Disclaimer: I do not own Supergirl, Superman, or Valor

Story Title: Supergirl: the Rise of Valor

Chapter 3: Pestilence and Blight

DEO Headquarters

Kara sat in the infirmary next to Mon-el's bed. It reminded her of the three other times she had sat next to his bed; two of those times didn't turn out very well for her, but this time she was hopeful.

Mon-el was sleeping peacefully, but Querl and Alex had both been in and out of the room, monitoring his vital signs and looking for any signs that some drastic change would occur. Querl hadn't told them much about the permanent cure, except for its potential dangers.

Alex and Querl stepped back into the room. "You need to tell me what this cure actually does," Alex said her voice demanding and urgent.

Querl stopped when he saw Kara sitting next to Mon-el. "You haven't moved."

Kara looked up at him. "You sit next to someone's bed when they are sick, especially when you care for them."

Querl nodded; he was never really good with emotions or the nuances of social behavior. He turned back to Alex. "Alright, I will explain the cure. I'll try to use small words."

Kara saw Alex's eyes narrow. "Just tell us Brainy," she said before Alex could ring his neck.

"As you wish." He pulled up a seat and sat on the other side of Mon-el. Alex stepped closer to Kara; the two women watched the descendant of Brainiac closely. "You've heard of gene therapy I presume." Alex and Kara both nodded. "Good, so this cure effectively changes certain genes within Mon-el's genetic makeup."

"So, you are using gene therapy to alter his DNA," Alex replied.

"Yes, that's what I said," Querl said, starting to get a little annoyed by the human. "You see, a Daxamite is not too far off from a Kryptonian. Dax-Am, the Kryptonian explorer found Daxam and began its colonization. So, with Mon-el being a direct descendant it was easy enough." He never got to finish his statement.

"What?" Kara said. "He never told me that."

Querl frowned. "I don't know why. It was easy enough to discover when we researched his DNA. He is a male in the male line from Dax-Am, it was very fortuitous."

Alex nodded. "It allowed you to isolate certain Kryptonian genes to develop a gene therapy protocol to change those genes back to Kryptonian." Alex's eyes widened as the true answer came to her. "The cure makes him half Kryptonian."

Querl smiled. "You're pretty smart for a primitive human."

Alex was about to pull her gun on the alien but Kara caught her arm. "So, he would have Kryptonian abilities?"

Querl shrugged. "Not sure, it is certainly possible, but it could be that he only gets stronger physically, that his Daxamite powers enhance without him ever developing any Kryptonian abilities. Also, he could develop another ability that neither races have. He'll be a hybrid, so a lot of things are possible."

"Do you really think there is a chance that he could die or change into some monster?" Kara asked worriedly.

Querl shook his head. "No, I think any danger of that would have occurred in the first hour. From what I can tell by our scans his current rate of genetic change is slowing exponentially, meaning that the genetic changes should be completed in the next hour or two."

"So, he'll wake up soon?" Kara asked hopefully.

Querl frowned. "Hard to say. It might be a while before he wakes up."

Alex sighed. "So, what do we need to do for him?"

"Just monitor him and let me know if you see any changes or he wakes up," Querl said before taking his leave.

Alex frowned. "He's asking to get squashed."

Kara laughed. "Don't be so hard on him. He doesn't know he's being an ass."

Alex took a deep breath. "I still don't like how they lied to Mon-el. I was so mad at him returning married and now I find out that they all lied to him and that they were responsible for him being in the future in the first place."

"They should have told him about that, but J'onn was the one that gave them the mission. He was the one that told them to keep it a secret," Kara replied.

Alex nodded. "Well, I can't blame J'onn, his future self did that after all of us were killed. I can't imagine what that would be like."

Kara placed her hand on her sister's shoulder. "Hey, the Legion is here and we're going to make sure that none of that happens."

Alex nodded. "Well, I…" Alex stopped talking as Imra entered the infirmary.

Imra stopped at the sight of Kara sitting next to Mon-el, holding his hand. Kara let go of his hand quickly. Imra closed her eyes, sighing before opening them again. "How is he?" she asked softly.

Kara looked at Alex. "He's stable, but we don't know when he'll wake up." Alex said before she stepped away from Kara. "Excuse me, I have work to do." Alex hurried out of the infirmary her brow creased in worry at what could happen between Kara and Imra.

Imra walked to Mon-el's bedside, sitting down across from Kara. She looked at Mon-el carefully. He looked so pale. "Why would he do it?"

Kara frowned at the question. "Do what, try to have a permanent cure?"

Imra's eyes narrowed. "Go against the Legion. Risk his own life for what, so he wouldn't have to take the supplement?"

Kara shook her head. "I can't speak for him, but betrayal can make people do some illogical things, especially when those that betray you are those that you care for, those that you sacrificed so much for."

Imra wiped her eyes that began to tear up. "We… I never meant to hurt him."

"Why didn't you tell him about how he got to the future?"

Imra took a deep breath. "We needed him and besides, he was so torn up when we found him. He needed us to be there for him. He had to trust us for the mission and for himself. He wouldn't have survived the future all alone. The future is not a safe place."

Kara sighed; she didn't want to feel sorry for Imra or the Legion, but she could sympathize with them. They were in a tough spot, but she still resented them for how they hurt Mon-el. "Mon-el won't easily forgive any of you."

Imra nodded. "I know," she said. She looked at Mon-el before turning her gaze toward Kara. "Mon-el and I married because it was needed, not because we were in love. The Legion needed to unite the forces of good and our marriage was the way to do that. I was originally engaged to Garth. I loved him the way Mon-el had loved you. He died on a mission with Mon-el and Brainy. His death really tore up the Legion. Without Mon-el putting his pain aside and thinking for the future; we wouldn't have gotten as far as we did. I grew to love Mon-el, but it wasn't the same as I loved Garth. I think Mon-el grew to love me as well, but I don't believe it was the same way as he loved you."

Kara forced away the tears that formed in her blue eyes. "I still love him, it's only been seven months for me."

Imra nodded. "My marriage is over with Mon-el. I see that now. I knew there would always be a danger of that when he learned the truth. I had accepted that, but I was never prepared for how much it hurts."

Kara reached across Mon-el's unconscious form and grabbed Imra's hand. "You don't know its over."

Imra forced a smile. "Thank you, but I saw the look in his eyes. It's over for sure."

"What are you going to do now?"

Imra let go of Kara's hand before she wiped the tears out of her eyes. "We have a mission to save the future by saving the past. Brainy and I need to meet with all of you. We have a lot to prepare for. It's going to be hard to hear, but the future needs us to make sacrifices."

"What kind of sacrifices?"

Imra stood up and walked to the door. "You will see," she said before she left to go find Brainiac Five.

Kara stood up, leaning forward and placing a kiss on Mon-el's forehead. "Get better Mon-el; we're going to need you."

Conference Room… an hour later

Kara finished hugging her cousin before the two sat down on one side of the table across from Querl and Imra. J'onn and Alex sat at each end of the table and Winn sat next to Kal-el; he was almost vibrating with excitement.

Imra cleared her throat. "It is good to see you Kal-el."

Kal-el stared at Imra in shock. "How do you know me?"

"We met in the past. I met you with two other Legionnaires."

Kal-el or Superman sat in shock. "I don't remember that."

Imra nodded grimly. "Once we received the message from J'onn from the past we pieced events together. You see, an event occurred that changed history, an event that involved Mon-el."

Kara sat up straighter. "How was Mon-el involved?"

"Mon-el's pod got caught in the Well of Stars, similar to how Kara's pod got caught in the Phantom Zone. However, Mon-el was never supposed to be caught in the Well of Stars. You see the destruction of an alternate Earth by the villain Zoom, caused a ripple effect that impacted our Universe. This ripple effect caused Mon-el's pod to be stuck in the Well of Stars and made it possible for him to arrive many years later, to be discovered by Kara and J'onn."

Superman frowned. "How was he supposed to arrive?"

Imra smiled. "Mon-el was supposed to arrive further in the past, about the time you were fifteen years of age. You accidentally exposed him to lead and sent him into the Phantom Zone so he wouldn't die and so the Legion would find him a thousand years in the future and cure him."

"So, J'onn sent you a message to pull Mon-el into the future, so you can cure him and for the Legion to come to the past and set the events right," Superman said.

"To a point," Querl said. "We could not resolve the changes completely, but we needed to fix the major issues. The rise of the Worldkillers, the destruction of the heroes, and the decimation of Earth."

Alex nodded. "How do we stop the Worldkillers?"

Querl looked at Imra expectantly. "Reign and Purity aren't the real problems. Pestilence is the true problem."

"Who?" Winn asked.

Kara frowned. "The Priestess at Fort Rozz talked about Pestilence."

Imra nodded. "That is where the past changed. You see Rhea and the Daxamites should have never come to Earth. They should never have tried to conquer the planet. In their haste to control the Earth, they killed the woman that would become Pestilence."

"Wait up," Winn said. "If Pestilence is already dead then what do we have to worry about?"

Querl frowned. "That's just the thing. Pestilence may be dead, but she's not gone. You see, Pestilence's power was a techno-organic virus that infected people, either killing them or turning them into zombie-like creatures."

"Zombies," Winn said his voice filled with fear.

Imra shook her head. "Not zombies like your Dawn of the Dead; no, these undead or techno-organic beings that Pestilence creates will become the Blight and they will cause untold death and destruction across the galaxy. They are the ultimate destruction of the future."

Everyone sat in silence, taking in the threat before them. "What can we do?" J'onn asked.

Imra smiled. "We learned from your message what we could and then we studied the past as much we could, as well as the interactions that the Legion had with the Blight. The only way to stop the Blight is to destroy Pestilence here in the past."

"What about the other Worldkillers?" Alex asked.

Querl nodded. "As I believe you all surmised from your interactions with Julia and Purity, the Worldkillers have two parts. One is the human side and the other is the Worldkiller."

Kara nodded. "So, we need to separate the two."

Querl nodded. "That is part of the solution. However, we need to reduce their power first."

"How do we do that?" Winn questioned.

Imra looked at Brainy. "We find their crystals and destroy them. The crystals are what gives them their extra power. Without those crystals, they would be as strong as a normal Kryptonian, maybe less since these are hybrids we're talking about."

"They would be susceptible to red sun and Kryptonite," J'onn said.

"Or, to my fist in their faces," Kara said, earning a smile from Alex. "But, I don't want to hurt Julia or Reign's human side. What can we do to separate them?"

"That's where this comes into play," Querl said, holding Kara's necklace in his hand.

"My necklace," Kara said. "The one I gave to Mon-el."

"Yes, this is a special gift from your mother, Kara. It's very special, it is a form of black Kryptonite," Querl said earning fearful looks from Kara and Kal-el. "Don't worry, you're mother made this hybrid black kryptonite. It does not hurt pure blooded Kryptonians, but it will hurt hybrids, it will split them into two beings, that's why I took it away from Mon-el. You see, once his transformation is complete he will be a hybrid."

Superman leaned on the table. "So, we need to find the crystals and destroy them, and then we need to show the rock to Reign and Purity, and then we can stop the Worldkillers."

"One problem there, what about Pestilence?" Alex asked worriedly.

Imra frowned. "That's the real problem. You see her human side was killed, so all we have to face is the Worldkiller."

"By herself, she should be susceptible to Kryptonite and the red sun; we can take her," Kara said.

Querl shook his head. "Pestilence is not a Kryptonian hybrid; she's a Daxamite."

"What?" Kara asked. "Then lead should stop her."

Imra frowned, looking down at the table sadly. "She's dead, all that's left is the techno-organic virus. We have speculated on how to destroy it, but nothing has worked, so far in our experiments."

"So, you came all this way to lose?" J'onn asked.

Querl frowned. "We had to try. We hoped that all of us working together could overcome the problem."

Alex had listened to all of the talk, but one question still bugged her. "Why all the secrecy from Mon-el?"

Querl looked at Imra; Saturn Girl nodded. "Pestilence was taken from Daxam at a young age because she had a disease; one that was part of a plague that ravaged the planet after the great war with Krypton. Her parents didn't want her killed outright, so they gave her to the group of priestesses that created the Worldkillers. Who is to know whether the young girl's parents knew the true nature of the priestesses or not."

Kara was curious now. "Do you know the girl's name?"

Querl looked at Imra. Imra frowned before taking a deep breath. "That's the reason for the secrecy, the girl's name was Laurel Gand; she was Mon-el's older sister."

AN: Stay tuned for next chapter as we find how Lena is doing helping Sam. The team works to locate the Fortress of Sanctuary. The Fortress of Sanctuary AI works to bring Purity forward and over Julia, while also preparing the way for Pestilence.