Luthor family’s new world order

chapter 11: rebellion (part 1 of 2)

“Ms. Danvers? My office,” the Ivan Petrov principal of Midvale Middle spoke to Kara, voice soft but firm. In another time, Kara might’ve been terrified at the prospect of needing to go to the principal’s office, but now?
“Yes sir,” her voice was empty, as were her eyes, and she obediently walked towards the principal’s outstretched hand, face sullen as each step seemed to weigh a million pounds upon her. The principal cocked an eyebrow, unused to seeing such a long face on one of the school’s brightest (emotionally and intellectually) students. But here she was, looking dreary, despondent, depressed and defeated.
He welcomed the sullen, miserable girl into his office and over to his desk.
“Ms. Danvers,” he began. “It has come to my attention that your grades are slipping. Some of your teachers have filed reports to me that talk about your academic failings and several behavioral misdemeanours. Would you please shed some light on what is the matter? You used to be one of my top students! What’s eating at you now?” there was nothing but compassion, understanding and openness in his voice as he tried to gently coax an explanation out of Kara. Kara, meanwhile, could only sigh, finding it laborious just to answer his question.
“It’s nothing, sir, nothing serious at least,” she began tiredly, miserably. “I’ve just been worrying over all of these attacks and raids over the past couple of months.”
“Ah,” the principal nodded sagely. “Lex’s presidency has been quite… exciting, has it not?”
“I don’t know if “exciting” is the word I would’ve used, sir,” Kara muttered. If the principal had heard her, he chose not to address this remark and instead focus back on Kara’s slipping grades.
“I understand what a volatile time we are going through right now,” he began sympathetically. “But I implore you to keep your head held high. You are too bright, too smart, too full of potential to let it all waste away now in the face of danger. If there is any help that I or anyone else at the school can offer you, please don’t hesitate to ask for it. Reach out! And we will answer. I promise!”
His words were sincere, but they rung hollowly in Kara’s ears. Reach out? Yeah right. Hadn’t she been taught that hiding was the only way to survive in a world like this? And helping? Forget it! Unless the principal could somehow destroy Lex and all of his anti-alien Activism and supporters, there was nothing he could do to help.
Heck, she couldn’t even confess to him the real root of her problem, or else she’d out herself as an alien to him! What normal human got that worked up by alien dissection, unless the person in question either was an alien, or who knew someone that was? Either way, it would’ve been a huge risk for Kara to come clean to her principal, so she didn’t. She didn’t reach out. She didn’t ask for help. She just stayed quiet. Once again, Kara found it safer to suffer in silence, than risk reaching out and outing herself, even to someone as kind, gentle and understanding as the principal.
The only good thing to come out of all the turmoil was the fact that people were finally stepping up their game and starting to organize a full-scale rebellion against Lex Luthor. It was no longer random protests or riots. It was a highly-refined, highly-organized, highly-skilled, highly-run rebellion. And quite a few people were in on it, militarizing themselves or training in order to actually stand a chance against Lex in combat. They really were taking this new rebellion seriously! But it still wasn’t large, stable, powerful or popular enough to stand against Lex, so for the time being, it continued to operate in the shadows.
“I should be home by now, someone will come for me,” Kara whispered to herself as she sat alone on the roof of her house, staring brokenly into the night sky. Even though the heavens were beautiful, aglow with magnificent stars, Kara could only stare at them with longing. There was no wonder in her eyes anymore, just sorrow and desire.
“I wish I could just fly away from here!” she muttered sadly, but such dreams were impossible. Although she likely could fly all the way up to outer space, she had nowhere to go once she reached the stars. She had no friends or allies with whom she could travel, and she had no other planet in mind to go to. So even if she made it safely off of Earth without being seen, she had nowhere else to go once she left the atmosphere.
For all intents and purposes, then, Kara was still very much a prisoner of Earth, just as much as any other human or alien that disliked Lex was. The thought scared her like no other, but because the fear had become so common within her life, it was finally slipping away into nothing but raw despair of the highest, emptiest degree. Now, she felt nothing. No fear, no sadness, no hope, nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
The next day at school did not go much better.
“Hey, Kara!” it was Lena. She waved at the Kryptonian.
“Lena!” Kara put on a very fake, very forced smile as the young Luthor ran over to her. Although Kara was still very fond of Lena, and although Lena had been nothing but good, kind, supportive and friendly, her last name was really starting to mess with Kara’s head and Kara no longer felt… safe around her, as unfair as that judgement was. But it was true! Lex had become such a nightmare for Kara that even hearing the name “Luthor” gave her a minor rush of anxiety. This meant that, unfortunately, every time Lena was near, Kara’s guard and walls went up.
“There you are!” the Luthor continued to smile, totally blind to how uncomfortable she was making Kara. “I’ve been looking all over for you, I’ve been worried about you! Where have you been? It’s been so long since the last time we’ve seen each other!”
“Oh, uhhhh, well, I was sick,” Kara lied lamely.
“Oh, you were?” Lena’s nose crinkled with sympathy.
“Well, I’m feeling much better now!” Kara gave her a weak thumbs up.
“Ah, good to know!” Lena bought her lie easily. “In any case, I hope to see you in science class today?”