Chapter 26: BUILDING BRIDGES
[M'gann's Alien Bar — November 2016, One Week Later]
"—and then the entire council chamber was filled with this blue fog," Kara said, laughing so hard she nearly spilled her drink. "Because nobody had thought to check whether Kandorian ceremonial incense was compatible with the ventilation system."
"What happened to the council?"
"They had to evacuate. My uncle—he was so dignified, so proper—ended up standing in the street with blue dye all over his robes, trying to maintain senatorial composure while children pointed and laughed."
I couldn't help but join her laughter. The image of Krypton's stiff political class reduced to comedic chaos was too good.
"We had something similar once," I offered. "During a harvest festival. Someone brought in these bioluminescent creatures from one of our moons—beautiful, harmless, perfect decorations. Nobody realized they reproduced by contact with certain fabrics."
"What happened?"
"By the end of the evening, every noble in attendance was covered in glowing parasites. The palace guards had to escort them home through the streets, trailing light like walking chandeliers."
Kara's laugh was genuine, unrestrained. I memorized the sound.
These conversations had become routine over the past week. Every night, sometime between nine and eleven, Kara would appear at the bar. Sometimes she ordered a drink. Sometimes she just sat. Always, we talked.
The subjects varied. Childhood memories. Cultural traditions. The small absurdities of growing up on worlds that no longer existed. We compared holidays, foods, coming-of-age rituals. Found more common ground than either of us had expected.
"We really were opposite planets," Kara said one night, after a particularly detailed comparison of educational systems. "Krypton valued knowledge above all else. Daxam valued..."
"Sensation," I finished. "Experience. Pleasure for its own sake."
"But the underlying drives weren't that different." She traced patterns on the bar. "Both cultures wanted to feel alive. Just different approaches to the same goal."
"That's generous."
"That's honest." She looked up. "I used to think Daxamites were just hedonistic monsters. No depth, no values, no awareness of anything beyond their own enjoyment. But that's not what you've described. The festivals, the art, the family traditions—there was meaning there. It was just wrapped in structures that caused harm."
"Doesn't excuse the harm."
"No. But it makes you more than a monster." She held my gaze. "It makes you a person who was shaped by a broken system and is now trying to build something different."
I didn't have words for that. The insight was too precise, too compassionate. So I did what I always did when emotions overwhelmed—I reached for work. Picked up a glass. Started polishing.
Kara smiled like she understood exactly what I was doing.
---
Training sessions shifted too.
"Again," Kara ordered, circling me on the DEO rooftop. "Faster this time."
I launched at her—not the hesitant approach of early sparring, but a genuine attack. She blocked, countered, drove me back three steps. I adapted, found an opening, landed a combination that she actually had to work to deflect.
"Better." She reset her stance. "You're not pulling punches anymore."
"You told me not to."
"I told you to stop holding back. Different thing." She came at me again, faster now. I matched her speed—not perfectly, but close enough that she couldn't land clean hits. "Your reflexes have improved significantly."
"Adaptive Evolution."
"More than that." She caught my arm mid-strike, used the leverage to throw me. I hit the training mat, rolled, came up ready. "Your combat instincts are developing independently. You're not just reacting faster—you're thinking faster."
She was right. The early fights had been desperate improvisation, survival through luck and raw power. Now I could see the patterns. Predict her movements. Plan three steps ahead while executing the current one.
"Alex's training helped," I admitted.
"Alex gave you technique. The application is yours." Kara lowered her guard slightly. "You're becoming dangerous, Mon-El. In a good way."
The praise settled somewhere warm in my chest. I tried not to let it show.
---
Winn caught me smiling after a particularly good conversation. I'd been staring at nothing, replaying Kara's laugh, and hadn't noticed him approaching until he was three feet away.
"You're in deep, aren't you?"
I blinked. "What?"
"Kara." He gestured vaguely at my face. "The dopey expression. The unfocused staring. Classic symptoms."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't." Winn leaned against the nearest console, arms crossed. "I've seen that look before. Usually on romantic comedy protagonists right before the big confession scene."
"There's nothing to confess."
"Uh-huh." His expression was somewhere between amused and concerned. "Look, I'm not going to lecture you about workplace relationships or the complications of inter-species dating or any of that. But as someone who's watched Kara navigate this stuff before..."
"Before?"
"James Olsen." Winn shrugged. "Long story, happy ending, not really my place to share details. Point is: she's been hurt. She's careful about who she lets in. The fact that she's spending this much time with you—voluntarily, outside of mission requirements—that means something."
I processed this information. Added it to my understanding of the situation.
"I'm not trying to manipulate her," I said quietly. "If that's what you're worried about."
"I know. That's why I'm giving you the warning instead of the threat." Winn pushed off the console. "She's my friend. Probably my best friend. If you hurt her—"
"You'll what?"
"Honestly? Nothing. I'm not exactly physically intimidating." He grinned slightly. "But Alex definitely will. And J'onn. And probably Superman, eventually. The Kara Zor-El protection squad has a lot of members."
"Noted."
"Good." He started walking away, then paused. "For what it's worth? She laughs more when she's been talking to you. That's worth something."
He left me with that observation. I turned it over in my mind, examining it from all angles.
She laughs more.
The evening's bar shift passed in a blur. Kara arrived at her usual time, sat at her usual spot, ordered her usual nothing-in-particular. She'd brought food this time—potstickers from some place downtown that she swore were the best in the city.
"Try one."
I picked up the dumpling, examined it skeptically. Earth food was still occasionally surprising—some things delicious, others inexplicably popular despite tasting like cardboard.
The first bite was a revelation.
"Your face," Kara laughed. "You look like I just showed you magic."
"This is magic." I grabbed another potsticker before she could reclaim the container. "Why didn't you introduce me to this sooner?"
"I was testing you. Wanted to make sure you deserved the good stuff."
"And now I do?"
Her smile softened. "Getting there."
We finished the container together, talking about nothing important, enjoying the simple pleasure of shared food and comfortable silence. When M'gann announced last call, neither of us moved.
"I should go," Kara said eventually.
"Probably."
Neither of us moved.
"Walk me out?"
We left together—not planned, just natural. The streets of National City were quiet at this hour, the alien bar tucked away in a neighborhood that humans rarely visited. We walked side by side, close enough that our shoulders occasionally bumped.
"Thank you," Kara said quietly. "For the conversations. For being honest. For actually trying."
"Thank you for giving me the chance."
She bumped my shoulder deliberately this time. Casual. Comfortable. Like we'd known each other for years instead of months.
My heart rate spiked. Superhearing meant she could probably detect it. I didn't care.
"Same time tomorrow?" she asked.
"Always."
She smiled and flew away, a blur of red and blue against the night sky. I watched her go, standing alone on the empty street, feeling something shift in my chest.
One pattern at a time, I'd told myself. One conversation, one mission, one small step toward trust.
This felt like more than a step.
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