2015-02-21 - Up, Up and Away

22 Cherry Lane. Not one of the names you think of when you consider a low-class neighbourhood, but there it is. On the corner of Cherry and Fourth Street, it's a two-story house with ugly yellow siding and a messy yard that needs mowing. Fully enclosed by fences, there's not a whole lot to differentiate it from the rest of the houses.

Well, there's the demi-kryptonian in the back yard, mowing the lawn. She's pushing a push-mower with one hand and reading a book with the other, not needing to strain to get the old mower to move. Bonuses of having strength.

As Mia's mowing the lawn, she gets a tap on the shoulder from behind. "Hey Cira." she says. She was wanting to check up on Mia. Much as she didnt like to admit it, she knew Mia was probably going to need training or something, just like she did when she first came to Earth. But at least Mia wouldnt be getting quarantined in the Fortress of Solitude or Themyscira.

Folding her book closed, knowing she can find her place again, Mia tries not to look like her heart just jumped forty or fifty beats a minute from surprise. "Mia," she corrects, running fingers through her short hair. "Please. When I'm not on super duty. Unless that's a suggestion or something, that I'm needed to do hero stuff." She glances around, mostly nervously.

Kara Zor-El is in her civilian clothes. "Oh okay. Mia." She puts a hand on her hip. "By the way, I analyzed that pod. Still don't know the origin, but based on some of the alloys, it's definitely not from Earth. Almost seems like an ejection pod for refuse or something. Weird, huh." She then shakes her head. "And no... no - no hero stuff needed right now. Actually was wondering if you just wanted to talk."

Mia opens her mouth a moment, then blurts out, "Wait, refuse? Like as in trash?" She peers at Kara narrowly, then squeezes the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes a moment. When she opens them, she says, "Right. Makes sense. No, I'm...well yeah. I do have some questions. If you've got time." She motions to a couple of plastic lawn chairs. "Sorry about the mess, I was cleaning."

Kara Zor-El shakes her head. "Not sure why that would make sense. Don't know why a baby would be found in a pod meant for garbage.." She smiles a bit and heads to the chairs. "I'll try to answer any questions I can, but honestly I'm sorta new to the hero stuff too. I tried to get my cousin to come, but he's off-planet saving a solar system from some sort of space armada with the Green Lantern Corps."

In other words, an ordinary day.

Kara sits in the lawn chair. "Totally don't think it's a mess, by the way."

From inside the house, a voice calls out. "Does your friend want lemonade, Mia?" A rather friendly looking lady with dark features, possibly Mexican descent, is in the window but not eavesdropping. She opened it to call out, and Mia answers, "I'll find out. Private moment mom, Kay?" The window closes immediately.

Turning back to Kara, Mia says, "Mother," by way of explaining the obvious. "She knows about me, but I won't tell her about you unless it's okay. Probably happy I've got a friend over." Sitting in another chair, she slumps a bit and stuffs her thumbs in her pockets.

"Garbage pod makes sense to me. I always felt like someone that somebody tossed out and my family picked up."

Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "It's fine if you tell her about me. I'd love to meet your parents anyway. And I'd love some lemonade too." She pats her lap a bit and leans forward. "It doesnt really explain though how you seem to be a hybrid of human and Kryptonian DNA though. I mean I've been trying to think of ways that can happen.... that also involve a garbage pod which is clearly not made of anything from current human technology. So far I'm mainly thinking maybe time travel." She pauses. "No... really.... time travel stuff does happen."

Mia sticks her right hand in the air with a thumbs-up, then a peace sign signaling two please. Mia's mom smiles out the window and starts preparing drinks, being happily domestic. Kara could hear her chatting to a male inside. 'Cira's got a friend over honey. Blonde, pretty.' He responds with 'Maybe she'll get her out more.'

Outside, Mia politely smiles and says, "They forget I can hear them. A lot. It's probably best, gives them some privacy. So I'm from the future? Ooh, maybe a scientist got ahold of some of your hair in the future and broke it down and then there was a grand fight and they had to hide their experiment and ejected me for my own safety, and all they had was a pod like that. I could write a story like that."

Kara Zor-El smiles at Mia. "Yeah. My friends are all superheroes and even they often forget I can hear them." She shrugs. "I don't know. You could be. It could explain the human and Kryptonian DNA. Or maybe some sort of secret government experiment, like um... Superboy. But he was more like a clone, and I'm told they had to use human DNA because... well... apparently Kryptonian DNA is really difficult to clone without getting all wierd."

Or Bizarro.

She smiles at Mia again. "Your story is just as plausible as anything I can think of." She shrugs. "Heck, we could be like sisters. Or even mother and daughter, or aunt and neice, or alternate universal counterpart relatives or something like that." She rubs her neck a bit. "Soooo I was thinking.... when I came to Earth, people were really worried about my causing damage accidentally until I learned how to use my powers. I sorta.... destroyed a bunch of buildings. And cars...." She thinks. "And hospitalized a few dock workers." She pauses. "And Batman's boat. And a bunch of police cars and civilian cars."

Kara pats her lap. "And a blimp and a park....."

Mia listens, the door to the house opening as Kara's story ends. Almost as if Kara had known the woman was coming and timed the speech to pause just then. With lemonade in hand, Mia says, "Mom, this is Kara. Kara, Mom, but you can call her Noie if you want. I can't, she gets cranky when I do that. Also she's Supergirl."

Noie Walkers smiles, missing a tooth in the far right but otherwise a happy smile. "It's wonderful to meet you Kara." She pauses as she registers the last bit her daughter said. Blinks. Twice. "Ma'am. I wish you'd called, I would have made something special." Glancing at Mia, she looks a little upset, then back to Kara. "Everything is alright then? Did Mia do anything?"

Kara Zor-El waves at Mia's mom. "Noie. That's a nice name. Oh and honestly you dont need to go to any trouble. Really!" She looks at Mia then at Mia's mom. "WHat? oh no. No she didn't do anything wrong. There was just a little traffic thing on a bridge and Mia helped me out. Honest - no trouble, really ma'am!" It was so weird being herself called ma'am by someone else, given her age. "Really, I was just trying to help find out some stuff about Mia. It's really nice to meet you."

Noie pauses, listening, then she laughs gently and raises a hand. "I'm making you uncomfortable. I am sorry, Miss. It was just unexpected, but had to happen eventually given my daughter's talents. I'll give you both some time. Enjoy the lemonade." Heading for the door, she pauses and adds, "Thank you," toward Kara, then goes back inside.

Raising both eyebrows, Mia looks slightly stunned at her mom's reaction. "Huh. That was odd." Giving herself a quick shake, she sips her drink then says to Kara (while still looking at the closed door) "Had a rough time of it then? Sounds like I'm getting off easy here, I haven't blown up ANYTHING."

Inside, Noie tells her husband to turn up the television so she can hear the show. No, no, it's nothing.

Kara Zor-El waves her hands a bit. "No no... I'm not uncomfortable. I promise!" She smiles a bit when she gets thanked and gets the lemonade. Then looks over at Mia. "Your mom's really nice. What was odd?"

She adds, about her own experiences, "Yeah, definitely had a rough time. Within the first 3 weeks, I blew up the Gotham Docks, kicked Batman across a rooftop, hospitalized those dock workers. While naked, mind you." She shakes her head and continues, "Had a car smash into me and totalled it, had buildings get destroyed by me accidentally, traffic lights, police cars... the blimp I mentioned...." She thinks. "I got shot at, stabbed at, brainwashed, almost killed my cousin, broke some vault doors at the Fortress of Solitude, heat visioned an entire park and statue, got hit with Omega beams multiple times... And that was before I even had a handle on my powers."

She takes a sip of the lemonade. "All I'm saying it... might be a good idea to have someone help you learn how to control them... took me a while until I knew just how much to hold back on a punch, for instance. Especially against superstrong bad guys."

Mia seems to be chewing on her lip as she listens to Kara tell about her experiences. The first thing out of her mouth after hearing all of that is: "Batman's real. Huh." She's taking it in bites her mind can handle, apparently. Turning to Kara, she finishes listening, then crosses her left foot over her right knee and rests her elbow on the left knee.

"That's more than I'd be able to handle, Kara. Seriously. I don't think I'm ever going to be strong enough up here" points to her noggin "to deal with that kind of ...everything. I mean, of course I need to be trained. Have you seen me throw a punch? I make ME laugh. It's like a duck trying to do jiujitsu."

"Did you have any suggestions where to start?"

Kara Zor-El nods. "Yep. Batman's real. And he's a bit of a Grumpypants. But he's actually nice too after you get past that." She shrugs a little. "Honestly I'm not really sure where to start - I've only been doing this for about a year myself. I finally learned how to turn my head if someone punches me just enough so the person doesnt shatter their fist." She then asks, "Maybe ... I dunno... I can start with answering questions? I know I can help with how to throw a punch and some basic martial arts. I know first level klukor. That's a Kryptonian martial arts. And ... well... I also got trained on how to fight by Wonder Woman and Batman and Artemis - you wouldnt know that last name - she's basically an Amazon mega-warrior. Like that Xena person on TV.

Mia fingers her jaw, digesting all that. Kara does give full answers. She nods a little then glances at the window, making sure the parental units aren't watching. "I was going to ask if I really needed to train, what with being nigh invulnerable, but you probably fight hundreds of enemies who can hurt YOU. I'm ...well, we both saw. I'm weaker, let's face it. I probably need the training more than you ever did.

Flexing her right arm, she shows literally no visible bicep muscle. "To say the least. On the up side, I apparently came fully in control! I don't accidentally nuke forests or...wait. Should I be able to do heat vision and fly and stuff? Because that apparently didn't come with the package."

Kara Zor-El smiles awkwardly. "Um... weaker than me is honestly a pretty broad tent." She leans over and whispers, "People say that technically speaking, I'm probably stronger than my cousin even..." She then speaks in a normal volume again. "I'm willing to bet based on what I saw on the bridge that you're still definitely a top tier when it comes to strength. Maybe like Kon, even. He couldnt do heat vision for a while either, from what I'm told. Something about how human DNA stabilizes Kryptonian cloned DNA but also interferes with some of hte powers. Maybe you'll - I dunno - grow into the other powers." She shrugs. "This is all guessing, of course." She then nods. "But yeah.... it's probably a good idea to train and not just rely on brute force."

Mia slumps a little bit lower, letting both her feet on the ground again. She's good at that, like she has no bones. "Honestly expected to just read my life away," she muses, then looks at Kara out of the corner of her eye. "Girls are the strongest Kryptonians? I could live with that...if maybe I'm going to keep getting better. I was actually trying to fall asleep last night and couldn't because I kept thinking, oh boy, here I am. One more symbol for women's rights that is substandard to the boy version. Probably paid less too."

She grins a little, then says, "So...do we start now? Because I can't exactly train in my back yard. Especially if missing a punch means leveling the playing field. Literally."

Kara Zor-El smiles a little again. "Yeah um... well I know that's the case with me. I think it might have something to do with the ship that brought me to Earth, or maybe some sort of genetic tinkering from Krypton before I came here. But anyway... yeah, we definitely couldnt try it out here. The types of punches that could get thrown would probably cause damage just from the shockwaves if you don't have a hold of your powers. We do have training areas with force fields and stuff in San Francisco though at the Titans Tower. And even equipment that might actually tax you... assuming Vic upgraded the weights like I was requesting... Probably should wait for another day to do any sort of sparring."

Mia rocks her head from left to right, thinking. "I could call in sick at school. Nobody would argue, I've been pretty off my game lately. Lots on my mind. I think Shelley is telling everyone I'm pregnant anyway." She rolls her eyes, then glances around at the lawn. Feh, it'll keep; not like it hasn't gone an extra week without being mowed before. "I'll have to clear it with the parental entities. Assuming you mean now, because I assumed that you meant now without thinking and that was probably stupid of me. But I kind of want it to mean now."

Kara Zor-El thinks. "Maybe before skipping school and coming with me to San Francisco or Star LABS or Themyscira for a few days for testing and training and stuff, you probably should make sure it's okay with your parents?"

Mia raises a grin, tipping her head toward the door. "Yeah, I just said that. Shouldn't take long, they've been kind of hoping I'd find someone to keep me out of trouble for awhile. When they thought I couldn't hear." She turns and dashes into the house, accidentally pulling the door off the hinges on the way. She seems excited.

Kara Zor-El watches Mia as she pulls the door off the handles. Yeah, she remembers when she used to do that sort of thing too. She enjoys the lemonade in the meantime. At least Mia had the advantage of being familiar with the culture, and not landing naked in Gotham Bay and being chased by a man in a bat outfit, after the last thing she remembered being her planet blowing up in front of her. Mia might acclimate to powers a tad easier than Kara acclimated to Earth.

The conversation inside: Mia "Can I go away for a while?" Jessi, older sister, "CIRA! The door again!" Edward, the father, "I can fix the door...frame." Mia "I need to go with Supergirl to train so I STOP doing that!" Jessi "Damn right. You still owe me for..."

It goes on for a bit. The uptake of it is obvious when Mia comes out the doorway holding a bag, her eyes shining. "I have to be back by Friday. We have exams."

Kara Zor-El listens to the conversation as she finishes her lemonade. She really does miss having a family like that. Kal's great and all but it's just not the same as when she was on Krypton. When Mia comes out with her bag all packed, Kara gets up and smiles. "Okay then... great. Oh... and I'll make sure to get you back by Friday." She offers her hand to Mia.

Mia makes sure she's got a grip on her pack. Then on Kara Zor-El's hand, as she clasps wrists with the girl. "Do I get to meet Robin? Because reasons." She blushes a little, adjusting her hair. Not that it'll matter, the wind is about to utterly ruin it, but she isn't thinking that way. "Anyway. Up, up and away. Faster than a speeding bullet."

Kara Zor-El flies upwards, putting her arm around Mia as she tells gravity 'adios' and heads up into the sky with her passenger. "Yeah, definitely going to need to go faster than a speeding bullet. I mean... we're going cross country and I'm going to go slow for me because... passengers... but still, 15 minutes probably instead of 5 hours - it's still way faster than a bullet." Then she says, "Yep. Reasons. You know I dated Robin a couple of times before joining the Titans." Then she takes off.

Up, up and away. Indeed.