Lex entered the facility with Lena close behind. When they came into the room, I was hanging from my hands by thick metal chains. Gamemnae was wrapping her wrist in gauze as Lena looked shocked, but Lex spoke first. "What happened?"
Gamemnae approached with weak legs. "Carly escaped from her chair and got that last minute call to Kara. I tried to detain her, but she bit me. If it weren't for my quick healing Carly would have escaped, but she didn't anticipate how quick I could be."
Lena stepped in front of Lex and turned with crossed arms. "Hurting Kara was one thing, but you never mentioned holding Carly against her will and chaining her up like a damn deer!"
Lex looked at Lena like she was an idiot. "We went to kill Supergirl. Do you really think we could do that without Carly finding out and trying to stop us? She had to be moved off the board and I thought making her watch would just be fun entertainment."
"Carly is innocent." Lena grumbled. "Kara is a liar and deserves pain, but I have come to realize that Carly doesn't. I am still angry at her and the others for lying, but Carly has been through enough bad. She does not deserve to be treated this way.
"She'll be released once Kara is dead." Lex said. "If I let her walk around she will go to Kara and try to save her. If the virus implanted in Andrea's tech works then we can have whatever we like, but I cannot have Supergirl ruining this. Especially since we are so close to having your contacts done as well. Once yours are complete we can upload the program to the knocked out participants and when they awake no more bad guys."
Lena was not happy about the situation, but she wanted Non Nocere to work. After all she sacrificed she deserved that much. Lena caved with a nod. "Fine, but once she's gone we let Carly free."
"Fine." Lex agreed as he turned his attention to Gamemnae. "Go get yourself back to full strength. I can't have Brainy seeing you. He still thinks I want to take you down and I need it to stay that way. For now...at least."
Gamemnae nodded before vanishing from the room. The second she vanished the door to the room opened with Brainy on the other side. He came in to speak with Lex when he saw I was chained up.
He became worried. "Why is Carly chained up?"
Lex smiled. "After returning from her mission she tried to escape with the information. I couldn't have the Super Friends interfering when we are so close to taking down Leviathan. It will only be until I figure out how to reign her back in."
"Okay, but what about this afternoon?" Brainy asked. "You and Lena were gone for over an hour. Where were you?"
Lena jumped in to make the lie more believable. "We were meeting with an informant. Lex sent an extra spy into the complex just in case Carly failed. Lex wanted to make sure what Carly had said was 100% fact. I came along as an insurance policy, that's all."
"Now Direct Dox, I need you to check on Carly when she awakes. If she needs blood give it to her, but do not let her down under any circumstances. If she escapes this will ruin everything we have worked for." Lex explained
Brainy silently agreed as Lex led Lena from the room. When the door was closed, Lena whispered to Lex. "Are you sure having Brainy be the babysitter is a good idea? What if she convinces him to let her down?"
Lex looked toward Brainy through the glass in the door. "Brainy, is so blinded by trying to save the future that I don't think anything will deter him. If she does convince him or figures out a way to get out herself, I have a backup plan."
Lex left the room and Lena followed after him just before looking in the room one last time. When they were gone I regained consciousness to find Brainy sitting in a chair across the room. I tried to move forward only to find I was hanging above the ground by my hands.
"Brainy, let me down." I struggled against the chains. "Brainy, you have let me down."
He crossed his arms with a frown. "I can't do that Carly. If I do, you'll tell the others of what you saw at Leviathan's base. You do that, we may squander our chance to take them down."
"Brainy, he's playing you!" I yelled. "He isn't planning to defeat Leviathan, he wants to partner with Leviathan. He's been lying to you from the start. When I went to the camp, it was a trap. Gamemnae was waiting for me and took me back here. They're partners, Brainy."
Brainy shook his head. "You're lying. Lex wants to save the future."
"Does he? Has he ever done anything to better the world? Think about it, Brainy." I begged. "I need you to let me down so I can go to Kara. Please, I need to see her."
"You can see Kara after we defeat Leviathan in a few days."
He started for the door when I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Brainy! If I don't get to her now, she may not make it a few days! Lena stabbed Kara with a kryptonite blade and she's dying. I think I know how to save her, but I can't if I'm locked up in here. Please...if you ever cared about me, you'll let me go."
"Lena and Lex said they were meeting with an informant this afternoon." Brainy stated
"Damn it, Brainy! They were lying to you. Please, just trust me. Just let me see Kara." I struggled harder against the chains. "Brainy, Kara could die. Do you want to take that chance?"
Brainy shook his head. "You're lying."
"Why would I lie about Kara dying? She is the love of my life and I would never joke about that. Now Brainy, please, let me go." I begged
For a second I thought I got to him, but he shook his head and began for the door again. I yelled after him, but this time he didn't stop. I tried to struggle out of the chains, but it was no use. My vision began to become blurry as I was racked with tears.
Brainy didn't want to believe me because if I was right then he truly was becoming the bad guy, but he couldn't shake the feeling I was telling the truth. He went into one of the backrooms that had no cameras in it. He hacked the security footage of Lex's shoulder camera that he always had on him in case things went haywire.
Brainy went to when Lex said he was meeting the informant to find everything I had just said was true. He gasped when Lena stabbed Kara in the back. Brainy dropped the tablet, cracking the screen. Tears flooded his eyes as he punched a dent in the wall. The door opened with Lena standing in the doorway.
Brainy's anger overwhelmed him as he grabbed her arms and pulled her into the room, pinning her to the wall. "You say you want to help people, but you do something like this to Kara. That is the most painful way a kryptonian can die and you didn't even hesitate. You're just like Lex."
"Brainy, I was angry. My final test is commencing tonight and I want to make sure no one gets in the way. I may hate Kara, but I won't be the one to kill her. So, I made this." She lifted a vial of grey liquid from her pocket and set it in Brainy's hand.
He looked down at it and then back at her. "What's this?"
"This is the antidote for Carly. She drinks this and she'll no longer be under Lex's control. I looped the cameras for the next hour. You need to get out, warn the others, and make a plan to rescue Carly by tomorrow. She's the only one who can save Kara." Lena explained
"You know Kara will stop you from releasing your contacts, right?"
Lena nodded. "I know, but I can't kill her. She used to be my friend and the least I can do is save her life. Now go before Lex notices you're gone. He plans to do something to Carly tomorrow night, but he won't tell me what. You need to get here before that happens, okay?"
Brainy shoved the vial in his pocket and gave Lena one last look before he vanished out the door. He knew none of them would forgive him for his mistakes, but he wasn't going to standby as one of his friends died. He just couldn't.
A banging sounded at the Tower's door. Alex pushed the button as J'onn and Nia came bombarding in. The others gathered around to see why J'onn and Nia looked so worried. Nia pushed everything from the table onto the floor so J'onn could lay Kara on the table.
The second Alex saw Kara she became worried. Kara was sweaty and pale. Bright green veins lit up across her body as her breathing was raspy. Alex was pissed. "What the hell happened?"
Nia quickly explained. "The "Carly" Kara was meeting was actually Lex. While he distracted her, Lena came up from behind and stabbed Kara with a kryptonite blade. She broke it off her in her back. We need to remove it and come up with a plan to heal her because with this much kryptonite in her system she'll...die."
"We'll just use our sun lamps we always use when Kara has injuries like this." Alex said as she looked up to see J'onn and Nia's expressions. "What?"
"Those won't work." J'onn said, looking down at his feet. "Lex said she would need a super dose of yellow sun radiation not possible on this planet. We can't travel to another because we still don't know the full extent of the damage caused by Crisis."
"So what are you saying?" Deirdre asked before Alex could. "We're just supposed to let her die?!"
Nia quickly shook her head. "No, we remove the blade and figure something else out. Once no more kryptonite can get into her system, it should slow the time down. That way we can find a way to save her."
"How are we going to remove the blade?" Cillian asked the group. "None of us have medical knowledge and we definitely can't take her to a hospital or the DEO."
That's when Alex's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "We might not have the equipment, but I know someone who does."
One quick call later and the group arrived at STAR Labs. J'onn carried Kara into the med bay with Caitlyn following quickly after. Alex joined them while Nia, Deirdre, and Cillian stayed in the main area with Cisco.
J'onn set Kara on the cot, causing her to gasp in pain. She quickly looked Kara over and instructed Alex to turn her on her side. So Alex as lightly as she could got Kara on her side, never letting go of Kara's hand. Caitlyn lifted Kara's shirt and her face became concerned.
"It's really deep in there. I think I can pull it out, but it's gonna hurt." Caitlyn looked to Kara for confirmation.
Kara weakly looked up at Caitlyn. "Do it."
Caitlyn grabbed her tools and got to work. She had to dig inside Kara's back to find the damn thing, causing Kara to scream at the top of her lungs. She squeezed Alex's hand almost to the point of breaking her hand. Caitlyn found the blade and slowly pulled it back out through the wound.
When it was released from her back, Kara gasped a sigh of relief. Her bright green veins began to fade as Caitlyn tightly wrapped her wound. Once wrapped, Alex laid Kara on her back so she could rest. Caitlyn escorted J'onn and Alex from the room so she could talk to everyone.
She moved to stand in front of the group. "I removed the blade from Kara's back. The kryptonite weakened her heightened healing so it could take quite a while to go away and the smallest thing could do massive damage. She is frail and weak and...could die if not taken care of."
A gust of wind hit the group as Barry skid into the room. He noticed Kara and turned to the others. "What happened?"
J'onn explained the situation about Lex stabbing Kara, his dastardly deeds, my predicament, and all the garbage in-between. Caitlyn and Cisco were deep in thought while Barry wanted confirmation.
"So you're telling me…" Barry said. "That Lex took Carly, made her a full vamtronian, injected her with a serum so he could control her, has evil plans of domination, Brainy and Lena are on his side, and he stabbed Kara with a kryptonite blade that could kill her unless we find a cure?"
The group collectively nodded with J'onn answering. "Yeah, that's the gist of it. Our first priority is figuring out a way to save Kara. The type of yellow sun radiation needed for something like this is something we can't produce with our tech and traveling off world could still be treacherous. We need another plan."
"Well, kryptonite disrupts Kara's solar panel-like energy absorption. It's like radiation poisoning. Doctors give blood transfusions to those affected with radiation to try and remove the toxins." Caitlyn's face lit up. "We could give her a transfusion of blood while removing her poisoned blood at the same moment."
"Wouldn't that be painful?" Nia asked
Cisco sighed. "Yeah, it would be. The kryptonite still in her blood would be moving at a higher speed which could cause her so much pain she'll go into shock. It could kill her before we get all the kryptonite out."
"Not if it doesn't hurt." Caitlyn said as the others looked at her like she was crazy. She reworded her sentence. "If a vamtronian took the tainted blood from Kara it would be pleasurable so we could transfuse the clean blood and she wouldn't go into shock. The vamtronian would live, but might feel ill for a few hours."
"Kara would never let Cillian or I near her veins." Deirdre shook her head. "We would need Carly for this plan and she's trapped with Lex."
"Then we just have to get her back." Barry suggested
Suddenly footprints could be heard from down the hall. The group prepared for a fight, only to have Brainy come into the room. No one lowered their hands as Brainy wasn't exactly a friend at the moment. Nia was the angriest of all of them.
"What are you doing here, Brainy?" Nia spit with venom.
He flinched, but tried to stay confident. "Look, I'm sorry. I was blinded by saving the future. I let everything else be drowned out, but my vision is now clear. Lex lied to me and I was idiotic enough to believe him. I know you will never forgive me for what happened to Carly, but just know I had no Idea about Kara. If I had, I would have done something."
"Would you have Brainy?" Barry asked with crossed arms. "You did curse one of your best friends to an eternity of suffering. She didn't want to be a monster and you forced her into one. You made her a lapdog to Lex Luthor, does that sound like a friend to you?"
Brainy sighed. "I know. I regretted it the instant it happened and I tried to apologize, but Carly won't have it. I don't blame her either, I've become the thing I was trying to stop, but that's not the point. I came here because I can help you get Carly back."
"Even if we get her back, she'll still be Lex's lapdog. He could come to get her at any time." Alex pointed out.
"No, not with this." Brainy held up a vial of some grey liquid. "If Carly is injected with this, his control will be eliminated."