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

Chapter 54

Kara stared at Dexter, her body frozen in place just as she was about to enter the room.

Dexter stared at Kara, his body frozen in place, a single paw lifted mid-step, and a golden meteorite in his mouth.

Kara's heart skipped a beat, and she nearly threw herself back, her muscles tensing painfully before the entire situation registered in her mind and she relaxed.

Rao damnit, she had forgotten to erase Dexter's access when she coded the locking mechanism.

Yeah, she had been a little distracted and the box wasn't supposed to be a permanent thing, but still... She had to be more careful with that. Putting a mechanical lock as well would have prevented the problem. —always put redundancies, Kara, always overdesign!

Glaring from the cat to the open box he had dropped on the floor, she tapped the controls on her phone and activated her radiation shield before stepping into the room.

For his part, Dexter dropped the kryptonite, sat down, and started licking his paw, waving it over his head while pretending he had done nothing wrong.

Her heart hammered in her chest, the scare leaving her slightly breathless. Kara threw herself at her armchair and gave a few more commands through her phone, activating one of her Karabots. A second later, the cat jumped on her lap, his paw lifting and hooking small claws around her hand, trying to drag it closer to his head.

Unconsciously running a hand through his fur, she watched as the robot gently picked up the kryptonite before depositing it inside the box, locking the container, and putting it on top of her desk.

From her previous memories, Kara had already known the gold variety probably deactivated kryptonian powers, but could also cause amnesia or, well, who knows what else?

Thankfully, Kara had been experimenting with kryptonite for a month now and she could more or less analyze any new variation by their radiation, using the computers to simulate its effects on a kryptonian body with a 92% accuracy before daring to employ the meteorite on Im-El

Gold Kryptonite was simultaneously one of the most and least dangerous varieties she had managed to recreate.

On one hand, the radiation permanently destroyed a kryptonian's ability to absorb sunlight, completely neutralizing all of their devastating powers. If that wasn't bad enough, fixing the depowering was nearly impossible.

On the other hand, contrary to most forms of kryptonite, the radiation didn't spread very far, requiring someone to be much closer to the rock to even feel its effects, the damage took a long time to become permanent and caused no physical pain.

Also, as she had just told Im-El, losing her powers wouldn't be the end of the world. It would suck, sure, but her armor could already replicate most of her abilities... if at a slightly lower level.

"Come on, time to leave," she said, grabbing both the container and the cat before walking back up the mountain.

Kal was waiting for her at the top of the stairs, a smile on his face as he watched Dexter squirming in her arms. Together, they turned back toward where the others were waiting and started walking slowly.

"You know, I used to have a cat too."

"What?" Kara looked up at him, surprise in her face.

"Yeah, Fuzzball was great," he said, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. Extending his hand, he ignored Dexter's swipe and let him sniff his skin before actually managing to scratch him behind the ears. "Found her when she was just a kitten trying to fend off some coyotes. I was afraid Ma wouldn't let me keep her, so I hid her in the barn for a little over a week."