Chapter Text
As the small town of Smallville woke up to begin its day, the people milled about, unaware of the large newly created crater just outside of town. Amongst the dirt and fallen trees lay the body of one Natalie Lara Kent still donned in her Super suit.
It took Lara a total of three seconds to understand something was wrong. Unlike other members of the family, Lara wasn’t used to falling asleep in strange places, and such, waking up in the middle of an earth dent she had created sent her jumping into the air. She blinked, floating above the flattened trees as the sounds surrounding her registered.
“What the hell?” Lara said, staring at the crater. “How did I get here?”
Smallville was to the left of her – sputtering car engines, the distinct smell of farm animals, small number of heartbeats – and Metropolis was to her right – cars driving on smooth roads, subways moving under the ground, the overwhelming stink of sewage. It was familiar, but something didn’t feel right.
Lara was wearing her Super suit, which itself wasn’t unusual. She had become quite accustomed to wearing it over the past year; even if the design had changed from nearly identical to her father’s to the turtle neck, sleeveless red and blue bodysuit, it was now. Her long black hair was braided into two tight Dutch braids. (She had tried flying with loose hair once and never again.) The red cape had been traded for a leather jacket, an idea she got from her eldest brother, Conner.
The problem was that she couldn’t remember why she was wearing it. She was also alone.
Her dad would never leave her alone whilst she was wearing it. If it weren’t her dad hovering over her, then Conner would stand in his place. She and the twins weren’t allowed to go superheroing unsupervised. Unless she had been with Young Justice, but something told Lara that wasn’t the case.
Lara descended softly on the ground, glaring at the crater as if it had all the answers. The last she remembered was going home from school, complaining to Jon and Jordan about the unfairness of taking tests …
She sprung into the air again and flew towards the farm, familiar voices rushing by as she focused on finding her family. Soon, the ba-dump ba-dump of her mother’s heartbeat reached her ears, and Lara’s entire chest concaved with relief, feet hitting the field behind the Kent home. She purposely landed loudly, the sound startling Lois in the house and making her exit through the back door.
“Mom,” Lara called, ignoring everything inside of her that it was wrong, ignoring the confusion on Lois’ face. “Mom, I don’t know what happened –“
Maybe if Lara had listened to the signs, had paid attention to how the Kent home only had four bedrooms instead of five, the different way her mother wore her hair, then she would have noticed how Lois grabbed a strange device and pressed the button on it.
The device screeched, and Lara couldn’t help up curl into herself, hands futilely over her ears.
“Please!” she cried. “It hurts!”
This wasn’t her mother. Her mother would never hurt her.
The noise stopped, but Lara kept herself still, ears still ringing as the thunderous boom of Superman landing echoed afterwards.
Lara uncurled herself and froze when she meant the unfamiliar red eyes on her father’s face.
“There are worlds, Lara,” her father’s words flowed through her mind, “where I’m a horrible person. In some, I am a tyrant, someone no better than Luthor. In others, I never even arrived on Earth. Promise me, Lara, if you ever find yourself facing one of those alters, that you’ll do whatever you need to live. Run away, fight with everything you have, but you need to promise me you’ll survive. I don’t care how.”
Fighting Superman, any version of him was stupid. So was running away. How did you do either of these things when Superman was stronger, faster, and generally more experienced? Sure, Lara now knew from the lack of recognition that this Superman didn’t know her, but how long did that advantage last when he was the one who taught her all she knew?
While it galled her, Lara had no other option but to wave her white flag.
She threw her hands up in the universal – fuck; she hoped it was – the sign of surrender, keeping her eyes on Superman. Immediately, his red eyes bled away to his softer blue ones, frowning as he took her in.
Lara wondered what he saw. Did he notice how her eyes, unlike her siblings, was identical to his or how her hair was the same shade of black? If she smiled, would he see her slightly too sharp to be human, canine teeth, a feature she inherited from him? For all his performance, Clark Kent was simply too alien to truly be human, something she, unlike her siblings, mimicked him with?
“I found that they prefer their Kryptonian names over their human ones.”
She really hoped this worked.
“My name is Lara Kal-El,” she announced. She supposed saying something along the lines of ‘and I come in peace’ might have been a bit too much on the nose. Her dad would’ve thought it was funny.
Shocked, Superman’s entire body relaxed. Behind him, Lois gasped.
Huh.
Maybe, she did exist in this universe. Her dad had mentioned how, while similar, not all Supermen looked the same. Finding out that one of the many versions of her dad looked like Henry Cavil was a major disappointment.
“And I think I might be lost,” she continued. Lara should’ve stopped there, but nerves took control over her mouth, and the words just kept coming. “I don’t know how I got here, but I’m assuming it’s some kind of multiverse hopping? Dimension hopping? Switch? Extraction? I’m not up to date with all the multiverse language, but I know that I’m not supposed to be here.” She didn’t notice the amused look Lois and Superman shared. “I don’t know where I am or how I got here, but I’m honestly just hoping you’re not one of the evil Supermen I’ve heard about because, I’m telling ya, that’s terrifying, and even if you are the tyrannical ruler of the earth, could you please help me get home?”
Too caught up in her ramblings, she missed the sorrow that crossed Superman’s face, a sad frown on his brows.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his words stopping anything Lara might have wanted to say.
“Sorry?” Lara blinked. “For being a tyrannical ruler? Or you’re sorry because you can’t help me get home?”
Superman shook his head. “No, for scaring you.”
“Oh.” Lara didn’t really know how to respond to that. ‘Don’t worry, it’s fine’ would be a lie, because she was afraid of him, this stranger wearing her father’s face. Unlike Conner, she had never met other Supermen before, but she wondered whether he felt as lost as she did now, looking at a man who was her father, yet not. Did he feel as unsettled as she now, seeing her father looking at her without the familiar love in his eyes? “Just to make sure. You’re not, like, a tyrant, are you? Because that would be incredibly awkward…”
Because, you know, this entire thing wasn’t awkward already.
Superman smiled, but it wasn’t his showman smile, bright and cheesy. Instead, the crooked smile of Clark Kent graced his lips, and it took everything in Lara not to fly into his arms.
Daddy’s girl, she could hear Jordan say behind a cough.
And he says there’s no favourite child, Jon would say with a dramatic eye roll.
Lara really wanted to go home.
“No,” her da – Clark said, shaking his head. “Too much paperwork. Besides, Lois wouldn’t allow me.”
Lara couldn’t stop the twitching of her lips. It was the same thing her dad used to say at the beginning of his career.
“You keep the world safe, Superman, but who keeps us safe from you?” the reporter cried.
Superman, uncharacteristically dry, replied, “Admin. Paperwork is terrifying.”
It was one of Lara’s favourite videos of her father.
“I bet,” Lara couldn’t resist saying. “The PR and human resources would be a nightmare.”
Clark shrugged. “I could get other people to do it.” Lois slapped him on the shoulder. He stepped away from her, cradling the spot, raising an amused brow at his wife.
Lara swallowed thickly. Her parents did the exact same thing when her dad would say something stupid. It happened a lot more than one would think.
“I’m sorry about earlier, Lara,” Lois said, stepping from behind Clark. “It’s been a rough couple of days, and I panicked when I saw you.” Lara just nodded, fighting the childish urge to say that her mother wouldn’t have done it either way. “We’re not sure how, but we’ll do everything in our power to send you home safely.”
“Thank you,” Lara said. She didn’t think it was the appropriate time to say that even if they didn’t, her dad would storm into the world searching for her. If they were lucky, it would just be him, but if they weren’t, well, the Justice League were a bit overprotective with their kids, and not even her father could take Aunt Diana’s right hook and still stay standing.
“Come on,” Clark said. “Let’s take this inside. Tell us what you know, what you remember last, and we’ll see what we can do. I need to change too.”
Lara watched them cautiously, breath stuttering in her chest as Clark turned his back to her, Lois in front of him, walking towards the house that was Lara’s home, but also not. The way Clark’s hand settled on Lois’ shoulders; the way Lois relaxed against it.
Tears gathered in her eyes as she followed them, wishing for her dad to appear.
She could really use a hug right now.