Author's Note: Hello, all, and welcome to this chapter. I hope that you had a great day and that this makes you happy somehow. I have a lot planned for this chapter; we'll see at the end if I accomplished it all. Who knows. Thanks for all the reviews; I enjoy reading each one. Please enjoy the latest chapter of Out Of Place!
Chapter 7
Lena and Kara exchanged glances, each thinking at an incredible rate about their daughter's questions.
Kara knew for herself that the world of crimefighting, especially within the DEO, was rough, but she also understood the need to help people. She wasn't sure yet it Lilith felt that need, but she was pretty sure that she wouldn't have been asking about her powers otherwise.
Lena was thinking about the science behind her daughter's powers. Her mother's use of the phrase "but better" when conparing Lilith's powers to Kara's seemed rather unscientific and vague, especially because Lillian had a flare for thr complexly dramatic.
Neither of the adults could help thinking of the terrible things that could occur if Lilith were to decide to become a hero, like Kara. Images of their daughter crippled in pain. Being kidnapped. Being tortured with kryptonite. All of these, and much worse, spiraled throughout their minds.
"Well, let's hold off on this until we have Alex to go over your test results more specifically," Lena concluded, effectively dodging the discussion she was hoping Lilith didn't want to start.
Kara nodded vigorously. "Great. Great plan. Best plan I've ever heard," she agreed. Lilith closed her eyes and nodded, a tell-tale crinkle in her forehead that Lena and Kara easily recognized as a sign of distress.
"For now, we have a - likely - fancy dinner with Cat Grant coming up, so let's prepare for that," Lena said hurriedly, moving on. Kara stood and helped Lilith up.
"Ms. Grant will probably be dressed to impress, as will Lena, and they both know my regular wardrobe, so the only wild card is you," Kara stated. "Do you have anything simple, but also snazzy?"
"'Snazzy?'" Lena echoed, arching a perfect brow.
"I will have you know, Lena Luthor, that 'snazzy' is a perfectly acceptable word," Kara declared. Lilith grinned as they began to walk across the room to the hallway.
"I do, actually. Lillian made sure I had a wide variety of clothes," she explained.
"Well, let's see what you got, kid," Kara said as she affectionately ran her hand through Lilith's raven hair. The trio strolled into Lilith's room, and she knelt by one of the four suitcases full of clothes that she had brought over. She unzipped it, searching for a specific outfit. She withdrew black leggings, darker than night, and a blindingly white, long top with a hood attached. It was casual enough to feel confortable, which was always Lilith's goal, but dressy enough to not make a bad inpression on Cat Grant.
Lena tilted her head approvingly. "It looks good. That will work," she encouraged. "Kara, can you find out exactly what the plan is?" she called over her shoulder as she started to walk into her own suite to find the right outfit to hopefully avoid annoying the woman whose company she had bought.
"Sure thing," Kara promised, and she walked into her own room, leaving Lilith alone to change.
When she stepped out of her room and walked down the hallway, she wasn't surprised to find that she was the only one dressed. She looked around quickly to confirm that she was the only one there, then smiled. She had loved the rush that she got from flying, and she wanted to see if she could levitate whike maintaing control, unlike the wobbling floating she had managed to achieve while flying from Kara's studio to the DEO.
She took a breath and felt herself gently lift off of the ground. She felt a little unsteady at first, but she concentrated hard until she felt stable. She crossed hwr legs and sat, mid-air, thinking through her thoughts.
She did feel a need to help people. Regular, innocent humans were vulnerable to the villany of people like Lillian, and she wanted to use her own gifts to avoid letting them be hurt.
She was jolted out of her train of thought when she heard Lena's door click open. She hastily stopped floating until her feet were on solid ground once more.
Lena walked out into the main room, fastening a simple bracelet onto her wrist. "Ready?" she asked Lilith without looking up.
Lilith nodded, then remembered that Lena wasn't looking at her and verbally responded. "Yep," she said. "Do we know what the plan is?"
Lena had finally managed to clasp the bracelet; she walked over and gave Lilith a hug that was appreciated but unexpected. "It's at an Italian restaurant that the one-percenters or National City frequent. We have to leave in fifteen minutes to get there at Cat's meeting time," she explained, releasing Lilith from the hug.
Before Lilith could say anything, Kara stumbled out of her room, struggling to hold onto her glasses from slipping off of her face while trying to button the top button of her pastel shirt. She grumbled with frustration, then used superspeed to fasten the button and catch her glasses before any harm could befall them.
Lilith and Lena laughed at her problem-solving, and Kara mock-glared at them. "Okay, you know, you should try balancing glasses you don't technically have to wear everyday!" she exclaimed.
Lena shook her head. "We should start to leave. Cat will have a fit, two Supers or not, if we're late," she said, rolling her emerald eyes.
When they arrived at their destination, Lilith suddenly felt very nervous. She was about to meet one of the most powerful people in National City. What it she did something awkward, like yawn loudly, or crush the silverware? She shook off her thoughts, trusting that her mothers would help her.
They walked into the empty restaurant, seeing that Cat had made good on her promise to have rented out the whole place. The only people Liliyh could see were a few waitstaff, but she assumed they were under orders to stay in the kitchen unless called for to give privacy to the diners.
As they walked into the building, Lena took off her thousand dollar jacket and hung it on a hook on the wall. Lilith and Kara had decided not to wear jackets, as they were fairly impervious to the slight chill that had fallen on the late summer night.
They walked into the patron area, and Lilith saw a blonde woman stand up and turn around to face them. Cat Grant, she realized. I mean, of course, it's her, but ... wow. Strange how one day I'm normal and then the next I'm meeting the head of an empire. No big deal.
Cat strode toward them, defying all of physics and gravity with impossibly tall heels. Lilith felt excited, but also she wanted to fly away and never come back.
Cat was suddenly right in front of them. She stared Kara and Lena down, then focused on Lilith.
"Hello. I'm Cat Grant, obviously. What's your name?" she asked, surprisingly gentle with Lilith. Kara was a little shocked at her lack of usual snark.
"Lilith Luthor-Danvers Zor El," Lilith replied. "Nice to meet you."
Cat smiled. "Nice to meet you, too," she said.
She looked at Kara. "I suppose you want a hug?" she said, puttimg up a facade of disdain that everyone in the room could see through.
Kara grinned and hugged her mentor. Cat returned it, then stepped back amd rolled her eyes. "Well, get away from me Keira. I have better things to do than satisfy your need for affection," she harped on, but their was an undeniable hint of a smile on her face.
"Baby Luthor," she said, turning and shaking Lena's hand. Lena inclined her head slightly.
"Well," started Cat, now that the greetings were over. "Let's eat," she said, smiling fondly at Lilith and pulling her slightly ahead of her parents as they all started walking to the only available table. "I assume you need as many calories as Keira?" she said, but it was clearly a question.
"Yeah," responded Lilith, getting over her nerves at meeting Cat freaking Grant. "I mean, I think so. I've only had powers for a little while, but I've noticed that I get hungrier quicker."
Cat nodded and smiled. "I can fix that," she told Lilith, and the both of them sat down.
Behind their backs, Lena looked at Kara with raised, questioning eyebrows. What was that? she mouthed.
Kara could only shrug back with widened eyes. She had only ever seen Ms. Grant this welcoming and open when talking to Carter or when she first determined Kara was Supergirl.
They all sat down at the table and ordered drinks from the panicked staff. (They were about to keel over from the stress serving two of the most influential people they could name.) Lena and Cat opted for wine, but Kara amd Lilith stuck to soda. Partially because alcohil was wasted on them, and partially because, you know, Lilith couldn't legally drink.
"So, how did this ... turn of events come to be?" asked Cat, taking a small sip of wine and maintaining eye contact, as soon as the waiters had scurried away.
"Well -" attempted Kara, but Cat stopped her.
"I was asking Lilith. The poor girl needs a chance to speak," Cat told them. Lilith looked, rather stunned, at her mothers, then started stuttering out an answer.
"Lillian Luthor spliced together Lena's and Kara's DNA, creating me. She gave me traits from each of them. The other day, she managed to make synthetic kryptonite, so the DEO busted in and arrested her. They took me back to their base, where we figured out exactly who I am. I've been with Kara, and later Lena, ever since," Lilith explained, hoping that her explanation was good enough for Cat. Lena and Kara exchanged glances, proud of their daughter for being able to talk to the formidable woman with seemingly no fear.
"I see," Cat responded, the wheels in her head already turning. The trio nodded, somewhat awkwardly, as there was really nothing more yo say on the subject.
Cat sensed the silence starting to descend on the group, and she decided to prevent it. "Where is the waitstaff? I paid good money for this," she declared, loudly enough for the people next door to hear. The waiters rushed put and took their orders for food.
Within a few minutes, the quartet was eating in peace, talking about random, interesting things. Kara decided that now was a good time to bring up the question of school.
"Ms. Grant, what would you recommend for schooling for Lilith? She has Lena's intelligence, so regular school could be inadvisable," the protege asked her mentor.
Cat looked up as though she was annoyed. "You look old enough to pass for Carter, who's only a year older. I can pull some strings and make sure you get into the same classes, if that's what you want," she graciously offered. Lilith figured that there were no strings that Cat could pull that Lena couldn't, but she nodded.
"That sounds lovely, if it's not too much trouble," Lena agreed. "What do you two think?"
"I think it sounds great," Kara said. "Lilith?"
Lilith smiled. "I would love to."
Cat nodded in satisfaction. "Good," she said in a normal voice, but then she raised her volume. "Waitstaff, the dessert menu!" she ordered. They snapped into action as Cat muttered under her breath about how she wasn't going to pay as well as she had stated if they kept this nonsense up.
After they finished the meal, Lena and Kara stood, and Lilith followed suit. "This has been amazing, Ms. Grant, but we unfortunately must go. We have to stop at the DEO for test results," Kara told her.
Cat stood and nodded. "Of course, Kara," she said. The use of Kara's proper name did not escape anyone at the table. She addressed Lilith. "If you ever need anything, you let me know."
Lilith nodded dazedly, realizing Cat Grant had just offered her help for potentially anything. Lena and Kara took her hands, and they all walked out together. They got in the car, headed for a building across the street from the DEO. The trio was relatively quiet, all of them thinking about Lilith's powers.
They got to the entrance to the DEo. Lena looked at Lilith and Kara. "Don't you dare," she said. Lilith and Kara looked at each other, grinned, and leapt several stories up to the balcony, talking Lena with them and making sure there were no bystanders.
Lena sighed as soon as her feet were on solid material. "One of these days..." she mumbled as she started walking into the DEO.
Alex met them in the command center. "Hey, kid. How're you doing?" she asked. Lilith smiled.
"Pretty good," she replied.
"Good," finished Alex, then she turned to acknowledge Lena and Kara. "This might be easiest to explain in the med bay," she sighed, catching the attention of all three.
They climbed the stairs and opened the glass door to the room, Lilith feeling relieved at the familiar surroundings. Kara clenched her hand tightly.
"The test results?" Lena prompted, wasting no time. Alex closed the door and faced them.
"We monitored all of Lilith's powers amd found the reason Lillian described them as better," she started, tapping some displays on her ever-present tablet and showing them the results.
"Lilith, there's no easy way to explain this," she said. Lilith felt her skin prickle as she prepared to receive the news. What's the worst it could be? she thought, then immediately regretted it, realizing that the worst case scenario could be truly terrible.
Alex swallowed. "Here's the thing: Lilith's powers are already on the charts as just as developed as Kara's, if not more. By the time you're an adult, you'll probably have powers four times as strong as Kara's," Alex explained.
Lilith cocked her head, reeling at the information. She was already set up to be the most powerful creature on Earth, if she wasn't already. This was something she wasn'y even remotely prepared for. Kara and Lena hid their shock for her sake.
"Are you alright?" the three adults asked in concern, noting Lilith's paled face.
"I - I need some time," Lilith stuttered. She sped out of the DEO and launched herself in the air, knowing that Kara wouldn't be able to catch her. No one could.