kara had just finished giving her testimony to one of the officers in the scene when Lana’s car pulled over. In the minutes before, Kara had given a call to the Kents and let them know what was happening and that she was going to arrive late. She also left a text message to Mara wondering if she was alright. She had not answered.

“Going to have to start following you around. You seem to always be on the right place at the right time,” Lana said with a smirk.

Kara chuckled before looking away from Lana and proceeding to tell her everything that happened.

“So big water demon appeared out of nowhere and attacked the carnival and you fought it. That’s it?”

Kara shrugged. “What else you want me to say?”

“Maybe a theory where it came from?” Kara slowly turned towards the river and slowly raised her arm and slowly closed her fist until only her index finger remained raised and pointing straight to the river. Lana rolled her eyes at the teenager and gave a sarcastic laugh. “Truly, you are a joy to interview.” She pulled out her phone and typed everything out before turning to the officers in the distance. “I’m going to scoop out the rest here. See what I can find. You should go home and rest.”

“Let me know whatever you find,” Kara added and Lana nodded. With that, the blonde girl walked away to a hidden corner and flew off.

Destination: her bed in the Kent farm.

School - Morning

Kara caught Mara just as the brunette slammed the door of her locker shut. “Hey, you alright” Kara said.

Mara rolled her eyes and turned away, heading for the classroom. “You done playing hero?”

“Really? You are mad about that?” Kara scoffed.

“We could have hanged out a bit longer some other place but no, you had to talk to the pigs about some bitch ass monster.”

“You are seriously mad about me wanting to help people?”

“Yeah I am. There were more than enough people there to give testimonies. On top of flying stupid showing up apparently.”

Flying what? “Supergirl was helping people.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like she always does. Lording over us how much better she is at this than we are.”

Kara had to take a couple of seconds to process this. Mara was mad that she stayed behind to help people, although it was under the lie of just offering a testimony, and she dislikes Supergirl because? “What you got against her?”

“Nothing. She’s just the perfect little ultra strong darling who hasn’t have a bad day in her life and is pristine and perfect and nothing can trouble her.”

“That sounds like a lot for just nothing.” Kara slapped herself mentally at that. It was supposed to be a thought, not a thing to say out loud. Then came the obvious reply.

“Fuck off.” Mara sprinted to the classroom and Kara stepped up behind her, muttering ‘stupid’ to herself as she did. Although she did not slow down, Mara did not raised her pace either when Kara caught up with her and the two entered together to the classroom.

The two sat together as they always did but Mara remained quiet while Kara twitched nervously. All this time had been nice and fun. She liked Mara and was happy to always spend time with her. And now she screwed up and pissed her off. And at last found out that she does not like Supergirl. Great. Just great, Kara.

Cafeteria - Lunch

“So you are just going to give me the silent treatment all day?” Kara said. Some might say it was not a wise move from her part, she agreed. But she had gone from being nervous to being annoyed that her friend was behaving like this. And when kara Zor-el is annoyed, she gets snappy.

“If I don’t, you’ll be getting nothing but insults and snap backs from me, bimbo.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Mara rolled her eyes. “Trying to be nice and not hurt your feelings, idiot.”

“Oh I’m the idiot here, huh?”

“We are really doing this.”

“I just want to know what did I really do wrong here!” Kara snapped and raised her voice. When she noticed eyes turning to them, she shrunk in her chair and started eating.

“It’s not you,” Mara muttered without looking at her. Kara was not even sure if she was supposed to hear that or if her super hearing caught it by accident. Either way, it worried her but there was not she could do about it for now. Mara seemed dead set on staying in her world for now.

“I’m sorry,” Kara muttered just loud enough for Mara to hear it.

“I’m sorry too,” Mara replied and the two continued their lunch break in silence. At the very least, she did not push Kara away and seemed to like Kara staying beside her. Or at least, that’s what Kara hoped for.

Smallville Radio Center

“So once again we got evidence on just how backwater useless Smallville is with the cops unable to stop one stupid monster. And don’t get me started on the D.E.O. They’ve been failing day one with the stupid guy flying all over Metropolis and now they can’t control one stupid town. This country is really going down the drain if this is what we can expect from our government agencies. Now let’s see what you guys in chat think.” Leslie looked over the display to her right as she said this. The chat was filled with people condemning the DEO for their failure. Others try to defend Smallville but are drowned by others saying reminiscing that Smallville used to be better and more peaceful before all the aliens came along.

Leslie laughed. “You damned right it used to be better. You know my parents used to take me here when I was a kid. It was so much better. You could actually play outside.” She lied. Leslie never stepped foot in Smallville before two weeks ago. And when her parents told her they were moving here, her immediate reaction was to scoff and pretend to puke. Despite that, her listeners reacted well to the comment. And the more attention she got, the more sponsorship came her way, and the more profit she got. Speaking of sponsorship.

“I’ll like to take this moment to thank the sponsor of this podcast, Lex buds. The best technology in audio media in the world. Get your new Lex buds at a discount from the link down below! Livewire out!” She turned off the computer and lounged back, taking a deep breath as she did. She pulled a cigarette and lighter from her pocket and turned it on as she sighed. Fucking finally.

Just then her phone rang and with a groan, Leslie picked it up. It was her father calling. “Yeah, what is it?” She said as if she was talking to an annoying friend.

“Hey Sweetheart,” Begun Donald on the other end. “I was wondering if you had free time to come visit us for a bit.” In the distance, Leslie could hear her nagging mother telling him something but the only words she could distinguish was “asking” and “tell her”.

“What the fuck for?” she said shooting smoke out of her mouth.

“Just a talk about your… program.”

That picked up Leslie’s attention. Chances are the DEO and probably jackass Ben Krullen were egging them to make her stop her podcast. Leslie grinned. This was exactly what she wanted. “Tell Krullen and the DEO I’ll shut up when I get what I want.”

“Right,” Donald begun and swallowed for a moment. “Could you still come, honey?”

Leslie rolled her eyes. She checked the time and said “Ok, fine. That was my last segment for the day.”

“Thank you sweet heart.” he said relieved and hung up. Leslie rolled her eyes again. Time to hear mom whine for the millionth time.

Kent Farm

Martha Kent was always ready for visitors. It was an obvious skill to have when you live in such a small town. Everyone knows everyone and sooner or later they come to your door bearings with leftover fruits they are not eating and did not want to throw in the trash. But there were those who did it often, like Pete Ross, Clark’s childhood friend. He often came bringing leftovers from his burger joint that will not last the day. He does it for all of the community. Martha does not like them but Johnathan is a massive fan so she stores them for the end of the day when he comes back from working the farm.

Then there is those that visit rarely. Those that make their presence once in a while or none at all and martha only sees them when she crosses paths with them in town during grocery runs. A good example of those would be her current visitors; Vincent and Mary Strong. Also known as Mara’s parents, the girl Kara swears up and down is actually a good person.

Martha and Johnathan had decided to put their trust in Kara with that particular subject, especially because of how much happier she looked now. So although Martha put on a happy face, inside she was worried what it meant to see the Strongs here. Did Mara do something wrong? Did she drag Kara into something worse? She would find out soon enough.

They were sitting in the living room. Martha had given them a coffee and called Johnathan in. Mary was a sweet woman in her 40s, dressed in a long dress covered in flower designs that reached her ankle. Vincent was a big man for being in his 50s. Much bigger than Johnathan right now who had put on a couple of pounds lately. Where Mary had a bright smile, Vincent had a stern softer smile. She remembered how reserved and distant he was when he was younger and he had not changed a bit.

“So what do we owe the pleasure, Vincent?” Johnathan spoke out after the customary small talk of the weather and how they were all doing.

“Well, Johnathan,” Vincent started, his voice much deeper than even his appearance would lead someone to believe. “You know our girl’s been spending time with that new niece of yours, right?” Johnathan nodded.

“Is everything alright?”

“Oh yes!” Mary chimed in. “Absolutely wonderful. We are glad actually. Your girl seems so sweet, like Clark was, and we are sure she is a good influence on Mara.”

“A necessary one,” Johnathan interjected with a groan. “We all know that girl can be a handful. She hans’t caused you any trouble, has she?”

“Oh no,” Martha replied. “She’s only come here a couple of times and she’s been on her best behavior.”

Vincent sighed in what looked like relieve. “Thank god. I was afraid she would cause you trouble too.”

“Rest easy, Vincent. Everything is fine,” Johnathan said.

“Actually,” Mary begun. “We were thinking if we could come back for dinner later? All of us! We would love to meet Kara.”

“And see how good Mara is behaving,” Vincent shot.

Martha and Johnathan looked at each other. An impromptu dinner with another family was not was Martha was expecting and it meant cooking for six instead of three. Johnathan gave her the same look he always did when he left the decision up to her. He knew how much it took out of her having guests in. She took a deep breath and turned to the Strongs. “Of course! We would love it. I’m sure Kara would love it too.”

Willis Residence

The loud opening of the doors and her boots hitting the glossy floor of the residence was always Leslie’s way of announcing her presence. She knew it would leave some damage and her mother would be furious. But she could suck up whatever shit she had in store for Leslie. Susan Willis was not someone that deserved any consideration as far as Leslie was concerned. Just an uptight old bitch who thought she was much more than she actually is.

“Honey! Glad you could make it,” her father said as he gave her an unwelcome hug but Leslie endured it all the same.

“Of course I did, you made it sound really fucking important.”

Donald pulled back with an awkward smile.

“It really is, young lady,” the annoying hiss of a voice of Susan said and Leslie looked behind her father to her mother. She was sitting in the dinner table with a cigarette in hand. So dad lied about her stopping. Figures. “You are being trouble again. The DEO is angry.”

“Good!” Leslie shot back. “Better that way. Maybe they are ready to let us see John now.”

“It’s not how it works, sweetheart,” Donald began. “We have tried everything and we’ve been… advised to wait it out for now. We will get to visit John eventually.”

“Eventually,” Leslie scoffed. “That’s a lot of bullshit, dad, and you know it.”

“Shush young lady. That language is unbecoming of you,” Susan said.

“That’s a lot of fucking bullshit, dad, and you know it,” Leslie said without turning to face her mother. “They say eventually and before you know it, three years have passed. We have to push them now! And if you don’t do it, I will.”

“I thought that might be the case,” a third very familiar voice joined in and Leslie turned to find Dick. He was waving a card in his hand as he approached her. Best big brother comes to the rescue as he always do. Leslie did not hide the smile as she saw him. She knew what it meant and had a good idea of what that card was. “Spoke with Ben and he spoke with a couple of people and we got ourselves some exclusive passes for Belle Rive.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Leslie said and reached out for the card only for her brother to pull it back.

“Under the condition you stop bashing the DEO.”

Leslie scoffed and sighed. Bashing the DEO wasn’t just a strategy to get what she wanted, it was also bringing in a lot of new ears to her podcast and in turn more sponsorships. That last one from Lexcorp was a godsend and the first of what she hope would be many sponsorships from them. Lexcorp paid very good. “I can tone it down. But I can’t stop it. Gotten a lot of good deals out of that shit.”

“They are willing to cover whatever money you lose over it,” Dick said. Interesting, she thought. Dick wasn’t as stupid as he looked. He knew what she knew and negotiated on her behalf it seems. Probably why someone like Ben Krullen managed to win here in stupid Smallville. Even backwater hillbillies like them would not fall for Ben Krullen unless there was someone as smart as Dick backing him up.

“Are they willing to cover Lexcorp levels of payments?” She shot back with a smirk.

Dick kept his own smile like the politician he was. “I can convince them to.” He handed over the pass to a grinning Leslie as she barely held back her excitement. At last, her little brother was within reach.

Kent Farm

Kara busted through the door without a second thought and stopped herself short of ripping the handle off. Geesh Kara, slow down a bit, she thought before closing the door with the care you give to a bird. As she did, she notice the smell of pork. Or was it chicken? She was still getting used to them and recognizing them was not coming easy. Either way, Mrs. Kent was cooking something huge and that was not the usual. Kara walked into the kitchen to find the old woman cooking as if her life depended on it. She moved from one side to the other, checking on multiple dishes and setting down multiple plates.

Kara had to hand it over to the woman. Despite her age, when she concentrated on something, she was a machine that would not stop until she fulfilled her purpose. “What’s going on here,” Kara said as she put her backpack on the table.

“Oh Kara! You are finally home!” Martha turned on her heel and gave Kara a kiss on the cheek before turning again and continuing her work. “We have visitors later tonight. The Strongs.”

Kara’s eyes opened wide. “The Strongs? As in Mara’s Parents?”

“The very same.”

“Why are they coming?”

“Well I think they want to meet you since you are hanging out with their girl.”

That’s nice, Kara thought. On the one hand, it was interesting and she was curious to meet them as Mara never talked about them at all. On the other hand, Mara did not talk about them at all. The few times Kara asked to make small talk, Mara shrugged and said something short like ‘they’re fine’ or ‘same as always.’ Whatever complex Mara had about her parents, Kara did not have a clue what to feel. So she defaulted to what she thought Martha would expect her reaction to be: “That’s great! I’ll go get ready then!”

Before Martha could turn, Kara blitzed upstairs to her room.

Smallville Gazette

Lana scrolled and wrote down without breaking a sweat. For several hours now, she had been looking for any clues about the monster Kara fought at the carnival. So far she had only found local legends about fish monsters and ghosts in the river. Nothing that pointed exactly to what our watery friend could be. She lied back and cracked her fingers as if she was waiting for the answer to come to her. Something that made sense. Maybe a disturbance in another part of town. Someone jumping into the water and disappearing for hours only to come back unharmed. Maybe a scandal about a company dumping toxic wastes in the river? Something had to be out there.

When she saw Sheila walking her way, Lana hoped it would be good news; hoped that maybe she found something interesting that would point her in the right way. Instead it was her least favorite subject.

“Guess who’s in Smallville,” Sheila said with a mix of both sarcasm and annoyance. Sheila was basically the only other employee of the gazette. Between her and Lana, they have been doing their best to keep it afloat and deliver factual news to the people of the town. This was Clark’s fault of course. With his heroism and his inspiring aura, Lana had to keep up and do her part for the world.

“I feel like I’m going to cry when I hear it.”

Sheila nodded. “Leslie Willis.”

Lana groaned. Leslie fucking Willis. The one and only rage baiting, gossip spreader, attention seeking, greedy excuse of a journalist. Lana listened to her podcast once and it was more than enough for her to move on with her life. It was not worth losing years of life listening to Leslie’s spiel. “What the fuck?” was all Lana could muster to say regardless of how she fell about swearing.

“She announced it on her last podcast. I checked with the local busses for passengers and yeah. She’s here.”

“Let me guess,” Lana started as she held her temple. “She’s looking into her little bro turning psycho.”

“And bad mouthing both Smallville and DEO over arresting it.”

“Bunch of lies?”

Sheila nodded.

Lana sighed. Another problem to deal with.

Kent Farm – Night

Kara did not know what to expect when she found out the Strongs were visiting. She paced all day long as she waited for the fated hour where they would show up with Mara in tow. She couldn’t wait to meet them at last but at the same time Mara never spoke about them. Barely mentioned them. And that gave Kara pause. Was there something wrong with them? She thought. Were they too stern? Too pushy? Too demanding? Kara’s thoughts raced like wildfire while she waited.

When the knock finally came, Martha’s hair flew as Kara rushed in with superspeed and opened the door before her. The greetings came soon after as Mary beamed when she saw Kara at the door and greeted her with a hug, praising Kara’s appearance. Behind her was Vincent, as tall and big as Johnathan if not bigger. He barely gave a Kara an approving look and smile before shaking a firm hand with Johnathan while Mary hugged Martha. At long last behind them was Mara. Unlike her parents, the Kents and even Kara herself who spent time preparing for the evening, Mara was barely any different then how she normally dresses and prepares. She had a black leather jacket on top of a black undershirt with a flaming red heart in the chest and jeans and boots of matching color. Her neck length brown hair was barely combed and her face only had the bare minimum of make up. Whatever else Kara thought, or overthought, of the night, Mara did not seem to have given it any thought at all. She stood with hands in pockets looking away from Kara with her trademark bored look.

Kara greeted her and Mara returned the greeting with very, very small smile that quickly disappeared. The night moved on quickly with everyone heading for the dinner room with long and loud conversations. Mary praised Martha’s cooking while Vincent spoke of the farm with Johnathan. Mara meanwhile was quiet, only touching her food from time to time.

“You ok?” Kara finally asked after several minutes of awkward silence from her friend’s part.

“I’m fine,” Mara replied nonchalant.

That exchange summarized Kara’s time with Mara in the last hour.

“Mara, please taste some of Martha’s cooking. She put so much effort into it and it’s delicious,” Mary chimed in when she noticed her daughter.

Mara groaned. “I’m not hungry.”

“Young lady,” Vincent’s voice boomed in with a thick southern accent and even Kara felt the shiver down her spine when he spoke. Even though she was at least a hundred times stronger than him. “Martha here cooked us this food with all her heart. The least you can do is show your appreciation and eat it.”

Martha chimed in. “Vincent it’s alright. If the girl is not hungry-”

“The ‘girl’ gotta learn respect and gratefulness. It’s what we’ve been trying to teach her all this time.”

“Big fucking job you’ve done,” Mara muttered to herself.

“What was that?” Vincent said.

“Nothing.” Kara noticed Mara tense up as she said that and she looked back at Vincent. His eyes bored into Mara for a couple of seconds before slouching back and taking a bite out of his food.

“This girl, I tell you, John,” he said with a relaxed tone. “What’s your secret?”

Johnathan laughed cheerfully but under his breath Kara could notice the tension in his voice. It was a small difference in how humans spoke that only Kara could hear. No matter how good of a liar they can be, that slight tension was as clear as day as day to Kara. Between that and their pulses, it is how Kara and Kal could tell when someone was lying. And right now Johnathan’s laugh was that; a lie. “No secret, Vince. Just patience and consistent enforcement, right Kara?”

Kara looked at him like a deer caught in headlights but quickly turned her shock into a smile and said “Right, uncle.”

Vincent laughed. “Look at her. Such a respectful young girl. That’s what I’m talking about. Can I talk to you, young lady?” the tone of his voice changed when he said that last part. From the cold and direct tone he had with Mara, from the sarcastic and jokey tone he had with Johnathan to now a charming and friendly tone that almost lowered Kara’s guard. Caught with no other response to give, Kara nodded. “You handling school alright?” Kara nodded. “Getting those good grades?”

“I’d be caught dead if I fail easy classes like that,” Kara shot. She slapped herself mentally soon after. The last thing she wanted was to come off as arrogant and rude. But it was already out. Mara’s short lived smirk, however, made it worth it. It was the first time in the whole night the taller girl had smiled.

Vincent meanwhile, laughed loudly, holding his belly as he did. “Spirited girl, is she?”

Johnathan, chuckled. “She is. Though I’d say she’s earned it.” he turned to Kara as he said it and gave her a soft smile. Kara opened her eyes wide before turning back to Vincent.

“I’ll trust you on that, friend. Wish others were the same.”

At that, Kara’s eyes shifted to Mara and the brown haired girl groaned before taking a bite out of her food. Kara reached out under the table but Mara pulled back without a word.

River bank

Ben Krullen walked around the river bank greeting people left and right with Dick close behind.

“So she finally agreed?” He said without looking at Dick.

“She did. But only if they cover all of the lost sponsorships she will lose in the progress. Including several from Lexcorp.”

Ben groaned. Lexcorp is one of his backers; Lex Luthor personally assured Ben of his support. If he was sponsoring Leslie’s bashing of the DEO, that means Commander Steel was putting Ben in a tough spot. “Send a message to Luthor about the whole thing. Let me know as soon as he replies.”

Dick nodded and pulled out his phone and started typing. “Sent.”

Ben nodded before shaking another person’s hand. “Remind me why are we here again?”

“Someone drowned here some years ago. The anniversary is getting close.”

Ben groaned. “Wasting time on stupid things like that. We have actual important work to take care off.”

Dick nodded awkwardly before countering “Yeah, but you know how citizens here are. You have to show your face to get them to like you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ben replied with a dismissive tone. He hated these gatherings, more than even Dick knew. He wanted to be in his office making important decisions to turn this town around. Modernize it. And instead here he is, on some stupid anniversary of some idiot’s death, shaking hands with braindead people and a water monster on the side. Wait, what?

The screams started quickly as the beast came out of the water, standing 20 feet tall. Ben wasted no time in running away with Dick close in tow as pandemonium exploded on the scene.

Kent Farm – Kara’s bedroom

It was an eternity before Kara could get away from the talking adults. Mary in particular could not stop bringing up the new makeup she was using or what she suggested Kara could use considering her 'numerous good features' whatever that was supposed to mean. Vincent stuck more speaking with Johnathan but occasionally commenting about Kara's grades and her aspirations. He even asked her if she considered joining the cheerleaders team of the school to which Kara considered giving him a piece of her mind but settled with a simple 'no'. None of it was the subject she was interested in discussing; it was Mara who she was concerned with.

Throughout all of this, the hard edged, no nonsense, brown haired badass was quiet, indifferent and distant. She had scarcely exchanged a word or two with anyone in the room. Rao knows Kara tried to start a conversation with her several times, but nothing worked. At best she got a short reply from Mara, at worst she got a nod or a shake of her head. At last, after giving the Kents a look, she was excused along with Mara to go to her bedroom while the adults continued their conversations.

"Fucking assholes," were the first words out of Mara's mouth when Kara closed the door behind them. The taller girl sat down on Kara's bed without giving the room a second look.

"What's wrong?" Kara asked while sitting down beside her.

Mara looked away and out to the window. "It's nothing."

"Mara…" Kara muttered. She reached out but pulled her hand back before touching her friend.

"You know what they said right before we came?" Mara finally said, still looking to the window. "You better behave in there, stupid girl. The Kents are good people and they don't need your tantrums. God knows what you are putting that girl of theirs through," she finished, imitating her father's accent with mockery.

Kara sat there for a second wrapping her head around it before deciding to let Mr. Strong know exactly what Mara has been putting this 'poor girl' through.

"Don't," Mara said before Kara could even stand up. She turned back to Mara to find her looking at Kara at last. "Don't bother. It won't do anything. Only make it worst."

Kara closed her fists hard enough to crush steel if she had it. What was this? she wondered. What is going on behind the closed doors of the Strong family? What was Mara not telling her?

She did not have time to wonder, however, as the screams reached her ears quickly. They were coming from the river bank, south of the farm. Ravast! Kara cursed in her mind a common kryptonian swear. Her parents would not be happy about it. Something is going on. Is it the water monster from earlier again? Nice timing! She cursed under her breath again as a thousands excuses rained on her minds to leave, to be somewhere else, somewhere far away from where her best friend needed her. But those people screaming… they needed someone too. They needed Supergirl. She has to go. She has to save them. She promised Kal.

“There is something I gotta do.” Kara stood up, every step heavier than the last as she walked towards the door.

“Can I…” Mara begun but does not finish the sentence.

Kara turned to her with a soft look on her face. “Yeah. Wait here. I’ll be back soon.”

As she walked down the stairs all she had to do was give Martha one look for the woman to know she needed to go. “Go,” Martha told her. “I’ll figure something out.” With approval, Kara sped out of the house before the Strong’s could even notice her.

River Bank

It did not took long for Supergirl to find the water monster as she arrived; she just had to follow the screams. Everyone was screaming and running around as the beast dragged itself over the ground. It roared and screeched, reaching out to grab people. Unlike last time, it seemed to be solid enough that when it grabbed a person, it succeeded.

Supergirl rushed in and grabbed the woman it had taken, ripping the arm off of the watery beast. The arm dissolved under them, turning into pure water and releasing the woman. Supergirl lowered the woman to the ground and let her run, focusing again on the monster. That’s enough, you big draggen liquid. I have a friend waiting for me.

She flew in and around the beast like an annoying mosquito, throwing light punches at the monster. After a few minutes, the beast turned its attention to her at last, ignoring the panicking people running away. “That’s it you big ugly thing. Follow me!” she yelled as it turned to her. The beast reached toward her, giant hand covering most of her body, but Supergirl remembered her last encounter with it at the carnival. She remembered what made it run away. What hurt it.

The creature seemed to be changing, becoming more solid as it reached her. At the same time, she charged up, eyes glowing red until…

A roar echoed in the night, reaching the ears of everyone all over Smallville, a thunderous sound that threatened to deafen everyone.

The creature stepped back roaring while looking at its decimated arm. “Got your number now,” Supergirl said with a smirk. The monster roared once again but the roar changed, twisted. Her previous excitement turned to confusion as the roar’s pitch heightened and changed to a scream. A very human scream. A cry.

“Help!” It yelled. The beast yelled. It cowered back like a scared child as it looked at her. “Don’t… Hurt…. me…. please.” the words came out with difficulty, as if someone was gaining the ability to talk at last. She could see the tongue forming and deforming in it’s mouth. Moving to form those words. What is this? She thought.

Not knowing what else to do, Supergirl raised her hands in peace at the cowering beast, it size had begun to reduce. She landed in front of it and took a step forward. “Easy, easy,” she begun. “You alive? You can talk?” The monster nodded sheepishly. “Ok. Who are you? Why are you attacking people?”

“Not… attack… Help…”

“You are trying to help?”

It shook its head. “Help… me…”

Despite her speed, Supergirl was caught off guard. She was not ready to move at super speed as the shots went off and hit the monster. It was the cops, they arrived just in time to shoot the cowering creature. It roared and sprang away. She tried to tell the cops to stop shooting but it fell on deaf ears. The beast, with seemingly more control over its body now, dragged itself back to the water and disappeared, leaving Supergirl staring confused.

Smallville Gazette

“It asked for help!” Kara said standing in front of Lana across the desk, still in Supergirl costume.

Lana sat with a neutral expression, thumb on her chin, index in her forehead.

“What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know, but I may have a lead,” she replied and pulled a folder from under her desk, opening it and putting it in front of Kara. “Casper Shelley. Drowned in the river five years ago. They never found the body.”

“What you think this is his ghost?” Kara replied with a sarcastic tone.

“You’d be surprised how crazy our world has been for decades. Even before Superman existed. But no, I don’t think it’s his ghost. But it may be related.”

“How do you know?”

“Because it’s either that or the thousands of radioactive waste they have supposedly thrown in the river for decades. And considering there hasn’t been any deaths due to radioactive poisoning in Smallville, I’m not inclined to believe that conspiracy theory.”

Kara rolled her eyes with a smirk before nodding. “OK. I’ll come back tomorrow after school.”

“I’ll meet you there actually. First place to investigate will be the school anyway.”

Kara nodded and left, flying off and heading back to the farm as quick as possible.

Smallville High - next day

“I’m sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry,” Kara kept saying as soon as she saw Mara. The taller girl rolled her eyes endlessly at her friend’s apologies before shutting her up with a wave.

“It’s alright, Kara. You don’t have to beg,” she finally said with an annoyed tone. “Your aunt told me you help out Lang in the gazette.”

Yes, that wonderful excuse. Not exactly what Kara had in mind nor what she wanted. The last thing she wanted was to let people believe she wanted to be a journalist. Hell no, she had no patience for the thing. They were the equivalent to the archivers back in Krypton. They recorded history and events and saved them in the grand library where everyone had access to them. It was one of the first things her father tried to train her as; only for Kara to punch the display of the machines over and over again in frustration. So to use that as an excuse was probably not the best on her part, but it is what she had and she did not give Martha much of anything else to say. “Yeah, there was a big attack by our water friend.”

Mara replied with a disinterested “huh” before turning around and heading to the classroom with Kara in toe.

As they entered Mara stopped dead in her tracks and groaned before sitting in her chair. Kara looked beyond her to find the last guy she expected to find next to their chairs: Josh Bender. “Josh?”

“S’up, Kara. How you doing?’

“Great! Just… great.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “When did you decided to finally attend this class?”

“When I found out what the teacher looked like.”

“What?” Kara almost yelled before controlling her voice. “Don’t be dirty.”

“I mean… she does have those tanks,” Mara said with a soft smirk.

“Mara!” Kara once again almost yelled before toning down her voice.

“She’s right, you know?” Josh added.

“I mean yeah! But…” it took all of Kara’s willpower not to facepalm as she agreed with her two very smiling and smug her friends as they looked at her. “You two are terrible influences on me.”

Before either could reply, Karen Starr’s voice boomed into the classroom as she entered. “Alright kids, get your books out, go to chapter 14, chop chop. We don’t have time to waste. Good to see you at last, mister Bender. I hope my class proves to be as entertaining to you as your jokes.”

Josh gulped as Mara and Kara chuckled.

Lana was outside of school at 3:00pm, the time when school was done. She wanted to spend more time with Mara but Kara had a job to do as Supergirl. She had to find out more about the water monster and she will only do that with Lana’s help. Bidding her friends goodbye, she got in the car and the two set off. Their one lead: Casper Shelley. Destination: The Shelley’s house.

Shelley’s house - Afternoon

Whatever Kara was waiting for when they set off, it was not this. The house was quaint, light green with exposed wood and brick exposed everywhere. It was a house that someone stopped building halfway through.

When the door opened to greet them, Kara stood behind Lana as instructed. She was simply Lana’s intern from here on out. The little lie Martha told last night had officially become a reality according to Lana. Mrs. Shelley looked like a woman in her late 40s, hair disheveled, wearing only a robe covered in flowers. She instantly recognized Lana and hugged her with a smile. Lana used the excuse of her son’s anniversary to talk to her about it. According to Lana, the Shelley’s had instantly accepted.

Mrs. Shelley welcomed them both into her house and started preparing some drinks for them. Mr. Shelley showed up soon after, his heavy steps coming down the stairs an early warning to Kara’s ears. He was a short man with a belly a beard.

Kara had to hold back her impatience as the interview went on and on. Lana went the smooth and charming approach, stroking their egos just enough that they answered all of her questions about Casper. Not that it was needed. The Shelleys talked their hearts out about Casper without much encouragement. They told a story about a bright young man who was going to do great things and was taken too soon from them. Kara called bullshit in her head. She could hear the lies in their heartbeats. They were lying about something, though she was not certain what. Lana probed a bit more about Casper and they kept singing his praises. When they mentioned his grades being good, Kara picked up on that. They were lying and there was a slight shift in Lana’s own heartbeat. Something serene but direct. A slow uptake in her beat that confirmed Kara’s suspicions.

“It all changed when the factory closed,” Mrs. Shelley said. Lana picked up on that and zeroed in on it, asking more about it.

“It did,” Mr. Shelley said. “Was the best job I ever got. Got good money coming in. Then super something decided it was too bad or something and tore it down. Can you believe that?”

“Superboy stopped a lab that was doing illegal experiments. Said Lab was under the factory. They were experimenting on children,” Lana countered in a particular infuriating tone of being nice but throwing a jab. One that would make you look like the bad guy if you took the bait.

“Who gives a crap! They were giving out good money!” And Mr. Shelley took the hook, line and sinker. “You tell me, those experiments were for the best. Look at all the crazy kids running around with powers nowadays. You ask me, they shoud all be locked up and experimented on.”

Mrs. Shelley tried her best to calm down her husband in the sweetest fashion but he was a machine gun going off on all sides. Kara held back as much as she could of her own anger as he kept rambling on.

“He had problems, you know?” Kara and Lana both hooked on that. “Casper. He had so many problems. We tried our best, you know? Tried to help him.”

Kara zeroed in on his heartbeat. There was something weird about it. It was as if it was a lie, but not quite. The rhythm was there, but there was honesty mixed in. Just like his rambling earlier, which gave Kara a good sample of how his heart beats when he tells the truth, she could feel it here but mixed. Difficult. It was just like… Mr. Strong’s.

When it was clear they would get no more new information out of them, Lana skillfully disengaged and got them both out of the house and back to her car.

“I feel something else was happening there,” Kara said.

“A lot more,” Lana replied before handing Kara her phone.

“What?”

“Check the pdfs in that folder.” Kara did as told and opened the files and speed read them. They were all hospital files. Hospital files about Casper Shelley. “For a kid that never picked many fights, he was in the hospital a lot. And not because he was sick.” She was right. Bruises, falls, accidents. Casper had it all in terms of injuries. Kara did not want to finish painting the picture in her head of what it all meant.

“How did you get these?”

“Got a friend or two in the hospitals.” Lana looked at Kara. She was still staring at the files. “I know, it looks bad.”

“There was something weird about them when I heard their heartbeats. When they were talking about Casper. It as if they both lying and telling the truth. As if they loved him and miss him, but there’s something deeper, something neither wants to admit.”

“Sounds about right. People like them can’t see what they were doing is wrong. But deep down, they know. Deep down, something tells them. Otherwise they wouldn’t hide it.”

It took Kara a great amount of focus to not crush Lana’s phone in her grip. She handed it over to avoid any risk of it happening as the full picture came into view. “What does this have to do with the Water monster.”

“Don’t know, but we’ll find out. Just need a bit more research.”

Belle Reve - Outskirts of Smallville

Leslie could not help but keep a smug smile as the DEO agents let her into the prison. She looked at them with the same satisfaction she had back when she proved everyone wrong by making her podcast a sensation with the hottest takes. Bringing in thousands of citizens and prime sponsorship deals. Leslie Willis always gets what she wants, she thought to herself.

The guards led her to a deeper part of Belle Reve where outside light did not enter. It was illuminated with white light from the top. The walls were grey and dull with no distintictive features, only doors on both sides of the walls. Leslie looked at the doors small windows into the rooms; they were all empty, but it was clear to her what they were: cells.

At long last they led her to one of the doors at the end of the hallway. It was the exact same door as the others, but this one had a guest. Or rather a prisoner; John Willis, self named Volt. Before Leslie could enter, however, a wall of a man intercepted her and stood between her and the door. He covered the entire door with his frame. When Leslie looked up, she saw a face with some grey on him, but otherwise looking as strong as ever. She knew exactly who she was dealing with.

"Special agent Heywood. A pleasure," she said.

Heywood looked at her with a neutral face and said "Would love to agree, Ms. Willis. But I cannot."

Leslie scoffed. "Whatever, brick for brain. You gonna let me see my brother or do I have to bash you even harder than I've been the last two weeks?"

"Just wanted to make some things clear. You cannot enter with anything electric, anything metallic, anything else he could use to escape." One of the guards stepped in and Leslie rolled her eyes before handing over her bag and phone. "Secondly, I have to warn you of the danger he poses. He is still a powerful meta human after all."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't need that warning. He's my brother."

"Still I have to for legal and political reasons. And third: I don't care how much pull your family is making to force us to agree to this: you are most certainly not welcomed here and if it was up to me, your brother would be halfway to Blackgate penitentiary by now."

"But it isn't, is it Agent?"

"But something I can confidently say is: He will not be out of this cell for a long time."

Leslie smirked. "Agree to disagree. Now, can I see my brother?"

Without a word, Heywood stepped aside and gestured her in. Before stepping in, she turned to the major and asked "We will have privacy, yeah?"

Heywood groaned but nodded. Leslie smiled and stepped in.

The very second Leslie stepped into the room, John was on his feet yelling her name. He had what could only be describe as a metallic straightjacket, with lights flashing and others permanently on all over it, all shining green. One cable extended from the jacket to the wall behind him, stopping him from coming any closer. Leslie swallowed the anger inside at seeing her brother like this and moved forward.

"Leslie! Get me out of here, please!"

Leslie shushed him slowly, calming him down, and held his face in her hands. "It's ok, little spark. It's going to be ok. I'll get you out of here soon. I just need more time."

"I shouldn't be here! It's their fault, not mine!"

"Who's fault?"

"Mara and that new girl. They humiliated me in front of the school."

Leslie rolled her eyes internally at that. Not the first time he had gotten himself in this type of situation. With the obvious exception that this time he had powers. If the reports are to be believed. "I know. It's not your fault and we'll sort that out soon. But tell me first." She paused, looking at him in the eyes before continuing. "Do you actually have powers? Just nod." He did. She lowered her voice. "How?" He hesitated for a few seconds. "You have to tell me. Please."

"There's this," he begun, whispering as lowly as possible. "There's a barn. Outside town. There's people there. And… something else."

"Have you told the guards?" He shook his head.

"I said they just came and they didn't asked anything else."

Of course they didn't. Leslie already had her thoughts that maybe the old wells factory had something to do with his powers. Maybe the DEO thinks the same and are focusing on that.

"Am I going to be ok?"

"Everything is going to be just fine, Johnny. I'll make sure of that."

Smallville Gazette

"What now?" Kara said, roaming around the office, flipping papers and strolling around the office.

"Now, I research a little further and you head home."

"What? No, I can-"

"Kara, it's eight pm and I will be here for hours. You will not do anything in that entire time and you need to rest."

"I'm not human, remember? I don't need sleep."

"Clark certainly did."

"What?"

"Back when he was superboy. He thought the same. He was invincible and did not need sleep. Then one day he came in and had a hard time keeping himself in check. Broke several of the tables by just touching them. Broke some of my chairs by just sitting down. He was a mess. Finally he fell asleep in my bed and the next day, big surprise, he's good as new."

Kara looked at her with wide eyes.

"Go home, Kara. Rest. Believe me, you are not the only with a lot in your mind."

Streets of Smallville - Night

Kara moved through the streets with indifference. Dozens of citizens passed her by without her notice. Lana was right, she had a lot in her mind; and she hated that Lana knew. The last thing she wanted was to give people more reasons to worry about her, to worry she might go off and hurt someone. She's not a kid anymore, she has not been a kid in months. Ever since she arrived on this backwater planet where her baby cousin is actually an adult now and her entire planet, friends, and family are all gone.

Casper Shelley. The way his parents behaved, how their hearts and blood pressure felt to her. They were similar. Too similar to someone else's. Too similar to ignore. But she did not want to mention their names. If she did, that would make it official, it would put her in a situation where she knew there was little she could do. For all her power, she knew she could not just barge in and save the day. No matter how much her heart screamed at her to do it. She knew better and that infuriated her.

Her phone rang and as soon as she saw the name on the screen, her heart sank. Speak of the devil.

"Hey Mar, what's up?"

"Hey Kara. Was wondering if you could come to the new city hall."

"Right now?"

"Yeah. I'm already here. Could use a friend."

Oh no. "Sure, I'll be there."

New City Hall - Under construction

Kara looked over the new city hall with a mixture of bewilderment and confusion. It was one of Mayor Krullen's new pet projects. 'A new and modern city hall for the future' if the slogans are anything to go by. Why build a new city hall when the old was still up and running? And on the outskirts of the town no less? Was all Kara could think. But she was not the mayor nor was she interested what old politicians thought. Whether it was on Krypton or here, the one thing that never seemed to change was the politicians and their egos.

It took less than a minute to pinpoint that Mara was at the top of one of the panels in the third floor. Not making any noise, Kara got up using her strength and speed. She considered flying but that was too risky and Mara could see her. So she stuck to the basics of climbing.

On the third floor she saw Mara sitting on the edge of a panel, legs hanging loose, looking into the distance, and sat beside her.

"Everything alright?" She said.

Mara scoffed. "As good as they can be with crappy parents."

"Did they do something bad?"

"Not much. Just can't shut up about how good you look and how I could take pointers from you," Mara shot without looking at Kara.

"Oh no. I'm sorry."

"It's ok. It's not your fault. They are jerks all the time."

"Mara if there's anything I can-"

"Kara, stop. There's jack shit you can do."

Kara's jumped at her words and kept quiet.

"Just… stay with me a while. I promise, I won't keep you late."

Kara considered for a moment. This was not the Mara she has known for almost a month now. The Mara who was always sure of herself and ready to jump headfirst into problems without an ounce of fear in her mind. She was everything Kara was holding back for other's sake. And yet she needs her? She needs Kara's company?

By instinct, Kara reached out and rested her hand on Mara's. Mara did not respond, she did not pulled her hand away or jumped from the sudden contact. She sat unmoving, eyes glued to the distance. Smallville sat under them like a distant memory, living up to its name.

Smallville Gazette - Next Afternoon

"What are you saying?" Kara said, staring at Lana as if she had killed someone.

"Casper was abused, that much we are certain. So I went digging a little further and found this." Kara looked at the tablet and sees Casper's records.

"I already saw these."

"Not all of them. Look."

Kara browsed through the documents, absorbing the information on them at superspeed. These were not about fractures or injuries. These recorded Casper's physicality and biological development. Cellular structure, nutritional requirements, bone density, "What is this? They are treating him as if he were not…"

"A person," Lana finished. Kara nodded. She kept looking at the documents and kept finding the same reference. Casper needed water. A lot of water. Otherwise, his bones would start to soften, his muscles would lose strength, and his entire biological structure would collapse into one thing; water.

The next question came through gritted teeth to Kara. "Did the Shelley's work in the Wells factory?" Lana nodded. Kara closed her eyes trying to keep the rage in check. Now she knew what she was dealing with. "So let's see if I get this right; They let whoever it was to experiment on their kid for what? Money? And then go on to mistreat their kid for years and he what? Runs away from home from time to time to get a couple of moments for himself?." As she said all of this, Kara did her best to hide the gnawing feeling that she had seen this already. Been close to this type of behavior for a long time now. A child abused by their parents seeking an escape outside of their home. "And he… jumped?"

"No. He fell," Lana said with a light sigh of relief.

"How do you know?"

"There was a security camera. It captured his fall. It's how they know the exact location where he fell."

"So he fell and his powers activated there."

"The question is why now? Why not show up years ago?"

"He was just a kid, Lana. I don't think even he understood what was happening to him. I don't think he could assume a solid form until now."

"How do you know?"

Kara looked away in thought, remembering her earlier encounters with the monster. "In our first fight he could barely keep his form together. He was dragging himself, not walking. The second time he had a more solid form and manage to say something. It took him this long to get a hold of his powers. That's why he's showing up now."

"And today it's the anniversary of his death."

Kara's eyes widened. "And everyone is going to be there. Even the Shelleys."

"Kara, what?" Lana said with increasing worry in her tone.

"If you were a kid who fell and was stuck as water for years. Who would you blame for it? Who would you want to get back to after all of that pain?"

"Shit," Lana quickly grabbed her bags. "We gotta go there now."

"I'll go on ahead."

River Bank - Casper Shelley's anniversary

"And today we gather here to mourn the lost of a young boy and his promising future," Krullen started, with rehearsed sympathy while Dick typed on his phone. It was a speech Dick wrote as Ben could not be bothered to even learn the details of the whole thing. He just knew the previous mayor made this event and he would look like a bad person if he did not continue the tradition. Due to the recent attacks, the DEO insisted on stationing some guards here. Despite the optics, Dick relented while Ben had no problem letting what was an armed force be present on what was, effectively, a funeral.

As Ben continued his speech, Dick's phone vibrated. It was a text message from none other than Lana Lang, resident journalist and pain in the ass of the Mayor's office. Dick rolled his eyes and opened the message and his thought process changed.

"River is dangerous! Get everyone out!" Before Dick could react, the screams begun.

Supergirl rushed through the skies as the screams finally reached her ears. She arrived just in time to see everyone running away. The DEO guards were shooting and Supergirl followed their line of sight to find who we was looking for; Casper Shelley. He now had a solid form, complete with legs and a vaguely humanoid form. He was roaring in rage and swiped the guards away as if they were toys.

She rushed straight to him and tried to talk. "Casper! Casper Shelley, I know it's you." But instead of listening, the monster swiped her, sending her several feet away. She fell on the podium, tearing the thing down to pieces. There she heard them. Ben Krullen.

"Oh Supergirl! At long last! Please save us!" He yelled at her, grabbing her arm.

"I will. But first, you need to let go of my arm." It was there she noticed behind him the two people resposible for this whole thing: The Shelley's. "This is all your fault."

"What?" The mother said astonished. "We are just innocent bystanders here. We-"

"He is your son!" They both looked at her like deers on headlights.

"No way! Our son is dead!" The father said.

"No he didn't! The experiments you put him through worked! They turned him into that and-" Before she could finish she heard the roar behind her.

Casper was in front of them, a 20 feet tall beast towering over them all. He noticed his parents behind Supergirl and roared in rage, walking towards them. "Casper wait! You don't have to do this!" She yelled, flying in front of him with her hands up.

"You!" He started, voice booming in her ears. Not the voice of a child. "…Hurt, me!"

"I know! And I'm sorry. I didn't know who you were!" He roared at her and swiped her away.

"You hurt me," he said as he closed in on them. "You hurt me! You left me in water!"

"I know Casper! I know!" supergirl yelled again, flying in front of him and putting herself in between them.

"You don't know!"

"I know that too," she begun with drowned tears. "But I know someone who… who I think is also going through what you did. It's not fair. It's never fair. Your parents are supposed to be the ones to protect you! You are supposed to trust them. Their every word, no matter what. It's not supposed to be the way you had it. But hurting them is not going to help."

"How do you know!" He yelled, his voice clearer now.

"I already did it. Once. I hurt someone I hated. Someone who hurt me. I still don't feel better. I still hurt because I gained nothing. The pain is still there and now, there's nothing I can direct it too. No target." She stopped for a moment. Remembering her encounter with John Willis. "I thought I could use it, target it at someone else." Then she remembered Lily. "But I couldn't. I can't. Because it's not our fault. We did not choose to become what we are. You did not choose to become a monster. It was something done to you. I can't hate you. I can't want to hurt you. And if you hurt your parents too, you'll have nothing. You'll be back at hurting others in order to feel like your pain have meaning. Casper," she hovers closer to his face, caressing the semi solid form. "You don't need revenge. You don't need rage. You need someone who'll listen. Someone who'll just… be there for you."

For a second Casper looks between her and his parents, deciding, struggling. At last the tears rolled out and he fell on his knees. His roar turned to a whine, a scream, all the years of misery, all the drowned pain and misery at long last bursting through as the girl of steel held his human sized head in her arms. No words. He did not need words. Not anymore.

"Really wish things were simpler than this," Nate Heywood said, standing side by side with Supergirl. Casper had lost most of his solid form by now and was being carried on a glass box into a truck to be transported to Belle Reve.

"You'll take care of him, wouldn't you?" she said.

"Yeah, don't worry. My da- Leading Commander Heywood negotiated a program with Star Labs to cure meta humans."

"Leading Commander?"

"My father. Not me. God not me. I'm not built for that." Supergirl nodded. "We are also fully begining the investigation on the Well's factory experiments. Who would have thought there was more to it than we initially thought."

"Thank you."

"Take care, Supergirl."

"Wait!" she said as he turned to leave. "What about Lily? She's in Star Labs too?"

Nate held his breath for a second and said "Lily… Her convoy was attacked before it reached Belle Reve."

"What!?"

"We still don't know who it was. But according to the survivors it was a meta human. A very powerful meta human." Kara stayed quiet, processing the information. "Take care, supergirl."

Before she could finish thinking though, she heard the familiar voice of Lana Lang across the crime scene. She was with the Shelley's, grueling them over the whole thing. The Well's factory work, the abuse, everything. She does not let things slide Kara thought. After a few minutes, and the Shelley's walking out in anger, they crossed eyes and Lana nodded to her. It was her way of telling Kara to leave, to take a break. She'll handle things from here.

Kara gave her a grateful nod and flew off. There was a lot she had to think through.

Outskirts of Smallville

"So, what do you think?" The voice on the communicator said as the Shadowed figure held the communicator. Beside him was Lily and what looked like a boy with advanced technological glasses.

"He's not worth it."

"He's very powerful," the voice replied.

"He's a child who got stuck as a body of water in the river for years and barely managed to keep it together at the end. He's not worth it."

"Did you already read his mind?"

"First thing I did when I woke him up a year ago."

"And it took him that long to finally get a form together," The voice groaned. The shadowed figure nodded. "Alright. We'll pass up on him. What about the other two?"

The Shadowed figure turned to look at his two new recruits. "They are ready." The two figures stepped forward. One was a red headed short hair girl, the other a towering teenage boy bigger than all of them.

"The Flinders reporting for duty," the girl said with a smirk.

Barn - after midnight

Leslie Willis was not a superstitious person, on the contrary, she hated superstitions. Thought them worthless and ridiculous. There is no god or higher being, just people with tremendous power. Not even that Wonder girl or whatever she was called could convince her otherwise.

And that's what she thought of this little cult too. They were pathetic, worshiping beings of higher power according to them. Safe to say they were meta humans as far as Leslie was concerned. But meta humans that handed out powers like her brother's? That's something she wanted to see, something she would love to sign up for. And her fortune would grow, she would make sure of it.

She smiled with a sinister edge as from the skies four beasts landed slowly in front of the cheering crowd. One looked like a blue skinned readhaired tall woman, another looked like a reptilian humanoid creature, another looked like a humanoid grey skinned panther, and the last one looked like a shining white humanoid with a black solid mask.

"Greetings, loyal friends," the blue skinned woman begun. "Tonight we will repeat our motto once again as I sense new followers among you. New friends to bring to our light. All of you, step forward and be welcomed to our utopia."

Without a doubt, several stepped forward. Leslie froze for a second. This she did not expect, she was not ready. But before she could react the shining humanoid creature hovered above her. "You fear, child?" she said, her voice soft and kind, like a hand caressing Leslie's soul. "Do not worry. I sense a familiar affinity in you. Similar to that boy's." Leslie's eyes widened and stepped forward by instinct.

"My brother?"

"Yes. He was a most loyal child. Would you like to know more?"

Kent Farm

After what felt like an eternity assuaging the Kent's worries, Kara crashed in her bed, her supergirl costume stashed away in the washer while she had changed to her pijamas. It had been a long night and the last thing she wanted was to think about anything complicated. Anything that would remind her of the bad in the world.

And then the knock on her window broke her of her sleep. Groaning she lifted her head to find Mara Strong standing on the rooftop in her window. "What the hell? Mara?" she said as she opened the window and let the other girl in.

"You look like shit," Mara said with a chuckle.

"Well sorry, I can't look like a super model while sleeping."

"Bad night?"

Kara chuckled. You have no idea, she thought. "You could say that. What about you? What are you doing here?"

At that Mara looked away, embarrassed it seemed. "I just…" she begun, rubbing her arms.

Kara looked closer and noticed the beginnings of a bruise and her eyes turned red before taking one step towards her door. But before she could step out of her room to wake the Kents up and pay the Storms a visit, Kara found a hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her not by force but by a silent beg. A beg to not turn this into something bigger. "Please, don't," Mara said in the softest tone Kara never expected Mara to talk in. "I just need a place to crash tonight. I don't want to be there and Josh had a party so there's dozens sleeping there tonight."

Fighting her instinct to rush out of the room, Kara nodded, laying down face to face with her friend. But it only takes Mara a few seconds before tears begin to slip down. Kara knew she would not want to be seen crying, not like this, not out of nowhere. Even to her best friend. After all, that's what Kara would want too. So instead she pulled Mara into a hug, letting the taller girl bury her face in her shoulder, muffling the sobs and stopping the tears from touching the floors. No matter her power, no matter her intelligence, no matter her will, there's just some fights she can't win with strength or smarts. The best she could do is be there for her. Be there to make sure she did not drown.

Ending song

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