Chapter III: To Battle.
Lena Luthor stared at the rag-tag rescue team that the hobbit had assembled. Not much to look at, she mused, then again she didn't look like she'd be useful in a fight. Hopefully underestimating Cisco and Felicity would be a similar mistake. Somehow, she doubted it. Whilst Winn had explained that Cisco was a metahuman who had (admittedly temperamental) combat powers, Lena realised he had actually been in battle no more than two or three times. Felicity was even worse. Whilst it was clear that she was used to being in high stress and danger situations she had only really been in one fight in her entire life. Admittedly she and Cisco had defeated ten government agents, armed only with a pair of futuristic stun guns and zero training, but this was infinitely more dangerous. This was Cadmus, and they had just beaten Supergirl, a Daxamite (yes, of course she knew that 'Mike' wasn't who he claimed to be), a Martian and Agent Scully (another of Cat's nicknames that Lena found fitted rather well). In short, Lillian's force was much more dangerous than some 70's suits.
"Winn, what're you thinking?!" Muttered Guardian, agitated, to the tech genius when he thought the others were out of earshot, Lena didn't know about Felicity and Cisco, but she certainly wasn't. He really was new to this Superhero business…
"Lena's a loose cannon," she raised an eyebrow but decided to stay quiet, "and Vibe and Felicity are unknown quantities. Why haven't you called in our friends in Gotham instead?" He asked, not quite angrily, but there was something about his tone that Lena didn't like.
"Because, by the time that Batman, or whichever of his brood you have connections with, arrive chances are they'll already be dead. As for being a loose cannon, you're right, you can't control me and you haven't the first clue what I can do, same goes for Felicity and Cisco, we are all unknown quantities for Cadmus, they won't be expecting a counter attack after they crippled the DEO in their attack, we hold the advantage." She said, striding closer to the armoured man, who to his credit didn't flinch.
"Why don't we calm this down?" Started Winn, a panicked look on his face. Clearly, he was expecting them all to jump on white horses and ride in to save the day. From her time in the boardroom Lena was not quite so naive to believe that they would become a team within a matter of minutes. There were clearly relationships within the team, Winn and Guardian obviously worked closely together, Cisco and Felicity were well versed with each other's mannerisms and seemed to work well together, hell, even Lena and Winn had built the trap to stop the thugs with alien weaponry at the L-Corp event. In short, there was potential here, but it wasn't going to be easy.
Lena watched as Guardian took a breath.
"Right, sorry Winn. What's our plan?" He asked, looking towards the shorter man for the answer, panicking him even more, apparently, he hoped by inviting Lena along he would be spared the burden of command. He was wrong. Winn was clearly the common denominator between all of them, Cisco and Felicity respected him, Guardian relied upon him and Lena trusted him. They didn't all feel that way about the others.
"Um… I… Haven't really got past assembling a team yet…" He admitted, abashed. Cisco struggled not to chuckle, it reminded him an awful lot of the way in which Barry had acted after calling together the heroes of Earth One, and Supergirl, to defeat the Dominators. Unfortunately for Winn, he didn't have a Green Arrow to pull him out of the fire. There was an awkward silence for a moment until Lena stepped in.
"Do we know where we're going? That always helps when deciding on a strategy." She offered, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Winn didn't need that right now.
"Oh! The three of us," Felicity indicated herself, Winn and Cisco, "can run a scan for Kryptonite or possibly even Martian DNA within National City."
"I can try to get in contact with Maggie and the NCPD, see if they've got anything?" Added Guardian.
"I'll talk to some of my brother's old contacts online posing as my mother, news of her arrest hasn't spread yet and they owe her favours." Lena supplied, Winn looked relieved at his friends' help.
"Right, sounds like a plan, let's get too it."
Lena left the three nerds to it and went upstairs to her office and opened a secure chat with Lex's Kryptonite supplier.
[Lillian Luthor logged on]
[Bialya Agent logged on]
Lillian Luthor: Can you confirm that you sent the shipment to the right location? It hasn't arrived and I'm running out of patience.
Bialya Agent: Who are you, and what are you doing on this line?
Lillian Luthor: Who are you to ask that of me?! I can have you replaced in an hour. Answer my question.
Bialya: Sorry ma'am. Just wanted to be certain, I've heard your daughter has been snooping around lately…
Lena allowed herself a smile. She may have hated the woman, but she knew her mother's reaction to being challenged.
Lillian Luthor: Of course, now, kindly confirm that shipment and the exact address you sent it too.
Bialya: Yes ma'am, I sent two squads of soldiers with 3kg of Kryptonite to Bunker IV in National City. I don't know why they haven't arrived yet, I ordered them to avoid Gotham en-route, so I doubt they've been intercepted.
Lillian Luthor: Thank you, I will contact you again if they haven't arrived tomorrow.
[Lillian Luthor logged out]
[Bialya Agent logged out]
That was interesting. Lillian had no less than four bunkers in National City, at least three kilograms of Kryptonite, and she was getting it from Bialya. The real question now was if Queen Bee knew about this. First, realised Lena, she had to pass on this information to Winn and the others.
Unsurprisingly the news was greeted with worry, and a great deal of confusion.
"Bialya?! As in Queen Bee and Black Adam?! How the hell did they get Kryptonite?!" Guardian reeled back, shocked. Felicity and Cisco looked equally lost.
"Bialya?" She asked, looking lost. Great, they didn't have a Bialya, lucky them.
"That'll take far too long to explain now, all you need to know is that it's led by an actual evil queen, with mind powers, and a magically-powered metahuman with the strength to stand toe to toe with Superman and come out with a draw." Explained Winn, ignoring Cisco's wide eyes, he'd seen the lack of effect, well just about anything, had on Supergirl.
"Anything on Bunker IV yet Lena?" He asked, Lena explained that she had had no such luck yet. Winn looked disappointed but said nothing and pulled out his mobile.
"Guardian. Hey, anything with Maggie? Damn, keep looking and asking around please. Thanks mate." He hung up, looking even more disgruntled.
"Hey! Winn! We've got a hit on the Kryptonite, about the right amount too. It's… about two blocks North of the DEO." Called Cisco across from over the top of a computer as he held his hand for Felicity to high five him, without even glancing in her direction. Lena had to chuckle, three of a kind.
Throughout the mission, Lena had noticed that Winn had been very careful only to mention the Kryptonian as Supergirl, clearly, he hadn't realised that Lena had joined the dots a few weeks previous. Apparently, Scully and the Jolly Green Giant hadn't mentioned that she knew to anyone after all.
Kara Danvers left Lena's office, somewhat flustered, after Snapper sent her to build her relationship with a 'valuable source' and hopefully 'get something somewhat useful out of it'. They had ended up just chatting about what it was like to live in someone's shadow, Lena in the Luthor name, and Kara in her sister's. Supposedly. Something didn't quite add up about that particular story, but Kara clearly knew how it felt to try to make a name for herself away from someone else, but Alex was in such a different field to her sister that it didn't make sense. She didn't press it mind, she liked Kara a lot. She always saw the best in people, she was kind and funny. Lena actually liked spending time with Kara, she wasn't going to put the girl in an awkward situation.
There was a loud knock on the French windows. Supergirl.
"Hello Supergirl, what can I do for you?" She asked, in her smoothest voice, she didn't know what it was about the hero that Lena found so attractive. Maybe it was the fact that she saw the best in people, or the fact that she inspired hope. Or maybe it was the arms. They certainly didn't hurt.
"I need your advice Lena, and I don't know who else to ask." The youngest Luthor was somewhat intrigued, and promised that she would do the best that she could to give her worldly wisdom. Supergirl blushed a deep shade of crimson and Lena smiled widely.
"Ever since Superman helped me with Metallo people have lost faith in me. They don't think I can handle the new threats that Cadmus is bringing forward, and that I have to hide behind my cousin every time something goes wrong." She practically sobbed, her arms doing the cute flapping thing, that. now she thought about it was very familiar. Lena thought quietly about her situation for a moment, it sounded a lot like the conversation that herself and Kara had a few minutes before hand. Wait. That was it, that's where she knew the hand thing! Kara Danvers. She even blushed the same shade of red, and Supergirl was only a little taller than the reporter, possibly if she stood a little straighter, and lost the glasses…
That was it! Kara Danvers was Supergirl. Lena fought her impulse to reveal that she knew to the young hero, but decided against it. She'd wait until Kara trusted her enough to tell her the truth herself, and as it turned out her two friends in National City were actually the same person it became much more important to give good advice.
"I think, the way to solve this would be to go to Metropolis and step on his toes for once, show that it's give and take and that he needs your help every now and again." Supergirl, Kara, stood quietly for a second before nodding.
"Thank you, Lena, I appreciate it." She nodded regally, before leaping into the sky.
Not two hours later Alex Danvers and the 6ft 8' Martian (whom she immediately dubbed the Jolly Green Giant, which took away the fear factor slightly) arrived on the very same balcony. Apparently Supergirl had told them where she had got her advice and the two had been smart enough to realise that Lena was almost as good detective as their friends in Gotham.
"Miss Luthor, if you ever reveal her secret, I will personally see to it that you will never see the light of day again." Threatened the Martian in a low, deep, cold voice. Lena laughed.
"Firstly, you don't frighten me Mr. J'onzz, actually, Agent Danvers is far more likely to try to take me down than you. Secondly, I have no intention of telling anyone I know Kara's secret, not even Kara. I truly believe in what she does for this city and is my friend, both as Supergirl and as Kara Danvers. If you think I would put my friend in danger then you are much mistaken." Lena's voice was also low and dangerous, a fury evident behind it. She couldn't tell why exactly, but on further examination it was probably because they must have been able to tell just how important Kara was to her, and they still believed that she would hurt the girl. All because she was a Luthor.
"If she doesn't already know, don't tell Kara I've worked this out, I don't want things to change between us." She asked on a whim and the Martian nodded almost imperceivably.
The pair left with a few more veiled threats, but the venom was gone from their postures, leaving Lena somewhat amused.
Lena jolted back to the present with a start. Kara was captured. Again.
"So, what are we going to do about Cadmus?" Lena asked Cisco and Felicity as Winn recalled Guardian from the NCPD. "Can you hack the building and cause a bit of chaos to get us in?" She suggested, Felicity and Cisco looked at one another.
"We've got a program lined up that will turn off all the lighting, rewire the alarms and if we're lucky, disable any security measures." Felicity explained, Winn raised his eyebrows, impressed and nodded.
"We've got my phasers-"
"Winn, we are not calling them phasers, I may be a nerd, but even I refuse to rescue Supergirl pretending to be Captain Kirk." Snapped Lena sternly. Winn and Cisco looked crestfallen and Felicity smiled at the taller woman gratefully.
"Huh, I had you pegged as a next-gen kinda girl," Lena sighed, "but anyway. We have… the stun guns, Guardian's suit is high tech enough to stop most kinds of ammunition that Cadmus can throw at us and Cisco, if you can get your powers working you'll be one hell of an asset." Winn finished. Cisco nodded determinedly and made a few adjustments to his goggles nervously as Lena and Guardian poured over maps of the facility that Felicity had pulled up. Winn and Felicity added the finishing touches to their computer virus. They were almost ready.
Cadmus wouldn't know what hit them.
A/N: Hi guys! Sorry about the last chapter, I'm not hugely happy with it, don't really know what happened… This one is shaping up slightly better but still feels a little confused. The good news however is that I am beginning to see this story shaping up a little (Huzzah!) and will probably be finished by the end of January. I'm planning to build on this world, and bring the Batman crowd into National City in a different story following this one. As always, thanks for your support and please follow, favourite and review. Constructive criticism accepted, as well as any story ideas or complaints about how badly I've portrayed the characters (I'm really not happy with Cisco and Felicity at this point)
Thanks guys.