Reincarnated as Supergirl (YJ / Kara Zor-El (Comics))

Chapter 35 - Interlude 5

Kara Zor-El's first memory was of her father, his image across the glass of the birthing matrix. In truth, she could barely open her eyes at the time, so she couldn't really see his shape all that well, but she remembered the large, tall figure standing above her pod for a few seconds, a second figure slightly behind him. She remembered him staring at her for a full minute and then walking away, leaving only her mother to keep her company.

Kara didn't remember him coming to see her again but, in fairness, most of her time inside the birthing matrix was spent either sleeping, developing her body, or being educated by the learning program there. Later, she liked to think he came to check on her often, but she just didn't remember it, and didn't dare ask.

Still, her parents were there when she finally stepped out of the birthing matrix. Having reached the desired level of development in both body and mind, she stumbled away from the chamber and took her first steps on the crystalline floor.

Kara nearly fell, but managed to right herself and look at the couple in front of her, her biological parents. Alura In-Zee was a tall, blond woman wearing a white robe with the symbol of the El house in front of it. She had a proud smile on her face and her eyes were filled with affection.

Zor-El was even taller, with perfectly styled brown hair, he wore a mixture of robe and armor, black and with a tall collar, it had square shoulder pads in white and a red cape wrapped around his neck, tied with a golden strap. The El crest rested on his chest in white and he had a black circlet around his forehead.

Both of them stood a little apart from each other, their backs straight, but Zor-El wasn't smiling. Instead, he watched her with a critical eye, his arms crossed behind his back. On instinct, Kara did her best to copy his posture and saw a glint of approval on his eye.

"Good, from today on you're the newest member of the El house," Zor-El proclaimed. "Cloth yourself and follow your mother, Kara Zor-El."

Her father didn't wait, walking away with sure steps as she watched his back. Kara was still covered in the embryonic waters of the birthing matrix, but Alura helped her wash it away and dress herself.

"Excuse your father, he has always been a little rough," Alura said as she finished drying Kara's hair. "We were both looking forward to your birth."

"Thank you, Alura In-Zee." Kara said, testing out her voice for the first time and doing her best to not sound stupid.

"Please, call me mother," her... mother asked, stepping away from her and smiling at Kara. "Now, come. Your father is a busy man, but he managed to reserve a few hours with us."

The prepared clothes fit her perfectly, neatly covering her chubby limbs. Kara used her fingers to adjust the clasp for her environmental helmet, but her mother shook her head and prevented her from activating it. "We will not be going out today, there's no need for a helmet."

"Yes mother." Kara answered and tilted her head in confusion when she received her first hug, Alura's arms enveloping her body completely.

Kara's first birthday was spent with both of her parents, an extremely rare happening from then on. She walked through their home in Argo City, being shown the facility and having the security features updated with her DNA in mind.

She especially liked the time spent with her father as he showed her the experimentation rooms and the various devices she could play with and study in order to learn.

The next year was spent mostly completing her education. By the time she was five years old, Kara had already learned all that was necessary to survive and take care of herself, at least while inside Argo City, but she still met her mother at least once a day and her father once a week.

On her sixth birthday, Zor-El once again managed to get a release from his work on the Science Council to spend time with her. Kara was studying with her AI teacher when he arrived and she quickly turned it off before hushing into the labs and grabbing a hand sized crystal device, the first one she had produced with no help from anyone.

Running through the crystal hallway, Kara actually dodged her mother's hand as she rushed towards Zor-El, then she tripped on the floor, sending her sunstone device clattering to the floor until it hit her father's leg and stopped.

Looking down at her, Zor-El unlocked the safety on his armor and took off his helmet, then leaned down to grab the crystalline device, lifting it up and looking it over.

"Get up. No daughter of mine should be this uncoordinated," he ordered, waiting until Kara had pushed herself up and rubbed her aching nose. "Now, what exactly is this?"

"Greetings, father, I made it!" Kara said, extending her hand towards the device. Her father glanced at it once more, but handed it over. With an eager voice, she explained. "See, it's sunstone! I programmed it so the crystals wouldn't stop growing inward once activated, look!"

Pressing a spot on the device, Kara saw it light up and start absorbing sunlight to fuel its growth, and then she threw it away as hard as she could with a grunt. Unfortunately, she was still only 6, so the device didn't fly as far as she expected.

Seeing the little device falling not even ten meters away from her, Kara's eyes widened in fear. "Uh-Oh."

Zor-El's own eyes widened in realization and, acting fast, he embraced her, turning his back to the device and huddling down around her while ordering their personal drones to form a shield behind him. It was the first time Kara had ever been hugged by her father, so she actually giggled in delight.

Behind them, the device absorbed sunlight for 6 seconds, rapidly growing inward and increasing the pressure inside. Sunstone was incredibly strong but, exposed to sunlight, it just wouldn't stop expanding, building up pressure until the crystalline shell couldn't hold the pressure anymore. With a crack, it exploded, sending crystals flying everywhere.

A hail of small crystals pinged against Zor-El's shield, but it was strong enough to block any damage with no problem. Releasing her, Zor-El dusted himself and looked towards the destroyed device with a conflicted face before turning to his wife and seeing that she too was fine.

Looking at the damage it had caused, Kara couldn't help the smile growing in her face. "...Cool!"

Turning to her father, Kara saw the disappointed look on his face and deflated. Shaking his head, Zor-El turned around and started walking towards the house. "That was a waste of resources. Come."

Lowering her head, Kara followed after her father, her face flushed with shame. Zor-El led her further inside her home until they reached a door Kara had never been to before.

Stepping in front of the door, Zor-El waited until it scanned him, and then had Kara stand in place so she too was registered. Walking inside, Kara saw a far better equipped laboratory.

"Daughter, until your uncle decides to have a child, you're the current heir of House El," her father explained without turning towards her, his voice calm once again. "That was a very poor showing."

"I apologize, father," Kara bowed her head, her face flushed with shame.

"First, you're going to retake a class on experimentation safety," He said while opening a holographic display and changing her current schedule. "After that, you'll be improving that device until it's no longer such a disappointment. Not only did you not use any flammable glasses, you didn't calculate the best way for the device to explode, introducing a point of failure in the device can allow you to guide the direction of its explosion, you also didn't make it as damaging as possible, resulting in most sunstone shards being either too small to cause maximum damage, or not sharp enough. A waste of resources."

With access to the advanced laboratory and a new teaching program, Kara progressed extremely fast. Only a month later, she had her father watch her new device explode.

With sharp spikes all over one of its sides, she had introduced a small failure on the device, causing it to direct the explosion away from her and send entire spikes of crystals towards her targets. Introducing the best possible incendiary gasses into the hollow of the bomb also made it far more powerful.

Zor-El watched the new test from a balcony, his hands behind his back. Seeing the destruction, he didn't smile, but he also didn't frown again, or show any other signs of displeasure, he just turned around and walked away, allowing Kara to take it as a win.

After the scare on her birthday, her mother decided to spend more time with her. Despite being from the science guild, it was important for all Kryptonians to keep fit and healthy, so Kara started jogging with her mother.

They ran for an hour every day, with Alura running laps around Kara. Still, Kara loved how much time she had with her mother, enjoying their runs as much as she could.

Eventually, she grew up, her body developing quickly until she could almost keep up with the older woman. The devices she produced also grew more complex, going from simple bombs into all kinds of devices.

When she was nine, Kara got interested in some of the Military guild's martial arts. While it wasn't the focus of the El house, there was no Kryptonian law preventing her from entering another guild, much less just learning some martial arts.

So, after her run with her mother, Kara spent another two hours learning Klurkor from one of their training robots. The martial art focused on kicking, striking and defensive blocking using her limbs. Kara enjoyed the competition, and the physical exhaustion from the training was very relaxing.

Really, the first time she defeated the training robot was so satisfying. The robot was even programmed to die dramatically when defeated, causing her to giggle a little as she remembered it.

Kara spent nearly six months training before her father noticed it.

Kara felt the grass under her feet, the wind picking up speed and causing her hair to fly into her face. In that instant, her enemy attacked, a simple straight punch aimed at her head.

Stepping into the blow, she deflected the attack and countered with a punch towards the robot's chest, causing it to stumble back. Taking advantage of that, she followed up with a kick then tried to swipe its legs from under it.

The robot simply lifted his leg and retreated before delivering a front kick to her chest that almost hit her, but the ground under him shook, causing the robot to lose his footing. Kara almost fell, but she recovered first and took advantage of the situation to grab the overextended limb and deliver an elbow strike to the joint, causing the spar to stop.

Suddenly, the trees around her disappeared along with the rest of the clearing, revealing a white, empty room. Above her, Kara saw her father standing watch from a balcony, his arms crossed behind his back as always, but a deep frown on his face.

Without a word, he shook his head in displeasure and left, causing Kara's cheer to drop immediately. With an order to her accompanying drone, she deactivated the robot and tried to run after him, but Zor-El had already left the house, going back to his work.

The next day, she asked Alura about it while they ran. "Mother, why did father disapprove of my training? I thought that I was encouraged to keep my body in peak condition? Does he think I want to enter the Military guild?"

"Kara, your father is a very... efficient man. He just fears that you won't achieve your peak if you lose your focus," Her mother told her, giving Kara one of her rare smiles. "You're our pride, both of us only wish for you to reach all of your potential."

"I understand," Kara nodded, refocusing on their run and on improving her time.

From that day on, Kara no longer used the training robot. Instead, she redoubled her studies, starting to specialize in sunstone programming and adapting other materials into sunstone devices to make them better.

Some devices needed more than just sunstone to be viable, sometimes, she needed to use small amounts of Kryptium for its increased resistance and toughness, others, she needed materials with better flexibility or even less solar conductivity.

Studying physics and the properties of the materials she used took most of her free time and, very often, her devices required such precise calculations that she needed to spend weeks on them to achieve results.

Still, when she was twelve, her father ordered her to meet him in his study. Kara walked inside and saw him wearing his formal clothes, as well as his house El official crest.

Knowing that he was not acting as her father, but as the second in command of the El house, Kara bowed deeply to show her respect.

"Daughter, you're now entering puberty, it's time for you to start learning your place in our house," Zor-El said. With a command from his neural link, he caused a crystalline chair to rise out of the floor and ordered Kara to sit. "As my daughter, you have been chosen to inherit my position in the house, your job will be to help teach your cousin once he's born, guide him as he grows into his position and support him once he inherits my brother's position."

"My cousin?" Kara couldn't help but ask.

Zor-El simply nodded, activating a display of another man, one slightly older than him. "This is my brother, Jor-El, the current head of our house. From today on, you'll be following me to work with him, watch, pay attention and learn."

"Yes father," Kara bowed again, accepting her new place, but her heart was beating fast on her chest.

She couldn't wait to help out, to follow her father and learn from him. Until now, she had only been playing with his tools, but never really seeing his true projects. Yes, she had created many devices, but most of them had been focused on destroying things, and everything she had created could be replicated by the Military guild either more effectively or cheaper.

The next day, Kara put on her own armor, completely sealed with a helmet that fully protected her from the harsh atmosphere of Krypton itself. The equipment wouldn't be necessary in Argo City, but she'd be traveling with her father to Kandor.

Following her father, Kara walked with her arms crossed behind her back, her posture straight as she stepped on the teleportation device, appearing on Kandor a second later.

With large steps, she did her best to not fall behind as his subordinates bowed towards him, showing the respect deserved for the second in command of the El house. Kara's chest swelled with pride until they arrived at the main laboratory.

Jor-El looked just like her father, only slightly older. Her uncle's face opened into a smile at their presence and he stepped away from the computers. "Brother, so you have finally decided to present my niece?"

"Patriarch, this is my daughter, Kara Zor-El."

Following her father's example, Kara took off her helmet and bowed towards her uncle. "Patriarch. It is an honor to meet you."

Jor-El looked at his brother with an amused smile on his face, but Zor-El's look didn't change, leaving the older brother feeling awkward for a second before shaking his head. "Well, it's nice to have you here Kara. I hope you enjoy the work."

"I will," Kara nodded, her face impassive.

From that day on Kara started following after her father, learning everything he did and how best to help him. As Jor-El's second in command, Zor-El spent a good part of his time trouble shooting some of his brother's more exotic projects while also helping guide the direction of the Science guild as a whole.

When Kara finally reached thirteen, she started getting some projects of her own. While she didn't have the necessary knowledge to develop new technologies, she had a talent for finding faults on prototypes.

Standing behind a guard railing, Kara increased the parameters for the newest dimensional projector, simulating a last minute addition of a second target to the device. Unable to calculate the destination in time, the device tried to increase the energy to compensate for it, overloading the delicate sunstone structure.

A suction force caused Kara's feet to slide towards the guard railings, but the magnetic locks on her armor activated, securing her in place, then the security glass snapped shut just before the device exploded, sending a shockwave that would have probably sent her flying had it not been for the glass.

Carefully watching the place where the device had been, Kara made sure that nothing had come through the dimensional breach. Seeing no warnings on her monitor, she left some annotations on the prototype's page and turned away, a huge smile on her face.

Kara knew that she shouldn't be so happy to find yet more faults on some of the Science guild's projects, but it was always so satisfying when she managed to cause a catastrophic failure.

And really, if the scientists didn't want their devices exploding, they shouldn't propose faulty prototypes. With years of study over her, they really should have known better.

"Ah, was that really necessary Kara?" Jor-El said from behind her, almost causing Kara to jump out of her skin.

Turning around, Kara looked at her uncle without knowing what to say for a full five seconds. "Ah, I-I... no, Patriarch," she finally said, her face flushing with shame. "I-I only wanted to demonstrate how dangerous a faulty project could be."

"I see. Well, at least there was no damage, this time," Jor-El commented, a mental command caused the testing chamber to be isolated and her own terminal to be locked as her uncle motioned for her to follow him. "Come Kara, I wish to speak with you."

Still feeling embarrassed, Kara followed behind her uncle without another word until they teleported back to his own house. Finally, Kara managed to lift her eyes towards her uncle, just as she was about to ask him what this was about, a giant beast ran out from inside the house.

It was large, white and walked on all fours, rushing at them with intimidating speed and making a lot of noise. Kara almost screamed, but she managed to resist the urge using the discipline taught to her by her father.

Instead, she only cursed the fact that she didn't have her own neural interface while pulling out her personal computer, commanding her private drone to activate a protection shield. With dread, she realized too late that her uncle hadn't done the same. "Watch out!"

In disbelief, Kara watched the beast release a mighty noise and pounce on her uncle, aiming straight for his unprotected face in a show of canny, predatory guile.

"Hello, Krypto." Her uncle said while, under Kara's disbelieving eyes, the beast started to... lick him?

Jor-El didn't tolerate the licking for long, quickly showing displeasure at the creature's actions and causing its ears to drop.

Somehow, the scene caused her to feel a bout of nostalgia. Slowly getting back to her feet, Kara deactivated her shield and, pretending that nothing had happened, asked. "Patriarch, what IS that?"

"This is called a dog," using a hand, Jor-El pushed the dog away from his chest, the creature fell back on all fours and finally noticed Kara, sniffing at her and slowly circling her. "I decided to recreate one after I saw the way our family interacted."

"I see," Kara said, her hand slowly touching the creature's head with an odd feeling of longing on her chest. "Can I ask, why?"

"Kara, do you know what the house El crest stands for?"

"Hope, Patriarch," Kara answered immediately, the meaning having been cemented on her mind long ago.

"Yes, hope, an optimistic view or state of mind based on an expectation of a positive outcome," Jor-El explained, leading her inside his home. "We used to have hope in our fellow Kryptonians. Hope in the future of our planet. Hope that things will be better, brighter. Yet our family has been losing that ability for generations now, we grow distant, we grow... aloof. We have let confidence substitute for hope, never attempting anything greater or new so that we may never fail, and that confidence has grown into arrogance, blind arrogance."