Summary:Daisy was tired of all the fighting, heartbreak, and being left alone when she was no longer useful. But as long as she was in her universe, there was no stopping. It'd never be allowed. So if she wanted out, it meant going somewhere that'd never heard of Daisy Johnson, Quake, or the Destroyer of Worlds. So a universe where there never was a Daisy Johnson. She wasn't exactly expecting a world with a brand-new and shiny Superhero. One who clearly had no idea how to protect themselves from being chewed up and spat out.
Notes:It only took a few years, but back to the world of Supergirl. No idea how long this one will be, but I've already written 44 chapters of it. I'm going to be updating it every other week.
Heads up that I'm kinda iffy on if this fic should be a 'T' or 'M' rated fic. Like the implication of Daisy's suicidal mindset is very much there even if I don't get into it. And like ya know, anything to do with the horrifying things done to non-humans in either universe. So solid chances I might decide to bump up that rating.
Also, Supergirl timeline is a mess, I've tried to whack it into a shape but like...just go with the adjusted timeframe. I also just moved Barry's crossover in s1 of Supergirl to with Bizzaro instead of with Livewire. Like loved the crossover episode but it legit fucks up the fallout from Red K way too much.
(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)
Chapter 1Chapter TextDaisy lay in the crater staring up at the sky, the last vestiges of the serum burning its way into her system, her whole body nearly numb from the horror of almost being absorbed into something terrible, and she was alone. It…even as the agony of the last bits of serum finished the process of absorbing into her, she was alone. She stared at the clouds, the now windowless skyscrapers rising up into the sky, and she'd done it. The world hadn't ended. She'd won. It hadn't been her. It'd been Talbot and Hydra and a dozen other things but it hadn't been her.
Tears of relief rolled down her face. It had never been her. The terrible weight that had been crushing her since Deke had first named her The Destroyer of Worlds. But she hadn't, she'd won. No Lighthouse, no Kree slave colony, no billions dead. But…as her body, already healing from the damage Talbot had done, told her it had cost what she hadn't been willing to pay. Coulson.
She was stiff as she sat up. Looking around the crater she grimaced. Without her powers, this should have turned her to paste. And without the serum, she probably wouldn't be walking. Up above on the street, she could hear the sirens and the chaos of people dealing with what had happened. But..it could have been so much worse. Her eyes closed. They were alive, they were all still alive. Her hand snapped to the side of her neck, yanking the bandage off. So that was healed too.
Daisy swallowed back the bile at the reminder. She got up, she needed to get to Coulson. The rest…it didn't matter. Her powers easily lifted her out of the crater, her brow furrowed. Her bones hadn't creaked or felt the faintest strain from that…her powers were still there but…it felt different. She'd figure out how the serum had affected her later. Looking up she winced. Oh, that was…a lot of camera phones. Right, flying the fuck away it was.
Daisy barely processed how much softer the landing on the cement was. The lack of the usual jolt as her legs took her weight again. Because Coulson hadn't taken the serum. But…the plane wasn't waiting for her. That made sense, get to the rest of the team for evacs. Made sense. Logical. It still ached to stand there in the street, alone. She'd saved the world alone, and now here she was…alone.
Daisy knocked on the door to Coulson's quarters. Her chest ached as she waited for him to let her in. The dull croak of 'come in' was enough. She opened the door and stepped into the bunk. Her eyes found the IV connected to Coulson where he was sitting on the bed. His bags were half-packed. He had the awful pallor of a dying man. His face was unshaven, the clamminess was clear even if he had showered and pulled on clean clothing.
He looked up, and their eyes met. It was kinda horrible how much they understood one another. Coulson sighed. "Bad news?"
"It's not good." Daisy let the door close behind her, moving to sit next to him on the bunk, their sides brushing. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. The silence dragged.
Coulson spoke softly. "I'd say take your time, but I don't have much left."
She huffed, her lips pulling up and her throat felt thick with grief. "Funny." It really wasn't funny at all. She brushed her hair off her face, turning to look at him. "I'm not going to space to find Fitz."
"Ah." Coulson leaned back, the disappointment burned. "But you're not telling Mack that."
Daisy hated that she couldn't give him what he wanted. "No, I'm not." She watched the understanding on his face.
"Know where you're going?" He asked, watching her with a far too kind face.
She looked away, staring at the dismal Lighthouse cement and metal walls. "I don't know, can't stay on earth. Don't see the government being too happy with me if I'm not SHIELD or like…something with them."
"No, you'd be on the run with the majority of the Avengers." Coulson made a sound of amusement. "But you're done being on the run, aren't you?"
The trust of it kinda sucked, but if she stayed on earth they'd never leave her to retire. Not as a free agent. "Yeah, I think I am."
He reached out, laying a hand on her knee. "Ok, we'll figure something out then."
"I'm sorry." Her voice cracked slightly.
Coulson's voice was steady. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I couldn't be prouder of you."
She straightened so she could lay her head on his shoulder. If she looked at him again she would cry. "Well, I did save the world."
"I knew you could." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you a choice."
"I don't know what I'll do without you." Her voice was wet and rough with sobs she was refusing to release.
He hummed, it wasn't as strong as he'd once sounded, but it was comforting all the same. "You'll be a hero, you couldn't be anything else."
They just sat there for a while, she wasn't sure how long. Her eyes were stuck on the IV bag. Even with the medicine, and the best care, he had days left, maybe a week or two. It should have felt sharper but Daisy felt hollow. But sometimes it was like there were shards of glass in her chest. "I'm not sure where I'll go."
"Well, I might have some ideas." He spoke, because of course he had an idea, he always had ideas. "We still have the Devil's car in storage somewhere. Might be able to get you somewhere that isn't here in that."
Daisy pulled back. "If we got the hell car to take me somewhere, wouldn't it take me to ya know, hell?"
"Robbie said worlds, and it's that or steal a spaceship from someone." Coulson had that expression he always got when he was suggesting a Hail Mary.
She couldn't help laughing wetly. "Well, it's going to be awkward if Robbie comes back looking for his car."
"I'm sure he'll understand." Coulson tipped his head slightly. "You might want to try not to scratch it."
Daisy wiped at her eyes, forcing herself not to cry. "So we're going to try and get the car to make a hell portal or whatever, how exactly?"
"Well, SHIELD did apprehend a coven of witches a decade ago. I'm sure you could find a good place to start in the mission files." He had that excited 'so cool right' expression on his face. It was only marred by how clear it was that this conversation was costing him.
Daisy looked at his half-packed bag. "Well, you can tell me about the mission, I'll finish packing for you? After all, wouldn't want you to miss any time in Tahiti."
He looked at her with so much understanding, but there was a weight that she knew meant he was about to say something she wouldn't like. "I'll help, Mack will too. But it could take a while."
Her eyes closed, she knew what he wanted, but would forgive her for not doing it. But she hateddisappointing him. "You want me to go help Fitz."
"One last mission, you know Jemma can't do it without you." He reached out, laying his hand over hers and squeezing. But his grip was weak.
Daisy looked away from Coulson and to the wall. "Ok, but I'm done after that."
"Thank you." And the sound of his pride in her shouldn't have felt painful, even as she wished to never let it go.
It was stupid and weak, but she turned into him, hugging him, her face buried in his shoulder. He was her dad. And she just needed…she needed to pretend he wasn't dying. "I'm going to miss you."
He wrapped his arms around her, and for this moment, he was still alive.
////
Daisy set her last bag into the back of the charger before closing the trunk with a definitive thunk. She looked over at Mack who'd come with her for this. "So I guess this is it then?"
"Sure I can't convince you to stay, Tremors?" Mack asked as he held out her sidearm.
She took the gun, sliding it into the shoulder holster she was wearing under her jacket. "Coulson convinced me to save Fitz, and then you convinced me to help with the fear goddess, and then there wasn't a lot of time travel. It's never going to stop, but the world isn't about to end today, that's the best I can do for you Mack. Make a better SHIELD than we had?"
Mack gave her a long look but nodded. "I'll do my best. You could stay and help with that? Take a break from fieldwork, see a therapist longer than three weeks."
Daisy stepped into him, hugging him fiercely. "I can't." Her eyes squeezed shut as she imprinted the memory of the feel of him real and solid against her. The way he hugged her back so tight that before the serum it'd felt like she couldn't breathe, but now was just firm enough to feel. She couldn't describe what she'd felt laying in a crater, alone, alive, and realizing that if she'd died trying to save them they'd have hated her. But alive from saving them, they wouldn't be coming to pick her up. Even if she'd done it she couldn't forget that even after staying long enough to save them first, they'd still asked her to die. The cold of space felt like it'd never leave her bones. They didn't want her to leave, but they'd been fine asking her to die.
He squeezed as tight as he could. "Stay safe."
"I've never been good at that." She sniffled slightly as she pulled back, doing her best to smile. "Keep an eye out on Kora for me, yeah?"
Mack shook his head. "Can't believe she wasn't able to convince you to stay."
"Wherever I end up, maybe I'll figure out how to send a letter back or something." Daisy looked at the setup they'd made. One of the remaining hunks of the Obelisk, some runic work she was really hoping was actual magic and not a scam, and the devil's car. Totally wasn't going to blow up in her face. Hopefully…but then, even if it did blow she'd been willing to die last week.
Daisy opened up the car door and slid in, pulling it shut behind her. She looked up through the open window. "Ready to see if this works?"
"I'll never be ready to see you go, Tremors." He swooped down, one of his giant hands cupping the back of her head and holding her eyes from a few inches away. "You're the best partner I could have ever hoped for. Wherever you end up, give 'em hell."
Her eyes burned, but she nodded. "I'm glad you were my partner too."
He tapped their foreheads together before pulling back and slapping the top of the car. "Alright, try not to scratch this baby, alright?"
"Fingers crossed." Daisy started up the car and looked ahead. Here went nothing, hopefully, this wasn't a one-way trip to hell. That'd…kinda suck. But if the runes were right, she was sending herself to a parallel universe. One without Quake, or Daisy Johnson. She stepped on the gas as Mack hit the power on their attempt at a portal. It did something, and then darkness sucked her in.
Portals did not feel great. Daisy barely got the door open in time to puke outside of the car. Spitting the last of it out of her mouth, she groaned. Fuck, that was vile. Her eyes squeezed shut as she spat again, before straightening and looking at where she was. Well, not the flaming inferno. So there was that.
She was in a city alley between two skyscrapers, dim flickering lights, and near dark that said it was late, wherever this was. Daisy wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand. Air wasn't poison, that was good to know. Her nose wrinkled, and her vomit wasn't the only thing in this alley that didn't smell great. But hey, the familiar smell of crappy city alley. And super shocking luck not to have just ended up in the middle of rush hour traffic or something else equally sure to cause an accident.
Daisy walked over to the dumpster and reached in, dragging out a kinda gross newspaper. 'National City'? Who the fuck named a city National City?
////
Kara had eaten her way through her second gallon of ice cream when there was a knock on her door. She was about to yell at whoever it was to go away when she paused. What if it was about Alex? She was to the door in a whooshing second, barely remembering to get her glasses on, as she opened the door to find…a stranger. "Hello?"
"You've got ice cream on your nose," The stranger said with an amused grin.
Kara's hands snapped to her face, rubbing the traitorous food off of herself. "Rats, oh golly, I'm sorry." She looked up at the woman, who had laughter in her eyes but a friendly face. It was nice. It'd been a couple of days since anyone had looked at her with anything like kindness. "Can I help you?"
"I was kinda hoping you could, Supergirl." The woman had a quiet certainty as she said that.
Kara's heart froze and then thundered as her voice pitched up. "What? Supergirl!? I'm not..pfft, I'm not Supergirl. Nothing Super about me. Nope, just an average citizen." Her smile felt plastic as she panicked.
The woman's brows shot upwards. "Oh wow, you are a terrible liar. But chill, I'm not here to threaten you or like out your secret or anything." She gave a meaningful look at the apartment. "But maybe a conversation you want to not have in your hallway?"
"I mean, I'm not…" Kara desperately searched for something to convince this person she wasn't Supergirl, only then her feet slid a full three feet backward from what felt like a gust of wind slamming into her.
And the woman stepped in, the door closing without her touching it…and she hadn't touched Kara either. "Breathe, I'm not human. Kinda why I need your help."
Kara blinked, "What was…what was that?" Because she hadn't seen anything?
The woman shrugged. "I control vibrations, the air vibrates, I can make controlled shockwaves." Her eyes flicked to the two empty gallons of ice cream before flicking back to Kara. "Sorry if I'm interrupting?"
"Oh no, not interrupting just me and…darn." Kara zipped to the coffee table and hid the evidence of her current moping. She skidded back into the room. "What, um, you wanted help with something? How did you know I was..."
"Supergirl?" The woman slid one of her hands into a pocket. "I'm new to this world, like arrived last week. Been mostly doing recon, figuring this place out, but well figured hunting down a local who'd know the actual situation of things would speed that up. So looked into it, and uh, you weren't that hard to track down if you know how to run some facial recognition and chart the number of sightings of you near Catco."
Kara gaped a bit like a fish. "That's…oh." She shook it off, someone actually wanted her help! She couldn't even help people without them fleeing. Hence, carton one of the ice cream. Cartons two and three had more to do with Alex and J'onn being on the run from the government and things with James blowing up again. And maybe if she ate enough she'd stop remembering the horrible, awful things she'd said while her brain had been poisoned. "You need help?"
"Yeah, but I mostly just have a lot of questions." The woman held out one hand. "My name's Daisy Johnson, people called me Quake on my last world."
She quickly took the offered hand and shook it. "Kara Danvers."
"Nice to meet you, Kara, if this is a bad time I can swing by a different time. I saw in the news the whole…whatever fucked up your head incident a few days ago."
Kara's mouth felt kinda dry. "You believe it wasn't me?"
"Well it was your body, but I've only been here a week and I know that was wildly out of character." Daisy's now free hand slid into her other pocket. "Assumed you'd probably be benched for a while to talk to a shrink or something, so now might not be the worst time to swing by with some questions?"
She kinda wanted to cry, because no one had just…assumed something had to have happened to her. But Daisy was a stranger, and she'd like to not just cry in front of a random stranger who knew who she was. So she defaulted. "Do you want food, or to sit down or um…I'm sorry people don't usually just show up here? Not that that's a bad thing. I-"
"You haven't eaten anything other than sugar like all day have you?" Daisy interrupted, but she wasn't upset?
Kara's shoulders slumped. "No, I haven't."
"Well question one then, what's the best takeout in the area that has real food in it?" Daisy asked her smile still there.
And oh, she was kind. Kara smiled back slightly. "How do you feel about Chinese? The place down the road has amazing potstickers. Or you don't know what Chinese is. It's really good."
"I know what Chinese food is." Daisy laughed but pulled out a cell phone. "I eat more than a normal human so what should we get?"
Kara zipped to grab the take-out menu only to freeze. This…this didn't happen. Every alien she'd met had been attacking her. Well, except for J'onn. She turned to look at Daisy. "Um, you wouldn't be from Fort Rozz would you?"
"Not sure what that is, so probably no. Got here in a hell charger, which was not easy by the way. Was pretty sure I was going to get burned to a crisp there for a second." Daisy clearly saw something on her face. "I'm from earth, just…not this earth."
"Like Barry! Oh, do you know the Flash?" She would love to see Barry again. He'd been so nice and had helped with Bizzaro and everything.
Daisy shook her head. "Never heard of him, but you know what parallel universes are the whole multi-verse thing?"
"Yes, Barry explained when he got here. Do you need help getting back?" Kara could do that, hopefully.
Daisy almost was…sad for a moment. "No, I'm not looking to go back. New start and all that." She stepped over. "So, do Chinese restaurants have orange chicken in this universe?"
"We do! And it's delicious." Kara offered out the menu. "You're an alien too?"
Daisy nodded while her eyes tracked over the menu. "Partially, we call ourselves Inhumans, mostly human, alien ancestors. I think one of my grandparents was the alien." She looked up at Kara's face. "And I'd never heard of a Kryptonian before, so I think the difference between our universes was something…galactic, and big. Also, your earth didn't have a mini-ice age from an alien war in the middle ages according to your Wikipedia. So I'm thinking the difference was like some space war or something. And figured you'd know more about space history than Wikipedia, so…"
"So you found me. How did you do that? You said facial recognition and sightings near Catco?" Kara should probably make sure she fixed it however it was she got located.
Daisy pulled up the online order form for food and entered a few things before passing it over. "Add what you want, I kinda owe you for helping me out here. Don't worry about it, brought some Nazi gold over with me. Disappointing to find out both our worlds had to deal with the fascist assholes."
"That is a horrible similarity," Kara admitted as she put in her usual order before passing the phone back.
"Seriously, so sick of Nazis." Daisy made a scoffing sound dripping with disdain and venom at the word 'Nazi'. She shook her head. "Anyways, I was a hacker in my world. Your systems use a slightly altered version of Python mostly, we used more JavaScript, Java, and a bit of C++ in our world. I don't think you guys even have C++, which is so weird." She trailed off thoughtfully before seeming to remember the conversation. "Anyways I was kind of an agent in my world, rewriting some of my software enough to be able to run on your world's internet wasn't that hard. While that was running I made a grid of sightings of you. Living in a neighborhood with high crime rates was smart, justifies your sightings here. But Catco isn't in a high-crime area and you clock more sightings there than anywhere else. So either you were stalking someone there, worked there, or were dating someone who was. From there I narrowed down the time frames of your sightings near there and they coincide with a nine-to-five schedule. So I ran facial recognition software on the employees and viola, you popped up. Course I took a quick look at your name in the system, your citizenship paperwork is top-notch, have to hand that to you, but your early childhood paperwork is a mess. I can help clean that up for you a bit if you want?"
"Oh…that is…very thorough." Kara wasn't even sure what to say to that. "How long did that take you?"
Daisy tilted her head, "I mean if I cut out the time it took to adjust my Python programs to your world's system, about six hours? With the time needed to update things for this world, about twenty. Still have to finish updating everything, but ya know, priorities. But I'm a trained agent." Daisy shifted. "Ops agent, so spy. I was a spy. You're not easy to find unless you know how to find a person who doesn't want to be found and have the technical skills to do so. Without computer skills…probably would have taken me a week to a month."
Kara kinda slumped onto the couch. That was…that was crazy fast. Alex would have drawn a gun on Daisy like…a while ago. She looked up at her. "Why'd you come to this earth?"
"Uh, well wasn't aiming for this one directly? Just one where a version of me doesn't exist and generally was survivable." Daisy shrugged and neatly sat down in the chair across from her, sliding her phone away. "I think my whole species might not exist in this world though. So that's…something."
Kara felt a deep pang at that. "I'm sorry."
"It's…probably a good thing. We were…" Daisy chewed on her lip. "Do you know who the Kree are?"
"Of course, from great wars thousands of years ago. They were some of the worst kind of monsters. Slavery, conquest, and horrors caused the Lanterns to face them in war to cease their wars of conquest. Millions died in the effort of holding back their cruelty. Their final defense was a plague that swept through whole planets, including their own before it was stopped." Kara felt the revulsion she'd always felt reading about that dark part of history. "They were almost as horrifying as the Asgardian attempts at conquest before they were beaten back to their realm. Or maybe more. What the Kree did was…twisted. They didn't just kill people, they slaughtered them, their noble House Kasius was infamous for their experiments."
Daisy flinched. "Yeah, that'd be the difference in our worlds."
"The Kree weren't stopped?" Kara felt a wave of horror at the very thought. What kind of horrifying universe would that be? Not even the Dominators stooped to the Kree's level of brutality.
Daisy pointed at herself. "Human Kree hybrid. So yeah, no. Asgard and Titan were the main powers in the Universe till Titan fell and Asgard kinda stuck to their nine realms. Which uh, earth is kinda one of their realms not that they do fuck all about it. The Kree, Skrulls, and Nova have kinda been fighting over everything else ever since. Course I haven't spent a lot of time in space so I'm not too clear on the details."
Kara leaned back, her eyes widening as she processed the horror that would be. "That's horrible…I..wait, you're Kree?"
"I mean and human. The Kree made us to fight their wars for them, the experiments didn't work on any other species except humans. So whole living weapons of mass destruction thing kinda sucks sometimes." She shrugged. "But that would explain the differences. Different aliens on earth, different influences. I mean I've never heard of Kryptonians or Lanterns before. I'm still weirded out that you guys named New York Metropolis. Makes sense I ended up in an alternate Los Angeles even if you people call it National City…which…I don't know what caused the change in names, but you guys suck at naming stuff." Her head tilted. "But evil secret Nazi society didn't survive inside the government here. So major plus for that."
Kara wasn't even sure what to do with that. She was kinda horrified by the second mention of Nazis, cause that was a lot of mentions about Nazis for ten minutes. But a universe controlled by the Kree and Asguard? That would be horrific. And Kara remembered reading about the unethical experimentation the Kree had done. There'd been a whole unit on it at the academy on Krypton. A unit that had given her nightmares as a child. She swallowed bile at the reminder. "I'm sorry, truly."
"It's fine. But kinda why I'm here? I needed…to get out of my spy agency. But I'm Inhuman, we don't really get to retire, more go into hiding. I just…am a bit too infamous to go into hiding on my own world…or the Universe at large really."
Kara took in the worn leather jacket Daisy was wearing, the beanie, the jeans, the flannel. She just looked like a person. And maybe…a lot like a more worn-in version of Alex if that made any sense. But it kinda made her heart hurt. "Infamous?"
"I wasn't a hero like you. Things weren't…that clean for us. But I tried to help people, and sometimes I was able to, and sometimes good people died anyways. I'm just…tired. And people who get the name 'The Destroyer of Worlds' don't get to retire. Even if I didn't destroy any worlds, just…I could, and that's really all anyone cared about." Daisy held her eyes. "I don't mean any harm to your world, wouldn't mind helping you out cause seriously your whole hero thing is super cool, but I just…want an apartment that's mine maybe? To not be a soldier for a while, maybe figure out how to cook something that doesn't involve the microwave?"
Kara's throat felt kind of tight because she could feel the pain in Daisy's words. It was sad, it was really sad. And she wasn't stupid, she knew what a living weapon experiment for the Kree meant, it meant slave soldiers. "Where are you staying right now?"
Daisy blinked, head tilting slightly. "Uh, my car. Or well, ex-...something's car I used to drive through the portal. We figured the odds were better on the whole portal thing not killing me if I used the magic car. Has a pretty nice backseat. I've roughed it worse."
Oh Rao, Alex would kill her for this, but Alex wasn't here. "You can't sleep in your car. I have a couch?"
Chapter 2Notes:Merry Christmas guys! See y'all on the 5th for the next update of this.
Chapter TextDaisy was kinda baffled about Kara. Sure, she'd seemed all rainbows and puppies from what research she'd done. That was why she'd chosen her. She needed someone with information on whatever the sitch was for aliens on this world. And more than that she'd seen how fast the woman could move. If it came to a fight she'd be paste. So avoiding that like the plague thanks very much. This really should have been pretty easy. Lay her cards on the table, figure out what this world's equivalent to SHIELD was, if it had an equivalent. And it probably did, to the Watchdogs as well, that sort of thing. Then get back to figuring out a nice fake identity and creating it.
Instead, she was chewing on her box of broccoli beef while watching Kara inhale her own second entree. Also apparently she was going to be sleeping on Supergirl's couch. Not that she was going to turn that down. She had nothing in this world. An actual in with the local hero wasn't the kind of thing to turn away from. But, that'd kinda left her reevaluating the other woman. She didn't look like sunshine and puppies; the kleenex box, trashcan with kleenex in it, the cartons of ice cream that'd been there when she'd first arrived, the comfy sweatpants and fuzzy sweater, it all was telling a story.
Daisy lowered her carton and chopsticks. "So Fort Rozz was like an alien prison?"
"Hmm…the worst criminals on Krypton were sent there. And some…who shouldn't have been." Kara poked at her Kung Pao chicken.
Daisy nodded. "I mean, prisons are like that." She looked at Kara curiously. "So other than alien criminals to avoid or takedown if encountered, what kind of alien system do you have here? Like how underground are we talking?"
"System? There's the DEO?" Kara lowered the bite she'd been about to shove into her mouth. "Oh, the DEO is the Department of Extraterrestrial Operations."
Well, that was probably a bit like SHIELD, though it sounded kinda focused. But a name was enough to start trolling hacking message boards with, once she started poking into those. But that was a few weeks out since she had to re-edit…everything and set up some security before touching anything another hacker could use to trace her. "So like we talking bag and tag before disappearing, setting immigrants up in safe houses and keeping tabs on them, capture and dissection, some kind of mix? And the DEO United States only or are we talking International?"
Which were clearly not questions Kara had been expecting. "Um…kind of the first one? They pursue hostile aliens and arrest them. But…" Kara bit at her lower lip, "You should make sure no one knows you're an alien. Things are really intense right now. General Lane and the army are on a witch hunt and if they arrested you they'd take you to Cadmus which is…it's the government's dissection and experimentation group."
"How secure is your position?" Daisy straightened, she'd have noticed surveillance on this apartment, and certainly, cameras aimed at it. But Kara was a highly public individual, that might be enough to protect her, but if the government was actively doing a Hydra without bothering with the secret Nazi part that might not be enough.
Kara grimaced. "I'm safe, I work with the DEO."
"That's enough to keep you safe?" Daisy didn't like that, she didn't like that at all.
Kara wiggled her hand that was holding her chopsticks. "For now, I…they need me."
"Fuck." Daisy ignored the startled, faintly shocked expression on Kara's face at the vulgarity. "Can you leave, if you wanted to? Could you just be Kara Danvers, not work with the DEO?"
Kara's brow crinkled as she clearly was having to think about it. "I think…as long as I gave up being Supergirl they'd let me be Kara Danvers."
"That's something." Daisy had a feeling Kara might be being too optimistic. She was going to hack the fuck out of the DEO to make sure that it was the case though, and if it wasn't she'd figure something out. Cause she might be new to this earth, but Kara Danvers basically glowed with goodness and clearly didn't have a clue about how ruthless the government could be when they didn't consider you a 'person'.
Kara stuffed a bite of food into her mouth, thinking about something. "I'm sorry, you're only the second alien I've met who wasn't my cousin and who didn't start off by trying to attack me. He'd be better at helping you." She looked kinda crushed saying that too.
"Well, your cousin is in New…Metropolis and I don't know about you but I like the weather here way more. And you're insisting on letting me crash on your couch, which you really don't have to do, I think you're doing a kinda awesome job. Also, you're taking the part Kree thing shockingly well. You're the first alien to not try and murder or enslave me after finding that out, so like ten/ten from me." Daisy felt a sudden jolt of panic as she realized Kara's eyes were actively tearing up.
Kara sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "Sorry, I just…it's been a really terrible week and you're being very nice."
"Um…do you want my potstickers?" Daisy pushed the container closer to Kara. She liked those, right? Cause Daisy'd basically dumped existential horror on the poor woman and some cheap Chinese food. That wasn't really like rocking it levels of 'nice'.
Kara hesitated, a set of kinda devastating watery puppy eyes aimed at her, "Oh, I couldn't?"
"You really can." Daisy kinda wanted to laugh at the fervor emanating from the blond.
And then the potstickers were snagged with inhuman speed. Kara looked genuinely happy for the first time as she dug into the things. Her cheeks were kinda puffed like a chipmunk or something. "Potstickers are my favorite!"
"So much better than field rations." Daisy hummed. "I ate so much peanut butter on missions to cram in extra calories."
Kara perked up. "It's so good though, right?"
"Totally, have you tried avocado toast? Please say that's a thing here?" Daisy leaned forward because cramming extra calories in since she'd gotten her powers could be a pain…so many of those horrible high-calorie nutrition bars May had found tasted like chalk.
Kara nodded excitedly. "Yes! I usually eat a dozen donuts on my lunch. But lasagna, I get them frozen at Cosco and eat at least one a week."
"Pasta, see I need to figure out how to cook more than those boxed Mac'n Cheese things with hotdog bits in them." Daisy pointed with her chopsticks.
Kara sighed. "Those are good though."
"True, but I got banned from the kitchen the third time I made it in a week on base." Daisy was still kinda sore about that. So what if it was technically lacking in vitamins? "It had dairy, I don't know why Jemma was complaining. I even drank those gross milk and protein powder shakes every day to keep her from lecturing me about calcium intake."
Kara swallowed her latest potsticker, total understanding on her face. "Eliza is always complaining I don't eat enough vegetables, but they're more work to eat than they're worth and taste yucky."
"Brussel sprouts aren't food, they're a torture method invented by nuns who don't know what mercy is." Daisy avoided laughing at the word 'yucky', barely. Fortunately, memories of being trapped at the huge old wooden table with Brussel sprouts and not being allowed to leave till she ate them were kinda miserable.
Kara got a dreamy look on her face. "Eliza cooks Brussel sprouts with bacon."
Daisy raised a brow, that…huh. Bacon did make most things taste better.
////
Kara nearly crushed her alarm clock, again, and whined. It was too early. She sniffed, that was coffee, why was she smelling coffee? Her eyes snapped open, Daisy! She sat straight up. She could hear the faster-than-human heartbeat in her kitchen. Kara climbed out of bed, pulled her curtain back that separated her bedroom from the rest, and couldn't help smiling at the sight of Daisy sitting crisscross applesauce on the couch, grumpy cat mug in one hand, laptop balanced on one knee.
Kara wasn't sure why she was surprised Daisy was still there, but she was. "Morning!"
"Morning." Daisy looked up at her with a faint smile, quiet laughter in her voice. Her eyes went from Kara's toes to the top of her head. "Matching pajama set, Danvers?"
She glanced at the matching polka-dot pajamas she was wearing. "I um…they're nice and I like them." Kara shifted, unsure why she felt self-conscious about it, but she did. "I just think they make me happy."
"They're cute." Daisy didn't sound mocking, just…fond, as she spoke and set the laptop aside while climbing off the couch. "So, made coffee, hope you don't mind?"
"No, no that's fine, better than fine." Kara smiled as she grabbed a bright yellow coffee mug and got herself coffee. "You're up early?"
Daisy leaned against the kitchen island, her gaze felt prickly on Kara's back as she found her favorite creamer in the fridge. "Some nights are easier than others." The shrug was basically audible in her voice.
Kara looked over her shoulder at her, "I'm sorry." She knew enough about red-tinted dreams full of silent screams that woke her in a cold sweat to know better than to poke at that.
"It is what it is." Daisy shrugged. "So, uh I can leave the number for the burner phone I picked up the other day. Thanks again for letting me sleep on your couch."
And Kara didn't like the sinking feeling in her stomach. "Don't you need time to have an identity so you can find an apartment or hotel or something?"
"I mean, not for the motel." Daisy's head tipped ever so slightly but then her expression warmed. "I'll be fine, you've been really helpful already. More than I could have hoped for. Seriously, I owe you one."
Kara hesitated, but she didn't want to be alone. "Well, if I'm introducing you to National City, you haven't lived till you've had Noonan's sticky buns." She put on her best puppy eyes.
Daisy laughed but nodded. "Well, we can't have that. We might need to take my car though, unlike you I don't fly. Or…I kinda can? It's more of throwing myself up and trying not to splat when I come back down."
"But you can fly!" Kara loved flying with everything in her. The freedom of it. It just felt right, and so few people understood what it was.
Daisy's grin was amused. "Sorta, real sorta…if you're flexible about what you call flying. Maybe you can see what an insult to your whole flying like a bird thing to compare the two is some time. Not today though." There was a slight pause, and then a faint, barely audible humming sound prickled at Kara's ears as Daisy's feet lifted off the ground a few inches before the sound vanished and Daisy's feet hit the ground again.
Kara barely kept from clapping in excitement. "That's amazing."
"Says the woman who has laser eyes." Daisy seemed pleased though as she sipped at her coffee.
And well, she smiled pausing before drinking her own coffee. "The heat vision is pretty cool."
"The coolest." Daisy agreed. "So, Noonans, I'm guessing we're swinging by before you have to work?"
Kara beamed, she loved Noonans and she didn't want to lose this. Being around someone who was here and not mad or disappointed in her, it felt like she could breathe easier. "I usually take the bus, if that's alright?"
"I can do public transport." Daisy agreed before finishing off her coffee. "Meet you back here in twenty?"
Kara nodded probably a bit too quickly. "Yes, of course. I can be ready in twenty minutes."
"Cool, see you in a few then." Daisy set her mug in the sink before snatching her laptop and waving as she walked out the front door.
Kara's nose wrinkled. When was the last time she'd showered? Oh Rao, it'd been before the red kryptonite… She set her coffee down and was really grateful she could move fast.
Kara was showered, dressed in one of her few unscorched sweaters, glasses on, purse and keys accounted for, and was ready, barely on time. She swung the door open before Daisy could knock. "Hi!"
"Hi, yourself." And Daisy was definitely silently laughing at her, but like…in a nice way. "You ready to go, Danvers?"
Kara stepped out of the apartment. "Noonan's is really great, and they have actual portion sizes!"
"Nice, even if I wanted to bother with a fancy place they don't serve enough food for a normal human, let alone anyone who's more than that." Daisy agreed with real feelings on the topic.
It was nice to have someone who understood. "Sometimes after heroing I feel like eating a whole cow."
"Know the feeling. Diners, especially the ones with the malt milkshake things. So good. Usually, after missions, it's all mission reports while eating protein bars before crashing in my bunk though. I think your option sounds nicer."
Kara pushed her glasses up her nose. "That sounds terrible. But bunk?"
"Yeah, spent a year living on a plane for missions, but after the attempted coup by the fascist fucks, we switched to a military bunker. I had my own room with a bunk, which was nice. Not that it was big, or had a window or anything like that. Nobody had windows except for the Director." Daisy looked positively fond at the mention of her 'director'. "I mean Coulson only had windows for his office, not his bunk. But it was still a swanky office. Not as nice as your apartment. Which, how the hell do you afford that place as an assistant?"
"Well, the crime rates here are very high, it's not a good part of town." Kara had been alarmed by that when it'd been Alex living there. "And we did all the remodeling ourselves. My sister and I got really good at it from all the things I broke when we were kids." Her cheeks heated.
Daisy chuckled, shaking her head as they walked down the stairs. "You have three tables with chairs. Even if you did all the interior…everything, that apartment is huge. That much floorspace in a city, bad neighborhood or not, isn't cheap."
"Well, I had a college fund but had scholarships that covered tuition so Alex and I bought it together. Course Alex moved to be closer to work by the time I graduated, but it's ours." Kara had been so proud of that. And they'd really put the work in to make it nice. "We spent a year remodeling the whole thing."
Daisy raised a brow. "Ah, rich parents. That tracks."
"What? no, they're not..rich." Kara protested because they weren't…Eliza didn't have money like Cat or Lord.
Daisy rolled her eyes. "Maybe not rich rich, but let me guess, childhood home for just the four of you was three stories with a view?"
"Looked out on the ocean," Kara admitted, she liked the Danvers' house.
Daisy just smiled. "Sounds really nice."
"It is. I love the Danvers." Kara hated that because of her just…Alex was in hiding, Jeremiah was in Cadmus somewhere… "I wish I could…do more to keep them safe."
Daisy nudged their shoulders together. "Hey, I didn't do a deep look into you, or your background. But I have eyes, and your apartment is a love letter to how much you and your family love each other. If there was something to do, you'd be doing it already. Or am I wrong?"
"It doesn't feel like enough." Kara led them out to the street, towards the bus stop. "Did you ever feel like that?"
Daisy blew out a long breath, looking ahead. "That's…complicated." Her hand reached up touching the scarred skin on the left side of her neck. "I didn't get a family till I was grown up, and then…it was just complicated."
"If I shouldn't have asked, I-"
"It's fine." Daisy shook off the morbid air to her like it hadn't even been there in the first place. "Family is complicated, for everyone."
Kara could feel the rolling twisted mass of her feelings about Astra, her mother, Krypton, the things that'd come up with red kryptonite with Alex they hadn't had time to talk about. "It is, thank you for just…understanding that?"
"Hey, there's usually more violence when I meet people like you. Not, sticky buns and everything." Daisy leaned against the bus post. "I think I should be saying that."
Kara glanced around, glad there wasn't anyone else at the bus stop yet. "Why was your name Quake?"
"Vibrations, I caused a lot of localized quakes before I got control of it." Daisy crossed her arms. "Don't worry, I've got it handled now, no surprise earthquake uptick."
Kara was fascinated. "You can vibrate everything?"
"So far, yeah." Daisy nodded easily. "What about you, like flight, laser eyes, whole strength, speed, and tanking bullets? What else do you have going on?"
"Freeze breath." Kara bounced slightly. "X-ray vision, and enhanced senses too."
Daisy whistled. "Damn, you've got like…all the powers."
"It's the yellow sun," Kara explained it was funny, everyone here knew this already. "It's what gives us our abilities."
Daisy looked at her curiously. "So you're like a plant?"
"What, no, I'm not a plant!" Kara huffed.
Daisy had a light in her eye that Kara realized was probably a very bad sign for her. "But you photosynthesize?"
"I…maybe a little?" Kara held up her fingers. "But-" She dropped her hand forcing on a happier expression. "Helen, hi!"
"Morning Kara," Helen had been a constant since Kara'd started using this bus route. She was middle-aged, worked as a paralegal uptown, and made the best banana bread Kara had ever had. Helen cast a faintly curious look at Daisy but didn't ask anything, just pulling out her phone.
Daisy straightened from where she'd been leaning so she wasn't blocking the post. "So, is there a library up near Catco, or am I going to be heading back down to-"
Kara watched eagerly as Daisy took a bite of the sticky bun. She couldn't help beaming as Daisy nodded, giving her a thumbs up. "It's the best, right?"
Daisy nodded as she chewed before replying. "So gooey."
"And warm." Kara sighed as she cut into her own sticky bun without hesitation. She'd been eating sticky buns at Noonan's every workday for two years. They were every bit as important to a good morning as not crushing her alarm clock and having to buy a new one.
She was two thirds of the way through her second sticky bun when Daisy spoke up. "Thanks for everything, is it fine if I text you if I run into anything I need answers about?"
And…Kara had a horrible impulsive idea, but Alex wasn't here to tell her it was a terrible idea. So it just kinda came tumbling out. "Why don't you stay with me? Just till you have the paperwork and everything set up to get your own place. You shouldn't be in some crummy motel with bedbugs and roaches and things, or in your car. I could show you all the best places for everything. It wouldn't be any trouble, it could be fun, like a sleepover or something. Unless you don't want to, which is fine. I just thought-"
"You're serious?" Daisy interrupted her ramble, a thing Kara was relieved about. "You barely know me?"
Kara met Daisy's eyes. "You're a good person, and I have a good feeling about you."
Daisy opened and then shut her mouth.
"And if I was the one in your world you'd do the same, or well offer a bunk at your base?" Kara was good at reading people, and Daisy Johnson was a good person.
Daisy was staring at her with the strangest expression. "I mean yeah, probably leave you in quarantine for a day or something before figuring out whether you needed a safe house or temporary bunk or whatever. But Kara, you do know this is how I'd approach you if I wanted to hurt you right?"
"That's what a good person would say." Kara felt vindicated. "If you were going to hurt me you wouldn't be warning me about it."
Daisy's brow shot up. "Not always, depends on the person, what approach gets you an in faster."
"Hmm, you're proving my point." Kara half inhaled her remaining sticky bun.
Daisy hesitated but she gave a faint nod. "Ok, if you're sure?"
"I'm sure." Kara pulled a notebook out of her purse. "Here, this is my number. I get off at five, I'll message you if I'm going to be home late, ok?"
Daisy blinked, but she accepted the sheet of paper. "I…ok?"
Kara kept the excitement of having a new friend close inside as she reached her desk. The screens displayed news personalities commentating on 'Supergirl's Reign of Terror'. She felt her shoulders curling in. 'Reign' felt like a bit much. It was two days. Kara made it to her desk, setting Ms. Grant's latte on her desk, and looked up at Winn. "Morning!'
"Morning, Kara." He didn't look up from his phone. "Have you heard anything from Siobhan? She's not texting me back. That's a bad sign right?"
Kara ignored her revulsion at him dating the woman who'd made her life at work miserable for weeks. Siobhan was just…so mean. It still didn't make it right she'd gotten her fired. She plastered on a sympathetic look. "Has she answered you at all?"
"Not since last night." Winn finally looked up at her. "Should I just go over to her place?"
Kara set her purse down and…she could tell Winn about Daisy later. "Have you tried asking her to coffee so you can talk?"
Chapter 3Notes:Yo! So like, I'm almost done with this in the drafts. Which is exciting.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextKara was miserable and exhausted by the time she was flying home. It was late, she smelled like car oil, and her stomach felt like it was eating itself. But, even with that, she felt a wave of relief and peace as she floated through the open window. Her nose scrunched. "Did something burn?"
"Nope, don't think about it." Daisy popped up from the small breakfast nook that'd been turned into a kind of computer station. "On a totally and completely different note pizza should be here in about ten minutes. Also just don't worry about the trash all being out."
She laughed for the first time all day, a genuine smile on her face. "So you decided not to try and make dinner?"
"Yup, that is totally what happened." Daisy had the now familiar lopsided grin on her face, also looking completely unrepentant about the smell of what was definitely burned something. "By the way, for no reason other than whim I'm buying you a new soup pot."
Kara couldn't help how just addictingly warm and nice it was to come home to this instead of an empty apartment after a miserable day. "What did you try to make?"
"Curry, the lady at the grocery store assured me it was easy. I might have forgotten it was stewing? on the stove, while I was working." Daisy shrugged helplessly. "But in less 'confirming your smoke detectors work' news, I now legally exist. My new social security card should be in the mail. That said my legal birth name is now Mary Johnson but I changed it when I turned eighteen."
Kara dropped onto one of the kitchen stools. "Why the name change?"
"Because I had to find a baby who died at the right time for my age, then request said baby's birth certificate, which I got last week, then use that for a new social security card. Well, that and some hacking for other paperwork. But those are the big ones to make sure this identity holds up. And I'm not going by the name 'Mary'." Daisy's voice was full of kinda undeserved disgust. Mary was a perfectly nice name, at least Kara thought so.
She nodded though, she wasn't the one who was building an identity from scratch. "Are you sure you want to get a job at RadioShack?"
"It's benign, I'm actually qualified for it…sort of, and I do need a job." Daisy shrugged before she looked up at Kara curiously. "So on a scale of miserable to craptastic, how was your day?"
"The bank robbers cried when I got there." Kara slumped. "They hate me."
Daisy moved over to the cupboard and started pulling the hot chocolate mix out. "Did anyone get hurt at the bank robbery?"
"No, but the cops were going to protect the robbers from me." Kara let her head thunk on the counter. "I don't know how to earn their trust back."
Daisy put the kettle on before grabbing mugs. "Well, that's dramatic."
"What?" Kara looked up at her.
Daisy ripped open the chocolate packets dumping them in liberally. "There was a crime, you went to the crime, and lives were saved. It sucks but, you did what you meant to do. Come on, what else did you end up with?"
"I changed some people's oil on the side of the road and their flat tire. They didn't get out of the car." Kara poked at the oil stain on her sleeve.
Daisy was giving her a 'look'. "Why don't you go shower and get out of your suit for a bit, pizza should be here soon and I'll have hot chocolate ready?"
Kara felt properly grounded again as she curled in the armchair, mostly empty pizza boxes on the coffee table, her hands curled around a mug of hot chocolate. "It hurts how much they're afraid of me."
"Ya know you're looking at it all wrong," Daisy remarked from the couch.
She looked up at her, her brow pulled together. "What do you mean?"
"Public opinion is shit." Daisy waved a hand absently. "One day they'll sing your praises and the next they'll want your head." She was staring at her. "Look, why do you put on the cape and rescue people?"
Kara stared into her mug. "I was sent here to protect my cousin, but I can protect so many, do so much good."
"I mean, being hated sucks, but do you care more about helping them or being liked?" Daisy asked like that was just a normal question.
She straightened in slight outrage. "Helping people!"
"Then just do that?" Daisy picked at the fabric of her jeans. "I mean yeah, the beloved hero thing is…very cool. But do you need that?"
Kara slumped back into her chair, with a deep sigh. "Is it wrong to want it?"
"No," Daisy nudged one of the pizza boxes closer to her. "But maybe count saving people as worth more than if they cheer for you?"
Kara sipped at her hot chocolate only to pause. Rats, it was lukewarm. She zapped it with heat vision. "Did this ever happen to you?"
"The laser vision is so cool." Daisy set her own mug aside. "And I wasn't the hero on a lunchbox. Cause spy, it was about no one noticing us. Legally whether we were government or fugitives changed by the week. For about a week I had fans? There were posters…it was…unsettling."
Kara stared at her and it was…Daisy was like Alex sometimes. Not a lot, but the things she'd begun to see as 'agent' aspects showed up. "That sounds…lonely."
"I had the team." Daisy's face flickered with the pain it did sometimes when her team came up. As fast as the emotion was there it was gone. "We were different kinds of heroes. I mean you wear primary colors with a skirt. My suit is made from high-grade kevlar, is black, and I have a gun."
She was curious at the thought of what that'd look like. "Did you bring your suit with you?"
"In the trunk of the car." Daisy smiled slightly. "Come on, something not terrible had to have happened today?"
Kara was searching for something to say when she heard the sirens. She looked up and met Daisy's eyes. "I-"
"Go on, I've got more computer programs to swear at." Daisy shot a look at her computer that said she really would be saying some very unkind things while adjusting her programs. "Try not to get a slushy thrown on you again. I think the couch still smells like grape."
And it was just…that simple. "It's not that bad." Kara pouted slightly before diving at full speed for her suit and then out the window. Maybe whoever needed help now wouldn't cry or throw whatever was in their hands at her?
////
Daisy was baffled and bemused by Kara Danvers. Like, at first she'd kinda considered this world was just weird, but it hadn't taken long to realize that no, this world was just as fucked up as her own was, Kara was just kinda bafflingly nice. And not in a normal way, in a way that was too trusting and hopeful. It was sweet but also was going to get the woman killed. So, well, she did owe her for the couch and an excuse not to be miserable and alone with her thoughts for weeks on end.
Hence, the fact one of the first things Daisy was using her newly updated for this universe computer programs for was to find out everything she possibly could about the DEO. And what she found was concerning. It'd take her another week to get into their servers directly. At the moment she was laying out a full backstory for her new identity. "There's no good excuse for multiple bullet wounds without a military or gang background, is there?"
Kara choked on her morning cup of coffee. "Bullet wounds!?"
"Yeah?" Daisy laughed at the expression on Kara's face. "Not all of us are bulletproof. I've had five actual bullet wounds from three shootings. That's not counting grazes obviously. Here," She rolled up her shirt enough to show her stomach. "My first two, then I have two in my left shoulder and one in my right leg."
Kara blurred as she moved so fast from the kitchen island to where Daisy was, hands fluttering alarmed panic. "Daisy!"
"Hey, it's fine. Healed up for a while." Daisy dropped the hem of her shirt and grabbed one of Kara's hands. "It happens, I'm fine now."
The nervous movement faded into something harder and braced for defense. "Who shot you?"
"A lot of people have shot at me…mostly Nazis, but the feeling is mutual there." Daisy pointed to her covered stomach. "But douchebag CEO, shoulder and leg were evil robots, other one in the shoulder was an alien murdering fascist terrorist." She tilted her head. "The stab scar in the same shoulder was from an evil alien murdering fascist terrorist robot. Even if you're invulnerable and just started out are you saying you've never gotten hurt?"
Kara didn't take the out with humor, concern still apparent, but she did nod. "Not often and it doesn't…last."
Daisy felt her brow raise, that was some grade A bullshit. "Yeah, you're new to this, but even if you heal it still hurts, and physical stuff isn't the worst you end up with."
"I," the breath hitched in the back of Kara's throat, grief blatantly on her face, "you're right."
She wished she hadn't pushed, hurting Kara, or reminding her of hurt hadn't been the point. "So, any magical backgrounds you can think of that aren't military or gangbanger to explain the scars in your world, or am I going to have to spend a week getting a military background in place?"
"Why would it take you that long to make a military background? Everything else has seemed really fast?" Kara's brow crinkled in confusion.
Daisy laughed, putting a bit more space between them. "Because the military has better servers, I'm going to have to get physical papers put in and to explain why no one remembers me I'm going to have to make my service record so classified. The Military thinks I was doing crazy classified bullshit with the CIA, they don't poke at the files. Which is going to take time."
"Classified?" Kara's crinkle deepened, clearly not understanding how military structures trained you to know when a thing was a 'do not think about it' situation.
Daisy closed her laptop while thinking about packing her bag to head out. She wasn't going to risk using Kara's wifi for this. "Spy agencies, military, it's all hierarchical and stuff is generally classified because the wrong people finding out can and will get people killed. So every probationary agent and military grunt gets it beaten into their heads not to look toohard at classified information. If they don't need to know, it's safer for them not to know. Not that I was ever good with keeping my nose out of things, but it's standard operating procedure."
"That makes sense, I think?" Kara offered slowly.
Daisy grinned up at her as she moved to fill up a travel mug with coffee for the day. "Want me to pour you one too?"
"No thank you, I have to pick up Cat's latte before work. I just get myself one since I'm already there." Kara had a pleased smile at the offer though.
Daisy shrugged, as she poured herself coffee. "Anyways if I want records that are redacted and classified in a way that won't look wrong but tip off anyone looking that they know why, they won't be worried about it, and they'll actively cover for me. Which is helpful. So, I'll have to do some research, but your military seems pretty par for my world's. I'll probably go with Airforce Special Reconnaissance. Special Ops and regularly running classified operations behind enemy lines and doing things to damage enemy operations. A lot of what they do is not the kind of thing the government wants anyone to know that they do. And the kind of soldier to end up doing very delicate dirty work for the CIA. If I notate the files right, it'll look like I was a highly trained and specialized soldier dropped in very politically delicate regions working on mission objectives that aren't put entirely to paper. The kind of things that if it got out the United States would be in some very hot water. And thus the kind of thing anyone with the clearance to touch is going to avoid like the plague because they don't want to get implicated."
"We do that?" Kara sounded offended.
Daisy looked at her…friend? This kinda felt like friends. "You work with a classified para-military organization that is connected to an alien chop shop?"
"No, I know the government does bad things. But you just make it sound so…habitual?" Kara had a weight of understanding when she said she 'knew', but also more exhausted than anything when she said 'habitual'.
Daisy softened. "Yeah, it's fucked up. But sometimes it's necessary and international powers vying for things is…complicated and messy. It's rarely neat or clean. And nobody's hands are clean in the business. But duplicity and fucked up shit are going to be under the surface if you scratch at it enough for any government agency. I dedicated my life to SHIELD, and we tried to be the good guys, but a lot of the time…I don't know. It didn't feel like we were more than I think any of us wanted to admit." So those therapy appointments Mack had made her go to before he let her leave had probably been a good thing.
"You're not very cheerful in the mornings," Kara said as she placed her black glasses on her face, but she didn't sound upset as she said.
Daisy bit her lip, hesitating. "I'm sorry?"
"Don't apologize, it's nice, I think?" Kara nodded in decision, it was nice. "Everyone acts like I don't understand things, or I can't handle them. I just…you just explain things. It's different, but good different."
Daisy got that, nobody who wasn't an asshole likeddumping the rookie in the deep end. And it was becoming really clear that the media's understanding of Supergirl being a rookie was dead on. It made something prickle with discomfort though, that Kara didn't seem to just know things or have a close-knit enough team to cover for her so that she could have a non-traumatic learning curve. And after mind control, the non-traumatic method was dead in the water. But she'd only been sleeping on Kara's couch for a week. She could be wrong, she didn't think she was though.
"Well, I can report back on job openings for RadioShack and if the taco truck you spotted yesterday is any good."
Kara laughed before darting forward and hugging her tightly, really tight.
It was a bit of a jolt just how much it was, but it was nice. Sure, probably too tight for most people, but not for her. Admittedly the air from her lungs had been a bit squished out. But serum. So she just breathed it back in as she cautiously hugged her back. "Is this a hint I should bring you tacos to work if they're good?"
Daisy frowned as she looked through the Excel spreadsheet of the timeline of her hypothetical self. It was having to be a whole hell of a lot more detailed than she pretty much ever bothered with. But well, if she wanted any kind of long-term existence it had to be perfect. It was a good test of her acclimation to computer systems and the bureaucracy of this universe before she risked getting a look under the hood of the DEO though. Still, building a whole new identity was interesting.
Mary Grace Johnson, tragic late-term miscarriage was now, legally, a live birth who'd been given up for adoption in a closed adoption. Mary Grace Johnson was then adopted by the Chapman family. The Chapman's were ideal as they didn't have extended family and had died tragically in a car wreck about a year after the miscarriage of Mary Johnson. All tragic in the abstract way deaths in accidents were. But, wonderfully convenient.
From there 'Mary' bounced through thirty-eight foster homes and two Catholic orphanages before the age of fifteen. Then run away and missing, before then popping back up for a GED test at age eighteen. It was close enough to reality to barely be a lie at all, and kids got lost in the system with mucked-up paperwork all the time. Faking that trail would take an afternoon or two to solidify.
'Mary Grace' then changed her name the day she turned eighteen before signing up with the Air Force. Now, Daisy Skye Johnson, the cover hit the hard part. Thanks to her new birth certificate she was twenty-six in this world. That was eight years in the Air Force before medical discharge. Before that though…just so much paperwork was going to have to get put in place, and or notated in such a way it made sense for why it wasn't where it was supposed to be.
Fortunately, she had done equivalents for the training schools including basic a US SOF airman had to complete to get in. Actually been dumped at a couple of the training schools early on by May. Hence, why she'd chosen it, what they did was hella classified without even earmarking the files for it. She could drop a digital trail in the CIA servers that Daisy Johnson had been a potential recruit on leaving the Airforce only for a mission where she vanished behind enemy lines for six months only to turn up tortured and physically damaged in a way their psych evals would have disqualified her over. The issue was the training schools. That was going to be the shit show for hard files to prove she'd been there.
Which, was why she was here, laying out a plausible timeline of elementary, middle, and high school placements and grades following the trail of foster placements. After which laying out an entire eight-year military career. Fuck, she was going to have to give herself a couple of different medals…what were the equivalents for the ones she technically had marks for in her SHIELD documents? Not that they got physical medals, but that stuff did get notated.
Daisy flipped into the SHIELD files that were on her laptop while sipping on her now, vaguely lukewarm coffee only to nearly choke. Jesus, when the actual fuck did Coulson stick this shit in there? Well…it wasn't going to be total bullshit…she was going to have to reduce the number of medals for this shit to be believable. Wait, Mack got the President to officially pardon her for the LMD shooting Talbot thing? And oh that was a medal of honor…when the…oh, Coulson got that approved after Chicago and the saving the world thing before he left for Tahiti. It was weird she had some of these…legally.
It took her an hour to build out a military career and match it as close to her SHIELD file as possible. She now had four purple hearts and a number of medals that was slightly alarming but told the story of an exceptional soldier taken out of the game due to a mission that went so FUBAR it'd been covered up and shoved into the graveyard of bodies in the USA's closet of secrets. But, she had an outline. The stuff from her new background dating to before age 18 was done.
Stretching Daisy shut her laptop and groaned. It was going to be so much work to make this legit. Just…so much. This was so much easier when she'd had military contacts and could just call them up and force them to stick paperwork where it should be. Or well, shouldn't be. Daisy looked up at the blue sky. Catfishing administrative servicemen to get them to do it for her it was. Such a pain. This was going to take two weeks to be perfect, and a week to be serviceable.
She was taking a break and she had promised Kara tacos. Offered and intended to follow through since Kara had seemed weirdly fine with her stopping by her office. Kara was way too trusting. Daisy was definitely doing a good hard look at the DEO the second she was able to. She had some favors to repay, and she was pretty sure how to get started.
////
Kara felt small as she sat at her desk trying to make Cat's therapist appointments work. It was terrible, Cat had gone out to sushi, leaving Kara trapped at her desk with an avalanche of emails to get through and no time to go and get herself lunch. Her lunchtime had already been taken up by a pile up on the highway and without being able to use fetching Cat's lunch as an excuse to acquire food she was trapped. Did she still have granola bars in her desk?
"Who is that?" Winn uttered in disbelieving confusion from his desk.
Kara looked up, prepared to jump to attention to accept a delivery for Cat only to pause and then beam, standing up. "Daisy! You didn't have to actually come! But I'm so glad you did, are those tacos?!" And she could smell the delicious taco goodness.
"Well, I did promise." Daisy casually raised the absolutely bulging bag of tacos up, an amused grin on her face. "And I needed to stretch my legs a bit anyway."
Kara would have hugged her, but that'd have squished the tacos. "You're the best!"
Notes:Can I just say how much I hated how they handled the RedK storyline? Like it happened, Kara makes one public fight/sacrifice the next episode and everyone loves her again. And also, like...Kara very clearly post RedK makes it really clear she's a hero to save people, not for the praise, even if she does enjoy and like being loved. And then later seasons they keep acting like Kara doing it for the praise is one of her flaws and like...no? She equates praise with having done it right, which is not good. Praise as a measure of how good she's doing. She takes people not liking her way too personally, she has no distance there. She's a people pleaser, it's a positive trait and a flaw in her. But the show kept acting like she had to grow past just doing heroics for the praise and like...that was never her problem.
And partially, the RedK thing fading off because of Livewire of all villains is ridiculous when Myriad is right there as the thing to prove Supergirl's goodness to the general public. Its...its right there, like two episodes away. It hurts me how much stronger that would have made Kara's hope speech if it's her begging for them to believe her and have hope even knowing the public is still suspicious of and doubting her.