Lena watches mouth agape from her office balcony as Supergirl flings herself through the sky full speed at a massive purple creature, looking more dinosaur like than anything else she has ever seen.
Her heart feels like it is in her mouth as they both fly backwards, barrelling onto the ground into a mess of concrete and dust. She can't even see that famous red cape peeking out anywhere from behind the huge body of the alien.
What she can see is the alien get up while Supergirl does not.
Once the dust settles as the alien steps away victorious. She can make out the form of a slumped heroine, face down in the rubble, unable to help anyone. Lena can see the same questions running through minds of everyone else who is watching this scene unfold. Everyone is simply asking, who is going to protect us now?
Her heartrate increases astronomically when the creature sets its sights on something, its mighty claws pulled back and rage pouring through every inch of its body.
The world slows right before her eyes as it takes its first swing towards the office building across the way from her own, full of innocent people just trying to get on with their day and most of whom probably don't know the sanger that they are in.
Right as the alien is about to make contact, out of the corner of Lena's eye she sees a blue and red blur soaring across the sky once more, this time aiming for the arm that is about to strike.
Supergirl grabs it with all her might and drags the alien with her, spinning it over her shoulder and slamming it into the road sending blocks of concrete flying.
It tries to stand once more but only gets part way up before it is giving a sharp kick to its spiny head by Supergirl, sending it sprawling out again, this time out cold.
The pair of duelling aliens then find themselves surrounded by dozens of government agents but before they fully reach them, Supergirl takes off into the air, flying high up into the clouds and out of sight.
Lena, along with everyone else watching, releases the breath that she was unconsciously holding and struggles to drain her body of the tension that had risen up when she thought that Supergirl wasn't going to stop it and it was going to destroy every building in the surrounding area, maybe even the city.
The agents don't seem at all bothered by Supergirl's sharp exit and when Lena thinks about it, it's probably because they are used to it. She's seen them on TV when Supergirl has taken down other threats, as soon as the perpetrator has been subdued, they show up and take it from there. She's just never paid a whole lot of attention to what Supergirl does following the fights.
Lena's hands shake where she grips the railing to her balcony, the bar digging into her stomach as she leans over it slightly to watch exactly what is happening below her, namely the alien being loaded up into a very large truck and then being driven away to who knows where.
With a shaky breath and tired bones she pushes herself back and away from the railing, content to head back inside for a stiff drink and a well earned sit down. Who knew watching someone else fight could be so draining?
She turns towards the door, trying not to look back down at the rubble left behind or think about how awful it's going to be getting to work now the road leading to the parking garage is out of order. She'll have to get someone to come and fix that up because the city will take way too long to do it otherwise and she hasn't got the patience for that.
Lena takes a solid step into her office and closes the door behind her, now realizing how cold it is outside in the chilly National City breeze.
Her chair is more comfortable than it has ever been before but that might be because she so desperately needed to sit dawn and her legs had grown shaky from the fear and adrenaline rush that accompanied it.
The desk is solid beneath her elbows when she leans forward onto it and rests her head in her hands, calming her beating heart one deep breath at a time.
She's startled out of her state by her phone buzzing away next to her laptop. A quick glance at the screen tells her that there's an incoming call and that it's Kara. She reasons that it's probably because she saw the attack on the news and is either checking that she's alright because she's so close to the scene where it happened, or she is hoping that she saw something she can use in an interview.
As shitty as she feels right now, she is always willing to listen to Kara ramble away on the phone to her, even if it is shop talk. As soon as she answers she is bombarded by the sound of whipping wind crackling through the speakers.
"Kara? Hello?"
It crackles a little more before she makes out a voice on the other end. "Lena, I'm on the roof, can you come meet me?"
"What roof? Why are you on a roof?" Lena finds herself shouting down the phone, matching Kara's volume, only to realize that she doesn't have to shout too.
Kara doesn't wait even a second before yelling right back down the phone. "L-Corp roof, just come get me!"
The line cuts out right after, leaving Lena puzzled. She stares at her phone for a moment, trying to piece everything together but finding herself wholly unable to do so.
Through the bewilderment Lena stands, her tired feet taking her right out of her office and to the stairs leading up to the roof.
She climbs them quickly, not at all sure how Kara could have ended up on her roof or why she would choose to go up there now of all times. The door swings open after a harsh push, it always gets left unlocked, no matter how many times she tells the security guys to lock it after they come up here for their smoke breaks.
She doesn't spot her right away and walks back out into the freezing air, propping the door open as she does so they don't get locked out by accident.
Lena turns her head back and forth, searching for her best friend. Only when she turns back towards the door does the spot a familiar blonde figure hunched over into a ball with her back against the wall behind the door does it hit her all at once.
It isn't Kara sat there, but it is. It's also Supergirl.
Blood is dripping down the side of her face and her right hand is turning a steady shade of black, either very badly bruised or broken, probably from punching the alien during the fight earlier.
"Kara?" Lena crouches down in front of her, taking her head between her hands. "Can you hear me?"
"I can hear you. I'm sorry to show up like this, I had to get somewhere safe before the DEO agents took me back." Kara mumbles out, her eyes bleary and unfocused.
Lena is momentarily touched how Kara stated that she is safe here, but the betrayal of the hidden identity is still stinging. That doesn't matter now though, she has to get her downstairs and to her office pronto. She needs to get her warm and cleaned up, she can go from there after.
It takes a decent amount of struggling but Lena does manage to heave Kara up, grateful that Kara is doing her best to hold herself up, even if she isn't doing that much to actually help. They take it slow and eventually manage to get to Lena's office, Jess helping when she sees them approaching.
Lena doesn't think twice about asking Jess to call Alex Danvers for her until she has Kara on her couch and worries that it might give away Kara's identity. She can't worry about that right now though, she has to help Kara as much as possible right now, and that means taking care of her injuries, not her secrets.
She kneels beside a half conscious Kryptonian, completely clueless on how to help and how to feel. Her emotions feel like they have all been poured into a blender and whizzed up together until they can no longer be separated.
Instead of focusing on how she's feeling she sweeps Kara's hair out of her face and begins to whisper to her softly. "Don't worry about a single thing Kara, help is on the way, and you'll be just fine."
Kara turns her head towards her as much as she can manage, which isn't a lot, her strength diminishing more and more with every second that passes. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this, I was going to tell you, I promise." Her voice is raspy and her breaths uneven. The one thing that strikes Lena more than anything though is the tears freeing themselves from Kara's eyes, spilling the truth of Kara's words right down her cheeks.
"We'll handle that later, you're more important now so just rest and let me take care of you for a while, ok?"
Kara pulls her lips into her mouth, trying to stop herself from crying because she knows that no matter what Lena is saying, she has hurt the person on this planet that she cares about the most.
Her heart hurts worse than all of her other injuries combined. The worst part is that she deserves it.
