General (POV)
After finally getting the ship under control, Kara activated the jump limiter and toggled the warp engine power, flipping the switches in precise sequence. At that very moment, unbeknownst to her, an unexpected event occurred. Millions of kilometers away, the once-dim red core of the star suddenly burst into an intensely bright white light—another supernova surge had unleashed a powerful radiation shockwave.
As this was happening, Titania yelled, "Energy absorption complete!"
The shockwave hurtled toward Kara's ship at a terrifying speed. Trusting her fairy companion more, Kara canceled the sequence and yelled, "Titania, set the coordinates for this universe's Earth. I am getting fed up with being in space!"
Startled by Kara's actions and surprised that Kara would trust her, even though this situation mirrored the one that stranded them here in the first place, Titania quickly got to work. "Coordinates set for Earth. Initiating teleportation now!"
As the shockwave rapidly approached, looming closer in her view, Kara's heart pounded in her throat. "Hurry up! Faster!" Kara yelled.
A blue warp glow started to form at the bow, but the shockwave was simply too fast. Kara had just enough time to utter a single word: "F*ck—"
Right at the brink of successful teleportation, her ship was engulfed by the dust cloud propelled by the shockwave.
"No! This can't be happening!" Kara let out.
Inside the wildly tumbling ship, Kara, not strapped in, was thrown around like a ragdoll, slamming into the cockpit walls repeatedly, her body bruised and battered. If this weren't an extraordinarily fortified personal vessel, the violent shockwave would have torn it apart.
"Wonder if I can keep reincarnating after I die?" she mused as her consciousness began to fade—a strange thought flashing through her mind.
Suddenly, a bizarre phenomenon unfolded. Silver light began to form around Kara's ship, creating an energy vortex with her at its center, much like a black hole voraciously absorbing all the energy from the supernova explosion. The silver light intensified, growing even brighter, as if insatiable, consuming everything it touched… whiter and whiter, brighter and brighter…
...
Kara (POV)
Somewhere on Earth, a wormhole opened and spat out a disabled oversized Star Blaster. The out-of-control ship proceeded to freefall from the sky.
Bang! Crash— The ship slammed into the ground, the immense force making it skid over a hundred meters, taking down dozens of trees before finally coming to a stop.
"Ugh! Ah—cough… cough…"
I woke up lying on the floor, dazed and sore from head to toe, like I'd been torn apart and put back together. With every bit of strength I could muster, I forced myself to sit up, leaning against the cabin wall.
"Come on! You can do this!" I muttered, pushing myself through each small movement, even though every muscle screamed in exhaustion. Breathing hurt; it felt like I was suffocating.
"Navi, did we make it? Where are we?" I called out, trying to shake off the fog clouding my mind.
"…Navi! Are you still there?"
The ship was a wreck—broken cables dangled from the ceiling, sparking, and every display screen was dark. Bits and pieces of the memory came back to me; I remembered being thrown across the cockpit when the supernova hit. The AI must've taken a hit too, either damaged or completely offline.
Yet here I was—somehow still in one piece, limbs miraculously intact. It felt surreal, like I'd survived by sheer luck.
I leaned against the wall, scanning the mess around me, a faint smile crossing my lips. "Though… it doesn't seem like I'm far from death anyway."
Titania wasn't around either. I tried calling for her, but nothing.
"She mused have used up all her energy and went dormant," I said to myself, feeling a bit guilty, but the fact that I could still feel her made me feel somewhat at ease.
"Christ on a bike!"
I barely stood up, intending to check the ship's state when a sharp, searing pain shot through my chest. I looked down, wide-eyed, as a faint silver light started glowing from within, like a white flame coming to life inside me, illuminating me from the inside out.
My heartbeat pounded loudly, my lungs heaving as if they were trying to keep up. Through my chest, I could see every bone, every vessel, and every organ, all lit up in a radiant white glow.
"What… what's happening to me?"
Enduring the searing pain, I shut my eyes, trying to recall what happened just before everything went dark.
At the very last second of the ship's warp jump, the supernova had unleashed a second burst of radiation—an incredibly rare event. The sheer force had almost ripped my ship apart. I remembered the ship spinning uncontrollably through a violent magnetic storm, and then… a silvery white light had started radiating from my own body. After that, everything was a blank.
Eventually, the silver glow within me faded, and the fiery pain dulled, giving me some relief. I managed to gather enough strength to get to my feet, stumbling toward the pilot's seat to check on the ship. Every display was dark. Frustrated, I slammed my hand against the control panel, and to my surprise, a few screens flickered to life, followed by a loud "Hiss!" White smoke billowed from the ship's shield as it slowly began to open.
"No, no, no!" I yelled, frantically pressing buttons on the console to close the shield. I had no idea where I was, and if any creatures picked up on the noise, I'd be in deep trouble. But nothing responded. The ship was as good as dead.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to assess my surroundings. "The air's breathable… I see normal-sized trees, so the atmosphere is probably similar to Earth's."
I was caught between two risky choices. If I was on Earth, staying here could mean being discovered; my arrival wouldn't have gone unnoticed. But if I wasn't on Earth, then leaving the safety of the ship in my current state could be just as dangerous.
I chose the second option. As I stumbled out, I promptly tripped, hitting the ground face-first. "Blow me," I muttered, reaching back to touch the ship. A burst of light flashed as I stored the entire vessel into my Subspace unit. At least that was one task done.
With that settled, I let myself fall back onto the grass, staring up at the sky. "Yellow sun…" I murmured as warm, filtered sunlight dappled my face through a tangle of leaves above. I closed my eyes, allowing myself just a moment.
But then reality snapped back, and I muttered, "This is not safe. The sun can wait." A frown formed as a wave of irritation crossed my mind. Slowly, I let myself sink into the shadows as the shadow dimension claimed, wrapping me in its embrace.
...
"Ugh! Ah—cough… cough…"
Time did what it always does, leading to dusk settling into night. I cracked open my eyes again. My Vulnera Sanentur and Episkey had done their job. My wounds were gone, vanished without a trace. Emerging from my shadow dimension, my sharp, focused blue eyes seemed to pierce the darkness, taking in everything at once.
Slowly, I pushed myself upright, half-sitting on the ground, and began to examine my clothes. "Well, indeed enchanted clothes; my Rin Tohsaka outfit is in one piece again." Clutching Kiritsugu's pendant, I muttered, "Rin, baby sister, I hope you're doing okay. And Shiro, my idiot of a brother, I hope you've let go of father's ideals."
"Ugh, my life is messed up," I grumbled, pulling myself out of the dirt. Standing up, I gazed at the fragmented sky peeking through the dense leaves. A satisfied grunt escaped my lips as I stretched. "Alright, let's see what this world throws at me."
As I left the woods, a flicker of worry snagged at me. "Why a random forest?" Emerging from the trees, I scanned the unfamiliar landscape. Wilderness? Looks like I'm on my own for now.
With Titania out of commission for the time being, I was forced to rely on brute observation. The night wasn't complete darkness. A carpet of bright stars and a glowing moon cast a faint light on the land. I set off, my steps purposeful as I searched for signs of civilization.
Movement flickered on the horizon, a few hundred meters out. "Huh? What's that?" I didn't "see" it so much as sense it. My years of combat training and survival in hostile environments had enhanced my senses. Within a certain range, I could practically scan objects with crazy detail without seeing them, almost as if they were right under my nose.
Spotting the artificial light, I bolted toward it. My agile form sliced through the air like a bullet. On Earth, with its lower gravity, I was much stronger. Those high heels somehow launched me off the ground, almost skimming the surface. In seconds, I was sprinting again, hitting speeds close to 100 km/h, thanks to the body reinforcement magecraft applied to my Kryptonian physique.
Reaching the light, I slowed down smooth as silk, senses on high alert. A single trailer stood before me, a lone lamp casting a weak glow. Two blips on my "internal radar"—occupants fast asleep. No cameras, alarms easy to bypass; the lock was a joke. My mind whipped up a 3D map of the surroundings. No immediate threats.
I ghosted towards the trailer door. A wandless Alohomora, and the lock popped. "Showtime," I muttered, a mental announcement to nobody in particular.
Inside the trailer, my high heels were silent ninjas on the floor. The place was a disaster zone—clothes everywhere, wrappers littering the ground. A naked man and a woman snored away in a tiny room nearby, blissfully unaware of their uninvited guest. I ignored them, scanning the trailer for electronics. A laptop on a table caught my eye. English. A smile appeared across my face. This was indeed Earth.
Back outside, I powered on the laptop. File names and programs scrolled across the screen—a potential treasure trove of information about this version of Earth. First, a quick scan revealed a bunch of hidden government surveillance programs snooping on the locals. A cold smile stretched across my lips. "Perfect."
These programs were basically digital leashes, funneling data back to some central hub. Cracking them was child's play for me. Memories, echoes of my past selves, flooded me with advanced tech knowledge. Building crazy gadgets, infiltrating networks—it was all muscle memory at this point.
The government's firewall was a joke, a flimsy net compared to the tech I carried within. Here, I was a ghost in the machine, invisible to most. Except maybe for the other ghosts, the ones lurking in the shadows who spoke the same digital language.
"Daisy Johnson, I hope you exist in this universe! I want to meet you," I muttered to myself.
A plan hatched in my mind. I retrieved a far too advanced laptop for this time and age and cooked up a plan. I created a network virus inside my system, then tapped into a private network using my backup systems and unleashed the virus onto the computer. "Backdoor city, population: me," I muttered, a hint of a smirk playing on my lips. The possibilities had just gotten a whole lot more interesting.
My fingers flew across the keyboard, bypassing security like it wasn't even there. With a final tap, I cut the computer's connection to the outside world. Job done.
"Oh, how I miss you, little Tatiana; this part is technically your job," I mused, "but I guess Navi will do." I retrieved a pair of computer lenses and carefully placed them in my eyes, then plugged an earpiece into my laptop and rebooted my AI, Navi.
"Intel time," I muttered, the glee in my voice impossible to hide. My fingers hammered the keyboard, sifting through useless info. A news website name—The Daily Bugle—flashed on the screen for a split second before I dismissed it.
Then a headline snagged my attention: "Billionaire Playboy Missing..." Recognition flickered across my face. "Stark? Iron Man?"
Digging deeper, I confirmed my hunch: Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries, born 1970... It all lined up with the Stark I knew. After compiling a comprehensive report and storing it away, I went quiet.
"So, still in the Marvel Universe. Maybe an alternate reality version? Either way, I seem to have traveled back in time from 2014. Doesn't matter. The Space Stone, if I find it, could be my ticket back to the DCU." I stared at Stark's smug mug on the screen, a tiny frown creasing my forehead.
I erased my tracks and started downloading some top-shelf programs. Complex code flowed into my laptop and my computer lenses, invisible to any snooping eyes. I integrated them with my backup system, creating shortcuts in my mind for easy access later. A small smirk played on my lips—a little game for myself, a way to make sure I had everything I needed at my fingertips.
Next, fake ID time. Birth certificate, social security number, school stuff, medical records—"Wait... what the fuck is going on?"
"Kara-Zor-El already exists in this universe." My hand froze, my whole body paralyzed in disbelief.
"I need photos!" Soon, photos of myself filled my vision, followed by more information: MIT, Biomechanical Engineering, Stanford, Biology. My mother, a world leader in BioPharm...? I couldn't help exclaiming, "...WTF."
"It says here that this Kara's whereabouts are currently unknown," I muttered.
As my mind raced, I finally thought, "I must have solved the problems with time travel at some point in the future."
Silently connecting the dots, realization dawned: "Aren't future me and Titania worried their actions would create a reverse temporal paradox? Is that the reason why Titania sometimes doesn't know certain things she should? She either has limited information for this particular reason, or she cannot divulge certain information. If the future version of myself and I are on the same timeline, whatever I do, she would know. Since Titania is from the future, whatever I do has already happened."
Sighing, I decided to let this train of thought be for the time being; it wasn't like I could do much about it anyway. "At least temporarily, a problem has been solved," I sighed. "I can only hope that it doesn't create a larger problem down the road."
With a silent nod, I slammed the laptop shut, the sound echoing in the trailer. The computer sat back in its original spot, perfect down to the millimeter. No sign of my visit.
"Still fancy myself a ninja," I mused "My days in the Shinobi world are still paying off." Done with what I came for, I vanished from the trailer using my shadows as silently as I arrived. My computer lenses whirred to life and served as a compass, synced with some downloaded map software. New York City glowed on the digital map, "Hmm, nice I feel like I am a game character with these lenses. Gotta get moving."
With the route planned. Search history and location requests vanished with a command to Navi. No digital breadcrumbs to follow. "New York, here I come!"