Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

PRESENT:

"You were right. The world doesn't need me." The words echoed in Alex's mind long afterward, even through the long drive home.  Finally, a few blocks short of home, she pulled over and opened her cellphone.  And dialed a number she hadn't used in a while. 

Alex waited through the rings.  When there was an answer, "Aunt Fay?  Yes, this' Alex.  I heard about that too.  But...Can you come over?" Alex asked.  "Please?  I think it'll help Kara a lot and - yes.  Oh thank you." and clicked her cellphone shut once the call ended.

 PAST:

"Your parents tell me there's a bully in your school," Aunt Fay said.

Kara listened, and couldn't hear either of her adoptive parents' heartbeats.  "We'll be fine," Kara said.

Alex nodded.

"Is that so?" Aunt Fay asked, sitting in the middle of the yard on an old folding chair, the girls standing a few feet in front of her.

"If he tries anything, I'll spit in his eye," Alex said.

"And if he tries to hurt Alex, I'll stop him," Kara said.

Fay smiled, which the girls by then had learned meant someone had played right into her trap.  "As I have told you before, girls, I am here to instruct you in how to win without violence."

Kara frowned.

"If this bully taunts you, and you spit upon him or hit him, who will be in trouble?"

"We will," Alex said.  And if Kara's the one who hits him, they'll take her away.

"Correct.  Now, how else might you avoid fighting the bully?"

"Run away."

"Hide," Kara said.

How apt.  "Yes, both of you are correct.  Or you might pretend to be on his side.  Allies are often the last ones a man will fight," Fay said.  Exceptions abound, true, but for now... 

"I don't want to pretend that," Kara said.

"Then do not," Aunt Fay said.

"Running, faking, pretending, and fighting," Alex said.  "What else is there?"

"Do you remember a game you showed me on my last visit here?" Fay asked Alex.

Alex was so proud, happy she could show off something she knew that I didn't, Kara recalled.

Alex nodded, and did the hand gestures for the give-me-five game of "Up high, down low, too slow."

"Yes," Aunt Fay said, watching for understanding to shine again in their little eyes.

"Fight him, but be faster than him," Alex said, with Kara saying the second half in time with her.

"Precisely," Aunt Fay said.

"I'm really fast," Kara said.

But can you be slow enough to qualify as merely 'fast'?  That is part of why I am here, Kara.  Seeing the slight nervousness on Alex's face, Aunt Fay said, "Show me, Kara," holding out her own hand, "Up high," and Kara slapped it lightly - sharp enough to welt on a human - "Lighter, down low," and Kara made herself move slower and with less pressure - it would sting, but little enough more than that - "Again, lighter, not slower, and..." and as Kara did her best to comply with that, Fay moved her hand to the side just enough for Kara to miss.  "Too slow."

"But I tried," Kara said.

"You did," Fay agreed.  "But you need to work on your speed.   Practice moving your hand out of the way in the 'too slow's," and gestured for the girls to practice on each other.

Kara nodded.  "But, are there other ways to win?"

"Acting."

"But that's just more pretending," Kara said, disappointed.

"Not entirely."

LATER IN THE PAST:

"Come in," Aunt Fay said, not getting up from her rocking chair in the middle of her living room.

The door opened, and Mr. Danvers stepped inside, closing the door behind him.  "We need to talk," he said.

"Why else would you have come here," Fay asked rhetorically.

"Kara got in a fight at school," Mr. Danvers said.

My neighbors here beat around bushes, as the idiom goes.  Fortunate indeed that he did not entrust little Kara to such as them.  "And?"

"We've been telling her and Alex to stay out of trouble, to behave themselves, to...  Why would you do that?  Why would you tell them it was okay to do that??"

'Aunt Fay' set her magazine down with more care than anyone would, and Mr. Danvers recognized it as the warning it was. "You and he asked me to instruct both girls in how to carry themselves, and how to avoid being singled out. What would be serviceable parameters in searching for a Kryptonian in human society?"

Mr. Danvers said, "Avoiding all fights, or a fight ending because the bully broke his hand or foot."

Fay looked at him.

"Fine, you did a good job; but she still got in trouble. So I'm still mad."

Fay was out of her chair breath-fast, and was standing an inch away from him. "And what are you going to do about that?" she asked.

PAST:

"Now we have peace," Kal-El said as he held out one hand to her. You won't cause trouble, I won't have to stop you; I won't interfere in your life, and you won't interfere in mine. We might exercise together, but we don't fight one another. That is...

"We have peace," Faora-Ul agreed, taking his hand in the human custom and shaking it.  "A truce."

"Until Zod arrives," he knew.

"Yes," she agreed.

Chapter Text

PRESENT DAY:

"You remember I promised to help you?" Alex asked.

"Yeah," Kara said.

"Well..." there's no easy way to tell you this.

"You already gave me my own private room in the DEO, with an AI of almost my mom."

"Actually, when I said I'd help you get better than me, that wasn't what I had been thinking of."

"It wasn't?" Kara asked.

"It wasn't," Alex said.   "I think we need to talk to Aunt Fay."

"No, we really don't," Kara said.

Alex nodded otherwise.

"You didn't."

"I did," Alex said.

"You thought I needed help that badly?"

"I want you to be the best there is.  Better than Astra and the Hellgrammites and whatever else is coming this way."

Kara made a face.  "You realize Aunt Fay is a retired gym and theater teacher, don't you?"

"Actually..."

THE PAST:

"Why me?" Alex asked as her brain caught up with the revelation that Aunt Fay was more than human.  One moment I'm making ice cream while we're talking about how Kara's back home pretending her foot got sprained by that horse, and the next... my aunt's a blur joining me in the kitchen.

"You were always my favorite," Fay said.

"And that makes even less sense now that..." gesturing at the carpet where Aunt Fay had sped over, "Kara's better -"

"Don't finish that statement," Fay said, her voice dropping into a warning, a caution.

Alex shut her mouth and set down her spoon, ice cream set aside.

"You try.  You work hard and apply yourself.  Admirable, noble traits in any breed of person.  You are indominitable, unrelenting.  You reminded me of myself - or rather, of my goals for myself - as a child; that has never ceased to apply, no matter how much you grew."

"Thank you," Alex said.  "So you're Kryptonian.  Like Kara and -"

"I am Kryptonian, yes.  I was never of the scientists' guild.  I was military."  Astra El joined us, and oh how she labored to prove herself worthy of membership in our number.

"What now?"

Fay blinked.  "My name is Faora Ul."

"Nice name.  But I mean what do we do now?  Now..."

"Now that you know that I am not a doddering woman with a fondness for riddles?  I will train you."

"Kara -"

"The house of El has a habit of turning on their family," Faora observed.  "And she is not the only reason the exercise will do us both good.  Trouble is coming."

Do you hear something, or...?  "Does this have to do with Fort Rozz?"

"Fort Rozz has already landed, long after I and 'Superman' did.  I know there are those in the universe who will seek the downed prison."

"Oh.  Great.  Well, lets get started, then."

Chapter Text

1.

"Thank you for this interview..." Kara said after the formalities had been observed and they were both sitting down.  Insofar as there are formalities when a reporter meets a superhero.  Practice for me, right?  Don't smile, don't smile, there was nothing funny, aside from that thought.

"I am the Wasp," the interviewee said, her voice pleasant and sounding to Kara's ears somewhere between Recieved Pronounciation British and Australian.

"Wasn't there a Wasp a few decades ago?  She was amazing!   Bigger than Superman," and there weren't many she would say that of, "and with, eh, better fashion sense," Kara added, both to guard her assumed identity as a journalist, and because why the heck couldn't he at least wear shorts?  Even my skirt's bigger than that.

A smile graced the Wasp's lips.  And was gone soon after.  "Some names are timeless.  Others are easy to adopt - I doubt 'Superman' was the first to be called that -" to which Kara nodded, "and others, such as Wasp, are worn to honor my predecessor."  For one, she was my mother.  And if I'm not going to wear the Antsuit, I'm going to wear the Waspsuit v2.0, so -  Raising one hand, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid this interview will have to be resheduled."

"I said something, didn't I?  I -"

"No.  There's a robbery at the National Biological Supply Company," she said.

As the Wasp stood back up, "Oh.  Um..." Kara said.

"Yes?"

"Can I help?" and did her best to float a foot off the ground...and promptly landed firmly both feet on the ground.  I'm good at hovering and flying...but that near-to-the-ground bit is harder than people think.  "I'm Supergirl."  Alex won't be happy, but who better to tell, right?  A Wasp, a fellow superheroine, someone who probably modeled themselves after the original Wasp - sure, I took after my cousin Kal "Clark" El, but there were times he barely seemed real, while the Wasp - MIA and all - was a tangible role model.  Like Thatcher or Ciller.  

"Let's go," the Wasp said.

"After you," Kara said.

This Wasp's wings spread out and she took off - no slouch in speed, even if nowhere near as fast as a bullet.  Kara joined her in the air.

2.

"You guard much better now," Faora said, "and far quicker than you used to." That said, she used her singlestick to distract, while that arm shattered Alex's singlestick.

"Wait a minute, you said -"  And she stopped herself.  She said this was for both of us with one hand behind our back, and technically there was never either of us saying no flipping their singlestick like a baton.  "I wasn't paying as much attention as I could," Alex recognized.

"Correct," Faora said mildly with a single nod.  "Get a new stick, and we will begin when you are ready."  Though you and I both know your enemies will not always grant you that leeway.

As she stepped aside to get her next stick from the bucket, Alex mentioned that "Kara's excited about her date this weekend."

I have no idea if the girl never realized why I took her and her sister to those zoos and museums, or if she somehow believes a moribund species such as ours can improve into being merely endangered. 

Alex added, "Don't worry, this time it's not going to be another man or woman who'll flirt with the waitress and ignore Kara all evening."

"Your sister's estimation, or your own?" Faora asked.

"Both," Alex said as she took the first swing in the next round of singlestick.   "I think this might work out, Kara and this John Constantine guy."

Faora lost that round quite quickly, as she was thinking I am going to feed his spleen to his elder gods.  Constantine assured myself and Kal-El that he had no interest in mortal things like alien life.

"You okay?" Alex asked.  "Is John a bad guy?"

"He is fireproof," Faora remarked.  "And hard to kill; he may fare well."

3.

'Dammit' as some people say.  It figures that those movies were disinformation.

It was in no way First Contact.  For one thing, Kryptonians like her and her cousin (and the denizens of Fort Rozz) were already on the Earth. 

It was only First Contact insofar as the Earth had never met the Galactic Empire...though even Aunt Astra spoke of it in hushed tones.

He approaches Kara, his breathing just as audible as she thought it would be, though oddly more regular and soothing, like the breath and heartbeat of a father holding his newborn, and the baby hears them both as one, and...  Whoa, snap out of it!

He has by this point stopped, standing only a meter away from Kara.  I could burn him to a crisp right now, end it all, save us...assuming he's not protected, assuming there aren't Dead Man Switches ready to toggle to life if he kicks the bucket out here.

"Who are you?" Kara asks.  She knows Alex has told her about a Kryptonian General by the name of Zod... And knows that Zod is nothing beside the man before her now.

"I am Vader," he says.  "Lord of the Empire.  I seek an Apprentice.  Your thoughts are turbulent."

"They are," Kara agreed.

4.

"Oh. My. God," Kara said after she and Jimmy had managed to get away - 'sneak' probably doesn't apply, given Kryptonian hearing - to the kitchen.  Her stomach was still reeling, her mind still in shock.

"I thought it was impressive," Jimmy said.

"Oh my god. No. No, you can't say that."

"Why not? What did you think she did with her time?"

"When she wasn't helping my parents or fighting my cousin or sleeping because even we need to sleep?" Kara said. "I don't know. Maybe stop all fights on the planet for a day - i heard a rumor that it happened, and that it wasn't Superman, though people think it was. Something. Anything."

Jimmy gestured to the next room.

"I mean anything other than my aunt being the world champion for thirty solid years at Duck Hunt and Frogger."