Chapter 10
Although it's early, Kara and Lena are enjoying the chance to fall asleep in each other's arms and make up for the past several nights of bad sleep. Kara is beyond content laying here in their bed with her beautiful girlfriend curled up into her side. Kara has one arm around Lena's shoulders, the other resting on her thigh, where Lena has a leg thrown over her hips. She lets her hearing focus on Lena's slow, steady heartbeat while knowing that Lena can feel her own beating for Lena under her ear.
Kara doesn't drift off nearly as quickly as Lena, not needing the same amount of sleep with her Kryptonian energy. She enjoys getting to use this time to study her girlfriend. The sharp lines of Lena's cheekbones and jaw smoothed with sleep. The worry and stress melted away in the comfort of Kara's arms. She lightly brushes Lena's cheek, taking the long, dark hair and tucking it behind her ear for an unobstructed view of Lena's face.
She's zoned out in her thoughts about Lena when her phone rings loudly on the bedside table. Kara quickly picks up the phone to stop the ringing, watching as Lena mumbles unintelligibly and resettles against Kara's chest. Letting out a sigh, thanking Rao that her girlfriend is a deep sleeper, Kara answers, keeping her voice as low as possible to not further bother Lena.
"What's up Alex?", she answers.
"Dheronian at Market and 5th. The team has him surrounded and I'm five minutes out. He's causing trouble now. Thankfully he picked a time when there weren't many people on the street", Alex says, rapid fire. "Damn! Red light", Alex curses, and Kara hears the brakes and tires screech as Alex brakes and then a rev as she takes a way around it.
"Ok slow down. I'll be there in less than a minute", Kara says, hanging up and looking back down at Lena. She kisses the crown of Lena's head and using her speed slides out from under her, placing a pillow in her spot. Lena barely moves except for the furrow of her brow, as if knowing that Kara is gone, even in sleep.
Kara sighs, kissing Lena's head, smoothing down her hair, "I love you. I'll be safe and I'll be back soon", and she speeds into her suit and takes off. The only sign of her left is the swinging of the curtains in the wind.
Alex uses the short ride, darting through the barren streets to the intersection of Market and 5th, where her team has the creature surrounded, to get into her agent mindset. She can't think about Sam and Ruby right now, no matter how badly she would rather be on Sam's couch right now.
She called Kara, beyond thankful to Brainy for the noise cancellation that is helping with the loud wind, and hopes that she is already there helping keep the Dheronian under control.
Kara and J'onn are flying around the Dheronian's head, keeping his attention away from the agents who have him surrounded and are firing at him. They have barricades set up a block away on all sides keeping people out and extras to take cover behind in the intersection. Alex is thankful for her bike when she sneaks through the barricade and is quickly joining the fight.
She changes into tac gear in the van by her bike. "How's it going", she asks, sliding in next to Vasquez, her gun out and half a round already shot.
"Not good", Vasquez answers, "We got the civilians out and not much damage yet but he's not going down".
Alex turns to the creature, firing off a few more shots, watching Kara swoop down for a hit but ends up barely avoiding the Dheronian's fist as J'onn phases through it.
"Does he have any weakness?", Kara asks.
"Not that we know of", Brainy answers through comms from the DEO.
"Kryptonite? Lead?", Kara says, "they're from the Rao system could it be one of those?".
"We don't know", Brainy says, "there is no information on them. We kind of assumed they were ruined like Daxam when Krypton exploded".
Kara groans as the Dheronian gets a hit in and she falters but catches herself before hitting the ground.
"Can J'onn psychically calm him?", Alex offers.
"Rao system", Kara says, breathlessly, as an answer.
"I can't do Kryptonians or Daxamites but I tried and couldn't get through", J'onn explains a little further.
They keep fighting but they only get more tired and run out of ammo while the Dheronian doesn't look phased.
Alex reloads watching the Dheronian only swing at Kara, "Kara fly away and see if he goes for J'onn", Alex says.
Kara hesitates but flies up out of the Dheronian's reach and he doesn't turn to J'onn or the agents shooting at him but tries to jump at Kara.
"Ok, ok", Alex says, "make him stop jumping". She is barely able to keep her balance as the force of the alien hitting the ground shakes everything around.
Kara swoops back down and the Dheronian stops jumping for her and starts swinging again.
"Why does he only want me?", Kara pants out, circling the Dheronian avoiding his punches.
"No idea", Alex says.
"He's not going to stop until he gets you", J'onn says.
"So I just let him take me and…", Kara starts.
"No, no, no", Alex says, "Not that plan".
"So how do we stop him", Kara asks.
"We have to kill him", Alex says, "or he's never going to stop".
"I have to solar flare", Kara says.
"Hopefully not fully but yeah maybe", Alex says. "J'onn shift into Supergirl and keep his attention. Kara come here so you don't fall 100 ft if you lose your powers".
Kara gives J'onn a nod and they meet up behind the Dheronian and J'onn shifts. He flies back out in front, hovering just above the alien's head, taking the Dhornian's attention with him and giving Kara a chance to fly down to where Alex is.
"Ready?", Alex asks.
"Let's do this", Kara nods.
"Alpha and Beta teams", Alex commands, "Steady fire… Now!".
Every agent stands, firing round after round at the creature, while Kara uses her heat vision. The creature seems to falter under the attack and Kara replants her feet and takes it up a notch. She feels the power coursing through her, coming to an almost painful level in her eyes before it's pushed out. She feels the burning in her eyes and the anger building up, her adrenaline giving her an extra boost even when she's tired.
The creature falls and Kara goes down on one knee, her laser vision cutting out.
"Is it down?", Kara manages to say, barely having the strength to speak and stay upright.
"It's down", Alex says, resting a hand on Kara's shoulder, her gun back in its holster. "Alpha team, approach". The agents approach guns drawn and seeing no movement, Vasquez checks for a reaction and a pulse.
"It's down", Vasquez reports.
"Well done team", Alex says, "Alpha team, find a way to transport the alien back. Beta team, clean up. Everyone to the DEO for debrief". There is a chorus of yes ma'ams and Alex turns to Kara, still on one knee. "Can you make it back?", she asks. Kara doesn't answer, just shakes her head but even that proves to be too much as she falls to the ground.
"I need a stretcher and a van", Alex barks out.
J'onn steps up and picks up Kara, "Get your bike and meet us there. Vasquez can handle cleanup".
Alex nods, turning on her heel and rushing towards her bike as J'onn kicks off and heads to the DEO.
Kara groans, blinking awake under the bright, soothing light of the yellow sunlamps.
"Hey", Alex says, a hand on Kara's shoulder keeping her down, "You're ok. You were only out for a few minutes. You took care of the Dheronians, he's no longer a threat".
"Lena", Kara says.
"Lena's fine", Alex says, confused, "she wasn't there, Kara".
"I need to go home", Kara says, pushing against Alex to sit up.
"No, you need to stay here to regain enough strength to even walk", Alex says.
"I'll be fine", Kara says, "I'll sleep and then go sit on the balcony for a while". Alex gives her a look but Kara doesn't back down, "besides aren't these the superpowered yellow lights Lena made?". Alex nods. "So I'm fine", Kara says, swinging her legs off the side of the bed.
"Can you have an agent drive me home?", Kara says, realizing she won't be able to fly and she really doesn't want to walk that far. Alex stays stoic until Kara pulls the pout and says, "Please. I promise I'm fine and if I wasn't, I would be scared of what Lena would do to me. I promise I'm ok".
Alex relents, and helps her sister up, "Come on Demos can drive you home".
Kara gives her a thankful smile and kisses her cheek as they make their way to the control center.
Kara lets herself in the front door, thanking Lena for putting in biometric locks since she wouldn't take a key with her to fight an alien. She quietly pads into the bedroom and feels the remaining tension and adrenaline from the fight drain out of her at the sight of Lena, curled up in the middle of the bed, wrapped around Kara's pillow.
She sheds her suit as quickly as she can with the bruises and lack of superspeed and slides in behind Lena, spooning her, and lets out a sigh.
Lena, sensing that Kara is back, loosens her grip on the pillow, and rolls over to Kara, curling back into her side. Kara kisses her head, brushes her hair back out her face, and settles in, falling asleep in seconds.
After helping Kara into the DEO car and sending her home, Alex heads back upstairs to her office and huffs as she sits down at her desk, wishing she could go home too. It's one in the morning and Alex just hopes she can lay down with Sam for a while before she has to go to work.
A knock on the door frame jolts her out of her thinking and she looks up to see J'onn.
"Agents are all back and in the command center", he says, giving her a nod before heading into his own office.
Alex heads down to debrief the team, telling them to fill out reports, recheck the armory, and go home to get some sleep and report for training at 1 tomorrow. She releases them hearing grateful sighs as they get to sleep in and heads back to her office only to remember that she doesn't have her laptop.
Knocking on J'onns door, she tells him she's headed home to do her report and he gives her a knowing smile.
Halfway back to Sam's, Alex realizes she's been calling Sam's house home and it doesn't scare her as much as she thought. Parking her bike in the driveway, she lets herself in with her key and heads upstairs. She peeks into Ruby's room and sees the teen, curled up and peaceful. "Night, Rubes", she whispers to herself before pulling the door shut again and heading on down the hall.
Pushing the door open to the master bedroom, Alex lets out a happy sigh at the sight of Sam curled up, holding Alex's pillow. She quickly sheds the tactical gear she changed into at the scene and pulls one of Sam's t-shirts on. She doesn't try taking her pillow back and just slides in behind Sam. She brushes Sam's hair back and kisses her temple, "Goodnight, Sam".
Sam mumbles and shifts around, scooting back to mold her body to Alex's front.
Alex smiles and settles down, one hand under her head and the other tightly around Sam's waist.
The next morning, Kara wakes to the sunlight streaming through the windows and a sniff. She stretches and groans as she feels the sore muscles and bruising all over her body. She hears a small sniff, almost undetectable without her super hearing, and opens her eyes to see Lena on her knees beside her, a hand over her mouth and eyes glistening. Kara instantly worries, sitting up quickly, ignoring the pain, "What?", she asks, her hands on Lena's arms, gently trying to bring her hands down, "What's wrong baby? What happened? Are you ok?".
"Me!", Lena says, her voice broken. "You… you're… are you ok? What happened to you?", she asks, reaching out a hand to brush the bruise on Kara's ribcage.
"Oh", Kara says, and lays a hand over Lena's, bringing them up to her lips, before placing them over her heart, "I'm ok and it's over. The Dheronian is gone and I'm fine. I promise".
"Did you solar flare?", Lena says, her own worry calming as she feels the steady heartbeat under their joined hands.
"I did but just barely. I should be fully better in a couple of days", Kara says, "I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't think about the bruises when I undressed, I just want to get back in bed with you".
"Did Alex discharge you?", Lena asks with an accusing raise of her eyebrow.
"Yes", Kara answers, "I was under the new sun lamps you made and promised to spend some time on the balcony in the sun so she let me come home". Kara leaves Lena's hand on her heart, using the other to brush her hair back and cup her cheek, "I promise I'm ok. I just… I left in the middle of the night and I didn't want you to wake up without me here".
Lena leans into Kara's hand with a loving smile before leaning forward and connecting their lips. "I love you and I'm so glad you're ok", Lena says.
"I love you and I'll always come home to you", Kara replies, kissing her again.
"Now doctor's orders, to the balcony for you, and I'll fix breakfast and bring it out", Lena says, "We'll have a picnic on the balcony in the sun".
Kara smiles at her, kissing her again before carefully sliding out of bed, "Yes ma'am".
"You know", Lena starts, watching Kara finish off the pancakes, "Now would be a good time to go to Argo. The alien is done with and you don't have powers anyway".
"Really?", Kara asks, looking over hopefully.
"Of course silly", Lena says, kissing her cheek, "I told you I wanted to go, and now seems like a good time".
"Rao yes let's do it", Kara says, jumping up, "I've got to call Miss Grant".
Lena chuckles at Kara's excitement and cleans up the dishes to follow her.