Chapter Text
For the first time in her eight years of life on Earth, Kara feels truly exhausted.
“I still can’t quite believe all this, y’know?” –Winn says, his voice haunted. He holds an oversized plasma rifle, ripped from the hands of one of the thousands of dead and dying aliens that still litter the streets of New York. This is the third rifle Winn has picked up, given neither of them know how – or if – the weapon can be reloaded. “Fighting aliens is way scarier than Halo makes it out to be.”
Kara lifts a wrecked minivan – her prodigious strength making the maneuver all but effortless – dragging it to the nearest sidewalk in an effort to clear the street. “Yeah. Space can be all kinds of terrifying.”
“I guess you’d know.”
The comment stings, even though Kara knows her friend doesn’t intend any harm. She shrugs. “Well, I never left Krypton. Not before I came here, anyway. But, I was old enough to catch interstellar news broadcasts. Earth is lucky; it’s not important enough yet to catch much attention.”
Winn raises an eyebrow, absently shooting an alien that’s still twitching. A purple-black splatter joins the already massive stains on his clothing. “Call me crazy, but I don’t think these guys agree.”
Kara sighs. “I guess. I really can’t imagine why they’d try to invade. This planet is great at support life, but...not much else. I don’t think there’s anything on Earth worth fighting interstellar war over.”
Winn laughs. “Geez, Kara. Way to kick us when we’re down.”
She blushes, but the barb makes her laugh a bit, too. “Sorry. Eight years here and I still manage to put my alien foot in my alien mouth.”
“That’s ok. Happens to us humans all the time, too.” –he says, tiredly sitting on the dented hood of what looks like a bisected sports car. “So...could all of your people fly?”
Kara floats upwards, removing a dangling alien corpse that had somehow found itself stuck atop a lamp post. “Honestly? I’m not sure. I remember my biology lessons, and flight definitely wasn’t covered there, but they did mention we were ‘built’ to colonize other worlds. Genetic engineering, y’know? The younger the star we orbit, the stronger we get.”
“Isn’t our sun middle-aged?”
She winks. “Yup.”
Winn mock-shivers. “I don’t know that I want to picture you more powerful than you already are. Kind of a terrifying prospect.”
“Eh, it’s a moot point. I’m happy kicking it with you earthlings.” –she says, smirking.
Winn sets down his weapon carefully – for all the hands-on experience he’s gotten with it, the rifles have been known to fire at the slightest provocation. “Good to know.” –he says, picking the cleanest bit of cloth from his shirt and rubbing sweat, tears, and gods know what else out of his eyes. “God, I’m tired. We should catch some sleep.”
Kara tosses the alien corpse aside, adding to a mounting pile on the sidewalk. “Go ahead, Winn. I’ve got this.” –she says, despite herself.
“Let me guess: you don’t need to sleep, either?”
“Not as much as a human, that’s for sure.” –she says, then sits beside him. “But, I’ll admit, I’m kinda running on fumes, here.”
He bumps his shoulder against hers. “So, let’s leave all of this to the spooky S.H.I.E.L.D. people.”
Kara frowns. “Don’t make me regret telling you everything I know about the super-secret paramilitary organization that found me. You’re not even supposed to mention their name out loud.”
Winn raises an eyebrow, unimpressed, as a Quinjet with a particular sense of irony soars overhead. “They’re not exactly a secret anymore, Kara. Last time my phone had any charge, ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ was just behind ‘Tony Stark’ and ‘BattleOfNY’ on the trending topics.” –he says, then shakes his head. “You wouldn’t believe how many people can’t spell ‘shield’, by the way.”
She crosses her arms, indignant. “English can be hard. Don’t judge.”
He rolls his eyes. “Sure.” –he says, then rises from his brief respite. “I guess the question is, then, what’s our next move?”
“Well, since we both refuse to take a break, we might as well check out Midtown. That’s where these guys hit hardest.”
“It’s also where you’ll find the Avengers.” –he reminds her.
Kara purses her lips. “That’s ok. I mean, S.H.I.E.L.D. clearly didn’t want my help, so the Avengers probably don’t even know I exist, right?” –she asks, hopeful.
“Fat chance, Kara. You and I both know there were a lot of cellphones out. You’re probably on camera, shooting lasers out of your eyes. If they didn’t know before, they definitely do, now.”
She sighs. “It’s not technically a laser beam. It’s more like...a hyper-concentrated solar energy stream contained by an electromagnetic tunnel about as wide as my pupils.”
“So not the point.”
“I know, I know. I just...I’m scared I made a heck of a rash decision, Winn. I could’ve stayed inside the Bugle. Kept my head down, pretended to be just another terrified human. Maybe I should’ve. But I didn’t. And I doubt the consequences are gonna be limited to unemployment.”
Winn nods. He’d seen her, alright – Kara had straight up jumped out of the Bugle’s top floor, straight into an incoming alien sled. Winn had thought her suicidal, but then, he hadn’t known that his best friend was the last daughter of Krypton, an alien whom, as far as he could tell, was pretty much invulnerable to everything.
Kara shrugs, offering a shaky smile. “I guess I might as well start making peace with that choice. Even if that means saying goodbye to life as Kara Danvers.”
“Kara Zor-El does have a nice ring to it.”
She laughs, then jumps up, her spirits somewhat back up. “Come on, then. Let’s see if the Iron Man needs a hand.”