A/N: Really all over the place the last few weeks. But I'm starting to make progress with multiple stories still being active. Though I don't know how long my creative juices will be flowing, but I'll try and squeeze whatever I can out of them.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
With the DEO now under General Lane's command, there wasn't a whole lot for either Kara or Matt to do for the time being. But they both agreed that at least one of them needed to stay behind to keep an eye on things.
Matt had volunteered to stay at the DEO while Kara went back to CatCo. Given her situation with Cat, she still needed to figure out how to get the mogul off her back abot her being Supergirl.
With her mate wishing her the best and giving her a quick kiss for luck, she went back to work and prepared for what may come her way.
"I have those media authorizations you asked for Ms. Grant," she said entering Cat's office.
The mogul looked up and smiled at her from her desk, "Oh, wonderful Kiera. Wonderful." she said with a little too much cheer as she stood up and patted her chair, "Why don't you, have a seat with me for a minute."
Kara's eyes widened and she swallowed thickly, "I...I should really be getting back to my desk." she said, already in the process of backing out of the room.
"I insist." Cat said, leaving no room for argument.
"Ok..." the heroine surrendered as she came around the desk and sat in the woman's chair, "Is there something I can help you with?"
The mogul picked up a file she had been looking through moments ago, "Well, I've been doing a teensy bit of research into your past, and I wanted some clarifiction on a few details." she looked at the heroine across from her with a critical gaze. "You're 24 years old?"
"You know I am, Ms. Grant." Kara replied with her attempt at a disarming smile.
"Which means you were what age when the movie Titanic came out in 1997?" asked Cat pointedly.
The Kryptonian stuttered a moment before saying "Six."
"Which is the same age you were when you started what grade?" pressed the mogul.
"First."
"Uh-Huh, and your teacher's name was...?"
"M-Mr. Zarzicky."
Cat picked up a sheet from the binder and laid it on the desk, "According to this report card, her name was Ruth Marshawn."
Kara blinked owlishly, "You have my first grade report card?" she couldn't help but ask before leaping right to her own defense. "And Ms. Marshawn taught art at Midvale elementary, it was a trick question. I didn't transfer there until the eighth grade. Now have I convinced you, Ms. Grant?"
Relief went through the heroine, believing that she had her boss beat and proven that her and her alter-ego weren't the same...Until Cat smiled and hummed at her, having that hope crashing and burning.
"Without a shadow of a doubt...you are Supergirl."
"But...I knew all the answers to your insane questions!" Kara blurted out, standing from the desk.
"Exactly," replied Cat, "Only a person who is determined to lie can answer all the questions they're asked. How do you think I caught Lance Armstrong?" the statement left her assistant stunned a moment. "You see, Kiera, you and I both fight for truth, justice and the American way, it just so happens that my methods are better, and more fun."
She paused for a moment, tapping her chin when something came to her, "I do have, one last question, however. Does your boy-toy know about your 'extracarricular activities'? I mean, he must question why you have to bail out on dates, unless he is completely and hopelessly oblivious, which I highly doubt. Which also makes me wonder how he feels about dating someone who constantly puts herself on the line...unless of course...he has his own secret to hide."
Kara was doing her best to keep the color from draining from her face. Figuring her out as Supergirl was bad, but if Cat managed to out Matt too it would be a lot worse. "What...What are you getting at, Ms. Grant?" she asked, keeping her voice as level as possible.
"What I am 'getting at' is whether or not Supergirl is the only hero coming in and out of my building everyday." said the mogul while taking a seat back behind her desk. "Mike seems to be the only one who can get good enough pictures of Spyderman on a regular basis, more so than the dozens of photographers I have on my payroll."
Cat leaned forward with an almost predatory glint in her eyes, knowing that she had the battle won no matter what her assistant tried. "That'll be all, Supergirl."
Groaning mentally, the Kryptonian left the office and sat at her desk putting her head in her hands. Wondering what she was going to do to get out of this.
Her phone vibrated beside her, snapping her out of her silent misery as she saw it was Alex calling and answered it. "What's up?"
"You need to get here now! Matt's going to get himself in trouble!"
Kara had never left CatCo so fast in her life.
X Several Minutes Earlier X
Matt sat crouched on one of the many support beams above the op center as he watched General Lane's men mingling and working around the DEO agents on duty.
It was still a bitter pill to swallow knowing that the man that had it out for Kara and her cousin was now running the show with Hank held captive. The whole thing was harder on Alex given that she had been all but benched given her ties to the Director, but she'd been doing her best to stay busy despite the new situation.
"You ever wonder if the universe is out to get us?" Toxin asked absently as they continued to observe the operations below.
"The universe is always out to get us, Tox." Matt thought back as he leaned backward on his hunches, "It never stops kicking us in the ass just when things are starting to look okay. And there's always a big blow-hard that starts the whole thing."
A small commotion below drew the spider-hero's attention down to the op center where Lane and a few of his men made their way through toward the prisoner wing. Alex was on the General's heels arguing with him about something,
"The decisions been made, Agent Danvers. If you have a problem with it take it up with the President herself." he said as he continued on his trek leaving her behind.
Matt dropped down next to her, his sudden appearence not startling her in the least. "What was all that about?" he asked.
Alex ran a hand through her hair, "Lane's...He's going to try and get Hank's location out of Astra."
The spider-hero snorted, "Good luck with that one. She's as stubborn as they come. Must be where Kara get's it from."
"Matt," the tone of her voice had his stomach dropping, "He's not going to take no for an answer...they have kryptonite..." she trailed off, but the meaning was painstakingly clear at what the General was planning to do if he didn't get the information he needed.
"Oh Hell NO!" Matt shouted before he took off in a dead sprint. The halls and doorways flying past him in a blur as over a dozen agents leapt out of his way. Skidding to a stop at an intersection and taking a shortcut that would take him to where he needed to go before Lane got there.
The General and his men entered the room that contained Astra's cell, pausing two steps in when he found the last person he expected standing infront of her prison facing him.
"Spyderman. What are you doing here?" he asked pointedly.
"Stopping you from doing what you were planning to do." Matt said, fists clenched at his sides while Astra looked on in confusion.
Lane set his jaw, "This is a matter that doesn't concern you. I've been given authority to do what is needed to ensure that Hank Henshaw is brought back and our enemies do not have an advantage over us. And that means getting the information we need by any means."
"Not like this!" the hero shouted. "Not by stooping to the level of our enemies. Non hasn't harmed Henshaw, we can't just torture prisoners!"
The General didn't look moved. "Stand aside, Spyderman."
Matt planted his feet, "No."
"I'm giving you a direct order, son."
"I don't take orders from you." Lane's men entered the room and fanned out, their rifles now aimed at the spider-hero who remained in defiance.
Looking to the soldiers, Matt realized how sensitive the situation was. He couldn't attack the men, because he would be labled a traitor and imprisoned here at the DEO. And there was a strong chance that Lane and his men knew how to take him down. So he had to try another tactic.
"Did the President give you authorization to use torture as a method?" Matt asked sharply. "Because I'm pretty sure that in the past that never worked out in times of war for either side."
"She is the leader of this Kryptonian faction." said the General. "She's the only one that can tell us what we need to know."
"And do you think Non will take what you're about to do laying down?" the spider-hero asked. "He finds out you hurt his General, his wife, in any way not only will he kill Henshaw he'll burn half of National City to the ground. Are you saying that you're prepared to put lives at risk for information that Astra may or may not possess?"
Lane didn't respond at first, taking in the younger man's words. "We have less than 40 hours before Non executes Director Henshaw. Unless we find a way to locate him without surrendering our own prisoner, there is no other way."
His soldiers spread out through the room, weapons still trained on Matt while the soldier beside the General opened the metal case he had been carrying to reveal a syringe and six small bottles of liquid kryptonite.
Astra gasped, stepping away from where she knew the only way into her cell was located while Matt took a couple steps back. Blocking the way in with his body. "I won't let you do this, General."
"You don't have a choice. Last chance, Spyderman. Stand aside, or you will be thrown into a cell just like her." Lane said, motioning to the Kryptonian.
"I'd rather be thrown in a cell than surrender my morals of right and wrong." Matt said defiantly. "And this is wrong. Henshaw wouldn't stand for something like this, and neither will I."
Lane nodded grimly, "Fine. Take him into custody." The soldiers closed in on the spider-hero, he knew there was no way he could bring himself to harm the soldiers, but he'd be damned if he let them torture Kara's aunt.
Enemy or not, she didn't deserve the amount of pain she would be put through at the Human General's hands. There was always another way.
Just before the soldiers reached him, Matt leapt upward, attaching to the ceiling and fired a webline. Yanking the case from the surprised man beside the General, pulling left, he threw it into the closest wall with enough force to bend the dense metal. The telltale sound of glass shattering filled the room before the case hit the floor, the liquid kryptonite oozing out beneath it signifying that all the vials had been broken.
Before Lane could issue another order, the spider-hero had jumped from his high point, flipping in the air and landing on his feet by the door. "By the way, you need to cut down on the Rogane and Bengay." he said before saluting the people in the room before taking off in a dead run.
The loud bellowing of the General echoed down the hall behind him along with the thundering of boots on concrete as the soldiers chased after him.
Smirking beneath his mask, Matt rounded a corner and spun around, firing webbing from both hands until a large web covered the corridor entrance just as the men came running around the same corner and right into the obstacle.
"Sorry guys, but you're not catching this spider today." he said as he kept sprinting. Rushing through the op center just as Kara arrived dressed as Supergirl and approached Alex.
"What's going-Matt?! Where are you-" she was cut off as he stopped infront of her, pulled up his mask and kissed her deeply.
"Talk later, gotta run!" he said before leaping into the elevator and riding it up to the surface.
Both Danvers sisters were stumped at what had just happened until General Lane stormed into the room looking ready to erupt. "Where is he?! Where is Spyderman?!"
"He just left, General." said Alex, doing her best to hid the proud smirk seeing her sister's boyfriend getting under the man's skin like he had.
"And neither of you stopped him?!" Lane bellowed looking between Alex and Kara.
"I just arrived." said the Kryptonian, still very confused about what was going on.
"And you told me not to get involved since I was 'too close to the case.' " her sister said, throwing the General's own words back at him.
Lane growled almost ferally as he spun on his heel, "I want that unitard wearing traitor in a cell by the end of the day!" he ordered to both his men and the DEO agents as he stormed out of the op center to parts unknown.
When he was gone, Kara looked at Alex, "Explination, now."
Alex smiled at her, "I think you're going to be proud of you're boyfriend."
X
Several hours had passed since Matt's sudden departure from the DEO, and the spider-hero had done his best to stay as far under the radar as possible.
He knew there was going to be a lot of heat coming his way if Lane had everything his way. But there was no way he was going to allow the man to torture someone.
Matt could understand getting information out of a prisoner, and sometimes, especially in times of crisis, an interrogation could get rough for the one witholding that information. But using a poison that could cause pain beyond measure and could possibly kill that person?
Lane wasn't just doing it to get information from Astra, he was intending on making her feel agony while she was at his mercy, unable to protect herself. His dislike, boarderline hatred, of aliens was hard to miss...but Matt never thought he would go that far.
"Kinda reminds you how mutants are treated back home, don't it?" said Toxin while Matt sat on the roof of his home/work staring out at the city.
"Which is why I did what I did." the host replied.
His other sent a wave of calm his way through their link. "Believe me, I'm in your corner on that one. And you got out of there without throwing a punch, Pete would be proud."
Matt smiled at the symbiote's words just as he felt the wind gust up behind him. "I take it you were sent out to bring me in?" he asked, sending a grin over his shoulder at Kara as she came over and sat down beside him.
"Like I would do that." the heroine replied.
"You sure? I hear conjucal visits can be fun." the spider-hero said back.
Kara punched him lightly on the arm laughing before resting her head on his shoulder. "Alex told me what you did...I have no words that can express how happy I am. To know that you would do that, even for Astra."
"Like I said before, she's your family. Regardless of what she's become now, family is still family. There was no way in hell I was going to let Lane hurt her like that." Matt replied, putting an arm around her shoulders, "Finding Hank is important, but there was no way that he would allow anyone to hurt a prisoner to that level, even for him."
The Kryptonian smiled as they lapsed into silence. Her thoughts drifting toward what had happened after she left the DEO and went back to work to finish her shift...leading to another altercation with Cat about her identity.
"There's something you need to know." she said, garnering the spider-hero's attention. "Cat's not letting up about the Supergirl thing. I tried everything to get her off the trail, but she's persistent. A little while ago, she told me that..." Kara trailed off, fighting back tears, "She told me that, for all the time I spent at CatCo, is time that could be used to save someone who needs it."
She looked up at Matt sorrowfully, "She's planning to let me go. And there's nothing I can do about it. Matt, what am I going to do? I need that job. It keeps life normal for me, without it..."
Matt pulled her into a hug. "We'll figure something out, Kara. Even if she pieced things together, I doubt Cat would out you as Supergirl to the world. She cares too much for what you do for everyone here in National City. And if she does fire you, well, I could always ask Stan to give you a job here at the comic shop."
Kara wiped her eyes and laughed lightly, "You'd do that?" she couldn't help but ask.
"What kind of boyfriend, slash mate, would I be if I didn't go out of my way to keep the love of my life happy?" the spider-hero boasted while puffing out his chest in exageration, making the Kryptonian laugh even more.
Their little moment together was broken by the sound of Kara's phone going off. "What's up?" she asked after answering it.
"Astra gave up Non's location. We're mobilizing now to go get Hank." her sister replied while on the move.
"What? Astra would never betray her soldiers." Kara replied, surprised that her aunt would give them anything at all. "Or her husband for that matter."
"If there's a chance to save Hank, I have to take it." Alex said back.
"Then I'm coming with you." the heroine hung up before her sister could reply and turned to Matt. "Astra gave up a location."
"I think we can both agree that something doesn't smell right about that." the spider-hero said, thinking along the same lines as his mate. "Need an extra hand?"
Kara shook her head, "If Lane sees you, he'll lock you up in a blink. I got this." she gave him a soft kiss before standing and taking off into the air. Matt watching her go with a small smirk growing on his face.
"She forgets that you're as stubborn as she is." said Toxin as the hero's suit covered his body and he lept off the building, swinging in the direction she was heading.
It took a little while, but he managed to catch up with the Kryptonian as she flew above a small convoy of military vehicles that heading into a large warehouse near the waterfront.
Landing on the roof of the large structure, he crawled his way through one of the open skylights and clung to the ceiling as he watched the soldiers below set up a perimeter and started searching the surrounding containers.
Matt overheard Kara saying that the containers were all lined with lead, meaning she couldn't see into them with her x-ray vision. She, Alex and a handful of men approached the closest container. The heroine melting the lock on it with her heat vision and pulled the door open.
"Hank!" Kara exclaimed, seeing the man inside before his visage vanished to reveal a large red crystal with a device wrapped around it.
"Bomb!" Alex screamed.
Matt's spider-sense screamed and he reacted fast, firing multiple weblines from both hands that attached to the soldiers around the container and yanking them away just as it exploded with enough force to wreck the other containers around it.
Near the mouth of the blast zone, Kara stood with Alex close to her side. Her cape being used as a shield to protect her human sister from instant death as everyone got their barings back.
"Everyone alright?" Matt asked as he dropped down onto one of the humvees.
Several soldiers aimed weapons at him, but the Commander of the squad ordered to put them down while he took a head count. "All green. Thanks to you," he turned to look at Kara, " Both of you."
"It was a trap. Astra played us." Alex said as she looked at the wreckage. Leaving them all with a sense of forboding about what they were going to do now.
X
The next day, after getting through a rather abrupt shift at work, Kara stepped into Astra's cell room at the DEO.
"I wasn't expecting you so soon." The General said while seated on the bench within her cell. "Did they send you back here? What makes them think it'll be any different this time?"
"Because now I'm ready to hear what you have to say." Kara said, garnering her aunt's complete attention. "I was afraid to listen before. But, yesterday I got so upset, I couldn't think. Because I was so sure that I would lose everything that mattered to me...like you must have felt back home."
"But if we want any hope for the future, we need to stop letting fear control us. We have to be better." she pressed on.
Astra shook her head, but Kara could see that she was fighting with her own emotions. "You give me too much credit."
The heroine knelt down on the opposite side of the cell wall she was closest to, "Because I know the real you."
"The woman you knew died on Krypton." said the General.
"But I still have faith that there's still good in you." Kara said gently.
Astra shook her head again, "I am not worth your faith."
"Everyone deserves faith, Astra. Even you." Kara reached her hand out and pressed her palm against the glass. "Even if you have changed, lost your way, you are still family. And family, will always be family. So please, tell me what happened on Krypton. The truth, please."
X
Back in National City, Matt had just finished up his own day at work. Having finished stocking the shelves and closing the shop up for the day before poking his head into the back room where Stan was going through a few files.
"Hey, Stan. Heading out for the night." he said, alerting the man to his departure.
"You mind sticking around a few minutes? I want to talk to you." the old man said while putting the file he had just been reading down.
Confused, the spider-hero entered the room as Stan turned around in the desk chair he was seated in. "Something wrong?" he asked.
Stan met his gaze, his aged eyes seeming to look right through him from behind the tinted glasses he always wore. "There's nothing wrong, but there is something I believe that we need to discuss." he said seriously.
Even though he wanted to play off what he knew to be the inevitable, Matt could see that Stan wouldn't be fooled no matter how he tried to spin it. With a sigh, he slipped his hands into his pockets. "How long have you known?"
"A few months now." replied the older man, which surprised the hero. "I had suspicions not too long after you started working here. What with your constant coming and going. But I figured that with your other job it was easily explainable. But the more time went on, all of the evidence added up."
Stan smiled, "To think, I have Spyderman working in my comic book shop. It's more than a bit surprising."
Matt smirked, despite the seriousness of the situation. "I had a feeling you would have connected the dots after a while." his face turned serious as he thought of the ramifications. "So what happens now?"
He knew that Stan would never reveal his identity, but that did nothing to quell his curiosity on where to go from here.
"For starters, your secret his very safe with me." said the older man as he stood up from the chair. "And now I no longer have to worry about your sudden disappearences. Though, I wouldn't mind if you swung by the shop once in a while in uniform. I know a lot of kids would would love to meet you in person."
The spider-hero grinned again, "Done." his phone chimmed with an incoming message. "I gotta go...duty calls and all that."
Stan nodded, "I understand."
Matt turned to leave, pausing a moment and looking back at his boss, "And Stan? Thank you."
The old man grinned back at him, "No trouble at all, true believer."
X
"Your mother never stopped believing in me." Astra said, having explained what had happened the last time she and Alura spoke before her imprisonment to her niece. "You are so much like her, Kara.
"It's not to late, Astra." Kara said with a great deal of emotion in her voice with tears threatening to spill. "Please, tell me where Henshaw is."
"The only way to save him at all is to make the trade." the General said honestly. "The Humans will never agree to that."
The heroine stood, her resolve strong. "Then it's a good thing I'm not Human, then." she turned to leave and prepare for what needed to be done when her aunt called her back.
"Little one, your mate is a very strong, honorable man." the older Kryptonian admitted. "He risked imprisonment, protecting an enemy, to keep the other Humans from bringing harm to me to get the information they sought."
Kara smiled at the mention of Matt's good deed. "Maybe you shouldn't judge all Humans in the same light."
Astra looked at her niece, her brow furrowed, "I cannot understand his reasoning. In a time of war, I can understand the Human General's reasoning for his actions. But why would the spider risk so much to defy him?"
"For me." the General looked at the heroine who hadn't lost her smile. "Despite what you've done since coming to Earth, and no matter how you and I were against one another days ago, he still saw you as my family. Family is everything to him..." she trailed off, allowing the older woman to piece things together.
"He has no family of his own." she said with a bit of sympathy in her tone.
"He lost everything he loved." said Kara. "But now he has me, and my family. And I will always be there for him, like he has been for me." she turned and started for the door again. Stopping long enough to speak over her shoulder at her aunt, "And knowing him, he'll be there when we make the trade for Hank."
She left the room, taking out her phone and firing off a mass text to a select few numbers.
X
Several hours later, an unmarked suburban drove into a silent industrial complex. Coming to a stop allowing a couple DEO agents to step out followed by Alex who helped Astra stand while her hands were cuffed with kryptonite bindings.
"Despite your earlier bravado, you seem rather hesitant about this deal." the General said as they walked side by side.
Alex pulled her to a stop, "If it were up to me, I'd leave you rotting in that cell." she said sharply. "But I want your people to see that we are better than General Lane. Because maybe then we can find a way to end this war."
"You sound just like my niece." commented Astra.
"She has that affect on people." quipped the older Danvers right back just as Kara landed in their midst. A moment later, Matt came down right beside her in his Spyderman suit.
"They're here." said the heroine, right before Non appeared and touched down a few meters ahead of them with Hank in tow.
Alex undid the bindings restraining Astra's powers, allowing her to step forward while the Director did the same. "It's good to see you sir." his second in command said when he reached their side. Non hugging his wife when she reached him at the same time.
"When we get out of here, remind me to refresh you on our policy with not negotiating with terrorists." Hank said, putting his hands on his hips. "Till then, for now, I'll just say thanks."
"It's what we do, Chief." Matt said.
Kara suddenly perked up, her super hearing picking up something closing in on them. "Something's wrong."
All eyes went to the sky as nearly two dozen Kryptonian soldiers appeared, hovering high above the ground surrounding them on all sides. The full realization that they were outnnumbered and outgunned weighing heavily on them.
"...I'll...take the one on the left..." said the spider-hero while sizing up the opposition, both he and Toxin very unsure about the outcome of a fight.
Alex turned to Hank, "You have to transform." she said lowly, but sadly it was loud and clear for Kara to hear which left her confused.
"Prepare to attack!" Non ordered, his soldiers' eyes beginning to glow while the heroes and the DEO agents prepared themselves.
"STOP!" Astar shouted, all eyes turning to her. "Stand down!"
Her second in command turned to her in shock, "We must strike now, General! We have them at our mercy."
Astra turned to him sharply, "Honor the agreement, Non. There will be no more battles today." she said with a sense of finality on the subject.
Non set his jaw, looking up at their soldiers who looked back, waiting for their next order. Breathing hard through his nose, he submitted to his wife's demand. "Withdraw!"
One by one, the other Kryptonians disappeared into the sky. Non soon following them, leaving Astra alone. "Do not mistake my compassion for weakness!" she addressed the other group. "This is not a truce!"
"Then lets call it a start!" Kara called back.
The General simply nodded before taking off. Everyone letting out a tension relieving breath when they were sure that the alien faction had vacated the area.
"Well...that was a thing." Matt couldn't help but say which relieved the tension even more.
X
After the trade and brief stand-off with Astra and Non's forces, they all returned to headquarters where Hank waisted little to no time letting General Lane know that his 'services were no longer required'.
Which in short meant the Director had kicked the blow-hard out of 'his' secret base.
Afterward, Kara cornered Hank and Alex, asking what her sister had meant when she told the Director he had to 'transform.'
Taking the two heroes into a secluded area of the DEO, he told them about his origins which left them almost speechless.
"Whoa! Whoa! WHOA! Are you telling me that you're an actual Martian?!" the spider-hero exclaimed.
Hank nodded seriously, "And you're the host of a alien symbiotic lifeform and Kara's Kryptonian."
"By why hide?!" asked Kara, trying to overcome her own shock.
"I'm trying to make this world a safer place for everyone." answered the Director, "Humans and aliens alike. I failed Alex's father before I assumed the identity of Hank Henshaw, I won't fail again."
"And you saw what the DEO was like under General Lane, so..." Alex said, trailing off at the end. "We need Hank...J'onn, at the top."
Kara and Matt looked at each other before looking at the high-ranked DEO agents with their arms crossed, "You could have told us." said Kara, "I can keep a secret."
"No you can't." the other three said at the exact same time making her pout at them.
"And meeting someone from Mars is something new I can add to my list." added Matt as he shook 'Hank's' hand. "It's nice to meet you, J'onn J'onzz."
The shapeshifter nodded with a gentle smile, his eyes flashing red for a brief moment.
A/N: A crisis averted, an two identities revealed, and the verbal bashing of a jackass General. All in a days work.
Till next time folks!