The sun rose bright and warm the next morning, much to the delight of the citizens of Metropolis. As Lara yawned and stretched herself awake, she already felt so happy for the day to come. Today would be her first morning on patrol as Supergirl, alongside her dad.
Then that afternoon, they were heading for Smallville to visit Ma and Pa Kent. Sure it was technically to make up for her outburst the previous week, but it was still great to see them. Maybe after she finished working with Grandpa, Lara could have a chat with Grandma, girl-to-girl.
Then, that evening… well… then it would be back home to get ready for school the next morning. Lara had practically forgotten about school. Her mom had only bought her the week off, but tomorrow morning it would be back to Reeve-West Academy, where she would either need to come out to her entire school or get used to being called her deadname again, and pretending she was a boy.
She let out a sigh and got out of bed. That was a problem she could deal with later. She almost considered asking her parents if she could be homeschooled and just always be Supergirl, but she couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to her school friends for one thing. They were the one thing she missed about her time out of class.
She smiled, thinking about her friends; Isabele Issacs and Laurence Stamp. They were her only friends her age, outside of the whole superhero business. With Damian in another grade, they were the only people at the school who she regularly hung out with.
They were the three misfits of the prep school. As a student there on a scholarship (from her Uncle Bruce), Lara wasn’t too popular with all the Metropolis trust fund kids. Isabelle was a very shy and quiet girl who didn’t interact with most other girls at the school. Finally, Laurence was often antisocial and overly-analytical, even among the other smart rich kids. They may have been misfits, but they all had each other. Lara smiled even wider to herself. She wouldn’t wait long to come out to her friends. They’d still love and respect her… she hoped. Maybe she could tell them first?
Lara continued this train of thought all the way to the breakfast table, where her dad was sitting, in full Superman gear, drinking coffee and reading the Daily Planet. Upon seeing the paper, Lara remembered what Lois had said the night before. “Morning Dad! Is… Is that the paper with mom’s article?” She sat down and found a breakfast of french toast and orange juice already waiting for her.
“Yes it is. I was just finishing the story myself.” Clark smiled and handed her the paper. “Mom went back into work after you went to bed last night, to make sure this was published on time. Best we let her catch up on her sleep. It’s been a while since she pulled an all-nighter.”
Lara briefly glanced towards her parents bedroom and smiled. Knowing that Lois had worked so hard to get the story published, especially after the conversation they had had last night, made Lara feel truly blessed to have such an amazing mom.
She then turned her attention to the front page of the newspaper. There she was, front and center on the cover of the Daily Planet, a series of pictures of Supergirl flying over the stage and posing triumphantly. Above the picture was the headline “The Next Supergirl Speaks to the World”.
“Speaks to the world?” Lara repeated in her head. “Kind of an overly dramatic start, mom.” She smiled and continued to read. There were some brief mentions of Kara’s rebranding as Power Girl (with more information on page 3), but Lara’s appearance and subsequent coming out had taken up most of the front page. Lara saw most of her own words repeated in the article and couldn’t help but feel a warmth sense of pride filling her.
She read the end of the article aloud, “Though Supergirl only spoke briefly in her first appearance yesterday, it is clear that Metropolis and the world should expect great things from this young hero, and this reporter is excited to see what our new junior heroine has in store.” Lara was on the verge of happy tears and wished that mom was awake so she could hug her right now. Recognizing the need, Clark held his arms open, letting Lara fly into his embrace. They just enjoyed the closeness, neither needing to speak.
After a hurried breakfast, quick cleanup and a costume change, Lara was Supergirl once again, and was flying through the early morning sky of Metropolis right beside her father. Much like in France, people waved and called to them as they flew by.
Everyone was being so warm and friendly even if from afar, but while they looked for something to do, Lara remembered something else. “Hey dad, I’m curious, what did the other news groups say about me last night?” She had wanted to stay up for the 11 oclock stories but Dad had insisted she needed to sleep for an early start the next day.
Clark smiled “You were a star on all of them, princess! Glowing words of support from almost everyone!”
“Almost?” Lara repeated. They landed quickly when they saw a little girl crying that her cat was in a tree. Clark comforted the girl and Lara got to hold the kitty as he was flown back to the ground.
Only once the girl had thanked them both and they had flown back into the sky did Clark renew the conversation. “Well… You’ll probably find out before too long… There’s one news program that really has it in for people like us.”
“...Godfree?” Lara felt a sense of unease at the thought “G. Gordon Godfree was talking about me?”
Godfree was a silver-tongued extremist with his own conspiracy theorist news site. He was always ranting about how the super humans were going to oppress the people of the world, and how they all had a secret hidden agenda to create as much chaos as they fixed. He was unfortunately very popular. She had seen clips of the horrible things he had said about her father, the Martians, the Green Lanterns, and even the Amazons. She was actually kind of impressed she had gotten the jerk’s attention on her first day as a superhero.
“That’s the one.” said Clark, grimly. “Not enough that he felt the need to go after my daughter, but the things he said about you....” Lara noticed her dad clench his fists just a little tighter. It was rare for him to show any signs of anger with people, but Godfree had obviously crossed a line.
“I was a little worried about you seeing it, actually.” said Clark. “Apparently, he was trying to get some hurtful things trending on the internet. Luckily, it seems you have enough fans to deal with that sort of thing.”
Just then, Lara realised something, and actually laughed, surprising her dad “Oh my god! So that’s why Conner did it!”
“Conner? What did he do now?” Clark asked, a little worried that his son had put a flaming bag of Krypto’s leavings on Godfree’s front porch.
“You didn’t see his TikTok video?”
“His what?” said Clark, feeling somewhat out of touch. “Is Conner lip sync videos again? I know there’s a Ke$ha song…”
“No dad, not that TikTok.” Lara said with a giggle. She landed on a rooftop and asked for her Dad’s phone, quickly bringing up the video. Both father and daughter couldn’t help but laugh at Conner’s antics.
“That was very sweet of him. Is all of this “TikTok” stuff like this?” Clark asked.
Lara could almost imagine the multitude of dad jokes her dad would make if he had his own profile, and smiled, “Something like that. It’s more…” She paused, “Dad, did you hear breaking glass?” She looked about and tried to listen hard for where it came from.
“Someone might have dropped a plate or something…” All the same, Clark too was listening.
“There!” Lara got a fix on the source of the sound and flew off quickly to a dark side street, finding a sleazy-looking man trying to force open the door of a car with a crowbar. “Need a little help mister?” Lara asked playfully.
The criminal jumped and turned, crowbar in hand. He paused, looking for Lara higher up than she was before looking down. “Heh… The new Supergirl? Move it kid, before you get hurt.” He actually had the nerve to turn back to the car and resume his jimmying.
“Hey! Stop that!” She called, flying over the car and snatching the bar out of his hand. Even then this guy didn’t seem to see her as a threat.
“Oh fly off, Wonder Tot!” The man sneered, as Lara hovered out of his reach. “What’s a little thing like you going to do to me?”
“Well, for one she could distract you until I get here.” They both looked up to see Superman flying in.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” The crook threw up his hands. “Don’t you have anything better to do than harass little guys like us, you piece of ...” Clark glared at the man, inferring him to watch his language when children were present.
“...You... big... boy scout.” mumbled the crook, who slowly seemed to be realising just how out of his depth he really was.
“Don’t sell yourself short, sir!” said Clark, in a jovial, yet still somewhat threatening tone. “You’re not just a little guy. You’ve given my daughter her very first crime to foil!” He nodded to Lara who easily bent the crowbar she was holding in half. “Oh and just a reminder; Never underestimate my little girl.”
Lara folded her arms, and glared at the crook, hoping that she was pulling off the right levels of toughness needed for a superhero pose.
The crook gulped. “Hey, look… Ya got me. I don’t want any trouble.” He grinned, uneasily. “I promise, I won’t do it again… I mean, technically… I didn’t even get the car open, so…” He trailed off, looking nervously between the father-daughter duo.
Lara looked the man in the eyes, and held up a finger. “First warning.” she said, in what she hoped wasn’t a too threatening tone.
“You got it Supergirl!” Still terrified and unsure what to do, the man actually saluted both father and daughter before running off as fast as he could.
Lara retained her cool pose and attitude till he was a good way down the street, then she positively squealed in delight. “My first foiled crime! And he called me a girl too!”
Clark couldn’t help but chuckle as Lara excitedly flew several loops and spins in the air. “You did wonderful princess!” He pulled out a business card from his pocket and quickly put it under the car’s windshield before flying up to hug Lara.
“What was that?” She asked, pointing to the card.
Clark pulled a few from his pocket and handed them to her. The card read “JLA Damage Relief.” With several phone numbers on one side. On the other side was a note, “Our apologies, this damage was done by criminals or while stopping criminal activities. Please call for reimbursement, repair or complaints. Have a nice day.”
“Huh… so that’s what happens to the cars thrown at giant robots.” Lara had always wondered who paid for the damages.
“Yep,” Clark agreed as they flew off again. “Between Wayne Industries, Queen Consolidated and Star Labs, the damage never takes long to clean up… but try not to make a habit of breaking things, ok sweetie? I’ve had to give your brother a talking-to about his damage bills before.”
“I’ll try, dad…. Oh hold on a sec!” She flew back the way they had come and quickly returned, holding the bent crowbar. “First crime! Gotta have a souvenir.”
The morning went on much the same from there. Flying around the city, helping citizens in little ways. Find a lost dog, help an old lady across the street, break up a fight between teenagers; Metropolis seemed very quiet today. Even if it wasn’t exciting, Lara still loved it. Everyone she met was so nice, so happy to see her, and she hadn’t been misgendered once!
Around midday they stopped back at the apartment for Lara to change and get ready to travel to Smallville. Lois was awake by this point but still in her pajamas with bed hair, slowly sipping a massive mug of coffee. “Morning sweetie. Morning dear.” She said with a yawn.
“Hi mom! Are you feeling ok? You never sleep this late!” Lara asked, her concern being the only thing keeping her from gushing happily over her first patrol.
“Oh I’m fine. I just haven’t had to work that hard or late since I covered Bruce and Selina’s wedding” She yawned again, trying to shake herself awake a little, since the coffee seemed slow to kick in.
“You sure you’re alright, Lois?” asked Clark. “You were coming up on 24 hours without sleep last night.”
“I’m fiiine.” said Lois, wearily. “A couple more gallons of coffee, and I’ll be right as rain.” She smiled at Lara, who giggled a little at the remark. “I’m sorry, princess. I know you wanna tell me all about your first patrol, but mommy’s not exactly in the right headspace right now.”
Lara’s smile faded a little, prompting Lois to pull her into a hug. “You can tell me all about it when you get back from Grandma and Grandpa's,” said Lois. “I promise I’ll hang on your every word! I’m so proud of you. My little Supergirl!”
Lara’s smile returned as she heard her mother’s loving words. After about a minute of hugging, they parted, and Lara skipped off to her room to get changed. Lois returned to her coffee, and Clark began brewing a second pot.
This time heading to Kansas, Clark had just sent Lara, with a hug and a kiss, on her own through the teleporter. He knew she could handle it on her own, especially with grandma waiting at the other end.
Lara had chosen to wear shorts and an old Wonder Woman t-shirt to work on the farm. It felt strange to not wear a skirt after a few days, but she had to think practically for the chores around the farm.
She waved to her dad before stepping into the transporter and teleporting off to Kansas in the blink of an eye. She smiled, finding herself once again in the Kent family barn… Wow… things had changed so much since her last visit. She was interrupted from her thoughts by the barn door opening and her grandma and grandpa coming through to greet her.
“Hello sweetie!” Ma Kent called out, walking right up to her granddaughter and hugging her. Pa Kent stood back a little, but came in for his own hug.
“How's my favorite superhero doing?” He asked, playfully ruffling her hair.
“I’m your favorite grandpa? I’m telling dad!” Lara giggled before fixing her hair.
Jonathan looked at his wife gravely “Oh we can’t have her telling Clark my secret. Think we should buy her silence?”
Martha nodded just as seriously, “I think you might be right.” She leaned in towards Lara, “What do you say to this dearie; you keep that secret to yourself, and instead of filling holes with Conner, you can spend the day baking cookies with me?”
“Conner’s here too?” said Lara.
“Yep!” said Martha, “And he’s brought Tim and Stephanie too, so obviously, they’re gonna need some homemade cookies. They’re very excited to meet you, by the way. We all watched you on the news yesterday dearie. You were amazing!”
Lara took her time to digest all the new information “You want me to help you with baking?... But wait, what about the floor I messed up?” She wasn’t sure why she was looking a gift horse in the mouth, but she couldn’t stop the question.
Pa Kent chuckled and shrugged “Oh you know how it is… The floor damage was in a high traffic area. Felt it was better to go ahead and fix it myself than wait a week for you to come help…”
Lara couldn’t help but smile. This was so nice of them! Regardless of what grandpa said, she knew they had chosen to go easy on her. “Hmm so my options are baking cookies or digging holes? I hope Conner can forgive me, but baking with grandma is too good an offer to pass up! I’ll take the deal.”
“Excellent choice!” Martha said, taking Lara by the hand and leading her towards the barn door.
It was at this point that Lara realised, to her annoyance, that she had chosen to wear work clothes for nothing. Now that she knew she’d be spending the day in the kitchen with grandma, she wished that she had decided to wear something more fashionable, like her summer dress.
Her spirits were lifted however, when the barn door flew open and Conner rushed in to greet them, closely followed by his significant others; Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown, AKA the heroes, Red Robin and Spoiler; both of whom were former Robins, and in Steph’s case, Batgirl too.
“Lara!” called Conner, as he ran over to hug his sister. “Great to see you, kid! How’s it feel to be an official Superhero?”
“It’s great!” replied Lara, “Me and dad stopped a carjacker this morning! Dad let me keep the crowbar!”
“Nice!” said Conner, high-fiving Lara. “Gotta have a souvenir for your first day of hero-ing!”
“Hey kiddo!” said Steph, as she and Tim appeared, either side of Conner. “We saw on the news yesterday. You were so brave!”
“We’re really proud of you Lara!” said Tim. “Steph and I were talking to the rest of the Bats this morning. Damian and Cass wouldn’t stop gushing about you!”
Lara smiled up at her brother’s boyfriend and girlfriend. She had known them since she was little, but this was her first time meeting them as her true self. It was wonderful to see how accepting they were, especially seeing how they had, apparently, come all the way out to Kansas to see her.
“Oh and Lara! We got someone else that wants to say how proud they are of you…” Conner smiled mischievously and whistled, receiving a loud bark in answer.
Lara was delighted when a large white dog in a bright red collar came running into the barn and right up to her. “Krypto! Hey buddy!” she got down on her knees to be on the dog’s level, only to be pounced to the floor by the overly friendly animal. Lara was a fit of giggles as the dog licked her face and wagged his tail. Maybe it was better that she wasn’t wearing her good dress today after all.
“Up boy, give her some space.” Conner said, trying not to laugh. The dog let Lara back up, but didn’t go too far, knowing correctly that Lara would give him lots of pets and scratch him behind his ears if he stayed close. “I could just tell looking at him that he wanted to come congratulate you too sis. If this dog could talk…”
Tim and Steph exchanged a look at that trailed off remark. It had been a bit of a running joke between the two what Krypto would say if he could talk. Having been made in the same laboratory as Conner, some could argue that the dog was smarter than the boy, but they were both equally loyal and affectionate.
“Thanks for bringing him Conner! Getting to spend time with this good boy is the only way today could get better!” She said, hugging the dog around his neck.
Jonathan somewhat reluctantly held open the barn door “Come on everyone, we got work to do. The quicker it’s done, the quicker we can have cookies and play with the dog more.
The group couldn’t dispute the logic of that and split up. Conner, Grandpa, Tim and Steph headed to the fields, and Martha led Lara to the farmhouse, and into the kitchen, with Krypto following close behind.
In the kitchen, the ingredients for Ma Kent’s triple chocolate chip cookies were set out on the counter. “I figured it was time you learnt an old family secret.” grinned Martha. “Who better to share my secret cookie recipe with, than my own granddaughter!”
Lara grinned, both at the validation of being called Martha’s granddaughter, as well as the prospect of delicious cookies. She quickly threw on an apron and began helping her grandma with the mixture.
It took a little longer than usual to get the cookies ready for baking; Martha made sure Lara was observing every step. But soon enough, the first batch was in the oven, and Lara headed outside to check up on Conner’s progress. Martha stayed behind to keep an eye on the cookies, while Krypto curled up on a rug next to the warm oven.
She walked out onto the porch to find Tim and Steph sitting on the bench, with homemade lemonade provided by Martha. They were both watching Conner with great interest.
Lara followed their gaze, and saw that Conner and Grandpa had apparently finished filling in the craters, and had moved on to other farm work. Conner was carrying a stack of hay bales on his shoulders, and loading them onto a trailer, while Jonathan directed him. Despite the fact that even a stack that large would weigh almost nothing to a Kryptonian, Conner had taken his shirt off and was flexing his muscles as he moved.
Lara looked back and forth between her brother and the two young adults on the bench. It took her a moment to realise what was going on. They were… how would Kara put it? Enjoying the show? Grown-ups could be so weird, and those two with the lemonade hadn’t even been grown-ups for long. Lara rolled her eyes, quietly hoping that she wouldn’t be like that as she got older.
“Hey guys!” said Lara, and Tim and Steph both jumped as they noticed Lara watching them. “Grandma says the cookies will be ready in half an hour. What’cha doing out here?”
Tim seemed hesitant to answer, but Steph quickly spoke over him. “Oh nothing! We were just taking a break.” She nudged Tim, who nodded in agreement.
“Actually, if you’re done in the kitchen...” said Steph, with the tone of somebody desperately trying to change the subject. “Me and Tim have something to show you, if you want?” She stood up and moved towards the door, gesturing for Lara and Tim to follow.
“Sure.” said Lara, wondering what this could be, as she followed the pair into the living room. She spotted a nylon bag on the sofa that she hadn’t noticed before, presumably belonging to Steph, who picked it up and turned to Lara with an excited grin.
“So Lara!” she began, with a dramatic flair. “We hear that Damian has been showing you the basics when it comes to looking pretty.” This got Lara’s attention, and she now had a pretty good idea as to what was in the bag. She began to get excited.
“I’m sure Damian showed you some good beginner’s tips,” Steph continued. “But maybe you’re ready for some more advanced stuff?”
“And who better to show you,” said Tim “than two of the greatest cosplayers in the hero community!”
Steph emptied the contents of the bag onto the coffee table, revealing it to be a very large and colourful makeup kit.
Lara looked absolutely delighted. “Thank you!” She squealed, hugging them both around the waist. She then remembered something as she looked at Tim. “Hey Tim, can I ask you something?” she asked.
“Sure, what’s up?” Tim replied, as he sat down on the sofa with his girlfriend, and invited Lara to sit next to him.
Lara took her seat, wondering how best to phrase her question. “So… I was talking to Damian the other day...” she began, “We were trying out some outfits that he had bought, and he said something about you…”
Tim smiled, “I think I see where this is going. Was it, by any chance, a remark about looking better than me in girl clothes?”
Lara blinked, surprised at how accurately Tim had predicted her words, and how casually he had said them. “Uhh… Yeah. That’s pretty much what he said.”
Tim pulled out his phone, and opened his photo album. “Have a look for yourself, and you decide who looks better.”
Lara stared at the photos. There were hundreds of them! Mostly couples costumes, but some solo pictures too. One showed Tim, Conner and Steph as Sora, Riku and Kairi from Kingdom Hearts. Another looked like all three of them were in Deadpool costumes, Tim and Steph only distinguishable with one having a long blond ponytail sticking out of the back of her mask.
Lara paused at the next picture; another Marvel themed event. It showed Conner as Quicksilver, Steph as Scarlet Witch, and a very pretty girl she didn’t know dressed as Polaris. Lara thought Tim must have taken the picture in this situation… until she saw what appeared to be the same girl in several more costumes like Sailor Moon and Bowsette.
“Who is…?” Lara started to ask, looking up from the pictures at Tim. She froze mid sentence, seeing the same smile and eyes on Tim as the girl in the photos. “No way…” she said in quiet awe, looking between Conner’s boyfriend and the pictures in disbelief. “Is… Is that you?!”
“Well,” said Tim, grinning at the bewildered look on Lara’s face. “You could say it’s me on one of my more feminine days.”
Steph leaned over. “Babe?” she said in a hushed tone. “Are you sure you wanna tell her?”
“Tell me what?” asked Lara eagerly. Was Tim trans too?
“Lara?” Tim asked, “Do you know what “genderfluid” means?”
Lara tried to remember. She had come across many different terms in the past week to describe the many different gender identities. She understood enough to know that people like her, Colin and Dr. October were trans, and that people like Harper were non-binary. She also knew that it was possible for people to be like Damian; identifying as their assigned gender, while not completely conforming to typical gender roles.
She vaguely remembered reading about genderfluid people, whose gender tended to vary from day-to-day. For example; they could identify as male most of the time, but occasionally have moments where they identified as female instead.
Lara had found this fascinating, and had wondered what these people could be like. Never in a million years would she have guessed that Timothy Drake-Wayne, was genderfluid! She had always known him as Conner’s quiet and shy boyfriend.
“You!?” gasped Lara, “You’re…”
Tim smiled and put a finger to his lips, hushing Lara. “I’m not out to everyone yet. Apart from you and Steph, the only other people who know are Kon and my sister, Cass.”
Lara couldn’t help but smile, “Let me guess, Cass already knew when you told her.”
Tim nodded “Oh yeah, she’s always been the best at finding out secrets. But she didn’t know for too long before I told her… In fact, I kinda wanted to come out to her first for a pretty selfish reason.”
“Oh Timbo! Don’t be so hard on yourself! It wasn’t that big a deal.” Steph put an arm around her partner’s shoulder and kissed his cheek.
“What was selfish about it?” Lara asked curiously.
“... Cass and I are the same size. The same body type. I came out to her first in my family so I could borrow her clothes…” The fluid hero blushed and smiled sheepishly.
Lara was laughing but only a little, “That’s not selfish! That’s cute! Damian lets me borrow his girl clothes a ton, I totally get it.”
Tim smiled. “I’m glad to hear Damian’s been so supportive. I tell ya, for a while I wondered if he was like me, but he seems pretty confident with his masculinity, even in a dress.”
“So… You haven’t told Damian yet?” Lara asked, cautiously. She knew that Tim and Damian had something of a complex relationship, and she didn’t want to seem nosey, despite her curiosity.
“I’m planning on telling the whole family soon.” Tim replied. “Hearing them all talk about you this morning gave me a lot to think about. In a way, I guess you kind of inspired me, Lara. So thank you for that!”
She was so happy she started floating off of the couch. It was this sort of inspiration and help that she had hoped to give trans people all over the world! And it was already working! “You’re very welcome Tim!” She said, trying to calm herself down and landing back on the seat before thinking of something “Oh! If you don’t mind saying, what are your pronouns right now then?” She remembered that dealing with a fluid or nonbinary person it was always polite to ask rather than assume.
Tim smiled at the question, “He and him today Lara, thank you for asking,” he reached into the pile of makeup supplies and held up several bottles of nail polish. “But boys like to look pretty too. Ready for Steph and I to show you a few tricks?”
“Yes please!” Lara held out her hands as if ready for them to be painted right away.
Lara’s face then fell as she realised something, and looked down at her hands. She had been trying out different colours for her nails all throughout the week, and they were currently a light pink. But she was going back to school the next day, and she’d need to remove the paint when she went into stealth mode; pretending to be a boy again. Lois had shown her how to use wipes and nail polish remover, but Lara felt bad about letting Tim do an excellent job on her nails, only for her to have to undo it that evening.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” asked Steph.
“I have school tomorrow.” said Lara, glumly. “The people there don’t know I’m a girl yet, and I’m not ready for them to find out yet.”
Steph exchanged a look with Tim, who nodded and grinned. “Not to worry, Lara!” said Tim, enthusiastically. “We have a solution to this particular dilemma...”
Five minutes later, Martha entered the room, with a fresh plate of cookies and some homemade lemonade, to find Lara sat barefoot on the couch. Lara’s feet were outstretched, and she had small cotton balls in between her toes. Tim and Steph were knelt in front of her, carefully painting the young girl’s toenails.
“Having fun in here kids?” Martha asked with a smile.
“Yep!” Lara giggled, doing her best not to squirm as an occasional movement of the beautician treatment tickled her feet. She looked down to see her toes painted in the Superman family colors of blue, red and gold, each color sparkling with glitter.
“There we go. Just let those dry for a minute or two and it’s all good Lara.” Steph said, capping the bottle of polish she had been using before reaching for a cookie and showing her fingernails had been painted her costumes signature purple.
“Thanks for the cookies Mrs. Kent.” Tim grabbed two, handing one to Lara, and showing off that his own nails were bright red. Not only that but his thumb and index nails had both been painted with little yellow Rs.
She was given pause for a brief moment seeing Tim with his nails done too, but she had seen stranger over her long life than a young man with a near artistic use of polish. “Don’t thank me Tim, Lara made the cookies today.”
Suddenly, the back door flew open as Conner zoomed into the room at super speed. “Do I smell cookies?!” His sudden appearance caused a startled Martha to nearly drop the plate of cookies.
“Land sakes, Conner!” huffed Martha. “We’ve talked to you about this sort of thing!”
“Sorry Grandma...” said Conner, sheepishly picking up a cookie that had fallen on the floor. “I just get excited for your cookies. They are seriously the best.”
Martha grinned at her foster grandson. “Flattery will get you nowhere, young man. And besides, these cookies were made by your sister.”
“No way!” said Conner, as he took a bite of his cookie. He turned and grinned at Lara. “Sis, I think you might have inherited Grandma’s cooking skills. These are awesome!”
“Ew! Conner, that was on the floor!” Lara flinched away from her brother's antics, still smiling at the compliment.
“What?” He said with his mouth full, “I know how clean these floors are kept. Besides, gotta pick up the cookies before Krypto finds them.”
The young clone realized his mistake too late. Saying Krypto and cookie in the same sentence had summoned the dog who appeared in a begging position at Conner’s feet in the blink of an eye. “No, Krypto! These are people cookies!” He held his half eaten cookie up in the air, but that just made the dog jump for it, tail wagging.
“No Krypto!” Conner repeated, trying his best to dodge away from the pup, “Chocolate is bad for you!” The dog stopped jumping to stare at his boy with a puzzled expression as plain as day. “Don’t look at me like that. You might be super, but you’re still a dog. Chocolate will make you sick.”
The canine turned to his greatest weapon; he whimpered and pouted, staring sadly up at Conner. You could watch the poor clone’s heart break as he struggled to say no to that face.
“Martha! Are you and Conner teasing that poor pooch?!” Pa Kent had just entered the room, taking off his work gloves, and staring at his wife and grandson with exaggerated shock. “Who knew my wife could be so cold-hearted?”
“Oh hush, Jonathon!” said Martha, rolling her eyes and smiling. “You know what this dog needs.”
“Right, you are!” said Pa Kent, heading into the kitchen, and emerging a moment later with a bag of dog treats.
The dog barked, scampering over to Jonathan with his tail wagging. “Here ya go, sport!” he said, holding out a large treat for Krypto to snatch out of his hand. The dog laid down on the floor at the old man’s feet to slowly munch the treat to make it last. “Will ya look at that.” He said with a chuckle, scratching the dog behind the ears. “Guess I’m his new favorite.”
“Nah,” Tim interjected, “He’s just staying close to try and guilt you into a second treat.” He and Steph both gave Conner a knowing look. The young Kryptonian had taken the seat closest to Martha and the cookies to try and pull the same trick.
“Ok Lara.” Steph said after checking her watch. “Nails should be all set to go!”
Lara smiled widely, bending down to remove the cotton balls, flexing and wiggling her toes to see the colors from different angles, “This is amazing! Thanks so much! I…” she froze mid sentence, “Conner, did you hear something?”
Her older brother had paused too, in the act of trying to steal a broken piece of cookie from the plate. “Sonic boom… ‘Could be dad flying out here?”
The siblings were first out the door, quickly followed by the two former Robins, the grandparents and the dog. They only had to wait a moment for Clark to come flying out of the sky, in full costume. “Turn on the TV, quick! You have to see this!” He said without any more explanation.
Before anyone could even turn around to run back inside, they heard another odd noise. A whistling sound that Lara knew from cartoons… Suddenly, the ground shook with a loud bang. The group all looked to see an old fashioned TV with dials and rabbit ears had fallen from the sky, just a few feet from where Clark had landed. Even though it was sitting damaged in a crater, it still seemed to be working.
“Hey! I just filled that hole!” Conner yelled at the sky as the rest of the group ran over to the TV, only mildly surprised at this point it was showing the story Clark wanted them to see.
The breaking news headline read “Madness in Metropolis!”, as the image on screen appeared to display a live feed of Metropolis Centennial Park, and it became immediately clear that something was not quite right.
The trees were all twisted and curved, as if they were reflections in a funhouse mirror, and they appeared to have candy growing on the branches. What sounded like circus music, was playing in the background. Worst of all, somebody had vandalised the Superman statue at the centre of the park by adding a large dunce cap and a pair of Groucho glasses.
“Uh oh…” muttered Lara, getting a pretty good idea what all of this meant.
The situation got even stranger when she saw, not a reporter on the tv, but a Barbie doll being held up to the camera by a tiny gnarled hand. “Hello everyone! This is Nancy Newsly reporting!” A squeaky fake female voice said, “A otherwise boring and uneventful day in Metropolis was made exciting by the always welcome arrival of one of my favorite people in the multiverse! We go live to him now! Ladies, gentlemen, and especially Kryptonians, welcome back to Metropolis, Mr. Mxyzptlk!”
A canned audience applauded as the camera was turned to show a tinny old man in a green suit and matching bowler hat smiling as wide as the Cheshire Cat. “Thank you Nancy for that wonderful introduction!” He just then noticed he was still holding the doll in his hand and tossed it over his shoulder. “Let me tell ya folks, it’s good to be back in this dimension! While I may originally be a 5th dimensional imp, I consider this little corner of reality to be my second home!”
Lara sighed as her fears were confirmed by the appearance of the man onscreen. Mxyzptlk was a mischievous interdimensional being, with cartoonish reality-altering powers. He was one of her dad’s oldest foes, although maybe “foes” wasn’t quite the right word. Clark had always described him as “more of a nuisance than a threat”, and there had been times in the past when Myx had actually helped the Man of Steel. This, however, did not seem to be one of those times.
Lara looked up at her dad, who’s brow was furrowed. “He’s been long overdue for a while now.” Clark said in an irritated tone. “Looks like he’s been waiting for the right moment to pop up.”
“Right you are, Supes!” said Mxyzptlk on the TV screen, making everyone jump.
“Whoa! Can he hear us?” said Conner.
“You bet I can, Clone-Boy!” Myx replied, “and that’s not all I can do!” With a maniac laugh, he reached his arms forward and a pair of gigantic hands erupted out of the TV screen. Before anyone had time to react, one of the hands grabbed hold of Clark as if he were an action figure.
“Dad!” yelled Lara and Conner together, as they rushed forward and tried to free their father, by pulling at the giant fingers. It was no use. Mxyzptlk’s magic was too strong, even for the combined might of three Kryptonians. The second hand came down, batting Conner away as if he were a ragdoll, before grasping Lara as she tried to fly out of reach.
“Ahhh! Nooo!! Help!!!” Lara yelled to no avail, as she and her father were pulled into the TV screen and out of sight.
