It had been nearly a year since she had been able to stretch out her own wings and fly. It had been eleven and a half months, to be exact, when Nora was doing an away rotation at UCSF Children's and Kara suddenly made her presence known. And now, here she was, unexpectedly living in the very same city where they had both gained a full-time body buddy.

A deal had been made early on: Nora would take care of the day-to-day stuff at the hospital and Kara would be free to go about her evenings and days off as she pleased. That balance worked until suddenly it didn't, when Kara found herself losing more and more air time, so to speak, to Nora.

A friend had shown his concern that she was losing not just time, but herself. That now that Kara walked the earth at all hours, that deal just wasn't good enough anymore. She had pushed back and denied that she was losing her sense of self; if anything, Nora was gaining more of Kara's personality and vice versa, so much so that they had essentially become one person. Another version of themselves where their best (and worst) personality traits had met in the middle.

Kara took a deep breath as she stood on the roof of Parker's house. For as heavily surveilled as San Francisco was, there she was grateful to have caught a blind spot nearby. With one soft step after another, she lowered herself down from the roof and back through the master bedroom window that faced the backyard. A quick glance in the full-length mirror confirmed that her leggings and black and red hoodie made the perfect cover for someone who was just taking a late night walk around the block. She made sure she had her belongings in secure parts of her suit and got ready to leave, but not before catching a graphic that was on Nora's laptop.

"Happy 60th birthday, Supergirl!"

A soft laugh escaped her lips as she skimmed the post, curious as to whatever it was that had popped up on Tumblr now. Kara was hardly sixty, but her existence in the comic book world in this universe, whatever version of the multiverse it was that they were in, had been established sixty years ago on this day. The comics weren't entirely wrong, but they weren't exactly right, either, and she had learned quickly to take them with a grain of salt. But even Kara wasn't immune to this sort of sweet, innocuous celebration, and she shut the lid to the laptop feeling slightly more empowered to do what she was about to do.

She tiptoed out of the house so that she wouldn't disturb her roommate or the small zoo that they cared for. The two and a half block walk to the dead zone was a quick one, and it turned out to be a small, strange alley in between two residential buildings' parking lots. She scanned the environment to confirm that there was no surveillance activity nearby, and with that, she was off to space.

A promise had been made earlier in the year, one that said Nora would stay within the Earth's atmosphere in the interest of his sanity and her safety, so that no one would have to worry about wild space creature attacks happening in zero gravity.

That promise, however, was hardly even an afterthought right now. After all, it wasn't one that she had made; rather, it was one that her human had bound herself to. Though she felt some guilt at forcing Nora to break that promise, Kara had to remind herself that she was allowed some time on her own, too, and whatever residual guilt that might be left over later on could be dealt with then.

Kara cruised through the galaxy in search of a target, something that would let her blow off some steam. Months and months of being stuck in a body that, although hers in many ways, had left her feeling trapped. Stuck. She needed an out, if only for a few hours. Nora didn't need to know about it and Kara would make sure of that. After flying around in deep space for several minutes, it didn't take long for her to find exactly what she was looking for: a meteor shower.

She studied its trajectory and did a few quick calculations on the fly so that she could find an ideal position for this exercise.

"Focus, Kara."

Her fists at the ready, she flew into position and studied her first target, trying to get her timing just right as she reared her right arm back before launching it forward once again. The meteor broke into pieces and flew apart while a satisfied smirk tugged at the corners of her lips. Again, she commanded herself as she found another target. This meteor was bigger, faster, yet it was destined to meet the same fate as the first. The meteor shattered on contact and she deigned to let out a laugh.

"Fists with the mass of moons. Legs that burn with the heat of suns," she screamed, almost gleeful, as she quoted some Supergirl writer who thought didn't quite understand the burden she carried with these powers. She readied herself for an onslaught of smaller rocks. In a move that could have looked choreographed, she quickly spun around before sending another meteor flying in dozens of pieces with her foot while punching another meteor through space in the opposite direction from which it came.

She continued the practice round and felt freer than she had in months. This was where she had come from. This was where she felt most at ease. There wasn't much that resembled a life of her own on Earth, but at least she still had this.

Kara took a deep breath and faced down a new set of meteors headed her way. In one fell swoop, she punched a meteor away from her and blasted it into several pieces with her heat vision.

For Lana Lang. One of her first friends on Earth, her adoptive aunt.

The hairs stood up on the back of her neck as she heard another meteor fast approaching behind her. She whirled around and sent the meteor flying with her fist, with her torso twisting through the air as turned to blast another meteor away with a bicycle kick.

For Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers. For taking her in as one of their own and helping her adapt to life on Earth. For quitting the jobs that they so loved when they realized that their leadership had turned against Supergirl and her cause.

She flew straight into the meteor shower and hit a bigger rock out of bounds with her instep. The satisfying sound it made upon impact brought a wide grin to her face and she flipped around just in time to avoid a larger rock.

For Alura In-Ze. For the sacrifice that she had made in sending her only daughter to Earth where she could have a chance at a real life. For the abomination of a clone of her mother forged by Zor-El's madman hands, both of whom Kara ultimately had to destroy.

"Kara: 11, meteors: 0," she announced breathlessly.

She took two deep breaths to reset her pulse and flew around the galaxy a few more times in hopes of working off enough energy so that she could get some decent sleep for the next day. "Ring," she began from the comfort of her lantern aura. "What time is it in San Francisco?"

The vaguely robotic voice chirped back. "12:14AM, Lantern Zor-El."

With a sigh, Kara turned around to head towards Earth once again, her fists ahead of her to optimize her aerodynamics.

"Counter resets at midnight. New game tomorrow."