Kara flew across town as fast as she could go. She landed behind STAR Labs and snuck through the back so no one would spot her in her suit. Kara jammed the elevator button, almost cracking it. When the doors opened she rushed into the med bay, causing Caitlyn and Cisco to jump.
She quickly spoke, "Did you figure out what's wrong with Carly?"
Caitlyn and Cisco looked at one another, noticing Kara was alone. "Where are the others?"
Kara lied. "They were busy dealing with containment of the Sun Eater so I came alone. What did you find out about Carly?"
Caitlyn and Cisco looked at one another again, neither believing what she just said. But they didn't have much time so Caitlyn explained nonetheless. "We discovered the antidote was the cause of this. An extra ingredient was added that reacted badly with the kryptonite, locking Carly inside her mind."
"We scanned her brainwaves and, with help from my leftover vibe tech, discovered Carly was trapped within her mind." Cisco wrung his hands. "Carly is reliving every bad memory she has ever had. She goes through each one and then it repeats."
"How do we get her out?" Kara asked with urgency
"The only way to get her out would be to go in. We have a machine that can connect two minds together, but you have to get to the very end of her bad memories and convince her to leave with you. Otherwise, she'll be trapped forever."
"Alright, send me in." Kara said, removing her jacket. "I'll do anything to make sure Carly is safe."
Caitlyn and Cisco set up the tech in the training room while Kara picked Carly up bridal style. She carried Carly into the room and placed her on another cot. Cisco placed wired pads on Carly's forehead as Kara laid down in the cot beside hers.
Caitlyn placed pads on Kara's forehead with a warning. "Kara, you have to know that whatever you see in there were real events in Carly's life. None of them are her making up dark tragedies and some of these times you may not know occured. You will be unable to interact with her until the very end when there is a gap between the repeating sequence."
"Send me in." Kara said, looking over at me and clutching my hand in hers. Caitlyn flipped the switch and Kara went unconscious, never letting go of my hand.
Kara appeared in Carly's old bedroom. She looked around with nostalgia. Kara and Carly had spent many a night in that room. Watching movies, doing homework, and just enjoying each other's company. Well, until 9th grade...that's when Carly kept making excuses for Kara to not come over. Kara was suspicious of this sudden switch, but never pushed further.
Suddenly Kara could hear stomping and her first instinct was to hide so she threw herself into the closet. Even though no one could see her she still felt the need to hide. She peaked through the crack in the door to see the calendar across the room read March 12th, 2010; Carly's 15th birthday.
Kara remembered that day. They had an awesome outing with friends and Carly was so happy when she left the mall. That following Monday she came to school looking so sad. Kara remembered asking Carly about it and she just told her one of her gifts was coming late, but deep down Kara knew she had been lying.
The door slammed open and 15 year old Carly ran into the room with tears in her eyes. Kara wanted to comfort her, but someone had followed her into the room; her aunt. "I'm not done talking to you!"
"Well, I am done talking to you!" Carly yelled back. "My parents accept me for who I am and you not feeling the same way does not matter to me. So why don't you just get out of the house if my presence makes you so uncomfortable."
"What you are doing is a sin!" Aunt Sheila yelled
"If liking girls is a sin then I'm going to sin all day!" Carly yelled with tears in her eyes. "My love is just as real as anyone else's. Just because I want to kiss girls does not make me any less of a person."
"What you wrote in this was sinful." Aunt Sheila held up Carly's diary.
Kara had seen this diary before as it was the same one Carly had now. Kara had seen Carly writing in her diary, but never tried to read it herself. She knew whatever was in there was private and not for her eyes to see. Her aunt had no right to read through her diary.
Part of Kara wanted to run out of the closet and kick the woman's ass, but she knew interacting was impossible. Nothing she would do or say would be seen or heard. So instead of acting, she stayed put and continued to listen.
She threw the diary at Carly. "I know you have a crush on Kara."
Carly froze as if her aunt had stabbed her. Her breath caught in her throat and the tears increased. Instead of freaking out Carly turned toward her aunt with a strong face.
"So, what?!" Carly yelled, causing her aunt to jump, "I'm in love with my best friend who has no idea how I feel. I deal with these feelings every single day about how being this way is bad and a "sin". This is who I am Aunt Sheila! I am not going to change for you or anybody else!"
Her aunt looked offended as she left the room, slamming the door behind her. Carly plopped down on the bed and just started to cry. Kara moved from the closet and tried to approach, but as she did the scenery changed to something completely different.
Lex had left to discuss plans with Gamemnae when Lena went into the cells to release the prisoner. Now that the testing was complete, he could go home. She arrived at his cell, but he was gone. She searched the area and noticed nothing was out of the ordinary.
She approached one of the guards with crossed arms. "Where's Bradley?"
The guard kept looking forward, not even noticing Lena's presence. She waved a hand in front of his face and the guard continued to ignore her. She stormed off to the surveillance room, but a guard stood in front of the door. She tried to move past him, but he mirrored her every movement.
Lena, now severely pissed, went into the conference room with no prying eyes. She hacked her tablet to get into the security footage. With a simple click she connected her tablet to the tv screen and went back a few hours.
She watched Bradley pacing in his cell as Lex and a few guards came to the door. A smile appeared on Bradley's face only to vanish quickly after. Lex ordered the guards to unlock the gate and drag him out the back of the warehouse. Lena switched cameras just as they threw him into the dirt.
He raised his hands in a begging stature. Lex said something to Bradley before pulling out a gun and filling him with bullets until he no longer moved. Lena gasped standing straight up with tears in her eyes and hands over her mouth. A sigh sounded from the entrance to the room, causing Lena to jump back. Lex stood there with disappointed eyes.
"If you hadn't pryed, you wouldn't have had to know." Lex sighed
"You killed him, Lex." Lena exclaimed. "He helped us and you killed him. Why in the hell did you do that?!"
"He knew too much, sis." Lex shrugged. "It was the only way."
"Bradley was innocent. He had a wife and daughter to go home to. We promised after the tests he could go home." Lena shook her head and made a decision. "I'm done. I'm shutting Non Nocere down."
She slammed into his shoulder and he grabbed her hand. "You're giving up that easily?"
"I've finally realized Kara was right. I am becoming you. I'm becoming a monster and I won't stand for it any longer. Bradley was the last straw. You will never change and I see that now." Lena pulled her hand from his grasp. "Non Nocere is done. I removed the code from the database last night as my suspicion began to mount. We're done."
"You can't just walk away." Lex threatened
"Watch me." Lena glared at him one last time before she stormed out of the room.
Gamemnae passed her in the hall and leaned against the door frame. "Is she going to be a problem?"
"No." Lex said, fixing his suit. "Our original plan is still in motion. Non Nocere was never going to be implemented anyway. With her out of the way, I won't have to pretend I care about her or her toys."
"So, what's our next step?" Gamemnae asked with intrigue.
"We launch the contacts tonight and watch the masses be trapped in their own heads. With them out of the way, defeating Supergirl will be a piece of cake."
Alex burst into the room tinted red with anger. Cisco actually looked frightened of Alex because when Alex was angry, she was not to be trifled with. When she saw Kara and Carly she sighed quite loudly.
Alex looked toward Caitlyn and Cisco. "Why didn't you try to stop her?"
"Kara wouldn't listen to reason." Caitlyn said. "I knew the second she arrived alone, she hadn't told any of you. I had to wait until she was in Carly's head to call or she would have stopped me."
"So what does Kara have to do?" Alex asked
Cisco shrugged. "We can't tell you for certain. All we know is Kara must go through the memories until it is about to repeat. Within that space she will be able to interact with Carly to try and bring her back. If Carly decides to stay she will be stuck in her mind forever. Kara has to convince Carly to come back with her."
The three looked down at Kara and Carly as Kara was still going through the memories. After Carly's fifteenth birthday, Kara had gone through many bad moments. From when Carly's mother died to the mean kids at school to the moments when Carly watched Kara fall in love with people that weren't her.
Kara was a sobbing mess. She never realized how much pain Carly had been through in her life. Carly had been so good at hiding her pain that Kara never realized she was hurting. Kara felt awful for not being there for Carly. She should've noticed, but she never had.
At last she made it to the last memory. Kara plopped down on the roof of a building. Carly was leaning up against the railing when someone flew down from the sky. Kara's eyes went wide when Superman from Earth-38 appeared beside Carly. As far as Kara knew the multiverse was still gone so how he had traveled back here was mystifying.
When he landed, Carly turned around with tears in her eyes, running into his arms. Kara was surprised at how close Carly was with Superman because Kara had no idea. She watched as the two hugged for quite a while before they sat down against the wall.
"A lot of crap has happened since you left. I've done some horrible things that keep me up at night. I killed someone, Clark." Carly paused to catch her breath. "Lex forced me to do the act, but I liked it and that scares me."
"Lex forced you to kill someone?" Clark asked with genuine concern.
Carly sighed. "Long story short, he kidnapped me. Lex forced me to kill so I would transition into a full vamtronian, then he injected me with something so I would be his lapdog, and he's making me do awful things. Tomorrow I have to infiltrate a Leviathan base, but I just have a bad feeling something terrible is going to happen."
That's when Kara realized what day this was. This was the day before Kara was stabbed by Lena and Carly was chained up. Carly began crying harder as Clark squeezed her hand.
She continued the story. "I discovered I have the ability to take bad feelings from others into myself whether that be pain, sadness, or anger. So the other day Kara and I got into a huge fight where I took her anger away. I was so enraged that I almost killed a homeless man. If Lena hadn't stopped me, I might've followed through. She'll never forgive me."
"Carly, none of this is your fault." Clark said. "Lex made this happen and he forced you to become the thing you fear. People make mistakes and you let anger get the best of you. I have let my anger blur my judgement many times, don't beat yourself up. Kara loves you and when you meet again she'll forgive you."
"Clark, I've been lying to Kara for weeks. I want to keep her safe, but it's tearing me apart to keep so many secrets. I could see the look of pain in her eyes and seeing that just made me shatter. I don't want to hurt her. I love Kara more than anyone else in this world." Carly explained
Kara sat down beside Carly knowing that she couldn't see her. She tried to reach for Carly's other hand, but she went straight through. Kara wanted to tell Carly she would forgive her for everything, but she had to wait til the memory was over.
"On my earth, you were only human, but you and Kara had similar issues." Clark sadly smiled. "Kara was fighting a man who could kill with one touch. She had to lie to you to keep you away from the fight. You were getting angry she was hiding so many secrets, but she was doing it to protect you. When you finally discovered why she had lied, you forgave her. I think your Kara will understand."
"How are you so sure?" Carly asked
"My Kara and Carly were so in love that nothing else mattered. When they fought their anger lasted for a short time before they missed holding one another. I can tell you two are exactly the same way. You both have your faults, but that doesn't make you any less perfect for one another. My Kara died saving you because she couldn't bear the thought of living without you...your Kara has that same spark in her eyes." Clark reassured
"Am I even deserving of her love?" Carly thought aloud, standing up and turning her back to Clark. "I'm so broken that superglue might not even work to put me back together again. She doesn't even know how dark my past truly is because I didn't want to scare her away. Kara's a hero and I don't even know what I am."
Kara looked around and realized the memory was fading. This was the moment she had been waiting for. With Carly's back turned, Kara approached and spoke with a whisper. "You are deserving of more than you realize."
Carly froze in place and turned to look directly in her direction. "Kara, what are you doing here?"
"You're stuck in your mind, reliving every bad moment in your life and I am here to take you home." Kara said, stepping forward.
"How much did you see?" Carly asked with tear stricken eyes.
"I've seen enough to know..." Kara began. "That you've been through a lot of crap in your life and I should've noticed you were hurting sooner, but I'm here now. I don't care if you think you're broken because I will find the glue to make you whole again."
"Kara, I…" Carly began
Kara placed her hand on Carly's cheek and her voice caught in her throat. Kara smiled through the tears. "Carly, you deserve my love and so much more. Nothing you ever do will push me away. When I am not with you, I feel like I can't breathe. I've been through many relationships, but none of them were like this. None of them were you. Now come back with me because I love you..."
"Kara, I love you too." Carly cried
The two kissed through the tears. As they kissed the scenery around them began to fade out to white. Then the two vanished themselves. Just as everything disappeared the two woke up in real life, both sitting up at the same instant.
When they awoke they turned to look at one another before jumping off the cots and kissing again. Clapping ensued and the two looked around to see all their friends watching them. The two's faces turned a tomato red as they quickly separated with awkward smiles.
After everyone hugged and welcomed Carly back, they went their separate ways. Team Flash had their own bad guys and Deirdre/Cillian had to focus on finding a house to share. Nia, J'onn, Alex, Kara, Alex, and Carly headed back to The Tower. When Brainy saw the group enter he smiled at Carly and she slightly nodded.
Then Carly suddenly caught the scent of a familiar perfume. Lena turned around in one of the rolly chairs. Carly was prepared to launch herself at Lena, but Kara held her back. She might've held Carly back, but she didn't cover her mouth.
"What are you doing here, Lena?" Carly asked with poison on her tongue.
She rose from the table. "I've made some mistakes."
"Mistakes?!" Alex yelled. "You stabbed Kara with a kryptonite blade that almost killed her!"
"I wasn't thinking clearly, but I am now." Lena sighed. "I know forgiving me is out of the question, but I want you to know Non Nocere has been shut down for good, but Lex has other plans. One of them being this…"
Lena nodded to Brainy as news footage appeared on the screen. The group moved closer to the TV as the reporter gave the news. "This afternoon a devastating attack left the DEO in shambles. The building is now crumbling ash, killing all 40 people inside. Where was Supergirl and why didn't she save these innocent lives?"
"The DEO...is gone."