*I DO NOT OWN SUPERGIRL OR ANY OF THE ESTABLISHED CHARACTERS*
The enormous Security Guard carrying Kara had seen her on the daily. She was Ms. Grant's protege for years, and he was on her personal security team for years. He had even been assigned to Kara as security a couple of times at large events. To find out she was THE Supergirl on the same day that he saw her in this condition was mind-blowing. Right now, he was just running on shock and adrenaline. As he was carrying her on the elevator, all he could focus on was trying not to embed the glowing green shards any further into the girl. It would just make it that much harder to take them out later. Not to mention, she'd cry out every time he shifted them, or applied more pressure to those areas.
The doors finally opened, after what seemed like an eternity to Kara and the rest of their party. It was a floor Kara didn't even know existed! It was furnished, and bright, classy. It looked like a simple, but lavish penthouse suite, instead of the top floor of an office skyscraper. Cat had always said the top 3 floors were just for show, and that they were closed off and unsafe to roam around.
What a liar.
"Kara! Over here!" They heard and saw Cat Grant immediately, as she flew over to them with worry. "Oh my God, how did this happen..." She said almost as a rhetorical question.
"There was an attack, and an explosion! We were all at Noonan's, and this guy drove a van right through the front entrance. We all dove for cover, but as soon as the guy came out yelling and shouting, Supergirl was on top of him in 1 second! She held him down for a moment, but then he just...blew..." Liz explained, overly fast. She was all hopped up with the fast pace of everything.
"That would explain why of of you look like a bloody mess." Cat said, as she rushed them over to her private massage table. She had it set up right near the elevator door so they could get her laying down quickly.
"Watch those shards, they look like Kryptonite. That's why they were able to hurt her, put her down VERY carefully!" Cat instructed. Like she had to tell her best Security Guard, John, to be careful with the beloved alien. As he set Kara down, her eyes closed shut tight with pain, and she gave out one last scream before she curled in on the side that had the least wounds. She opened her eyes and tried to take in her surroundings, but her own sweat kept getting in her eyes. Cat noticed her shaking and sweaty and yelled for one of the younger girls to grab a wet towel for Kara's forehead.
She knelt down on the floor to meet Kara's eyes, as John looked over her wounds more thoroughly.
"Oh Kara. How did you get yourself into this mess...?" Cat cooed, while careful stroking the woman's hair. Kara looked up at her, her eyes watery and pleading.
"Ms. Grant...thank...thanks. Ughhh" She blinked her eyes and brought a shaky hand up to her forehead to wipe her face, but stopped when she felt the pain of more Kryptonite.
"Don't move Kara, shh shh...don't touch anything. You'll hurt yourself more. Just try to relax, Alex is on her way."
"Alex..." Kara squeaked out. Liz came back running with a wet, cool towel. Cat carefully patted down Kara's face, being certain not to hurt her.
"What's all of this reddish dust you're all dusted with? Don't tell me it's like...pink mist from the bomber or something..." Cat asked.
"I don't know, it seemed to come from whatever explosive device he had. Like the green stuff. It just settled everywhere."Liz informed. The barista agreed.
Kara spoke up, "It was a trap." She said, as she took in a harsh breath, and groaned.
"What was? The bomber?" Cat asked.
"yeah...he told me...or...tried to..." Kara whispered out.
"What about the dust, do you recognize it?" Cat tried to dig further.
"..don..don't know. It feels weird..." Kara noticed.
"Weird how? Does it hurt?"
"I don't know. It just...like...tingles...or something." Kara forced out. She really couldn't explain it, especially to try and articulate it in English while in this much pain. She couldn't focus. She felt sick, she was in pain. That's all she could like about. Her head was spinning.
Cat noticed how pale she looked. She knew she was sick, but she didn't want Kara to hurt herself more.
"OK, no more talking, I need you to just breathe right now. Nice and slow, and try to calm down. I know you feel sick right now, but I need you to stay in control. The more you tense up or move the worse it will be..." Cat was trying to sooth her the best she could, but she only knew Kara and Supergirl separately. Sure, she'd figured out by now that they were the same person, but it was going to take a little bit of time for her to be able to reconcile their personalities into one. She chose to try and soothe the Kara part for now, that's the side she knew best.
"Should we try and take the pieces out?" The barista asked.
"No!" Cat snapped, and startled Kara. "Sorry, no, we shouldn't touch them. I have a doctor coming, and she said don't touch anything, it could make her worse. Although, of course, when I talked to her I didn't know the full spectrum of what had happened."
Cat took a calming breath. "Girls, thank you very much for getting her out of that situation. You saved her not only from more pain, but also from being exposed to the world. You helped Supergirl when she was at her most vulnerable. It's people like you that she's drawn to protect. Please, take a seat, I didn't even ask if you were ok. You said there was a van who crashed through the front, and an explosion. Did either of you get injured? Let me see...?" Cat suddenly turned 'Mom' on them.
"Ms. Grant, we're ok. Just a couple bumps and bruises. Supergirl saved everyone from the explosion. The EMTs are proba..." Liz was cut off by the elevator ding, and then several people yelling.
"KARA! WHAT HAPPENED?! Is she OK!? Oh my God!" Alex didn't know what to say first when she ran in and saw her little sister littered with hundreds of painful wounds, and looking white as a ghost. J'onn followed close behind, along with Dr. Hamilton, and 3 DEO Agents carrying medical supplies in big cases.
"Anybody who's NOT a doctor, move!" J'onn commanded forcefully. Cat, Liz, the barista, and the security personnel backed away to the dining area, and all but Cat sank tiredly into chairs. Cat just watched like a hawk, and paced...very quickly.
"What happened?!"Alex asked, a little more calmly as she sat by her sister. Both were crying, Kara out of pain, and relief that her sister was there. Alex out of devastation at the sight before her.
"Van attack and then suicide bomber, targeting Supergirl. Someone must have known who she was, or followed her. They knew she'd be there at that time. These two girls got her out before her identity could be further exposed. She probably owes them her life." Cat pointed out.
"There was a man, he got to her first... He told her she was exposed, and helped us get her to the car. He said he was going to stay and get everybody's story straight. I think everybody is going to keep quiet, but you might want to contact them or something...if you can..." Liz trailed off.
Keeping her head straight on Kara only, Alex just kept on with the pertinent questions.
"What's all this red dust, is it from the store? The explosion?" She asked as she wiped it curiously from her sister's hands. Kara could only try to follow along. Her vertigo, and nausea, on top of the pain was growing too much for her to comprehend much.
"It settles after the explosion. But nothing in the shop would have exploded like that. The explosion wasn't even fire or anything, it was just like...force? Does that make sense? Like the only point of it was to litter Supergirl with those pieces of whatever, and coat everything in this weird stuff." The barista explained.
"alex..." Kara struggled to get Alex's attention over all the fuss of the Dr. and Agents.
"Yeah sis...I'm here. What's up?" Alex positioned closer to Kara's face so she could hear.
"was a trap...man said...trap...ahh..." Kara winced as they started an IV for fluids and painkillers.
"We have to keep her awake. We don't know what she may have been exposed to. What we all may have been exposed to." J'onn stated.
"Are you kidding!? She's in too much pain. It'll hurt her even more if she's awake. She's sick!" Alex went to bat to get her sister comfortable.
"Alex! Calm down. Think. If we don't know what it is, then we don't know what it does. It could be nothing, it could be a toxin, or a pathogen. We don't know, and we won't know if it's doing damage if we put her out. We need her here, we need her aware of her body. We need her to tell us if she has any symptoms." J'onn reasoned. Alex fumed, but she realized she had to direct her anger at whoever did this, and focus all of her energy towards Kara right now.
"Alex, she was saying something when I asked her about the powder earlier. She was already a little out of it, but she was trying to explain something. She was saying that it almost felt 'tingly', and it felt 'weird'. Her words...obviously." Cat explained.
Alex thought on it for a minute. Then, a light bulb went off. "Was she saying like 'I don't know, i can't explain...blah blah blah?" She said, not so eloquently.
"Yes, perfect. Like she could figure out the words to describe what was happening." Cat assured.
"Kara, 'Serron ke ti coman?'" Alex held her hand up with the red and rubbed her fingers so Kara could see. Kara tried to focus, she grunted a couple of times trying to see straight and gather her thoughts. Thank Rao Alex was speaking Kyptonese. It was much easier for her in stressful situations, or when she wasn't feeling well.
"'Kalorr de gituloh...ke ti coman?'" Alex whispered. "Come on, tell me what's going on 'thoala'."
"Tana...laet...laetano seelan. uhh...ahh..." Kara started to whimper as Dr. Hamilton began extracting the Kryptonite as carefully as she could. Piece by excruciating piece.
"It's ok...shh shh...your doing great. Finish your thought whenever you're ready..." Alex eased.
Kara took a deep breath between Dr. Hamilton's movements. "Laetano seelan...kala hana tupulo. AH...Tupulaho!" Kara got through it. Her Krypontese rolled off her tongue so differently than her daily crude, primitive English. It was easier for her to convey complicated thoughts. She only spoke it with Alex. Kal-El sucked at it. He didn't have time to have her teach it to him properly. Alex on the other hand was excited to learn, and made sure she got every inflection right. Now she only had a mildly obvious Human accent. It wasn't her fault, humans aren't built to speak her native tongue.
Alex thought for a few seconds as she translated in her mind. Then her eyes went wide.
"We have to flush it out!" Alex said suddenly.
"What do you mean? Why!?" Dr. Hamilton was startled.
"She said...ughhh...the closest translation is like...soul devourer? She said she feels it pumping inside her. It's feeding off of her energy, both neurological and physical. We need to flush it out of her system before we remove everything. If we take out the Kryptonite, the wounds will heal, and it will drive her mad, then essentially suck her body dry. We need to get it off, NOW! And we need to put her on dialysis to flush out the toxin. Cat! Do you have a shower in this...place?" Alex asked getting noticeably more frightened after speaking to Kara.
Cat immediately pointed, "Right through there! I'll help, come with me." She ordered. Normally Alex would want to protect her sister's dignity, but right now, ridding her of this toxic exposure was crucial.
Who knows how much time she'd have, or what damage has already been done?