"A culture day was a fantastic idea," Lena Luthor commented, examining a booth plastered with foreign languages and symbols. A family of light brown humanoid creatures with spines lining their arms and backs stood on the other side, chatting with a couple of humans.
"I can only hope that the public thinks so as well," her companion sighed nervously. She was a bright eyed blond with a rounded face that seemed small in comparison to the large black framed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. She tweaked the frames slightly, glancing around at the dozens of booths spread across the park.
"Well it certainly can't do any harm," she smiled reassuringly, resting a hand on her friend's shoulder,"If anyone can paint aliens in a positive light it's you."
"Last time I did that, aliens I tried to help were targeted and put in danger," she murmured painfully,, wincing as she recalled the article she wrote with good intentions that backfired severely.
"And now the people of National City get a glimpse of the worlds these aliens left behind, to get to know their stories," Lena said, dragging Kara to another set of booths,"Just enjoy what you helped create for once."
"Fine…" Kara grumbled, allowing Lena to guide her through the maze of displays. They stopped momentarily at a makeshift theater where a group of aliens were doing a dramatic retelling of their escape from certain peril. The performance had gathered a large crowd that was hushed with anticipation for each word.
"See? People are interested in their stories, they care," Lena pointed out.
"Okay, okay. I get your point," she threw up her hands in defeat. The Fair of Extraterrestrial Culture was packed with humans and aliens alike, each willingly learning about each other. There was even a booth detailing some important human events too so that they felt included.
"Are you ever going to tell me what this big protect that you've been locked in to your office for the past seven months is?" Whatever this mysterious project was, it had affected Lena drastically. She seemed more distant, reluctant to hang out because it tore her away from her research.
"It's been two months, Kar, not seven. And don't act like you haven't been distracted either," Lena retorted, rolling her eyes.
Kara grew silent, desperately wishing she could just spill everything that had happened recently. All the crap with the Children of Liberty, Nia, DEO drama, stranded Kara in the middle of a desert with the suffocating pressure as Supergirl that she had to deal with alone.
But when she looked into Lena's bright hopeful eyes, the desire disintegrated. She knew what telling Lena would do, strain their relationship which was something she could not lose right now.
"Kara?" Lena's face tightened with worry the longer Kara stayed quiet,"What's going on?"
"Nothing," she forced herself to speak. Kara was aware her answer sounded flat and false, she just did not care. She grew tired of lying to Lena, hoping that someday in the future there would be a circumstance where she could reveal herself without risking their friendship.
"I'll tell you if you tell me," Lena insisted, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout,"Something has been going on for awhile."
"The country is tearing itself apart. I'm just trying to do my part and bring peace," Kara replied, unrest stirred in her gut as she sow a group of people remove themselves from the crowd, joining in a collective group. But damn was that pout face hard to deny, she was so close to melting into Lena's curious vibrant emerald eyes.
"I don't like the looks of that," she whispered.
Kara nodded in agreement, following Lena into a small alleyway between two tents.
Kara's eyes widened as a loud and terrifying voice roared from the crowd,"Ladies and gentleman, roaches. We are the Children of Liberty, here to shine light on what happens with aliens try to establish a home in National City. This is not your place, we will not let you hurt our proud nation anymore! This ends today! Any human that stands and fights with these roaches is an earth traitor and will be punished!"
An alarmingly loud cheer followed, silenced by a single gunshot. Screams of panic followed suit as aliens and humans alike started to flee. Kara made a move to run off into the crowd, but was stopped by a firm hand grasping her wrist.
"If either of us go out there, we will be killed," Lena shook her head, eyes dark with remorse,"It is not safe Kara. My handgun isn't going to be much help against a whole army, it's too risky."
"This is my fault, I tried to do something good for National City and once again it blew up in my face," she rested her free had on top of Lena's. Rage boiled in her gut, slowly turning to uncontrollable anger at the violent disregard of the Children of Liberty had against people and aliens. If she could just slip away long enough so it was not suspicious of her identity, but with the Children on a killing spree, she could not bring herself to leave Lena. But each second wasted was another life was at risk, and with Lena here it was just another distraction, someone that could get hurt because of her mistakes.
"What are you going to do? What can you do? I'm not one to run from a fight but this could end up being a massacre," she replied, her voice wavered with worry.
"Just stay calm," Kara hissed, raising her arms in the air. On both exits two Children of Liberty blocked their escape, one had a very aggressive dog. She had to figure a way out of this without any secrets escaping, although Lena's safety was her number one concern.
"One of you are aliens. I highly doubt that Lena Luthor is an alien, unless it's a shapeshifter," One of the Children said, raising a gun in Lena's direction.
Kara's stomach twisted, finding her body frozen in fear. Lena Luthor was too stubborn and proud to back down, even with a gun pointed to her head.
"Maybe if I cause some incentive, than one of you will reveal yourself?" The person who controlled the dog dropped the leash. It immediately went straight to Kara, resuming a lowered position with its teeth bared.
"You're right, I'm a shifter," Lena stepped in front of the dog, putting herself between the creature and Kara. But the dog only moved to the side, gaze intent on the Kryptonian.
'Oh Rao! No… What am I supposed to do?' Kara knew there was only one way out of this situation, one she feared for far too long.
"We're all friends here, right? No need to act so hastlely. I'm sure there is something we can offer you-" Lena's voice no longer retained its usual air of confidence.
"There is nothing rich scum like you can offer us. You ignore the hard working people, instead supplying jobs to these roaches. People like you are the worst of the earth traitors, only interested in profit," the Child with the gun spat, advancing another step closer,"I could easily kill you right now and blame it on the alien your protecting."
Lena could not hide the quivar in her voice that gave way to what she was thinking. She now knew Kara was an alien,"Please, just let her go. She is not an alien and is not any concern of yours."
"Say what you want, but you can't protect your little girlfriend. The world would be better off without it's disappointment of a Luthor and her pet roach," The henchman sneered, cocking the pistol.
To Kara, what happened next lasted for minutes but to the outside world, milliseconds. Lena went to reach for her concealed gun and the Child of Liberty reacted, pulling the trigger. The next thing she knew, Kara stood in front of Lena, arms stretched out to protect her.
The bullet shell it the pavement with a soft clink, completely crushed. The world around her clicked back to its usual speed as the other Children fired at her, only for their guns to be just as ineffective.
"What kind of roach are you?" One of them stuttered, holstering their gun. They quickly withdrew a sharp dagger created out of an unfamiliar metal with a strange white glow.
Kara smirked before unleashing a powerful gust of air from her lungs, knocking back two of the Children along with several tents along with the bodies.
"We've handled every roach species, it's only a matter of time before we find your weakness," another spat.
The ear busting crack of a gunshot behind her and the man fell to the ground, clutching the right side of his chest. Heart in her throat, she glanced back at a startled Lena with her hand gun aimed at the groaning woman on the ground. The furious yelling of a man drew her attention back to the remaining Children of Liberty, or at least the two that remain.
One of the Children lashed out, slashing a jagged knife across her stomach. It tore away some of the fabric, revealing a deep royal blue clothing underneath.
"I don't believe my luck…" The Child grinned, ducking under her punch and lashed out again, this time diagonally from her shoulder to the opposite ribcage. As soon as the metal glided across her Kryptonian skin instead of penetrating it like it would a humans, the man knew who he was up against.
The bright symbol for the House of El became clearly visible,"The Girl of Steel, how predictable to assume a human identity. I was not expecting you to be hiding behind a Luthor of all people."
A grunt of pain distracted her once more, shifting her attention back to Lena. She was not paying any mind to Kara now as she was busy defending herself against the last Child, holding her own quite decently.
Abrupt burning pain in her rib cage caused Kara to react more violently than she intended, putting most of her weight in a wild punch to the disguised man's gut. He hit the ground hard with a hefty grunt and somehow managing to stagger to his feet.
His mask had fell off, revealing an angry middle aged white man, eyes burning with hatred,"Stop meddling Supergirl, before you are injured beyond even Miss Luthor's abilities to fix." He limped away, blending within the chaotic crowd.
Kara tried to fly after him, but the shift in her torso uncomfortably shifted the crummy blade that was lodged in her gut,"Gah!"
She fell on the ground, insides burning from where the slender knife pierced through the skin, rubbing up against an internal organ. The pain flared in her stomach, causing Kara to irresponsibly reacted and tore the knife out. Blood gushed out, soaking through the hand she placed at the gash as a poor attempt at stopping it.
"Kara!" Lena had finally managed to chase off the final Child of Liberty. She knelt down in front of Kara, trying to get a better look at her wound. Deep red through the side of the flower button up she was wearing.
"No, I'm fine. Go find help," she pleaded through a pained whimper. Her torned attire poorly concealed her suit underneath, one look would ruin everything.
"Damn it Kara, I can't have my best friend bleed out in front of me," Lena ignored Kara's tensed posture, gently moved aside her bloodied hand.
"Lee..." she started to speak, but just couldn't bring herself to say anything when Lena's face fell. Part of her shirt torn away in the fight, the iconic symbol apparent. Judging by Lena's wide eyed expression, she finally came to the correct conclusion.
"I can explain," she tried once more, but the right words failed to form. Her mouth was dry although she still tasted bile in the back of her throat.
She wordlessly helped Kara remove the destroyed button up, eyes locking onto the giant red S flashed across her chest. Lena tore the thin fabric in to a couple of thick strands so she could start applying pressure.
"Thanks," she managed murmured. Kara winced as Lena increased the pressure when she continued to speak,"I wanted to tell you, I tried but there was never a right time…"
"I can't talk about this right now," Lena quietly. Her voice quivered as if she was on the verge of tears, and if the slight tint of red that lightly touched the edges of the whites of her eyes were any sign, she was.
"Than don't, just listen, please?" She asked. Lena only nodded, switching out the blood soaked shirt for a clean wad with her eyes staring at her wound.
"I didn't want to keep this from you but each person that knew was another at risk. When I met you, I didn't have the slightest notion of how important you would be to me. I wanted to tell you more than anyone else, but that's also what kept me from confessing. You're more than my best friend, Lena, you are one of the most important people in my life," Kara could feel the sting of tears coming but she forced herself to keep going,"I know I broke your trust, I hate that I've lied to you for so long but I had to protect you."
"Protect me?" Lena spoke hardly above a whisper,"I can handle myself. Hell, I've gotten myself into more trouble without you. But then again, you were always there. Every time I needed help. Whether it was saving me from falling off of rooftops or just being there through my family drama. But how could I have been so stupid? So blind?"
"You aren't stupid, Lee. I just tried so hard to keep up my image for you…" The pit in her chest started to crumbled away into an endless abyss of hopelessness
"Is it because I'm a Luthor?" She raised her head to meet Kara's, cheeks flushed a bright pink,"Because you didn't want to repeat the whole 'Super versus a Luthor' drama?"
"Your family name has nothing to do with it-" Kara tried to defend herself but Lena cut her off.
"Were you spying on me? Using this persona to get into my office? To get to know what I knew about Cadmus?" Lena accused, a couple of tears escaped down her rigid jawline.
"No! I defended you at every turn. Against the DEO, Alex, even with Reign I knew you had Sam's best intentions-"
"But you didn't trust me with kryptonite," she seethed. Lena's breathing had become ragged and unsteady.
"I can't even begin to apologize, to tell you how sorry I am. How the guilt has eaten away at me since the beginning," Kara tried to explain. No matter what she said it seemed she only dug herself further into the cave of no return,"And the whole kryptonite situation wasn't personal… I don't trust the DEO with it either."
"I trusted you Kara. You know that's not such an easy thing for me, and you broke it. You used me as if I was just an expendable asset at your disposal."
As much as she wanted to keep talking, to try and repair the damage, Kara knew Lena too well. Her betrayal was not something to be forgiven lightly and it would take time for her to forgive Kara.
"I never once used you, and I know that trust is extremely hard for you. I know this won't be easy, but I won't let you push me away. You are more important to me than you'll ever know," Kara said softly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a familiar woman in a tight black suit run in her direction. The DEO had arrived on scene and were slowly gaining control.
There was so much else she wanted to say, to explain more why she lied all this time. The steady stream of tears that dripped down her face, accompanied by the tightening in her throat forced Kara to quit talking. Lena had let a few tears slip, her jaw clenched as she gently lifted the cloth to exam the wound. It still bled, but had slowed enough for her to get a decent enough look at the damage.
"Supergirl!" Alex knelt down next to Lena,"What happened?"
"The Children of Liberty cornered us," Lena replied, somehow regaining her usual composed self just with glazed eyes.
"And you let her get stabbed?" The DEO director gapped, closely examining Kara's stab wound. She reapplied the makeshift bandaged offered by Lena with a worried expression strung across her face.
"They were attacking both of us," Kara groaned through her teeth as Alex helped her stand. Her hand automatically went to cover the pulsating pain, sticky blood slipped through her fingers.
"If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. I have business to attend to," Lena's quickened heart rate gave away her lie, although the uneven brisk in how she spoke did not help either.
"Lena…" Kara called feebly, knowing it was no use. She knew her sister was saying something, but she was too distraught watching Lena walk away to pay any mind.
Her relationship with the woman she loved most was fractured, perhaps beyond repair and Kara had no idea how to fix it.
Alex enveloped her in a gentle hug, Kara nestling her head against her sister's shoulder and sobbed. The pain of her gut was nothing compared to the excruciating heartbreak she was going through.
In the midst of of her tears, she realized one important fact. She feared losing Lena because, just like when she lost Mon-El, it would prove to show that she did not deserve happiness. The fact that she considered her love for Lena on the same capacity, maybe even stronger than what she felt for Mon-El was terrifying.
How did she end up like this? Alone and afraid that she was a few missteps away from losing the woman she relied on most, the woman she needed most in the world.
It just so happened that her love for this woman was not as platonic as once assumed.