Chapter Fourteen
To say Tony Stark was having a weird year was putting it mildly.
New York, the portal, Aliens Gods, Evil army, nearly dying, multiple times. The nightmares that woke him up at 3 AM in a cold sweat, reaching for an arc reactor that was no longer there. Pepper constantly worried. The company in chaos. His brain never shutting off, always designing, always building, always preparing for the next threat.
Weird didn't even begin to cover it.
But this? This took the cake.
Tony sat in his workshop, feet propped up on his desk, watching the news coverage on repeat for the fifth time. The footage was grainy, shot from dozens of cell phones, but it was unmistakable.
There, in the middle of a live NFL game, was a small blonde figure doing what could only be described as a crab walk across the fifty-yard line. Arms waving. Barely dressed. And chanting something that the microphones had just barely picked up.
"Did she just say something about having the greatest beaver in all the realms or something?" Tony asked out loud, then burst into laughter so hard that tears formed in his eyes.
Little Bit. Supergirl. The alien powerhouse who'd helped save the world, who could bench-press a building, who was always cheerful and happy.
Doing the crab walk.
Chanting about beavers.
On national television.
Tony wiped his eyes, still chuckling. "Oh, this is gold. Pure gold. I'm never letting her live this down."
"Sir," JARVIS interjected smoothly, "I feel compelled to point out that Miss Kara will likely be quite embarrassed about this incident."
"Exactly," Tony said, grinning. "Which makes it even better."
"Sir, I have been detecting unusual energy signatures for the past several hours. They appear to be building in intensity."
Tony's smile faded. He pulled up the readings JARVIS had compiled. "Huh. That's... weird. Dimensional? Temporal? Both?"
"Uncertain, sir. The energy signature doesn't match any known phenomena in our database."
"Great. Just great." Tony stood, stretching. "Hey JARVIS, let Little Bit know I'm in, doors open. I want to see what she thinks about these readings. Maybe she's seen something like this before on Krypton or Asgard or wherever."
"Acknowledged, sir. Sending message now."
Tony pulled up the energy readings again, frowning at the data. The spike was getting stronger. Whatever was coming, it was coming soon.
---
Twenty minutes later, the workshop door opened.
Kara flew in, literally flew, because of course she did, and landed with barely a sound. Her face was still faintly blue, her expression a mix of mortification and determination.
Tony opened his mouth.
"Don't," Kara said immediately, holding up one finger. "Do not say a word about it."
"But—"
"Not. One. Word."
Tony pressed his lips together, trying desperately not to laugh. He failed. A snort escaped.
"Tony!"
"I'm sorry!" Tony wheezed, doubling over. "I'm sorry, it's just, the crab walk! The beaver! And you were so serious about it!"
Kara's face went from blue to almost purple. "I was tricked! Loki told me it was a sacred ritual!"
"And you believed him?" Tony gasped between laughs. "The God of Lies told you to worship a beaver, and you just... went with it?"
"He is my brother! I trusted him!"
"Oh, that's even better." Tony wiped his eyes. "Family prank. Classic. I can respect that."
Kara looked like she wanted to throw him into the sun.
Tony took a breath, composing himself. Then he made the mistake of looking at her again, now in her Supergirl Uniform skirt, still you're hiding a very tempting body hiding that oversized cape, she began to faintly glow blue with embarrassment, and he whistled, then burst out laughing.
"You know, Little Bit, I didn't know you were so into being an exhibitionist. Really committed to the bit, huh?"
Kara's eyes flashed. Actually flashed, with heat vision warming up.
"I will throw you into the sun," she said, her voice deadly calm.
Tony held up his hands. "Message received. Moving on. Let's talk science."
"Yes," Kara said firmly. "Science. Please."
Tony pulled up the energy readings and explained what JARVIS had been detecting. Kara leaned in, studying the data with an intensity that made Tony remember she wasn't just strong, she was smart. Top of her class in every subject on Krypton, she'd mentioned once.
"Hold on," Tony said. "You can't work in that. JARVIS, grab Little Bit something from the spare clothes. Something that won't, you know, scandalize the neighbors."
"Right away, sir."
A few minutes later, Kara emerged from the bathroom wearing an oversized MIT t-shirt that hung to her knees and a pair of workout shorts decorated with grumpy-looking flat-faced animals.
"What are these creatures?" Kara asked, looking down at the shorts. As she tied the shirt in the back to clear up space, so her shirt didn't get in the way exposing her midriff. Not at all because she found the creature adorable, nope not, AT, ALL, hmff.
"Cats," Tony said. "Grumpy cats, specifically. They hate everything. You'll love them."
Kara floated up slightly, clearly enjoying the freedom of loose clothes again. "Much better. Now, about these readings—"
That's when the portal opened.
---
**Kara's POV**
Kara was grateful so, so grateful, that Tony had let the incident drop. Well, mostly drop. The exhibitionist comment had been mortifying, especially since she didn't even know what that word meant. But threatening to throw him into the sun had gotten the message across.
Now they were doing science. Good, normal, non-embarrassing science.
She floated near the holographic displays, examining the energy readings Tony had shown her. The patterns were familiar but wrong somehow. Like looking at a reflection in rippling water, recognizable but distorted.
"This looks almost like Bifrost energy," she murmured, "but the frequency is off. And there's something else mixed in. Something that moves."
"Moves?" Tony asked, stepping closer.
"Yes. The energy isn't static. It's... running? No, that's not right. It's—"
The portal exploded into existence.
Tony didn't hesitate. He slammed his hand against the wall and his armor, one of the new ones, sleeker than the bulky Mark VII, flew to him from its alcove. Pieces attached with mechanical precision, covering him in seconds.
Simultaneously, metal shutters dropped over every window, every door, every entrance and exit. The entire facility locked down with the kind of heavy-duty security that would maybe slow down Thor or Hulk, it wouldn't even slow Kara but would stop pretty much everything else.
She positioned herself between the portal and Tony, floating a few feet off the ground, ready for whatever came through.
She didn't expect a man in a red suit covered in crackling lightning.
She really didn't expect him to be moving so fast.
Their eyes met, his wide with surprise, hers widening with alarm, and for a fraction of a second, Kara saw him try to stop, it looked like the man had been thrown while running at a very fast pace thru the air, she saw him realize it was too late.
They slammed into each other at speeds that would have atomized a normal human.
Kara and the red-suited man bounced off the floor, ricocheted off three different walls, and finally came to rest in a tangle of limbs near Tony's workbench.
Kara blinked, dazed. That had not actually hurt but it sure got her attention. That was very much a surprise to her he looked like a normal human, but his cells seemed to be in a constant state of speed, how interesting.
Then she noticed the man staring at her chest with absolute terror.
She looked down.
Her brand-new oversized t-shirt was on fire.
The man started patting at the flames, his hands moving in a blur against her chest, and Kara felt her face go DARK BLUE as her soul began to leave her body.
This was not happening.
This was NOT happening.
First the football stadium. Then the exhibitionist comment. Now this. Now a strange man was touching her chest while her shirt burned, and Tony was watching, she was going to die. Actually die. Right here. Of embarrassment. After so many years her soul would be reunited with her family in Rao's loving embrace "I see your light great Rao". just as her soul was about to permanently depart.
Tony's repulsor blast knocked the man away from her. Her heart sored he cares so much such a good friend thank you, Tony. Then the bastard just had to ruin the moment and water boarded her with a fire suppressant foam, which while activated, started dousing the flames.
Kara stood there, dripping with fire retardant foam, white liquid foam coated her face, hair, cloths, everything and she smelled of Ammonia and bad decisions. Her wet see thru and ruined shirt still slightly smoking, her face so blue it was almost violet.
The man in red scrambled to his feet, looking at the ground. "Not again," he muttered.
Tony's faceplate snapped up. "What, you set a lot of girls' shirts on fire, do you?"
The young man looked up with a tired grin that spoke of many, many disasters. "This is actually the third time for me," he said with a rueful chuckle.
Kara stared at him. "Third time!?" quickly covering up her poor abused chest.
"Third time," he confirmed. "I'm really sorry. It's the lightning. And the friction. And the speed. It's a whole thing." He cleared his throat. "My name is Barry Allen. I'm known on my Earth as The Flash Im the fastest man alive. And I think..." He looked around at Tony's workshop, at Kara dripping with foam. "I think I'm very, very lost."
Kara looked down at her ruined shirt.
At the foam covering her.
At this stranger who had just crashed through a portal and accidentally set her on fire.
At Tony, whose armor was definitely shaking with suppressed laughter.
She closed her eyes and counted to ten.
Just like Loki had taught her.
"JARVIS," she said, her voice eerily calm. "Please tell me you have more spare clothes."
"Indeed, Miss Kara. Shall I fetch another shirt?"
"Please. And make it fireproof this time."
"An excellent suggestion, miss."
Barry Allen, The Flash, apparently, was still standing there awkwardly, lightning crackling around him in nervous bursts.
"Hey, I have a new friend named Kara," he said, trying for a smile. "You wouldn't happen to be Super girl, would you?"
Kara's eye twitched.
It had been a very long day.