Kara and Lena have a serious falling out after the Daxamite flagship arrives in search of Mon-El and there may be a race between the Daxamite queen and Supergirl's girlfriend on who gets to kill the Girl of Steel first!
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A tip of the hat to the author gveret for providing me with inspiration for portions of this chapter. That author's story on AO3, "Did You Absolutely Have To..." is a funny story where an overly dramatic and a somewhat...extra Lena may come across, not on purpose mind you, as a tad…super-villainy at times.
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Lena's and Kara's Penthouse
0802 Local Time
"Has Little Luthor forgiven you yet?" Alex asked over the phone. Kara listened with her super-hearing to her sister slip the alien handgun Alex had liberated on Slaver's Moon into the holster typically strapped to Alex's right thigh.
Kara shook her head in response before she remembered her sister couldn't see her gesture through their connection. "To tell you the truth, I'm not certain, Alex. She called me a few minutes ago and asked me to come to her office because she wanted to show me 'something.'"
"Jesus, Kara, that is exactly what a pissed off lover who also happens to be the baby sister of a mass-murdering psychopath who wants your super-powered cousin to take a dirt nap in the worse way says before she lures you into her fiendish death trap!" Kara almost could see her sister resignedly shaking her head in Kara's mind's eye. "Your people could have learned a lot from Darwin because they obviously didn't develop a keen instinct to survive, did they?" Alex then sighed dramatically. "Besides, I'd bet she's probably still pretty bent out of shape about what happened the other day at your place and, Kara, I gotta tell you, I'm with her on this."
If Alex was siding with the woman who'd continually defiled her baby sister on an ongoing basis as Alex would say, things were looking pretty grim. "Look, I thought I had backup!" Kara explained. "Who knew Mon-El would have been so useless?" she grumbled.
"Um…Lena, Arisia, James, Winn, J'onn, Jess, Lyra, Steve, Susan, Jesse, John, Livewire, Banshee, Ronnie, Lillian, Lois, Clark, Lucy, Bruce, all of the baristas at Noonans, Maggie, me and pretty much half the population of National City had known that."
Her voice cracked a bit. "Alex…I know I really messed things up with Lee. She…she didn't come home last night," Kara admitted while she tried hard not to sob out loud.
"Sweetie…she called you this morning, didn't she? That's a good sign. I'm sure she wants to see you. Look, last night, she probably needed some space to clear her head, that's all. What I know for certain, though, is Lena loves you more than life itself!"
Kara was comforted somewhat by Alex's words right before the whole, sordid mess replayed in her mind's eye.
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It had only been a week or so after they'd return from their trip to the Big Apple when a Daxamite flagship appeared high above National City. The Daxamites had demanded the humans surrender Mon-El to them or face the consequences. Unfortunately for the invaders, the two Green Lanterns stationed on Earth had not taken kindly to their threats. After Lena and Arisia told them to back the hell off unless they'd wanted their impressive ship scattered throughout the void in thousands of tiny pieces, the Daxamites had decided to discuss the matter over dinner with Mon-El and Kara.
During dinner, Kara had found out Mon-El had lied to her friends and her about his identity and that the royal couple hosting the meal were his parents. Then he'd totally ruined the rest of the evening for everyone when he disclosed he'd fallen in love with Eve Teschmacher and told his parents he wanted to remain on Earth.
For some unfathomable reason, Rhea had decided to blame Kara for Mon-El's decision. So, the elder woman had placed a bounty on her head. Almost immediately thereafter, several interstellar scum had come to Earth to kill her and collect Rhea's reward. Fortunately, both Lanterns had helped her defeat the hunters. However, when they'd found out about Rhea's contract on Kara's life...well…
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"Those Daxamites are history!" Lena growled. "Come on, Arisia. Let's blow them out of my sky!"
"Lena, wait!" Kara snapped.
"For what, Kara? That bitch put a contract out on your life! She's not going to get away with a slap on the wrist; Arisia and I are going to end this—once and for all!"
"Lena, please, let Mon-El and me talk to her first. We'll agree to meet her in the Fortress of Solitude and settle this peacefully. I think when Mon-El helps her understand he's happy here, she'll want what's best for him and return to Daxam."
Lena shook her head angrily. "No, I'm not on board with that! That woman is a snake! She lied to your face about the bounty hunters when she and her husband met you at the bar. What's to stop her from stabbing you in the back?"
"That's a chance I have to take."
Her lover then narrowed her eyes behind her domino mask. "No, actually, Kara, you don't have to risk your life. Let Arisia and me handle this. The Daxamites don't want to do anything to upset the Guardians and have the Corps breathing down their necks."
Kara shook her head. "Lena…the reason they're here is because of their connection to me. Mon-El arrived here in a Kryptonian pod. Their world was ravaged because my people continued our destructive practices which led to the complete destruction of Krypton and the ecological nightmare Rhea's people are now facing on Daxam. Maybe I can help her see there's no reason to transfer the old hostility between her people and the Kryptonians to the people of my adopted homeworld."
Her lover didn't appear to be convinced by her declaration. However, Lena said, "All right. However, Arisia and I are coming with you."
"No. They're already wary of the Corps. If you're there, they'll probably want to bring a platoon of soldiers down to protect Rhea. Besides, I don't want to worry about looking out for your safety while I'm trying to deal with Mon-El's mother."
She'd realized that had been the wrong thing to say almost as she'd said it. First she saw the pain followed swiftly by the anger in Lena's exquisite eyes. "Why are you in such a hurry to die, Kara? Is the thought of sharing your life with a Luthor so unbearable for you?"
"Lena! No! That's—"
However, when her soulmate angrily turned away, activated her ring, took flight and phased through the wall, Kara realized she'd blown it big time.
And, she had no idea how to repair the damage she'd done.
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When Rhea had stabbed her in the thigh with a kryptonite blade and raised the other dagger to deliver the killing blow, Kara had regretted that her last memory of Lena would be the sight of the pain she'd caused to her lover earlier reflected in her soulmate's glorious green eyes. As Kara resolved herself to defiantly glare at the queen and prepared to rejoin her family in Rao's light, an emerald energy construct in the shape of a battering ram had slammed into the Daxamite woman's chest and sent her flying.
Later, Arisia had told her that after Lena retrieved a weapon from her lab, they'd used their rings to follow Kara and cloak themselves from detection while they stood sentry nearby. Against Lena's better judgment, they'd waited to see if Kara's plan would work and had only chosen to intervene shortly after Rhea betrayed the pact. That realization had humbled Kara. Even as angry as Lena was, she'd decided to give Kara the opportunity to see her plan through instead of rushing in to prove her wrong.
Meanwhile, as Arisia tended to her injuries, Lena had advanced on Rhea while holding a hefty lead bat in her hands and a look of disdain that reminded a frantic Kara of the expression on Lillian's face when Lena's step-mother had taken Kara prisoner.
In the next heartbeat, a livid Rhea had engaged her super speed to launch an attack on Lena. In response, Kara had almost fired her heat vision to try and protect her Lantern yet she'd hesitated for fear of accidentally striking her dauntless lover.
So, when Lena swung her bat so fast even Kara had a hard time seeing it, she'd gaped in awe as Lena's mighty blow sent Rhea reeling.
Meanwhile, Arisia had removed the blade from her thigh, encased it in a small emerald globe and phased it outside through one of the Fortress' walls. Then she'd seen the stunned look on Kara's face and chuckled mirthlessly.
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"Zor-El, you do realize that Lanterns travel through space at supraluminal speeds. The rings enhance our synapses and our senses so we can react accordingly. So, while Jesse and you may be fast, Lena and I are much faster!"
Kara nodded woodenly while she watched her girlfriend methodically beat Rhea to a pulp.
When the queen was unconscious and lying broken at Lena's feet, Kara was afraid her girlfriend was going to finish the woman off. So, she called out to her lover. "Lee."
In that moment, Lena turned away from her annihilated foe, dropped the bat and rushed to her side. "Kara! Are you all right?"
"She's going to be fine," Arisia said while her ring bathed Kara in artificial sunlight. "What should we do with her majesty?"
"Take that…woman," Lena growled and Kara almost swooned from the smoldering anger radiating from Lena's eyes, "back to her ship. Tell her husband they have fifteen Earth minutes to leave this star system and never return. If they're not gone by then, we'll destroy the ship and everyone aboard."
Arisia nodded her agreement right before she shot a look Mon-El's way. "Are you staying or going?"
"I'm staying," he said.
"Got it," the alien Lantern said before she englobed Rhea in a ring construct and took flight, phasing both the battered queen and herself through the Fortress' wall.
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After Lena delivered Kara to the DEO and left her in Alex's capable hands, she'd flown into space to join Arisia and ensure the Daxamites had left the system. When both Lanterns returned to the DEO building, Lena had vacillated between coddling her and scolding her about being a "self-sacrificing idiot."
Later that evening after they went home, Lena hadn't spoken much, causing Kara to worry.
The next morning, when she awakened, Lena was gone.
She'd flown to LCorp then and scanned the entire building with her x-ray vision. She'd also listened for the cherished heartbeat of her sweet love but Lee was nowhere to be found.
Afterwards, Kara had spent the entire work-day concerned about Lena's whereabouts until Jess called around seven that evening.
The assistant had told her Lena was busy putting the finishing touches on an important project and wouldn't make it home that evening. Jess had then said Lena would call her in the morning before the assistant terminated the call.
So, this morning, when she received her lover's call after having spent a restless night without Lee in their bed, she'd been ecstatic. That is, until Lena had spoken to her in a kind of seductive or mildly sinister way depending on one's perspective.
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"Kara…come to my office. I've got something I need to show you."
"Lee! Thank Rao! I'm so happy to hear your voice! Baby…I am so, so sorry for what I said the other day to you at the penthouse. I hope you'll give me a chance to make it up to you."
"Okay," Lena said simply. "Just get here as soon as you can. Oh, and don't bring your wallet or any loose change. Also, wear one of your normal, 'I've-seen-the-softer-side-of-Sears' work outfits, too!"
"Um…okay. Um…what do you want me to see, Lena?" a frowning Kryptonian asked. That crack about her wardrobe really kind of hurt!
"Come and take a look for yourself," Lena purred. "Bye, darling."
After her lover had terminated the call, Kara stared at her smart phone while an ominous sense of dread began to creep into her very soul.
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"Ha ha! You are SO screwed!" Alex observed in response to Kara's recitation of Lena's kind of disturbing call. "Oh, and by the way, where in the hell did your little leaguer find that lead Louisville Slugger?"
"Arisia told me Lena had made it in her secret lab shortly after we'd started dating. Arisia said she doesn't remember much about why Lena had made it. She recalled, at the time, Lena murmured something along the lines of, 'Mon-El—yadda yadda—creepy stalker—yadda yadda—concussion.'"
"I see," Alex drawled. "Now Lena wants you to come to her office so 'she can show you something?' I bet it's a green kryptonite bat she's fashioned for your sorry ass!"
"My girlfriend is not planning to beat me up!"
"I wouldn't bet the farm on that if I were you, spacegirl! Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't use her freaking ring on you after what you'd said to her at the penthouse. Kara, you need to realize she's just as much of a hero as you are and respect her as your partner."
"I know, Alex. I really screwed things up and I'll do anything to make it up to her!"
"Good. Make certain you tell her that, hopefully, before she makes like Wile E. Coyote and unleashes her Acme Supers Death Trap-trademark pending-on your Kryptonian ass!"
"Alex, Lena's not a villain! She's good!"
"Kara, 'good' people don't call you early in the morning and tell you to come down to a building owned by the sister of the nutjob who, again, I remind you, tried to whack your cousin on numerous occasions and, while you're at it, leave your wallet with all of your identification at home, too!'" Alex breathed in a voice that sounded more like a parody of Marilyn Monroe's than Lena's. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had a kryptonite scalpel alongside her kryptonite bat so she can remove the fingerprints from your freshly-beaten corpse before she dumps your sorry ass in a landfill."
"You're not actually worried she's going to harm me, are you?"
Her sister laughed over the connection. "Nah, I'm just messing with you! Kara, that woman loves you madly! I saw it plain as day when she saved your life and brought you back to me on the deck of that starship. By the way, I'm still traumatized after your frakking pervert of a girlfriend forced me to witness her defiling of my baby sister on that damned ship, too! Trust me, there isn't enough bleach in the world to wipe those images out of my freaking mind," she grumbled.
Kara said nothing. She simply smiled at the fond memories.
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LCorp Building, 40th Floor
0846 Local Time
Kara almost forgot to breathe after Jess had led her into Lena's office where she found the love of her life waiting for her. Lena was dressed in a white lab coat, a pair of black sweatpants and clean room slippers. Her normally well-groomed and impeccable hair was contained loosely in a somewhat ragged ponytail with errant strands that hadn't seen a shower in a day and a half. Meanwhile, Lena's pale skin appeared even more insipid than normal from over-exposure to the fluorescent light of some less well lit area of the building. Despite all of that, Kara still believed Lena was the most beautiful thing the Kryptonian had ever seen in her entire life.
She missed seeing Jess roll her eyes at Lena and her but she heard the woman grumble, "Useless lesbians," under her breath moments before Jess exited the room and closed the door behind her.
Afterwards, Kara gazed lovingly at her Lee. "Hi."
"Hello," Lena said then graced Kara with her come hither look. Her Lantern then reached one hand out toward her. Almost immediately, Kara rushed forward and clasped Lena's hand in hers. Now an endearing smile lit up her brunette angel's glorious face. "Come with me, love," Lena whispered as she drew a small fob from one of her coat pockets and pressed a button on the device. Suddenly, one of the bookcases located against the far wall slid aside, revealing the doors to a secret elevator Kara had never seen before.
"Lena…when did you install that?"
"Oh," her girlfriend murmured, her body movements a bit twitchy. Oh, God, Kara bemoaned to herself, she gets like this when she's had too much coffee! "It's always been here," Lena said. "I installed it after I purchased the building."
"Really? How come I haven't noticed it before?"
"Hmm," Lena hummed. "Maybe because the whole thing is lined with lead."
"Lead! Why'd you do that?"
"Well…when I had it built, I didn't know you. Also, I didn't want any Kryptonians, in case you missed a few during the Myriad affair, to find the entrance to my secret lab and gain access to my special projects. Do you want to see what's down there?"
Kara could have sworn she heard Alex's voice inside her head. Yeah, Kara. Nothing to worry about here. "Why don't you come into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly.
On the other hand, it was kind of hard to focus on her apprehension while Lena held her hand. In fact, she really wanted to do a lot more than just hold hands. Maybe she could kiss Lena—in Lena's lab.
"Sure," Kara said.
Her girlfriend beamed at her and led her into the elevator and down forty floors.
Soon the elevator arrived at a level deep underground. As the doors slid open, Lena led her into a hallway that looked much like the one in the opening sequences of that old Get Smart TV show. After a minute or so of walking down a long corridor and waiting for various security protocols to recognize Lena's biometrics to open several reinforced hatches, deactivate several red sun laser and particle beam weapon defense systems, and extend a retractable bridge over a tank full of man-eating hammerhead sharks (wait a minute...are those red sun neural impactors mounted on harnesses that fit over the sharks' heads?), they finally arrived at a hatch that reminded Kara of the one that had protected Cerebro in the old X-Men movies. Then Lena leaned over and allowed the door's security system to perform a retinal scan.
The hatch, which…was that reinforced titanium?…Kara mused to herself, slid open and revealed a sleek metal-walled laboratory that looked like something out of one of the fictional Tony Stark's wet dreams.
"Wow," she whispered. "Lee…this place…well, it's beautiful!"
Lena grinned. Normally, Kara loved to see Lee's grin almost as much as the woman's infamous lip bite. However, today, the blonde found the grin kind of troubling when coupled with the manic, caffeine-enhanced gleam in Lena's eyes.
The brunette now led Kara over to a mannequin with a futuristic look to it. Draped on the figure appeared to be a white sports bra and a pair of boy shorts that looked exactly like the brand Kara wore under her super suit.
"Lena…is…that my underwear on display in your secret underground laboratory?"
Her lover tilted her head to one side and regarded her with a bemused expression. "Kara…the way you asked the question sounds like you believe I've done something…salacious!"
"Um…er…I-I d-didn't m-mean...to say…er...that...y-you…did anything…um…t-that was naughty…or anything—"
"Kara...hush," Lena cooed as she gently placed an index finger over her lips, silencing her. "I was just joking. Actually, I've wanted to show this to you for a long time but I wanted to make certain I got all the bugs out." Then the expression on her lover's face darkened like a storm cloud had blocked the sun. "Kara...I'm so sorry. It's my fault you almost died the other day. I'm so ashamed of myself for even thinking you wanted to die and leave me to live my life alone."
"What?!" Kara gave her lover a sad look then. Now she recognized the fear that had led to Lena's anger that day and she had to let her know how much she needed Lena to be with her, always. "Baby, many years ago, I lost my entire world. I thought I'd never really find another, a world I could truly call my own until I met you, Lena. Now, YOU are my world. Anywhere you are is my home and I never, ever will leave you. You will always have my heart."
Although Lena smiled at that, she still seemed a little shaken. "You're my world, too, Kara, and I want to do everything I can to keep you safe. Until now, though, the DEO and I haven't provided you with the protection you need. To make up for that slight, I've been working on this project for some time. Yet things kept getting in the way. And, because of my lack of attention, you almost died. Can you ever forgive me for failing you, my darling?"
Kara hugged Lena close and whispered, "Lee, you've never failed me. I don't think that's even possible. You've worked so hard to move past the difficulties you've faced with your family, to become one of the protectors of the universe. I want you to know I thank Rao every day for giving me the best partner anyone could ever hope for."
"Kara," Lena said with tears of joy in her eyes. "My heart belongs to you, always."
"I love you, Lee," she whispered as she nuzzled her nose into her beloved's hair and savored the scent she cherished above all.
After they'd comforted each other, Lena chuckled lowly, gently shoved Kara back a bit and stared deeply into her eyes. "Now…strip."
She shot a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look at the brunette. "Are you suggesting we have make up sex in your laboratory?" Her look then changed to a slightly concerned one. "You don't have the security cameras rolling, do you?"
"No," a smirking Lena said. "Although I've turned off the cameras, we aren't going to make love in my lab. However, I do want you to remove all of your clothing and dress in the garments that are on the mannequin."
Kara blinked twice, said nothing and complied with Lena's request while the brunette watched with...dare she say...a salacious expression on her face.
Once Kara was dressed in the underwear Lena had provided, she noticed that the material wasn't cotton. It appeared to be a kind of flexible metallic mesh. "Hey, this material feels different from cotton but I kind of like it. What is it?"
"It's a fibrous wetweb of titanium, lead and platinum that stores neurokinetic user-controlled morphologic nanoparticle bundles."
Kara blinked at Lena like an owl and said nothing.
The brunette stared at her for a moment before she sighed. "I'm sorry, darling. I forgot your scientific background on Krypton involved life sciences rather than engineering. I modified some nanotechnology I'd developed in a startup bioscience company I'd started with an old friend before I'd taken over LCorp with information I gleaned from my ring's alien technology database to fashion the basis for your new uniform, a battle armor, if you will. The undergarments will transform into your new super suit at your mental command. Once activated, and when you are in your secret identity as Kara Danvers, the armor can take on the appearance of any outfit you own based on images it's captured of you wearing particular articles of clothing stored in its data banks. That's why I asked you to wear an outfit you normally wear to work. Once you entered the lab, it scanned your body and stored the image. As for your lead-lined glasses, I've programmed the wetworks to form a container that will protect them from harm."
"You made a suit of armor...for me?" Kara squeaked.
When Lena bit her lip, Kara couldn't help but stare at her lover's luscious mouth. "Yes," the brunette said before she pressed another button on her fob.
Although the metamorphosis of the skimpy underwear into a bitching-ass suit of battle armor took less than a second in real time, to her Kryptonian eyes, the change looked as freaking awesome as the scene from the Iron Man 2 movie where Tony Stark suited up on the race track to take down the Russian dude armed with the electric whips. Even now, Kara imagined that she heard the heroic electric guitar, brass and the choral soundtrack from the movie inside her head as the armor formed over her powerful frame.
Kara watched her reflection in the mirror as the collar on the sports bra expanded upwards to encircle her neck with a reinforced ring while the sleeves rolled out over both arms and hands to finish by enclosing both of her hands along with all of her fingers inside metallic mesh gloves. Then the bra and boy shorts extended over the rest of her body below her neck to form a reinforced chest piece with her family crest in its center while the shorts expanded into a pair of full-length micromesh leggings. Shortly thereafter, the top and bottom fused together to form a utility belt which contained two glowing disks on either side of her hips while a pair of knee high boots expanded upward from each foot. The boots also had glowing disks on each section where her knees met her lower thighs and appeared to be placed in those locations to provide reinforcement for her joints. The pièce de résistance was the long red cape trimmed with a yellow band that sprang out behind her from the reinforced shoulder pads on either side of her chest piece.
"This...is...so...COOL!" the blonde gushed.
Lena regarded her with a mildly amused twinkle in her exquisite eyes. "Do you really like it? I designed it to maintain your old uniform's color scheme and to provide you with maximum protection in a lightweight package."
"I love it!" Kara exclaimed.
Lena smiled brightly at her. "You don't miss the skirt?"
"Nah. It had been more Winn's idea to add it to the uniform than mine. Oh, Lena…this is...well…it's so...awesome! Now tell me everything! What do these glowing disks do?"
"They're miniature tokamak reactors that serve to power all of your battle armor's functions."
Kara just stared at Lena for a moment before she smiled and chirped, "Oh, they're arc reactors like the one on Iron Man's armor!"
Lena shook her head. "Kara, don't be silly! Arc reactors aren't real! They're just comic book pseudo-tech!"
Kara simply stared at Lena. "Lee, they're arc reactors, right?"
"No."
Kara raised both of her blonde eyebrows at her girlfriend then.
Lena then surrendered, sighed resignedly and muttered, "Yes, darling, they're arc reactors."
Kara grinned. "Cool!" Then a very happy Supergirl crinkled her brow, bounced on the balls of her feet in joy as if she'd just received the best Christmas gift ever and shot a 'tell-me-more-about-this wonderful-new-toy" look at her brilliant mad-scientist girlfriend.
In her best 'Yes, I'm a fucking engineer!' voice, Lena explained, "The collar of the armor contains a generator that produces a force field around your entire body. The shield activates automatically above an altitude of a hundred thousand feet or upon your mental command. Its harmonics have been programmed to allow you to use all of your vision powers without allowing your opponents' energy blasts to strike you or the armor. The suit also channels the gravitons your body produces so efficiently you'll easily be able to control your flight through outer space. The armor also has an environmental system that recycles your respiration and waste products to allow you to operate in any environment. I added lead to the wetworks to shield you from any and all kryptonite radiation so no one will be able to do what Rhea did with those daggers to you ever again. Also, the force field will shield you from the effects of a red sun while your 'arc reactors' filter the plasma energy to produce yellow sunlight which would maintain your powers if you ever faced another Slaver's Moon-type of scenario. The armor also is equipped with storage containing high nutrient supplements to keep you nourished at all times. Finally, the nano-machines draw power from your 'arc reactors' and use the energy to self-repair any damage the armor takes during combat almost instantaneously."
Now a completely gob smacked Kara stared at Lena.
"Kara...are you all right?"
"Am I all right?! No...I'm freaking fantastic! You are, without a doubt, the best, most awesome girlfriend in the entire freaking universe!" the blonde squealed.
"Thank you, darling!" a beaming Lena drawled. "So, do you want to go and take your new armor out for a spin?"
"Sure!"
Soon, they left the lab, walking-hand-in-hand, then strolled out into the corridor and back the way they'd come toward the elevator which would take them straight to the roof of Lena's building.
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Thanks for reading this story! Reviews or comments are welcome!