Asylum

Notes: Find me on Tumblr at spoopercorp and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.

So, um.

Hi?

Lmao sorry life got more chaotic than I could manage.

Also there is a LOT of science in here because I'm a nerd. C:

Leaning.

Tilting.

A sleepy mumble.

Falling.

Kara jolted awake, grunting quietly to announce her displeasure with her unwelcomed awakening. Her eyes slipped closed and she rubbed her temples to soothe the headache that pulsed through her skull. She pressed her palms to her face, hoping to drag off the exhaustion.

When it all dulled into an unnoticeable ebb, Kara's eyes snapped open the moment she heard a series of taps within her proximity.

"Seriously, Lena?"

Anger and disappointment curled her stomach at the sight of her friend against the headboard furiously typing away at her laptop, seemingly unaware of anything else around her.

There was no answer.

Kara huffed exasperatedly and snatched the device away, setting it on the nightstand behind her. She watched with slight concern at the belated reaction she received—for just a second, Lena's fingers still moved habitually, and her eyes stared ahead as if her laptop was still there, sitting on her lap right in front of her face.

Then she blinked owlishly, finally registering the absence of the device. Lena's brows scrunched in confusion before her gaze flitted over to Kara—it was then her expression became irked and embittered when she processed what happened.

"Work," she said simply, and her voice was quieter than a whisper—pitiful.

It was the most convincing tone Lena could possibly muster, and Kara's trademarked crinkle formed at the hoarse response.

"No."

Lena narrowed her eyes, tone curt, "Rest then."

"You can't do that either," Kara ordered, frustrated with the clipped replies, "You need to get up and actually do something instead of laying in bed all day or working yourself to near-death!"

"Isn't that the goal?" Lena inquired rhetorically, releasing a hoarse chuckle.

Kara glared at the semi-amused smirk on the woman's face and growled, "That's not funny. You need to eat and exercise and talk to people, anything but..." she gestured wildly, "...this."

Her friend silently removed the sheets that covered her and shivered as a chill resonated through her spine.

"Get up? Fine," she relented, "I'll get up."

Lena's feet touched the hardwood floor and she stood, but a black haze colored the edges of her vision and blurred everything else in her line of sight. Then she groaned and leaned forward, her weak muscles failing her.

Before she could collapse from the dizziness, Kara sped over, propping her up with strong arms.

Lena was lightheaded and nauseous, and the bile lumped in her throat felt as if it was travelling quickly. Then the room spiraled and her head could no longer bear the spinning.

She vomited, emptying her stomach's contents—or lack thereof—all over the floor with a sickening splash.

Kara winced as Lena continued to retch, hacking out more stomach acid, and spitting what was left of her nausea afterwards. When she was finished, she released a shaky sigh and swayed into Kara's firm embrace, her dangerously trembling legs finally giving out.

"Ow," Lena rasped, the word very much an understatement. She was carried out into the kitchen and onto a dining table seat; she heard the sink's faucet running for several seconds, then a glass of water suddenly sat in front of her.

Kara's forehead creased with worry at a drip of salivated stomach acid trickling down a corner of her friend's grimacing lips.

"Wash, then spit it out," she instructed, "To clean your teeth."

Lena obeyed, swishing the water around inside her mouth, but another bout of nausea caused her lips to part, the liquid spilling onto her pants and then to the floor.

"Don't...feel good..." she breathed, eyes closed as she tilted in her chair.

Kara caught and cradled the fragile body into her arms, her panic intensifying at the sound of Lena's elevated heartbeat, the rapid thumping echoing in her ears was almost deafening.

"You know," she started, adjusting her hold, "When I said to 'spit it out', I meant back in the cup, not all over the floor."

Lena wheezed out a light chuckle, trembling at the abrupt cold air that whipped at her skin.

"Hey," Kara called out, her voice garbled and distant in the Luthor's ears, "If you barf from sixty feet in the sky and someone tries to sue Supergirl I'm making you pay for it."

Another pained groan.

Kara gave a broken smile, tears continuing to pour down her cheeks and around the stiff muscles struggling to push her lips upward.

"Hey. Hey, stay with me."

Lena's vision blurred even more significantly, her hyperventilating formed heavy and erratic puffs of air, and she struggled to focus her randomly flickering eyes. There was a high-pitched ringing in her ears, overwhelming Kara's voice. Then Lena tilted her head in slight confusion at the sight of soundlessly moving lips.

She could feel her eyes drooping, watering from the sunlight behind Kara that gave her an angelic halo, her blonde hair accentuated, scintillating in the rays.

Lena eventually drowned in the darkness, even in the presence of light.

"Help!"

Kara panicked, landing on the ground, the concrete under her feet cracking from the harsh impact.

"We've got the gurney ready," Alex rushed out, the doctors sliding the contraption over.

"Set her down," Dr. Hamilton ordered, sliding her tray of tools next to her.

A choking sound interrupted her concentration and her eyes widened.

"Flip her on her side!"

Kara obeyed the instructions and panicked at the vomit spilling from Lena's mouth.

"Let's go! Move to the ER!" the doctors pushed the gurney hurriedly down the hall; Dr. Hamilton turned around before tailing her assistants.

"She'll make a full recovery."

Kara let out a relieved breath, the paranoia that froze her eyes onto Lena finally melting away.

"What happened?"

Dr. Hamilton nodded towards Alex, who was standing next to her little sister, "I had Agent Danvers's biochem team analyze Miss Luthor's body fluids while I conducted other tests—it turns out when the Black Mercy was forcibly removed, some of its excess...venom, for lack of a better word, managed to remain in Miss Luthor's nervous system."

"But J'onn and M'gann took her out of her dream, if we forcibly removed it then Lena would've been dead then," Kara stated, bouncing and shifting worriedly in her seat. "It doesn't make sense why this is an exception."

Alex frowned, a sympathetic glint in her eyes as she rested a comforting hand on a slumped shoulder.

"Not quite," Dr. Hamilton cleared her throat, spreading out the tests over a table. "If the Black Mercy had been physically removed, it's then that the host instantly perishes. However, psychically removing the host from the Black Mercy doesn't account for all the venom."

She rotated the monitor attached to the wall, gesturing at the windows that showcased various diagrams of the alien.

"The Black Mercy is a parasite, it has highly-sensitive teeth that are almost microscopic and work like tentacles; it can contract and retract however it pleases," she explained, "When it successfully latches onto a host, the teeth spring out of the bedding and pierce through the dermis, targeting the nerves with ridiculous accuracy due to their flexibility. At that point the teeth are able to merge with the nerves so to speak—it's that moment the channel to the brain and its neural pathways are established. It provides an opening to pump a sort of toxin directly into the nerves to aid with sedating the host so the parasite can feed."

Dr. Hamilton opened another window with Lena's scans. She jabbed her pen at an image that looked like an MRI of a torso, tracing her movements along the vertebrae.

"The Black Mercy's teeth is solely used for puncturing through barriers, such as skin or exoskeletons. However, once the teeth reach their destinations, they don't pierce the nerves because it'll risk tampering their feeding process if they damage anything connected to the brain."

Dr. Hamilton closed the tabs with a click and referred back to the diagrams.

"The outer layer of the Black Mercy's teeth bind to the intercostal nerves and the inner layer binds to the spinal cord; eventually, the toxin travels upward, towards the cerebellum to incapacitate the host and finally flood the brain and, well, you know the process from there."

Alex grimaced when she caught the wince Kara made as she recalled the unpleasant memories.

"What we discovered..." Dr. Hamilton trailed off, clicking onto another slide and pointing to the anomalies scattered about the chest scans. "...is during the messy removal, some of the Black Mercy's teeth tore and remained attached to Miss Luthor's nerves; this explains her near-perpetual catatonic behavior as well as her physical symptoms. A part of her brain is struggling to make her body fight the unknown assailants off by releasing white blood cells, which is why I'm so concerned about the high activity from the basophils and eosinophils—her body seems to have been tricked into thinking it's experiencing an allergic reaction. Another part of her brain is gradually succumbing to the remains of the Black Mercy; it was inhibiting her recovery the past few weeks, bringing her into her ideal fantasy and her out of reality sporadically. When we met up to discuss Miss Luthor's progress, you stated that she had been restless in her sleep—cold sweats and nightmares, am I correct?"

Kara could only nod silently and Dr. Hamilton returned the gesture.

"This explains those as well. Our options were either to wait until the teeth emptied out their assets, or create a specialized surgical procedure to remove them. Considering the former would have likely resulted in the patient dying...we decided to perform the latter. Thanks to Agent Danvers's research team, we were able to unravel the molecular structure of the venom in time."

Dr. Hamilton glanced at said woman who was leaning her back against the wall, a caring gaze aimed at her little sister.

Kara gave her a small smile of gratitude, and Alex reciprocated with a tight hug around her shoulders, welcoming the head of golden hair to rest against her waist.

Dr. Hamilton made her way out quietly when she realized the two sisters were too drained to hear more medical jargon than necessary.

Kara seemed to relax, the tension in her muscles ebbing away to a dull ache, though the tautness was still present in her bones. She sought comfort in her sister's strokes along her back and in her blonde locks.

"Do you think she hates me?" Kara whispered.

Alex snapped her head down to her little sister at the croak, frowning at the sight of her slouching towards the ground dejectedly, a defeated slump to her shoulders.

Alex took the seat next to Kara, continuing her soothing rubs against her back.

"Why are you asking?" she questioned, "You know that I don't know the answer to that."

The room remained silent.

Then Alex decided to break it with another inquiry.

"What do you think?"

And finally Kara's head no longer hung low as she glanced up to her sister, shame and guilt mangling her features.

"I...I don't see why she wouldn't hate me," she felt her throat crack. "I mean, even if her happiness was a sham made by the Black Mercy...I took that away from her, Alex." Kara sniffed, futilely wiping the waterfall of tears that were sliding down her cheeks. "I crushed Lena's happiest dream into a million tiny pieces and I can't take that back."

Alex refrained from responding, swallowing the reply down her throat.

Clearly Kara had more to say.

"She hates me, Alex," came the pitiful sob, quickly followed by more, "She does. I know it. I felt it every time she looked at me. I shattered her happiness twice..." she took a breath, "I can feel her breaking apart 'cause of me."

Alex nudged Kara to lean her head down against her shoulder, and she caressed the broad muscles of her little sister's bicep up and down.

"You know," she started softly, "She's not the only one breaking apart." Alex cleared her throat, "Listen. I know you care about her. I know she cares about you, and she absolutely does not hate you even though you've given her plenty of reasons-"

"W-What-"

"You eat as much fat, carbs, and sugar as you want and you never ever gain weight regardless of how many ridiculous amounts of calories there are. And you don't even need to exercise to maintain your figure. Oh, and no hangovers unless you drink specialized alien alcohol, but even then you recover in a few minutes. You never get sick or get zits 'cause of your alien DNA, unless you blow out your powers. Speaking of powers, you can do literally everything a human can do in several hours in, like, two seconds. You can stub your toe and step on a shit ton of Legos without flinching because they don't actually hurt—you're practically indestructible. You're super smart at everything that isn't history or spelling. And the best part...you have a really cool badass older sister."

Kara chuckled hoarsely, sniffling as she wiped tears from her eyes, "Good point. Very valid reasons, except the last one."

"Hey!" Alex gasped in mock-offense, shoving her little sister playfully. "I'm cool 'cause I'm not the sister who loves pineapple pizza!"

There was a gasp. "You take that back right now!"

Kara twisted her keys into the locking mechanism, returning to her apartment just two days after spending two nights at Lena's bedside. She was recovering well, and Dr. Hamilton said she would be up in no time by tomorrow or the next day.

So Kara was relieved, took a breath, and did not hesitate to return home at Alex's and J'onn's insistence while they took care of things.

She hung her purse up on the hooks protruding from her wall and instantly changed into her comfy pajamas, speeding into the laundry room with her work attire. Kara hummed, shoving the dirty clothes and blankets into the washer, then removing the fresh batch from the dryer to quickly fold and sort them out for tomorrow morning.

Kara grinned when she saw her favorite button-up in the lamp's dim lighting, and pulled it out from under the pile.

Then she stood sharply, jerking up straight, frozen in the dark of the night. Eyes slightly widened, fixated on the faded bloody hand-like stains that stubbornly remained in the fabric.

Kara blinked, and her fist tightened on the article of clothing. Her eyes clenched shut, memories of bringing back a broken Lena to her apartment. Memories of a broken Lena having a panic attack and bleeding as she clutched the exact shirt held in Kara's palm.

She shakily inhaled, feeling her lungs quiver with her lips, then she let out another breath, the exhale wavering.

Kara's nose flared, another unbidden sense of the past greeting her, however unwelcome it was.

The stench of Lena's blood.

The smell of it mixed with sorrowful tears.

Its phantom odor was enough to nauseate Kara, make her dizzy and breathless in the worst manner possible.

The shirt was tainted forever. No amount of bleach and rounds in the washer would do any good.

Kara threw the apparel into the garbage like it was kryptonite. She barely even registered the wet tracks down her cheeks and the taste of salt it made hidden within the crevasses of her lips.

Kara shook her head violently, willing the memories to go away as she retreated into the safe haven of her bedroom, seduced by sleep and the promise of rest.

But relaxation did not last long, the ear-shattering ring of her phone screamed on her bedside toward midnight.

Kara groaned tiredly, dragging her hand down exhausted eyes. She swiped the device from her nightstand and refrained from shattering the screen when she pressed the green answer button.

"Hey, there's an alien robbery down on seventh," Winn rushed out, accompanied by a flurry of clicking sounds, "Alex and her squad are on their way there for backup and incarceration, they need Supergirl to nudge them into the vans."

Kara sighed, "Yeah, okay, I'm on my way."

"You're all set to be discharged, Miss Luthor," Dr. Hamilton hummed through the pen in her mouth, moving the small flashlight back and forth across her patient's eyes.

She backed up to retrieve her clipboard and removed the pen from her lips, clicking the mechanism and writing down her report as she mumbled.

"Patient made significant progress in recovery...will require appointments for the next month to prevent the possibility of relapses...discharged at..." Dr. Hamilton scrunched up the sleeve of her lab coat, eyeing her watch, "...12:44 A.M."

The woman glanced up at Lena with a small smile, "You're cleared and free to leave whenever you wish. We washed the clothes you came in with so you can change from your medical gown in the bathroom and just hand it to one of us. Your jewelry is in a locker towards the exit of the med bay. Number thirty-three."

Lena nodded silently in response, following the instructions in a daze. Before she knew it, she was in her professional work attire and headed out.

"Miss Luthor."

She pivoted at the gruff voice, surprise coloring her features at the sight of J'onn catching up to her.

"Yes? Did I forget to sign any paperwork?" she inquired.

He shook his head, "No, I wanted to speak with you. I know you've already undergone a physical and psych evaluation, but Kara cares a great deal about you."

Lena folded her arms in defense, suspiciously narrowing her eyes at J'onn.

"What is it that you want? Or want to ask?" she said, cutting to the chase.

The man broadened his shoulders and seemed to stand taller, matching the young business woman's posture, exuding just as much power. But his expression was soft, almost sympathetic.

But sympathetic was synonymous with pitiful in Lena Luthor's dictionary.

"How are you feeling?" J'onn asked.

Lena was caught off guard for a split second, before returning to the steel of her gaze once more.

"Fine," came the curt answer.

"Where are you going now? Not to work I hope?" J'onn inquired, the tone in his voice implying he would utilize force to make Lena rest and recover properly.

But she had the same idea anyway, for the first time the tiredness triumphed over her ambition for work and pet peeve of unfinished projects and partially-filled our papers. Her shoulders slumped a fraction.

"Surprisingly, no," she admitted, much to J'onn's unexpected shock. "I'm actually planning on burying myself in my bed. I can catch up on my work tomorrow morning or noon after I manage to amass enough energy to recharge my physical and social batteries."

J'onn, for the first time, was far too concerned to respect the privacy of a human's mind, so he peeked, just to make sure Lena was truthful.

He sighed through his nose in relief, "Very well. I'm glad to hear that you're taking the necessary and additional steps to improving your health. Take care of yourself, Miss Luthor."

Lena nodded politely once more, walking out to her chauffeur, heels echoing through the DEO.

She felt slightly guilty halfway through the trip back to her abode when she ordered her driver to stop at her favorite place to unwind.

"Thank you. Don't worry about picking me up later," she unlocked the door and exited the vehicle.

"Are you sure, Miss Luthor?" the chauffeur asked, raising his voice over the obnoxious music from the nightclub.

Lena nodded resolutely, "I'll call a taxi later. Go home to your family and get some rest."

She watched him dip his head in gratitude and ride off.

She nodded at the bouncers who returned the action in kind; they recognized her and stood aside to grant her access. She entered the building, pushing past the crowd of ludicrous wealth that was mesmerized by the plethora of female strippers and male dancers upon the elaborate stage, some slinking off to give several patrons a private show. The tension knotted in Lena's shoulders never ceasing until she made her way towards the bar and found a secluded table in the corner. She slid onto the cushioned seat and made herself comfortable, only mildly annoyed by the pounding music at the center of the stage. At least it was quieter over where she was, her aloneness accompanied by the overbearing bass that shook her chest and vibrated her hands.

Lena clasped her fingers together, glancing up to see one of the servers approaching her.

"Hello, welcome to Hakkasan—"

Before the man ask for her order, she beat him to it.

"Scotch. On the rocks."

He nodded, writing it down.

"On second thought," Lena started, "Just get me a cup of ice, a glass, and a bottle of scotch."

"Of course, what selection of scotch do you want to purchase?"

"I haven't been here for quite some time," she hummed, "Do you still have the Macallan whiskey brand in stock here?"

He nodded, "Yes, we do, our most popular are the eighteen-year-old sherry cask, the rare cask, and the twenty-one-year-old fine oak."

Lena sighed almost disappointedly, "You no longer have the Constantine bottle?"

The server let out a tiny undignified sound, and he struggled to keep his jaw from dropping.

"Uh, th-the Macallan M?" he inquired nervously, "Well, w-we actually do have it in stock, but it's an extremely pricey pour even for our standards, so no one has actually managed to order it because it's so expensive, and that's for a single glass. The bottle is worth approximately $630,000."

Lena casually handed the young man her card. "Just run it through and send my order out whenever you can."

The server's neck moved a fraction when he swallowed, the apple of his throat bobbing to show that he was intimidated by Lena's wealth. Then he dashed off, scurrying to the POS system to punch in the order, the shock never really fading from his eyes.

Lena was half a bottle in when a tap on her shoulder interrupted her.

She huffed, irritated, but she did not turn around to face the guest. "I'm a little busy if you couldn't tell."

A melodious chuckles resonated from next to Lena, sweet and honeyed and something sly.

From the corner of her eye she saw a woman, wavy hair colored with gold and brown to mix into a spectacular light brunette. Her skin was rosy, her lips a seductive red, her long locks falling gently over the skin of her shoulders.

It was enough to get Lena to turn more fully, to completely take the woman's appearance in. Her dress was quite scandalous with its off-shoulder, v-cut, and tight design. It was a bit tacky and barely reached past the middle of her thighs.

The woman wore a mischievous grin on her face, expression colored with amusement and an ambitious sort of lust.

Her lips slowly curled into a smirk when she noticed Lena's eyes widened slightly, if only a fraction unnoticeable from afar.

She had the multi-billionaire CEO's attention.

Lena took another sip from her drink, swallowing the strong, burning contents down to set her throat on fire.

She eyed the woman suspiciously, her tone cautious, but curious nonetheless. "Can I help you with something?"

"Name's Alyssa," she introduced herself, a teasing twinkle in her chocolatey brown eyes. She nodded her head over, to gesture towards the main room with its disco ball and strobe lights and other blinding nightclub devices. "I'm a dancer here. It's kind of my job to make sure all the guests are..." she paused, falling two fingers up and down the collar of Lena's top, brushing along the skin of her neck just barely.

"...pleased," she finished, "And you don't look very satisfied just sitting here with that expensive bottle."

A finger brushed the edge of Lena's jaw, and she clenched her teeth uncomfortably, still unused to such gentle contact. But she did not pull away and that seemed to encourage Alyssa even more, who leaned in, lips a mere breath away from flushed ears.

"I can help with that."

Lena chuckled softly and shook her head, "Sorry. I'm going to have to reject your offer, as tempting as it is..." she raked her eyes down Alyssa's figure approvingly. "I'm not really into exhibitionism."

Alyssa hummed and winked, "Don't worry. I'm very flexible. Besides. There are curtains for a reason."

She untied the heavy cloth from their fastenings and let them obscure the table from potential curious outsiders.

Then Lena felt a hard shove against her shoulders, her chair scratching backwards before harshly colliding with the wall behind.

Lena's eyes darted to the ground to see her bottle shattered and the liquid gold pooling on the floor.

"That was expensive," she sighed.

Alyssa laughed, proceeding to straddle Lena and roll her hips every now and then.

"I'm sure your rich ass can buy another, Miss Luthor."

Lena hummed, burying her face in the crock of Alyssa's neck, running a wet tongue over the fleshy throat and leaving sloppy open-mouthed kisses here and there.

Alyssa gasped at the sensation, at the deft hands that made it around her hips, at the fingers that slipped halfway past the band of her underwear.

"You know," she panted, craning her head backwards to grant Lena more access. "There's a rule about patrons not touching the merchandise."

Lena's ministrations froze, her lips pulling away.

"Oh?"

As she was about to withdraw, Alyssa crashed their lips together again, fingers tangled and messing up dark strands, nails scratching lightly at the scalp.

"But I can make an exception for you," she stated breathlessly.

"You could get fired and I could get kicked out of the only place that sells my favorite whiskey," Lena smirked.

Alyssa grinned, folding her arms and shrugging, "Not if you go out on a date with me, Miss Luthor."

Lena's eyes narrowed playfully, letting the silence stretch teasingly.

"Who am I to refuse?" she hummed, the playfulness in her eyes apparent.

"What do you mean Lena went home, J'onn?" Kara groaned in frustration, "She's not here, I checked. And I checked L-Corp too."

She remained afloat, pacing back and forth midair with a hardened crinkle between her scrunched brows and pursed lips to show her deep concentration.

"I made sure to check on her intentions when she said she wanted to rest," J'onn explained through the earpiece, "And she did, but she could've always changed her mind midway through her trip."

Kara sighed, running a hand down her tired eyes.

"Hey," Alex called softly through her comms, "Just head home and sleep, you've worked hard with all these alien threats recently. I can go and find Le—"

"No," Kara snapped, "I need to see her. I need to make sure she's okay."

"I have an idea on where Lena might be," Winn chimed in, "She's been spotted spending a lot of her free time in only the most famous nightclub in the country for the richest of the rich. Wealthy celebrities are there all the time," he explained, "There's a location in none other than Los Angeles, which is like three or five minutes away if you fly."

"What's it called?"

"Hakkasan I think," Winn answered.

Alex choked on air, "Doesn't entry cost several thousands? No offense, but Kara's paycheck from CatCo and the government can't even pay for an hour in that place."

"Maybe Kara can't," Winn admitted, "But I'm sure National City's very own Supergirl could grace them with her arrival. I'm willing to bet they'd give her free admission."

There was a contemplative pause.

"I guess it's worth a shot," Alex relented, "Okay then, Kara—"

"I'm already in," she interrupted, "Turns out the bouncers are huge fans."

"So is she there?"

Supergirl hummed, tapping her chin while ignoring the gawks of the clubbers and the whispers debating whether or not she was legitimately National City's hero or just some fan in a costume. She scanned through the walls of the building, and with each room that she checked to no avail she became much less enthusiastic to keep looking, if she was going to be intruding on the privacy of individual patrons and their dancers then Lena had better be here somewhere, or else all those sights that she will never be able to unsee will be for naught.

Then Kara released an undignified sound, gaping at the scene before her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Winn asked, "Did you find her."

"Yeah," she seethed, "I did."

"So then...what are you waiting f—"

"She's a little busy," Kara snapped, eyes harshly trained on the woman sitting atop her friend's lap with a seductive dress to complement her light umber hair.

Lena slipped her deft fingers under the dancer's dress, grazing over to soft flesh of bare thighs. She shivered when Alyssa nipped at the lobe of her ear; a rough hand trailed down Lena's breasts, to her stomach, then to the side to slip something into her pocket.

"Call me," Alyssa whispered with a predatory grin, pulling back to give a suggestive wink before unstraddling her prey.

Then she strode off, leaving Lena, who leaned forward in her seat as if to chase after her. Her hungry eyes simmered into slight disappointment.

Then into surprise when she caught from her peripheral vision an absolutely furious Supergirl stalking towards her.

Notes: Constructive criticism appreciated.