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Knowing that Jonathan Kent was back in her life should have been a pleasant surprise for Kara. The Kryptonian warrior considered her nephew a true member of her family. Whenever she had doubts about her role as a protector of Metropolis, she reminded herself that out there, in the future, was someone who trusted and believed in her, someone whose experiences had been shaped by her and who filled her with pride.
But this new time traveler wasn’t the Jonathan Kent she once knew. For starters, he didn’t come here on his own, Lara, his sister, was also with him. At first, they seemed much like the old version of Jonathan, they refused to speak to their parents too much and actively avoided Kara, especially Jonathan Lane.
But Kara knew what to do now, once they were in the safety of the Kent Farm, she flew toward Jonathan to have a hearty talk with him and promise him she was still there to help him with whatever he needed.
She stopped in her tracks when she heard him talking to Kal-El and was surprised by how angry he sounded.
“... But if you need to talk, I’m here to listen, her cousin had said. Kara smiled, because that was exactly the same offer she was going to give to Jonathan.
But her future nephew simply scoffed, like those words meant nothing to him.
“You think we can just have a heart-to-heart? Maybe give me a motivational speech, promise me a better tomorrow?”
He wasn’t just angry, she suddenly realized, he was furious. He picked up a baseball from the ground, squeezing it in his palm as he shouted:
“You think, what, we're just going to play catch?”
He then threw it against the crops, leaving a long line of burning fire through them, Kara took a step back, wondering why he would do that. One of the first things she had learned on Earth was not to endanger or destroy living beings, no matter how little or inconsequential they seemed. Why did Jonathan Lane not show the same appreciation? Did she fail in her mission to teach him about the world? Did he never pay any attention to it?
A darker thought appeared in her mind as she considered the possibility that, in the new timeline, maybe Jonathan Lane’s mentor was her Scion version, the one she hated so much.
“I learned to use my powers on my own, okay?” Jonathan spat, pointing at his own chest. Kara could agree that was something he could be proud of, but his words were laced with resentment. “I defended the Earth on my own, because you weren’t there…”
Kal-El had died again, that was the natural conclusion of his words.
The future was once more against them, the cheerful, energetic Jonathan Kent, the one who loved and cared for his parents so much, had sacrificed his own existence to save his father, only to be replaced by a version of himself that held nothing but contempt for his father.
“No one was there.”
Kara’s entire body shook at those words. That couldn’t be.
She had failed, it didn’t really matter if in the future she had become a Scion again, or if Jonathan Lane had ignored her, or if she had been wiped out by whatever threat was looming on the horizon.
She had failed in her duty of protecting Jonathan and Lara. Kal-El’s and Lois Lane’s offspring had grown up in a world with no positive influences, and that broke her heart. She hoped her cousin could convince Jonathan that he wanted to connect with him somehow, but this was far too much for her, so she made a tactical retreat.
Or, in other words, she flew away because she was scared to admit that it seemed like Jonathan Lane didn’t need her, and if that was the case, then what was the point of being here? What was the point of fighting for Metropolis, of carrying the legacy of a now-powerless Superman if she wasn’t there for her family in the future?
She broke through the clouds at Mach speed, her eyes closed as she wondered what to do now, until something broke her focus, specifically Lois Lane’s voice.
“Are you going to tell me what happened in the future or not?” she practically barked.
“Look, Mom, you don’t need to know. Jonathan and I are going to do something, and we don’t need you getting involved.”
“You’re talking about our world, Lara, we have to!”
“No, no you don’t,” her daughter cut her off. “We just…”
“Just tell me, Lara!”
“No!”
“You’re impossible!”
“Well, maybe I learned to avoid difficult conversations from you, Mom!”
Kara stopped at that, shaking her head when she heard the gentle voice of Ma Kent trying to calm them down and failing. It seemed the only thing the future held for them was constant fights and conflicts, not only against their enemies, but now within their family, too.
Well, considering the future, Kara doubted she had the right to consider any of these people her family. How could she call them that if she would abandon them at some point? She hugged herself, crossing her arms and pressing her knees against her chest. With no witnesses around, she let herself be vulnerable, thinking that maybe, if she floated away from Earth, that would shake things up enough to force Kal-El and Lois to connect with their children. She was not needed after all; her cousin and his mate had knowledge about the Earth, and Jonathan and Lara could provide the brute force necessary to…
“Kara!”
She blinked several times, surprised to hear her own name.
“Kara, are you out there?”
He was screaming at her and he sounded truly desperate. The voice of any other human would have drowned in the sea of multiple sounds she always picked up with her superhuman hearing, but she would never ignore this one. There was a corner of her heart that would always belong to the young man screaming at her.
“Kara!” he repeated.
And Kara flew at top speed toward the voice, then stopped, floating a few feet above the man sitting in the middle of a wheat field with his legs crossed.
“Jimmy Flamebird…” she whispered.
The human gave her a soft, sad smile before asking:
“Are you okay?”
She simply didn’t know how to reply to that question, and he continued talking:
“Clark is probably still chasing Jon around through the farm trying to speak to him, Lois and Lara have been arguing for half an hour now, I’m pretty sure Ma has given up at this point, Pa is trying to cook steak because they should eat something before going to fight whatever they have to fight, and…”
He shook his head several times, obviously realizing he was sidetracking from his original question.
“Anyway, you weren’t around, and I wanted to know how you’ve been doing.”
“Why do you care, Jimmy Flamebird?”
She wasn’t entirely sure why she replied in such a way; perhaps the pressure of the dark fate waiting for her and her friends was too much.
“Because you’re my…”
He hesitated for a moment, and Kara wondered what word he could use to describe their difficult, (for lack of a better word) relationship.
“… friend! And I care about you!” he finished.
And the Kryptonian had to admit that was a very good word to use.
It took her less than a second to fly toward him and hug him tightly, he let out a yelp, a funny mixture of surprise and pain and Kara softened her embrace just enough to hear him let out a sigh of relief. Immediately, she whispered:
“I fear the future, Jimmy Flamebird.”
“Everyone does, Kara,” he replied. It was a good argument, but…
“Do you know other humans who had to face the future because their time-traveling children told them everything was ruined?”
“Fair…” he accepted. “But maybe if we do things differently, that future won’t happen.”
“Your sense of hope is astounding, Jimmy Flamebird,” she said, looking up at him and noticing the way his cheeks flushed red for a brief moment. She supposed her close contact with him was the cause of it, but she was currently comfortable there and resisted letting him go.
“Well, Supergirl is a symbol of hope,” he reminded her.
She suddenly felt his hand on her head, then again and again, and she stared at him, completely confused.
“What are you doing, Jimmy Flamebird?”
He flustered even more this time, and his hands practically fled from her hair as he muttered:
“Headpats! I was trying to, you know, cheer you up, thinking that, maybe, you would…” He looked away, biting his lip before whispering, “Never mind.”
She was about to tell him his attempt wasn’t entirely unwelcome, but shook her head when she realized there was a fault in his previous declaration.
“How can we know what to do differently if Jonathan and Lara Lane won’t tell us?”
He thought for half a minute, and Kara momentarily forgot about the problems of the future. The present felt warm and calm, a soft wind blowing, the yellow sun charging up her cells, the arms of Jimmy Flamebird around her…
“Well,” he said suddenly, “maybe when we have to make an important decision in the future, we just do something different?”
That wasn’t helpful, Kara thought. Those words were too similar to the ones he had said previously, so the problem remained the same. Still, Jimmy Flamebird had mentioned an important decision, and…
“I was about to make an important decision mere moments ago…” she whispered, pushing him away. He was surprised by the action but didn’t say a word. Before he could ask what that decision was, Kara added, “… I was about to leave Planet Earth.”
He immediately closed the distance between them, and it was Kara’s turn to blush when she felt his hands holding her arms.
“Why would you do that?” he asked.
The answer was rather obvious; Kara wondered why he couldn’t see it.
“Because I’m not needed, Jimmy Flamebird. My knowledge of the future is nonexistent, my combat style is useless for humans, and both Jonathan and Lara can supply the strength necessary for the upcoming threat…”
“You are needed, Kara,” he cut her off, and she frowned, not used to being interrupted. “You might not believe this, but I’m sure there are things you can do that no one else can. You can help. You have been helping with Superman gone. And look at me, I’m not powerful, like, at all, but if Clark or Lois need me, I’ll be there!”
In a very low voice, he then said, “I’m going to be here if you need me, too. So, please, don’t go away. You’re important, Kara.”
She wondered if that could be true, if she could affect the future in a positive way somehow. She stared at Jimmy’s face for the briefest of moments… then flew away once again, doing her best to ignore the worry in his voice when he called out her name.
Jonathan looked at the multiple notes laid out in front of him, trying to think what the best decision would be next. At least he wasn’t distracted by his father anymore. He had given up on him a long time ago and had stopped chasing him, which was probably for the best because he didn’t need him.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over him, and he rolled his eyes.
“What do you want?” he sneered.
“Jonathan Lane, I understand you’re not the same version of the caring young man I once knew,” Kara explained.
“Well done, you,” he said sarcastically. “That’s what happens when you mess with time.”
Kara ignored that completely, floating closer to him as she said, “Which is why I won’t treat you the same way I treated him.”
She immediately grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him up. Jonathan barely had time to complain as she used her superspeed to drag him back to the farm and throw him directly in front of his father. Both men looked up at her, completely in shock.
“You cannot take advantage of the fact Kal-El is currently powerless to avoid him forever, Jonathan Lane,” Kara explained. “Now, talk to your father.”
“Why do you care?”
“Because it’s important,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest.
“I’m not going to…”
She immediately launched a laser beam at Jonathan’s feet. The Kryptonian yelped, and he and his father tried to protest, but she simply repeated, “You will talk to your father, and you will solve whatever issue you have before we all go together to stop this future threat. Is that clear?”
Silence.
“Is that clear?”
“Yes, Kara,” her cousin said, giving her a salute.
“Fine!” Jonathan accepted, throwing his arms in the air.
Before flying away, Kara had time to hear Kal-El offering his son an ice cream, only for Jonathan to let out a seemingly disinterested grunt. Much like those Earth delicacies, it was only a matter of time before Jonathan’s tough exterior melted away, the Kryptonian warrior supposed.
She knew that threats and strength wouldn’t work on Lois Lane. She was not only dating (and bound to have children with) a Kryptonian, but she was the very definition of hot-headed. So, Kara opted for a different tactic.
As soon as she entered the living room, she saw the reporter and her future daughter sitting at the table with their backs against each other, doing their best to ignore one another. Ma Kent came up to Kara, explaining softly that they were obviously so cross at each other that they were now playing the ‘silent game’.
“It does not sound like a fun game, Martha Kent,” Kara commented. Before the human could explain to her that this was not necessarily a game, she scoffed and said aloud, “What is the problem?”
“The problem,” Lara said so quickly that even Kara was surprised, “is that Mom doesn’t understand that she can’t help us. Because if she does, she can die.”
“The problem is that my daughter doesn’t understand that if I don’t help, Clark may end up dying!”
“That is why I told you both to stay here, Mom!”
“Which we can’t do because..”
Ah, great, they were shouting at each other again. Kara had no option but to raise her voice once more.
“Enough! Lara Lane , you can’t stop your mother, you know that, correct?”
“I can try…” the Kryptonian said, pouting a little. “And it’s Kent. Jon might not want to have anything to do with Dad, but I’m not like that…”
Her future mother looked at her after that, and Kara thought for a moment that there was a little bit of kindness in one of Kal-El’s children. A tiny sparkle of who the original Jonathan Kent once was had survived in her.
“Well, Jonathan and Kal-El are currently talking to each other…”
“They are?” both women asked at the same time, surprised.
Lois Lane always said that in journalism, the thing that mattered most was facts, so Kara could use that to her advantage.
“Yes!” she said. “So I guess it shouldn’t be a problem if you try to do the same, right?”
“I guess…” Lara muttered.
“… we could try,” Lois completed.
“A good compromise,” the Kryptonian accepted, smelling the air and realizing there was one more thing she could try to help with.
A few seconds later, she was staring down at the many steaks Pa Kent was currently preparing. He complained about how hard this thing had been and how the meat still seemed soft and uncooked. Kara focused her sight on the rebellious product, then let out a beam straight across all the pieces. The smell of perfectly roasted meat filled the air, and Pa immediately applauded her.
“You’re a godsend, Kara!” the old man said, grinning at her.
She returned the smile and replied, “Actually, I was sent here by Jimmy Flamebird, albeit indirectly.”
Before he could reply, she escaped the kitchen toward the field where she hoped the human was still sitting down. Luckily for her, she found him right there. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the way he looked at her.
“You’re back!” he said.
“I never truly left, Jimmy Flamebird. I just tried to intervene to change the future, like you suggested.”
“And?” he asked.
For a response, she floated down, running and hugging him as soon as her feet touched the ground.
“I guess whatever happens now, it’s up to fate itself. In the meantime, I’ll do my best,” she replied. Then, looking straight into his eyes, she whispered, “Considering that, I believe I deserve a reward for my efforts.”
“Pretzels?” he offered, and she shook her head in denial.
“We will have lunch in a bit, Jimmy Flamebird. I would prefer headpats, to be honest.”
He didn’t say another word, and when Kara felt his hand gently rubbing her hair, she pressed her entire body against his, smiling happily, all that mattered right now for her was this present.
And, she still didn’t know what the future would bring to anyone, but she was going to keep doing her best to make the odds work in favor of her and her entire family…