Ian did not have many cards in his hand.
Was that connected to how the big shot had clearly not wanted to see Superman die, and had therefore used a mix of coaxing and deception to push Ian into solving the problem so Superman could avoid that fate?
Just as that thought crossed Ian's mind,
color surged back into the world like a returning tide. Sound poured into his ears again, and Kara came "back to life," finally letting out the breath that had been frozen inside her for who knew how long.
"So..."
Kara seemed completely unaware that anything had happened. Her train of thought picked up right where it had been interrupted. While thinking, she cast a rather pained glance at the dinner Ian had completely wiped out.
"So you awakened some kind of ability, and then your father told you his secret?"
Kara had no memory of the headache, nor had she noticed the entire world being put on pause.
All she felt was curiosity about why Ian had come looking for her.
"Uh... it's kind of a long story."
Ian snapped out of his thoughts about the big shot's cryptic behavior and scratched his head, trying to organize his words.
"Then let's go upstairs and talk. I've got more food at home."
Seeing that Ian still looked half-starved, Kara felt that as the older relative, she ought to show a little concern.
Hiss.
Becoming someone's older relative just like that really was a strange feeling.
"Okay, Aunt Kara. Wait a second."
After saying that, Ian went back toward the stairwell and dragged out a plastic bag full of smashed hard drives.
"What is that? Garbage you picked up outside?"
Kara looked confused.
"Just a little weathering from a few hours ago."
Ian was clearly still not fully satisfied with having smashed the drives himself. In a tone full of hopeful pleading, he looked at Kara.
"Could you maybe breathe some fire on these?"
Those two sentences in a row
hit Kara so hard she froze again.
"Breathe fire?"
At first Kara thought she was simply too far out of touch with how young people talked these days. But after remembering the medical proof Ian had shown her earlier, she began to suspect the problem might not actually be her.
"I can't breathe fire."
Kara sighed helplessly.
"But I do have a stove upstairs. You can use that."
She offered the kind of solution a normal person would naturally come up with when someone needed fire.
As she spoke,
Kara headed for the elevator.
"Then you've got to train harder, Aunt Kara. Breathing fire is way cooler than spraying water."
Ian followed right behind her. His nonstop comments were starting to make Supergirl lose confidence in herself.
"No, I can't spray water either... wait, can Clark do that now? Fire and water? How is that even possible?"
Kara turned her head toward Ian in confusion.
That was the thing about a scatterbrained Kryptonian. Ian had successfully led her completely off course.
"Consistent training. Train every day. Fifty million push-ups, fifty million sit-ups, fifty million weighted squats. I'm sure one day you'll become a... never mind, I mean you'll be able to breathe fire and spray water."
Ian might tell the occasional little lie, but he felt this definitely counted as a kind lie told for family. You had to believe in a Kryptonian's ability to make the impossible happen through sheer willpower. Even if Kara did not have the Kryptonian Codex in her body, it was not as if he was asking her to become unbeatable.
Ian truly believed that one day he would see his aunt breathing fire or spraying water.
At least one of them would do.
"Daily training? That would actually work?"
Kara was obviously still doubtful, but Ian looked so serious that she could not help genuinely thinking about it.
Ding.
Kara pressed the button and stepped into the elevator. Ian trotted in after her. Before Kara could even hit the floor number, he had already pressed the button for the floor where she lived.
"I just moved in. Did your dad put me under surveillance?"
Kara looked at him like she had no idea what was going on, both hands slightly raised, eyes full of shock.
"Has it occurred to you that the building manager might have your residency information?"
Ian stayed extremely calm, spreading his hands with a puzzled look.
He felt his aunt was overreacting a little.
"Uh..."
Kara looked mildly awkward after hearing that.
"I remember this building being managed pretty strictly. The manager usually doesn't hand out residents' information to just anyone."
"Of course, unless you bribed her."
Kara looked at Ian's empty pockets in confusion. He did not look like someone who still had money left to bribe anyone.
"There's no need to bribe her. The manager's just a young woman."
Ian's answer only confused Kara more. She frowned, clearly wondering what on earth that had to do with him getting her information.
"Most girls are kind, so if you smile at them, they'll want to help. Didn't your dad ever teach you to watch out for that?"
"My dad taught me how to use that trick."
Ian was smiling now. Not that fake smile from before, but a genuine one, the kind that showed how deeply he approved of the life lessons his father had passed down.
"????"
Kara's face filled with question marks.
She really wanted to know what kind of bizarre parenting method Clark had going on at home.
"The travel money you used to come to National City... don't tell me you got it by sweet-talking some innocent girl?"
Kara remembered Ian's empty pockets and the distance between here and Metropolis.
Because his words had been so explosive, she had no choice but to grow deeply suspicious.
"Of course not. How could I do something like that?"
Ian looked downright offended, frowning hard. He had never thought of himself as someone who lived off such tiny, pitiful bites of soft support.
"That's good."
Kara let out a breath of relief.
At least that meant no innocent girl had been manipulated by a pretty-faced little menace.
"So did you fly here yourself?"
Kara still did not seem to know about Ian being adopted. She had started getting curious about how far his abilities had developed.
"I drove."
Ian shook his head. Not being able to fly was definitely a regret. Of course, if he could unlock the profession tied to Homelander, maybe that regret would disappear.
"Drove? You mean you hitched a ride?"
Kara made another guess. For a child, that would have been an extremely dangerous thing to do. For a child who could stop bullets with his forehead, though, she felt maybe it was not worth worrying about.
"That was my original plan, but then I ran into a mugger blocking the road."
Just as Ian finished saying that, the elevator came to a stop.
Ding.
The doors opened.
Kara led Ian toward the door of her apartment.
"So you played hero."
At last Supergirl felt like she had found a bit of family resemblance in Ian.
"Hero? Maybe."
Ian's vague answer only made Kara more curious.
"So you beat up the mugger, saved some innocent people, and one of the people you saved brought you to National City?"
Kara was still quietly wondering whether Ian might have beaten the mugger to death.
However,
the facts proved that her worry was completely unnecessary.
"No."
Ian shook his head.
He had always stuck to the principle that an ordinary NPC should not interfere in the daily chaos of Metropolis.
So,
"I just drove off in the mugger's car while he was busy robbing someone."
Ian answered honestly, with a trace of lingering appreciation for the driving experience still in his voice.
"?????"
Kara, who had just taken out her keys to unlock the door, was utterly stunned.
That was absolutely not the direction she had expected this story to go in.
She liked to think she had seen a lot.
Now, though,
Kara felt she was still far too young.
"What happened to the car?"
She swallowed and asked despite herself.
"Sold it to a tattooed guy on the side of the road."
Ian answered.
"And the money? Even if you sold it to some gang-affiliated guy, you should still have gotten a few hundred dollars, right?"
Kara had been thinking about buying a used car recently, so she had a rough idea what one could go for.
Of course,
Ian's eyes widened even more than hers.
"No, Aunt Kara, what do you think I am, a thief?"
"The money from the car obviously got mailed to the mugger. His ID and home address were in the vehicle."
"I'm a law-abiding American citizen!"
Ian truly could not believe his aunt would think of him that way. He suddenly felt like he understood those rebellious blond punks who were always misunderstood. Dyeing your hair blond did not necessarily make you a delinquent. Sometimes you just thought it looked cool. In the same way, just because he had driven off in the mugger's car did not mean he had committed robbery.
The logic was flawless.
"..."
Kara fell into a very long silence.
A few moments later,
"Ian, my nephew, whom I have only just met today..."
Kara took several deep breaths in a row, trying her best to produce a smile that looked like something an older relative would wear.
Then,
"Would you maybe like to hear about Arkham Asylum?"
She made the suggestion in the gentlest voice she could manage, and it was completely sincere.
(End of Chapter)
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