What are friends for if not to give each other guns.

The morning was comfortable as I sat at the dining table with my parents, picking at my breakfast while my mind buzzed with multiple thoughts at once. My mind was my greatest asset, and I had grown to love it over my time spent here. My father sipped his tea thoughtfully, while Mom watched me with a knowing smile.

"So," Mom began, breaking the comfortable silence, "your presentation to the Science Council is in a month. How are you feeling about it?"

I looked up, my fork hovering mid-air. "Nervous," I admitted. "People are unpredictable, you know. But I'm excited, too. This is my chance to show them what I can do. Sorry, Dad, you can't take credit for my work anymore."

My father chuckled at my joke while setting his cup down, his expression turning serious but encouraging. "You've worked hard for this, Kara. Your artificial sun and the power suit are groundbreaking. But remember, the council can be… difficult. They'll question you, challenge you. Some may even dismiss you because of your age."

"I know," I said, my voice steady. "But I'm ready. I've thought through every possible question they could ask. They're not going to know what hit them. And if they continue being stubborn, I'll just have to boink their heads and prove them wrong."

My mother laughed at that while shaking her head. "Only my daughter would talk about boinking a council member's head with a serious face." She reached across the table, placing a hand over mine. "We believe in you, sweetheart. Just remember to stay calm and confident. You're not just representing yourself—you're representing House El."

I just nodded, having already predicted where my presentation would go. "I won't let you down."

The weeks leading up to the presentation flew by quickly, and I was enjoying myself. I spent my days playing and having fun with Elona. We explored the city and snuck into restricted areas (with my tech ensuring we were safe). At night, I'd go to my father's lab to refine my suit and the artificial sun, running simulations and tweaking designs. The suit would grow with me as I used principles and ideas from Brainiac's shrinkage tech.

One afternoon, Elona and I were on a rooftop overlooking Kandor. Even though it weakened us, Rao looked beautiful on Krypton's horizon. I was looking at the beautiful sunset while ideas for improving Krypton ran through my head. Elona glanced at me and asked, "What's going on in that head of yours, Lady Kara?"

I snorted. "First off, don't call me a lady. Secondly, I'm just thinking. I doubt you'd understand my genius anyway."

Elona grinned and poked my head. "Well, excuse me, Miss Genius. I was just curious. Don't let my lowly dumb-dumb brain disturb your 'thinking.'" Her eyes shone with mirth.

"Nothing, I just love it here," I said with a smile.

She looked at me weirdly at that. "Uh-huh. Rao, you're a strange person, Kara."

My smile turned into a grin. "Well, that's the price to pay for being a genius."

We fell into a comfortable silence after that until I broke it with a question. "Hey, you wanna see something cool?"

"Yees?" Elona answered with a slight frown.

"Great!" I said while getting up and pulling her along to give her a shoulder hug. "Meet me at the market by Old Girl's stand tomorrow. I'm gonna show you the best thing you'll ever feast your eyes on."

"Why do you keep calling her that? She has a name, you know," Elona asked while shaking her head with a smile on her face.

"It's just our love language. See you tomorrow," I said while leaving and waving at her, ending with a peace sign that got her confused. "Okay, tomorrow."

I went to my father's lab to switch the artificial sun with the uranium core arc reactor. I didn't want her to ask questions tomorrow. After that, I went home and had fun practicing my Torquasm Vo and Torquasm Rao—just simple movements, breathing, and meditation. The martial arts were relaxing. I hadn't seen my aunt in a while for our friendly spars; maybe she'd been busy training new recruits for the Military Guild. After my relaxing session, I took a shower and waited for my parents to come home for dinner, which was fun and relaxing as always. I loved my parents so much that it sometimes hurt. I guess when my previous parents botched the job, they made me appreciate my current ones more. I worried about what would happen to me if anything happened to them. If I ruined my life when my jerk of a father died in my previous life, what would I do with the loving, supportive, and gentle ones I have now? It was a scary thought. After my mom and I's 'bedtime routine,' it was easy falling asleep.

I woke up the following day from one of the best sleeps of my entire life. Rao, I loved sleep. Even when I become Supergirl, I'm not giving up my six hours. I met Elona at the agreed spot and led her toward my house. We had to sneak and hack our way there—one of the things that needed to be solved in Krypton was treating people from the Labor Guild like second-class citizens. It would be hard; it's easier to build a literal star the size of your hand than to change people's minds. What was the universe thinking, creating intelligent life? I let go of such thoughts when we arrived.

"Uh, Kara, is this your house? What are we doing here?" Elona said, fidgeting from foot to foot and looking around the street.

"Yes, it's my house. We're here to get you something to wear to fit in where we're going."

"And where are we going, Kara?"

"To the Science Guild department," I answered with a shrug as we walked in and turned toward my room.

"Are you mad, Kara!? We can't go there. Do you know the security they have there? Zal says getting in there is harder than… I forgot what he said, but he said it's hard," Elona shouted at me with clear surprise.

I turned to her and smiled. "Don't worry, I can get us in. Trust me."

Elona looked like she'd continue shouting but looked at me for a moment and simply nodded. We were walking into my room by that moment. My clothes fit Elona well enough. We had fun doing her hair with the help of my android stylist after she was done washing herself. After we were done, it was only a couple of minutes to the lab, and it was easy enough to get in with my credentials (my dad) and my hacking. My dad was at his office and wouldn't be at the lab for a few hours. I led Elona around the lab equipment toward my beaut. She looked at the suit with stars in her eyes.

"Kara, this is the power armor used by the Military Guild. It looks so cool up close. Where'd you get it? Is your dad building them? That's so cool!" she said excitedly. She ran her hands along the suit before continuing. "Zal says they can punch through a hover car and leap entire buildings with this. He used to tell me stories about them after we saw them marching in the street once. Even though I knew they were made up, I wanted one. That's why I wanted to join the Military Guild, but Zal said we can't join." She said the last part disappointedly but then perked up. "But here I am! Are you gonna let me wear it? Please let me wear it!" she said while jumping up and down but then paused. "Huh? It's small. Why is it small?" She turned to look at me.

"That's because I built it for myself," I said with a proud grin.

"Wait, you built this? You really are a genius, then."

"Yeah, I'm a genius. Did you doubt me? Some friend you are," I grumbled.

"Can you blame me? You're always praising yourself. I thought it was just a being-a-member-of-a-great-house condition," she said with a raised brow.

"So, wanna wear it? I promise it's better than the one in the Military Guild. I'm going to present it to the Science Guild to become a member."

"Yes, let's!" she said excitedly.