Kara is rattled to her core. She thought she had made peace with that horrific episode in her past a long time ago, but hearing J'onn utter those two words… "Red Kryptonite"… unlocked a flood of emotions… panic, guilt, humiliation, and shame. Lena guides her to a chair and helps her sit down. The look on Kara's face frightens Lena in a way she wasn't aware was even possible. Her love sits, frozen in shock at those words and she cannot even begin to comprehend the magnitude of her pain.
"Kara!" Lena kneels in front of her and strokes her hair as Kara's eyes remain transfixed. Lena turns to look at Alex and J'onn. "What is wrong with her? What the hell is Red Kryptonite?"
Alex clears her throat. "Several years ago… before crisis… before you even came into our lives… when Kara was first finding her way as Supergirl… her Aunt Astra and her husband, Non, tried to use myriad to subjugate the populace."
Lena nods. "I know the story… Kara's told me about Astra and Alura's history and what the Fort Rozz Kryptonians tried to do here."
"Well," Alex continues, "there is a bit more to the story that Kara keeps buried because of a deep seeded sense of guilt and shame."
A look of confusion fills Lena's face. "What are you talking about?"
J'onn interjects, "Astra and her followers waged a slow, drawn out campaign against National City and the DEO building up to unleashing myriad. At the time, Luthor Corp was in disarray after Lex's 'Red Sun' plot backfired and Maxwell Lord of Lord Technologies stepped in to fill the void."
"Max Lord?", Lena says. "I know him by reputation. Lex and Lillian were not fans."
Alex comments, "I'm not surprised. Max Lord is an arrogant pain in the ass, but he never displayed the clear, unadulterated disdain for aliens that Lex and Lillian did. At any rate, Astra, Non, and their followers staged an attack on Lord Tech to steal something they needed for their myriad plot. As a result of that attack, Max decided to fund a secret experiment to try and create synthetic Kryptonite."
Lena's eyes bulge in shock. "Did he succeed? I thought I was the first and only person to ever successfully make Kryptonite."
J'onn nods with a look of guilt in his eyes. "You are… the only person to make Green Kryptonite. Max Lord's experiment failed to yield the results he intended, but the abomination he did create was something much worse."
"Lena," Kara utters faintly.
Lena turns her eyes back to Kara, she gently caresses the right side of her face, looks into her eyes, and says, ":Zhao i… please tell me."
With a sorrowful look on her face, Kara begins, "Ironically, it all started when I rescued a firefighter trapped under a collapsed beam on the roof of a structure fire. I had no idea it was there, but I sensed something unusual just before I left the scene. Gradually, over the course of the next several hours and days, my personality began to change. Every angry, frustrated, jealous, despicable thought I ever had bubbled to the surface. I was combative, cruel, arrogant… I became the absolute worst version of myself… and I had no control over it… my humanity melted away… my inhibitions crumbled… I was cold, heartless, selfish…". She closes her eyes, draws a deep breath, and begins to sob uncontrollably.
Lena's eyes begin to water and a look of deep pain and compassion fills her face. She lifts Kara from the chair and engulfs her in a tight embrace. "Oh… Kara… I…".
Kara mumbles through her tears, "I pushed Cat off her balcony at CatCo, let a dangerous alien criminal escape because I didn't care, I attacked civilian areas, I attacked DEO forces, I forced J'onn to reveal his true nature to the world to stop me, I said horrible things to Alex… and I broke her arm!" Kara collapses into Lena's arms and buries her face into her shoulder, hiding her shame.
Alex walks over and rubs her sister's back. "Kara… it was a lifetime ago… another world. We worked through the pain of those days together… I'm so sorry this scar still brings you so much grief."
J'onn walks over, puts a hand on Lena's shoulder, and looks at her ruefully. "We should have told you before, but we all buried the grief of that horrible experience. I hope, though, you can forgive our omission and understand why we're so concerned about this development."
Lena reaches up and places a hand on J'onn's. "I see the pain in my love's eyes. I understand why this subject has never been broached. You are all my family and I love you. We'll find Dana."
As Lena continues to try to console Kara, Alex and J'onn walk over to Brainy.
Brainly looks up at them with grave concern. "Will she be alright?"
Alex nods apprehensively. "I think so. Aside from Krypton's destruction and her stints in the Phantom Zone, the Red Kryptonite incident may have been the most traumatic experience of her life. Give her some time. If anyone can calm and reassure her it's Lena."
"How did you stop her back then?", Brainy asks.
J'onn replies, "Max Lord and Alex built a weapon that discharged a blast to counteract the affects."
"We don't even know if those events happened on this Earth," Alex interjects nervously.
Brainy looks down at his terminal, types on his keyboard, and comments, "According to the DEO database something similar did."
Lena makes her way over and looks at Alex. "She's starting to calm down and regain her composure. After everything we've been through… I've never seen her look so broken."
Alex walks over and embraces Lena. "It took her a long time to recover from what it did to her. The city was rattled and she never felt a greater sense of failure then she did at that moment. I'm so glad she has you to help her through this. No one, not even me, has ever been able to reach her heart the way you can."
Lena squeezes Alex and says, "Thank you, sis."
Alex releases her, looks her in the eyes, smiles broadly, and say, "I like it when you call me that… it feels right."
Lena giggles and nods. She turns her gaze to Brainy and asks, "Do we still have the weapon Max and Alex built?"
Brainy nods affirmatively. "Thankfully it was stored at the old desert facility, so it survived Rama Khan's attack. It was moved here when this facility opened. It's in the armory."
Kara walks over to them. She hugs Lena tightly and gives her a kiss. Then she pulls Alex into a long, tight embrace. "Alex… even after all this time those memories still haunt me. I love you, so much."
Alex closes her eyes, tears forming, takes a deep breath, and exhales. She squeezes Kara back as tightly as she can. "You are my sister and I will always love you… no matter what."
They release their hug and wipe the tears from their eyes. Kara looks at them all and says, "We need to let Nia know what's going on. If Dana's at the office… maybe we can get to her before she tries to use the 'X-K' again."
Back at CatCo, Nia is sitting at her desk looking through the photos that Dana delivered when an alert tone sounds from the device on her left wrist. She looks down at the device, deactivates the alert, gets up from her desk, and walks out of her office.
She makes a right and heads straight for Kara's office. After nodding and smiling at Nathalie she opens Kara's door and steps inside. Once inside she heads for the doorway to the small adjoining space off the main office, walks inside, turns around, and places her hand on a bioscan pad to the right of the door. The door shuts automatically, the panel lights up, and scans her hand. "Welcome, Dreamer."
Behind her a large wall monitor activates. As she turns to look at it she sees Alex, Brainy, J'onn, Kara, and Lena looking back at her. She notices that Kara looks a bit shaken up."
"Chief, what's wrong?", she asks Kara anxiously.
Kara gives her a reassuring glance. "Nia, I'm okay. Have you seen Dana?"
Nia nods. "Yeah. She checked in with me about an hour ago. Brought up the first batch of photos for review. I gave her back her article to revise, had her check in with Derek, and then she went back to down to Grey's group. What's up?"
Alex chimes in, "Kara spoke to Lois and Kal this morning. We're pretty sure Dana's the newbie who dropped by to see us all last night."
"How sure?", Nia asks.
Brainy replies, "There is a 97.6% probability that Dana Dearden is the woman who rescued the firefighter and children from the apartment fire the other day, stopped the muggings and robbery, helped the family trapped in the overturned vehicle, and that we saw in Kara's original Supergirl suit at the DEO last night."
"Nia," Lena adds, "it's imperative we find her as soon as possible. She is under going a cellular metamorphosis because of the 'X-K' she's been using and extensive, long term exposure to raw X-Kryptonite she's experienced in Smallville. If she inhales another dose of 'X-K' it could not only accelerate the cellular change, but also cause a drastic psychological change that could potentially make her extremely dangerous."
Nia reaches over to a panel on the wall next to the monitor. She presses a button on the wall which causes a panel to open. She reaches inside, grabs a small ear bud, and places it in her ear.
"Brainy," she says to her fiancé, "I'm going on comms."
Brainy nods at her. "Gotcha. Testing… 1, 2… can you hear me?"
Nia nods and gives him a thumbs up. "I'll go to check and see if she's still here."
J'onn comments, "You be careful. We believe the fireball she got hit with the other day has triggered the latent affects of the raw form exposure to make her powers permanent. If she doesn't realize that yet she's likely to use the 'X-K' again. Regardless, she's probably as powerful as Kara. You're strong, Nia, but you're not invulnerable."
Nia gives them a sober grin, "Great… I'll keep that mind." Nia turns around, places her hand on the bioscan panel. The door opens, Nia walks back out into Kara's office, and finds herself face-to-face with Dana. A look of concern grows on her face as she notices Dana's irises glow red.
"So," Dana begins methodically, "I was downstairs… dealing with Mr. Grey and his tedious minions… when I heard a strange noise come from above. I thought I was crazy at first… after all…". She opens her hand and the 'X-K' vial falls to the floor. "This stuff is supposed to wear off…".
Nia utters calmly, "Dana… please…".
Dana puts up a hand. "Nia… please… shut up! I decided to use this stuff again to make sure I wasn't nuts. When I inhaled the mist a sense of freedom… euphoria… washed over me. Not only did I feel more powerful… I felt free of my anxiety and inhibitions. I decided to come up here to find out what the noise was."
In Nia's ear she hears Kara say, "I'm on my way!!"
Dana continues, "Nathalie was leaving for lunch, but I could hear you in here… Dreamer… talking to your so-called 'Super Friends'. I would like to thank you all for letting me know I don't need that crap anymore." She looks down at the 'X-K' vial and stomps it into the floor. "I know Kara's on her way. You let her know for me that I will be her salvation. She is blind to the darkness that has poisoned her heart and I intended to excise that cancer from her life. If you or any of your friends try to stop me… I will end you, too."
Dana super speeds over to the balcony. Before she shoots off into the sky she looks back at Nia and says, "Don't underestimate what I'm willing to do to save my Kara!" With that she blasts away and out of sight.
A few moments later Kara, decked out in her Supergirl suit, lands on the balcony. She rushes inside to make sure Nia is okay. "Nia!"
Nia replies, "I'm okay, Kara."
Kara rushes over and hugs Nia. "Thank Rao."
Nia looks at her, deeply concerned. "Did you guys catch all of that?"
Kara nods. One of the wall monitors behind Kara's desk activates. Alex, Brainy, J'onn, and Lena appear on screen.
"Alex," Kara says gravely. "You need put the DEO on high alert and lock the building down."
Alex nods in agreement. Lena chimes in, "I'll let Eve know to evacuate the Foundation, too."
The door to Kara's office opens behind them. Kara and Nia turn to see Cat Grant walk in.
"Nia," Cat says, "I got your signal upstairs. I assume the world needs Dreamer and Supergirl right now."
Nia nods. Kara interjects, "Cat, we've got situation…".
Cat flips a hand at her, smirks, nods at them, and says, "You always do. I know if it's something you can share that CatCo will get the exclusive. If not…". Cat walks over and puts her hands on Kara's shoulders. "I know that you and this amazing family of yours, Kara, will do whatever it takes to protect us and I don't need to know anymore than that."
Kara smiles appreciatively at her. "Thank you, Cat."
Cat smiles softly back at her. "You're my Supergirl and you always have been. You two go get 'em, Kiera." She winks at Kara.
Nia turns a dial on her wrist device. A portal opens by the balcony. Kara and Nia walk through and the portal closes. The monitor on the wall deactivates and Cat walks around to sit down behind Kara's desk.
