ᴀ sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴏғ ᴍɪsᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

a series of miscommunication

Story Bellingham

Story?

karen lee / sent at 12:03am

Kori?!

karen lee / sent at 12:03am

Are you there? It's Kara. Can you get this message?

karen lee / sent at 12:04am

Where are you? Are you in Boston?

karen lee / sent at 12:05am

One second I was with you, and the next, I was outside... but I think I'm in Metropolis... How can this be? Are you here with me?

karen lee / sent at 12:06am

This is definitely Metropolis. I think? I'm going to do a full sweep of the city to make sure everything is safe and to see if I can find you. Please contact me back asap if you can!

karen lee / sent at 12:15am

So it seems all communication to Boston is cut off, but there are others from our world here that I can still make contact with. Teen Titans are in Jump City and several are in Gotham.

karen lee / sent at 8:42am

No one else has heard from you either, so I'm really hoping that you just got left behind in Boston. I can't imagine where else you could be if not there and I'd never forgive myself if something bad happened to you while you were with me!

karen lee / sent at 8:45am

Sorry for all of these crazy messages... I guess I just feel a bit responsible for "losing" you since we were together before we were separated.

karen lee / sent at 8:49am

Gar mentioned there is a possibility that you are in outer space... because we all seem to have been transported to the location we have the most connection to. And for you, space is technically more your "home."

karen lee / sent at 11:14am

ARE YOU IN OUTER SPACE?!?!?!?!

karen lee / sent at 11:15am

Just tried flying out of earth's atmosphere to go find you... nearly killed myself. Oops.

karen lee / sent at 1:08pm

Plan B: Try to rig satellites to communicate with other planets.

karen lee / sent at 1:10pm

Plan C: Calm down and wait it out.

karen lee / sent at 10:57pm

karen vs. kara

I want to see him.

No.

I want to see him.

And I want you to shut up, but we can't all get what we want.

Please.

No.

I still don't understand why not. You're worried for all your other friends, but not for him? You want to fly all the way across the country to go see those Teenage Titan Ninja Turtles or whatever, but you can't visit someone who's right here in the same city? That makes no sense to me.

He's fine. He already told us that he's fine. You need to accept that.

But he doesn't have powers or enhanced abilities like the rest of you. What if something bad happens and we can't get to him in time? You're fast -- really, really fast -- but what if you're not fast enough?

Then he'll die.

That's not funny.

I'm sorry, Karen, I really am, but you're being ridiculous and giving me the worst headache ever. I need you to take a backseat this week, be quiet, and let me do what needs to be done. I can't focus on anything with you constantly nagging me about your boyfriend!

Don't you dare try to make me out to be some silly lovesick girl. We were just ripped away from our home and thrown into an alternate dimension, for christ's sake. I deal with your Supergirl crap every single month and I think I've been pretty cooperative so far. We had a rough start, but I've come to terms as much as I can with having to share my body with an alien. I've gone through hell and back, given up every chance of being normal, because of this. Because of you. The very least that you can do for me right now is to let me see someone that I care about.

But, like I already told you, he's fine. I want to keep him safe too, but he's not as high of a priority right now. He's not in any immediate danger.

That's bullshit, Kara. I know you. I know that you worry about everything and everyone to the point where you're so paranoid that you can barely sleep a wink. You always make an effort to check in on your friends, high or low on the priority list. So why has that changed? I think you just don't want to in this case because you can't handle all these new feelings. I'm sure it's very awkward for you, but can't you just, I don't know, deal with it? Like I've had to deal with you and everything these shifts have put us through? I have a life, too, Kara. A life that you also need to be accommodating of.

The answer is still no.

God, you're impossible. I wish you would just go back to your planet where you came from.

I would love to, except it doesn't exist anymore.

Sorry. I didn't... I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry.

It's okay, Karen. I know. Look, maybe you're right. These feelings are extremely confusing. They're affecting me in a way that I can't even explain. It's strange and uncomfortable, and I don't know, I feel like I'm losing myself? We're blending together more and more each time that this happens. I can barely tell the difference between my emotions and yours. [HEAVY SIGHING] But if I let you see him, will you actually shut up and let me get back to work?

Yes. I promise.

Five minutes. Make good use of your time.

Oh, we will. Trust me. We will.

I'm going to regret this.

Time off?

July 18, 2016

Panda

to Me

Hi Karen,

Is everything okay? You didn't come in today and no one at the station has been able to reach you, not by phone or texts. A few people are actually a bit worried since this is very unlike you to skip out on work without some sort of heads up.

If you're sick or need to take some time off for whatever reason, that's completely fine. Just please let me know as soon as possible so that we can work out a new schedule for you and delegate your usual duties to one of the other assistants.

Thank you and I hope to hear back from you soon.

karen vs. kara

Go to sleep.

I can't.

Are you serious? I'm spending the night here for you. What more do you want?

It just feels weird to be in separate rooms. Wouldn't it be a lot safer for us all to be together in the same room? In the same bed...

Karen! That's so inappropriate! What is wrong with you?!

Relax. It's not a big deal. We're just going to sleep.

Do you really think I'm that dumb? I know you're not "just going to sleep."

You're right. I also want to toss his salad and touch his pokeballs.

W-w-what does that even MEAN?! You know I don't understand when you talk like this! It's just gibberish and nonsense to me!

[LAUGHING]

Why are you laughing? I really don't see the humor in lettuce. And what is a pokeball? Is that some kind of sport?

[LAUGHING INTENSIFIES]

I hate you so much sometimes.

voicemail from zachary kennedy
Karen, it's me. Dad. I mean, it's Zach. Your roommate's parents just contacted me in a panic wondering where you two are because neither of you have been at the apartment or picked up your phones since Sunday. I had to embarrassingly tell them that I haven't actually spoken a word to you, my own daughter, in over a month. I don't know if you're ignoring my calls right now because you hate me or if you've truly disappeared along with Cece like the Averys fear... but Karen, if this is about what happened... I've already apologized a thousand times and I don't know what else I can possibly do to make you believe that I didn't intentionally forget your mother's birthday. I stupidly did not put it in my calendar when you told me and June was a particularly busy month for the company. I'm sorry. It was a mistake. Now, please, can we end this silent treatment? I'm still your dad whether you like me or not. I want to make sure that you're okay and not hurt again like you were in January when you ended up in the hospital. I don't know if I can go through that again, so please, call me back.

Zachary Kennedy (father)
& Emma Daniels (foster mom)

Has Karen been in contact with you at all this week?

zachary kennedy

No, she hasn't. Why? Is there something wrong?

emma daniels

She hasn't been responding to any of my calls or texts. I think she may still be angry about her mother's birthday, but...

zachary kennedy

Well, you know Karen. She can be quite stubborn. She just needs time.

emma daniels

No, I'm afraid this is about something else entirely. She seems to be missing.

zachary kennedy

Missing? How so? Have you gone by her apartment and talked to her roommate?

emma daniels

That's the thing. Her roommate's parents were the ones to inform me that they both haven't been at the apartment since Sunday.

zachary kennedy

That's so strange... was her cat there?

emma daniels

The Averys said that he was. They thankfully got to him in time before he starved to death.

zachary kennedy

Oh, no.

emma daniels

What?

zachary kennedy

Karen loves that cat more than anything in the world. She would never leave him without making sure that someone was properly taking care of him while she was gone. Something is definitely wrong.

emma daniels

Frank couldn't get a hold of her either, so he called the radio station. They said she hasn't been in all week and didn't leave them any notice of absence.

emma daniels

Zach, what is happening? Where did she go?

emma daniels

I don't know... should I go to the police?

zachary kennedy

I don't want to overreact, but after what happened to her earlier in the year... yes, maybe. Just in case.

emma daniels

Frank and I are jumping on the earliest flight to Boston that we can find. We will meet with you and figure this out together.

emma daniels

Thank you, Mrs. Daniels.

zachary kennedy

Please, call me Emma. We're practically family.

emma daniels

karen vs. kara

What's wrong?

Go away.

I wish. But since we're stuck here together, you might as well talk to me.

It's not real. None of it is real.

This place?

Yes. It's just a projection. A matrix programming, or simulation, or something. I don't know, but it's been fake this whole time and I fell for it because I wanted for it to be real so badly. But I should've known better. I should've known when I couldn't find any of my friends and family. I should've known when I went to the apartment that I shared with Lana and she never came back. I should've known.

You missed your home. It's okay to have fallen for the illusion.

But this isn't my home. Metropolis isn't my home. Krypton is, and it's gone. I just wanted this to be real because I missed people recognizing me. I missed the glory of being a superhero. But I should've known... if this city was actually real, they wouldn't be worshiping me like they've been programmed to do. I'm not the Hero of Metropolis... Kal is, not me.

Listen. You are a dumb alien most of the time, your fashion sense is terrible, your jokes are even worse -- if you can even call them jokes, and you have no chill whatsoever about anything, but come on, Kara. You're a superhero. You may not be Superman, but you're Supergirl. Stop trying to be him when you can be your own hero, your own person. You're not perfect and you're still learning, but you've been through so much. Are you really going to let this one moment of weakness eat away at you?

No, but --

But nothing. Don't argue with me, Kara. You know you'll lose. Now, stop crying. You're ruining our makeup and we have to find a way to get out of here.