Conversations on a Balcony
70
I'm apparently obsessed with this thing with Chloe. There may be more chapters in this arc! Happy New Year, Darlings!
Translations:
/zhao khap rrip/: I love you.
Supergirl crossed her arms over her chest and centered herself as she waited for her opponents to attack.
"C'mon, Trainees!" Alex yelled. "Supergirl doesn't have all day."
Kara nodded seriously. "You all wanted this. Now get on with it."
The recruits all looked nervously at each other for a long moment, so Kara shrugged and turned to walk away. "Alright then." One brave soul decided to take initiative however, and lunged at her, grabbing her around the neck in a hold from behind. Alex winced and shook her head. "While I appreciate that you have balls," the hero said loudly as she lifted them both into the air. "You've put yourself in a difficult position. We're about twenty feet up. If I drop you, you may not break anything, but it's going to hurt." She twisted mid-air and dislodged the man, then caught him by the foot to dangle him upside down, looking at the director with raised eyebrows.
"You have to think carefully before you make a decision to attack," Alex stated clearly. "You will have no idea what powers, if any, your target may have. Supergirl can easily pick up and carry ALL OF YOU at the same time. She can freeze you to death within seconds and incinerate your bodies with heat vision quicker than you can say oh shit, should she have a desire to."
"But," one of the trainees spoke up. "Supergirl is one of the two most powerful people on this planet. What are the odds of us having to fight an opponent like that?"
"True," Kara agreed with a graceful incline of her head. "Most of the time, it's me or Superman who takes on the really powerful bad guys but what if, one day, something takes me down and you guys are the ones who have to stand between the bad guy and a bunch of kids on a school bus?"
The hero's words echoed around the training room.
"Um…" one of the recruits began but then he just closed his mouth again.
"It could happen," Kara went on. "I've been hurt in the past and taken off the board. Director Danvers has had to step in and save me." She looked at each trainee in turn. "I want you to be able to defend yourselves and problem solve on the fly like Director Danvers can."
"I want them to be even better than I am," Alex added with a smile and Kara chuckled softly.
"Ok, who else has the balls to try to take me down?"
"I don't think there's a single person here who could take you down," Trainee Agent Burke said. "You're too powerful."
Kara nodded for a moment. "I see. So I have powers, therefore I'm invincible?" A round of nods went around the room. She looked at her sister. "Power me down please, Director."
"What?" Alex said in surprise. "Supergirl, no… that's…"
"Alex…" The hero smiled. "Please."
Reluctantly, the director turned the training room's kryptonite emitters on. Kara immediately felt the very slight nausea the radiation always caused. She took a deep breath and then held up her fists in her fighting stance. "Ok, I'm at human strength. Who's going first?"
Alex crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall, watching with a smirk as her sister took care of each trainee agent as they took their turn and left them all in mild stages of bruising, groaning unhappily on the floor. "I take it back," Burke wheezed, rubbing his sternum. "You're just fucking awesome, powers or not. I want to be like you when I grow up."
Kara grinned as Alex turned off the emitters. "Let's make you all better than me."
Just then, the hero heard a familiar voice and she led Alex away from the trainees. "Cat's here," she said worriedly. "She's upset."
"Go," Alex replied with a little concerned frown. "I'll take over here."
"Thanks." Kara super sped to the balcony outside command ops and found her wife there, tapping her phone against her cheek. "What? What is it?" she asked, taking Cat gently by the upper arms and looking into her eyes.
"Kara…" Cat whispered.
"Is…" The younger woman swallowed. "Is Abby ok?"
"Yes, sorry, yes, she's fine," Cat replied, hugging her wife hard. "Brainy has her."
"Then what is it, Cat-El?" Kara asked, easing back and searching her wife's face.
"Carter called me. He was so upset. Chloe told him that she wanted to break up with him because there's someone else."
"Oh," Kara said softly. "Shit."
"It's worse," Cat said. "When he asked her who it was and she wouldn't tell him, they got into a huge argument. Finally, she told him she's in love with you, Kara, that something happened between you at Christmas and that's why she left early."
Kara's mouth dropped open in disbelief for a long moment. Then she shook her head. "What did she say happened?" Cat pursed her lips and Kara got the message, loud and clear. "I'm going to throw her into fucking SPACE, Cat."
"Darling, wait. As much as I'd really like to see you do that, I think we need to concentrate on Carter right now."
"He doesn't believe her, right? I mean…" Kara's blue eyes welled with shimmering tears. "He'd never believe that I'd do something like that, right?"
Cat hugged her wife gently. "Hey, listen, he knows you wouldn't, but Chloe fucked with his head, Kara. He's overwhelmed and he's not thinking clearly."
"What did he say?" the hero asked worriedly.
"He said he doesn't know what to believe."
Kara straightened and wiped at her eyes. "I have to go talk to him. Can you let Alex know what's happening please? I'm supposed to be training new recruits today."
Cat nodded. "I'll tell her but… Baby, this is a test of motherhood. It's not about defending yourself…"
"It's about comforting him, I know," the Kryptonian replied with a nod. She lifted herself into the air. "Kiss Abby for me."
"I will," Cat replied. "/zhao khap rrip/, Kara."
That brought a smile to Kara's face. "I love you too, Cat. See you later."
