Issues

"Will Clark take you in?" I could already guess the answer, but I was hopeful. I didn't quite know what I was hopeful of.

"Yeah, kinda. He is busy with all his hero stuff and his day job, so he invited me to live with his folks in Kansas for a while I would be going to a nearby high school. Of what he told me about, it seems quiet and peaceful. Certainly, a good place to learn how to control my power at. It would have been better if someone was there to teach me, but I could survive…"

She turned towards me with a glint in her eyes that I could only place as anticipation. Was she that excited to live there?

I smiled at her, "I am glad that his parents can take you in. Although they could never replace what you've lost, I am sure they will be good for you."

As I finished her lips thinned and that spark of anticipation in her eyes disappeared slowly. She seemed to be disappointed as she averted her eyes to the waves breaking at the coast.

"I am sure they will be… When are we going to see each other again?" If I hadn't super hearing, I would have missed the slight quiver in her voice. I knew that our separation wouldn't be permanent, but that didn't make it any better for her.

Clark might be her relative and his folk's closest thing she could call family, but I was already more important to her. I knew that, but I shouldn't attempt to keep her with me, at least not all the time.

"Whenever you want. If you go high enough, you are only a few minutes of flight away from Portland, but make sure to call me beforehand. Don't want you to catch me on the toilet."

She chuckled slightly as she leaned against me with her head on my shoulder. We quietly looked out to the ocean before took a deep breath.

"C-can I live with you during vacation?" She appeared to be subdued as quiet as a mouse. "I-I mean I don't want to be a bother. I know you are probably as busy as Clark with being a hero and all that."

She suddenly said in a panicked tone as she turned around looking concernedly at me as if she said something wrong. It only brought back to mind that after she had lost everything, I was the only thing for her to hold onto. Someone that could prop her up as her emotional support.

If for some reason I rejected her wouldn't that tell her that I didn't want anything to do with her?

I couldn't help but pull her in an embrace and rubbed her back, which seemed to calm her down. "Kara you would never be a bother. Of course, you can visit me anytime. I would be glad to have you visit me and I hope you are okay if I dropped by at your place from time to time."

I heard an excited but muffled 'Hell yeah!' as she nuzzled into my neck, while her hands were feeling up my stomach as she couldn't get her arms around me because of the self-made stone bench.

"If you want to you can even visit me after school. You know that I only fight in the cage from time to time when I am not patrolling my city, so as long you don't stay over the night. I have a lot of free time to entertain you."

She pulled herself out of my neck and looked at me with a hopeful look in her eyes, "Really?"

"Of course!"

Her hopeful look quickly turned determined as she turned her head towards me. She looked at me filled with such determination that it stunned me for a second.

"I will visit you this weekend at the latest. I still have to settle in with his folks in Kansas, but I will visit you at the earliest!"

Seeing her so vulnerable in the last few days made me almost forget that she was the girl that abandoned everything of her life on earth for a boy in the future. At least she did so in the cartoon, one of the few things I still remembered, because I thought it was ridiculous for her to do so but seeing the look in her eyes made me realize that it wouldn't be unlike her for her if she to do so.

With the memory of the cartoon, another ridiculous thought entered my mind. It sounded too naïve to me.

The sign had been obvious for a while, but I could feel my resolve and with it my future plans crumbling underneath the weight of her emotions.

It hadn't been long ago when I met her, but she was burning bright while being incredibly vulnerable to me, which was why I wasn't good for her. By all means, I lived a double life. I was still mind-controlling the boss of a mob while being a hero. However, I could already feel my little – an unstable to begin with – card house of a life collapse.

It would only take a single push for her and with her visiting me as often as she would, opportunities for her to do so would increase exponentially, but despite this, the naïve little voice stuck in my mind, the little voice that grew louder the longer I stared into her baby blue eyes.

'Maybe I could make this work.'

I averted my eyes to the ocean to see the ever-present waves crashing into the pier.

"I'd like that." I finally answered, which made Kara release a breath I didn't know she was holding. Tension left her body as she powerlessly leaned into the bench before she rested her head on my shoulder with her eyes closed. Her eyelids quivering slightly.

"Make sure to not cause any trouble with Clark's family and find some friends at school. Find some hobbies and-"

"Alright, alright! Geez, you aren't my father… but if you want to, I can call you da-" I slapped the back of her head interrupting her mid-sentence to which she just mischievously stuck her tongue out.

"Where did you pick that up??"

"Pfft. You gave me your phone, what did you expect to happen with unlimited internet access? Besides it wasn't like Krypton didn't have any porn-"

"Kara, I already live on earth for several months and I didn't stumble over porn once. I think this reveals more about your search tendencies than the internet itself."

Her mouth hung open as she considered my words. Her response was for her face to turn red. She then decisively looked ahead into the ocean.

I pulled her closer and blew at her ear, which made her turn towards me with a seemingly angry glare. Though it didn't have the desired effect when she was still red as a tomato.

I didn't say anything more and kissed her again. She was trying to pretend to be angry, but she quickly relented and leaned into me. A simple kiss that slowly got more passionate as we went on.

It got heated and I could feel a hand feel up my inner thigh before she suddenly stopped. She was breathing heavily, even though I was pretty sure that she didn't need to breathe.

"We should continue this when we are at your place. I don't want my cousin to hear us."

"…What? Wait, did you think we would- If your cousin wasn't nearby, you would have…? Well, someone's eager. Kara, we are in public! Get your mind out of the gutter!" She froze again as if she was caught red-handed. She pushed me slightly before pouting as she looked away again, determined to not look at me.

Even though her push was rather strong and had cracked the stone behind me, I couldn't help but laugh out. She was pretending to be angry for a few more moments before she joined in, and the night ended on a happier note than I initially had hoped.

Certainly, this wasn't what I imagined would happen when I decided to drive her to her cousin, but I couldn't say that I was unhappy with this arrangement, even if I felt that this was a missed opportunity.

…

There were some things that I needed to explain before she figured them out on her own. It never goes well when one partner in a relationship hid astronomically secrets like this, and I wasn't sure if I could convince her to not explode in my face and attempt to bring me in when she had been working as a hero for a while.

The earlier I convince her the better. She never was the paragon like her cousin, but in the shows and comics, she was still a hero at heart.

Maybe it was mainly her cousin's and the heroic environment's influence on her. Now it felt like I was the most important person to her, so maybe, over some time, I could persuade her of my reasons until she accepted my little deeds in the dark.

A palpable idea considering that I would spend a lot of my time with her from now on. Thought for later.

I fiddled with the phone for a second longer, scrutinizing the number that was calling my second phone with a frown. I didn't take this phone out in public, but only here in the gravity chamber, where I knew that no one could have been inside.

I picked it up and held the phone next to my ear. Around me were only the sounds of the humming gravity chamber that was turned on to 10G. Most humans wouldn't be able to take this gravity for long. To me, it felt like my second home, like planet Vegeta.

I had already returned to Portland. I wanted to give Kara some time with her cousin, so she could catch up with him in person instead of secondhand recounts. Kara was probably out shopping with Clark, the poor guy. His wallet will be a lot thinner after her rampage.

She would stay with him for a day before visiting his parents in Kansas for another two days. She would write me when exactly with the new phone I had bought her. She had already memorized my number, so she could contact me whenever she wanted.

"Hello, Mr. Bod- *cough*. It seems like eh- your delivery had found its way to Jump City, but there were some ehm- difficulties. It seems like some eh- special authorities had gotten a hold onto it and it would require your presence to resolve the issue."

Great.

"What kind of delivery, personal or business-related, and how important was the delivery?"

"Personal! Eh- It wasn't high on the time scale, but it had a higher priority. Ehm- AGA-Part-C03" Anti-Gravity-Androids. For future training androids inside my gravity chamber. Part-C03 should be a circuit I had ordered through Westmob.

"Then the retrieval can be delayed. I will handle it myself in the future, don't worry about it, and don't look into it anymore." I said before I hung up.

'Special authorities' was code for a superhero team. I thought about it, but the only superhero team I knew of in Jump City was the Teen Titans. It was unfortunate that I had only watched it on and off back then, but I probably wouldn't remember it anyway.

Besides that, I only had some surface knowledge of some youtube videos and the movies that skimped on the details of any of their backstory.

They didn't matter. Not after I am done with my training session. I wasn't Kakarot who practically increased his power tenfold in a span of a week, but I wasn't pressed for time. There was also the issue with the area of effect of my ki attacks, but by growing stronger, I could resort to beating everyone with my fists.

I put the phone back into the ground, underneath some of the lead tiles. It wasn't specifically to prevent the privy eyes of Kryptonians, but I just happened to need it for some containment measures for some of the pipes the gravity chamber used.

Although I would like for the gravity chamber to be kept hidden, it wouldn't be the end of the world if I revealed it.

It wasn't like Batman didn't have any criminally required weapons for him to use. His excavation in the cave was probably not legal either. So, what if I had a training chamber acquired with some criminal help?

I had even acquired it while keeping Hakai completely separate from it. The worst thing someone could figure out was me using my money from underground fights to build myself a training room that used some highly illegal minerals. Big deal...

Maybe it should be the first thing I reveal to Kara. Some illegally acquired equipment for me to train with shouldn't be a huge dealbreaker, right?

Although the gravity chamber was already functional for a week now, there had been too much going on before I could abuse it.

I had only used it twice before, but now there was hopefully nothing disturbing me anymore. After hiding away the phone, I approached the desk with the portable computer in form of a greenly semi-transparent colored monocle.

I had picked up my hidden spaceship and brought it back to my place. I had hidden it in the water of the lake in my backyard. It was fairly inconspicuous, blending in well underneath the stones I had placed inside for decoration's sake.

I picked it up and set its mode on self-scan. It would only scan my power level. Probably for the better considering that it would explode the moment it would scan Superman or the other powerhouses that were hiding away on this planet.

I pressed the button to scan. After a short beep, it told me my power level that I had accumulated over the 3ish months on earth.

16.475

It was honestly higher than I thought. I had tripled my strength since coming to earth and I should have only gotten a Zenkai against the Giant Robot thingy and from the whole ordeal from yesterday.

It was probably because I had gotten some Zenkais against the fighters in the cage, but I didn't imagine it to be that effective. Unfortunately, normal people could hardly injure me anymore. I couldn't suppress my ki enough for them to cause any wounds anymore.

I went outside of the gravity chamber to put the scouter away. I didn't want it to get crushed by the increased gravity.

After storing it away, I went back inside and turned the gravity up to 30G. I felt the gravity slowly increase. I could turn it off with a shout, so I didn't have to worry about overestimating myself. I wouldn't be crushed to death because I was unable to press a button.

The pressure got heavier and heavier until it reached a point, I was struggling to move. I stood still, not daring to move less I hurt my joints.

I didn't have any senzu beans, so I had to rely on my natural regeneration. Although it was probably higher than most beings, it wasn't Deadpool level. I would lose a lot of time if I injured myself because of my recklessness.

I let my body adapt to the pressure as I just kept standing still under a gravity level that was objectively too much for me.

I noticed that at 20G I would start to struggle, so the extra 10G was more than a decent level for some heavy-ass training, especially when I supplement the gravity with my telekinesis. Using it to increase the pressure not only from the top-down but from the sides as well.

…

I came out of the chamber drenching in sweat. There even were some blood splatters here and there which wouldn't surprise anyone after knowing what kind of torture I had just put myself under. I stepped into the shower before I dropped dead on the bed.

As far as I could see, it was dark outside. It seemed like I timed the ending of my training perfectly.

Just before sleep took me, I decided to check my phone to see if there was someone trying to contact me. The only ones coming to mind were the few policemen I had given my number and some of the cage fighters.

I saw a little notification of a missed call from Nick Burkhardt. He was one tough detective and seems to be handling some of the more supernatural cases of Portland. He sometimes called me if he encountered some of these 'Wesen' as he liked to call them.

I called his phone, but he didn't answer or leave a message, so it couldn't have been too important. Several messages from Kara though, telling me that she would come over later today already.

'Didn't she want to come only in three days?', I thought before I looked at the date and apparently, I had been training for almost two days…

Might as well sleep before she arrived. I closed my eyes, eager for sleep to take me until a click of the front door downstairs attracted my attention.

The steps the intruder took were minimal and almost completely without sound, but against a Saiyan heightened hearing, they would have to float inside for me not to notice them.

I hesitated. I was too tired, and I didn't want to get up to confront them. I would have to call the police and wait for them to arrive, or I could make them disappear…

My brain was already sluggish after I let myself relax. The exhaustion was already kicking in hard and with the combination of lying inside my warm bed, the option to deal with them quickly was all the sweeter.

They dropped something off at the counter in the kitchen before leaving again. They even locked the door. Well, problem solved… Hopefully, it wasn't a bomb.

…

The doorbell ringing jolted me away. I instantly noticed Kara's lifeforce. I wouldn't be able to ignore it even if I tried my best.

I stood up and quickly went down to open the door for her. With a new simple look of formfitting jeans and a crop top and a bag of some takeout food, she stood at the front door with an eager look on her face.

Still, with the food in her hand, she jumped into my arms. I floated away and stopped our momentum in the air. Didn't want to carve out my floor.

She smashed her lips against me, the smile on her face was apparent. She was just exuding happiness. She looked at me lovingly and I couldn't believe someone could look at me like this.

I used my telekinesis and brought her bag to the kitchen counter as I guided her through the house. Might as well show her everything, so she didn't need to ask in the future when she visited.

As soon as we came across my room, she directly went inside and without missing a heartbeat, she jumped onto my bed.

With her face in my pillow, I heard her take a deep breath as she sniffed it before giving me a sultry look. I couldn't help but scratch my head.

"I will eat now. I barely have any energy left to do anything." It was true, I was already running low. I should have eaten before going to bed, I realized, but at that time I was just dead tired.

I went downstairs, a step behind me was Kara, whose gaze I could feel on my back. I wasn't wearing a shirt and was running around in boxers, probably not a good idea with a horny teenager in the house. Well, I didn't mind the attention or what it would ensue.

Before I could go to the fridge, she quickly set up the table with the takeout she had brought with her. She raised an eyebrow at me, "Did you think I brought the food for myself? Come on, eat up!"

"That's… incredibly attractive."

"Eh?"

Maybe it was my Saiyan mind, but a girl coming over to my house bringing me food was hella attractive! Without much fanfare, I dug in.

I saw Kara scrutinize a cookie in her hand before reading a small note with a frown on her face, she must have brought them with her, though I didn't see it when she entered. Either way, no cookie survived this household for long.

It seemed like she brought a lot of cookies. I eyed the bag out of which she had taken it out, I was about to ask for one cookie before she turned to me, while turning the note for me to read.

"Who is your little kitten?" She looked at me with a smile that wasn't really a smile. Was this some dirty talk?

"W-what?" I intelligently asked as I started to read the note that had a cute little black cat drawn on it at the very end.

'Hey, Darling,

I wanted to thank you for that night. I just couldn't get you out of my head after what you have done for me. Knowing your appetite, I thought you would appreciate these cookies I made for you. If you want to, I could give you some milk to go with them.

See you around.

Your little kitten ♡ XOXO'

Dafuq?

"I have no idea who that person is- Ahh. I might have a clue…" I scratched the back of my head. Could it be? I really didn't expect her to contact me again, or even know where I lived. I didn't know if I should be flattered or creeped out that she managed to track me down.

I looked at Kara again, who had an expression of 'Go ahead tell me.'.

"I think it was the girl I saved when I was in another city. Felicia Hardy. She was working at the bakery at that time and was later… caught up in some shoot-out between some gangs.

She had no place to go, so I offered her to stay for the night. We went to sleep and the next morning she was gone. Coincidentally, I had left the city the next day for this place, so I am surprised she had found me. I had only met her twice and spoke not more than 4 sentences with her."

I didn't mention that I almost threw her back out to the street and that she only convinced me with some food to take her in. I hadn't seen her face that night, but masks didn't matter much if one could sense someone's lifeforce.

Kara's eyes narrowed at me. "You two didn't talk much, did you huh? Seems to be an impactful night if she had found you all the way to another city…"

"Hardly, I almost didn't remember it-"

"Felicia Hardy. If you almost didn't remember your meeting with her, why did you bother to remember her name? I thought you said that you weren't 'good with human names'?" I could practically hear the 'Gotcha Bitch'.

"Well, she was one of the few exceptional beauties this world had to offer. She could almost match up to you."

I ignored her dumbfounded stare at me as I went ahead, took myself a cookie, and just bit into it.

Mhmm~

Goddamn, these are good… Fuck, after tasting these it will be even more difficult to find a good bakery for pastries. I saw her look at me with a shocked expression.

She then angrily looked at the cookie she was holding before she took a vicious bite out of it.

"It doesn't even taste goo~" She started saying before stopping. She looked at the cookie before devouring it in one go. After finishing it, she sighed out before freezing. She slowly looked at me and found me staring at her with an amused smile.

She seemed embarrassed as her face turned red. She even tried to save the situation by taking a napkin and cleaning her mouth of the cookie crumbs. A cough for good measure before looking at me with all the seriousness she could muster after having practically blown it out of the house.

She was reluctant to speak up as she looked at the new half-eaten cookie in her hand that she subconsciously took before shaking her head.

"I trust you." She said before finishing her cookie.

I didn't say anything and just stood up, placed her hand into mine, and took the bag with the pastries with my telekinesis as I pulled her onto the couch before turning on the tv.

I pulled her close and she snuggled up to me without hesitating as we started to watch FlixNow while eating through the pastries. It was halfway through the movie when the movie was already half-forgotten as we turned the movie night into a make-out session that I was hit with a telepathic wave.

It was a bit sudden, so I flinched slightly which earned me a concerned look by the Kryptonian. I gave her a reassuring smile before I tried to listen to what the one mentally knocking against my mind wanted.

"…lp…sion…" It didn't last long until the connection broke up again. That certainly wasn't ominous. Since they didn't leave any clues, I should just ignore it. Besides, I earned myself a short break, didn't need to stumble into the next adventure. It was time for power-up first…

-----------------------------

A/N: For anyone wondering how I chose the Gravity he trains under, I just used the power level of Goku when he arrived on Namek, so 90.000. 16.475 is 18.31% of 90k and since Goku trained under 100G, it should be 18,31G for the MC, which I rounded up to 20G, where he would start to struggle.

I added the extra 10G for training because Goku wasn't really fazed with 100G since he was doing flips and all kinds of shit under that gravity. He probably would have upped the gravity if he could have.