Combing her blonde hair into a neat tight bun, Kara looked at herself in the mirror and decided that the blue earrings didn't match her green dress, so she left them on the bed, without putting them on. She was quite proud of herself for having controlled her nerves thus far, not letting them cloud her judgment or wake her old insecurities up. It was just a gala, just like all the previous ones she had attended before. Hell, the week before, she'd went to one of Kate's charity gala and it was amazing, enjoying some quality time with her best friend and eating those Chicken Potstickers they only made in Gotham. There was no problem in attending to another gala.
There was no problem in going to her first gala with Andrea as her date. None. Everything would be fine. And any little voice in her head that insisted in that she was going to screw up in some way and ruin Andrea's night had to be consistently ignored.
After all, Kelly had personally supervised the design of the new ObsidianTech therapeutic glasses. Both she and Andrea were very proud of the new product. Kelly had described it as a great tool to help patients with bipolarity and schizophrenia, and Andrea had confessed (off records) that she wanted the product to reach as many countries as possible. Her girlfriend wanted to develop the Coke Cola of mental health. Kara didn't want to do anything to ruin it.
With her super hearing, she heard the water in the shower stop falling and Andrea coming out of the bathroom, wrapped only in a towel and with her hair wet.
"Wow," said Andrea when she saw that she was already dressed. "Faster than Supergirl."
"Pff, nah," replied Kara nervously. "I just had my dress and jewelry already ready. Do you need help?"
"Thank you, amor. But no thanks," she said dropping the towel on the floor and shamelessly searching her dress in her closet. "Thank you so much for coming with me. I'll be easier to survive so many boomers with you."
"Did you really just said boomer?" Kara asked smiling, seeing her as she dressed up.
"Trust me," she replied laughing. "There is no better word to describe Gemma. I love her but she IS a boomer."
"Poor Gemma, I'm sure she qualifies at least as Gen Z."
"You'll know when you meet her," said Andrea finishing dressing up and putting on a black necklace. "Just let me tell you that she can be a little... abrasive from time to time. She's my mentor and I'm very fond of her but she's not the friendliest person either. If she makes you feel uncomfortable, just touch my elbow and I'll make up some excuse for us to leave."
"Andrea Rojas, are you nervous?" asked Kara with an incredulous smile.
"Me nervous?" Andrea snorted in disbelief. "Of course not. I know it'll turn out well. Everyone is going to love you, Kara, you're a millionaire magnet."
"I'm not a millionaire magnet," replied Kara, rolling her eyes playfully. Andrea smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure I also attract middle class people," she said walking towards her and kissing her cheek. "We'll have fun, we'll have a good night and tomorrow we will go out to have breakfast as a reward for doing everything right. Do you want to sleep at my place or yours?"
"Definitely yours," she said, bringing her lips close to hers. "I love sleeping in your bed. It's closer to the door and it smells like you."
"As you wish," replied Kara kissing her lips.
No matter how much galas Kara attended, she could never get rid of the nostalgic feeling they caused in her by reminding her of the old elegant festivals that her grandmother Nyssa organized on behalf of the House of El when she was eight years old. The floral decorations on the living room tables were of a kind that she had never seen before, surely designed specifically for Andrea, and especially similar to the artificial flowers of her planet. Kara touched one of the flowers, even after so many years marveling at its natural texture. Andrea elegantly greeted the people around her, also enjoying the party.
"They're pretty, aren't they? They're my favorite flowers," said Andrea smiling softly. "They used to grow up in my home when I was little. I picked them up and gave one to my papá every morning."
The image made Kara smile. "We didn't have many flowers when I was little, but my father also liked them."
"I hope you're enjoying the party."
"Of course, Princess. Everything looks beautiful and the food smells good. And so far- Those are potstickers?"
On the other wall of the hall, on a large table, Kara saw dishes with at least seven different kinds of potstickers. Her heart began to beat faster in her chest and her eyes filled with tears.
"They're for me?"
Andrea smiled like the cat that ate the canary. "I've no idea what you're talking about."
Kara felt the sudden urge to hug her and kiss her cheek, but she didn't want to ruin her lipstick so she just laughed and took her hand gently. "I love you."
"Good, Kara. I'll make sure the decorator gets an extra for doing a good work."
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere. You're coming to eat potstickers with me," she said laughing and pulling from her hand, walking towards the potstickers table."
Andrea laughed lightly. "Kara, I still have to-"
"We already said hello to almost all the people here and the presentation hasn't started yet. Besides, Gemma couldn't come at the end. C'mon Andrea! It'll be only a few minutes and you will finally try Ham Potstickers."
"Because God knows life is meaningless without Ham Potstickers," Andrea said smiling and rolling her eyes, letting Kara lead her to the table.
"Exactly!"
But before reaching the Potstickers table, Kara heard a loud noise coming from the center of the room, followed by an exclamation and a scream. The Kryptonian and the Latina turned to the left to find all the party guests running scared in all directions, urgently trying to get away from the center of the room. Kara saw her before Andrea. It was a woman dressed in a white robe, resembling a sorceress, and with a white mask that hid her face, and a huge wooden scepter in her left hand. With that scepter, she launched a white lightning bolt at the Potstickers table, smashing it to pieces.
"ObsidianTech was going to launch its new glasses tonight," said the woman behind the mask. "But they won't if all the guests are dead first!"
Kara recognized that scepter, pressing her lips and stepping forward. It was Leviathan's.
"Andrea, call the police," said Kara before heading to the right. "I'll help people out of here," she said before losing sight of her girlfriend.
With her super speed, Kara ran into some hallway away from the building and took off her glasses, letting her super suit materialize on her body. Then she flew back to the center of the party, landing hard in front of the masked sorceress.
"You really chose a bad day to ruin a party," said Supergirl.
"I was waiting for you to show up, Supergirl," said the woman. "When I defeat you in front of everyone, Obsidian will have no choice but to cancel the release of those lenses."
"So you can play the Phantom of the Opera again, I suppose."
The woman pointed her scepter at her and fired, but Kara was already expecting it and dodged her with her super speed, using it to run towards her and punch her, but the woman caught her fist with unexpected great strength, and she threw her against a nearby wall, making a hole and raising a cloud of dust and cement that flew around her.
"Pateti-"
Kara heard a loud thump and it was then when she saw her, a dark figure who had lunged toward the sorceress with a piece of chair in her hand, and had hit her on the head. 'What the hell?' thought Kara, standing up. It was a woman in a suit as black as the shadows themselves, wearing a black mask and a hood hiding her head. The villain staggered but did not lose her balance, recovering immediately and throwing a white ray at her with her scepter. But the shadow woman dematerialized and the lightning bolt passed through her and hit a wall. 'She can dematerialize', thought Kara. Suddenly the shadow woman was on the villain's left, then on her right, then the left, trying to hit her, but it was evident from the clumsiness of her movements that she was not an experienced fighter. 'She can also teleport'.
Then Kara remembered where she had seen her before. She was the same shadow woman who had faced Rama Khan before the Crisis, in the old universe.
"Wait!" Supergirl yelled before the sorceress hit the shadow girl with her scepter in the face, breaking her nose and making her fall to the floor.
Anger filled her heart and taking advantage of the distraction, Kara used her speed again to attack her, giving her a punch that made her fly off upwards, making a hole in the ceiling and landing noisily on the roof. For a moment she had to decide whether to attack her immediately or make sure the shadow girl was fine. Her instincts told her to end the fight, but her common sense told her that she had to make sure the girl was not badly hurt.
At full speed, Kara ran towards her and knelt beside her. Her nose was bleeding from under the black mask, and she seemed to have momentarily passed out, but when Supergirl shook her she regained consciousness.
"You've to get out of here," said Supergirl softly. "You can get hurt."
"I'm not going anywhere," she said angrily and stood up, looking angrily at the ceiling. "I won't let that bastard ruin everything," she said, pronouncing the R with a curious accent.
Kara knew she had no time to insist. "Can you teleport other people?"
"Yes."
Supergirl looked at the ceiling again. "She's right above us. Don't let her see us coming."
She took the stranger's hand and suddenly everything turned into shadows, shadows that were part of her, wrapping around her and taking her quickly to the ceiling. For Kara it lasted a second, but she knew from the surprise of the white sorceress that it had been instantly. At full speed Supergirl punched her on the right shoulder, forcing her to drop the scepter. As if the shadow girl was reading her mind, she teleported again, this time behind the woman and giving Supergirl a chance to kick her legs, making her fall. Kara quickly pressed her boot on her chest. "Don't get up."
"It looks like it'll have to be next time," the woman in white said, snapping her fingers and drawing the scepter to her hand. "This won't stay like this!"
Before Supergirl could hold her so she couldn't move, the stranger turned into a beam of light and disappeared. She quickly used her speed and super vision to search around her, but there was no sign of her. 'She moved at the speed of light, light powers.' A brief moment of frustration washed over her when she realized that she had escaped. 'I have to give Brainy all the details about that witch.'
Kara heard the stranger begin to sneakily walk away.
"Stop there," she said turning around, before she ran away too. "Don't go."
"I've to go. She got away. Whatever she wanted, we can't figure it out anymore."
"Until she comes back."
"Do you think she will?"
"They always come back," said Supergirl approaching the girl, examining her broken nose with her x-rays. "But I'll be waiting for her. Where do you know Leviathan from?"
"How do you know about Leviathan? What makes you think I know them?"
Kara smiled. "Let's say my powers are useful for deducing things," she said instead of explaining that reality had been rewritten and that she still had her memories of a universe that no longer existed. "Do you have a name? Or do I have to keep calling you Shadow Lady Who Shows Up At The Worst Moment?"
The girl stared at her, distrust gleaming in her totally black eyes, the curve of her mouth twisting. "Acrata."
"It's a pleasure, Acrata. I'm Supergirl. And those boomers called Leviathan are making my job even harder," she said extending her hand, offering it to the shadow woman.
After a little hesitation she shook it. "I want to get rid of them too."
"Maybe we could help each other."
"Maybe," her black eyes softened a little. "I'll think about it. But now I have to go."
"I should go too," said Supergirl thinking of Andrea. "I have a very good hearing. If you ever want to continue this conversation, just come here and say my name."
"I'll keep that in mind," Acrata agreed.
In front of Kara's eyes, the woman turned into shadows and disappeared like a ghost.
Ten minutes later, Kara, already back in her normal clothes, searched the crowd of police and paramedics for Andrea, wondering if she had done the right thing letting the shadow woman ('Acrata') go. Part of her instinct told her that she had to be more careful with strangers, but what could she do? Retain her? Arrest her for no reason? Like so many other times, she had no choice but to hope for the best and that Acrata was not really one of the bad guys.
"Andrea," said Kara when she finally found her girlfriend, being checked by a nurse and sitting in a chair. The lower part of her face was covered in dried blood, and Kara felt her own blood boil when she realized that her nose had been broken. "What happened to you? Who did this to you?"
"Someone must have pushed me, I didn't see them," she said avoiding looking at her.
Kara wrapped her arms around her and stroked her hair in pure relief. She was not there to protect her. 'Idiot', she taught angrily. Something much worse could have happened to her.
"It's alright," said Andrea quietly, returning the hug. "I'm fine."
"I should have protected you. I'm so sorry," she said feeling her eyes moisten. "I'm sorry."
"Kara, it all happened too fast," she said firmly, her tourmaline eyes staring at her. "No one got injured and Supergirl took care of that witch. And honestly, I just want to go home now. The police can take care of the rest. Let's just go home, please."
Kara nodded, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Of course."
Andrea smiled softly. "By the way," she said putting her hand in her pocket, pulling out a white handkerchief wrapped around a bulge. Andrea opened it and Kara saw a small ham potsticker inside. "This one survived."
Kara smiled sweetly, feeling her heart relieved in her chest. "Let me help you up," she said, wrapping her arms around her hips. "I'll order more potstickers at home."