Chapter 16
“I’m not ready for this,” Cat muttered as she watched as finished putting up the last of her stuff in her new dorm room. It wasn’t everything from the penthouse, Cat had purchased quite a few new things for Kara to have, mostly new things, almost all new things. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay at home for your freshman year before moving to the dorms? Or maybe all four years…”
“Mom,” Kara sighed, hugging the shorter woman. “You know this is part of the whole college experience right? Something, something normal, something that you’re letting me do because you trust me to be normal.”
“I do trust you Kara, but I don’t trust you to be normal,” Cat clarified, “I trust you to be you, and if that means you floating around your dorm room, well, make sure to lock the doors and listen for anyone coming your way.”
“I’ll be able to manage Mom, don’t worry, Kate made sure that I was well trained on being aware of my surroundings,” the younger blonde answered as she released her mother.
Cat nodded but still looked around the room in distaste, “And you’re absolutely sure you don’t want to stay at home, it’s not too late to change your mind, or if you decide to just move home in the middle of the semester…”
“Mom,” Kara sighed out in exasperation, “I’ll be fine. The scholarship I got stipulates that I have to live on campus in order to keep it.”
“Well, at least I’ll save on your food bill while you’re here, the university cafeteria is all you can eat if you can stomach the food, and since you’ve never had a problem with that, you’ll be fine.” The older woman sighed a bit, “It’s going to be quieter without you in the penthouse.”
Kara scoffed, “With all of the kids Carter is inviting over to play those games you bought him, it won’t be quiet for long. And his new nanny, Daphne? She’s definitely not quiet.”
“I can’t decided if she wants to be an elementary school teacher or an aerobics instructor,” Cat groaned, thinking of the bubbly brunette woman she hired to look after Carter when she wasn’t available. “I didn’t think it was possible to reach that level of cheer in the morning without caffeine unless you were an alien…” Kara stifled a laugh at her mother as she continued unpacking her boxes, using little bursts of speed to speed up the process.
“Kara,” her mother’s voice came again, and Kara turned her attention back to her, finding the woman with a serious expression on her face. “Kara, you’re an adult now, child protection laws won’t keep you out of the public eye any longer, and while most people don’t know that you’re my daughter, Grant isn’t an uncommon surname, it wouldn’t be hard for people to track down that information.”
“So basically keep my head down, don’t get in trouble,” Kara said, nodding her head. “I can do that Mom, I can avoid them, I’ve gotten good at it over the years. They’ve never gotten a good picture of me, despite them trying to work around the protection laws, and I know there are a few people with Grant as a surname here, there were a few at school anyway. I’ll be fine.”
Cat nodded and she opened her mouth to say something else but Carter came bounding into the room and jumping up on his sister. “Kara, this place is so cool,” he said, wrapping his legs around the older girl, “You have to let me stay over sometime, I met some really interesting people in the hallway.”
Before Kara could reply, Cat interjected into the conversation, “Oh no young man, there is no way you will be sleeping over in a college dorm. Who knows what you’ll be exposed to, oh no.”
“Awe Mom,” Carter groaned, tucking his head into his sister’s neck, “Kara, make her let me stay over.”
“You know as well as I that we can’t really make Mom do anything,” Kara chuckled, setting the boy down. “If she says no, she means no.”
Carter pouted before looking back up at his sister, “You have to come home for game night then, every week!”
“How about every couple weeks,” the girl returned, ruffling Carter’s hair lightly. The boy grinned and hugged his sister tightly before Cat ushered him out the door.
“Call me if you need anything,” Cat said, “We’re not that far away.”
Kara waved her family away and let out a sigh once the door was shut. She loved her family, loved them dearly and desperately, but she was glad to get this chance to live away from them for a while. She was technically an adult now; she was going to college and she was going to start looking for a part-time job soon. It was time she start learning how to be an adult. Her mother and Kate didn’t do everything for her, but she still felt like she was in a protective bubble when she was with them. She wanted to learn, to make her own mistakes, but it was nice to know that her family would be there to catch her if she fell.
A knock came on the door to the connecting room of the suit and Kara turned to see a blonde with light blue eyes poking her head through the door. The girl looked her up and down, once, twice, three times and a wide smirk appeared on her face, enough to make Kara blush. “Hi,” the girl greeted, holding out her hand, “I’m Sara Lance, one of your suitemates and I have to say, I’m not a photographer, but I can picture me and you together.”
“I, what?” Kara questioned, her body stilling as she tried to process what the other girl just said.
“Damn, didn’t work, let’s try this again, I was wondering if you have an extra heart, mine seems to have been stolen,” Sara said, clasping Kara’s hands between both hers.
Kara just looked at Sara in confusion when a dark skinned girl walked into the room and rolled her eyes at the scene. “Sara, I told you, those don’t work,” the girl said, crossing her arms over her chest. Her voice had a slightly higher pitch than the blonde girl, and her words were tinged with a slight Australian accent.
Sara just glanced back over and the girl and shook her head. “No, no Megan, you don’t understand, one of these will work,” she said, turning her blue eyed gaze back to Kara. “Are you lost ma’am? Because heaven is a long way from here.”
“Ignore her,” the other girl said, walking up to Kara, “I suspect she was dropped on her head a lot as a child. I’m Megan Morse, your other suitemate, I hope Sara introduce herself before she started with the pick up lines. She tried one on me earlier when she moved in, but she’s mostly harmless from what I can tell.”
“I don’t go after straight girls Megan,” Sara scoffed, glancing over at the darker girl, “And these work, trust me.” She looked back at Kara, “When I saw you, I looked for a signature because every masterpiece has one.”
Kara’s confusion shifted to amusement and her brow rose in a questioning manner. “Do these really work?”
Sara sighed and released Kara’s hand, straightening from her semi-kneeling position. “Sometimes… occasionally… never really, unless I was aiming to make the pretty girl laugh.” Kara giggled at her statement and Sara winked, “Which I have, anyway, I, well, we thought we should probably introduce ourselves since we’re going to be living together for a while.”
“I’m Kara Grant,” Kara replied, smiling at the both of them, “It’s nice to meet you, how long have you two…”
“I moved in a few days ago when I flew in from Sydney,” Megan answered, “Met Sara this morning when she moved in.”
“And you used a pick-up line on her?” The taller blonde questioned glancing at the other girl.
Sara shrugged, “She gave off the straight vibe, but I figured I would give it a go. Now you on the other hand.” She gave Kara another once over, causing the other girl to blush, “You are definitely speaking my language.”
“Not looking for a relationship anytime soon Sara,” Kara sighed, “Especially not from one of my suitemates. Imagine how awkward that would be.”
“Fair enough,” the other blonde replied, “But I reserve the right to flirt, being shot down by two beautiful women in one day is not something I’m used to.”
“Probably used to more women turning you down,” Megan said, rolling her eyes.
Sara glanced at her roommate, an offended look on her face. “I’ll have you know that my last girlfriend seduced me.”
“Right, so,” Megan started, turning back to Kara, “I suggest that since we’re all going to be living together for at least a year, we should go out and get to know each other. At least we can try to be friends right?”
“You guys like hot wings?” Kara asked, brightening, “There’s a place not far from here that serves the best wings, and they’re really cheap. It’s kind of a… sketchy looking building, so not many students will frequent it, but the food is excellent. It’s supposed to be all you can eat, but they cut me off after like fifty wings or so…”
“Damn, you look like an angel, have a totally ripped body and you can eat, I’m in love,” Sara sighed. “But flirting later, food is a must.”
“I have a really fast metabolism,” Kara explained as she and Megan followed Sara out the door after grabbing their bags.
Megan gave Kara an inscrutable look and the blonde had trouble placing the flicker just behind her eyes before the darker girl smiled and hooked her arm through Kara’s. “I imagine you do.”
“Okay, you were right,” Sara said as she bit into another wing, “These are really good, though the outside of this place is really sketch. How’d you know it was here?”
“I live here, in National City, on the other side of the city though. My best friend and I would go around looking for cheap places to eat that had a lot of food, and this was one of the places we found,” the taller blonde replied. She stuck a whole wing in her mouth and moved it around for a minutes before taking it out completely stripped of meat. “Fun little party trick I learned,” she gave as an explanation when the other two girls gave her incredulous looks.
“Mhm, well, we probably should at least briefly introduce ourselves,” Megan said, “Get to know each other a little better rather than talking about our favorite foods.”
“That was fun though, I’ve never had a kangaroo burger, I didn’t know that was a thing,” Kara told her. “An Australian speciality?”
“Just at a few places, but they are really good,” Megan groaned, “I’m going to miss it. Anyway, I’m Megan, I’m twenty years old. I originally lived in Gotham, but then I moved to Australia a few years ago. I thought about moving back to Gotham though when I wanted to go to school, but doesn’t have fond memories for me, so I decided to try a different coast. I’m looking to get a degree in business… hopefully.”
“Australia is weird,” Sara said before shaking her head, “I grew up in Starl City, so I’m already from the west coast, though I’m looking forward to the sunshine down here. I’m twenty as well, though I’ll be turning twenty-one in a few months, on Christmas actually. I have an older sister, she’s two and a half years older, going to law school. I took a few years off after college to travel the world, much to my parents’ distaste, they like Laurel better anyway so I don’t care. I decided National City was a good place, away from my parents and sister, and large enough for me to get lost in. Lots of pretty girls too.” She winked at Kara and the other blonde rolled her eyes.
“Let me guess, you weren’t out and proud back home were you?” Megan asked.
Sara shrugged, “I had a boyfriend, and I was sort of sleeping with my sister’s boyfriend for a while.” She held her hands up at the looks she was getting, “I know, I know, I’m a terrible person. In my defense, I was sixteen, stupid, and she’s always been annoyingly perfect, it’s frustrating at times. I just wanted to get one over on her. It didn’t last, and they broke up, I left as soon as I graduated and haven’t looked back. Figured out I like both while I was out traveling, but I definitely prefer women; there’s just something about taking a woman to bed that’s not as… messy as taking a man. Plus women make far better lovers.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Megan stated dryly before turning to Kara. “So what about you stretch, what’s your story?”
Kara shrugged, “My, uh, my parents died when I was thirteen in a fire. My only living relative put me up for adoption, and I was adopted and moved to National City. My new mom is great though, always encouraging me, and she hates my cousin, like really hates him, doesn’t let him come around at all. I have a younger brother, he’s seven, and an honorary older sister, but she lives in Gotham. I went to one of the private schools in National City where I met my best friend. She moved across the country to go to MIT for school; her mother wanted her to go to Yale as family tradition, but her father let her go to MIT so long as she went to Yale for a Masters.” The blonde scowled a bit at that, “Her family aren’t the nicest of people.”
“I’m so sorry Kara,” Megan said, grabbing the blonde’s hand while Sara just looked pissed.
“Who’s your cousin? I hate him as well, who could do that to family…”
“It’s okay Sara,” Kara chuckled, gasping a little bit to push back the feelings building in her chest, “Well, it’s not okay okay, but it doesn’t hurt as much as it used to. I’ve been with my family for five years now, and I love them dearly. My mother… well, you guys should know just in case, but don’t tell anyone, my mother is Cat Grant.”
“Like Queen of all media Cat Grant?” Sara questioned, “I loved her talk show, used to watch it every day after school.”
“She is both impressive and scary,” Megan agreed, “There was a station in Sydney that aired her show. I only caught it every now and then, but I loved when she made grown men cry.”
“Yeah, she’s the best, but I figured I should tell you guys because…”
“Because you’re obviously lying low and avoiding the paps, we got it. They don’t know who you are though do they?” Sara asked.
Kara shook her head, “No. I mean, they know she adopted a teenager a few years ago, and sort of got a blurry picture of me, but Mom basically destroyed them. Grant isn’t uncommon as a name, but if they figure out I’m that Grant, well, any privacy will basically go out the window.”
“We get it,” Megan told her, “This is National City though, so there are paparazzi every where. They shouldn’t come on campus much, but off campus might be tricky. They might not know who you are, but if they get your photo accidentally, they might figure it out later.”
The blonde gave her two suitemates a mischievous smile, “I’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding cameras in the past few years.”
Sara took both of Kara’s hands again, ignoring the sticky bbq sauce stained fingers and looked earnestly into the other blonde’s eyes. “Don’t worry Kara, we won’t tell anyone who you’re mother is, I understand how important privacy is. My dad is a cop, and was always getting in our business, so I get it.” Her expression shifted slightly, which was the only clue Kara got for what came out of her mouth next, “Can I take your picture though to prove to all of my friends that angels exist?”
“Still didn’t work Sara.”
“Damn, I thought that one would work.”
Cat sat back in her chair in her office and let out a loud groan, thankful that she was the only person left on the floor. If her employees had heard her, she would’ve been forced to fire them, and find all new staff. CatCo was a growing brand in a competitive market, and having to take the time to find a new editorial staff at the moment would just be a waste. And human resources was already on her case about going through a different assistant every few weeks.
“Do try to keep from releasing such noises Kitty, it is so unlady like,” her mother’s voice came, causing her eyes to snap open and flash to the entrance of her office.
“Mother,” Cat replied, her teeth clenched, “I wasn’t aware that you were in town, usually the crows herald your arrival and they’ve been strangely silent.”
“What are you blathering about Kitty, oh it doesn’t matter,” Katherine waved her hand dismissively, “I am in town to promote my new book, and I figured it was a good time to see my grandson. I understand that miscreant you took in is no longer living with you.”
“Miscreant,” Cat repeated the word, “You don’t mean my daughter do you?”
Katherine scoffed, “You don’t actually think of the girl as one of your own do you? She’s just an orphan Kitty, nobody of importance.”
“She is my daughter Mother, your granddaughter, though you don’t deserve the title of grandmother,” the blonde woman bit out, glaring at the older woman. “And just because she’s not living with me at the moment doesn’t mean she’s out of my life, she’s just in college mother, maybe you remember what that was like.”
“Will I be seeing my grandson this visit or not?” Katherine huffed out, a hard look in her eyes.
“He’s with his father this weekend, but I will call him and let him know that you wanted to see him. Maybe next time Mother.”
The older woman nodded and pulled out her phone, “I’ll call you Kitty, I’m not sure when I’ll be in town next, I don’t know why you decided to settle here of all places. Metropolis is much more sophisticated, and of course we have Superman. What do you have out here Kitty? Celebrity scandals?” Katherine scoffed, “No, you could’ve been like me and done something with your life, literature, works that mean something, not the useless drivel you spit out.”
“It’s news mother, not useless drivel.”
Katherine just waved her hand, “Whatever you say Kitty. Next time I’m in town, I’ll see if I have time for lunch, or something of that nature.”
The younger woman scowled as her mother sauntered back out of the door without a care in the world, not understanding that she left her daughter with an emotional mess stewing in her chest. She loved her mother, as much as anyone could love a fire breathing dragon, and wanted her approval; approval that never came. She never wanted that for Kara or Carter, and she knew that Adam was never exposed to that witch so he was safe. Thankfully the woman hadn’t come around much because she did not approve of Cat adopting the bubble ball of personified sunshine, so her little family was spared her mother’s judgemental ways for close to five years.
“I had no idea you had Dominators here,” Astra’s voice came, causing Cat’s eyes to snap towards her balcony. “Or that they could shapeshift to appear as humans.” It was the first Cat had seen the woman in several years, but it didn’t appear as if they Kryptonian had changed at all over the years. Same long brown hair with a tacky white streak, and same cold, distant expression in her eyes, it made Cat want to throw something at her face.
Cat leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, an unimpressed look on her face. “I see you stayed away,” she said, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “No wayward presents from ‘Santa’ for the children the past few years, though I did provide some of my own. I know that Lena never really believed in the jolly old elf, but I would hate for Carter and Kara’s spirits to be crushed, especially since Kara already believes the man to be an alien.”
“Little One has always had faith; faith in what she could not see, faith in things she could, faith in those that don’t deserve it…” Astra’s voice trailed off at the end as she looked over the city glowing brightly in the dark.
“When was the last time you checked in on her?” Cat asked after a few minutes, stepping out on the balcony with the woman. “I doubt you’ve managed to completely stay away, not if you claimed to love her as much as you did.” She propped her arms on the railing and looked out over the city, “Though I still have doubts about that, seeing as you won’t even talk to her, tell her that you’re alive.”
Astra’s eyes narrowed but she didn’t rise to the bait, knowing that the other woman was just goading her into a confrontation. While she had spent the majority of her time in the city watching over her niece from afar, she couldn’t help but watch the blonde woman. She watched how she moved, how she acted, how she commanded both respect and fear from those she interacted with. Journalism wasn’t something that existed on Krypton, the high council believed that information should only be shared with those that need to know, and guarded it closely. Astra blamed this practice for the destruction of her home, the jealous guarding of secrets and hoarding of information, the majority of people had no idea what was coming until it was too late. She believed that people deserved to know what was happening, what was coming, maybe there would’ve been a way to stop it. It was too late though, everything she had done, it was all too late.
The Cat woman, Kara’s new mother, she exposed secrets, demanded that people be told the truth, a certain level of truth considering she is housing an alien refugee, but still the truth. They were alike in that way, seeing that people needed to know the truth, deserved to know the truth, but they differed in how they went about it. Astra fought for it at every turn, not caring who got hurt in the desire for truth, but Cat didn’t hurt people in her quest for the truth, she protected them, fought for them.
“It's been a few weeks,” Astra admitted, “Since before she moved out of your penthouse. How… how is she?”
“She's busy, college isn't easy but she'll find her stride soon enough,” Cat responded, “And I know she likes to use her super speed to get through the readings sooner so she has more time to work on the assignments.”
“Kara is smart, she will succeed in whatever she does.”
Cat hummed and studied the woman for a minute. “You know she's getting a degree in Fine Arts? She told me about the guild system on Krypton and that she had selected the artist’s guild rather than science or law like her parents, or even military like you.”
Astra barked out a laugh, “She was always drawing on things so that doesn't surprise me. Drove Alura crazy since she always seemed to find permanent materials to draw on the furniture and walls. Unlike others on Krypton, she was a natural birth so she was born with the ability to choose what she wanted to do. I'm glad she's choosing to follow her passion.”
“And you still won't see her?”
The woman shook her head, pushing off from the ground. “Things are complicated. I fear we will be on different sides when everything comes to head, I won't let her lose another world, no matter what.” With that, she disappeared into the night leaving Cat looking after her.
Cat let out a frustrated sigh and turned back to her office. “I hope Kara doesn't grow up to be that stubborn.”
Kara let out a frustrated sigh, not knowing she sounded exactly like her mother, and continued to stare at the computer in front of her. She was in the Mac lab in the fine arts college using the computers to work on her projects for her graphic design elective class. It was her second semester at NCU, and she was progressing further in her degree after taking the introduction to design and drawing classes her first semester. She opted to take graphic design for her elective class since the introductory class was offered in the spring. The majority of the students in the class with her were people closing to major in graphics and were already familiar with the editing program. Kara was used to sculpting, drawing, painting, editing and creating art with a computer program wasn't something she was used to.
“Having problems with the program?” A voice to her left questioned and Kara glanced over to see a guy sitting at one of the other computers. His eyes didn’t stray from the screen in front of him but Kara knew that his question was directed to her.
“Yeah,” Kara sighed, looking back at her own computer, “This is really the first time I’ve taken a graphics class, and I have no idea what I’m doing except trying not to fail.”
The man clicked a few things on his screen before turning his attention to Kara and the blonde got a better look at him. He had dark hair and eyes, and pale skin with a slight tint to it that looked like he had a parent or grand-parent that was Hispanic. His eyes crinkled when he smiled and he rolled his seat over to look at what Kara was doing on the screen. “You got Banks for intro?” He asked after glancing at her assignment. At her nod, he shook his head, “Yeah, Banks is a great graphic artists, and is one of the better professors for it, but only if you know what you’re doing. He sucks at teaching intro because there’s always one student that doesn’t know anything about the different programs before the start of the class and explaining the basics isn’t something that Banks can do very well. It’s like asking a native speaker to describe the rudimentary grammar points of their language in great detail without using slang, it doesn’t work. I can help you get the hang of the basics and then the rest of your projects shouldn’t be a problem.”
“So you know the basics?”
“Yeah,” he smiled, “I’m a senior with a graphics specialty, this is my last semester. I’ve been working on my final show since last summer so most everything is done except finalizing everything, I’ve got time to help out a lost and confused freshman.”
“Thanks,” a wide smile spread across the blonde’s face. She offered her hand to the man to shake, “Kara Grant, painter.”
“Kyle Rayner, graphic artist,” he replied, winking at the girl. “I’m basically like a really big nerd, that’s what my girlfriend says anyway.”
Kara peered around to glance at the screen he was working on and rolled her eyes at an image of Dragon Ball Z character Goku battling with a cartoon version of her cousin. “I can see that,” she muttered, gesturing towards the screen.
“Oh, ah, um, that, I’m just goofing off,” Kyle said, a redness on his cheeks, “I was just theorizing on who would win in a fight, Goku or Superman.”
“Goku, obviously,” Kara replied, “It’s not that difficult to figure out. When Goku goes full Super Saiyan, he is strong and fast, not stronger than Superman, but definitely faster. He could out pace Superman no problem.”
“I disagree, I think is Superman caught him with a good punch, he would be done,” Kyle countered. “I mean Ki energy is one thing, but we all know that Superman is solar powered, so he would be able to last longer.”
“But Goku is a warrior, Superman is not, Goku knows how to strategize during a fight, how many times has Superman been caught unaware during a fight and been forced to scramble about to catch up?”
Kyle pondered her words and nodded, “Okay, fair enough, and we already know that Superman and Batman were pretty evenly matched when Batman confronted him with his super Batsuit on, but now we must ponder the real question.” A serious expression crossed his face as he stared at Kara, “Who would win, Goku vs. Wonder Woman?”
They both looked at each other before saying ‘Wonder Woman’ at the same time.
Kara giggled a little and focused back on the screen as Kyle showed her different tools on the program and how to use the layer system to protect her work. “So you said you had a girlfriend? She also a nerd?” Kara asked, glancing over at him.
The other student just shrugged a bit, “Uh, not really, she doesn’t mind all of my nerdiness, but she’s not big on it herself. She’s a photographer for the Tribune, she just graduated last year. We were friends before we started dating a few months before she graduated, and we moved in together a few months ago, and I think I’ve been talking too much…”
“It’s okay Kyle, I ramble a bit too,” Kara giggled. “Thanks for your help. If you have time, do you think you could help me out a few more times with my projects? I really like graphics, the things the program can do are way interesting and I can use some of this stuff for my paintings, but I need to learn a few more things before I get to that point…”
“Whoa, Kara, whoa, I can see what you mean about the ramble, and yeah, I’ll be glad to help you out. I’m basically always in this computer lab unless I’m home or eating, so basically you can find me here throughout the day.”
“Thanks Kyle!” Kara blanched as she checked the time on the computer, “If I don’t leave in the next five minutes, I’m going to be late for my lit class.” She saved her progress to her drive folder on the server and logged off, grabbing her bag off the floor. “I’ll see you later!”
“Bye Blondie!” Kyle waved, “Maybe next time we can debate the differences between Green Lantern and Superman.”
“Deal.”