Chapter 17: Supergirl, Kara Danvers
The next morning.
As soon as Kara Danvers, wearing a pair of stiff black glasses, clutching a backpack, and walking with her head slightly lowered, stepped through the school gates, the entire soundscape of the campus opened up to her.
From the loud stomping and ball impacts on the soccer and basketball fields, to the faint vibrations of a hibernating insect in the grove behind the teaching building. From the noisy chatter and whispers of nearby students, to the bored yawn of the guard at the back gate far away.
Even without trying to listen, the flood of sounds entered Kara's ears clearly.
She frowned slightly in discomfort, but it had already been more than three months since she awakened her super hearing. By now, she had learned to manage it without showing the slightest abnormality, and walked calmly into the building.
Unlike Kara, who could instantly sense the hidden truths in everyone, the students in the halls only gave her a quick glance before turning away.
To them—
Kara was the kind of girl who didn't dress up, kept to herself, and gave off an isolated, gloomy aura. A presence so low she was practically invisible.
That, to Kara, was actually a relief. She didn't attract attention, not even in her own classroom. She slipped in from the back door and headed toward her corner seat by the wall.
Reaching out carefully, she pulled her sturdy chair as if afraid of breaking it with the slightest effort. Only after she was seated did Kara finally let out a small breath of relief.
This cautious ritual was repeated almost every single day at school.
"Kara, you can do this. No accidents, nothing broken today." She encouraged herself silently, then smiled brightly. Even behind her thick glasses, her beauty couldn't be hidden—though sadly, no one ever noticed.
Because in truth—
Kara was no ordinary girl at all. She was a Kryptonian, one of the last two survivors in the entire universe. Her true name: Kara Zor-El.
The other Kryptonian, of course, was already famous on Earth as the superhero Superman—her younger cousin, Kal-El.
As for why Kara looked younger than her cousin, still just a fifteen-year-old girl… that traced back to Krypton's destruction.
When their world collapsed, Kara's parents sent her to Earth with the mission of protecting her infant cousin Kal. But her ship was caught in a wormhole during the journey, losing over ten years in an instant. By the time she finally arrived on Earth—only half a year ago—Kal-El had long since grown up and become Superman.
No longer needing her protection, he instead found her a foster family, the Danvers, so that she could live as an ordinary girl on Earth.
Kara glanced at the classroom clock. Five minutes left before class.
She opened her textbook to review, though her super hearing continued picking up the endless sounds throughout the school. Most of them were, of course, student conversations.
But today, unlike the usual gossip about couples or debates about superheroes, nearly everyone was talking about one piece of news from this morning.
Though reported today, the incident had happened last night.
In the outskirts of Washington, a massive greenish-yellow monster appeared. The military intervened immediately, but the soldiers suffered heavy casualties. The shaky footage on the news showed the creature rampaging through the city, its terrifying power overwhelming the army.
Then, several figures appeared on the battlefield—Spider-Woman, a silver-haired goddess, and a golden-armored knight. Among them, the brief clip of the silver-haired goddess clashing directly with the monster became the highlight. The image of her shield colliding with its massive fists caused a worldwide sensation.
And what truly ignited discussion—
Was that the silver-haired goddess was the one who ultimately defeated and decapitated the monster.
"I'm officially declaring Silver-Haired Goddess as my number one superhero idol!"
"Please, you said Superman was your idol just last week."
"And? Can't I like both Superman and her?"
"Even as a Batman fan, I've gotta admit—she's way too cool…"
By mid-morning, Silver-Haired Goddess had already become Washington's most talked-about hero. Even many of the teachers—especially the male ones—were buzzing with excitement in the staff office.
"Could this mean Silver-Haired Goddess actually lives here in Washington?"
"Not necessarily. With heroes of that level, distance between cities doesn't mean much," another teacher reasoned.
The others nodded. After all, Superman and Iron Man were known to live in Metropolis and New York, but with their powers, appearing anywhere on Earth was never surprising.
"I don't care. From now on, she's my dream goddess. If they make merch, I'm buying all of it!" one teacher declared.
If only he knew the true identity behind Silver-Haired Goddess.
"Silver-Haired Goddess… Spider-Woman… and that giant monster…"
Kara muttered softly, but she felt no interest at all.
Quite the opposite of ordinary people.
She only cared about normal human life. Anything extraordinary was meaningless—because she herself, as a Kryptonian, was already the greatest hidden extraordinary being in Washington.
"It's almost class time."
She paused. Out of all the voices around the school, she still hadn't heard the one she most wanted to hear.
That person hadn't passed by her classroom wall like usual.
The bell rang.
Kara quickly looked upward, her vision piercing the walls with ease. She saw into another classroom upstairs, where nearly every seat was full—except two very obvious empty ones.
The teacher who had been raving about hero merchandise earlier walked into the room, sipping from his thermos.
"Today, Xi Nian and Gwen Stacy are both absent due to feeling unwell."
"Unwell? But he looked perfectly fine yesterday."
Kara frowned slightly. What caught her attention even more was the way the other students in that class whispered to each other.
"Wow, both of them absent at the same time?"
"Looks like my guess was right. Maybe they really are a couple!"
"So that means… I have no chance?!"
"You never had a chance. Sigh, my goddess Gwen…"
Hearing the genuine lament in their voices, Kara's heart gave a faint, involuntary tremor.
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