It had become a fairly regular occurrence for Kara to watch Selah be taken for a few hours every day, and then to be returned with surgical wounds that were still mostly unhealed, but this time felt different as she watched the girl being led into the cell. Her posture was sharper, and she was hardly shaking or fidgeting at all, which was rare for her on a good day. It was unheard of for a day after she had had surgery or tests done.
"Selah?" The hero asked, but the girl waited until she was in the cell and the door had closed again to reply.
"The guard is gone?" she asked quietly, her head down.
"Yeah," Kara replied. "Your arms, what did they do?" she demanded, taking one of the girl's hands and examining the long cuts that stretched wrist to elbow on the girl's arms.
"It doesn't matter," Selah said, pulling her arm away impatiently. "I know how we're going to escape."
"What?"
"You know how usually when they operate or just when my powers are gone, first my body heals itself up and then it takes awhile longer for my telepathy and stuff to come back?" Kara nodded. "It's been changing. They come back really fast now, long before anything is healed. I think it maybe has something to do with all of the empath powers and stuff. When I think of it, I don't ever remember my mother's psychic powers ever being gone, even when she was hurt and the rest of her powers were regenerating."
"What does that mean?"
"I've learned that the doctor turns her psychic blocker off whenever she operates. It buzzes a little bit, and that annoys her when she's trying to work, and she knows that my powers are gone when I'm under the red sun lamps. But she always turns it back on once I'm almost healed, which was usually long before my telepathy would be back. Now though, I can hear thoughts almost as soon as I wake up from the anesthesia, before my body has even really started healing."
"So you know what she's been thinking about?" Selah nodded.
"I didn't say anything to her because I thought it might be useful, and I was right. Mostly she just thinks about knitting, so I guess I know how to knit now. But today, she was thinking about how her shift was almost done, and she was excited to go home, and she hoped her boyfriend had made her dinner but probably not because he doesn't do anything useful even though he doesn't have a job and he just sits at home all day, and her mother was right about him, and-"
"Your point?" Kara asked flatly, raising one eyebrow.
"Sorry. She thought about leaving, Kara. I saw the route that she takes out of the building and to a parking garage where her car is. We're kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and the garage is still underground but there's a ramp that leads up to the surface. It connects to a road, which eventually will take us back to the city."
"And you know how to get all the way to the city?"
"Not quite," Selah admitted. "She got distracted before the thought got all the way to her apartment. But once we're outside I can probably send a signal out to J'onn or my aunt."
"Probably?"
"I'm like, ninety-two percent sure that I can."
"It's risky," Kara said.
"What other chance do we have? When are we ever going to get another opportunity like this?" The hero hesitated, biting her lip as she looked away from the girl, thinking.
"Fine."
.
Kara glanced over at Selah as the guard entered the hallway. The girl's face was emotionless, her cloudy eyes closed tightly.
"Back from the door," he said robotically, and they both took a few steps back. Kara watched intently as the guard pressed the button on his belt and began idly fumbling with his keys. Finally selecting the right key, he opened the door, and grunted at Selah. Before the girl could take a step, Kara ignited her eyes, lunging forwards and zapping him squarely in the chest with her heat vision. He yelled in pain or anger or surprise, or a mixture of all three things, and fell forwards, a hand clutching at his chest. His keys fell to the floor, making a metallic clanking, and Kara watched in horror as the man's body fell into the door. She tried to move fast enough to stop him, or to push him out of the way, but she didn't make it in time, and the door closed with a decisive bang.
"What do we do?" Selah asked, her voice panicked and stuttering, having read the interaction off of Kara's thoughts.
"I don't know," Kara replied.
"They're going to expect me in that lab in five minutes. When I'm not there, they'll come here and find this. Kara, they'll-" she took a quick shaky breath. "They'll kill us. What are we going to do?"
"I- I don't know."
"An octopus pulls off its own limbs in captivity," the girl muttered, squeezing her eyes shut and rocking back and forth on her heels.
"What?"
"Just something Lena said."
"How is this relevant to anything that is going on right now?"
"If we get the cuffs off, I can open the door psychically."
"We've talked through this a million times, Selah. We can't get the cuffs off without," Kara began, before it dawned on her. "No. No way."
"What else are we going to do?"
"I am not cutting your hands off."
"Not my whole hand. My thumbs will regrow. If you heat vision my thumbs off, I can slip out of the cuffs and get the door open."
"No, Selah."
"Look, man I'm not excited about it either, but it's pretty much our only option right now. We've already wasted way too much time." Kara ran a hand over her face angrily, knowing that the girl was right. Selah wordlessly sat on the floor, and put her cuffed hands flat on the ground, her thumbs extended. "Please, Kara?"
An hard pit had been settling in Kara's stomach from the moment the guard had entered the hallway, but it became a sinkhole as she stood in front of the girl, and directed her gaze onto Selah's hands. Glancing up quickly to the girl's face, she saw that it was determined, and she knew there was no other options.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered as her eyes lit up. She tried to ignore the girl's scream of pain, instead making sure that she had completely cut off the thumb before letting her heat vision dim again. Dropping to her knees, the sinkhole in her chest grew as she put a hand on Selah's cheek, watching the tears flowing from the girl's blank eyes.
"Do the other one," she said through gritted teeth, her voice rough. The hollow feeling in Kara's chest grew even further as she cut the girl's other thumb off and Selah cried out again.
"It's done," she said. She tried her best to wipe away Selah's tears, but her hands were so shaky that the task proved impossible. The yellow sunlight shining weakly from the hall lamp had already healed off the first hand, and her second was beginning to close up as well.
"Help me get the cuffs off," the girl said, her voice still raspy. "I'll open the door." Kara did her best to ignore how badly Selah's hands were trembling as she slipped the power dampeners off of the girl's now completely healed thumbless hands.
"You're good to open the door?" Selah nodded, and she squeezed her teary eyes shut, tipping her head to the left. Kara heard the lock click, and the cell swung open.
"Let's go," she said, taking one of Selah's hands, but the girl hesitated.
"We still don't know where all of the shields are," she said. "I have to blow out my powers."
"If you do that, you'll be completely blind," Kara protested.
"Better than paralyzed," she retorted. Taking a deep breath, the hero reluctantly dropped Selah's hand, and the girl turned towards one of the Nth metal walls. She opened her blind eyes, and concentrated her heat vision, directing it onto the metal wall in front of her. A high pitched buzzing began to fill the room and the lights around them began flickering frantically, swinging anxiously on their chains. The noise rose to a crescendo, making Kara wince, until finally Selah crumpled to the floor, her eyes clenched shut.
"Selah?" Kara asked, rushing to her side.
"I'm okay," the girl nose was bleeding sluggishly, and she swiped at it. "Ugh. Why is my life once again proving to be just a weak parody of Stranger Things?" she asked as she unsteadily got to her feet. "We have to go."
"Do not let go of my arm," the hero ordered as they turned to the doorway and began to walk out of the cell.
"I won't." Kara felt Selah's body stiffen as they walked through the door, anticipating an electric shock, but she relaxed as none came, and they passed through the doorway safely.
"Where do we go now?" she asked.
"Straight for awhile, and then take the first left. Do you remember the way to the lab?" Kara nodded before remembering that the girl couldn't see her.
"Yes," she said.
"Basically just go that way, but turn right just before you come up to the door," Selah stumbled a little bit on the door frame as they left the hallway, but caught herself again. "Do you hear anyone coming?" It was hard for Kara to hear anything over the nearly deafening sound of Selah's heartbeat, which was going far too fast, but she concentrated, closing her eyes.
"No," she answered. "I hear someone in the lab, but her heart rate doesn't suggest that she's agitated at all."
"Good." Following Selah's directions, the two carefully made their way through the maze of winding passageways, trying to be as quiet as was possible.
"What now?" Kara whispered as they came up towards the lab and turned right.
"Next left. Then the hallway branches off into three, and you have to go straight. The exit to the garage is the two rights, a left, a right, and a left after that, but there's long segments of hallway between each turn." The hero heard steady footsteps dimly in the distance, and her heart dropped.
"Someone's coming," she said.
"From where?" Selah asked, her voice anxious.
"To the left. They're not far away," she bit her lip. "I'm going to pick you up, and I'll use my super speed. Will we make it to the door in time?"
"Maybe? I'm not sure."
"Good enough." Scooping up the girl in her arms, Kara began moving as fast as she could, focusing on the goal ahead of her, but the footsteps kept getting closer and louder, the sound amplified by her nerves. "We're not going to make it," she hissed, slowing down. "They'll cut us off before we get there."
"Take a left," Selah said. "That goes towards a maintenance closet. They probably won't be going there."
"Unless they're specifically looking for their two missing aliens," Kara hissed.
"Still better odds for us than if we run directly into them in a stretch of hallway with no exits." Anxiety rose in the hero's chest as she turned left, and followed the winding passageway all the way down to the door at the end.
"Now what?" she asked. "We just sit here?"
"I guess." Pushing herself up against the wall, Kara took a few deep breaths, listening to the footsteps as they grew closer still. They were now only a few hallways away. She could now make out two distinct sets of footsteps, guards, she assumed. "Are they still there?" Selah asked.
"Shh," Kara put a hand on the girl's arm. The footsteps were now on the main branch of the hallway that they had just exited, and the hero's heart stopped as they paused abruptly. She tried not to so much as breathe, and willed Selah to do the same, wishing that she was telepathic.
"Reports from the transport team?" one guard said.
"Negative."
"The subject was supposed to arrive three minutes ago. Should we check it out?" the other replied.
"Yes," the first guard sighed. "We don't get paid enough for this."
"How's your wife been?"
"Oh don't get me started on her." The footsteps began again, and Kara waited until they had left the hallway and begun to fade away again to exhale.
"We have to move, now," she said. "If they don't already know we're gone, they will soon."
"Okay," Selah replied, wavering on her feet a little as she moved away from the wall. Kara picked her up once more, and they tentatively re-entered the hallway. Finding it deserted, Kara refocused herself on their goal, the door to the parking garage. The only thing that separated them from that door, from freedom, was two more long stretches of empty hallway. Kara swiftly made her way through them, elation rising in her chest as it finally came into view. The door frame was slightly larger than the usual ones, subtly marking it as important, and the door itself was made of a heavier metal, with a key card panel beside it that Kara promptly zapped with her heat vision.
"We made it," she gasped. Then the door slid open with a hiss, and Kara felt Selah's body tense up instinctively.
"How kind of you to join me," Beta said. The Director stood only a few feet away, her hands folded delicately across her body, and an evil smile spread on her face.
"How did you know?" Kara demanded, the joy inside of her deflating into the familiar pit.
"You really think I am so stupid as to leave my facilities un-monitored?" Beta asked, a scornful smile on her face. "Every square inch of this place is bugged. If you so much as sneezed, I had a team studying the surveillance tapes and documenting it. Getting 037," she nodded at Selah. "Out of the cuffs, now I must admit that I didn't expect you to go that far. Very ingenuitive." Walking over to the hero, who was still holding Selah, she took one of the girl's hands, which were now healed off completely, showing now signs of damage- beyond the missing thumbs. "Of course, I can work around unexpected." She patted Selah's hand before walking away again.
"So, what now?" The hero asked. "You're going to kill us?"
"No," Beta purred, "Not just yet. We still have use for you. For now, at least."
"Put me down," Selah whispered.
"What-" Kara hissed back, but the girl just looked up at the hero with an unreadable expression. "Please tell me you have a plan," she muttered as she lowered Selah to her feet.
"About seventeen percent of one."
"That's so not reassuring."
"Let's move past the scheming, shall we?" Beta asked brightly, cutting off their whispered conversation. "I have won. You," she turned to Kara and Selah, standing side by side. "Have lost. It's nothing to be ashamed about, or disappointed by. It is simply a fact. So." The woman spun on her heel, and put a hand into her coat pocket. "Now it's time to move on to the next adventures." She pulled out a power dampener, and began toying with the dials on the side.
"I know that you have my psychic powers," Selah said, taking a step closer to Beta. "Do you have my mind-reading yet?" Irritation flickered across the woman's face, but she quickly regained her composure.
"In due time, it will come. Each day I grow stronger, as you do."
"So you don't know what I'm thinking?" The director didn't reply, and instead flipped a switch on the side of the device and pointed it directly at the girl. "Good." The end of the dampener lit up, and Selah flicked her head to the right. The blue energy draining bullet shot out of the machine, but almost as soon as it emerged, it began slowing down until it hung motionless, suspended in the air halfway between Selah and the director.
"Enough of these games," Beta spat, her eyes blazing with anger.
"Only fun when you're winning?" Selah replied, her blank eyes reflecting the blue of the energy ball. "Well, let's move on to other adventures." She closed her eyes, and bowed her head. The ball began agitatedly bouncing up and down, vibrating back and forth. The girl lifted a hand, and held it outstretched towards the ball. Taking a deep breath, her hand flashed forwards in a pushing motion, and even with her super senses, Kara was hardly able to follow the path of the blue light as it flew back towards Beta, fitting itself perfectly back into the muzzle of the power dampener.
The whole world was still for one perfect second, and Selah's outstretched hand- silhouetted by the dim blue light- was unwavering. But Kara blinked, and then everything exploded, sending out a shock wave strong enough to knock her to the ground. She saw Selah fly backwards, and Beta's form disappeared as it was completely engulfed in the blue light. The hero struggled to keep her eyes open as she desperately tried to stay awake, she had to find Selah, they had to escape, they had to get back to the city.
"I can't-" she managed to whisper, her cheek pressed against the cold concrete floor. "I need to-"
But the comforting darkness overtook her.
.
.
.
