Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; you know the drill.
Feedback: Always appreciated.
The Angel of Fire
"So… Linda's still in there?" Lexa looked awkwardly at the Supergirl doppelganger sitting patiently in the Waverider medical wing, the rest of the Legends gathered around her. They had managed to exorcise the spirit of Silver Banshee from her current host once they had returned to the cave entrance, as well as erasing the woman's memory of the experience, but that still left them with the question of what to do about the angel that now looked like Supergirl.
"Essentially yes," Gideon's voice reported as the ship concluded its scan of the apparent second Supergirl. "Analysis confirms that her DNA has been altered, but scans of her current brain patterns confirms that there are two forms of consciousness present in her mind, one of them basically dormant and the other adjusting as time goes on."
"Adjusting?" Zari repeated curiously. "What are you saying here?"
"It's just… I know I'm Linda, and I know you're my sister, but at the same time I… I feel detached from that," the angel explained as she looked at Lexa. "I don't have any real memories of being anything else, but it's just… there's a certain distance from Linda's memories at the same time…"
"What does that mean?" Lexa looked at the woman before she turned to Constantine. "Are you… is this some sick thing where an angel's using my sister's memories-?"
"Your sister's soul is still in there, luv; it's just going through a bit of a tricky process where it's trying to work out where Linda Danvers ends and the angel riding shotgun begins," Constantine held up his hands in a calming gesture. "Soul's basically in the driving-seat, but the angel's still in there somewhere; it's just had to filter itself down to a lower level of consciousness so it doesn't basically drive Linda nuts."
"He… he's right," 'Supergirl' nodded tentatively at Lexa. "I can think about my life with you, and I can think about… what the angel feels about all this… but I don't feel like I'm the angel myself…"
"And what happens when that all… straightens out in her head?" Lexa asked.
"Hard to say," Constantine shrugged. "Been a long time since an angel settled into a human body like this; last few I ran into took this form themselves, but this one got shoved in there without a choice-"
"She does… want to be here now," the Supergirl-lookalike cut in, looking urgently up at the exorcist. "However she ended up here, she… she accepts that Earth is where she is now, and she wants to stay."
"I can appreciate that, but doesn't change the fact that she didn't choose to be here in the first place, and that's before we start taking into account where she came from," Constantine continued. "She's obviously not one of the 'kill everyone' prisoners or we'd all be dead already, but the fact is that she's had to compress herself down into your body or risk blowing up everything around her; she's pretty much existing here in a very delicate balance that could get thrown off any moment if either of you really start 'fighting' about who's who."
"Ah," Linda and Lexa said at once.
"Regarding the mind-meld thing, best thing I can suggest is let it happen and try and keep track of your mental state," Constantine said with a shrug. "Not much else to do now that you're hanging out together but let this all play out."
"Talking of things 'playing out'…" Sara put in tentatively, "I mean, from what we've seen of shapeshifters, I feel kind of safe assuming that the angel's changed its appearance like this to make it easier for it to tap its powers, but why would an angel decide to look like Supergirl?"
"It's like… the angel's true appearance would never be able to exist on this plane of existence, so she… I… we've basically tapped into this form so that we can manifest at least some of the angel's abilities," the angel/Linda explained, before she looked over at Barry and Sara with a thoughtful smile. "When we were talking about heroism, you both thought very keenly about this person as someone who represented… the best way I can describe it is that she represents an ideal to you… so I chose this form to manifest in when tapping my abilities."
"This form?" Lexa looked at the angel with renewed curiosity. "Does that mean…?"
Looking over at Lexa, the angel smiled and shook her head, her hair flying around her face as it changed from blonde to brunette, her face changing from the variation of Supergirl to a form that they recognised from the 'Missing Person' photos that had initially drawn their attention.
"Hi," Linda smiled at her sister.
"Linda…?" Lexa whispered, before she walked up and wrapped her arms around her sister, sobbing into her shoulder for a few moment as Linda held her in turn. The Legends and the Flash just looked awkwardly at each other as the Danvers sisters held each other, feeling like they were intruding on something private even if they didn't feel like this was a good time to leave, until the sisters stepped back from each other.
"So… you're all right?" Lexa asked.
"…Sort of," Linda said, raising one hand and waving it in a dismissive manner.
"What was-?" Mick began before Linda turned back into her 'Supergirl' appearance and sent him flying back into a wall with a wave of her hand.
"A demonstration," 'Linda' explained as she looked at her sister. "I can use my abilities in this form only, and I have to assume it at times or… well, I'll explode because the energy will build up inside me."
"You said that would-?" Lexa began as she turned to Constantine.
"This isn't your standard angelic manifestation, luv; the rules are complicated," Constantine cut her off. "Your sister was definitely a suitable host for an angel, but could be this angel was packing a bit more 'oomph' than anyone was expecting; the shapeshifting bit's probably just a good way to help her control it without just overwhelming Linda's identity."
"That… seems to make sense," Sara nodded as she exchanged nods with Barry.
"Even the part about why she looks like Skirt?" Mick put in.
"Even that," Sara said, shaking her head wistfully at Rory's old nickname. "I mean, I get that we haven't worked with her that often, but Supergirl… she's just good."
"That's what makes her a true hero," Barry smiled. "She and her cousin… they're the best people I know."
"Supergirl has a cousin?" Lexa looked at Barry in surprise.
"Yeah…" Barry said, before he looked around the medical room with a thoughtful smile. "Actually… give me a moment?"
Before any of the others could say anything, the Flash vanished from the medical wing with a burst of lightning.
"Does he… often do that?" Lexa asked.
"He's a bit impulsive at times, but he means well," Sara shrugged with a smile. "Of course, I've heard that Spartan has never been able to get used to him just showing up and dragging him away when something comes up…"
"Spartan?" Lexa asked uncertainly.
"One of Green Arrow's team," Sara clarified. "The Flash doesn't do it often, but sometimes he has to give Spartan a lift when they need his contacts-"
The conversation abruptly ended when the Flash reappeared in the medical wing, now accompanied by an unexpected new arrival.
"Whoa…" Supergirl said, eyes wide as she took in the figure sitting on the medical bed. "I mean, the Flash told me what to expect, but it's still something to see it."
"Su… Supergirl?" Lexa looked between the new arrival and her sister in incredulity, before her gaze settled on the new arrival. "You… what are you doing here?"
"The Flash got in touch with me and explained some of the situation," Supergirl smiled over at Lexa, even as she still shot the occasional incredulous glance at Linda as she sat on the bed.
"This quickly?" Linda asked uncertainly.
"Flashtime," Barry explained. "I can grant other people a degree of my own superspeed for a few moments at a time; I used it to tell Supergirl everything we've been through in the last few hours and ask her to come along to talk with you."
"Oh," Linda said, looking at her unintended 'template' with a tentative smile. "Uh… nice to meet you?"
"The same," Supergirl smiled back at her double before she adopted a more curious expression. "So, out of curiosity, what did the Flash tell you about me?"
"Apart from the fact that he's worked with you a few times in the past?" Lexa replied uncertainly. "Well… that's pretty much it."
"Right…" Supergirl said, taking a deep breath before she looked over at the Legends. "Look, I appreciate that you've helped Linda get here, but could you… give us a moment?"
"…Check," Sara nodded, looking around the room and indicating the door with a tentative yet firm nod. With that cue, the Flash and the rest of the Legends walked out of the medical room, leaving the two Supergirls and Lexa to look awkwardly at each other.
"OK," Supergirl said as he looked at her doppelganger, "this is going to be complicated to explain, but considering that you've basically become me, I think you need the full picture."
"What full picture?" Lexa asked.
"About where I came from."
"Where you come from?" Linda/the angel repeated curiously.
"I'm from a parallel universe."
"A what?" the two girls repeated in confusion.
"The way it was explained to me was that there are multiple different versions of Earth, existing at different vibrational frequencies from each other, where history diverged from the one you know in some way or other."
"Like… Kennedy isn't killed or the Nazis won the Second World- oh," Lexa said, as she realised the implications of her own words. "That's where those Nazis came from last year, isn't it?"
"From the parallel world known as Earth-X," Supergirl nodded. "This world is known as Earth-1… and I come from Earth-38."
"Earth-38?" Linda repeated curiously. "You're from a parallel universe?"
"And another planet."
The medical bay fell silent for a few moments after that last sentence.
"You're an alien?" Lexa looked at Supergirl in shock.
"One of the last of my kind," Supergirl replied with a solemn nod. "Back on my Earth, I help defend my city and my world from everything from standard criminals to hostile aliens, but I met the Flash a few years ago when he accidentally crossed the dimensional barriers into my world, and since then we've kept in touch if something comes up that requires one of us to help the other."
"What does this have to do with-?"
"You're my sister."
"I… I'm what?" Lexa looked at Supergirl incredulously.
"Back in my world, I came to Earth when I was in my early teens, and… long story short, I was adopted by the Danvers family, with Alex Danvers becoming my adopted sister," Supergirl continued. "For some reason your parents have different names and careers from my parents, but your counterpart on my world… well, that's actually how the Flash found out about this; Alex Danvers is an agent of the DEO just like you're a cop."
"DEO?" Linda asked.
"Department of Extranormal Operations," Supergirl shrugged. "They deal with alien incursions on my world."
"OK," Lexa nodded tentatively. "So… the Flash was here because he met… the 'me' on your world?"
"That's what drew the Flash's attention here, but the Legends were tracking Buzz's activities already," Supergirl explained, before she shook her head and looked at Linda. "Anyway, the main reason I'm here is that I wanted to ask; what do you want to do now?"
"What do…?" Linda repeated uncertainly.
"I mean, I appreciate that you didn't just choose to look like me, and I'm not saying that you have to do anything you don't want to do, but if you're going to have these powers now… what are you going to do with them?"
"The chaos flow."
"The… the what?" Linda looked at Lexa in confusion.
"That… Warlock guy said that the angel being summoned here like that would basically turn Leesburg into what he called a 'chaos flow'," Lexa explained. "If Leesburg has become some kind of supernatural magnet… well, it's going to need someone to defend it, right?"
"You… you really think…?" Linda looked at her sister in surprise. "You were in my memory, Lexa; you saw what I did with Buzz and his crew-!"
"You watched them do it; that's not the same as-"
"Just because I didn't take direct part in any of their crimes doesn't mean that I'm any better than them-!"
"But you can be," Lexa smiled encouragingly at the other Supergirl, reaching over to take her sister's hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. "From what I've heard, we're going to have other supernatural creatures coming to Leesburg until that chaos flow thing's run its course; if you've got these powers already…"
Linda looked uncertainly at her sister for a moment, before she turned to look curiously at Supergirl.
"Would you… be OK with that?" she asked, shame and uncertainty in her voice. "I mean, I know I've… made a few mistakes-"
"Name one person who hasn't made a mistake in their life?" Supergirl smiled at her reassuringly. "I get that you've had a rough path to get here, but if your sister thinks you can do this… well, let's just say that I've learned the hard way that Alexandra Danvers always knows what to do in a tight spot, even if she accepts that other people may not like it."
"Is that-?"
"It's a good thing," Supergirl nodded at Lexa before looking back at her doppelganger. "Stick with her, and I think you'll be all right."
Linda's nod of agreement was tentative, but the cautious smile on her face made it clear that she appreciated the faith the other woman was showing in her.
"So…" she said, indicating her costume as her smile grew more eager. "Does that mean-?"
"Consider yourself the Supergirl of Earth-1, Linda Danvers," Supergirl replied, holding out her hand for a shake. "Call the Flash if you need anything, but from what I can see, you've already got a good support system in play."
AN: Well, hope everyone appreciated that resolution, but don't think that's everything; considering what this universe would face within a year, it didn't feel right to ignore that issue…