Giants aren't always monsters
ย Krypton died in silence. Not because there were no alarms. There were thousands. Sirens screamed through crystalline towers while the planetary core cracked like glass beneath an ocean. The red skies flashed white with seismic lightning. But inside the tiny evacuation chamber buried beneath the House of El, all Kara Zor-El could hear was Kal-El crying. The babyโs fists waved helplessly in the air as she strapped him into the second acceleration cradle. He was so small. Smaller than he should have been, somehow. Fragile in a way.
โEasy, Kal,โ she whispered, though her own hands trembled violently. โIโm here.โ Above them, another explosion shook dust from the ceiling.
Her father, Zor-El, knelt beside the launch controls. Unlike the panic outside, his face looked frighteningly calm.
โKara,โ he said quietly, โlisten to me carefully.โ
โI know the coordinates,โ she answered too quickly. โEarth. Yellow star. Primitive civilization. I memorized them-"
โKara.โ That single word stopped her.
For one horrible second she saw the truth in his eyes. He wasnโt coming with them.
The chamber shook again. Somewhere far above, metal screamed. Alura stepped forward and cupped Karaโs face in both hands. โYour cousin needs you.โ
โI need you!โ Tears floated from Karaโs eyes in tiny silver droplets before the chamberโs emergency gravity corrected itself.
โYou are strong enough for this,โ Alura whispered. โStronger than you know.โ
Kara looked at the tiny observation window built into Kalโs cradle. The baby had stopped crying. His dark eyes blinked up at her, confused and trusting. โIโm fourteen,โ Kara choked out.
โAnd today,โ Zor-El said softly, โyou become the protector of our family.โ
The countdown began. Outside, Krypton split apart. The launch chamber doors opened to reveal the night skyโand the enormous wound tearing across the planetโs surface. Molten light bled upward into space.
Kara climbed into her seat beside Kalโs pod. Unlike most evacuation craft, these two capsules had been fused together by Jor-El himself. One navigation system. One destination.
โYou will see wonders, Kara Zor-El.โ Zor-El placed his hand over hers. โLive.โ
Time became strange inside the pod. Sometimes Kara slept for what felt like days. Sometimes she woke after only minutes. The shipโs AI fed them nutrient vapor and maintained gravity, temperature, and atmosphere while stars drifted endlessly beyond the viewing canopy.
Kal-El adapted better than she did. Babies, Kara discovered, could apparently sleep through existential despair.
She spent long hours floating beside his cradle, talking just to hear a voice. โYou wonโt remember Krypton,โ she told him once. โMaybe thatโs good.โ
Kal grabbed her finger with surprising strength.
โEarthโs supposed to be primitive,โ she continued. โNo interstellar government. No weather control. No atmospheric cities. They still use combustion in some places.โ
โYes, I know. Horrifying.โ
The shipโs AI occasionally displayed information about Earthโs dominant species: humans. At first Kara thought the files were corrupted. The measurements couldnโt possibly be right.
Average adult human height: approximately 1.7 Earth meters.
That was over thirty-six times taller than an adult Kryptonian.
Kara stared at the holographic comparison in disbelief. The human towered above the Kryptonian silhouette like a mountain. โNo,โ she muttered. โThat canโt be right.โ
The AI calmly informed her that the data had been verified by long-range probes. Humans were giants. Not metaphorically. Literally.
Kara slowly looked down at baby Kal.
Then back at the enormous human hologram. โOh, Rao.โ
Earth filled the entire sky.
The pod tore through clouds over endless farmland beneath a yellow sun brighter than any light Kara had ever seen. Warning sirens chirped through the cockpit.
SOLAR RADIATION EXPOSURE.
Then another message appeared:
KRYPTONIAN BIOLOGY ENHANCEMENT DETECTED.
Kara barely had time to frown before the world changed. Power flooded through her body.
Every nerve ignited with energy. She could suddenly hear the shipโs engines individually vibrating. She could see microscopic fractures in the cockpit glass. She could feel the heat of the sun soaking into her skin like warm water.
Kal began laughing. Laughing as blue sparks danced around his tiny hands.
โOh no,โ Kara whispered.
The pod crashed. Not violently. More like a bullet embedding itself into soft earth. Dirt exploded upward as the capsule buried itself in the middle of a Kansas cornfield.
For a moment everything was still.
Then Kara accidentally punched the emergency hatch off its hinges. The metal door vanished over the horizon.
Sunlight poured into the crater.
Kara carefully climbed out carrying her baby cousin against her shoulder. The world outside was impossibly huge. Every blade of grass towered above her like a tree. Clumps of dirt looked like boulders. The wind alone nearly knocked her over.
Then she heard it, footsteps massive footsteps.
The ground shook with each impact. A giant human stood at the edge of the crater.
He wore denim overalls and held a shovel the size of a skyscraper. Gray streaked his brown hair. His face was lined from years beneath the sun.
The human stared down into the crater. Kara stared back, and for one terrifying second neither moved.
Then the giant human spoke. โWell,โ he said slowly, voice rumbling like distant thunder, โMarthaโs never gonna believe this.โ
Jonathan Kent had delivered calves, repaired tractors, survived tornadoes, and once fought off a raccoon with a broom at three in the morning.
None of that prepared him for finding two tiny alien children in his field. Martha Kent handled it better.
โOh, theyโre adorable,โ she whispered immediately.
Jonathan blinked. โMartha, they fell outta space.โ
โAnd theyโre adorable.โ
Kara stood defensively atop the kitchen table while Martha set down a bottle cap full of water nearby. Kal sat wrapped in cloth beside her.
The humans were gigantic beyond comprehension Even sitting down, Martha Kentโs face hovered stories above them. Yet somehowโฆ she felt safe.
โWe wonโt hurt you,โ Martha said gently. Kara understood only fragments through the shipโs translation implant, but the tone carried clearly enough.
Jonathan leaned closer carefully, his enormous eye wider than Karaโs entire body.
โSheโs got that look.โ
โThe โIโll punch God if He comes closerโ look.โ
Jonathan chuckled softly. โYep. There it is.โ
Over the following weeks, communication came slowly.
The Kents converted an old glass terrarium into a temporary home while Kara learned English at impossible speed thanks to her enhanced Kryptonian mind.
Kal learned faster. Mostly bad habits. By six months on Earth he could hover.
By one year he could accidentally laser holes through furniture. By two years he had developed the terrifying ability to vanish at superspeed whenever Martha mentioned bath time.
Under Earthโs yellow sun her strength became absurd. A falling hammer bounced off her head. She once lifted Jonathanโs truck trying to help fix a tire.
Another time she sneezed and accidentally blew every chicken feather off three hens simultaneously. The Kents learned to stop being surprised.
โWhat worries me,โ Jonathan admitted one night while Kara sat nearby reading a book the size of a building to her, โis what happens when the world finds out.โ
Kara looked up. โYou think humans would hurt us?"
Jonathan hesitated. โSome would.โ
Martha reached out one careful finger for Kara to sit against. Kara leaned back against it automatically.
โBut some wouldnโt,โ Martha said softly.
Kara wanted to believe that. She really did.
Kara grew into adulthood by Kryptonian standards, still only two inches tall. Kal eventually did too.
The universe beyond Earth slowly revealed itself through hidden transmissions intercepted by Kryptonian technology. And Kara learned something extraordinary.
Humans were the anomaly. Most intelligent species across the galaxy were roughly Kryptonian-sized.
Earth was rare. A world of giants.
Some civilizations considered humans myths. Impossible creatures from exaggerated sailor tales. Others feared them.
Entire alien shipping routes avoided Earthโs sector.
Not because humanity was advanced. Because humanity was enormous.
Kara found the idea deeply funny.
Humans thought themselves ordinary while unknowingly standing among the largest sapient species in known space. But Earth still became home.
The Kents built miniature cities for them inside the farmhouse walls. Secret tunnels. Tiny libraries. Landing padsThe first time Kara saved a human life publicly, nobody knew what they had seen.
A passenger jet lost engine power over Metropolis.
People later reported โtiny flashes of blue lightโ beneath the aircraft moments before it stabilized itself impossibly and landed safely.
Lois Lane called it โthe Miracle in the Sky.โ
Lex Luthor called it โevidence of extraterrestrial surveillance.โ
Kara called it โTuesday.โ
Eventually the world learned the truth.
Not all at once. Piece by piece. A blurry photograph.
ย for experimental Kryptonian craft. And eventually, one day, Kara flew.
Not hovering. Not falling slowly.
She burst through the Kansas sky like a comet no bigger than a sparrow, laughing so hard she cried.
Kal chased after her immediately.
โRace you to the clouds!โ
โYou cheat with superspeed!โ
โYou cheat with experience!โ
From the ground, the Kents could barely even see them. A tiny figure lifting collapsing steel beams while police officers stared in disbelief.
The smallest superhero on Earth.
Humans expected power to look enormous.
Instead it came wrapped in a woman barely taller than a human hand.
And when Kal revealed himself later as Superman, public reaction somehow became even stranger.
โYou mean there are two of them?โ
โTechnically thousands,โ Kara corrected during one interview. โOr there were.โ That silenced the room.
Because suddenly humanity understood.
