Whether it was the first time being dumbfounded at that day, the expression on Supergirl's face was incredibly remarkable. Her mouth opened and closed, but in the end, she couldn't muster the courage to ask.
"Next book, the next book will definitely include you, Auntie. The untold story of Wonder Woman and Supergirl, I think that would get incredibly positive market feedback in America." Ian didn't want to disappoint his relative, so he gave Kara what he considered a deeply heartfelt promise.
However.
The Kryptonian girl's face instantly turned deathly pale.
"I think I'm still too unknown, not suitable, not suitable..." Kara frantically waved her hands, her eyes even showing a flicker of panic.
"Let's just talk about! Why exactly did you come looking for me! Did you cause some huge trouble at home, forcing you to run here to avoid punishment from your parents?"
Kara desperately tried to change the subject.
She genuinely felt that given Ian's personality and the diagnosis listed on his medical report, she wouldn't be shocked no matter how big a mess he'd caused.
"In fact, the opposite is true. It's my dad who caused the huge trouble, forcing someone as cautious as me to step in and help him." Ian walked towards the open-plan kitchen.
His eyes were fixed solely on Kara's large refrigerator. The chicken nuggets and fries earlier, while high in calories, still hadn't filled the hunger and energy deficit caused by using [Healing Surge].
"Talk normally!"
Kara sighed wearily.
"Seriously, tell me the truth... if you still want my help." She watched as Ian opened her fridge and took out a container of food.
"That is the truth, Auntie. Your cousin, as close as a brother to you, is dying, and we are the only ones who can save him." Ian spoke in a rare, low, serious tone.
Of course.
His seriousness didn't last three seconds. He soon lowered his head again, opened the container, sniffed it, frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, then still stuffed two large bites of the chicken breast into his mouth.
"Bleh! Bleh! Bleh!"
Ian chewed only twice before hurriedly spitting the chicken breast out.
"It's gone bad!"
He ran to the sink and rinsed his mouth vigorously, regretting why he hadn't just taken a tiny taste when he smelled the sourness. The hunger really was affecting his judgment too much.
"This is the 'food upstairs' you mentioned, Auntie?"
The young man wiped his mouth, posing a soul-crushing question.
"..."
Kara felt incredibly awkward.
"It might have been left out a few days too long..." She hurried over to the fridge, stopping Ian from taking anything else out, "Actually, some things in there might have been there for a few weeks?"
"Anyway, definitely not more than sixty days. I only moved in here sixty days ago." Kara deeply regretted her poor lifestyle habits, though for most people, this is probably intermittent regret. Once the awkwardness faded, old habits returned.
"Are you sure you're a girl?"
Ian felt his idealized image of girls had shattered looking at his clumsy aunt.
"Well... it's fermented cuisine, you wouldn't understand... Since you can't stomach this slightly fermented delicacy, I'll take you out for fried chicken later." The excuse Kara found for herself was truly the epitome of lameness.
"..."
This time, it was Ian's turn to be speechless.
"You call this stuff delicacies?"
He grabbed a few more pieces of chicken breast from the container he'd taken out. While the top pieces looked passable, the ones underneath were even starting to ooze greenish liquid.
"This isn't just attacking taste buds; it's attacking the health insurance card of anyone who swallows it!" Ian, someone who could even chew on a malevolent spirit without batting an eye to taste it, found this truly unacceptable.
Raw chicken breast tasted like shit even when fresh, barely tolerable. Now, putting it in his mouth, it had an intensely pungent smell reminiscent of human sweat glands mixed with a urine-soaked lamppost.
"Enough about all that nonsense, talk about your father... You don't act worried at all!" Kara didn't know how many times she'd changed the subject that day. However, this was indeed the main issue.
Kara was deeply skeptical of Ian's claims, as there weren't many things on Earth that could threaten Superman's life. Events endangering Superman were always planet-level extinction disasters, and she should have been aware or told of such a disaster.
"Of course I'm worried, but not that worried. It's only the second day, and I'm already closing in on the truth. With a full seven days, I don't know how I'll possibly... okay, fine, let's talk about my father." Ian noticed Kara's expression change and didn't digress further.
Organizing his thoughts,
Ian began to lay out the relevant experiences step by step.
About ten minutes later,
Kara had mostly grasped the full picture through his account. However, after hearing Ian's "experiences," she became even more convinced he was having an "episode."
"So..." Kara took a deep breath before speaking, her voice seeming squeezed through gritted teeth, "you're saying you met a cosmic-level god, who is one hundred percent crushing on you, and therefore risked breaking the rules to secretly tell you how to save your father?"
It really wasn't Kara's fault for not believing Ian.
The story was undeniably fantastical.
"Mm, a bit of artistic license, but not much. That's roughly what happened." Ian sat on the sofa opposite her, his expression serious and resolute.
Upon hearing this.
Kara fell into a prolonged silence.
Her gaze swept over Ian's face repeatedly, trying to find a single crack in his utterly innocent expression—she couldn't tell, she genuinely couldn't tell!
Was this cheap nephew having an episode, or had something this absurdly, ridiculously, and heaven-defyingly bizarre actually happened? Just as Kara's head buzzed, nearly descending into a state of super confusion,
Ian suddenly pulled a military dagger from his pocket.
Kara's eyes instantly widened.
"Wai—"
Her warning hadn't finished.
Ian had already plunged the dagger towards his own heart without hesitation.
"Whoosh!"
Kara became a blur. Kryptonian speed tore a brief sonic boom through the air. Her hand clamped down on the blade, the metal groaning under the strain in her palm.
"What are you doing!?"
Kara was shaken.
Her voice was almost a shout, and to Ian, she looked like a cat with its fur on end.
"Proving it to you, of course. Proving my father truly is near death, and that there's a big shot who wants to save him... Also, since I was full, I figured I'd exploit the big shot's bug one more time." Ian tried to force the dagger into his chest but found it immovable no matter how hard he pushed. The strength gap between him and Aunty Supergirl was far too big.
"Auntie, you're blocking my path to takeoff." Ian could only attempt to persuade Kara to let go. Instead, her expression shifted and she crushed the military dagger in his hand. The blade shattered into several pieces in the seemingly slender girl's palm.
"I'll investigate with you right now! Okay?!" Kara took a deep breath, her chest heaving. She suspected Ian was having an episode, but regardless, she had to get him back to Metropolis first.
"Great!"
Ian bounced up from the sofa.
"What are you doing?"
Watching Ian walk towards her and then leap suddenly, Kara felt utterly numb. However, remembering this was a pitiful child, she could only swallow her exasperation.
Launching herself towards the window,
Supergirl took flight.
And Ian... sitting on Supergirl's back, he flew too.
"Is this the feeling of flying?!" Ian held onto Kara's hair with both hands, feeling the breeze sweep past his face. His desire to unlock [Homelander] option in his system grew even stronger.
"No! Could you show some respect to your aunt?! I know which way to fly! You don't need to navigate by pulling my hair!" Kara had never felt this exhausted in her life.
But she was the elder. What could she do? She could only scold him irritably a few times. Unfortunately, Ian's way of thinking was truly hard for her to fathom.
"Giddyup!! Giddyup!!!"
Ian did stop using her hair to steer. However, hearing the sounds from behind her and feeling the kicks at her waist, Kara decided letting him pull her hair was preferable!
"Could you just settle do—"
Kara's utterly resigned complaint was only half out when,
The next instant,
Her super-hearing picked up an anomaly in the distance.
"A plane is crashing!" Kara banked sharply, changing direction. Ian looked up to see a passenger jet trailing black smoke, plummeting at a dangerously steep angle.
"Another plane crash! This is too frequent! There was one just yesterday!" Ian couldn't help but frown, starting to suspect there might be some hidden conspiracy behind it.
Could it be the beginning of some major event? Ian pondered more and felt he might be caught in trouble.
However.
"Where is it frequent? This is totally normal!"
Kara, in contrast, was completely calm.
She clearly had ample experience rescuing planes.
"Boeing, it's always like this." The sheer matter-of-factness in her voice, coupled with her confusion at Ian's fuss, were a genuine assault on Ian's sensibilities.
"..."
This time, it was finally Ian's turn to be silenced.
He had no words to refute it.
~~
~~
Support me at Ko-fi.com/bayharborgooner for extra chapters. 1 extra chapter every week for a month every kofi.