𝐏𝐀𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝟓

—♟—

"𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐀, 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀 seat there, I'll be right back." Helen gestured for Kara to sit at one of the plastic chairs that were in front of her neat desk.

Kara nodded, taking a moment to look around as she took a seat.

A framed picture of Helen and a six-year-old Kara at the beach stood on her desk, next to her nameplate, which read 'DR. HELEN CHO' in bold, black letters. A calendar was hung up on the wall, the dates of November crossed off up until today's date, every date being filled with different meetings and appointments. Side by side, some of her awards were hung on the wall, the light glinting off the gold.

"All right, everything's good." Helen appeared after a few minutes, leaning against the door frame with her hands in her blazer's pockets. "Any schoolwork you need to finish up?"

"No, I did it all yesterday," Kara answered as she shook her head.

"Good," her mother remarked, a small grin growing on her face as she raised her eyebrows. "Then, you can come with me and I'll show you what I've been working on."

"Really?" Kara asked eagerly, her eyes widening a little. "What is it?"

"A mental accelerator. Tony asked me to create one for him, and the prototype is nearly finished."

"Seriously?" Kara couldn't help but gasp at this, and she was more than excited as she looked around. "Where?"

"My lab. Want to go now?"

"You bet," Kara answered with a grin as she got to her feet and pushed her chair in.

She followed her mom out of the room to the white door that was next to her office. Helen input a password which unlocked the door, letting the two inside.

"I had to clear everything out when I began working on the accelerator, just in case anything happened, so it's pretty empty inside."

And she was right. The room was completely white, with a tall, white table that held a few tools and the mental accelerator that Helen had spent months working on.

It was in the shape of a helmet (it was meant to fit a head, after all), though there was hardly any smooth metal as it was covered in little trinkets and scraps of metal that were meant to do one thing or another. A few parts of it had the outline of what seemed to be a dim cyan, which Kara would assume would glow when it was switched on.

"Cool, huh?" Helen asked, the corners of her lips tugging upwards as she watched Kara gawk at the invention.

Kara nodded. "The most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Helen laughed. "I'm glad you think so. Just don't touch it, it's not completely finished. I can't even touch it without using special tools. I've never made this type of thing before, so it could potentially cause damage. I'm going to have to run a few tests before it can be used."

"What does Uncle Tony need a mental accelerator for, though?" Kara questioned, glancing at her mother before turning back to the device. "He's not going to use it for himself, right? He's already smart enough, I'm not sure if I can handle him with any more ego."

"I'm not sure, he said it was 'top secret.'" Helen shrugged, using her fingers to air-quote him. "He must have a good reason if he's not telling me, but I'm sure he's not going to use it for himself. I don't see why he would."

"Awesome," Kara breathed out, stepping closer and getting as close as she could without touching it.

"Anyway, I need to get back to my office. I'll let you stay here and look at it for as long as you want," Helen laughed lightly, clearly knowing her daughter all too well. "Just remember: No touching!"

Hearing the door shut as her mother left, Kara continued gazing at the helmet in awe. Her eyes flickered over to the power switch, which showed that the helmet was turned off.

Only a couple of minutes later did a high-pitched alarm begin to shriek, and her face immediately scrunched up in pain as her hands flew to her ears to muffle the sound.

The source was none other than the helmet that lay before her, and her throat closed up as fear rose into her chest. What should she do?

Instinctually, she picked up the helmet and began to inspect it to see if she could discover what was wrong. A moment too late, she realized what she was doing.

She was touching the helmet.

"Oh, shit," Kara breathed out.

Well, she was already touching it, so she might as well continue. Not the best logic, but Kara didn't think too much about it.

Her eyes narrowed as they shifted from piece to piece, wire to wire, trying to discover anything that was broken or out of place.

The beeping only became more rapid with each second that passed, and the fear in Kara's throat built up more and more. She continued searching.

After about a good minute, the beeping was so fast that she could barely hear the pauses in between anymore. The helmet was growing warmer in her hands, and although that worried her, she continued to search for the cause.

Then, the helmet exploded.

—♟—

Helen's POV

Helen chewed on her lower lip, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the document before her. Her index finger tapped mindlessly on the edge of her desk as she tried to think of what to type next.

Her thought process was abruptly interrupted as a loud bang echoed through the air. A ringing noise lingered in her ears and she immediately looked up.

"Kara."

Helen got to her feet and rushed out of the door, not bothering to shut it as she sprinted towards her lab.

She quickly unlocked the door, her fingers trembling as she frantically pressed the numbers on the keypad. Shoving the door wide open, her eyes widened as she saw the mess that was in front of her.

The helmet that she had been working on, for months on end, was now shattered into pieces, shards of metal sprawled all over the white floor. The table had moved backwards, although that, somehow, remained undamaged.

From where Helen was standing, she searched for Kara, concerned that she had gotten hurt. Perhaps she was smart and ran away as soon as she saw that it would explode? No, that didn't sound like her Kara. Her Kara would continue to investigate until she could fix whatever was wrong.

Swallowing nervously, Helen stepped into the room, her eyes scanning over every inch to find her daughter. It took only half a minute to find her, slumped against the wall, clearly unconscious.

Helen raced over to her, immediately gently lifting her body and placing it on her lap. Her eyes pricked with tears, and those tears soon began to trail down her cheeks as she looked down at the small cuts on Kara's face, and she tried to wipe the small amounts of blood away with her sleeve.

Helen suddenly heard footsteps from behind her, though she paid no attention to that as she continued to cradle her daughter's motionless body.

"Helen, is everything all right? We heard a loud noise and—oh. Oh, no."

She turned her head to see Steve and Nat. The blood drained from their faces as they saw Kara, who was limp in Helen's arms.

"Shit," Nat breathed out before ushering the other two. "We gotta get her to the infirmary."

Steve gently took Kara from Helen's arms, making sure that she was resting comfortably as he readjusted his grip. With a nod towards the other two, he turned and swiftly left the lab.

Helen followed him, barely able to hold her tears in as she thought about the worst-case scenario.

What had even happened? Why did it explode?

Luckily, the walls of the lab were made of a special material, in the case this ever happened, so no one else got hurt.

Steve laid Kara down on the bed as Helen began to hook her up to the monitor next to it. After a few moments, numbers popped up on the screen, letting them know of her vitals.

Helen's eyes quickly scanned over the readings, her eyebrows furrowed. She could feel her racing heart begin to calm as the numbers reassured her.

"Her heart rate is normal, which is good. Her blood pressure is one hundred and eight over sixty-eight, oxygen is ninety-seven, respiration is thirteen, all normal, temperature is ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit, which is fine."

"Hey, guys, what's all the commo—oh, shit." Sam's eyes widened as he and Rhodey came to a stop in front of the bed. He stared down at Kara, his eyebrows then knitting together tightly in worry as he muttered, "That's not—that's not good."

"Oh, Kara," Rhodey sighed, placing his hands on his hips. "What did she do now?"

"What happened?" Nat crossed her arms, her eyebrows furrowed as she watched the vital readings slightly fluctuate.

"I-I'm not sure . . . I left her in my lab because she was interested in the helmet, and . . . she . . . I don't know, I guess she must have done something to the helmet by accident." Helen shook her head, tears slipping from her eyes as she stared at Kara's motionless body.

About fifteen minutes later, Kara's eyes fluttered open.

—♟—

Kara's POV

Kara awoke to find herself on the infirmary bed, and a groan immediately left her lips when the pain in her head hit her.

Her mother, Nat, Steve, Rhodey, and Sam were there, peering at her worriedly as they stood on either side of the bed. There was a soft beeping coming from the side, the sound belonging to a vitals monitor.

"Kara? Are you all right?" Helen laid her hand on top of Kara's arm, her anxious brown eyes searching Kara's face for an answer.

"Yeah, my head just . . . really hurts." She nodded slowly, then reached up and tried to rub the pain away, wincing when it only intensified it. "What happened? Why am I here?"

"Don't you remember? You were in the lab, and the helmet exploded." Helen gave a small sniffle as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.

"Right." The memories flooded back into Kara's mind, sudden guilt filling her. "I'm sorry."

A relieved smile was on Nat's face. "Seems like we need to get you a babysitter."

"Yeah," Kara agreed with a small shrug, rubbing her eyes.

"I volunteer Rhodey," Sam quipped, a grin growing on his face.

"Do you remember what happened the last time I babysat her and Amelia?" Rhodey pointed out, his eyebrows raising.

Everyone's face paled a little.

"Mhm," Rhodey hummed, giving a satisfying nod.

"Setting a kitchen on fire isn't that bad." Sam scoffed. He paused for a moment before wrinkling his nose. "I take that back."

"I'll choose a more responsible babysitter," Helen reassured them as she gave a small glare to Rhodey, who gave a weak chuckle. She turned to Kara, cupping her cheek as she asked, "Home?"

Kara nodded. "Home."

As soon as they arrived home, Helen gave Kara a full glass of water, accompanied by a smile. She gave her a kiss on the forehead before instructing, "Have some water and get some rest, you need it. I'll call you when dinner's ready."

"Thanks, Mom." Kara gave her a grateful smile before heading to her room. She placed the cup on her desk, and took a seat on her bed, thinking about the day's events.

After a couple of minutes, she reached over to grab the cup, only to be met by a surprise that caused her to gasp and jerk back.

A jet of blue light burst from her hand, travelling to the cup and instantly shattering it. Water splattered all over her study notes and the floor, with shards of glass sprawling on the hardwood, causing Kara to yelp.

"What the hell?" she muttered in shock, inspecting her hands. Had she imagined that? But then what could've made the glass break?

What happened to her?

She knew that there was only one thing she could do: call Amelia.

Although they mostly used their Bond Touch bracelets to give taps of reassurance, cheat on tests, and call each other ugly, they had secret codes in case of emergency. And the code for 'Come here right now, it's an emergency'? Just spam the bracelet with the first letter of the location.

So that's what Kara did. She tapped the letter 'H' on the bracelet as fast as she could for the next fifteen seconds, and not a moment later, Amelia and Peter appeared, Peter having run them there. The two of them had panicked looks on their faces, as they usually did whenever the distress call was made.

"What's going on? Are you okay?" Amelia asked worriedly, her eyes wide as she analyzed Kara's terrified face for any sign of what was wrong.

Kara shook her head as she spluttered, "No! Guys—I—uh—now—help!"

Now relieved that there was no immediate danger, Amelia slowly began to step toward Kara, a reassuring smile on her face. "Hey, it's okay." She kept her voice calm and soothing as she coaxed, "Just tell us what's—"

As Amelia walked towards her, Kara shook her head again in a panic and raised her hands defensively, waving them frantically to tell her to not approach. "No, don—"

She was cut off by a beam of cyan light that had burst from her hands. Peter had managed to speed and grab Amelia out of the way, the blast then hitting the wall that had been behind her. Where there once was a poster of Draco Malfoy, was now a gaping hole, the edges of it crumbling to the floor.

The three of them stared at the wall with shock, Amelia and Peter seeming more confused than ever.

"What the fuck?" Peter murmured as he took his goggles off.

Tears had begun to well up in Kara's eyes as she nodded. "Yeah! I don't—yeah!"

"Wha—but—you—you're not—what the fuck happened to you?!" Amelia put her hand on her head, glancing down at Kara's hands, which she had balled into tight fists in an attempt to stop breaking things.

"Right . . . so . . . Uh . . . I was at the Com-Compound, and my m-mom had been working on this mental accelerator thing for your dad, and she told me not to touch it . . ." Kara began to explain, rather quickly as she stuttered. "But—but then I did touch it, and then it exploded and I passed out, and . . . Yeah."

Amelia stepped towards her once more, a warm smile on her face. "Okay, you need to calm down, just . . . breathe with me, okay? It's okay." She gently placed her hands over Kara's quivering ones as she nodded. "See? It's okay, you're not gonna hurt us."

"Yes. Breathing." Kara took a deep breath, trying to follow as Amelia guided her. "I am breathing."

"Good . . . now, you're going to need to explain that again," Amelia chuckled as she tucked a strand of hair behind Kara's ear. "You touched a who what now and then what happened?"

"Okay, uh, it was a mental accelerator. Your dad wanted it built but he said it was 'top secret' so even my mom didn't know what it was for, and she uh . . . said not to touch it. So yeah, it started beeping, and so I picked it up to try to see what was wrong, and it exploded, and I was knocked out," she explained once more, her voice now much calmer and normally paced. "I woke up like, fifteen minutes later, and my head felt like shit and then I came home. And then I accidentally blasted that cup, and then almost you . . ."

"You touched it?!" Peter exclaimed, understanding the sentence Kara had said rather swiftly.

Amelia's jaw dropped. "Are you fucking mental?!"

"Okay, hey, we all know I'm dumb!" Kara countered loudly. "Do you really think I thought about it? Do you think that I think?"

"Oh, my apologies for assuming you were able to do a basic human function and not touch the goddamn thing not even your mother knows it's for!" Amelia cried out.

Kara pouted. "Yeah, pretty terrible assumption!"

"Kara, not thinking is one thing, but she told you not to touch it!" Peter scolded, folding his arms.

"Don't act all surprised!" Kara exclaimed as she put her hands on her hips. "One time your dad told me not to touch the KitchenAid Mixer, and then I somehow dismantled the whole thing!"

"This isn't a goddamn mixer, Kara!" Peter said with exasperation, exchanging an incredulous look with Amelia.

"It kinda is!" she argued. "Because it's taking my life and mixing it into a pile of gooey shit!"

"Okay . . . have you told anyone? Does your mom know?" Amelia asked, trying to keep calm before she could end up yelling at Kara again.

Kara shook her head. "No, I got home, like, half an hour ago!"

"Well we need to go tell her," Amelia said. "She's going to know more about this accelerator better than any of us. But you just need to stay calm so we don't have any more of" —she pointed to the hole in the wall— "that."

"Mhm. Calm. That is what I am." Kara took another deep breath, feeling her panic begin to disappear. "I am breathing."

"Kara? Is everything okay?" Helen's voice called, becoming more clear as she approached the room. "I thought I heard voices."

"Uh, everything is good! So good! Don't come in!" Kara unconsciously raised her hands in defence once more, shaking them wildly as a gesture to not come in.

As the burst of cyan barrelled towards the door, Peter sped Helen out of the way, bringing him next to Amelia. The door, falling victim to Kara's attack, now had a lovely hole decorating it.

"What the fuck?!" Helen shouted as she stared at the door.

"Uh . . ." Kara swallowed nervously. "Don't worry about it?"

"And now folks, we're back to our regularly scheduled program Kara Being An Idiot: What Will She Do Next?" Peter announced loudly as he grabbed a lollipop from Kara's desk, soon popping the candy into his mouth.

"Blow two holes in the wall, apparently," Amelia said blatantly.

"What . . . what happe—oh no." Helen's look of confusion soon contorted into one of realization, her eyes wide. "Is this because of—"

"Me being stupid and touching your accelerator?" Kara nodded. "Heck yes."

Helen sighed, rubbing her eyes. "We need to get you to Tony. Now."

Peter, doing so in less than a few seconds, ran the three of them to Tony's home. They appeared in front of Tony, who had been working in his at-home office, and he looked up at them with surprise.

"Amelia? Peter? What are you two doing here?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows as Amelia walked toward him and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Not that I'm not happy to see you."

"Won't you join us in watching Kara Being An Idiot?" Amelia raised her eyebrows, her tone mocking as she pointed to Kara.

"Oh, no," Tony sighed as he turned to face Kara, who gave him a sheepish smile. "What did she do now?"

"Psh. I didn't do anything," Kara scoffed as she folded her arms indignantly. "If anything, I'm the victim! The real criminal here, is the mental accelerator. How dare it—a stupid, puny object—how dare it try and murder me? And now, I'm here, standing in agony, almost dead, and—"

Tony gave her a look. "Kara."

She immediately dropped her act and nodded. "Yeah, you've got me, it's completely my fault."

"Kara has powers now," Peter said bluntly.

Tony was silent for a moment, allowing this message to process through his mind for a moment. Once it had registered, he shouted, "She . . . she what?!"

"Oh yeah," Amelia confirmed with a nod.

"Smart in school. Literally no brain everywhere else," Peter remarked as he pointed his lollipop at Kara.

Kara shrugged. "Yeah."

"Pow—what kind of powers?" Tony asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

Kara shrugged once again. "The kind that ruins walls."

"Interior design powers?" Tony questioned.

Kara wrinkled her nose. "I said ruin, not decorate."

He paused for a moment before repeating, "Interior design powers?"

"I don't know," Kara replied, her eyebrows raising. "Do you count a hole in the wall as interior design?"

"Depends on what look I'm going for." He leaned back in his chair, now seriously pondering the question. "If I want the room to be classy and formal—no. If I want it to—"

"I think we can all agree that it's not those kinds of powers, Tony," Helen cut in as she rolled her eyes. "Now, can you please help us figure this out before I throw up, blow up, or possibly both?"

"How do I get rid of this?" Kara looked down at her hands, almost afraid of what they could do. She hoped she didn't blow another hole anywhere here. Although, it wasn't as if Tony couldn't pay to fix it . . .

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Amelia asked as she turned to her in surprise. "If you learn to control them, it's really not that bad to have powers."

"You always used to say they were cool," Peter pointed out with a shrug.

"Yeah, because you guys have them!" Kara's voice soon became panicky once more. "Not—not me! I can't—I don't think I can do this!"

"Of course you can do this, anyone can learn to control their powers." A grin slowly spread onto Amelia's face. "I live in the best place in the world to do it."

Kara scrunched her face. "But . . . what about school?"

"Would it be so bad if you missed a week?" Peter laughed.

"Yeah. Come over for a week and let's see what we can do," Amelia offered. "You can come after school later on if you want to."

Kara frowned. "I don't know . . ."

She would be missing so much schoolwork. What if they had a test? Or an important project? Or what if something really important was being taught? Or, even worse, what if Peter did something really cute and she missed it?

"Kara." Helen put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "I think you should. I'll call the school and tell them we've gone on vacation or something."

"Okay. I guess I can just ask Parker for the work," Kara sighed. "At least I get to see Jean."

Tony nodded. "I guess I'll see if I can find something to get rid of them."

Amelia leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Thank you, Daddy."

—♟—

"Okay, Kara," Amelia sighed as she handed Kara one of the two water bottles she had.

Kara had just arrived at the X-Mansion, which was the school that mutants usually attended in order to not only get an education but also get control of and improve their powers. Kara's visited quite a few times over the many years, but this was the first time she was going to actually do something educational.

"You can just have the same room you usually have when you sleep over. Also, important things you need to know about the school week: the kids are loud," Amelia began as the three of them approached the guest room that Kara usually stayed in whenever she visited.

"Very loud," Peter agreed as he put her bags down on the bed.

Kara sat down on the white comforter, nervous as she played with her fingers. She inspected the room that she had loved ever since her first visit. Sure, it wasn't too fancy, with its single bed on the left and simple desk, but it was a room she felt comfortable in.

"They all get up at latest, seven-thirty, earliest . . . some don't sleep," Amelia chuckled as she sat on Peter's lap, him sitting on the desk chair. "Usually Jean and I make most of the meals, and you'll get used to the times we have them because everyone usually eats together. Peter can handle the kids for a week—"

"What?" Peter looked at her with wide eyes, to which she laughed. "Since when?"

"Right now," she giggled. "He'll be able to handle them so that I can help you with your powers."

Kara was amused as she watched Peter groan at Amelia's words, running a hand through his silver hair in worry.

"Also," Amelia yawned as she began to play with Peter's hair. "Depending on what other shit your powers come up with, we might need to get some other opinions on how to help you. What else . . ." She pondered for a few moments before continuing, "Curfew is eight for the younger kids, so I expect you in bed by seven—"

Kara laughed. "Does that mean you go to bed at six?"

Amelia snorted, "Try one, because . . . marking. It's ten for the older kids, lights out by eleven. Also, don't go off school grounds unless you tell any of us, it's just easier and makes us feel a lot better if we know where everyone is. And, please, for the love of everything everywhere, try not to put holes in the walls?"

Peter nodded as he opened the energy drink that Amelia had brought him. "Unless you bring her to the Danger Room. Or the training room. You'll find a lot of holes in those walls."

Kara nodded. "I'll just try not to blast anything. Unless it's you guys. That's different."

Amelia continued, "The kids are also going to be asking you a million questions, so if you're starting to go insane, just let me know."

"What if I just pretend I'm mute?" Kara suggested, folding her arms. "Or deaf? Or both?"

"You wouldn't last five minutes," Peter laughed.

"Wow. I'm so offended right now." Kara shook her head as she glared at the two. "Your wall better sleep with one eye open."

"Touch my wall, I break your Harry Potter room at the Compound," Amelia threatened, her eyebrows raised.

Kara gasped. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh, yes. Yes, I would." Amelia nodded, a malicious smile on her face. "And . . . I think that's everything, but if I remember something later I'll let you know."

"Stay out of our game room." Peter pointed at Kara, a threatening glare on his face.

"No promises." Kara shrugged.

Peter narrowed his eyes. "Or I break your Harry Potter room at the Compound."

Kara sighed. "Goddammit."

The door soon opened, and Jean walked in, a fake smile plastered on her face.

Jean Grey was another student at the Mansion, in the same year as Amelia and Peter. Her powers included telepathy, telekinesis, everything else in existence . . . She was pretty powerful, to say the least. She and Kara had become good friends over the course of Kara's visits and was yet another person Kara could make fun of Amelia with.

"Kara!" Jean laughed as she walked into the room. "I didn't know you were visiting!"

Kara instantly froze, knowing that Jean could read her mind. "Jean! Hi! Yeah, I uh—"

She was interrupted when Jean used her telekinesis to throw a pillow in her face, almost knocking her backwards. Jean put her hands on her hips as she scolded, "Why'd you touch the accelerator?"

"Jean, come on, you know I'm stupid," Kara sighed. "How does no one remember how stupid I am?"

"Believe me," Kurt—a mutant with teleportation powers, who also happened to have a German accent that Kara loved—walked in with a bag of Doritos, followed by the rest of the group (Scott, who had laser eyes and was . . . pretty awkward, and Professor Xavier, the headmaster of the school). "Vee do."

"So, then, I mean . . . how surprising is it that I did something dumb?" Kara shrugged.

Amelia raised her eyebrows. "Something that dumb?"

"Very surprising," Jean sighed as she leaned against the wall, casting another shake of the head towards Kara.

"Well, you know that you're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like," Professor Xavier reassured Kara, who gave him a thankful smile in response. "I know I'm quite the irresistible man, so it might be a bit hard for you to leave."

Kara's smile dropped, and an incredulous expression grew on her face.

"Um . . . what?" Amelia furrowed her eyebrows as she ate one of the Doritos that Kurt had given her.

"Oh, she never told you?" Professor Xavier sent Kara a malicious grin, and she put her head in her hands. Oh boy. "Remember when she came over—oh, she must have been eight years old at the time—and she broke one of the plates in my favourite china set?"

Everyone nodded in response.

"Yeah, she did that because she had a crush on me, and when I walked in the room, she got nervous and dropped the plate."

Amelia suddenly coughed, choking on the chip that she was halfway through swallowing. She whipped her head to look at Kara with wide eyes. "You what?!"

"No, I uh . . ." Kara shook her head wildly in an attempt to deny it, although no one believed her, judging by their giggles. "I thought you with hair was . . . not . . . not . . . not attractive . . . very ugly."

"Holy shit!" Amelia laughed.

"What do you mean?" Kara continued, still desperate. "He's . . . He was . . . so . . . ugly . . . with that beautiful hair . . . just . . . ugly."

"I miss my hair," Professor Xavier mumbled.

Kara couldn't agree more.

"I can't believe this," Amelia chuckled. "I'm never forgetting that, I hope you realize."

"No, forget it! Forget it! Professor, please, why did you have to expose me like this? Jean didn't!" Kara pointed to Jean, and Amelia turned to her with an incredulous expression.

"You knew?! And you didn't tell me?!" Amelia shouted. "This is critical information!"

"Well, she never officially told me and when I found out it was an accident, so I just kept it a secret!" Jean explained hastily. "Not to mention she was already embarrassed by dropping a plate, and you just would have made it worse!"

Amelia seemed offended by this as she scoffed, "No I—"

Simultaneously, everyone spoke, "Yes, you would have."

Amelia tried again. "That doesn't mean I didn't deserve to know—"

"Yes, it does," everyone cut her off.

"That's why I never tell you any of the crushes I have," Kara continued. "When you know them in real life, at least."

"That's horrible, I've told you all of mine!" Amelia countered.

"You've only had one crush!" Kara exclaimed as she pointed to Peter. "And you're dating him!"

"That's not the point!" Amelia argued. "At least I told you!"

Kara folded her arms as she scoffed. "Well, that's too bad."

"With your permission, I think it would be a good idea if I looked into your mind to see what we're really up against," Professor Xavier offered with a sigh, cutting into their argument. "I'm a bit concerned with what happened in the accident, and, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to look to make sure everything's all right."

Kara nodded. "Yeah, that would be great. Gotta make sure my brain is working."

"Which it clearly wasn't when you put the accelerator on." Peter raised an eyebrow, eliciting a giggle from Amelia.

"Okay, we've already agreed that I'm stupid, let's move past that please and thank you!" Kara sighed.

"Whoa, look at that time! I've gotta make sure all the kids are in bed, and you should try getting to sleep too." Amelia stood up from her spot and walked over to Kara, enveloping her in a tight hug. She planted a small kiss on the side of her head and gave her a reassuring smile. "We'll figure this out tomorrow, okay? You're gonna be fine."

Kara smiled. "Thank you."