Captain Marvel in National City
Lena was crying into her second glass of whiskey when the portal opened. Kara had been Supergirl the whole time. Everyone else obviously knew about it except her. One guess why…Lena screamed and threw her empty glass across the room just as a blinding light appeared. The blue rip in the fabric of reality expanded and seemed to spit out a figure in a multi-coloured tactical suit, upon whose head Lena's flung tumbler shattered.
The person was thrown out of the portal and into the wall, shattering it. The person, woman, had a sword in her chest, and blue blood was everywhere. Despite the obviously fatal injury, the woman, who had blonde hair, rose to her feet and dispassionately yanked the sword out of her sternum. Blue blood spattered Lena's office floor, and she was too engrossed in the appearance of this woman of mystery to notice the portal closing with a thrum that reverberated in her bones.
The mystery woman spat out a curse in a language Lena didn't understand as she almost petulantly chucked the sword through the air where the portal had been; which imbedded itself into the opposite wall, which happened to be the secret door to Lena's vault. The sword went through two feet of solid titanium like a pin through tissue paper. "Who the fuck are you?" Lena asked once she had gained back her bearings. She had chosen the wrong morning for day drinking.
The woman who had just pulled a three-foot sharpened piece of metal out of her chest cavity levelled her with a look that Lena wasn't sure how to quantify. But she responded with a "I'm Carol Danvers. But most people just end up calling me Captain Marvel," she said with an eye-roll.
"Do you need medical attention, Captain…Danvers?" Lena asked, realising the woman, Carol, should be dead.
Carol looked down and ran her finger through the tear in her outfit. She had already stopped bleeding, and Lena was lost for words as the woman gave a shrug, "Nah. I'm good. You said my name kinda weird. I haven't been 'Captain Danvers' since 89'," Carol noted as she looked around the room, walking around Lena's desk and peering out over the balcony.
Lena's alcohol addled brain was doing the math in her head. Clearly this woman was in her late twenties, early thirties at the oldest. There's no way she would've been anything but a child in the late 1980's, right? "You're my age, that can't be right," Lena said, not slurring. Carol's sharp look towards her led Lena to believe she may have slurred her words just enough for the lady to notice her.
"Damn, you having one of those days? Or are you just a drunk?" Carol's voice was far less neutral than it had been before. Her hand wiped her forhead where the glass had shattered, leaving no mark of course. Carol sniffed her hand and shuddered at the stench of whiskey.
"I lost my brother yesterday, and my best friend has been lying to me about something very important for at least two and a half years." Lena said as she slumped down into her chair.
"Oh. That's uh, that's rough buddy," Carol replied with a bit less fire in her eyes.
"Did you just Zuko me?" Lena asked. " They have Avatar: The Last Airbender where you're from?"
"I mean, I prefer Korra's series, but yeah," Carol shrugged.
"Really? That's an interesting take. Most people prefer the original." Lena said, giving Carol an interested look.
"Like, my daughter sent me both shows at the same time, and I watched them out of order. Korra's a messy bisexual badass. It was the first time I saw myself in a character from well, any media, really. She's the strongest person in the world, and she doubts herself everyday. Give me her over morally absolutist little monk kid any day of the week, no matter how funny his shenanigans might be. Wait a minute, I'm getting carried away, we can debate that stuff later."
"It wouldn't be much of a debate, I love Korra too." Lena sighed. "My best friend always preferred Aang, which makes a lot more sense now, considering her secret or anything." Lena muttered.
"Her secret?" Carol asked.
Lena seemed to come back to herself for a moment. "I may be furiously sad with all things concerning her right now, but you're a stranger, and I'd die before betraying her." Lena's voice was stronger now, her protective streak evident in the glint behind her heterochromatic eyes.
"Fair enough, I can respect that." Carol replied with a nod of respect. She looked back at Lena after a moment of contemplation and decided, 'why not?', "Are you sure she's just your 'best friend'? 'Cause belive me, I've been there."
Lena's face grew bright with her blush, but before Carol could do much more than snicker at her perfectly aimed tease, a figure flew through the open window to stand between Lena and Carol. "Lena! Are you alright?"
Carol's eyes widened at the appearance of the long-haired blonde girl in front of her, who had flown in like an avenging angel. Huh. Carol thought, noticing how as Lena looked at the girl, her blush somehow deepened. That can't be healthy for a lily-white girl like Lena, Carol thought as her smirk at the dark-haired woman grew.
The interloper must've interpreted Carols' smirk to mean malicious intent, because before Lena could finish shouting, "Supergirl, wait!" Supergirl was across the room and launching a fist at Carol.
Carol caught the punch, but only just. Supergirl wasn't expecting that, so Carol took the opportunity to land a lateral hammer fist to Supergirl's solar plexus, causing the girl to wheeze. Carol then pivoted with her arm outstretched, executing a perfect clothes line, knocking Supergirl onto her back; blood ran down her slightly broken nose.
"Don't hurt each other!" Lena shrieked. Carol looked at the horrified expression on her face and decided to be the gentlewoman in the scenario.
Carol bent down to a dazed Supergirl and quickly put her nose back into place with a wet crunch and a whimper of pain from the resident super hero. "You're strong," Carol started with a tentative smile. "Let's try this again." She offered her hand to Supergirl, to Lena's immense relief and surprise. It wasn't often the Girl of Steel was so soundly beaten.
"You're not here to hurt Lena?" asked the bleeding blonde tentatively as Carol helped her to her feet.
"No, Ms. Punch-First-And-Ask-Questions-Never," Carol replied with an eye roll.
Supergirl desperately looked at Lena. Lena's face was doing an Olympic level routine of trying to contain a maelstrom of emotions.
"I'm Supergirl," the hero introduced herself, putting her hands on her hips in her signature pose. The effect was perhaps a little weaker than she was hoping for; the recently broken nose and wobbly stance detracted slightly from the statement.
"Supergirl? How old are you, twelve?" Carol grinned insolently.
"I'm technically 53, actually," Kara replied before she could stop herself.
"I think you're proving the wrong point there Superwoman," Carol said. "I'm 59, no technicalities about it; so HA," Carol couldn't help be childishly replying. "I'm gonna call you Superwoman, it's more fitting…even if you do punch like a little girl," Carol couldn't help but tease.
Lena cleared her throat before Kara did something stupid again. Noticing her, Kara started, "Lena, are you…are you alright?" Supergirl tone drastically changed. Gone was the slightly snooty tone she had taken with Carol. For Lena she only had tenderness. Carol did not miss that fact; her eyes flicked between the two, the connection to Lena's terrible mood becoming apparent.
"I'm fine," Lena muttered, not meeting Kara's eyes.
The tension in the room was just so UGH… Carol decided to drop a bomb on that nonsense, "So, are the one who betrayed Lena so badly she's drunk right now?" Carol asked with an all too innocent smile.