Disclaimer: Based on DC comics' characters and the mythology created in Smallville (i.e. property of the CW network), and created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster but the words are my own.
AU: Supergirl/SMV: National City is under siege from the Daxam forces. And on the day of triumph an old Daxam foe returns ushering a new age.
ZOD
Chapter 2
Previously:
Rhea noticed that the enemy forces were not eager to jump into a fight just yet. They seemed to wait patiently. She wondered why they were not attacking. She rarely knew an Yllyan military commander to be so patient unless he or she was up to something. She wondered what that purpose may be.
Their presence however provided hope for those who haven't yet submitted to her. And she couldn't afford that. She had to do something about this but what. Perhaps addressing her new subjects would do the trick. She doubted they would embrace her words but perhaps the belligerent view outside would convince them otherwise.
"Citizens of National City," Rhea began. "Our struggles are over. Together we will usher a new era for both Daxam and the human race…"
And now…
"…and we will be stronger together. But our security is now threatened by an invading force from a malignant world that wishes us nothing but harm. Their battleship hovers over our city. Let's rise together and vanquish this new threat."
Rhea's speech continued another ten minutes. She had to improvise but was satisfied with the result. The citizens of National City may have been dismissive of her and her troops but they were not about to let another alien force ruin what they have left.
She saw people emerging from their little hideouts and forming a mass against the invading force. She couldn't have hoped for a better development. They were buying her time so the Slavers can come and she could deal properly with the intruders.
Her flagship was primed and ready for battle. Her fleet had gathered around it as well. All was ready for the encounter. She now needed the Slavers and it will all be over soon. Then she would gather those stragglers she did not get the first time and life will continue anew with her as the new ruler of this world.
"My queen," Captain Erthos said entering the room, stopping and saluting.
"The Slavers?"
"They will be here soon. They were delighted of the given opportunity to crash what is left of the Yllyan Empire."
"Excellent,"
Rhea was now fully confident of her success. She did notice the captain still standing behind her.
"Is there something else, Captain?"
Captain Erthos swallowed. He preferred giving the good news first and then the bad.
"Kara Zor-El has escaped."
"WHAT?" Rhea's good mood evaporated on the spot. "How?"
"Apparently, the one called Winn and your son Mon-El sprang her free taking Lena Luthor with them." Captain Erthos was certain now the queen will explode with rage. In the chaos of the Yllyans' arrival, they had slipped through their defenses.
Rhea was not pleased. She had hoped to rope Lena further into her net while eliminating Kara Zor-El once and for all. She was too dangerous to be kept alive. Even without her powers she had succeed once to evade the Slavers. She had some help of course but that did not mean she couldn't do it again. And then there was Mon-El. She simply could not understand her son's behavior.
Love, he had said, Nah. The Kryptonian had poisoned her son with her self-righteous believes and misguided notions of right and wrong. She has to rectify this situation and pull her son back into the fold.
"Send for Cat Grant and bring her here." Rhea had a most splendid idea of how to turn things around. Cat Grant was Kara's little idol. She had her captured first along that mogul Maxwell Lord. She found the latter repulsive though rather brilliant for a human.
At least she still had Kal-El in her clutches. Kara had defeated him in combat and returned him to normal but she succeeded recapturing them both. Now Kara was free but not her cousin. He could still be a useful asset. Sadly poising him again would no longer be effective but there are other ways to motivate him.
Meanwhile, Kara and her friends have found a new safe house. It was one of the least known DEO's safe places. It was not on the main manifest so Rhea would not know about it. It did not have much to offer in terms of comfort but it would do for the time being.
Kara had now the chance to mend her relationship with Lena. The untimely reveal that she was Supergirl had created a rift between them and though she knew Lena understood her motives she was certain it felt like betrayal. She hoped they could resolve this problem without things escalating in alienation.
"Lena," Kara turned to her. "We need to talk."
"Yes that we do." Lena agreed.
"I'm sorry things turned out this way." Kara said. "I never meant to…"
"Hurt me?" Lena finished her sentence. "I think it is a tad too late for that." Lena turned around and sighed. "I thought we were friends. I thought… How foolish was I to believe it? Maybe my mother was right."
"No, you don't believe that." Kara sighed. This was not going to be easy. "We are friends."
"Kara, you came to me and asked me to believe in you. Hell I turned against my own mother for you and those aliens…"
"It was the right thing to do." Winn interjected.
"Winn," Kara said looking at him. "Stay out of this."
Winn raised hands defensively and moved away.
"Lena, I understand how this feels. But you have to see it from my perspective too. What was I supposed to do? Come into your office and say – 'Hey Lena Luthor, I'm Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl, aka Kara Zor-El. I'm from a dead world Krypton. Your brother fought my cousin and then got himself put into prison for being an overbearing douche bag. I work for Catco Worldwide Magazine and could you please assist me with this story as I have a deadline and Cat Grant will fire me if I don't get it…"
"Stop," Lena interrupted the fired up Kara with a smile. It was so unlike Kara to give in such thoughts. But given the current situation she could hardly blame her. She knew that she raised a valid point. How do you tell the sister of her cousin's archenemy that you are the cousin of Superman? And you have no ill will against her and want her to stand for what is right while her mother is hell bent on sending away or killing off all aliens. She understood that.
"I understand, Kara." Lena said. "I just wanted to point that you did not trust me enough to share this with me, your friend. I would have understood. There were times I could have used your advice but you weren't there." Lena referred to the time when she let her scientific curiosity take front row seat and by this Rhea and her army came to National City. Lena still felt guilty for that.
Kara knew all that all too well. But it is not that simple. She knows the dangers that come with that burden. Her friends bore the consequences of it. "I know. But it is always so complicated."
"The truth is never complicated, Kara Zor-El." Another voice interrupted.
Both Kara and her friends sought the source of the voice but did not find it.
"Only the implications and perception of society's circle present these types of complications. But the truth is always pure and always simple."
"Who said that?" Winn asked still looking frantically around for the source of the voice.
"All in good time, Mr. Schott," The voice replied. Kara could sense the smirk and amusement in it. "All in good time,"
"When the next millennium," Winn said still looking. But there was nothing there. There was no one there with them. How was this voice projected here then? Perhaps, he was a powerful telepath and they were hearing it in their heads.
"Who are you?"Kara asked. There was something familiar in this voice. She thought she recognized it but couldn't quite figure out where from. Kara tried and focused. The intonation and timber of the voice was familiar to her. She was sure of it. 'Where have I heard this voice before?' Kara struggled to remember further but the answer eluded her. She needed it to speak some more. "Tell me!"
"Kara?"Mon-El looked at her.
"I know you, don't I?" Kara continued ignoring Mon-El for now. "Tell me!"
Soft laughter followed and filled the room, and then the voice whispered. "Patience, Kara Zor-El, patience. We shall meet when the time is right not before."
"I need to know."
"All in good time, Kara Zor-El, flower of Krypton," The voice said softly.
'Flower of Krypton?' Mon-El thought. 'Who says that?'
"Now, you have more pressing matters."The voice continued as softly as before. "Find the Martian and go to Lake Baikal. There you find some answers."
"Lake what?" Winn repeated.
"What do we look for?" Lena asked searching for meaning in this cryptic message.
"Where the reverse streams rule the water, you will find the light of the creator. Follow it to the heart." The voice replied.
"What?" Winn exclaimed confused. 'Who speaks with such riddles these days?
"Find the Martian he knows the meaning of this." The voice faded away. "Good luck!"
This was not enough for Kara to determine the owner of the voice. He had eluded her strategy by lowering his voice. Flower of Krypton, this sounded familiar too. She had several classmates call her that (back on Krypton).
"Kara," Lena interrupted her thoughts.
"Yeah," Kara said. "Sorry, it just sounded so familiar."
"Why would he want us to find this lake wherever it is?" Winn asked.
"It is in Russia."Lena educated him.
"I don't know." Kara said. "We don't have the time for that now. But we do need to find J'onn and M'gann, and the others."
"Unless they were captured…" Mon-El said.
"No, I don't think they were."
"Why? Because the voice said so," Mon-El retorted. He did not like the voice mostly because of its flirtatious nature towards Kara.
"He didn't say anything but he implied it." Lena answered instead. "It also sounded important that we find whatever it is at the lake."
"Lena, we don't have the time for site seeing." Kara objected.
"Maybe you should make the time." Lena countered.
"Why do you think it is important?"
"I don't know Kara. It is a gut feeling." Lena replied. "It is as you said people don't usually drop big bombs in a conversation for the fun of it."
Kara smiled. "That was under the belt."
"I have a good teacher."
"Alright," Kara said. "Winn, you and Mon-El will try and find my sister. Lena and I will try to locate J'onn."
"And the others?" Winn asked.
"Hopefully, they would be with one of the two or both."
Rhea paced nervously now on her ship. The Slavers have not yet arrived and this began to worry her. Then again, they could not mobilize this quickly. The Yllyans have not yet taken aggressive action but that could change quickly.
The humans of National City remained in front of their army but have not taken any action either. It was a stalemate. The humans from the rest the world however have mobilized their puny little forces and have amassed outside the city limits. They were probably waiting for their hero Superman. This put a smile to Rhea. They did not know he was her prisoner.
"My queen," Captain Erthos returned. "The human – Cat Grant,"
Rhea turned around. Cat Grant stood there. Her usual smirk was not on her face. Having suffered under Rhea's rule has wiped it off.
"Thank you, Captain, you are dismissed."Rhea said sending him away with a wave of her hand. She walked around Cat sizing her.
"Supergirl looks up to you, doesn't she?" Rhea asked after awhile.
Cat did not answer right away. Rhea was definitely up to no good. Why else would she bring her here? Cat thought of the possibilities until it hit her. She no longer had Supergirl in her clutches. But then why bring her here and the answer became self evident. She wanted to use Cat as bait. But she was not going to indulge her.
"Don't you have bigger problems?"Cat said.
"They will be resolved soon enough." Rhea replied with a devious smile. "Now answer the question."
"Is this why you felt the need to rally the citizens against those problems?" Cat continued to divert the subject hoping to extract more information for their current predicament.
"They are merely a diversion until my reinforcements arrive."
"What reinforcements?" Cat inquired incredulously. "All of your people are here."
"Yes, they are. But my reinforcements are in the form of the Slavers." Rhea replied. "You know the ones that abducted your people and almost sold them."
Cat stood horrified. She had heard of that. Is this what she planned to do once this was over? That is if she wins. But she can't win. It was unthinkable. It was unconscionable. She can't be allowed to win. Cat knew she had to find a way to speak to the people of National City… and then get rid of these Daxam forces. And…Cat paused.
A thought had just occurred to her. Did she just say – does Supergirl look up to her? That's odd. She was the one that usually looked up to her. Why would Rhea put her question this way? Oh, and it dawned her. She knew Supergirl was Kara.
"I'm afraid you got it backwards." Cat said.
"How so?"Rhea asked confused.
"I'm the one that looks up to Supergirl."
Rhea smiled. She knew Cat played her for the fool. 'Though,' Rhea thought. 'Is it possible she doesn't know who Supergirl is?' Even so, Cat will be the bait. Supergirl can't resist helping those in need. Rhea paced around Cat and quickly noticed the victory smile. So, she does know.
"How foolish do you think I am?"Rhea asked.
"Very," Cat replied regaining her usual composure. "You won't win. Supergirl will defeat you."
"I admire your tenacity however futile it is and foolish." Rhea replied with a growing dark smile. "But I do have a few surprises for her."
"She will overcome them."
"You belief in your hero is admirable, really. But it is misplaced. Supergirl will surrender to me so she can save you all from death or worse – slavery."
"You won't win this one."
"Oh, I will." Rhea said with a triumphant voice. "I'm patient, Miss Grant. However long it might take I will emerge victorious. And thank you for your candor answer, they were most illuminating." Rhea had what she wanted from her. Kara will come for her.
"Captain, take Miss Grant to the brig." Rhea commanded.
Captain Erthos promptly executed his queen's command. On the way back, he received a transmission from the portal. Pleased he returned to the throne room eager to deliver the good news.
"My Queen, the Slavers are here. They have just arrived through the portal. They will be here shortly."
"Excellent news, Captain, Prepare the troops for battle. This stalemate ends now."
The Slavers' vessels arrived and formed around the Daxam flagship. The tension grew up in the air. The battle was inevitable. What transpired next few could anticipate…
To be continued…
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Lordheaven