Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Maggie closed her eyes and moaned softly as she felt Alex's thumbs dig into her shoulders.
"God, if I'd known you gave such good back rubs, I would have asked you out months ago," Maggie said.
"It's probably good you didn't," Alex said. "I don't even want to think about how bad the gay panic would have been if Kara hadn't been there to talk me down."
"You'd have gotten through it. But don't think a little deep tissue is going to get you off the hook for all felonious sins," Maggie said, gesturing to the stack of files in front of her.
"Well, I probably shouldn't be doing this at work anyway," Alex said.
"Stop, and I *will* shoot you," Maggie said. She smiled when she felt Alex press a kiss to the top of her head.
"So bossy," Alex said. "Faster, harder, don't stop…"
"Funny, I remember you sounding a lot like that last night," Maggie said, grinning.
"I regret nothing," Alex said.
"You better not," Maggie said. "I-"
She was cut off when her phone started playing 'Take This Job and Shove It'.
"Damn," Maggie said. She picked up her phone and accepted the call. "Sawyer."
"Cavanaugh here," came the reply. "We got one of yours. Orange Blossom and twenty-third. I'd hurry. The paramedics don't know what to do for the guy, and if he doesn't get help soon, we're going to need a body bag."
"Shit," Maggie said. "We're on our way."
She hung up as she came to her feet. "You ready to try flying in town?" she asked.
"Yeah," Alex said as she fell in behind Maggie. "What's up?"
"Assault and battery. Alien vic in bad shape. Science division picked it up, but the paramedics don't know what to do."
"Let's go," Alex said.
"Holy shit!" someone screamed as Maggie and Alex dropped out of the sky.
Alex headed straight towards the paramedics who were working on the alien, while Maggie headed for Cavanaugh.
"Hey, Seamus," she said. "What have we got?"
Cavanaugh stared at her for a minute, looking her up and down, taking in the war suit she was wearing.
"What the hell, Sawyer? Are you one of the freaks too?"
"Jesus Christ, have a little fucking respect," Maggie said. "Guy's bleeding out on the street and you're calling him a freak." She shook her head. "Second, my new job gives me better toys than you. Suck it up and tell me what the fuck happened."
"Right. Shit. Sorry," Cavanaugh said. "We think it was a couple of Planetary Hygiene Action Network types. Guy was loading a uHaul. His girlfriend said they'd gotten an apartment over in Little Krypton."
"Did the girlfriend see it?" Maggie asked.
"Out the window," Cavanaugh said.
"She call the cops?" Maggie asked.
"No," he said. "A black and white saw the fight and came in to break it up. Didn't realize it was one of yours until he saw the blue blood."
"Sawyer," Alex called, "I need to transport."
Maggie turned to face Alex. "I got this," she said.
Alex waved the paramedics back, then reached up and touched her ear bud, saying something Maggie couldn't make out without turning on the super hearing. Alex and the victim vanished in a flash of light, and Maggie turned back to Cavanaugh.
"Take me to see the girlfriend," Maggie said. "Once we're done here, I'll talk to the Kryptonians about getting a few medical attendants assigned to paramedic duty and tied into the 911 network."
"That'd be good," Cavanaugh said. "I mean, I don't want them dying because we can't help them."
Maggie nodded. "I wish everyone felt that way."
"You wanted to see me, Ms. Vale?" Siobhan asked.
"Yes. Have a seat," Vicki said, pointing at one of the chairs across from her desk.
Siobhan dropped into the chair, wondering if she'd somehow managed to so something wrong before she'd even been given her first assignment.
"Kara tells me you're an extremely talented writer," Vicki said. "She said your work for your college paper was well executed and surprisingly insightful."
"She's read my work?" Siobhan asked.
"Apparently," Vicki said. "Her exact words, when she told me she was transferring you to me as a stringer were, 'she's got talent, drive, ambition, and the morals of a shark that hasn't eaten in a weak and smells blood in the water'. I will say this for Ms. Danvers. When she decides to dislike someone, she does her homework. She pointed out the article you did about the Campus Chapter of the Young Republicans as an example of your questionable moral judgement."
"That was a good piece!" Siobhan said.
"It was well written, but Ms. Smythe, you outed the sister of the club vice President as a trans woman while she was still closeted and financially dependent on her parents. It was irresponsible and sensationalistic," Vicki said.
"It was the truth!"
"Yes, it was," Vicki said, "but it wasn't your truth to share, and it wasn't the public's business. Truth is dangerous, to the guilty, and the innocent. Sometimes, in order to do our jobs, in order to report the news, we have no choice but to hurt the innocent. However, Ms. Smythe, the job of the journalist is not *just* to report the truth, it's to distinguish between what is news, and what is information. You failed to do that."
Vicki tossed a thick folder full of papers onto her desk. "Don't make the same mistake again."
"What's this?" Siobhan asked.
"Your first assignment," Vicki said. "A bunch of anti-alien extremists jumped an alien as he was loading his truck to move to Little Krypton. Show me what you've got."
J'onn was sitting behind the table in the interrogation room when Alex and Maggie walked in.
"You wanted to see us, sir?" Alex asked.
"I do," J'onn said. "Both of you, have a seat."
"Okay," Alex said, dropping down into the chair on the left while Maggie took the one on the right. "What's going on? Because I gotta say, this feels a little bit like an interrogation."
"That's because it is," J'onn said. "I've just received permission from President Marsdin to proceed with telepathic verification of all DEO personnel."
"And we're first?" Maggie asked.
"No," J'onn said. "Agent Vasquez was first. Her story about what happened at the desert facility checked out. You're second and third. Not because I think I'll find anything, but because the legality here is already dubious, so there can't be any suggestion of bias."
"Okay," Maggie said. "I get it."
"Alex," J'onn asked.
"Fine," Alex said, "but I want it on the record that I wasn't thinking about any of what I'm thinking about until you told me you were going to read my mind, so whatever you see in there is your own fault."
"Lucy?" Kara asked, a little confused as she stared at the monitor. She couldn't think of any reason for Lucy to be standing outside her door holding a grocery bag. She flipped the locks and opened the door.
"Hey," Lucy said.
"Hey, Lucy," Kara replied.
"I'm not sure if you're really in the mood for company, but word got around about Sara leaving," she said.
"Who talked?" Kara asked, a little exasperated.
"Kara, you were listening to breakup playlists and going through two pints of Ben and Jerry's an hour in front of four DEO agents," Lucy said. "No one spilled any details, but it wasn't hard to figure out."
Kara felt herself blush a little. "Sorry," she said. "I might be just the tiniest bit defensive."
"No, really?" Lucy said. "Now, are you going to invite me in, or am I going to have to cook you dinner in the hallway?"
"Oh," Kara said, moving out of her way. "Sorry."
Lucy shook her head. "You're losing your touch, Danvers," she said as she walked into the apartment. "I'll forgive you though, but only because you're cute."
Kara closed the door and turned to follow Lucy towards the kitchen. "Um, Lucy, I'm not sure-"
"Relax," Lucy said, "I'm not here for what's left of your virtue. I'm no one's rebound girl. Not after James."
"Oh," Kara said. "Yeah. I forgot."
"Which is fair," Lucy said as she sat the bag of groceries down. "I mean, the girlfriend coming back from the dead, the shooting, my dad's little prison break. Which is why I brought this." She reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle of something that glowed a bright orange.
"Tamaranian Rum," Lucy announced proudly. "M'gann said it was a decent substitute for the Earth stuff flavor-wise, and it will actually get *you* drunk."
Kara laughed and reached for the bottle. "I didn't know you knew M'gann," Kara said.
"We've talked a few times since the attack on Darla's," Lucy said. "I've been helping deal with a lot of legal issues that the aliens are running into now that they're coming out into the open. Things like getting them legit ID's. She's good people."
Kara smiled. "She is," she said. "She really, really is."
"Now," Lucy said, "I am going to make you dinner, and then we are going to get completely sauced, and spend the night doing drunk girl shit."
"That sounds like a plan," Kara said.
"Okay, but like, I don't get it," Kara said. "Why did you date James for so long?"
"I loved him," Lucy said.
"Yeah, but why?" Kara said. "He's not even that good a kisser, and the sex was over in like, ten minutes."
"Hey, ten minutes is actually pretty good," Lucy said.
Kara blew a raspberry. "You're kidding, right?"
"No," Lucy said.
"Sara and I once did thirty minutes in a closet," Kara said.
"Really?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah," Kara said. "Would have been longer, but the stupid Secret Service agents caught us."
"Secret service agents?" Lucy asked. "Where was the closet?"
"The Lincoln Bedroom," Kara said. "I'm not allowed to visit the White House on Earth fifteen anymore."
"I don't want to badmouth James-" Kara said.
"Why not?" Lucy asked.
"Because he's my friend," Kara said. "But he's also a whiny, punk-ass bitch…"
"TRUTH!" Lucy shouted.
"…who should just admit he's in love with my cousin."
"Amen!"
"On dragons?" Lucy said. "How the fuck do you play soccer on dragons? Do the dragons kick the ball?"
"No," Kara said. "You have these long mallets you use to hit the ball."
"Oh," Lucy said. "Sounds more like polo than soccer."
"Huh… Maybe you're right," Kara said.
"You know who's got a nice ass?" Lucy asked.
"Cat," Kara said. "I could just sit for hours and stare at it."
"I was going to say Maggie," Lucy said.
"She's taken," Kara said.
"Doesn't mean I can't dream of being the filling in that sandwich," Lucy said.
"Gross!"
"What? You and Sara never had a threesome?" Lucy asked.
"Um…"
"KARA DANVERS YOU HAVE BEEN HOLDING OUT ON ME!" Lucy shouted. "Now dish!"
"Okay, but you gotta admit, Wonder Woman is gorgeous," Lucy said.
"Not denying it," Kara said. "I was really tempted when she asked me out-"
"YOU TURNED DOWN WONDER WOMAN? KARA DANVERS, WHAT KIND OF LESBIAN ARE YOU?"
"She reminds me of my sister," Kara said defensively.
"Hmmm… Yeah, I could see that. I mean, I would definitely let either of them raw me," Lucy said.
"Oh, COME ON!" Kara shouted.
"Okay, aside from Cat and me, who'd be your top pick?"
"Honestly?" Kara asked.
"No, lie to me," Lucy said.
"Fine," Kara said. "Susan."
"Vasquez?" Lucy asked. "Really?"
"Oh, God yes," Kara said. "Have you seen those arms?"
"You've got a point," Lucy said.
"Oh, please," Kara scoffed. "You're telling me you haven't had at least one day dream about her bending you over the console in the command center and making you beg for it?"
"HA! Supergirl's a bottom!" Lucy yelled with more mirth than the moment really deserved.
"No, Supergirl's a top," Kara said. "But Kara likes getting her hair pulled by tiny little butches who strap at work."
"Shit! She does?" Lucy asked.
"She did when I started there," Kara said. "She stopped when she dumped her girlfriend, but she started again last week."
"She's dating someone!" Lucy said.
"Nah," Kara said dismissively. "J'onn hasn't hired Cameron Chase yet."
"So," Lucy said, waving her hands around as if to paint a picture, "I'm standing there in the bar, waiting for M'gann to run my credit card and watching Alex line up her shot while Maggie stares at her ass like it's a steak and Maggie hasn't eaten in a week, and I ask her, 'What's going on in that head of yours, Sawyer?' and M'gann, without missing a beat, just says 'Gay sex, mostly.'"
"Do you think you could convince your aunt to wear her hair up in a bun?" Lucy asked.
"Why?" Kara asked.
"No reason," Lucy said. "It's certainly not because I want her to put on a suit and glasses and spank me for returning my library books late."
"Ewww! GROSS!" Kara said. "What is it with women and my aunt? First Zatanna and now you."
"And Maggie and Susan were both staring at her ass the other day," Lucy said.
"WHY?"
"She's really hot," Lucy said.
"No, she isn't!" Kara said.
Lucy let out a small sigh. "I bet her strap game is amazing."
Kara grabbed a pillow and slapped Lucy in the face with it.
"Okay, if you had to pick someone from CatCo," Lucy asked.
"Cat," Kara said. "Why is that even a question?"
Lucy hugged and rolled her eyes. "If you had to pick someone from CatCo OTHER than Cat?"
"Vicki," Kara said.
"God, you've got a thing for femmes, don't you?" Lucy asked.
"She types a hundred and seventy words a minute, and is still using one of the old IBM PC keyboards," Kara said.
"You're turned on by typing speed?" Lucy asked.
"Think about it for a minute," Kara said. "Fingers that can move that fast on a mechanical switch keyboard…"
"OH!" Lucy said.
"I've always wanted a tattoo," Lucy said.
"Why didn't you get one?" Kara asked.
"My dad would have flipped his shit," Lucy said.
"Your dad is an asshole," Kara said.
"No shit," Lucy said.
"We should go get you a tattoo!" Kara announced.
"Tattoo shops won't do it when you're drunk," Lucy said.
"That's discrimination!" Kara said.
"I know," Lucy said. "Maybe some time when I'm sober, I'll get up the nerve."
"Fuck that!" Kara said. "Konex, can you do tattoos?"
"Yes, Lady Kara," Konex responded.
"Problem solved!" Kara shouted.
"Awesome!" Lucy said. "What should I get?"
"This hurts," Lucy complained.
"I know," Kara said. "I used to have a big one on my back."
"You did?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah," Kara said. "Sara liked to trace it with her tongue."
"You should have it put back on!" Lucy said.
"Good idea!" Kara said. "Konex, have Kolex come to the apartment! And send another tattoo bench and some red sun lamps!"
"Sanctuary has a swimming pool?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah," Kara said.
"But it's in the middle of the ocean," Lucy said. "Why do you need a swimming pool?"
"Fewer sharks," Kara said.
"But you're Supergirl," Lucy said.
"Don't care. No sharks," Kara declared.
"Good point," Lucy said. "We should go skinny dipping!"
"You didn't tell me you have butt dimples," Lucy said.
"What?" Kara asked.
"Dimples, on your back. Above your butt," Lucy said.
"Oh, yeah," Kara said. "You never asked."
"They're cute!" Lucy said.
"Sara liked to lick them," Kara said.
"Like, randomly?" Lucy asked.
"No, just when she was about to…"
"Come on, just once!" Lucy said.
"I'm not the best flyer when I'm drunk," Kara said.
"But I've never been," Lucy said.
"This is a bad idea," Kara said.
"You sound sober," Lucy said. "Let me get you another daiquiri."
"That's definitely a bad idea," Kara said.
"Does that mean you don't want one?" Lucy asked.
"Gimme!" Kara said as she made grabby hands.
"This is so much fun!" Lucy yelled as Kara took them through another turn. "Is that a cruise ship?"
"Yeah," Kara said.
"We should do a flyby!" Lucy squealed.
"We're naked," Kara said.
"Flyby! Flyby! Flyby!" Lucy chanted.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
"Oh, god," Lucy groaned. "What time is it?"
"A little before eight," Kara said without opening her eyes.
"SHIT!" Lucy said, sitting up much too fast. She winced at the light coming in through the window. "Oh, God. I'm going to die."
"No, you're not," Kara said.
"You're not hung over at all, are you?" Lucy asked.
"Nope," Kara said smugly.
"I hate you," Lucy said.
"Wait until you find out I have the day off," Kara said.
"I'm going to murder you in your sleep," Lucy said.
"You'll have all day to try," Kara replied.
"Why'd we sleep on the floor again?" Lucy asked.
"I don't know," Kara said. "I was drunk. Something about beds leading to temptation. It didn't make any sense considering what we were doing at the time."
"Kara?"
"Yes?"
"When did I get my nipples pierced?"
"I'm not sure," Kara said. "Some time after we buzzed the cruise ship, but before the Ramen shop in Tokyo. You complained about them hurting the whole time we were eating."
"You know, maybe we got a little too drunk," Lucy said.
"We're fine," Kara said. "We didn't even get past second base."
"I'm not sure if I should be relieved or disappointed," Lucy said.
"Look at it this way. At least my sister won't kill you when you tell her you got me drunk and then married me," Kara said.
"Married?" Lucy squeaked.
"Yeah. You don't remember proposing?" Kara asked.
Lucy's eyes went wide. "SHIT!" she shouted. Then her eyes narrowed, and she glared at Kara as another memory came back to her. "I can't believe you said you couldn't marry me because 'Then you wouldn't be allowed to climb Cat like a tree'."
"I know you Lane women are the jealous type," Kara said.
"You could at least have had the decency to take your hand off my ass," Lucy said.
"I don't remember you complaining at the time," Kara said.
She was completely blindsided by the couch cushion Lucy hit her with.
"Damn, Lane. What rock did you crawl out from under?" Maggie asked as she sat down across from Lucy at the conference table they were working at.
"Don't ask," Lucy said.
"Too late," Maggie said. "Spill."
Lucy looked up from the cup of coffee she was hunkered over. "I got a bottle from M'gann and took it over to Kara's last night."
Maggie snorted. "Oh, shit!" she managed between laughs. "You got Kara drunk?"
"Not so loud," Lucy said. She took a sip of her coffee. "And it's more like we got each other drunk."
"Oh, lord," Maggie said. "How much damage is there?"
"There's no damage," Lucy replied just a little too quickly.
"What did you do, Lane?" Maggie asked.
Lucy looked up at her, blushing a little. "We may have gone flying."
"And?"
"Buzzed a cruise ship?" Lucy said, the blush getting deeper.
"And?"
"Wemighthavegottentattoos."
"What was that?" Maggie asked.
Lucy sighed. "We might have gotten tattoos," she said.
"Oh, God," Maggie said. "Please tell me the two of you didn't get your names tattooed on each other."
Lucy shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "Kara wouldn't tell me what the design was, and by the time it was done, I was a LOT drunker than when we started."
"So, you got a tattoo, but don't have any idea what it is?" Maggie asked.
"Yes?"
"Where is it?" Maggie asked.
"On my back," Lucy said.
Maggie reached for her phone.
"What are you doing?" Lucy squeaked.
"Telling Alex to come up here," Maggie said.
"Why?" Lucy asked.
"Because I can't read Kryptonian."
"Wow," Alex said as she stared at Lucy's back.
"Yeah," Maggie said.
"Guys, what is it?" Lucy asked in a tone of voice so whiny a ten-year-old would have been embarrassed for her.
"It's gorgeous," Maggie said.
Alex took out her phone. "Cross your arms over your chest, Lucy."
Lucy crossed her arms, and when Alex snapped a picture.
"Here," she said, holding out her phone. "Have a look."
Lucy turned around, using one arm to cover her chest as she took the phone from Alex and looked at the picture. "Oh, wow," she said. "That's beautiful."
"It's the Firefalls," Alex said. "Done in watercolor. Kara used to paint them all the time when we were teenagers. She-"
Maggie's phone rang, 'Take this Job and Shove It' filling the room. She pulled it out and accepted the call while Lucy scrambled back into her bra and shirt.
"Sawyer here."
"We've got another one," Cavanaugh said. "Same MO. A group of PHAN thugs jumped an alien in the street."
"We're on our way," Maggie said.
"Ms. Grant."
Cat looked up from the layouts she was working on to see Winn standing in the door of her office, holding a cup from Noonan's.
"Yes?" she asked.
He stepped into the office and sat the cup in front of her.
"I know Kara always brings you an extra latté when you're doing layouts. I figured since she wasn't here…"
"Thank you," she said, more than a little touched by the thoughtfulness of the gesture. She picked up the latté and took a sip. It wasn't as hot as when Kara brought it, but it wasn't nearly as cold as she expected. "And only lukewarm"
Winn actually smiled.
"Now, run along and play with your dolls."
"They're action figures," he said.
Siobhan watched quietly from the sidelines as the women worked the scene. She recognized them all from the President's press conference. Lucy Lane, assistant director of the DEO. Alex Danvers, the DEO field commander, and Maggie Sawyer, the DEO Local Law Enforcement Liaison. What she didn't recognize was what they were wearing. Lane was in the standard black DEO Polo shirt, with a DEO badge clipped to her belt, but Danvers and Sawyer were wearing something that looking like slightly padded versions of the suits the Kryptonians wore, sans caps. The iconography was different, too. They both wore the DEO emblem on the upper left part of their chest, while Sawyer wore Supergirl's S, rendered in black and gray, on the upper right, and Danvers wore a different Kryptonian Symbol. One Siobhan hadn't seen before. It was the standard diamond shape, but with a large circle in the middle. Two lines ran down from the inner top of the circle, and another line from the left side of the diamond, through the circle, before turning ninety-degrees and running down to the bottom of the circle. There were two dots above the circle, one over each line, and a third dot over the bend in the horizontal line.
She lifted her phone and snapped a quick picture of the symbol. She was about to lower the phone when she saw a blur of motion and turned to see a determined looking black woman moving towards the police barricade. Almost on reflex, she snapped a picture of the woman, then reached into her pocket and pulled out her directional microphone, plugged it into her phone, then brought up the video app and started recording. Right on time, too.
A cop stepped into the woman's way, trying to stop her, but she walked right through him. She didn't move him, or go around him, she went through him, like she was a ghost. There were a few alarmed noises, and more than one cop drew their gun, but Sawyer looked up and shouted them down immediately, telling them to put their guns away as she walked over to the woman.
"Hey, M'gann," Sawyer said.
"Where is she?" M'gann demanded.
"She's not here," Sawyer said.
"Why the hell not?" M'gann asked.
"Because this is our job," Sawyer said.
"When has that ever stopped her?"
Sawyer let out a frustrated sigh and reached up, putting a hand on M'gann's arm and leading her a bit to the side. "Look, between the missile, the fight with Henshaw and Corben, and the attack at CatCo, plus a couple of other things that have happened that haven't been splashed across the front page of the news, she's taken a lot of hits the last couple of weeks. She's a little punch drunk. Give her a couple of days, and she'll be back out here."
"We don't have a couple of days," M'gann said. "This shit is happening now, and she promised us protection."
"And that's why WE are out here!" Sawyer said. "And you know who that is." Sawyer pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Danvers. "We're working it, M'gann."
"You know this shit has been going on for years," M'gann said. "She was supposed to stop it."
"Look, I know this is bad, but if she comes out here in the state she's in, she's gonna get herself killed. They've already come a lot closer than anyone knows."
"It's that bad?" M'gann asked.
"Yeah," Sawyer said. "She's in a bad way, okay. Not physically, but you know how bad it can get for some of the refugees. The shit they've seen."
M'gann nodded her head. "I didn't realize…"
"We haven't told her," Sawyer said. "If she knew about any of this shit, she'd be out here, ripping the city apart, looking for the people who did this."
"Damn it, Maggie…"
"I know," Sawyer said, "but let the DEO work this."
"The DEO CAUSED this," M'gann said. "This shit has been going on for years, and we couldn't do shit about it, because if we went to the cops, the DEO would be all over us."
"Yeah," Sawyer said, "I know. But she fixed it. Got the DEO off your backs. It's out in the light of day now, and we're gonna find the cockroaches, and when we do, we're going to step on the little fuckers."
Siobhan looked around, wondering how she'd lost sight of M'gann. She'd followed the woman almost twenty blocks, only for her to disappear within sight of Little Krypton.
She considered heading into the newly built section of town on her own, and seeing if she could pick up the trail, but she wasn't sure how welcome humans were there, and wasn't entirely sure she wanted to risk it, but she wanted this story, because this was bigger than a random hate crime. It was-
The hand closed around her throat, and her feet kicked helplessly as she was lifted into the air.
"Who are you?" the green woman asked, in an oddly resonant voice.
"I'm a reporter!" she said. "I work for CatCo!"
"Oh," the green woman said, lowering Siobhan down onto her feet. "You're one of hers." The green woman let go, and melted into the black woman, M'gann, from the crime scene. "What do you want?"
"I want to ask you about the attacks," she said.
The woman snorted and turned away, walking towards Little Krypton.
"Aliens are disappearing!" Siobhan said, and M'gann stopped. "For months. And no one has done anything."
M'gann turned around, looking at her.
"Please," Siobhan said. "I want to help."
"Fine," M'gann said. "Come with me."
"So, Lucy visited you last night?" Dr. Foster asked.
"Yeah," Kara said as she picked up one of the puzzle boxes off the coffee table. "Just showed up out of the blue."
"How did that make you feel?" Dr. Foster asked.
"Honestly?" Kara asked. "I felt a little guilty."
"Why?"
"Because I've been ignoring her," Kara said.
"Intentionally?"
Kara shook her head. "No."
"But you had other things going on," Dr. Foster said.
"Yeah," Kara said. "I mean, after I had the flashback, I found out she'd dumped James, and I thought it would be a good idea to take her out. But I just ditched everyone the moment I saw Sara."
"Was Lucy angry about that?"
"No," Kara said. "She was really understanding."
"Then why do you feel guilty?"
"Because I let her down!" Kara said. "I should have been there when she was hurting."
"Kara, I want to propose a hypothetical here. Would that be okay?"
"Yeah," Kara said, tossing the now solved puzzle down on the table.
"Suppose in the old timeline, a year after the Black Racer, you were out at a club with Iris."
"Okay," Kara said.
"Now, suppose a younger version of Barry walked into the club where the two of you were. Would you blame Iris for leaving you to spend the night with Barry?"
"Of course not!" Kara said.
Dr. Foster didn't reply. She just sat there, waiting as it sank in.
"Oh," Kara said.
Dr. Foster gave her a warm, gentle smile.
"You have to stop holding yourself to standards you would never hold other people to," Dr. Foster said.
"But I have to," Kara said. "I have to be better!"
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't before," Kara said. "I wasn't, and everyone died. I let everyone die."
"No," Dr. Foster said. "From what you told me, you fought with everything you had. You did everything you could, and yes, people died, but not because of you."
Kara shook her head. "No," she said. "No, that can't be right. Because if I did everything I could, then what's to stop it from happening again? What can I do this time that I wasn't able to do before?"
"You can prepare," Dr. Foster said. "Isn't that why you're here? To give yourself time to prepare, so that when the problems come, you have a bigger lever to move them with?"
"What if it's not enough?" Kara asked.
"Then you find people to help," Dr. Foster said.
"Astra," Lena said.
Astra looked up from the metallurgical analysis she was reading. "Yes?"
"Day's over," Lena said.
Astra looked over at the chronometer on the wall, surprised to see that it did, in fact indicate that it was some few minutes past the official end of the work day.
"I had not realized," she said.
"It's okay," Lena said. "I get lost in my work sometimes as well."
Astra leaned back in the chair, looking at Lena. "I confess, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy simple research," she said.
"Really?" Lena asked. "I thought you were a soldier."
Astra shrugged. "The House of Ze were descended from the War Queens. We are as renowned as soldiers as the House of Zod were. My mother was from the House of Ul, which produced many of the most famous law makers in Kryptonian history. There were really only ever two options for my sister and I. I chose the Military Guild, because I did not believe Alura would have survived it. She was not weak, by any means, but she was more reserved than I, so when the time came for the choosing, I went to the Military Guild, so she would be free to choose the Lawmaker's Guild. If not for her, or if she had been more gifted in the martial forms, I might have defied tradition. My maternal grandmother was of House Ur. Scientists almost as revered as the Els. I would very much have liked to have followed her path and chosen the Science Guild."
"If you had chosen the Science Guild, would she really have had to choose the Military Guild?" Lena asked.
"By law, every child is free to choose whatever guild will accept them," Astra said. "So, in theory, she could have chosen Law. Practice, however, very often differs from theory. It would have been tantamount to a renunciation of House for both daughters of the Head of House to choose something other than the Military Guild."
"That's awful," Lena said.
Astra shrugged. "There are many things about Krypton I do not miss. I admit, it was a relief to abdicate my role as leader of my people to Kara. I don't know if she meant it as a punishment, assigning me here, but if she did, I hope she never finds out how much of a relief it is."
"I don't think she would do that," Lena said. "Would she?"
"I don't think she would," Astra said, "but we've both been through so much since we parted on Krypton, and truth told, I've spent more time with you than I have with her."
"I'm sorry," Lena said.
"There's no need to be," Astra said. "I understand. She has obligations that go beyond counting. To the city, to our people, to the enterprises she runs, to the House which adopted her. She has tried to spend time with me, but the demands on her are great, and I have no wish to be a burden."
Lena reached over, and covered Astra's hand with her own. "Family isn't a burden," Lena said.
"Even yours?" Astra asked.
Lena smiled and rolled her eyes. "Family *shouldn't be* a burden," Lena said. "Mine is a special case."
"I might be a special case as well," Astra said. "My crimes are less bloody than your brothers, but no less horrific for being so. And like your brother, I was driven to those crimes out of the belief that I was doing what was best. Some days, I wonder if Kara's love for me has blinded her, and I should be in a cell alongside my husband."
"There's a difference between you and my brother," Lena said.
"What difference would that be?" Astra asked.
"When someone offered you a better way, you took it," Lena said. "My brother never would have accepted any plan but his own."
Lillian, Max and General Lane all looked at the monstrosity in the tank in front of them while Tycho stood there, proud as a peacock in mating season.
"It's finished!" he programed.
"I thought the goal was to get monsters off the streets," Max said. "Not grow them in a fish tank."
Tycho rolled his eyes. "You have no vision, Max. That's always been your problem."
"My vision is just fine," Max said, "but I don't see how an overgrown Jell-O mold is going to make the world a safer place."
"That's because you don't understand what you're seeing. The Amalgam, the organism in front of you, is a Chimera. The body is a genetic gestalt of dozens of different species. It's fast, resilient, can regenerate any injuries almost instantly, and is stronger than the Kryptonians," Tycho said.
"It doesn't have a skeleton," Lane observed. "Or muscles, or eyes, or ears…"
"It doesn't need them," Tycho said. "The bio-gel is a variable-property biological matrix. It can form and dissolve bones at will. The entire bio-mass is a sensory organ, perceiving sight, sound, smell, touch, taste and magnetic fields, giving it far higher bandwidth than it would have with specialized sensory organs. But the Amalgam itself is not the point. It's nothing more than a test vehicle. The point is that the brain embedded within the bio-gel is seeded with the nanites from project Brain. If I give it a command, it will obey any order I give. If I put on the control helmet, I will be able to take over the Amalgam's body and control it as if it were my own. And if it works…"
"We'll be able to seed anyone we want with the nanites," Lillian said.
"Exactly," Tycho said. "Slip a few into the President's coffee, and the great champion of Alien Amnesty will have a sudden change of heart. Slip a little in Cat Grant's coffee, and the next time she takes Supergirl to bed, she can slip a Kryptonite knife between the Girl of Steel's ribs."
"Excuse me," one of the guards said, causing all four of them to turn towards the man. "Watcher 7 just brought in Dr. Hamilton. She's asking to see you, Ms. Luthor."
"Take her to my office," Lillian said. "Do not let her see anything."
"Of course," the guard said.
Lillian turned back to the other three. "Let's go see what the good doctor wants, shall we?"
"I don't think you understand," Dr. Hamilton said. "The Martian is reading everyone's mind. He's going to find out."
"I understand completely Dr. Hamilton," Lillian said. "I simply don't know what you expect us to do about it."
"I expect you to protect me!" Hamilton said. "I've done everything you asked. Provided you with tissue samples from every alien who's gone through the place, including the Martian."
"Yes, you did," Lillian said. "And we are very grateful for your assistance. Unfortunately, I'm afraid there really is nothing to be done about your situation. We won't be ready to move against the DEO until the middle of January. If you can't be in place when we do, I'm not sure you're much use to us."
"WHAT?" Hamilton shouted.
"Now, Lillian," Tycho said, "let's not be hasty."
"You have an idea?" Lillian asked.
"Yes," Tycho said. "Nothing that will stop the good Doctor from being exposed, unfortunately, but if she's willing to make the most of the remainder of her time at the DEO, I do have people who could set her up with a new life somewhere she'd be safe."
Lillian turned to Hamilton. "Well, Doctor?"
Hamilton glared at her. "I don't suppose I have a choice, do I?"
"No," Lillian said. "Not really. Tycho, see to it."
"Of course," Tycho said. "Right this way, Doctor."
Friday, December 11, 2015
Fendra frowned as she stared at the report. The seeding had only been three Earth days ago, and what she saw on her screen was not possible. Development rates for Kryptonian children were well understood. Gestation took two / ahmzehto/. Three hundred and sixty Earth days.
Were she carrying biologically, she might assume what she was seeing was the result of the yellow sunlight, but the embryo, her daughter, was safely ensconced in the Genesis Chamber. The only light there was the relatively low energy solid-state lamps. Very advanced versions of what the humans called LED's.
Fendra pulled the child's genetic profile and paged past the simplified overlay used for the gene selection process, and looked directly at the child's genome, and her eyes went wide at what she saw.
The splicing was done with a very deft hand and hidden very carefully. The modifications were tucked down deep in unmonitored sections of the chromosomes; modifications that the gene-readers would ignore as junk DNA.
The question was, where did the modifications come from?
She pulled the genomes of the other children, and as expected, there was nothing. Fourteen of the children were perfectly normal. Only her daughter exhibited the abnormality.
She entered the override and pulled Kara's record from the genetic archive and spread it out, looking at it over time. The original sample, recording at Kara's own seeding showed normal junk strands, as did her once per / lorakh/ samplings, right up until…
There!
The first set of changes showed up in a sample taken four / ahmzehto/ before the destruction of Krypton. That would have been about an / ahmzeht/ after Jor-El discovered the instability in the core. More changes each / lorakh/. Hidden carefully. Expertly done. Someone who knew Krypton was dying. Someone who was a gifted bioengineer. Someone who had access to Kara.
The answer as obvious as it was horrifying.
What in the name of Rao had Zor-El done to his daughter?
And more importantly, at least to Fendra, what did it mean for her daughter?
"This is the third assault in as many days," J'onn said.
"I know, sir," Maggie said as the DEO forensics teams combed the area. "At this rate, it's only a matter of time before someone dies."
"We can't let it get to that point," J'onn said.
"I know," Maggie said. "I'm working every angle I've got-"
"Does Kara know yet?" J'onn asked.
"No," Maggie said. "After Sara left, Cat convinced her to take a few days off. Not sure how she managed it, but right now, I'm really glad she did."
"You and me both," J'onn said. "I don't even want to think about what would happen if she decides the DEO can't protect the aliens in National City."
"Given what happened after the CatCo shooting, I think we can be pretty god-damned sure shit would get ugly, fast," Maggie said.
"Can you think of any way we could track these guys down?" J'onn asked.
"I am doing everything I legally can right now," Maggie said.
J'onn stared at her for a moment, and Maggie thought very hard about what she wasn't saying.
"You know, I think I need to make a phone call," J'onn said. "Can you and Agent Danvers finish processing the scene?"
"Yes sir," Maggie said.
"Director J'onzz," Bruce said. "How can I help?"
"Are we on a secure line?" J'onn asked.
"Yes," Bruce said.
"Have you heard the news about the alien assaults in National City?" J'onn asked.
"Yes," Bruce said. "What there is of it. I'm surprised it hasn't made it into the papers."
"We're working hard to keep that from happening," J'onn said. "But it's only a matter of time, and when it does…"
"You expect a dramatic reaction," Bruce said.
"Yes," J'onn said.
"What do you need?" Bruce said.
"A target," J'onn said.
"So, an investigator," Bruce said. "Do you need a hitter, too?"
"No," J'onn said. "We've got plenty of heavy hitters. I just need to know where to point them."
"Dick is already in town helping with Olsen's rehab after the shooting. He's good, but not as good as Sawyer. I'll send Tim out before sunset. He's my best investigator. Between the two of them, they'll find your target."
"Thank you," J'onn said.
"So, are you thinking of taking up a new career as a painter?" Susan asked.
Leslie looked up from the plate she'd been staring at listlessly for the past ten minutes, with a serious 'what the fuck' look on her face.
"I don't really think ketchup on stoneware is a very permanent medium, and I'd think a brush would work better than a French Fry, but honestly, Kara's the artsy one, so I could be wrong," Susan said.
"Asshole," Leslie said, but she couldn't really keep the grin off her face, which was pretty much what Susan intended. Though Susan kind of wanted to kick herself, because she was thinking things about that grin she had no business thinking.
Oh, she'd definitely revised her initial assessment of 'straight girl' where Leslie Willis was concerned, but honestly, a couple more and 'hot blonde who's hopelessly smitten with Cat Grant' would qualify for its own number on the fucking Kinsey scale.
"Seriously, what's up?" Susan asked.
"It's stupid," Leslie said, looking off into the far corner of the diner where they were having lunch to avoid meeting Susan's gaze.
"I babysit a surly Martian, a Kryptonian with the temperament of a Rottweiler, and Alex Motherfucking Danvers professionally. I'm pretty sure that whatever it is, I've cleaned up stupider things before breakfast most mornings."
Leslie laughed, the grin turning into a full-blown smile for a moment before she shook her head.
"I miss the DEO," she said. "Which is fucking stupid, because I have an apartment that's bigger than a house and comes with its own damn butler. And I have enough money to live for a couple of years without having to work. Especially since Kara won't take any rent. And Kara was right, because of course she was. Sirius, and Cox Communications have both offered me a job. A cable channel even offered me my own show."
"You're not interested in any of that?" Susan asked.
"No," Leslie said. "It feels like going backwards, and I don't like who I was. I mean, I did… But getting murdered kind of changes your perspective."
"So, come back to the DEO," Susan said.
"What?" Leslie asked.
"We're recruiting," Susan said.
"For what? Receptionist?" Leslie asked.
"Field agents," Susan said. "Leslie, you took down a Kryptonian-level threat without flinching."
"And threw up two seconds later," Leslie said.
"Yeah," Susan said. "You did better than I did the first time I went up against an alien."
"I thought you took down some kind of monster," Leslie said.
"A Bolovaxian," Susan said. "Shot him through the eye. Killed him dead."
"See," Leslie said. "You're a freaking hero."
"Leslie, I pissed myself," Susan said. "I literally peed my pants when that thing charged me."
"No shit?"
"No, no shit," Susan said. "Bolovaxians stand eight feet tall and look like someone shaved a pig and stood it on its hind legs. I didn't stand there because I was brave. I stood there because I was too scared to move. People at the DEO think I'm this huge bad ass with brass balls, but I'm not. I took this job because I was scared. Because I knew if I didn't get back up on the biggest, meanest horse I could find as soon as I could, I'd never set foot out my front door again."
Susan leaned forward, smiling as she reached out and took Leslie's hand. "You get beaten nearly to death, and your first instinct wasn't to run and hide. Your first instinct was to find the thing that hurt you, and kick the life out of it," she said. "You're a fighter. And I think you'd make a hell of an agent."
"Really?" Leslie asked.
"Really," Susan said. "Finish your lunch, and we'll go see the scariest thing the DEO can come up with."
"What's that?" Leslie asked.
"Pam from HR," Susan said. "If you can survive her, anything you run into in the field will be a cake walk."
J'onn stared at Susan, wondering briefly is she'd completely lost her mind.
"You want me to bring Leslie Willis on as an agent?" he asked.
"Yes sir," Susan said.
"She's a shock jock," J'onn said.
"She took down Henshaw and Indigo," Susan said. "She's a serious heavy hitter, and as much as I like and trust Kara, the fact of the matter is, we can't keep relying on the Kryptonians to be our big guns. Realistically, right now, the DEO only has three heavy hitters. You, Alex and Maggie. That's not a good situation."
"What do you mean?" J'onn asked.
"I mean, sooner or later, Kara's going to go trotting off to Oa to deal with the Guardians, and you and I both know Alex and Maggie are going to go with her when that happens. Which leaves us with you as our only heavy hitter. I mean, assuming you don't go with her too, because given what they did to your people, I wouldn't blame you. But someone's got to hold down National City while that happens. We need to start building a response team composed of metahumans and aliens to deal with metahumans and aliens."
"You're right," J'onn said.
"It happens sometimes," Susan said.
"You really think she's up to it?" J'onn asked.
"I think she's a lot less fucked up than Alex was when you brought her in," Susan said. "She's already had her come to Jesus moment."
"Okay," J'onn said.
Kara reached up and picked up one of the puzzles off the table. This one was a cube with a labyrinth inside that wrapped around all six faces. The goal to maneuver a ball bearing into position to work a lock which would open a door in the side of the cube.
"Kara?" Dr. Foster said as Kara started turning the cube this way and that.
"Hmmm?"
"What's wrong?" Dr. Foster asked.
"What makes you think anything is wrong?" Kara asked.
"You've been here fifteen minutes, and you haven't said anything other than hello," Dr. Foster said.
Kara frowned as the ball bearing rolled into place and the lock popped open. She closed it and shook up the puzzle, then dropped it back on the table.
"You need better puzzles," she said, leaning back against the back of the couch.
"I'm afraid if I get anything more complicated, it will open a gateway to hell," Dr. Foster said.
"I hate that movie," Kara said.
"I'm honestly surprised you've seen it," Dr. Foster said.
"Alex likes horror movies," Kara said. "She also liked torturing me by making me watch them with her."
"Siblings can be mean sometimes," Dr. Foster said.
"I should thank her," Kara said. "Compared to some of the things I saw during the war, those movies are light comedies."
"Do you want to talk about that?" Dr. Foster asked.
"Not really," Kara said.
Silence filled the room, and minutes seemed to drag by like hours, until Kara let her head fall back onto the back of the couch.
"Am I broken?" she asked.
"I don't think so," Dr. Foster said. "I think you're hurting. I don't think it would be possible to have seen even a small part of what you have and not be hurting. The question is, do you think you're broken?"
"Yes," Kara said.
"Why?" Dr. Foster asked.
"Because sometimes, I wish I was back there," Kara said, lifting her head up to look at Dr. Foster.
"Back in the war?"
"Yeah," Kara said. "I mean, how fucked up is that? I have my family back. I have my friends back. I have all these things I used to dream of and long for, and I have the chance to keep them this time, but…" she stopped, squeezing her eyes and mouth shut as tears spilled down her cheeks.
She tried to speak, but she couldn't find her voice. Not the first time, or the second, or even the third.
"Sometimes, I just want to go back," she finally managed to choke out on the fourth try.
"Why do you think that is?"
She wrapped her arms around herself, squeezing tightly as she hunkered down, drawing into herself and leaning forward, looking down at the floor.
"I felt safer there," she said. "How could I feel safer there?"
"It's not uncommon," Dr. Foster said.
Kara looked up at her. "What?"
"I deal with a lot of soldiers, and one of the common themes is that they don't feel safe at home," Dr. Foster said. "When they're deployed, they spend all their time in groups. They eat together, they sleep together, they practically shit, shower and shave together. They sleep in defensive positions with people they trust on watch. Then they come home, and there's no unit. No concrete barricades protecting your barracks. No carefully-laid fighting positions in case you're attacked in the night. None of the things you did to make you feel safe out there."
"What do I do?" Kara asked.
"What made you feel safe during the war?" Dr. Foster asked.
"Sara," Kara said. "Harley. M'gann. Thea. Cisco. Caitlyn. Joe. Iris. Carter. Gideon. The Waverider."
"So, people, places," Dr. Foster said.
"Yes."
"What people make you feel safe here?" Dr. Foster asked.
"Alex. Maggie. Cat. J'onn. Susan. Astra. Leslie, if you can believe it. Kaldur'ahm. Lucy. Winn."
"What places make you feel safe?" Dr. Foster asked.
"Sanctuary," Kara said. "The Solarium. Up until last week, CatCo."
"Not anymore?" Dr. Foster asked.
"When I go back there now, I just see blood. I see the people I let die."
"Is that what made you afraid?"
"Well, that, and the attempts on my life, and Henshaw trying to murder Leslie, oh, and the imminent end of the world."
"Kara," Dr. Foster said in a sterner tone than she'd ever used before. "What made you afraid *today*."
"A boomtube," Kara said.
"What?" Dr. Foster asked.
"A boomtube. It's kind of like a wormhole, but not. I'd have to teach you math that hasn't been invented on Earth yet to explain the difference."
"But it's a way to travel?" Dr. Foster asked.
"Yes," Kara said. "Darkseid's forces used them."
"And you saw one today?"
"Heard," Kara said. "They make a sound. It's distinctive. A sort of low, bass-filled boom. Sara used to say it sounded like the gates of hell slamming against the walls as they were thrown open. And there's this high-pitched whine like the souls of the damned screaming for mercy."
"You heard this today?"
"Yeah," Kara said. "Cyborg has tech from Apokolips and from New Genesis built into him. He can open Boomtubes. He doesn't do it often, but he came to National City today. Boomtubed in. And I heard it. And I was out of bed, in my war suit, and half way across town before I realized who it was."
"So, you heard a noise you'd come to associate with the enemy, and you had a combat response."
"Yes," Kara said.
"Kara, that's what we call a trigger," Dr. Foster said. "It's a natural adaptive behavior mechanism. It's no different than a soldier who dives for cover when he hears a firecracker go off."
"I hate it," Kara said. "I hate that I'm never going to have a normal life. I hate that this is my future."
"What do you have?" Dick asked, looking at the map laid out on the table in front of Tim.
"An educated guess," Tim said. "I looked over everything Sawyer has on the attacks, and she's got their base narrowed down to a general area, which gave me a good place to start. From there, I did a little bit of hacking and narrowed it down further. I'm reasonably sure this is our target."
"Do I even want to know how you figured it out?" Dick asked.
"I pulled traffic cam footage between the locations of the attacks and the area Sawyer thinks they are operating out of for two hours after each attack and tracked any group of three or more people. Once I identified the paths of each suspect group, I hacked any security cameras along their route and pulled images for facial recognition, then cross-checked against military and police backgrounds, since that's where PHAN likes to recruit. Once I had a few suspects, I hacked into city records and pulled deeds for everything in the area and came across a match."
"This poster child for birth control is named Todd McMatthews," Tim said, pulling up a picture of a man in military fatigues. "Fired from three police forces in six years for brutality complaints. Ties to several hate groups. Notice the tattoos. '88' on the neck. 'Fourteen Words' on the inside of the right arm."
"So, white supremacist who liked to beat on black suspects?"
"Black, Hispanic, Queer, Indian, Asian, and now, apparently, Alien," Tim said.
"You sure he's one of our guys?" Dick asked.
"He worked for LuthorCorp Security for two years before Lex went to jail," Tim said. "I'll bet you two weeks of Damian duty that he's one of our guys."
"That's a sucker bet," Dick said.
"I'll bet you three weeks they confess," Tim said.
"Nah," Dick said. "Three weeks says they lawyer up."
"You're on," Tim said. "Sundown is in an hour. Suit up, and we'll go have a look."
"Mind if I bring James along?"
Tim shrugged. "If he fucks up, you owe me a month."
"Fine," Dick said.
"Hey, Astra," Kara said as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her aunt, squeezing her tightly.
"Hello, Little One," Astra said, hugging Kara in return.
"Come in," Kara said as she let go.
"Thank you," Astra said as she stepped into the apartment.
"Dinner's still in the oven. Should be about twenty minutes," Kara said as she led them into the apartment. She went over to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of grape soda for herself, and a bottle of orange for Astra. She passed the bottle to her Aunt as she headed into the living area and dropped down onto the couch. Astra took the seat next to her. "I honestly didn't expect you to be on time."
"Why not?"
"You're working with Lena," Kara said. "That woman has never left work on time in her whole life."
"I instructed Nimda to remind me," Astra said. "I'm surprised you didn't invite Lena to dine with us."
"I wanted you to myself," Kara said. "We haven't had a chance to spend time together since before Thanksgiving."
"It does seem like a long time," Astra said. "Thought I remember being away on campaign for longer stretches."
"Which I always hated," Kara said.
"Something I remember well," Astra said. "You would always get upset when I had to leave."
"I got upset when anyone left," Kara said. "Some things never change."
Astra reached on, resting a hand gently on Kara's shoulder. "I was sorry to hear that Sara left," she said.
"She made the right choice," Kara said. "Duty first."
"Sometimes, I question the wisdom of that belief, when it brings so much pain with it," Astra said. "I admit, I felt a great relief when you chose the Science Guild over the Military Guild. I had hoped that meant you would not face such moments."
"Well, I had to go and become a General anyway," Kara said.
"Yes," Astra said, "and I could not be prouder if you were my own daughter."
"I don't know why," Kara said. "All I seemed to do was lose."
"There's no shame in defeat when you are outnumbered and outgunned," Astra said. "But you still found a way. You turned defeat into a chance for victory. That is not something many Generals can accomplish."
"It doesn't feel that way," Kara said. "Ever since the Amnesty announcement, it feels like every step forward is followed by two steps back."
"That's not what I see," Astra said. "Your enemies are vicious and cunning, but they are desperate. You took their most carefully-planned strike and turned it into a victory, and now you count the Willis woman among your allies. The missile was an act of desperation and rage. You'd destroyed their plans and left yourself in a stronger position than when they attacked you. All of their actions have been reactive, trying to distract you and weaken you as they jockey for position, and each time they attack you, they suffer for it. The attack on Leslie was a public relations nightmare for them. It destroyed the credibility of one of their pet politicians. The fight with Corben and Henshaw took two of their heavy assets off the board. The incident at City Hall exposed several of their allies and allowed you to secure a stronghold while sacrificing far less capital than it would otherwise have cost you. The attack on CatCo exposed them and robbed them of their support within the government, as well as valuable allies. Even the escape cost them. It robbed them of access to the DEO, and your Vasquez killed several of their number and prevented them from destroying one of your strongholds."
"You make it sound like I'm out there, kicking their asses on a daily basis," Kara said.
"Not these last few days, but even a successful General needs her rest," Astra said.
"Maybe," Kara said. "I need the time, but I feel like I'm letting everyone down by taking it."
"I feel like I am neglecting my duty by not hunting for Non," Astra said. "Should I leave the task you set me to do so?"
"That's different," Kara said. "You're doing something important."
"As are you, Little One," Astra said. "No one can lead an army if they are too exhausted to stand."
"That didn't stop me from kicking Kal's ass," Kara said.
Astra threw her head back and laughed. "No, it didn't," she said. "But I would not see you make a habit of that." She reached out, taking Kara's hand in her own. "Little One, the weight you carry would break a lesser person. Don't be ashamed of needing respite. Especially so soon after suffering another loss."
Kara frowned and looked down at the bottle in her hand. "Mom would be ashamed of me. She would tell me that wallowing in grief over something as frivolous as the loss of a lover was the worst kind of self-indulgence."
"She would," Astra said, "but she would be wrong. Your mother and father were dear friends, but they weren't like Lara and Jor-El. Theirs was no romance. I think your mother died without ever knowing what it meant to love someone the way you loved your Sara."
Kara stared into the half-empty bottle she held, trying to decide how she felt about that. She always knew her mother and father had been a political match. Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van were a good match politically, but it was hardly any secret that they were a love match. That Jor had gone to his father and begged to be matched with Lara. There were jokes going back dozens of generations about the Els being ruled by their passions and not their reason. But her father and her mother had a nice, respectable arrangement. An idea Kara found herself hating, suddenly. Something about the idea that they'd both died without ever having been in love felt wrong.
She looked up at Astra. "What about you?" Kara said. "Did you ever have anyone?"
Astra shook her head. "No," she said. "Non and I were a political convenience. A way for my father to dispose of an inconvenient twin to the daughter he was actually proud of, and a way for a prominent family among the rankless to further their fortunes. We were never close. I can barely think of a point when I would call him friend, and I certainly never took him to my bed." She gave a small shudder. "He took lovers. Indigo, until she was arrested, then a woman from House Ek. A member of the Artisan Guild. I believe you met her, once. Lyonn Ek."
"More than once," Kara said. "She hated me."
Astra frowned. "Why?"
"I beat her son in class standing when I took sculpting," Kara said. "She took it as an insult."
Astra smiled. "That doesn't surprise me. She was always a pompous woman. I could never understand her fascination with Non."
"Humans call it 'slumming'," Kara said.
Astra's eyes widening, and then she doubled over in laughter. "Oh, yes," she said. "If I understand the implication, that is it exactly."
"I'm sorry," Kara said once Astra's laughter had died away.
"What for?" Astra asked.
"That you never got to fall in love," Kara said.
Astra shrugged. "I hardly consider it a loss. I never cared for the company of men," she said.
Kara stared at her for a moment, and it took every ounce of control she'd developed over the last fifteen years to keep her eyes from bugging out, and she damn near swallowed her tongue to keep from screaming, because she could see the exact look Sara would have on her face if she were in the room. The head tilt, the duck lips, the way Sara would give Astra a speculative once over with her eyes.
She lasted ten seconds before she fell off the couch laughing, and the startled look on Astra's face didn't help at all.
"How can you see in that thing?" Dick asked, and James smiled.
"The front half of the helmet is transparent from the inside," James said.
"Really?" Tim asked.
"No," James said, "it's some sort of display screen, but the pixel density is about a hundred times higher than the human eye can perceive. Benefits of a tech base fifteen thousand years more advanced than us."
Tim sighed. "And Bruce just had to go and piss her off."
"Apparently not too bad," Dick said. "She did give us the fabric extruder, the Batbot, and the transmat system."
"Yeah, but I could have had a freaking helmet," Tim said.
"You could have had a helmet before," Dick said.
"Yeah," Tim said, "and be like Jason. Spend all my time bitching about how hard it is to see out of."
"But it looks so cool."
Dick, Tim and James all jumped at the unexpected voice, and James had to grab Tim to keep from going over the edge.
"Damn it, Jason!" Dick growled.
Jason just shook his head as he and Artemis knelt down on the roof next to them.
"Jumpy lot, aren't they?" Artemis said.
"Well, not everyone can be as awesome as I am," Jason said.
"This from the guy who one spent a month checking his hairline in every mirror he came across because Damian made a crack about him going bald," Tim said.
"Dude, not funny," Jason said.
"No, it was funny," Dick said. "The YouTube compilation video has ten million hits."
"Tell me why I haven't murdered you in your sleep yet?" Jason asked.
"You love me," Dick said. "Everybody loves me."
"No," Artemis said. "You do have a lovely ass, and I enjoy staring at it. But that's lust. Not love."
The sounds of James and Tim trying, and failing, to stifle their laughter filled the rooftop.
"Quiet," Artemis said. "Our target approaches."
Everyone on the roof turned to look down at the street below.
"Is that…?" James asked.
"Yeah. I think it is," Dick said.
Jason stood up. "Let's go," he said.
"No," Dick said, reaching over to still Jason's movement. "This is strictly recon."
"They may kill him while we're up here doing recon," Jason said.
Dick stared down at the scene unfolding before him, and James could feel the weight of the moment. Feel the decision unfolding.
"Red Hood, Artemis, circle around, see if you can get a view inside. Red Robin, see if you can find any digital points of entry. Guardian, call J'onzz, tell him we have a location and need a strike team here in under ten minutes if he wants to be able to make a case," Dick said.
As it happened, J'onn, Alex and Maggie dropped out of the sky four minutes later, with each of them carrying two fully kitted-out members of a DEO strike team by the drag handles on the back of their tac vests. They deposited their passengers at the back of the roof, and walked over to where Dick, Tim and James were sitting.
"What have we got?" J'onn asked.
"Four guys pulled up in that white cargo van about four minutes ago. They opened the door and dragged what looked to be an unconscious alien of some sort out of the van, and carried him into the building," Dick said.
J'onn looked over at Maggie. "Good enough?"
"Civilian witnesses reporting a crime in progress," Maggie said. "It will float in court."
"Then let's go," J'onn said.
Alex was the first one in. With the powered war suit she was wearing, her boot did a better job of taking down the door than any battering ram would, so she kicked it in and went barreling into the room using the speed the suit gave her. She was across the room in an eye blink, with Maggie and J'onn right behind her, but there were more than five people in the room.
A lot more.
By the time she reached the first perp, she wanted to kill him with her bare hands. The sight of dozens of aliens, old, young, women, children, big, small, all locked in cages, all beaten and battered, drove a spike of fury through her, and it was all she could do to stop herself from punching the monster in front of her with the full Kryptonian strength the suit gave her.
Years of training and discipline stopped her, and instead, she grabbed him, picked him up, and slammed him to the ground face down, planting her knee in his back as she pulled his arms together and cuffed him.
Maggie took the second perp down, and Alex could see it on her face too. The anger, the barely controlled rage.
The next two fell to J'onn. Alex took five and Maggie took six and seven before Alex slammed into eight.
By the time the strike team stepped into the room, it was over. Eleven humans were down and cuffed with zip ties, and Alex finally had a chance to take a good look around, and once she did, she reached up and tapped the earbud.
"Nimda, I need medical drones at my location. Mass casualty event. Multiple species. Drones should document as they treat," she said.
"Understood, Lady Danvers," Nimda said. "Units inbound in thirty seconds."
"So, how have you been?" Kara asked as Konex sat their plates on the table.
"Well," Astra said. "The work is progressing quickly."
"I know," Kara said. "You and Lena are both probably putting in too many hours."
"How can we invest too much time in preventing the ecological collapse of this world?" Astra asked.
"I don't know, but I'm sure the two of you will find a way," Kara said with a grin. "Really, how has it been? Are you enjoying the work?"
"I am," Astra said. "It feels good to be in a lab again."
"I'm glad," Kara said as she twisted the top off her soda. "I remember you telling me how much you enjoyed the lab. You never said it, but I was always sure you wished you had chosen the Science Guild."
"You were always more observant than even I gave you credit for," Astra said.
"Don't give me too much credit," Kara said. "It took a long time before I realized why you did it."
"I loved your mother. Whatever came later, I never regretted making the choice to protect her."
Kara sighed. "Sometimes I wish you had chosen differently," she said. "I wonder if you might have spotted the problem before it was too late."
"I might have, or I might not, but one thing that would be different. You would not be here. That's too high a price to pay, even for Krypton."
"I'm not sure how fair it is to weigh my life against thirty-billion souls."
"And how many lives will you save, if your campaign is successful?" Astra asked.
"More than thirty-billion," Kara said. "I hate thinking about it like that."
"I didn't mean to take the conversation in such an unpleasant direction," Astra said.
"My fault as much as yours," Kara said. She took a sip of her soda. "How are you getting along with Lena?"
"Well," Astra said. "I admit to being surprised about that. When Fendra briefed me on the Luthors, I had my doubts about your decision to embrace her as an ally, though I didn't have the advantage of your foresight at the time."
"Lena's good people," Kara said. "A bit of a drama queen, but that just gives you two something in common." Astra glared at her, and Kara just smiled and shrugged. "Do I have to remind you of the Sky Palace incident?"
"Alura completely overreacted to that!" Astra said.
"I was eighteen / ahmzehto/ old," Kara said.
"Which is why I didn't take you to the sublevels," Astra said.
"Well, I shudder to think what Mom would say if she found out I once spent an entire Earth week on Pheramon," Kara said.
"I suspect she would have died out of sheer horror at the very thought," Astra said. "Then she would go to the temple and repent her hypocrisy, while praying you never found out she and your father once spent two / bythzehto/ there themselves."
"Really?" Kara asked, a grin creeping across her face.
"Yes," Astra said. "It was ten / ahmzehto/ before you were seeded."
Kara tried to picture it. Ten / ahmzehto/ would be about five years, which meant her parents would have been about twenty-five Earth years old when they went.
"It's hard to imagine," Kara said.
"She was young. Still an Advocate, and still years away from becoming the stoic Adjudicator."
"It must have been nice," Kara said. "To be that age, and not have a care in the universe."
"I would not know," Astra said. "I spent an / ahmzeht/ chasing Czarnian mercenaries through the Palantium cluster around that time."
"Oh, I *hate* Czarnians," Kara said. "I fought this one named Lobo-"
Astra let out a hiss at the sound of the name.
"And I can see you've met him," Kara said.
"More than once," Astra said. "Last time I saw him, I left him hanging from a tree with that chain around his neck."
"I dropped him into a neutron star," Kara said. "No idea if it killed him."
"One can hope," Astra said. "Though I take it this was the other timeline?"
"Yeah," Kara said. "Which means I may have to fight him again."
"I hope not," Astra said. "The smell alone."
"Oh, please don't remind me."
"I remember it took Non…" Astra stopped, a look of distress on her face.
Kara reached over, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"I should be out searching for him," Astra said.
"No," Kara said.
"He's my husband," Astra said. "That comes with certain responsibilities."
"We'll find him," Kara said. "I know I haven't been much use to anybody the last few days-"
"You've been resting," Astra said. "Everyone understands that."
"Really?" Kara asked.
"No," Astra said.
"Well, that was a lot more honest than I expected," Kara said.
"You've been a General. You should know by now that no matter how much you give, no matter how hard you push or what you sacrifice, it will never be enough to satisfy everyone. When you lay broken and bleeding on the field of battle, your life leaking out of you, they will demand you use your last breath to tell them why you didn't do more, give more," Astra said.
"Ain't that the truth," Kara said with a sigh. "Are you happy? I mean, really happy?"
Astra looked at her. "I'm happier than I have a right to be," she said. "I wish I could take the burden you carry for you. I was so happy when I heard you'd chosen the Science Guild, and not the Military Guild. I know you showed aptitude, but I never wanted you to be a soldier."
"Well, when has the universe ever given us what we want?" Kara asked.
"The day I received your message," Astra said. "The day you activated the beacon. Every single day I get to see you. I never wanted you to be a soldier, Little One, but you are alive, and for that, I am forever grateful."
Kara reached across the table, covering one of Astra's hands with her own. "I give thanks to Rao every day that I got a chance to save you, and then I thank him for making you listen when I spoke."
"I wish I had listened better in the other timeline," Astra said. "I might have spared you a great deal of suffering."
"Maybe," Kara said, "but you're here, now, and that's more than I thought possible for the longest time, so however we got here, I'm grateful we did."
J'onn stood outside the building in his human form, taking long, slow breaths, trying to settle his nerves. It was the wrong night for it. The chill night air reminded him of summer on Mars, and the sight of people in cages hit a little too close to home.
"How bad is it in there?" James asked.
J'onn opened his eyes and looked over at Olsen.
Afterwards, J'onn would never be sure what made him do it. He didn't plan it. He never consciously made the decision, but the words came out of his mouth, nonetheless.
"Do you have your camera, Mr. Olsen?" J'onn asked.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Lena took a deep breath as she stepped off the elevator, not entirely sure what she was thinking. It was barely eleven on a Saturday, and for the first time in ages, she found herself with an entire day that wasn't scheduled to the second. Part of that was a miscalculation on her part. She'd expected moving into the apartment to take most of the day and unpacking to drag on for weeks. She had not counted on having a dozen robots and a teleporter on hand. The robot butler Kara had given her had the whole thing taken care of in less than forty-five minutes from the time the truck had arrived with her things.
Which is how Lena found herself with hours of nothing to do.
Her first thought had been simply to call her car service and go to work, but then she decided to just take a day and get to know National City a bit. She'd been in town before, but she hadn't had much time to find anything other than what Jesse had recommended, and despite the excitement of the last few weeks, she felt up for a bit of an adventure.
She walked out of the front door of the Solarium towards the car, feeling the telltale shiver as she passed through the force field that surrounded the building, which reminded her, again, that Kara had been frustratingly vague on how exactly the field worked. Her driver opened the door and she slid into the car, frowning slightly as she noticed it was a different model than the one she normally rode in, and wondering if it was because it was the weekend.
The driver, also not her usual, circled the car quickly and climbed into the driver's seat.
"Where to, ma'am?" he asked.
"Café Sunflower," she said, giving the name of a restaurant she'd found on a vegetarian foodie blog she'd been following since arriving in town.
"Yes ma'am," the driver said, and they pulled away from the Solarium and headed towards town.
Lena reached into her purse and took out her phone and started searching for something to do after lunch. She looked up five minutes later when the car pulled to a stop. Before she could react at all, the rear driver's side door opened, and Lillian slid into the car next to her.
"Hello, Lena," Lillian said.
"Really?" Lena asked, more than a little disbelief in her voice. "In broad daylight?"
"You sound surprised," Lillian said as the car started moving again.
"Not really," Lena said. "I'm just surprised it took you this long to resort to murder."
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Lillian said. "I just want to talk. If I wanted to murder you, I'd hire a professional. Only the best for my daughter."
"I was talking about the people you killed at CatCo last week. Or are you so busy trying to wipe out innocent people that you've already forgotten the ones you actually managed to kill?"
"Collateral damage. A pity they didn't get the real target. There might be a lot less pro-alien propaganda on the airwaves."
Lena looked down at her phone, hitting the home button, and paging through her apps. "I know you have a rather tenuous relationship with the entire concept of truth, mother, but when someone reports facts, it's not called propaganda." Lena touched the screen, opening the app she'd been searching for, watching as it brought up a huge red button on her screen.
"Come now, we both know facts aren't nearly so important as the spin put on them," Lillian said.
Lena looked up at Lillian. "Please tell me you didn't kill my regular driver to arrange this little chat."
"Of course not," Lillian said, sounding genuinely insulted. "Why kill someone when bribery is so much less messy? Fifty thousand dollars to the dispatcher and they called us instead of sending a car for you. Really, you must find a better service."
"What do you want, mother?" Lena asked.
"I'd like to know what it is you're doing with Kara Danvers," Lillian asked.
"I don't know what you mean," Lena said.
"Oh, come now. I'm not an idiot, Lena. You fly all the way to National City to keep her from buying LuthorCorp out from under you, but after one meeting, suddenly the buyout has your full support. You're in business with her, you moved into her building this morning." Lillian gave her a sour look. "I know you get ideas in your head sometimes, like with that Arias woman, but Kara Danvers is not who you think she is."
"Mother, I know exactly who Kara Danvers is, and so far, I find her company infinitely preferable to yours," Lena said.
"Did you know she's sleeping with Cat Grant?" Lillian asked.
Lena laughed. "You seriously think I did all of this to get in a pretty girl's pants? Really? Besides, didn't you send your assassins because you thought Supergirl was sleeping with Cat?"
"Oh, Lena, my poor, naïve child. Kara Danvers *is* Supergirl," Lillian said.
The only thing that kept Lena flinching at that declaration was years of experience hiding her thoughts and emotions from Lillian. This time, she decided to do it by throwing it back in Lillian's face. She opened her mouth and laughed.
"Is that what you think?" Lena asked. "That Supergirl is Kara Danvers?" She shook her head. "Mother, you've been drinking too much of whatever Lex was drinking before his little mass homicide spree. I've been in the room with Supergirl *and* Kara. Kara's definitely bankrolling Supergirl. There's no doubt about that. But I sat across a table from Kara Danvers while Supergirl introduced me to her Aunt. The one with the stripe in her hair."
"And tell me, Lena, where was her shape-shifting friend during this little get together?" Lillian asked.
Lena gave a small frown, as if she hadn't considered that before.
"See," Lillian said. "She's lying to you. Using you, to get at everything our family has built. Trying to turn you against your own brother and mother."
"Well, she won't have to try very hard," Lena said. "You've already done most of the work for her."
Lillian let out a big, dramatic sigh. "You know, I had hoped you would be reasonable about this. I suppose I should have known that you would act like a spoiled child."
"You still haven't told me what *this* is," Lena said.
"I wanted your help," Lillian said. "Access to all that wonderful Kryptonian technology she's going to start peddling."
Lena shook her head. "You really expected me to what? Just walk you in the front door? Give you my username and password?"
"I expected you to be loyal to the family that took you in, or at least to your own species," Lillian said. "But, if you have to do this the hard way, that can be arranged."
"Mmm… I don't think it can," Lena said, then pressed the button on her phone's screen. The car filled with a brilliant white light, and when it disappeared, Lena was sitting on the sofa in her new living room.
Lena let out an annoyed sigh. "I was really looking forward to lunch, too."
She barely had time to say it before there was a pounding on her front door. She frowned as she stood up, wondering who was there. She walked over to the door and checked the security monitor to see Kara's face staring into the camera.
She unlocked the door, and barely had it open before she was engulfed in a hug that damn near broke her back.
"Owww!"
"Sorry," Kara said, letting her go, and stepping back, still holding her by the shoulders. "Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt? Do you need medical attention? Where's your attendant?"
Lena opened her mouth to respond, but it was just about that moment she noticed what Kara was wearing, or more precisely, what she wasn't wearing. Kara was standing in front of her in a pair of low cut boy shorts and a paint-streaked white tank top that was so thin Lena could practically see through it, and whatever she was going to say was lost as she swallowed hard.
"Lena? What's wrong?"
"Clothes," she managed to sputter as all of her blood rushed to the last place she wanted it going right at that moment.
"What?" Kara asked, a little confused.
Lena looked down, and Kara followed her gaze.
"Oh!" she said, letting go of Lena and slapping the cuff on her right wrist with her left hand. A few seconds later, she was wearing one of her Supergirl outfits. A long-sleeved blue body suit with red knee boots, but no cape. "Sorry," she said, blushing the most adorable shade of red. "I was painting when the alarm sounded."
Lena shook herself. "It's okay," she said. "Come in. I should probably tell you what happened anyway."
"Yeah," Kara said, looking her over again. "Are you okay?"
"I saw my mother, which is never a good thing, but your panic button worked just like you said, so no harm done," Lea said. "But I do have some bad news."
"What?" Kara asked.
"She knows you're Supergirl," Lena said. "I tried to throw her off. I told her I'd seen Kara Danvers and Supergirl in the same room, but now she just thinks you got your shape-shifting friend to play a trick on me."
"Oh," Kara said. "That isn't really a surprise."
"It's not?" Lena asked.
"Yeah," Kara said. "Cadmus was a government project researching aliens, and Sam Lane was in charge of army intelligence. Both of them had access to the full National Security Briefing on me."
"Oh. I hadn't thought of that," Lena said.
"Thank you, though," Kara said. "For trying to protect my identity. I appreciate it."
"It was nothing," Lena said.
"Where did you run into her?" Kara asked.
"She bribed the car service. When I called for a car to take me to lunch, they called her instead, so one of her… henchmen picked me up." Lena said. "And how weird is it that my mother actually has henchmen?"
Kara sighed. "Damn," she said. "Cat uses that same service."
"Might be time for a change," Lena said.
"Yeah," Kara said. "Maybe an attendant's brain wired into a car." She chewed on her lip for a moment before she looked at Lena again.
"Where were you going, anyway?"
"Lunch," Lena said. "There's this restaurant called Café Sunflower I wanted to try."
"I love that place!" Kara said. "Give me a few minutes to go clean up, and I'll take you."
"You have a car?" Lena asked.
"No," Kara said, "but I do have a motorcycle." She turned and looked deeper into the apartment. "Attendant."
The robot Kara had given her came floating into few. "Yes, Lady Kara?"
"Lena will need some new clothes. Pattern MC-004, in the traditional black. Pattern TS-002 in white. Pattern BB-006 in black. Add appropriate accessories and a bike helmet," Kara said. She turned back to Lena. "Get changed. I'll be right back."
Kara knew she'd made a tactical error the moment Lena opened the door. It wasn't that she hadn't been aware of the fact that Lena was a beautiful woman, that was something she'd known since the first time she'd met her almost a decade and a half earlier. It was that she wasn't quite prepared for the sight of Lena in a motorcycle jacket, leather pants, biker boots and a white t-shirt, and for a moment, her brain shorted out, because she was very, very gay.
"Wow!" Kara said. "I knew you'd look good in that, because you look good in anything, but you look really, really good in that."
Okay, she needed to calm down. She could do this. She could. If she spent years on the Waverider with Harley prancing around in painted-on leather pants… and that wasn't helping because that had ended with Harley in bed with her and Sara more than once, and the way Lena was blushing was *not* helping.
"Thank you," Lena said. "You don't look so bad yourself."
She had this. She did. She could totally manage to keep herself in check. After all, she'd managed to carry a wet, naked, wiggling Lucy Lane half way to Hawaii and back when she was very drunk and could smell how horny the other woman was, and aside from a few sloppy kisses and a little mutual groping, she's been a perfect gentleman.
Yeah, this was not going to end well.
"Come on," Kara said. "Let's get you some food."
"Any luck tracking down Lillian?" Alex asked.
"No," Susan said. "Bitch has our satellite schedule down. The car disappears into an area with no traffic cams five minutes before a gap in the satellite coverage. When the gap closes fifteen minutes later, the car is abandoned and on fire in a culvert."
"Fuck," Alex said. "Any chance of tracking the cars that exited the traffic cam dead zone?"
"There aren't any," Susan said. "The area's down by the docks, and the only thing I've got on camera leaving the area during that time is a bunch of trucks hauling shipping containers."
"So, Lillian either went out on the water, or in a container," Alex said.
"Or she took one of the back roads that doesn't have any camera coverage," Susan said.
"Keep trying," Alex said. "I'm going to talk to Nimda and see if we can get any better surveillance options."
The ride to Café Sunflower was torture. It wasn't that Kara didn't understand what was going on. Lena was ridiculously attractive, and Kara knew herself well enough to know that her typical response to emotional distress was a greater need for physical comfort and affection. The thing was, a few drunken gropes with Lucy, who knew exactly what was going on and who was in a very similar spot herself, wasn't going to destroy a friendship. Kara knew Lucy was perfectly capable of processing 'casual', because Kara remembered Lucy having a couple of casual relationships after James in the other timeline. She knew that Lucy and Vasquez had slept together a hand full of times before Cameron had transferred in from the FBI in the wake of Cadmus, and she'd had a thing with Winn right up until Indigo had killed him.
Pinning Lena against the nearest wall and making her beg would send entirely the wrong message though. Lena didn't do casual any more than Kara did. Less than Kara did, in fact, because Kara had tried casual. She'd just caught a bad case of feelings, and it had turned into a six-plus year relationship that ended in broken hearts and universes between them.
Right. She could do this.
"Come on," Kara said, her mouth going a little dry as she watched Lena climb off the bike.
"Lead the way," Lena said, smiling just a little.
Kara returned the smile as she led them into the restaurant, which was almost as much of a punch in the gut as Lena's outfit, but for an entirely different reason. Lena had loved Café Sunflower, and they'd had lunch there almost every week. Kara hadn't been able to set foot in the place after Lena had died. Walking back in there with Lena was unsettling.
Unsettling she was better at hiding though, so she just smiled at the hostess.
"Two, please," she said.
"Right this way," the hostess said, leading them in to the restaurant.
"How about that booth over there?" Kara asked, pointing at what had been Lena's favorite place to sit.
"Sure," the hostess said, showing them to the table and setting down menus. "Or special today is a Portobello Parmigiana sub, served with a side of Spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread."
"Ooo… That sounds good," Kara said. "Can we have a minute to look at the menu, though?"
"Of course," she said. "Jennifer will be your server today. She'll be right over."
Kara turned back to Lena. "The Bolognese sauce is made with textured vegetable protein," she said. "It's really good. Everything on the menu here is vegetarian, and they have good selection of non-dairy cheeses if you want to go vegan."
Lena smiled. "How did you know I'm a vegetarian?" she asked.
Kara grinned. "A girl has to have some secrets," she said.
"Really," Lena said.
"You should try the Eggplant Lasagna," Kara said. "Just avoid the carrot soup."
Lena gave her a questioning look, but Kara dodged by looking down at her menu and pretending not to notice, because there was no way she could explain away that particular incident, largely because in the other timeline Lena never explained to her why she'd ended up on the receiving end of a spit take the one time Lena had tried the soup.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Jennifer arrived at their table. "Hey, ladies. My name is Jennifer. I'll be your server today. Are ready to order?"
Kara looked up at Lena who gave her a small nod.
"I'll start with two orders of potstickers and an order of the stuffed mushrooms, then have the grilled portebello Caesar and the special," Kara said.
"Our salads are dinner salads, ma'am," Jennifer said.
"I know," Kara said. "Big appetite."
"Okay," Jennifer said, turning to Lena. "And for you, ma'am?"
"The artichoke and spinach dip to start, and the Eggplant Lasagna for the entrée."
"Anything to drink?"
"Grape soda," Kara said.
"Sparkling water," Lena said.
"Okay, I'll get this in right away. Did you want the salad to come out with your appetizers, ma'am?"
"Yes, please," Kara said.
"I'm surprised," Lena said once the waitress was gone. "After the way you ate during the meeting, I didn't think you knew what a vegetable was."
Kara shrugged, and felt her face heat just a bit. "I had a friend once who used to drag me all over the place trying to find healthy food I would actually eat," she said. "She tried her best, but it didn't stick. I was a junk food addict, even before I came here."
"Really?" Lena asked.
"Yeah," Kara said. "Some time I'll take you down to / zrhygrhahs im shahrrehth/ and you can try Kryptonian food. You'll see where my passion for dim sum comes from."
"Sounds like a plan," Lena said. "If we can avoid potential kidnappers, anyway."
"Did your mother happen to tell you what she was after?" Kara said.
"Access to the Kryptonian tech archive," Lena said.
Kara shook her head. "Why is it people hate us, but want our stuff?"
"People are greedy," Lena said. "My mother more than most."
"You know, let's change the topic," Kara said. "Tell me something about you."
"What do you want to know?"
"When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?"
"Oh, no…" Lena said. "That's way too embarrassing."
"I'll tell you mine, if you tell me yours," Kara said.
Lena narrowed her eyes a little. "You first," she said.
"So untrusting," Kara said. "But fine. I wanted to be a dragon trainer."
"A dragon trainer?" Lena asked.
"Yeah," Kara said. "It's not as silly as it sounds. There's this game called Garata. It's kind of like soccer, or maybe polo, but the players ride dragons."
"Like, real dragons?"
"Yeah," Kara said.
"That breathe fire?" Lena asked.
"It's more like aerosolized napalm," Kara said.
"That's worse," Lena said.
"Your turn," Kara said.
"Well, now my desire to be an astronaut doesn't seem so silly," Lena said.
James sat at the light table laying out the photos he'd taken, quietly shaking with rage. By the time the DEO had finished, they'd freed almost fifty aliens from cells. It was clear, from what he could see in the pictures, that there had been more, and that they would never know for certain what had happened to them, but James thought he had a pretty good idea.
He wished he didn't.
This was something he wished he didn't understand, but you didn't grow up a black man in America without understanding it a little too well. Blind hatred for what was different. Fear, disgust, loathing. The assumption of evil, based on nothing more than appearance.
Bigotry, in its ugliest, most basic form. The impulse to lash out and destroy that which was other.
Murder, done under the color of authority. The Planetary Action Hygiene Network might be the hand that was doing it, but there was no doubt Cadmus had given the order, and there was no doubt the place they raided had been in operation longer than a couple of weeks, which meant, on some level, the government was behind it.
He understood, as soon as he saw the cages, why J'onn had stepped outside. Understood why J'onn had wanted him to take the pictures. People needed to see, needed to understand. This would never stop happening unless people learned what was being done in their name and were made to understand the cost.
He wondered, sometimes, if even that would be enough.
"These are good, James," Cat said.
He jumped slightly, surprised by the sound of a voice. He looked up to see Cat staring down at one of the already finished layouts.
"Thanks," he said.
"You know, I've been thinking a lot about our heroes lately," Cat said. "Yours and mine."
"I wouldn't call Clark mine," James said.
"Well, Lois's and mine, then," Cat said, an unapologetic smirk on her face. "You know the difference between them? Why I would rather have Supergirl here than Superman?"
James sat back, looking at Cat. "I don't," he said. "I mean, I get that you and Kara are friends, but you were never that impressed with Superman to begin with."
"There are a lot of reasons for that. Small, selfish ones. But our girl… She's something different. Clark shows up to scenes like this, breaks open cages, tends the wounded, rushes people to hospitals. That's good. The world needs people to do those things. But it's a reaction. Clark is always waiting for something to happen. When it does, he's there to help, to make it easier, to make it hurt less, but he's treating the symptoms, not the disease.
"That's what makes Kara different," Cat said. "She's trying to stop things like this before they happen. She's trying to change the world by changing the people in it."
Cat looked up at him as she sat the layout down. "There are a lot of ways to be a hero, James." She nodded to the crate in the corner. "Clark's way," she tapped her finger on the layout she'd just sat down, "or Kara's way."
She turned away and started for the door, calling out over her shoulder, "Time to decide which one you want to be."
J'onn walked through the Medical Halls in the City of Hope, taking it all in as he approached the area where the victims from the PHAN raid were being treated. It was different than he expected. From what he'd seen at Sanctuary, he'd expected lots of bright white and soft gray. Instead, there were a lot of earth tones, like the whole building was sculpted from red, brown and tan clays. It lent the whole place a soft, homey feel, much like some of his favorite places on Mars.
He wasn't sure if that was intentional, or if Kara simply found the color palette as comforting as he did. Maybe he should ask. As much as he knew about Kara, and as much as he was growing to like her, there was still a gap between them. One he found himself wanting to close.
He stopped dead when he saw her. The White Martian. The one Kara trusted. The one she claimed was different.
Every instinct in him told him to attack. To kill her.
"Easy, friend," she said, speaking softly to an older man, a Korugarian who looked to be well into old age. One of the victims of the PHAN operation. She had one hand on the small of his back, and another cradling his arm as she helped him down the hall.
"Thank you, child," the Korugarian said. "It's good to see you again."
"And you," M'gann said. "I've missed hearing about your grandchildren."
The Korugarian laughed. "You humor an old man."
"I've told you a time or two, friend, you're younger than I am by centuries," M'gann said.
"I know, but you have such a young and beautiful face," the Korugarian said.
"You flatter me, and it will get you nowhere. I've told you before, I don't date younger men." Her tone was light and teasing, and the Korugarian smiled.
"You'll forgive me for trying," he said. "A man likes to remember what the attentions of a beautiful woman are like."
"Of course," M'gann said. "Though I doubt your wife would be as understanding."
"My wife?" he asked. "She's alive?"
"And well," M'gann said. "We found her just a few minutes after you were taken. She has a scar, but the bullet just grazed her. I sent a friend to let her know you're here just as soon as I saw the list of prisoners."
"Thank you!" the Korugarian cries, turning and hugging M'gann. "Thank you so much!
J'onn turned away, unable to watch, unable to understand what he'd just seen. Kindness and mercy from a White.
Kara had told him, but despite everything else, he'd never quite believed.
Kara smiled as she climbed into the elevator and headed up to her apartment. Lunch with Lena had proven every bit as much fun as she remembered. Maybe even more so, when there wasn't so much of herself she had to hide, and somewhere between the description of Lena's homemade space suit, which had for some reason included a tutu, and the argument over what was the best Backstreet Boys song ever, which was obviously I Want It That Way and not Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Kara's hormones had settled down and she'd been able to just enjoy herself.
She wondered if, maybe, she could try the casual thing again. She'd stayed away from Lucy because of James, but if Lucy and James weren't going to be a thing in this universe, it might be worth a try. Lucy was fun, and beautiful, and smart, and funny, and was into piercings so maybe a tongue stud because she'd really, really enjoyed those.
She stopped herself, because she knew she was lying to herself. Lucy wasn't any better an option than Lena. She might have been closer to Lena in the old timeline, but a lot of that was that as good friends as she and Lucy had eventually become, James always hung between them. That wasn't an issue in this world, and if Kara started something with Lucy, she'd catch feelings, the same way she did with Sara.
She'd never, once in her life, ever been able to love someone just a little. She wasn't wired that way. When she loved someone, she was all in. Which meant that Lucy would quickly turn into the same problem as Cat. Someone she cared about too much to survive losing.
And she would lose them. Cat, Lena, Lucy… Anyone she loved. She'd either lose them when they realized what being with her would mean, or she'd lose them to time, circumstance, and fate.
It was funny, really. During the war, of all the things she was called on all the worlds, the one name that stuck with her, the one everyone seemed to know, had been 'The Survivor'. Darkseid himself had given her the name, mockingly. But there were some things she knew she wouldn't survive. Not because there was any physical danger, but simply because she would choose not to.
When it came to grief, even she had her limits.
Eliza sat on the couch, trying her best to read the book she'd been looking forward to all week, but thoroughly distracted by the way Jeremiah was pacing around the room and waiting for the moment she was sure was coming.
"Why do I have to stay here?" Jeremiah asked.
Eliza closed her book and looked up at him. "We've been through this, Jeremiah. First, legally, you're still dead. Second, in the last two and a half weeks, people have tried to kill five members of this family."
Jeremiah looked mulish, like he wanted to argue about whether or not Maggie, Cat, Carter and James counted as family.
Eliza sat the book down on the end table. "She's trying to protect you," she said.
"She can't even stand to be in the same room with me," he shot back.
"Because she feels guilty!" Eliza said. "She feels like she let you down. Like it's her fault, what they did to you in that other timeline."
"God, this is ridiculous," Jeremiah said. "Someone puts a magic lasso around her, and everyone just accepts that she's actually from the future."
"You think she's lying?" Eliza asked.
"How the hell would I know?" Jeremiah shouted.
Eliza shook her head and walked over to the end table where her purse sat and fished out her phone.
"What are you doing?" Jeremiah asked.
"I'm proving to you that she's telling the truth," she said, as she hit the call button. She lifted the phone to her ear, and a voice answered is a soft, musical accent.
"Hello, Eliza," Diana said.
"Do you have some free time right now?" Eliza asked.
"Of course," Diana said. "What can I do for you?"
"I need you to demonstrate the lasso to Jeremiah," Eliza said. "We showed him the recording of Kara from that night, but he's still got doubts."
"Give me a moment to change," Diana said. "Shall I transmat directly to your location?"
"Please," Eliza said.
"See you in a moment," Diana said, and ended the call. Eliza dropped her phone into her purse.
"You have Wonder Woman on speed dial?" Jeremiah asked, more than a little shocked.
Eliza shrugged and crossed her arms. Less than a minute later, there was a flash in the foyer.
"Eliza, may I enter?" Diana asked.
"Of course. Come in," Eliza said.
Diana walked in and crossed the living room, going straight to Eliza and wrapping her in a hug. "How are you?" she asked. She stepped back. "Still so beautiful. It's easy to see where Alex gets it."
Eliza smiled and rolled her eyes. She turned slightly. "This is Jeremiah," she said.
Diana turned to him, still smiling. "A pleasure," she said. "You must be so proud. Your daughters are both amazing women. Fierce, strong, and best of all, kind and noble of heart. I would be proud to call either of them sister."
"Uh… Thank you," Jeremiah stammered.
"Now, a test," Diana said. "To prove the power of the Golden Perfect. Hold out your arm."
Jeremiah cautiously raised his arm, and Diana wrapped the rope carefully around his arm, tight enough to activate the magic, but loosely enough to be comfortable.
"We will start with a simple test, and if you require more proof, we will move on to more complicated things," Diana said. "I will ask you your name. You will try to say Athena."
"Okay," Jeremiah said.
"What is your name," Diana asked, holding the rope loosely in her hand.
"Jeremiah Ezekiel Danvers," he said.
"See," Diana said. "The Golden Perfect compels the truth in all cases. Do you still desire more proof?"
"Yes," Jeremiah said.
"Why do you doubt Kara's tale?" Diana asked.
"Because I don't want it to be true," Jeremiah said. "Because I don't want any of this to be true. Because if all this is true, I missed seeing my baby girl grow up, and my wife looks at me like I'm a stranger and all because of a girl I didn't even want to adopt."
"Enough!" Eliza said. She stepped forward to untie the lasso, but Diana beat her to it, giving a gentle pull that made the rope unwrap itself from Jeremiah's arm and coil into a loop around Diana's hand. She hung it on her belt.
"I'm sorry," Diana said, though Eliza noted the apology was only directed towards her. "The Golden Perfect compels the truth, and sometimes, that is an ugly thing. I will leave you to tend your family matters in private."
She turned to Jeremiah. "I hope the truth will bring peace and make you a better person."
She turned and headed out into the foyer, and a moment later, there was a flash of light, and she was gone, leaving only the truth in her wake.
"Hey, sweetie," Eliza said as she sat down on the deck chair next to Kara.
Kara looked up at Eliza and smiled contentedly as she woke up. They were on the thirtieth floor of the Solarium, next to the massive swimming pool, and Kara had been napping in the sunlight the overhead holographic generators were projecting down onto her. It wasn't quite as good as the real thing, but it was on par with the sunbed at the DEO.
"Hey," she said in a sleepy voice. "What time is it?"
"About five," Eliza said. "How are you doing?"
"Better," Kara said. "Taking a few days isn't a cure all, but it definitely made me feel better."
"You should do it more often," Eliza said.
"I used to," Kara said. "During the war. It was easier. We had a time machine, so when we needed to get away for a bit, we could just pick a universe and pop back in time to before the war and take a few days. Sometimes a few weeks."
"That's a relief," Eliza said. "I worried about what it must have been like, fighting so much."
"Hard," Kara said. "Even with the time machine, we always felt a little guilty about taking time away from it."
"I'm sorry," Eliza said, reaching out and taking Kara's hand in hers. "Sweetie, I need to ask you something."
"Anything," Kara said, sitting up.
"Do you think Jeremiah would be safe back at the house in Midvale?" Eliza asked.
"Maybe," Kara said. "I could have the defenses upgraded. I already installed shields and a few defense turrets, but I could add a squad of drones."
"You installed weapons at the house?" Eliza asked.
Kara shrugged. "I figured it was easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission."
Eliza smiled and shook her head. "I heard you pulled that same stunt with Maggie's clothes."
"Yeah," Kara said. "I should have done everyone's. If I had, James wouldn't have gotten hurt."
"That wasn't your fault," Eliza said.
"It feels like it," Kara said. "Like I should have done more. Like I didn't protect him."
"Kara, you couldn't have predicted this," Eliza said. "Your knowledge of the future isn't a lot of use at this point because of how far the timeline has deviated. You're flying blind again, just like the rest of us."
"I know," Kara said. "And I hate it."
"It's life," Eliza said. "You'll get used to it again."
"Why do you want to go back to Midvale?" Kara asked. "I thought you wanted to stay here and help out."
"Not me," Eliza said. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Oh," Kara said, as everything clicked. "Jeremiah didn't take it well, did he?"
"He's just having some trouble adjusting," Eliza said. "Ten years is a long time."
"I'm sorry," Kara said. "I couldn't find him where he was supposed to be, and it's the only way I could think to rescue him."
"Kara, you worked a miracle," Eliza said. "You gave Alex her father back, and that's amazing. That's something no one else could accomplish."
"I wanted to give you your husband back, too," Kara said.
"Sweetie, even if he'd come through the long way around, he was gone ten years," Eliza said. "You and Alex have been out of the house for eight of those, and I'm only fifty-one. Did you think I was living like a nun this whole time?'
"Um," Kara sputtered, which made Eliza laugh softly and shake her head.
"I never brought it up because there was never anyone serious, and I knew Alex would have a hard time with it," Eliza said. "I put Jeremiah in the guest room the night we brought him home, and that's where he stayed."
"And now he wants to go back to Midvale," Kara said.
"I think it's for the best," Eliza said. "I don't know what we would tell people, but I think we might need to figure something out. Maybe it would help him adjust if he was in familiar surroundings. I don't know."
"I can probably work it out," Kara said, "but it would be better if he could wait until we dealt with Cadmus."
"I know," Eliza said, "but I'm not sure he'll be willing to wait that long."
"If it would make the two of you more comfortable, I could give him his own apartment," Kara said.
"That would help," Eliza said. "Having something to work on would help, too. At least for me. I want to be here for you girls, but I'm feeling a little useless."
"You know, there *is* something you could do for me," Kara said.
"What's that?" Eliza asked.
"Do you think you could isolate the genes that make Kryptonians susceptible to the various forms of Kryptonite radiation?" Kara asked.
"I could try," Eliza said.
"I'll have Nimda forward you all the data we have, and if you need any blood or tissue samples, just ask," Kara said.
"Okay," Eliza said. "I'll get on it."
"Okay," Kara said. "I'll see if I can find something for Jeremiah to do too."
Eliza gave Kara's hand a squeeze as she leaned down and kissed Kara on the forehead. "Thank you."
Eliza walked over to the door, and a smile spread across her face when she looked at the monitor and saw J'onn standing there, looking up at the camera. She opened the door.
"Hello," she said.
"Hey, Eliza," J'onn said. "I'm sorry it took so long, but with everything that happened this week, I couldn't get away from the DEO until now. I left early tonight so I could come by and have that talk with Jeremiah."
"Oh," Eliza said. "I'm sorry. I should have… You know, I'm being rude. Please, come inside." She stepped back, making way for J'onn to come in.
"You're fine," J'onn said. "Where's Jeremiah?"
"He's not here," Eliza said.
"He's not?"
"Please," Eliza said, gesturing to one of the couches. "Have a seat."
J'onn sat down, and Eliza took a seat on the other couch. "Jeremiah went to see Kara the night of the earthquake."
"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" J'onn said.
"No," Eliza said. "After everything that had happened, the shooting at CatCo and the break out at the desert facility, Kara just couldn't deal with it. She gave him the video of the debrief at Sanctuary. He didn't take it well. He didn't believe it was true. I called Diana to have her demonstrate the Lasso, and he said some things under its influence that I can't forgive. Kara moved him into another apartment for now."
"I'm sorry," J'onn said. "Maybe if I'd had a chance to talk to him…"
Eliza shook her head. "I don't think it would have changed anything," she said. "He never wanted to take Kara in, and now he blames her for losing ten years."
"If anyone is to blame, it's me," J'onn said. "I left him there."
"No," Eliza said. "You made a mistake, but that doesn't make this your fault. You were hurt, scared. You thought you were leaving a body behind. The only one to blame for what happened in that jungle is Hank Henshaw."
"Still," J'onn said. "I feel like my mistake cost you your marriage."
Eliza shook her head. "He was gone for ten years, J'onn. Even if Kara hadn't plucked him out of time, the idea of he and I getting back together was always more wishful thinking than anything. It's been ten years, and I haven't exactly been living like a nun."
"Oh," J'onn said. "I didn't realize you were with someone."
"I'm not anymore," Eliza said. "The person I was seeing took a job in Metropolis about a year ago."
"Ah," J'onn said, and Eliza could tell he knew exactly who she was talking about.
"Have you been keeping tabs on me?" Eliza asked.
"From a distance," J'onn said. "I didn't think you'd want to see Hank Henshaw's face."
"Well, you're right about that. I guess you can see why I wasn't surprised to find out who Alex was dating."
J'onn shook his head. "I could have wished for someone who was a bit more of a calming influence," he said.
"The scary part is, growing up, Alex *was* the calming influence. You should have seen Kara," Eliza said.
"I did," J'onn said. "You have no idea how many times I had to cover for her."
"Well," Eliza said, "however many it was, I appreciate every one of them. And I'm sure, now that she's older and wiser, Kara does too."
"I doubt it," J'onn said. "Martians don't get ulcers, but I think she's trying to see if she can make me the first."
Eliza laughed. "You have my sympathies. I'm pretty sure that I was single-handedly keeping Tums in business the five years between Kara landing and her leaving for college. After everything I heard the other night, I'm thinking I should buy stock."
"That might be a good idea," J'onn said.
"You know, I was just about to have my attendant Jamie start dinner," Eliza said. "Would you like to stay?"
"I wouldn't want to be any trouble," J'onn said.
"No trouble," Eliza said. "I could honestly do with some company."
"Well, in that case, I'd love to," J'onn said.
"James?" Kara asked.
"Yes, Lady Kara," Konex said. "He just entered the building and asked the drone in the lobby for your location."
"Send him to my apartment," Kara said. She picked up her phone and her towel and stood up. "Transmat me up there."
There was a breath flash, and Kara was standing in her living room. She used a burst of super speed to get dressed, before headed to the foyer, where she waited until she heard a knock. She opened the door to find James standing there.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he said.
"I didn't expect to see you today," Kara said.
"I honestly didn't expect to be here," he said. "Can I come in?"
"Oh! Sure," Kara said, nodding and stepping back.
James bent down and picked up a crate she hadn't noticed and carried it inside. Kara closed the door and followed him into the apartment. He sat the crate down next to the sofa and took a seat. Kara sat down next to him. He looked over at her, and Kara felt herself getting a little worried, because he wasn't acting much like the James she knew.
"I should start by apologizing," he said. "You came to check on me, and I shut you out."
"It's okay," Kara said.
"No," James said. "It's not. I acted like what happened was your fault, but it wasn't."
"It was, in a way," Kara said. "I mean, I replaced all of Maggie, Susan and Alex's clothes with barrier fabric. If I'd done yours too, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."
"Or I might have gotten hurt worse," James said. "When the bullets bounced off my clothes, they might have shot me in the head."
"James-"
"You saved my life, Kara," James said. "If you hadn't been there, I would have died before the paramedics arrived. It took me some time to get that through my head, but it's true. Which leads me to something else that took a long time to get through my head."
James turned and picked up the crate and passed it over to Kara. She didn't need to open it, because she'd recognized it the moment she'd seen it.
"Your Guardian suit?" Kara asked.
"Yeah," James said. "I had a talk with Cat, today. It put a few things in perspective. I want to help people. I want to be someone who matters. For the longest time, I thought that meant being like Clark. Going out and punching the bad guys, being the man on the scene. But you've done more with interviews and facebook posts and press events in a few weeks than Clark has managed in fourteen years. Clark's saved a lot of lives, but you, you've *changed* lives for the better. That's what I want to do. And Cat reminded me that I can do that better with a camera than with a shield. So, I'm giving this back, because I don't need it anymore. But thank you, for letting me make that choice for myself."
Kara took the crate and sat it on the ground, then turned back to James and held out her arms, "Come here, you," she said, pulling him into a hug.
Jeramiah looked at the monitor next to the door and cringed at the sight of Hank Henshaw. Of course he knew it was actually J'onn, but that didn't make him any more comfortable with it. Henshaw had stabbed him, cost him a decade of time with his daughter. He wasn't much happier with J'onn, who'd just left him in the jungle. He debated just not answering the door, but he wasn't sure if that would cause some sort of trouble. Not that he could imagine any way his situation could get much worse, really. His wife had kicked him out, his daughter didn't have time for him, and then there was Kara. He wasn't sure how he felt about her, other than angry at what she'd cost him with her refusal to obey simple rules.
He opened the door, not because he wanted to, but because he didn't feel like he had much of a choice.
"Hello, J'onn," he said.
"Jeremiah," J'onn said. "Mind if I come in?"
Jeremiah stepped back and waved him in, watching as he walked into the apartment like he owned the place. Jeremiah shut the door and turned to face J'onn.
"What can I do for you?" he asked.
"I'm actually here to see if I can do anything for you," J'onn said.
"No," Jeremiah said. "I have one of those robots to get me anything I want."
"The attendants are useful," J'onn said, "but that's not really what I meant. Eliza said you were having a hard time adjusting."
"Oh, is that what she said?" Jeremiah asked. "That's kind of an understatement."
"I know it must be difficult," J'onn said. "Ten years is a long time to be gone."
"Yeah," Jeremiah said. "Everyone keeps saying that. It's too bad they couldn't figure that out before all this happened and just leave me where I was."
"You're angry," J'onn said.
"You think?" Jeremiah asked.
"Look, Jeremiah, I get it," J'onn said. "You lost a lot of time. Lost the chance to see your daughters grow up. That's a hard thing, but you saw the video. Kara was trying to help. If she'd left you there, it wouldn't have ended well for you."
"Yeah, because it would have been so much harder to patch me up, then put me back, instead of patching me up, then bringing me to the future," Jeremiah said.
"We had to preserve the timeline," J'onn said. "With everything that's coming-"
"You know what," Jeremiah said, "just stop. It's done, and according to everyone, it can't be fixed, and I'd really like it if people stopped offering me empty platitudes."
J'onn looked like he wanted to argue, but he seemed to have the good sense to shut up.
"Would you like to come back to work?" J'onn asked.
"Back to the DEO?" Jeremiah asked.
"For now," J'onn said. "I know it's not ideal, but Eliza said you were always involved in your work. I thought maybe having something to do with your time might help make the adjustment easier."
"You seem to be talking to Eliza a lot," Jeremiah said.
"We had dinner tonight," J'onn said.
"You had dinner with my wife?" Jeremiah asked.
"Yes," J'onn said. "I stopped by to talk to you and she told me what happened, and we ate while we were talking."
"I think you should leave," Jeremiah said.
J'onn gave him a confused look. "Did I say something wrong?"
Jeremiah turned around and opened the door. "Why don't you ask my wife?" he said.
He saw understanding dawn on J'onn's face. "Jeremiah, it's not what you're thinking."
"Leave," he said.
J'onn stared at him for a moment, then walked out the door without another word.
"You know you could use the elevator," Cat said as Kara touched down on the balcony outside Cat's apartment.
"I could," Kara said, "but why mess with what works?"
Cat smiled and patted the sofa next to her. "I suppose I can't argue with that."
"Oh, I'm sure you could," Kara said as she sat down next to Cat, "but thank you for letting me have this round."
Cat took Kara's hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. "Been enjoying your time off?"
"So far," Kara said.
"Do anything exciting?" Cat asked.
Kara shrugged. "The usual post breakup things. Got drunk. Got a tattoo. Violated the sovereign air space of Japan so I could get some good Ramen."
"You got a tattoo?" Cat asked.
Kara shrugged. "Lucy might be a bad influence," she said.
"Well, she is a Lane."
"You liked her a lot in the other timeline," Kara said. She frowned for a moment. "You know, I think she actually had a bit of a crush on you."
"Now you're just trying to flatter me," Cat said.
"If I were trying to flatter you, I'd tell you how much better my life is when you're in it," Kara said.
"Of course," Cat said. "I make everything better, but was there something in particular that brought this on?"
"James came to see me tonight," she said. "He gave back the Guardian suit."
"That's good," Cat said.
"I thought so," Kara said.
"Why did you give him the suit in the first place?" Cat asked. "You clearly hated the idea of him being Guardian."
"People should make their own choices," Kara said. "You can give them information. Point them in the right direction. Help them along when they need it. But taking away someone's agency is cruel."
Cat looked over at Kara, studying her as she stared out at the National City skyline. She could see the pain written on Kara's face, and she lifted Kara's hand into her lap, covering it with both of her own.
"So many people did that to me. My parents, Kal, Jeremiah and Eliza, J'onn, Alex, James. They did it because they loved me, because they wanted what was best for me, but they never asked what I wanted," Kara said. "The suit was nothing to me. Spare parts and recycled junk. A few words to one of my attendants to have them run it off. But to him, it was the freedom to choose his own destiny."
"Is that why you replaced all of Maggie's clothes?" Cat asked.
"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" Kara asked.
"Probably not," Cat said.
"It's not the same," Kara said. "You let Carter decide if he wants to ride a bike, but if he does, you make sure he wears a helmet, even if he complains about it. You let him make the decision, but you optimize the chances of a positive outcome. Replacing Maggie's clothes didn't interfere with her freedom of choice. She chose to be a cop. She chose to get involved with Supergirl. She chose to protect me. She chose to put her life at risk. I just made sure she wore a helmet."
"How much of my and Carter's wardrobes are bullet proof?" Cat asked.
"Let's just say enough, and leave it at that," Kara said.
"Okay," Cat said.
"I made sure Adam's wearing a helmet, too," Kara said. "I know he's not in the line of fire right now, but after what happened to James, I didn't want to take any chances."
Cat stared at her for a moment, and then she leaned over and pressed a kiss to Kara's cheek.
"Thank you," She said. "For protecting my children."
"Always," Kara said.
Translated from the Kryptonian:
ahmzehto
(Plural of ahmzeht): 1 Kryptonian Year. 180 Earth days
lorakh
A Kryptonian Day. 60 Earth days.
bythzehto
(Plural of bythzeht): 12 Earth Days
zrhygrhahs im shahrrehth
City of Hope