Author's Notes: I've had this story on my mind for months, ever since I got the headcanon that Lena had designed the kryptonite-proof suit specifically for Supergirl. Unfortunately, life has got in the way of me actually writing and posting it. But with the show focusing on Lena and Supergirl's relationship so much lately, I knew I really wanted to share this. I hope it was worth the wait.
Lena and James both sat together in his office fully engrossed in their tablets. They'd spent the last half hour seeing what the internet was saying about Guardian, ever since they learned James' alter-ego was currently trending with anti-alien groups.
"Would you look at this?" Her boyfriend held his tablet up for Lena to see. "Hashtag: Take back the planet, kill all roaches. How could anyone think I'd be in favor of violence towards aliens? Everyone knows I'm friends with Superman and Supergirl."
"It's the internet, James, where anyone can post their opinion no matter how ridiculous, prejudice, or baseless. Anyone with any amount of common sense is going to realize this is just a bunch of xenophobes ranting."
The truth was she was worried about what this could do for James' and Catco's reputations. Or worse, she feared some fanatic may see this and be inspired to commit violence towards aliens. But she wasn't about to tell James this. He was already upset and needed her to alleviate his worries, not share her own.
"This is not what Guardian stands for, I wanted to help people, to make a difference..." He trailed off and looked out the balcony window. Lena turned and saw Supergirl had just landed outside the door.
They both walked out to see her.
"Hey James, hey Lena," she greeted them. "I figured I would find you here."
"Hey, I'm guessing you're here because you've seen the recent reaction Guardian has been getting after the attack at the fair," James said.
"I've seen it, but that's not why I'm here. I was actually hoping to talk to Lena."
"Oh." He replied and waited for her to begin, but she just gave them both an uncomfortable look.
Sensing she wanted some privacy, he turned to Lena and said, "You know it's getting late. Why don't I run down to Noonan's and get us something to eat?"
"Sounds good. I'll have my usual."
After he left, Lena turned back to Supergirl. "So is everything okay?"
"Oh yeah, you just left the DEO before we really had a chance to talk and I just wanted to thank you for the suit and everything else you did to get the kryptonite out of the atmosphere. You saved my life, Lena."
Lena smiled. "Well considering how many times you have saved my life, I owed you one."
"Still, I really appreciate it, especially considering things have not really been great considering between us lately."
Her smile faded. "I hope you don't think so little of me, you believe I would just sit by and let you die."
"No, of course not!" She quickly shook her head. "I mean after everything, you still have my back. It really means a lot to me."
"Oh, well you're welcome." She could see Supergirl was being sincere, but she also seemed to want to say more. "Is that all you came for, to thank me, or was there something else?"
Supergirl hesitated before explaining. "I couldn't help noticing the suit had my family's emblem on it and Alex said you brought it right after she called you."
"You're wondering how I had it ready so fast." She said, seeing where Supergirl was going. "I had the suit made for you a couple of years ago, although I hoped I would never have to use it."
"I don't understand."
"I'm a Luthor, I was taught to consider every possible scenario and plan accordingly. And when I learned my brother had created a device to fill the atmosphere with kryptonite, I knew I needed to come up with a contingency plan, in case the device or the technology ever fell into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, I didn't know the device had been activated until Director Danvers called me."
"I'm just grateful you were able to get it to me in time. I thought the dispersal device was safe being locked up at the DEO, but I was wrong. I should have insisted that we destroy it a long time ago."
Lena stared at Supergirl, incredulous at how unreasonable the other woman was being. "I know what happened to you was terrible, but let's not forget that device has also been used for good. You yourself used it to save Earth from the Daxamite invasion."
"And I question that decision every day. I know, at the time, I didn't think I had a choice, but now I keep wondering if I could not have found another way to stop the Daxamites, one that didn't involve killing Rhea or making the air poisonous to an entire species who'd already had one planet decimated."
"I was there Supergirl, you did try to find another way to stop them, but there wasn't one. You shouldn't feel guilty because you made the only choice you could. Some enemies are just too powerful and you have to level the playing field."
Supergirl stared at the CEO studying her before asking. "Is that why you felt you needed to make Kryptonite, Lena?" Were you just trying to level the playing field?"
Lena felt her anger starting to rise to the surface. Not this again. What right did Supergirl have to judge her for trying to protect the planet? She tried to force herself to be calm as she defended herself to the Kryptonian.
"Look, I know you do not agree with me, but I stand by my decision to make Kryptonite. As I said, I plan for worse case scenarios and Earth has already had to deal with enough hostile Kryptonians before and we don't know how many more are out there."
"Yeah, but you don't need kryptonite for that. My cousin and I have stopped Kryptonians before, and if more turn up we'll stop them again."
Lena let out a laugh. "Do you really think that you and Superman will be enough if a whole army of Kryptonians come and try to invade."
Supergirl opened her mouth to argue, but Lena kept talking.
"And even if you get your Martian friend and the DEO to help, you'll still be at a serious disadvantage. Besides, you and the DEO have used kryptonite before when you had to. So are you really against Kryptonite? Or do you just have a problem with anyone with last name Luther using it?"
"What? Lena, no! That's not it!"
"Really? Because I would think if you did trust me and truly care about protecting the planet, you would support me in this. And if it really has nothing to do with my family, then, I don't know why you are taking my decision so personally."
Anger flashed in the Kryptonian's eyes, and for just a moment Lena remembered she was arguing with one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy.
"You don't know why I'm taking this so personally?! That's because there is still so much you don't know about kryptonite! Like how killing us is not even the worst thing it can do to us. And you're not the first person who's tried to manufactured Kryptonite."
"Yeah. I know. My brother and Cadmus have tried to make it multiple times."
"I wasn't talking about them. Max Lord also tried a few years ago, only he got the formula wrong and I was accidentally exposed to it. His version of synthetic kryptonite didn't affect me physically, instead, it took away all my inhibitions. Every dark horrible thought that I ever had came to the surface and I still had all of my powers. I didn't care who I hurt and I did hurt innocent people. Remember almost three years ago, when I terrorize National City for a couple of days. That was me under the influence of red kryptonite. And if it hadn't been for J'onn and the DEO….I… I might have killed someone who means the world to me and I probably would have hurt so many more innocent people."
Lena realized the rage she saw in the Kryptonian's eyes wasn't directed at her. She also saw the hurt and guilt it brought up for her to talk about that experience. Lena had been living in Metropolis at the time, but she still had seen all the news footage along with the rest of the country of an irate Supergirl burning police cars, attacking federal agents, terrifying innocent people, and all the while laughing at her destruction.
"I remember hearing you had been under the influence of some sort of mind alternate substance, but I never knew it was a form of kryptonite."
"Few people do. You should also know, Rhea used a different form of kryptonite on my cousin to trick him into nearly killing me. The whole time we were fighting, he thought I was one of his enemies. So yeah, I take it personally when people attempt to make kryptonite, because when they succeed they've created something which can kill me and my cousin in the most painful way possible, and when they get the formula even worse things can happen."
Lena stared at the other woman, finally beginning to understand why she was so adamantly against kryptonite, but even though she could appreciate Supergirl's position, her speech had not changed Lena's mind. If anything, it made Lena more certain they could not have powerful aliens causing death and destruction without a way to stop them.
"I very sorry about what happened to you and your cousin, I really am. But it does change the fact that getting rid of all kryptonite would be a mistake."
"And what if it falls into the wrong hands like the dispersal device did?" Supergirl argued, getting irritated her speech hadn't swayed the CEO.
"Then you can use the suit I made you for just such an occasion. Like I said I plan for every occasion including someone using Kryptonite against you and your cousin. You're just going to have to trust that I know what I'm doing."
"That would be a lot easier if you weren't so secretive about all your plans like how you had that suit for two years and didn't mention it once before." She muttered.
Lena could not believe what she was hearing. "Seriously, you're criticizing me for being secretive? You haven't even told me your real name!"
"Lena, it's not that simple. Knowing who I really am would put you at risk."
"And I've always respected your right to keep things to yourself. I just wish you would do the same for me. Trust is a two-way street and you weren't very trustworthy when you had James break into my lab. Look, I can see you and I are never going to agree on this, and honestly, it's been a long day. If you just came here to argue, then you can leave."
A hurt look came over the hero's face, causing Lena to feel guilty about how harsh she has been. Supergirl turned and look towards the sky, but instead of taking off she turned back to Lena.
"My father created the Medusa virus."
"What?" Lena gave the blonde alien a confused look. She hadn't heard the Medusa Virus mentioned in nearly two years. Not since her mother and Hank Henshaw stole the Kryptonian bioweapon to tried to use it to cause an alien genocide. They would have succeeded if Lena hadn't sabotaged their plan. But why was Supergirl bringing it up now?
"He created it as a way to protect Krypton, in case we were ever invaded, but instead it was used to murder a bar full of innocent aliens, and would have been used to murder many more if it hadn't been for you."
Understanding finally dawned on Lena. She sighed. "Look I see where you're going with this, but…"
Supergirl held up a hand. "Please, just let me finish, then I'll leave. Also, Myriad, the mind control program which was used to enslave all of National City was created by my aunt. She thought humans could solve all of Earth's ecological problems if everybody would just work together and she believed that was worth taking away people's free will. Now, I love my dad and my aunt and I know they had the best intentions, but their technologies were used to hurt innocent people. And I know if they had lived long enough to see what they had done, they would be horrified.
I know when I asked James to break into your lab I betrayed your trust and I know you no longer consider me a friend. But I still care about you, Lena. And still, think of you as my friend, even though I know I'm no longer yours. I know how big your heart is and how much you care for others. You're a good person and I don't want you to make a mistake that will haunt you."
Lena stared at Supergirl, too overcome with emotions to form words.
"Look I'm sorry for arguing with you," Supergirl said. "That's not what I came here for. Thank you for saving me."
And before Lena could say anything else, the Kryptonian turned and flew off.
Lena walked to the nearest chair and sank down in it, staring out at the view of National City. She had told herself she had been right to end her friendship with Supergirl, that she needed people in her life whom she could trust. Lena had refused to forgive her friend's betrayal and had held on to her anger. But she knew one reason she had held tight to her anger was it was easier to cope with anger than the pain of someone else she cared about letting her down.
Besides, as much as she hated to admit it, she knew she being a little hypocritical. After all, Supergirl had only asked James to break into her lab after she found out Lena had hidden her knowledge that Sam was Reign. And what would she think of Lena if she learned about her experiments with the Harun-El? Would she still consider her a friend if she knew about them?
Maybe Supergirl was right, maybe Lena would one day make a mistake which would haunt her for the rest of her life. Or maybe she should say another mistake that haunted her. She'd already spent enough sleepless nights criticizing herself for how she handled learning Sam was Reign or blaming herself for the Daxamite invasion after she helped Rhea build a transmat portal.
But there was also the possibility someone else would get a hold of Harun-El or something like it and do their own experiments. Eventually, someone somewhere would come up with the technology to give humans superpowers. Lena was certain of this. And she wasn't going to sit back and hope that person used that technology for good. No, she'd have to be that person; it was the only way to have complete control of the situation.
Thanks for reading!