A/N: After creating chapters of my own design, it feels good to be going back into canon for a bit. Gives me a chance to rest my mind before I start going in my own direction again. I really don't know how long this story is going to be, I'm hoping to bring it all the way to the season finale and beyond when the series comes back in the fall. But that's still a while from now, so for the time being...
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The night air was cool and relaxing as Kara flew over the city, her eyes closed as the gentle breeze flowed over her face and through her hair. Moments like these always made her feel peaceful and serene whenever she was out flying, it allowed her mind to drift and reflect on the current happenings in her life.
Though, the biggest thing that's happened to her had been the growing relationship between her and Matt. After their first date, they had been on several others in the past weeks. Matt had even gone with Kara and Alex to their home for Christmas, where Eliza wasted no time in swooping in and wanting to know everything about her Kryptonian daughter's new boyfriend.
The spider-hero had even revealed his identity as Spyderman, which stunned the bio-engineer to no end before she went into a tangent of questions about his symbiote and how the relationship between the two of them worked.
He also talked about his past, and how he became to be in this universe, moving Eliza to tears and hugging the young man telling him that he was more than welcome in their family now that he and Kara were together.
Aside from that, the two heroes spent a lot of time together whenever they had a chance. Going over to each other's apartments to watch tv and movies, going out to eat, or just sitting ontop of a random rooftop looking up at the stars and just enjoying each other's company.
Everything just felt perfect, and Kara truly never felt happier. Infact, she actually felt more normal than she ever remembered being thanks to the relationship she now had with her fellow hero.
Absently reaching up, she touched the small indentation that poked out beneath the neck of her suit, a present Matt had given to her on Christmas. It was a silver necklace with a House of El pendent that had a spider on the back wrapping its eight arms around it, as if protecting the Kryptonian crest and keeping it close.
Matt had it custom made, and made sure to make up a believable lie to the jeweler who made it so that they didn't get suspicious by saying his girlfriend was a huge fan of Supergirl and Spyderman. The man believed him, and became the first gift he gave the Girl of Steel.
It was one of the most beautiful things Kara had ever been given. Even though she couldn't wear it out in public for obvious reasons, she did wear it every time she went out as Supergirl. The feel of it against her skin making her smile every so often.
Turning back to her patrol, the heroine banked right and prepared for another sweep.
A black streak suddenly shot through the air and slammed into her, the force being enough to knock her out of the air and slamming into the top of a parking garage she had been passing over.
Stunned from the sudden attack it took Kara a second or two to get back to her feet, looking round just as two figures wearing black bodysuits landed on either side of her. "Who are you?!" she demanded, prepared to fight them.
"They're with me." another form landed, this one a woman wearing the same outfit as the two men. Long, curled locks of dark hair flowing down her back with a single white streak running through it.
Kara was stunned once again when she saw the last person she expected to meet. "Astra." she said as the two men each grabbed one of her arms and restrained her.
"My dear niece," Astra said smiling coldly, "Did you really think this was over?"
X
On the other side of the city, Matt was swinging while on his own patrol. Weaving in and around buildings while keeping a sharp eye and ear out for any kind of disturbance. All the while having his thoughts drifting toward his once close friend now girlfriend.
Since their first date, the two of them had been damn near inseperable. And the spider-hero was head over heels with every moment they had.
There had been talk between them when they started their new relationship, one of the biggest topics was keeping their personal lives as a couple and their duty as heroes to National City as separate as possible.
The two biggest reasons for this were, for one, much like work, they couldn't get distracted when they needed to be at their best to save lives. And the other, they didn't want the wrong people to find out and use one of them against the other. The Reactron incident had been proof of this when the cyborg heard that Kara was related to Superman and attacked her to get at him.
However, despite that, along with a couple other small bumps here and there, everything was going great. And Matt hadn't been happier.
"Alright...can you slow down the thoughts about your mate for at least one evening?" Toxin all but pleaded as his host jumped off a webline and landed in a crouch on the edge of a rooftop.
"What's the matter, Tox? I thought you wanted me to have a social life?" Matt thought to his other while grinning beneath his mask.
The symbiote groaned, "I knew you were going to use that against me at some point. And I am glad that you have one, even more so that you and Kara are together. But if I knew that you would be thinking about her every waking moment, I would have thought better of it. Seriously, she's the only thing you think about...89% of the time!"
"She's the first real relationship I've ever had, and I really care about her, Tox." the hero admitted, "I don't know. It's almost like gravity is pulling us together...and yes I know how corny and overrated that sounds. But, it sounds right. It's strange."
"I know what you mean, I feel everything you do in here." replied Toxin, "And you're right. It does feel like something is pulling you, and by extention me, toward her. I've learned about attraction between individuals, but this is odd even for us. Perhaps it's something we should look into?"
Matt thought about it and knew that his partner was right. Granted, he'd never trade how he felt toward Kara for anything in existence, but something about the attraction between them seemed different than what was considered normal for people.
Though, neither of them really could be considered 'normal' given that one of them was an alien and the other was a human bonded to another alien. So it could mean a number of things, either way, it was worth taking a look into at a later date.
"Yeah, maybe we-" the spider-hero stopped mid-thought and whipped his head around. Something inside of him went off like an alarm, similar to his spider-sense, but stronger. He also felt several emotions run through him that weren't his own.
Surprise. Anxiety. Fear. Anger. Saddness.
It confused him, made him dizzy at first before everything snapped back into focus. "What the hell is going on?" Matt said outloud while holding his head, the foreign emotions getting stronger and pulsing inside of him.
"I...I don't know!" Toxin exclaimed sounding just as alarmed as he was. "It's not me! It feels like it's being broadcasted like a beacon from somewhere and we're picking it up."
"Beacon?" the hero wondered as another strange pulse went through him, spinning around until he felt where it was coming from the strongest. "That way." he fired a webline and swung toward the distrubance he was 'sensing'.
All the while wondering what in the hell was going on.
X
Kara glared angerly at her aunt who looked back at her with a neutral expression. Grabbing hold of her emotions and using them, she broke the hold the two other Kryptonians had on her, delivering and powerful strike to the face of the one on her left and kicking the other before attempting to escape via flight.
The soldier she had punched grabbed her leg and brought her back down, allowing his partner to punch her in the stomach and send her stumbling back. Astra approached, grabbing Kara by the hair and forcing her head up while reaching behind her back and pulling out a kryptonite knife and placing the blade to her niece's throat.
Immediately, the heroine felt the drain on her powers from the radioactive substance. Gasping when she felt the sharp edge of the blade pressed against her skin. That's when she noticed that the same effect wasn't happening to Astra.
"W-Why doesn't kryptonite h-hurt you?" she wheezed out as she stumbled out of the older woman's grasp and tried to put distance between them.
"Kryptonite? Is that what you call it?" asked Astra amused. "It's just like any other substance." her foot suddenly came up and kicked Kara in the stomach. And with the affects of the kryptonite as strong as it was, she felt it like a metal baseball bat.
"Shield yourself with the right materials," the General continued, waving the greed blade to the glowing device strapped to her right shoulder. Which was the same on the two men that came with her, "And it becomes harmless."
Kara fought to stay upright, her vision darkening the longer she was near the knife her aunt was holding. "Are you...afraid...of a fair fight?" she gasped out as she kept trying to back up.
Astra face slowly fell, lowing the knife at the same time. "I don't want to fight you, Kara." she said honestly. "I've been blaming you for things that happened a long time ago-" she reached out to touch the younger woman.
"Don't touch me!" Kara shouted, keeping away from the outstretched hand.
"You're mother always said you had the heart of a hero." the older woman said smiling before becoming serious again. "I need for you to be a hero, Kara. It's time for us to be a family again."
Despite her weakening state, the heroine felt fury rage through her. "You are NOT my family!" she bellowed in defiance.
Astra shook her head, "I know you hate me-"
Something attached to the kryptonite knife and suddenly yanked it from the General's hand. All eyes snapped up to the lamp post beside the parking garage where Matt sat crouched ontop with the weapon now in his hand.
"Sorry to break up this 'heart warming' get together. But I think things are a little unfair." he said slipping the knife into his suit, the harmful radiation being cut off when it vanished.
"This doesn't concern you, Spider." said Astra as the two soldiers with her moved to keep him from getting involved.
Matt jumped, twisting in the air and avoiding one of the Kryptonians that launched at him. Firing weblines to the ground and slingshot himself out of the way of the second, landing in a roll and coming up beside Kara who was already better with the kryptonite out of the way. Standing up and turning to the General, tilting his head to the side when he recognized her instantly.
"So your Astra, I've heard a few stories about you."
The Kryptonian woman narrowed her eyes, her soldiers appearing on either side of her in the blink of an eye as she regarded the spider-hero. "Have you now, and what have you heard?"
"Enough to know that Kara was lucky to be on the nicer side of the family." Matt said which caused the General's eyes to flare with anger, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared as she looked toward her niece again.
"You surround yourself with such interesting people, Kara." Astra looked back at Matt, "I've seen this one fight, he's strong and possesses a lot of skill. But is he strong enough to fight one of our own?"
Kara took a step forward, her teeth bared, "You're not laying a finger on him!" she growled while taking a stance that looked like a lioness ready to pounce.
The action suprised Astra for a moment, several emotions crossing her face as she looked between the two heroes before an unknown realization clicked with her. "...it...it's not possible." she whispered to herself.
Using the minor distraction, Kara grabbed Matt and threw them both over the edge of the roof. Driving through the ground below and disappearing into the depths.
The three Kryptonians appeared by the edge and looked down, one of the soldiers used his x-ray vision to see through the asphalt and searched for the duo. But they were long gone in the tunnel network under the ground.
"They're gone, General." he reported. Astra kept her eyes locked where her niece and her friend had vanished, thinking about the next move she needed to make to set things properly in motion.
X
"Astra's back, and she's up to something." said Kara as she, Matt, Alex and Hank all walked together toward the op center.
After the quick escape they had pulled off, the two heroes had used the tunnel network to put distance between them and the three enemy Kryptonians so that they could warn the DEO about Astra's return. With Kara weakened by the kryptonite exposure she wouldn't be able to fight at 100%.
And even though Matt could hold his own against the heroine, he didn't stand a chance against three of her kind with one of them being her aunt who was a veteran soldier.
"And she had your kryptonite knife." Kara added as an after thought.
"You didn't get that back by any chance?" asked the Director. Matt held out his hand, the knife held in his fist with a hardened piece of his suit around the blade acting as a sheath to keep the radiation from hurting the young Kryptonian any more. "Thanks, I like this knife." said Hank as he slipped it into his pocket.
"So, wait. The kryptonite wasn't affecting her?" asked Alex as she replayed what they had been informed of. "How can that be?"
"She and her little cohorts had some kind of device attached to their suits." said Matt. "It must be some kind of buffer that protects them from the kryptonite."
Hank scratched at his chin, "Then that changes the game." he looked toward Kara, "Why'd she attack you now? Why after all this time."
"She was trying to recruit me for her crazy cause, or whatever it is." replied the heroine. "She said that we both needed to be heroes and become a family again. Of course, according to the AI of my mother, Astra's idea of helping people was blowing up government buildings on Krypton. So..."
"She want's you off the board." the Director summerized. "This could be the beginning of what we feared when Fort Rozz first crashed on Earth. A city-wide attack."
"Then what do we do from here?" asked Matt as they stood by the center table, "How do we figure out what she's got planned?"
Kara shook her head, "I don't know, but I'm going to find out." she said heading for the door.
"Wait a minute." Alex said stopping her, "You need at least a few hours of rest to recover."
Her sister shook her head, "Now's not the time to big sister me-"
"Then how about me 'boyfriending you'?" the spider-hero cut in, his mask receeding off his head so he could look at her with his own eyes. "Your aunt's got experience and backup, if you go out there now in your current condition then you won't stand a chance. Alex is right, get some rest before we make our next move...for me?"
The heroine knew she couldn't win, seeing the concern on Matt's face was enough to break down her resolve on the situation and sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll head home and rest up."
Alex nodded, "Tomorrow, come in and we'll spar and see if you're ready. Try to get some sleep tonight." Kara nodded back as she and Matt headed toward the exit together.
"This isn't what I had in mind when I wanted you to meet the rest of my family." the Kryptonian said as she rubbed her forehead.
"I dunno, you're aunt seemed to like me." Matt replied with a shrug which earned him a bewildered look. "What? It could have been worse. Now I just have to survive meeting Clark."
Kara sighed again, "You're impossible, you know that. The only one to look at a dangerous situation and joke about it." she felt an arm drap around her shoulder, making her smile while she molded into the spider-hero's side as they headed to the elevator out of the base.
"You know you love that about me." Matt said with a grin.
"That, and so much more." replied the heroine, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "Ugh, I hope it's a slow day at work tomorrow."
"And with that, you just jinxed yourself." Matt got a swat on the arm for the comment as they got on the lift and headed toward the surface.
X
As it turned out, it had jinxed Kara's day. The moment she had gotten in she had been bullrushed by Cat and brought into the situation that was currently going on.
Someone had managed to hack the mogul's personal e-mail account was was sending her private messages to various media outlets. And with the cyber-attack, both CatCo and it's boss was facing media crisis that was painting both in a very bad light.
Currently, the heroine was going through every single one of Cat's e-mails with Winn and James to ensure that there wasn't anything that the hacker could use against her in some huge way. Which turned out to be a race against time considering more of the mogul's personal information was being revealed by the hour.
Matt swung by on his lunch break and lent a hand to the trio, and in the process learned more about Cat Grant than he ever wanted to know. Not even Toxin could help remove some of the information they had seen.
Needless to say, it was going to be a very long one for all involved.
When Kara went on her hour-long break, and Matt's day came to an end at the comic book store, they went to the DEO so that the heroine could spar with her sister and test out her skills before going after Astra.
The two siblings trading blows back and forth in a kryptonite dampening room for their session. Kara managing to capitalize in several aspects and sending the older woman to the floor.
"Again!" Kara exclaimed after flipping Alex to the floor. The agent got to her feet and took a ready position as they started again. the result being the older sister to be flipped once again, landing on her back with the Kryptonian standing over her with her arm raised.
There was a slight hesitation, which gave Alex the chance to kick Kara in the middle and knock her back to the floor where she immediately got back up. "Again!" she demanded, but Alex shook her head.
"Why did you hesitate?" she asked as they both stood there breathing heavily.
"We're just training, and you're my sister." replied the heroine as she remained in a ready stance.
Alex walked past her toward the wall, "What if I wasn't?" she said over her shoulder as she pressed a few buttons on a panel and deactivating the kryptonite dampeners. "What is going on with you?" she asked turning back to her sister.
Kara stepped off the platform they had been sparing on and headed for the exit, "Nothing, I don't want to talk about it."
"I think you should let us handle this." the brunette tried to reason.
"Don't give me that line you've been giving me for months." the Kryptonian said, waving her off.
"This isn't about being ready," Alex shot back, making her pause. "Astra is your family. And I think that, deep down, even whether you admit it or not, you still care about her."
"I don't." Kara said, her tone neutral, but her sister saw the conflicting emotions shining in her eyes.
"Kara, this is war. And sometimes to win a war, the enemy has to die. Can you look me in the eye and tell me that you're prepared to kill?" said Alex, worrying deep down no matter what answer the heroine gave her.
Kara scoffed, "Superman doesn't kill."
Alex shook her head, "If that's your answer, then you shouldn't fight her."
"It won't come to that-"
"She has shown that she is ready to kill you." the older Danvers interrupted. "You have to be ready to do the same."
For a second or two neither of them spoke, then Kara turned and headed for the door again. "What do you remember about her?" Alex questioned. "What are you holding onto?"
"Nothing." Kara said back, closing her eyes and fighting back the small sting that she knew would lead to tears, "It's gone now."
X
Matt blinked, more foreign emotions were making themselves known to him. Mostly anger and contempt, but then it quickly changed to sorrow before it faded away completely.
Shaking his head, he went back to reading the files before him about Astra and her forces that Hank had given him to go over in the off chance he encountered the General or any of her forces.
From what he was putting together, Kara's aunt had been an eco-terrorist along side her husband and had been attempting to make changes on Krypton leading up to the days of its destruction. She, and all those that served under her, were well trained, and from what they had seen when she made herself known, well equipped.
"How goes the reading?" Matt looked up and saw Hank standing on the other side of the table where all the files and documents were scattered.
"It's going somewhere." replied the spider-hero as he turned back to the dossier he had been going over. "Astra's forces seem pretty well equipped for being former prisoners."
The Director picked up one of the files and thumbed through it, "Fort Rozz crashed her almost two decades ago, more than enough time for them to gather resources and prepare for whatever they have planned." he thought something over briefly before turning to the spider-hero, "Do you think that you can hold your own against a Kryptonian?"
"I know I can go toe to toe with Kara when I'm at full strength. Taking on her aunt and her army will probably take a little more strategy." replied Matt honestly. "I mean, I've faced enemies that can rival a Kryptonian's strength, others that can match their speed, it's just a matter of figuring out what will work best."
Hank nodded, then asked another question that was crucial to the fight that was coming. "Have you killed before?"
Matt straightened in his seat and gave a look through the psudeo eyes of his mask, "Me personally? No. But I've been trained by heroes that have. Even a few vigilantes who made it their profession to do so."
He saw the questioning look and explained, "They're like anti-heroes, not bound by the same morals as other heroes. They show restraint where it is needed, but they use lethal force against the criminal element." said the spider-hero. "One of them, that I knew from several people, was the very epitome of the title."
"Who was he?" asked the Director.
"Frank Castle, referred to as The Punisher. He was a decorated soldier back in the day, even earned himself the Medal of Honor for his bravery and dedication on the battlefield. But he eventually retired and wanted to spend a quiet life with his family."
"Then, one day when they were having lunch at a park, a mafia hit went down and went horribly wrong. Castle's wife and child were killed, and the criminal justice system failed to bring the ones reponsible to judgment because they had the best lawyers. That's when he snapped."
Hank had sat down as he listened, a few agents straining their ears to hear as well as Matt continued, "That was when The Punisher was born. Castle became judge, jury and executioner to anyone who committed a hanous crime. Killers, rapists, psychos, sadists, didn't matter, none of them survived an encounter with him. He was ruthless, showed no mercy, but deep down, everyone who knew him knew that he was suffering the loss he endured."
"Did you ever work with him?" questioned the Director.
"No, but I met him once." said the spider-hero, "It was during a bust where a bunch of drug dealers were meeting at a warehouse. I Was the first one there and got inside to recon the place, that's when Castle showed up. Bashing through the front door in an armored truck before jumping out and gunning them all down in the span of seconds before they even realized what had happened. It was the first time I had seen so much bloodshed."
Matt rolled his shoulders and leaned back in his seat. "He knew I was there, called out to me. I knew his reputation, so I had nothing to worry about, but I was still cautious. When I asked him how he could do everything he did and not feel anything, he simply told me that; 'When you've been through what I have, killing becomes as easy as breathing'."
He looked at Hank who silently looked on, "I haven't killed, Chief. But from what I've learned, from what I've seen, if I was left with no other options and it meant the lives of innocent people, I'd do what I had to do. It may go against what my mentor taught me, but..."
"Sometimes it's necessary." Hank finished for him, nodding in understanding. "It's a hard choice when you're put into that position, soldiers endure it every day. As long as you know when to make that decision when the time comes, you show a greater responsibility with your powers."
The spider-hero nodded back, "Yeah, Steve Rodgers told me something similar a while back." he looked at the documents before him again, "How's Kara going to handle all this? She told me a lot about her aunt, before and after Krypton, I know this can't be easy for her."
"Hopefully this can be ended peacefully," said the Director. "However, given past events, it's highly unlikely that Astra will surrender. Even to her niece."
"Ah man..." Matt sighed while rubbing his temples, "The whole situation is messed up. She told me that she was alright with everything, but something tells me that she still holding onto something from the past. I can't really blame her, honestly. This isn't some rampaging bad guy...this is family."
Hank came around the table and put a hand on his shoulder, "The only thing we can do is be there for her when things come to a head. Especially you." he gave a firm pat on the younger man's shoulder before walking off, leaving Matt to his thoughts as he continued his research.
X
When everything was done at the DEO for the time being, Kara and Matt headed back to CatCo to continue looking into who had hacked Cat's e-mails. Gathering together in their little hideaway where James and Winn were still hard at work.
"Hay you two." James said, looking up from the printed mail he was reading through, "Everything alright?" he asked, seeing the solumn look on Kara's face.
"Fine. Everything's fine." the heroine replied as she went over to check on Winn's progress. James looked to Matt who shook his head, telling him to drop it for the time being as he picked up a box and started going through the contents.
"Find anything on the hacker?" Kara asked the IT as his fingers flew over the keyboards before him.
"Uhhh, not yet. I helped build CatCo's firewalls, and so far there isn't any sign of malware or overrides, nothing's out of place."
Shaking her head, the Kryptonian went over to James, "Alright, what about Ms. Grant's e-mails?"
"All over the map..." said the journalist tiredly.
"How bad is it?"
"I'm compiling a master-list, but there's all this strange and wierd stuff. Like, Cat invested in Jekyll and Hyde the musical. She sent an audition tape to be on Undercover Boss-"
"Would have loved to see how that episode turned out." Matt commented from his side of the room.
"And there are 317 e-mails referring to Lois Lane as a..." James trailed off and Kara blushed at how their boss' vocabular was so colorful. "Other than all that, we still haven't found anything yet.
Kara checked her watch and sighed, "The board meeting is going to be starting soon, I'll bring what we've found so far to her. Keep looking guys." with that she left the room and headed to the elevator.
The three men waited a good minute or so to be sure she was out of super-hearing range before Winn and James turned to Matt. "How is she really?" asked James.
"All over the place." replied the spider-hero. "She can hide it well, but Alex and I can see right through it. She's struggling and hard with how she's dealing with all of this."
"Well, her crazy aunt's back in town and wanting to drag her to the dark-side." stated Winn as he kept going through the system's network. "If they had been as close as she has told us, then its obvious how she could be so conflicted. Guess you two have that in common with disfunctional family and all that, huh?"
The air got cold and the IT shivered as he looked over his shoulder and found Matt glaring at him. "Not even close. Kara's aunt became an eco-terrorist for her own reasons. Venom and Carnage are NOT family! They are monsters hellbent on killing Toxin and I along with everything we care about! So don't you EVER compare the two again! Got it?!"
Winn nodded his head frantically before going back to what he had been doing. The room lapsing into silence as the three of them worked together. An hour slipped by with little to no success, when Kara came bursting into the room.
"Dirk Armstrong, chairman of the board, hired someone to hack Ms. Grant!" she exclaimed making them all stand up straight.
"How do you know that?" asked James.
"I overheard him after the board meeting talking about setting up Ms. Grant for a fall." she explained.
Winn perked up and went through the company's systems again, "If the hack came from somebody inside CatCo, this could be a lot harder to trace."
Kara nodded, "We need to find proof."
"We should talk with CatCo's lawyers, see if they can-"
"No, we can't trust them. They could be working with Armstrong." the heroine said cutting off James, "But...we do know someone who has the legal background to be able to help us...Don't we James?" she said giving the journalist a sheepish smile.
He shook his head and pulled out his phone and dialed the number as Matt came over, "So, corporate espionage, huh?" he asked with a smirk aimed at Kara who bit her lip. "I'm all in, so long as we get the help we need."
"Then we better hope that Lucy's in an understanding mood." replied Kara as they waited for James to set up a meeting with the Lieutenant.
A/N: A little bit of everything in this installment, along with a few questions for you guys to think over for the time being until next time. You know what to do guys, see you again in a couple days!