A/N: Throughout the story, all A/N will be in bold. Hope you enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Supergirl.
Chapter 3: The Heart to Heart
"Would you believe the bathroom?" Ali asked. The look Alex gave her told her that she would in fact not believe it and that she doesn't appreciate the joke. "Same old, Alex," Ali said as she tried to move to a sitting position.
Alex took a step forward, "Don't presume to know me. You know noth-" Alex started.
"Alex?"
The voice was soft and small, but caught the attention of everyone in the room, even Ali. It was Kara.
In a flash, Alex was by her side, "I'm here, sweetie. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," Kara murmured, "Just a little tired."
Alex looked at Kara's vitals and then back to Kara, "No pain?"
"Only my arm is a little sore," Kara whimpered, "What happened?"
"That is something we would all like to know," Hank said. Suddenly all eyes in the room were on Ali.
Knowing it was time to explain herself, Ali pulled herself, with much effort, into a sitting position against the wall. Looking up at Alex, she extended her hand, "A little help?"
Alex narrowed her eyes, but then walked over and hauled Ali to her feet. It was then that Ali realized just how bad of a shape she was in. The second she was on her feet; her world began to spin. She stumbled back a bit, but Alex steadied her and helped her walk over to the bed. While Ali adjusted on the bed, Alex explained to Kara who Ali was claiming to be.
Kara glanced over, "So you are our sister from another earth, Alison."
Ali smiled, "First of all, its Ali. No one calls me Alison unless it's my mom and only when she's angry with me. Second, yes, I am your younger sister. On my earth, Alex and I are three years apart and when you arrived you landed in the middle of us, age wise, and-"
"No offense, but you can have this conversation later. Right now, what did you do to Kara?" Hank asked sternly.
Ali looked at him and still wondered by the Martian was in disguise, "Why do you wear that skin, Martian?" This definitely caught everyone in the room off guard, and they just looked at each other.
"I am the one asking the questions here," Hank said asserting his authority, "What did you do?"
"But I-" Ali tried.
"Answer the question," Hank nearly growled.
Ali clenched her jaw. "Well, I guess I should start by saying that Kara was not my intended target-" Ali started.
Alex did not even hesitate, "Who was?"
Ali glanced over to Alex and then back to Hank. "A Kryptonian criminal who had gone on a rampage over the city. I was the closest in the vicinity, and therefore, I was tasked with his capture. However-" Suddenly, Ali let out a gasp and pulled her hands to her head.
"Sal?" Ali questioned.
"It seems your body took a larger hit from the element KG removal procedure than we thought. If you don't get some food and water soon, you will pass out again," Sal replied, worried.
Nodding slightly, Ali went to explain the situation, but only managed a groan as she clasped her head. "Sal..." Ali moaned in her head.
"You need me to explain the situation?" Sal guessed.
With the slightest head nod, Sal understood, "Of course, ma'am. Speaker mode activated."
"Hello, everyone, my name is Sal, and I am the A.I. that accompanies Agent Danvers," Sal spoke so that everyone in the room could hear him.
"You are what now?" Alex questioned looking at Ali who looked like she was just struggling to breathe.
"I am the A.I. integrated with her and-" Sal started.
"Integrated? Like on a cerebral level?" Winn asked with extreme excitement in his eyes.
"While I can answer your questions, sir, I think there are more pressing issues at hand," Sal responded.
"Sir? I like this A.I., guys," Winn smiled as he looked around. However, once he found that no one else was smiling, he dropped his head down to look at his tablet.
"Agent Danvers is in bad shape and in desperate need of food and water. I know you have yet to fully trust her; however, she will not be able to answer any of your questions if she is dead," Sal said calmly.
Hank and Alex looked at each other, and Hank nodded. Alex pulled out a walkie-talkie and orders some agents to bring up food and water. About five mins later, it was here, and Ali grabbed the water bottle and drank heavily.
"While Agent Danvers eats, she asked me to explain the situation to you all-" Sal explained before being interrupted.
"She asked? But she hasn't said anything." Hank questioned.
"We can communicate completely in thought, even if her suit was removed. Since I am physically integrated with the agent, we can communicate," Sal answered. He then started his explanation, "Ali has already explained who she was after. The majority of the fight occurred on earth 7. However, after a while of fighting, Ali and the criminal were wearing down, so Ali took a risky move to end it. She readied her blasters to end the fight when a smoke screen appeared right in front of her. Because of the gas mask I deployed, Agent Danvers flew straight into it without much thought, knowing that going through the smoke screen would be the quickest route to the criminal. However, what we did not realize was that the criminal had opened a portal to this earth on the opposite side of the smoke screen, so when we flew out of the screen, we had actually jumped to this earth. In an attempt to not lose the criminal, Ali scanned the area and saw a flash of red that she thought was the criminal. She fired her blasters at and hit it. However, it was Kara and not the criminal. She tried to see if she was okay but was surrounded by your agents, and well you know the rest of the story," Sal finished.
No one said anything for a long time, and all that could be heard was Ali eating and drinking. Finally, Alex asked, "What did the blast actually do to Kara?"
Sal explained, "The blast sent thousands of tiny element KG shards throughout her body, and the shards lodged in various places which is why she passed out. The disc Ali used to extract them, acted as a magnet for the element KG and pulled them out of her body rather harshly."
Ali grimaced as Sal finished his explanation.
"Sorry, what's element KG?" Alex asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Oh, well,-" Sal started.
"According to my readings, it's kryptonite, green kryptonite," Winn interrupted as his fingers flew across his tablet.
"Kryptonite?" Ali laughed, speaking up for the first time in a while. She coughed a little, but still laughed, "I like that much better than element KG." However, her mood sobered when she thought about everything that has happened. Ali looked over at Kara, "I am so sorry. This was only meant to be used against criminals."
"It's fine. I know you did not do it on purpose," Kara started but Alex cut her off.
"What happened to you?" Alex asked suspiciously.
"What do you mean?" Ali countered.
"Well, you passed out. So, what did the procedure do to you?" Alex pushed.
Realizing this was a good question, all eyes turned to Ali. "Let's just say that my suit is running a little low on power, so any actions I execute are, well, harder, which can lead to hypoglycemia. It's kind of complicated," Ali answered vaguely. Alex opened her mouth to ask another question, but Kara asked one first.
"Are there a lot of Kryptonians on your earth?" Kara questioned with a burning wonder in her eyes. "I mean you said that its meant for Kryptonian criminals not citizens, both words were used in the plural. So, does that mean there are a lot of Kryptonians on earth-7?"
Ali looked at her with sympathy. Ali knew of a few of the major historical differences between the earths, but one of the main ones was what happened with Krypton. Ali knew exactly what Kara really meant by her question. "Yes", Ali said simply, but somehow felt the need to explain, "I learned that on this earth, when Krypton was destroyed that very few made it off the planet."
Kara nodded, never taking her eyes off of Ali.
"Well that wasn't the case on my earth," Ali said as Kara shifted on her bed with interest. Ali continued, "Many of the events from our earths are the same; however, that one is not. While Krypton was destroyed, many Kryptonians made it off of Krypton and eventually to earth, including…" Ali hesitated only a moment before saying, "your parents."
Kara just stared at her, not knowing how to respond.
"Your parents," Ali began, "along with Kal's parents started the Kryptonian Corps. An organization designed to protect earth from all intergalactic threats. Sal and I are a part of the KC, and-"
"Wait," Alex interrupted, "if that many Kryptonians survived, why was Kara on earth before her family? Since you say we are all sisters on your earth, that means that she was on earth alone for a while. Wouldn't she have left Krypton with her parents?"
Ali tried not to smile. This Alex was very observant and did not miss a thing, "Kal's parents and Kara's parents sent them because they did not think it was possible to leave Krypton and would not abandon their people. However, at the last minute, Jor-el managed to get a portal open and led thousands of Kryptonians to another planet. However, Kal and Kara were already on their way to earth. Kal made it before Kara just like on this earth, but 7 years after Kara landed. Thousands of Kryptonians showed up to earth. Luckily, my earth had known Kryptonians existed and welcomed them with open arms and even help them start the KC. For 7 years though, Kara lived with my family, and she was and always will be my sister," Ali finished.
She opened her mouth to say something else when an alarm started to blare. Ali rubbed her forehead, "Could someone turn that off?"
Everyone ignored her as Hank and Winn rushed out of the room. Alex stayed back to convince Kara to stay in bed, who only agreed to stay after failing to stand up properly. Alex soon left, leaving Kara and Ali alone.
Ali refused to make eye contact with Kara and decided instead to just stare at her feet. However, after a few minutes Kara broke the silence, "How are you feeling?"
Ali scoffed, "You really shouldn't be the one asking that question."
"Yet, I am," Kara countered patiently.
Ali didn't say anything at first, then she turned to Kara with remorse in her eyes, "I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened to you. You are-"
"Don't. You didn't do it on purpose, and the most important thing was that you came back and fixed it. Plus," Kara said as she unconsciously started rubbing her arm, "I'm almost good as new, almost as if nothing happened."
Ali merely looked down and started playing with her hands. She didn't know what to say because had she been doing her job properly this never would have happened.
"So," Kara pushed trying to keep any sort of conversation going, "what are Kara and Alex of earth 7 like?"
Ali didn't say anything for a long time, and many emotions passed over her face, the main one being sadness. "They aren't that different from you and Alex. Although, my Kara is a little sterner than you, and my Alex a little less stern than this Alex," Ali laughed. "Sorry, I'm not explaining it very well," she apologized with a fond smile, but it dropped quickly.
"What's wrong?" Kara questioned giving Ali a knowing look.
"That is a long story. Plus, you'd probably just end up hating me more," Ali said solemnly.
"Hey, I don't hate you. You can talk to me. We are sisters after all," Kara smiled.
"You should hate me," Ali objected with fierceness in her eyes, "I almost killed you."
"But you didn't," Kara offered gently.
"Don't do that. Just don't," Ali pleaded looking away.
"Don't do what?" Kara asked.
"Don't act like what I did was okay. It's not. Nothing I've done lately has been okay," Ali sighed looking away.
"What does that mean?" Kara asked confused, "Just talk to m-"
"I almost killed my own sister," Ali nearly yelled at Kara. "I pretty much left her to die in the field."
Kara looked taken aback, and Ali could tell she was clearly not expecting that. "Not quick to be so nice, are you now?" Ali replied harshly. Ali knew she was letting her anger at herself get the better of her.
Ali was about to apologize, when Kara spoke up, "What happened?"
Ali scoffed again but this time, there was a hint of guilt in it, "Does it matter? My sister almost died, and it was my fault."
Kara hesitated only a second before continuing, "It does matter because sometimes the situation is out of your control."
Ali looked at Kara curiously, but before she could respond, Kara confessed, "I broke Alex's arm once."
Now, it was Ali's turn to be surprised, "I would have never guessed. You guys seem so close. Was it an accident?"
"Sort of," Kara said, " I was under the influence of red kryptonite-"
"Red kryptonite? I thought the green one was called kryptonite?" Ali asked slightly confused.
"Well, it's all kryptonite, we just name it red or green or whatever based on the color," Kara stated in a matter of fact tone.
"Oh, interesting. We have a similar naming system. On earth 7, what you call green kryptonite is called element KG. K stands for origin, so Krypton, and the G stands for a distinctive characteristic, green, so KG. Red kryptonite is called element KR, R for red. Quite simple really. Anyway, what happened?" Ali asked after realizing she had digressed.
Kara began to recount the story of one of the worst days in her life, and by the end, she had a very solemn and sad look on her face.
"But it wasn't your fault. You were essentially drugged," Ali commented.
"True," Kara nodded, "but it doesn't change what I did." Then, Kara looked up at Ali, expectantly.
Ali knew it was her turn to confess, "Well, unlike you, I was in my right and clear mind." Sighing, Ali started, "It all started with a complication in a mission, four months ago. Kara, Alex, and I were assigned to restrain a Kryptonian criminal attempting to escape one of the prisons."
FLASHBACK TO THE INCIDENT
"Kar, Al, according to my scans, the criminal has walled himself off in the kitchen area of the prison. If we all breached at once, we could stop him before he hurts anyone else," Ali said fiercely while looking over the scans on her arm.
"Wait, I'm low on battery. I only have one good shot left in the suit. This three-day fight has really drained my power. What about you guys?" Alex questioned.
"I have two good shots left," Kara responded as she looked over her shoulder, "Well, plus my usual powers."
"I have one good portal left. If I use any more energy in a blast, we can't portal back," Ali commented as she ran the numbers to confirm her energy levels.
"Okay, so here is the plan," Kara said, and proceeded to explain what was going to happen. "Ali, you make sure to hold back. Use your gun, but not the blasters. Only use the blasters as a last resort, we will need you to portal out of here."
"No, listen if we all go in blasters blazing, he won't be able to stand against the gun fire, and he will fall-" Ali tried to explain.
Kara turned toward Ali, eyes unflinching, "I am team leader here. We will follow my plan, and that is the end of discussion." Ali openly challenged Kara by holding her gaze, but eventually she looked away.
"Relax, both of you. Ali, Kara's plan will work. Don't-" Alex tried.
"And if the criminal gets away?" Ali demanded.
"He won't. We will not fail this mission," Kara said sternly. Then more softly, she continued, "Have I ever let you down, Ali?"
Ali shook her head.
"Then trust me now." Without seeing her response, Kara turned around, getting ready to breach the kitchen.
PRESENT TIME
"We breached as Kara planned, taking up our positions. However, things got crazy fast. Turns out that the criminal had hidden weapons in the kitchen and had set up a death trap for us. Between the bullets and knives, we were a little scraped up, but alive. However…" Ali resumed.
FLASHBACK TO THE INCIDENT
"I'm under heavy fire here, but I have a clean shot of the criminal," Ali yelled in her comms, "I'm going to take it."
However, as Ali lined up the shot, Kara screamed back, "Don't take that shot, soldier. You know your job, stick to it."
"My job is to make sure this criminal doesn't get away," Ali argued, but it was too late, Ali had lost her sights on the target.
Ali smacked her hand on the floor in frustration when an idea came to her. She turned to Kara who was about 30 feet to her right when she saw it. An element N knife laced with kryptonite heading straight for Kara's back. Kara, who was facing Ali was too absorbed in the screen on her arm to react fast enough. Ali knew she wouldn't make it to Kara in time to move her out of the way, so she readied her blaster; however, as she was about to fire, the knife lodged itself, not into Kara, but into Alex who had jumped in front of it.
A/N: TBC… Let me know what you think!