Chapter 1: Unveiled Difficulties
To say it had been a long difficult and exhausting six weeks hadn't even begun to describe what the World Killers, the battles and losses, the destruction had left in its wake. Homes and offices had to be cleared out, built back up and then got the okay to re-enter. There were so many civilians that had been caught in the crossfire and disgustingly the media circus betted on that.
Adjusting her glasses on her face she sighed looking from one pile to the next not sure where to really start after she'd taken leave due to the chaos, which her boss/best friend had approved. At first the Luthor had been shocked when Kara had come back to CATCO, but that shock turned into glee. To have that person that saw her as always more and never once her last name had been the most precious gift she'd ever received. But then, she'd mentioned her grumblings about Supergirl and it started tension in the blonde that the raven haired boss quickly noticed.
They'd talked briefly about it but then Kara had to run off saying she'd forgotten about a meeting with a developer and as the women left her office her boyfriend and colleague had walked in holding two cups of their favorite vendor which cerulean's behind her glasses noticed briefly then turned back with more things in mind. Lena had noticed this too sighing herself to walk behind her desk setting the brew down to plop down in the chair.
"What's eating at you?" He asked with genuine concern. He'd gotten to know the woman he once thought so little of, and now he regretted having ever have doubted her. Though he was on the borderline when it had come to finding out she'd made kryptonite which was the one thing that could kill both his friends and Supers. "Talk to me babe."
"Is she okay?" Emeralds looked at him then to out of the clear glass walls where their mutual friend was. "Her sister was on missions, nearly died." Lena explained. "She had sent her away! That must have terrified Kara.." James huffed nodding looking back to the woman he'd once really cared about even liked, but as of late his girlfriend was right; Supergirl did have a god complex. "I worry about her James."
"She'll be fine." He looked away not really concerned with her well being as so much his girl's. "What's eating at you Lena. It can't just be her." He didn't mean to hold a slight bite in his tone but it hadn't gone unnoticed by his girlfriend which made him swallow hard.
"Her sister is with...nevermind." She forgot for a moment that James and his altar Guardian were both aware of the agency Alex Danvers worked for. "Let's just go over the reports and see where we are." She shifted her gears back to work and focused on the needs of the company.
"Ponytail!" She looked up with the annoyance of both his voice and his shout then cleared the expression from her face setting her long lighter tan coat on her chair to turn and get the lecture of the day from the jerk. "Have you seen these?" This would be a long Monday..
Two hours of being pulled into his office to be sent to her desk to reevaluate the proposals dropped on her keyboard, she had a headache that she shouldn't even be capable of having but regardless her skull ached. Which was odd. Deciding to take a break she got up to go to the break room and looked over upon hearing both her best friend and friend but really just coworker now laughing at something so pitiful on James' phone. It killed her how much she missed her best friend as of late. That best friend whom absolutely hated her altar ego, one thing her despicable mother had once said to her as Supergirl and as Kara which had practically come true and if she ever found out the rest, would hate her more. Lena didn't know whom she really was and honestly she wondered whom she was anymore.
Kara was just about to pick up her lemonade and take a sip once back at her desk that her boss was slowly approaching ready to talk to her about something probably work related, but then she heard the frightened screaming voices and instantly her whole body tensed.
"Kara?" The blonde turned to look at her then looked away at the last moment looking at her desk after setting down her drink then snatched up her keys to gather up an excuse. "Can I…"
"I forgot something in my car, my notes for an appointment for one of the proposals...be right back.." She walked off leaving the woman standing at her desk with mouth slightly ajar and she heard the heavy sigh of disappointment from her body. She moved quickly to disappear around the corner rush to the back hall where no cameras were to follow to unbutton her shirt quickly slip her glasses in the compartment of her new suit's belt then remove the rest of her cover to toss it in the corner behind the shelf dashing out the backdoor. She burst into the sky and rushed off following the scared sobbing voices tracking them across the buildings and to the bridge still under construction.
"There you are." Supergirl flew down toward the tunnel that had been halted with it's construction until the bridge was secure once again in structure. She tried to use her vision to look inside still flying towards it but still in the air she cursed in kryptonian under her breath realizing part of it was lead lined to save cost. "Rao...not my day.."
Without alerting the DEO or her sister she swooped down toward the tunnel and once just a few yards in felt a boom through her ears which knocked her balance while still airborne completely off as she grit her teeth covering her ears as the excessive ringing continued which made it impossible for her to hear anything else at the moment. She turned away when another boom hit and the vibrations in her ears made the ringing much worse. Pressing her hands as tightly as she could over them didn't help the painful ripples the ringing had caused.
Not even aware that blood was dripping from them nor of the blood running from her nose she groaned barely hovering in the air now but forced herself from fight or flight to backing away and flying away just to try to give herself some more sun to aid the recovery to her hearing so she could help the people in the tunnel. With her eyes closed attempting to concentrate once more her ears still rung which was making it difficult to aid in any rescue.
In his black suit with black mask over his face he lined up the prototype as it charged with the main barrel glowing a dangerous green. She couldn't hear it, he'd made sure of that, and now she wouldn't even see it until it was too late..
"Okay, these numbers look definitive enough for me. Go with these two and get the rest typed up for the contractor." Lena told two of her employees ready to return to her office when a loud boom shook the entire building forcing everyone's footing to slightly wobble trying to hang onto anything they could as the shaking stopped and both James and the Luthor ran to the right windows to notice it wasn't just them that had been shaken.
Then news stations came on informing there had been reporting's of how big the earthquake had been in the city but upon overview it had only been theirs. "What the hell just…" A loud blast took over everyone's ears with several of them flung back by the force of it hitting the side of their building at the floor they were on. At first it had taken a few moments to make her skull stop pounding her ears stop ringing but as that cleared there were voices all around with people asking if everyone was okay and to call out for a head count. "Everyone alright?"
"Anyone hurt? Everyone okay?" James spoke up then heard cursing and grumbling as the dust cloud cleared smoke cleared, and he sighed to shake his head at the ridiculousness of the crude man. "Everyone okay?"
"So far, if you count my shirt in no! Who fucking hit this building while I was having my first cup of fucking coffee?! Ponytail! No sleeping on the job! Get up!" Snapper shouted making everyone groan as several people stood up with Lena approaching the horrid employee of hers and that's when she noticed the massive hole and studied where it was directed. "No time for snoozing Danvers! Get up we got a stor…" Snapper rounded the corner widening his eyes to step back. "Wha…"
"Kara!" Lena heard the man's gasp rushing forward as did others but stopped in their tracks upon what they saw. "Oh no. no...no…" She looked up then back at her friend whom was on her side, hair all tangled but scattered, unconscious still with her jacket over her. Her glasses had been flung from her face to be just a few feet from her head with a huge gash on the side of her head and a blood trail stain from her ears.
"Lena, Lena what is it?" Her boyfriend asked. "What happened?"
"It's Kara! She's hurt!" She looked up searching for the man seeing him scurry over but carefully stepping over the rubble.
"She can't get…" She heard his words stop suddenly.
"What the hell do you mean James?"
"Oh please! Look I bet she just got hit with a stapler or something. Come on ponytail, get up.." He reached for her by the coat and that's when he stumbled back from yanking too hard realizing it wasn't on her body just over it. He fell on his ass grumbling to stand. "Oh just great! Great! Covered in more fucking coffff…" He looked down with eyes growing so much bigger than ever before dropping the coat. "..ponytail is…"
No one could say it, they were too stunned by the sight. All eyes on their reporter's body, that wasn't in her work wear at all. Emerald hues were locked on the figure before her as several things passed her eyes. Anger, betrayal, guilt, stupidity, regret then fear. It was the last one that took the biggest hold on her squeezing her with it's cruel painful claws.
"Get back! BACK!" James told everyone whom was too shaken too shocked from what their eyes were locked on. "Shit…" Lena's head slapped around too quickly by the tone of her boyfriend's voice and saw recognition in his eyes his face then their gazes locked. "Lena…"
"Did you know?" She asked accusingly shaking with tears running down her face. "You knew! You've known this whole time who she is!"
"Le…."
"Get the FUCK out of my building...NOW!" Her Luthor tones made his heart ache and he backed up with people looking from her to him then back to the woman whom their boss had resting their head in her lap shaking as she scrolled through her phone as James stormed off out of the office. "Director?" She heard the woman groan and demand why she called her from her private phone. "You gave it to me for Ruby remember? Alex...Alex..ALEX!"
She had to scream at the woman over the phone just to get her to shut up about her agency's issues. "Get the hell over to Catco..now!" A few more words and the woman had had it. "ALEX it's your SISTER! SHE'S HURT!" A few more words that were now shaking with fear with worry and Lena heard the tones of the elder Danvers deteriorating with the terror filling her body. "No one else was hurt, but I suggest you bring your forms over with you, for my entire faculty..please Alex….hurry..she's...she'd bleeding.."
Once off the phone she looked around as one handed her a whole roll of paper towels where another handed her the first aid kit. She looked down with tears running down her face terrified just as much if not more than the Director of a sister on the way with her team. She didn't even know how to begin to help Kara at the moment, when half her suit had been scarred and torn with blood left in its place. "Supergirl.." Lena tried to wake the woman as her trembling hand tried to bring a finger to the blonde's neck to search for a pulse and found the faintest of ones. "Supergirl.." Her tears dropped over the woman's battered injured head. "Kara you promised...promised me.."
Her anger long gone, the shock from everyone long gone with priority and security along with safety taking hold. She looked up as everyone in her office including snapper set down their phones at her feet. "What…"
"No one will say a word Miss Luthor." Snapper told her sincere. "What can we do."
"There is a black ops team heading here and I need them let in whatever entrance we have. They might come by chopper or in the front. Director Danvers will show you identification or her team" Lena explained with her voice quaking with fear and an unwavering concern for her best friend's her hero's life. "I appreciate your silence, and I know that's difficult with all we do. Can we get a tarp over the gap of a hole on our floor level's wall please? Get that secured so no one else can see inside that's of any media or anything. I'll inform her sister we've covered that area with what color tarp we have. Whatever we have a tarp a canvas, boards. Thank you.."
She kept her fingers on the area she had felt such a weak pulse from to monitor it and just make sure her best friend and the city's Super was still alive. Hopefully Alex would hurry up, and she knew without a doubt she would. Lena softly stroked the hair no longer in a ponytail looking over at the glasses beside them then back at the woman fighting for her life. That's when it donned on her...whom Reign, in Sam's body, had dropped off the building that night. How worried how scared Kara's sister looked when looking at Supergirl. She thought back to what words were said between her and the one she'd accused of having a god complex.
Tears ran faster down her face and she couldn't hold it back anymore with her body shaking as she started sobbing heavily. The same woman whom never believed her to be evil, whom told her she was good, whom had argued with her sister to prove they were all wrong about her friend. The same one whom she had told to let her go in the plane, whom refused to release and drop her into darkness and death.
That same woman, whom had a look of hurt when passing her soon to be ex boyfriend when walking from her office, that was now so close to death with how much blood there was; with a sickening green hue beginning to glow in now visible veins horrifying Lena even more. This hadn't been her running off to save someone. It had been a trap...