Chapter 102

Because Kara had given Perry a heads-up before, almost like an Oracle, Perry never called her into work, pretending not to know anything and steering clear of the situation entirely.

So, Kara decided to stay home for a few days before returning to her job, and she figured Perry would be none the wiser. Otherwise, he might've been exasperated.

With that, Kara rested at home, sleeping in until the sun was high in the sky the next morning. She reluctantly opened her eyes but sensed something unusual.

"Was my room always this big?" Kara yawned, squinting around her. It seemed like the space she'd known for the past two decades had suddenly doubled in size.

Or maybe… it wasn't the room that got bigger.

"Did I… shrink?" Kara gasped, sitting up in bed. She discovered, to her shock, that she was now only the size of an ant. It was no wonder the room looked gigantic.

How had this happened?

Hovering mid-air, Kara struggled to comprehend what was going on. This strange change happened overnight, and she had no clue why.

Thankfully, she noticed that everything she wore had also shrunk with her, which saved her from a potentially awkward situation.

"Have I turned into Ant-Man?" Kara wondered, watching the world from her new, tiny perspective.

"Kara! Are you still asleep? The sun's practically burning a hole in the sky," her mother, Martha, called out as she entered Kara's room.

However, with no sign of Kara, Martha assumed her daughter was already out, muttering, "Off on one of her wild adventures, no doubt."

"Mom!" Kara's voice rang out near her ear, surprising Martha, who looked around but couldn't locate her daughter.

Before Kara could explain, Martha spotted her tiny form and assumed she was a bug, reflexively swatting at her.

Kara's instincts kicked in as she released her hold on the shrink ability just in time, transforming back to her original size right in front of her mother.

"Kara?" Martha's confusion was plain. "What on Earth are you doing?"

Kara had no idea how to explain what had just happened. She herself didn't fully understand how she'd woken up so drastically altered. Yet, there was now a certain clarity in her mind. She could feel the ability to shrink and regrow at will as if it had always been there, waiting for her to discover it.

She shared her strange morning with her parents over breakfast, leaving them both astonished.

Then again, her adoptive parents had always found Kara and her brother to be somewhat supernatural since childhood. Occasional odd or unique abilities popping up here and there had become almost expected by now.

"Well, shrinking's not the worst," Jonathan mused with a sigh of relief. "Imagine if you'd suddenly grown to the size of a building; that'd be real trouble."

The thought sparked something in Kara. "Dad," she said, face going serious, "I actually have a feeling that tomorrow, I might just wake up as a giant."

The spoon in Martha's hand clattered to her plate.

Kara was about to reassure them, but for everyone's peace of mind, she decided to spend the night sleeping in an isolated forest.

Her gut instinct wasn't wrong. By morning, she had indeed grown enormously, reaching almost one hundred meters in height. Trees and rocks looked like pebbles beneath her feet.

Kara took some comfort in the fact that her clothing expanded along with her. But she still hid herself, squatting in the forest with her knees drawn up, waiting to return to her regular size.

Thankfully, she managed to reduce her size by midday and even practiced controlling the shift, testing until she could shrink back down to the size of an ant and then revert again.

By the time she returned home, her parents were waiting anxiously.

"Turns out I wasn't wrong; I really can become a giant," she explained, laughing at her own unexpected abilities. She described her new powers to Jonathan and Martha, demonstrating her ability to shrink to the size of an insect or grow into a titan.

They all had no choice but to conclude that this might be a natural part of Kara's "Kryptonian awakening," just as her other abilities had appeared after living on Earth.

"Well, as long as it's harmless," Martha said, serving breakfast. She called Kara to the table, where the family gathered to eat.

At breakfast, Kara mentioned her plan to take a few more days off, hoping to go back to work soon. But Martha persuaded her to stay just a bit longer. "Clark's coming back tomorrow; you should wait for him, stay through the weekend, and head back together."

And with that, Kara decided to spend an extra day at home with her family.