Lena patiently waits for the DEO outside of the newly discovered CADMUS building.
After the incident with Lex's lab, Lena had started to investigate for other such hidden labs and in that pursuit had stumbled upon some CADMUS labs too. So being the responsible citizen she was, she had contacted the only person she knew who could do something about it – Kara. Now she pretended it was because the reporter had connections with Supergirl and through her, Kara could access government organization tasked with dealing with alien affairs. But she knew it was because the mild mannered reporter was Supergirl.
And well in the process of figuring out about the various operation centres and their contents, she had let it slip that she knew about Kara and Supergirl being the same person. It had happened because of a huge fight between her and Supergirl where she had been upset at her and frustrated at still being kept in the dark about the secret and Kara had been afraid and guilty and thus standoffish. The fight had finally culminated with Kara holding Lena in her arms repeatedly apologizing and Lena choking on unshed tears consoling her, affirming that she wasn't going to stop being her friend.
Which brings us to right this moment when Kara comes swooping down to land gently in front of Lena and immediately breaks out in an earth shattering grin. Now Lena tries - she really, really tries, not to so easily return the grin, not to fall even further in love with the hero, but a smile breaks out anyways, not fully hidden behind the teeth that try to clamp down on the lower lip to try and curb it.
"Hi, Lena." Kara waves smiling a smile with brightness to rival the yellow sun.
"Try not to look so excited at the prospect of rifling through another one of my mother's lairs now." A riposte falls from her lips.
Kara ducks her head, still smiling, a bashful one now. "Me? Excited? Psh… I mean getting to spend time with you… I mean… Psh…?" she raises a hand to fiddle with the non-existent glasses.
Lena bites down on another smile.
"So, shall we?" she asks pointing towards the big shutter door.
"Umm… Shouldn't we wait for Alex?" Supergirl asks wringing her hands in the adorable gesture that is so Kara that Lena has to bite down on another grin that threatens to break through.
"They'll catch up," she says instead, "we should start on cataloguing until then."
*
They come across a few labs strewn with papers and various lab equipment but nothing overly nefarious. They are strolling around, Kara recounting another one of her 'ponytail' incidents with Snapper, when they finally come across something that seems promising. It's a steel vault door with a hand scanner similar to the one in Lex's warehouse.
Lena glances at Kara and she is fully in Supergirl mode, hands in fists on her sides, ready to attack at a moments notice. She gestures to Lena to move forward. Lena takes out her scrambler she had designed specifically to break into facilities like this.
But as she places her hand on the scanner (before using the scrambler to fool it into thinking it's Lillian's) it turns to green without her having used the scrambler at all.
Lena and Kara share a look, but the lock is disengaging and the doors sliding open, and they are distracted by the contents of the cavern. And a cavern it is, with its way wormed half a mile into the mountain, the walls below the ridge curving gently into the floor and the walls above arched another hundred feet up to giant stalactites.
Kara does a scan (Lena recognizes these as her X-ray vision eyes) and an exasperated sigh escapes."It's a lead mine. Can't see anything in the walls or beyond but no security cameras visible." She says trying to maintain a professional aura but her gaze keeps on darting towards the centre of the cavern where a cylindrical pod stands emitting a bright light that makes it impossible to see what is inside.
Lena tilts her head in the direction of the pod motioning for Kara to move towards it, it's an order that Kara is more than happy to oblige. Lena stills as soon as her eyes fall on the contents of the pod. She vaguely registers a gasp escaping her companion, but she is wholly focused on what – correction - who is in the pod.
There's a blonde girl about 3 years old standing in the middle of the pod encased in light.
A hand blocks her view of the girl's face, Kara has moved closer to the pod. Her eyes are only for the girl in the pod, her expression inscrutable. Lena places a hand on her shoulder, Kara turns to face her and her eyes are misty. "Are they experimenting on a kid?" she chokes out, her voice filling with anger with each passing word.
"I'll check, okay. I'll check out what they were doing t- with her." She retracts her hand from where it rests on Kara's shoulder, her hand feeling instantly cold, to move towards the wall laden with screens set to act as the mainframe of this operation.
As she works her way into the system past the firewalls, a dread falls upon her, she has a feeling that whatever she is going to discover will affect her life in a major way.
She lets out a small noise of triumph when she finally manages to break the firewalls, and documents start popping up on the screen one after another. She focuses on the screen as the controls to the pod and the brief on the girl in the pod flashes on the screen.
The words "Project Zl" are occupying the top of the screen. As she takes in the rest of the information on the screen a gasp escapes her and she takes a step back from the wall of monitors, stumbling and she would have fallen on her ass if Kara hadn't appeared magically at her side, a hand on her waist steadying her. Lena's hand is covering her mouth but a sob breaks through anyway. Kara is looking at her with curiosity and worry. Lena points towards the screen one of her hands still covering her mouth. And Kara shifts her attention from Lena to the screen.
Lena knows what Kara must be seeing right now - a silver screen with her and Kara's photos along with a foetus' and the words :
Gestation Period: 5 months
Age: 3 years 2 months
Kryptonian Donor: Supergirl
Human donor: Lena Luthor
Powers: Untested
She knows the exact moment the meaning sinks in, the hand on her back starts shaking and then disappears altogether. Lena turns to watch as the Kryptonian stalks towards the pod and winds her hand back in preparation for a punch.
Some part of Lena's brain must still be working. Because, "Stop!" a cry escapes her lips.
Kara stills for a second. Her head turning to look at her, an expression of anguish on he face. Lena runs forward to place herself in between her friend and the pod containing… she can't go there right now.
She places her hand on Kara's clenched fist both hands shaking in equal measure. "You can't. It might hurt her. We don't know what's keeping her alive."
Kara's whole body is trembling now, she falls face forward into Lena's arms and they both sink to the ground sobbing into each other's shoulders.
That's how Alex finds them a few minutes later, crying in front of the pod containing their daughter.
