Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowlings and Supergirl the CW. I own nothing and I don't make any money from this story.
_o0o_
Chapter 3: I'm Not a Hero
It is a beautiful day. The sun is shining down on me. Surrounded by a lush valley cradled by towering mountains. I feel the tips of the tall grass as I hold my arm out to my side. Until a strong but gentle hand takes mine. There is a man standing behind me. I turn to face him. He looks into my eyes with such warmth. He brushes his hand across my cheek. Moving a few stray hairs behind my ear. I tilt my head back as I close the distance between us, and our lips meet. It is a perfect moment.
I look away from him and see we are not alone. Standing a short distance away, wearing the same blue gown she was wearing when I last saw her is my mother. I move towards her. She just smiles at me as I wrap my arms around her. Things couldn't be better.
If only it was real.
Car horns and voices in the distance pull her from her fantasy. She isn't in a picturesque valley. She is floating miles above National City. The wind flutters her cape behind her as she listens to the white noise created by her city. Until a particular sound pierces the night.
Police sirens.
Arms out in front of her Supergirl rockets towards the sound. Guns shots join the sound of sirens. Then the sound of sparks and metal on concrete.
"He's dragging us!"
She knows that voice. Its her sister Alex and she is in trouble.
Supergirl gets there in time to see the back of the truck the police had been chasing open to reveal a mounted mini-gun. And a man in black tactical gear turns it to point at the car containing Alex and Maggie.
"Oh, no." She can hear Alex from where she is speeding towards them.
The man in black aims and pulls the trigger. Only for the bullets to ricochet off the chest of the girl of steel as she lands on the hood of Maggies car, getting between the bullets and her sister.
Grabbing the mini-gun by the barrels Supergirl yanks down and snaps it in two. The man in black quickly moves towards a ladder allowing him to climb on top of the semi-trailer. Supergirl is peripherally aware of Maggie's car being released from the back of the semi-trailer coming to a stop as she lands on the roof to face him.
He draws a stun-baton and charges at Supergirl. Leaning left and right he misses several swings before she startles him by grabbing the baton. Noticing only a slight prickling sensation from the obviously modified high voltage weapon. Still, enhanced or not, she didn't even notice it.
But he did. And the look of surprised panic was the last she saw of him before she sent him flying off the trailer with a super-powered backhand. That is one criminal down, now its time to stop the driver. Especially before he rams that car with a mother and her son inside.
Supergirl quickly jumps down next to the car and stops the truck as it collides with her bare hands. Turning to check on the mother and son, she sees the boy looking at her from the back seat.
"Supergirl, you're the best." He says in thanks. His eyes wide and adoration plain to see on his face.
She doesn't say anything. Just takes off into the air.
"Doesn't even stop for autographs anymore." Maggie says as she looks at Alex.
_o0o_
Striding into the nerve-center of the DEO, Supergirl approaches Winn as he leans casually against the central table. With a smile on his face, he attempts to make a joke to get a laugh from his friend. "Cool car chase. Very fast, very furious."
"Any luck ID'ing the one that got away." She says, all business. Completely ignoring his attempt at humor.
"Still running facial recognition. So far nothing." Winn replies as the smile slips off of his face.
"Anything else we can go on?" J'onn asks as he behind Winn. All business as well.
Kara retrieves a tray of forensic tools from a nearby work station. She raises her right hand revealing blood on her knuckles. "This is his. Winn can you send a sample up to Alex's lab? Maybe his DNA is already in the database."
"Eww, okay." Winn says as he puts on a pair of latex gloves. "This is new and gross."
"I should have cuffed him." Kara says, again ignoring Winn's comments.
"You knocked him a hundred yards into the roof of that SUV." Alex interrupted as she joins the four of them at the table. "Not to mention saving my fiancée and I."
"Yeah and that truck was full of Aluminum tubing. Which certainly doesn't seem like much until, you use it to build and illegal nuclear centrifuge." Winn continues for Alex, seeing that she was trying to raise her sisters spirits.
J'onn, trying to help, builds on what the others were saying. "This is a big win Supergirl."
But, once again, Kara sidesteps all attempts to lift her spirits. "It not a win until they're behind bars."
"Let's get this guy." She says as Winn finishes collect the blood sample from her hand.
Alex watches her go with a forlorn look on her face, desperately wondering how to breach the walls her sister had built around her heart. Alex turned to chase after her in what would probably be one last futile attempt to cheer her up by inviting her to her wedding tasting. Alex was hoping the promise of free hors d'oeuvres to taste and pot stickers to eat for her up coming wedding would be enough get her to spend some time with her only sister.
But before Alex can call out to her, Kara abruptly turns back to face Winn and J'onn again.
"Was he out there tonight?" Kara asks. The flat monotone voice she had been using up till now reinforced with some steel. Her lips set in a thin line. It was apparent to everybody in the room who she was talking about.
The look on J'onn's face never changed. But the quick scrunching of Winn's face showed his disappointment at the change of topic. He had clearly been hoping she would forget to ask that question. But she hadn't forgotten to ask any night for the last several months, so he wasn't sure what had made him so hopeful tonight.
"Winn, was he out there tonight?" She snapped again with more force while crossing her arms in front of her chest. If Kara cared about the quick glance Winn shot at J'onn she didn't show it.
J'onn glanced back at Winn but didn't say anything, which from the stoic Martian was a reply in itself. Winn took that as his consent and turned back to the main monitors. "Yeah he was out there tonight." He said as he picked up his tablet and began pulling up files, knowing Kara would want to see what they had. "He stopped a convenient store robbery and two muggings, one of which was committed by a hellgrammite we now have in custody." He stopped there hoping (praying) that Kara would be satisfied with that alone.
"Did he hurt anybody?"
His prayers went unanswered.
Resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to let this go, Winn pulled up security footage from the convenient store. It showed a man wearing a ski mask, pointing a gun at the teenage clerk behind the counter, and a father/daughter duo about five feet away on their knees near the candy bars. There wasn't any audio but it wasn't needed to grasp the situation. The man in the mask was pointing his gun at the store clerk who was just standing there. They could see that his hands were shaking, but the rest of him was obviously to scared to move.
A fact that was clearly agitating the gun-man.
Frustration mounting, the gun-man turned his weapon towards the father and daughter on their knees. Believing that threatening them would finally get the store clerk to move.
The father who had his arms wrapped around his daughter, moved to block her body from view. The father said something to the gun-man that he clearly didn't like as he began moving towards them gun aimed at the little girl. She couldn't have been more than ten, maybe eleven, years old. And even with half her face turned into her fathers chest, they could still see the tears cascading down her cheeks, and the terrified look on her face.
His agitation, his body language, everything about him was screaming that he was about to shoot. Then a familiar bolt of silver lightning flashes into view, and a black gloved hand is covering the barrel of the gun. A quick spark of light on the video proved the gun-man did try to shoot. However, before he even realized that something stopped him his hand holding the gun was forced behind his back. They could see him shout in pain before Paladin let him go, and he crumpled to the floor.
A flash of silver later and the mans gun was on the counter, the silent alarm was tripped, and Paladin was gone. And the gun-man was left on the floor with five bloody holes in his back, trying to stand up, but his legs weren't moving.
"Paralyzed from the waist down." Winn answered the question he knew was coming.
"Should have stopped him when I had the chance." Kara said with more venom than her friends and family normally heard from her.
"He stopped a criminal and saved three people." J'onn interjected. "He did the right thing Supergirl."
Kara turned to J'onn looking outraged that he would even say something like that. "The right thing? No, no. The right thing would have been to handcuff him. Tie the guy up or knock him unconscious." Kara continued, her anger growing with each word spoken. "No he didn't do the right thing. He left a man paralyzed on the floor. That isn't the right thing. That isn't what a hero does."
Nobody had anything to say to that.
"Winn have you managed to track him yet?"
"Not yet." Winn reluctantly admitted. "But I've got a new idea. I just need a little more time to implement it."
"Well work fast. We've left him alone long enough. Its time to do something about him." Kara said, walking away.
They watched her go for a moment before Winn turned to sit at his desk and do as Kara asked. J'onn quietly stepped out of the room. But Alex still had something to say to her sister.
"Kara wait." Kara stopped and turned to face her sister. "I think you might be judging him to harshly."
Again, Kara looks incredulously at her sister. "Am I the only one who saw the paralyzed man on that video?" She asked while pointing back at the screen they had previously been watching. "You can't honestly tell me that you think those were the actions of a hero."
"Yes." Alex began. "I don't know," she backtracked quickly. "No. You're right." Alex said holding her hands up placatingly as her sister looked at her in confusion. "You're right, those aren't the actions of a hero. But I understand why he did what he did."
"What are you talking about?" Kara asked. She couldn't see where her sister was going with this. When Alex started talking she wasn't sure even Alex knew where she was going with this conversation.
"Kara, in a few weeks I'm going to be a married woman." She tried to explain. "Someday I'm going to be a mom. And if a man with a gun ever threatens my child, he will be lucky if all I do is paralyze him from the waist down."
Kara could see the look of conviction on her sister's face. She knew how her sister felt about kids being threatened. So she knew that Alex meant what she said.
"And you're right, those aren't the actions of a hero. But I don't think that makes him a monster either." Alex concluded. But Kara wasn't willing to budge on this.
"That's different Alex. He isn't a parent protecting his child." Kara replied with some heat. "He is a vigilante who has taken it upon himself to play judge, jury and in some cases executioner. He needs to be stopped."
Alex brings her hands together in front of her face, looking almost as if she was praying for patience. But she was trying to gather her thoughts, and maybe some strength, before she said what she was going to say. She had tried to broach this with Kara several times in the last few months, but Kara would always slam the breaks on every time. But Alex knew that sooner or later she wouldn't be able to ignore this anymore. "We both know that his methods aren't why you hate him."
"I don't have time for this." She immediately injected, as she turned and walked toward the balcony to take off. "When we find him, we are going to stop him Alex."
Alex could only stand there and watch her sister walk away from this topic again.
_o0o_
A few minutes later, on the deserted roof of a nearby skyscraper everyone's favorite green martian landed with a metal case in his hands. Setting the case down and removing the lid on the case revealed the speedster beacon. Flipping the switch on the side J'onn watched as it lit up.
He waited for about ten seconds before a flash of silver light and a whooshing sound behind him signaled the arrival of the speedster.
"Turn that thing off." Said a very aggravated speedster.
"I'm sorry." J'onn says and immediately does as requested. Though the speedster didn't make it sound like a request. "I know that you find it uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable? It makes my skin burn. I imagine this is what it feels like to lie down in a bed of lye. Said a very annoyed Paladin.
"Well I apologize for that." J'onn replied. "But perhaps if I had another means of contacting you we could avoid this...uncomfortableness."
"I'm not getting a phone. They are to easily tracked." J'onn knew that response was coming. It was the same excuse that he gave every time J'onn suggested it.
And he was right. Which is why J'onn never really pushed the issue.
"You could give me a DEO communicator. Certainly would make it easier when you want to send me on an assignment. By the way, you're welcome for apprehending that hellgramite for you." He continued. "And thanks for that tip on avoiding Supergirl by the way. If you hadn't warned me about what part of the city she was in, we may have run into each other."
That caused J'onn to pause for a moment and consider how he should respond to that. In the end, he decided to just move right past it. "I'm not yet ready to make your involvement in DEO operations public knowledge." J'onn hedged. "But I can't help feeling as though we will require your help sometime in the near future. Which is why I'm giving you this." That's when J'onn took something out of his pocket and threw it to Paladin. Easily catching it, he looked down at the device in his hand and realized it was a GPS tracking device.
"That is your hotline to the DEO. When there is an assignment that I think you can help with, I will plant a tracker keyed to this receiver on one of the agents. Once it turns on, all you have to do is-."
"Run in and do whatever it takes to stop the bad guys who are threatening innocent people." He interrupted. "And of course, try to keep a low profile because most of the DEO doesn't really approve of my methods."
'That's putting it mildly.' J'onn hesitated before getting to the real reason behind this meeting. "That's actually why I called you here tonight."
Paladin, who had been standing stoically in the same spot since he had arrived, crossed his arms and prepared for what he suspected was coming.
"I heard about your exploits tonight." He began. "You know, I applaud your results. But I also take issue with your methods. I keep trying to defend you to the others at the DEO but it would be a lot easier if your methods weren't so extreme."
"Why do I get the feeling there is only one employee at the DEO that you have really had to defend me from?" J'onn knew that even though it was worded like a question, he wasn't really expecting an answer. This was just another disagreement they were repeating.
"Supergirl did make a point I am having trouble reconciling: your actions are hardly those of a hero." J'onn redirected.
"I'm not a hero." His eyebrows shot up at that declaration. Proof that even J'onn's stoic demeanor could be cracked.
"I haven't considered myself a hero in years." He continued. "A hero does what they or others consider to be the right or moral course of action. I do what I consider to be necessary." Here he uncrossed his arms and held his hands up as if to placate J'onn. Like he was trying to quell a protest that J'onn had no intention of making.
"I am neither proud of this, nor ashamed. Its just the way I am." Paladin concluded.
J'onn wasn't sure how to respond to that. As a former soldier in the war against the White Martians, and as a DEO agent, he was familiar with doing what was necessary, even if it was morally ambiguous. The time he ordered Alex to apprehend Kara after she first started appearing as Supergirl being a fine example.
But since he had started working with Kara she had forced him to reevaluate many of his personal views. First and for most, the lines he was willing to cross and the lengths he was willing to go to avoid crossing them.
Not knowing how to respond to such a declaration, J'onn chose to simply move past it. "We may need to bring Mr. Schott in on your involvement in ongoing DEO assignments." J'onn insisted. "Kara has had him working on various means of tracking your movements for months. Whatever methods you employ to keep yourself hidden have worked thus far, but sooner or later he will succeed."
Paladin's quickly relaxing body language indicated that he wasn't to concerned. "I doubt that. Tracking a regular speedster is incredibly difficult. Tracking a speedster with my unique abilities, nearly impossible." J'onn didn't know what he meant by unique abilities, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. His tone wasn't one of a man bragging. He was simply stating what he believed to be fact.
"Be that as it may, I have learned never to underestimate Mr. Schott's innovative thinking. I would suggest that you do the same." He concluded.
Sensing the finality of that statement, he concluded it was time to leave. With an expected whooshing sound and a brief burst of silver lightning, he was gone.
_o0o_
He loved this feeling.
Even before he became a speedster he loved the feeling of flying through the air on a broomstick at insane speeds. Steep dives and complex aerobatics used to be his favorite pass times. That and his various adventures had earned him a plethora of titles (some good, some not to good). But the only one he actually believed he deserved was "adrenaline junky."
Ever since he became a speedster he hasn't needed a broom to enjoy this feeling. The sound of the air roaring in his ears as pushes his legs to move faster. His feet barely make contact with the ground for more than a fraction of a second before he propels himself forward. If not for the split second to remind him that its there, he would swear he was flying.
And the lightning, god the lightning. It felt like a thousand adrenaline rushes all at once. To feel it coursing through your body, to posses it. No, to be a part of the lightning. It made him feel invincible. Its a feeling he could just dive into and let the rest of the world fall away.
'These moments are what let me feel like myself again.'
His pleasant thoughts are interrupted by a quiet beeping coming from a pocket near his waist. He stops and quickly retrieves the GPS tracker that J'onn gave him to see that a signal was coming from outside the city. He immediately started moving towards it.
It took him minutes to cross the city, seconds to search the army base he arrived at, and only a moment to take in the scene before he acted. Supergirl was there, standing in the middle of the room. In front of her was what appeared to be a Daxamite ship, with weapons armed. And to her left entering from a side door are two soldiers with assault rifles. And between the soldiers and the ship are what appears to be two pulses of energy weapons fire heading strait for them.
Immediately he moves to get them out of the way. Get them to safety. One he grabs and moves to cover behind some nearby metal crates. But by that time the weapons fire had already struck the other soldier. It sent him flying back to collide with a metal drum and a black burn mark the size of a pie plate on his chest.
He moved to check on the soldier. Thankfully he is alive and conscious. He heard the high pitched hum of a high powered laser and prepared to grab the downed soldier, injured or otherwise, and get him to safety. Luckily he didn't have too. He was relieved to look up and realize the hum was coming from Supergirl using her heat vision to destroy the weapon on the ship.
Then she turned to check on the soldiers and spotted him. The look on her face twisted into one of controlled rage. For a moment he thought she would use her heat vision on him. Instead she looked down at the soldier he was tending to, then back up at him before some of her rage cools and moves to check on the soldier as well.
"Hey, can you hear me? How do you feel?" She said as she examined the soldier. Paladin kept one hand on his shoulder to keep him from moving and the other hand holding the soldiers hand. Providing what emotional support he could while Supergirl spoke to the man. The way she was running her eyes over his chest made him think she was x-raying the soldier. Paladin wondered for a moment what that must feel like.
"Ok, good news, no internal bleeding or broken bones. You're going to be ok." She told him with what was clearly the best smile she could muster under the circumstances. Then she looked up at him and the barely controlled rage returned. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to help." That was about as direct an answer as he could give and still be honest. He needed to tread carefully here. If he gave the wrong details and she realized his involvement with the DEO he would unintentionally throw J'onn under the bus.
Thankfully Kara didn't press the issue. Not that issue at least. "I'm not going to let you leave here. I'm taking you into DEO custody and you will answer for your crimes."
Paladin wasn't that concerned, she would have to catch him before she could arrest him. And even with her super speed, he was confident that he could out run her if he had to.
Fortunately he didn't have to. A second later, Supergirl looked to her left. Either she was worried the wooden crates on the other side of the room contained enemy mercenaries about to open fire on them, or she was listening to something with her super-hearing. She turned back to look at him with a rather conflicted look on her face. Guessing she didn't want to leave him, and more importantly the wounded soldier.
"Go." He ordered her. "I'll look after him. And you can arrest me some other time. I'll give you plenty of chances, I promise." He said with some humor. She still looked uncertain, so he gave her one more push. "What's more important: catching me or saving somebody else?" She didn't waist another second.
Supergirl took off through the roof of the hanger they were in and went to help her friend. Though she looked absolutely furious she had to let him go.
'It's good to know that when forced to choose between apprehending somebody she hates and saving somebody she loves, she would choose the latter and not the former.' He filed that fact away for later.
Security and medical personnel would arrive two minutes later to secure the Daxamite ship and aid the wounded soldier. And Paladin would once again vanish as soon as they walked into the room.
_o0o_
The next morning, at Kara's apartment, the Girl of Steel sat at her dining table typing on her computer. The voice of her mentor, Cat Grant talking about some politician's policies, was coming from her living room tv. Kara is pulled from her amusement at Cat lecturing reporters about the validity of listening devices being placed inside coffee makers by the sound of her front door opening.
Turning to see her sister Alex walk through the door she turns off the tv before asking about the mercenary she unfortunately failed to apprehend the second time last night.
"What's the update on Bloodsport?"
"You quit?" Alex snapped, completely bypassing Kara's attempt to go right to business.
Kara takes a second to gather herself as she looked up at her sister from where she is sitting. Her sister's unexpected outburst having knocked her on her heels. It didn't take her long to deduce how Alex found out so quickly.
"James has been making the rounds." She deadpanned.
"He's worried about you. I'm extremely worried about you." Alex countered. "Since when do you quit?'
"CatCo. ... isn't the point for me any more." Came the monotone reply.
"You've spent years, working your way up to being a reporter."
"And it was a waist of time." Suddenly Alex was the one who found herself verbally knocked on her heels. The incredulity of that actually made her scoff.
"I would love to see you tell Cat Grant that."
"Cat moved on why can't I?"
Her sister must have been expecting this conversation sooner or later, because she had all her answers prepared in advance. Alex didn't need her government taught interrogation training to see that. The blank expression and unchanging calm tone were pretty clear indicators.
It has been six months since she put these walls up to keep her emotions at bay and Alex had finally had enough. "Okay this is done. I am done walking on eggshells. We all are." Kara ran her hands down her face. As if she was the one who should be exhausted by this conversation. Alex knew then it was a good thing she confronted her sister at her apartment. No where to run to avoid this topic now.
"I have kept my distance. I have given you time to grieve, without prodding. Without making you talk about Mon-El-"
"There's nothing to talk about." Kara said without once turning to face Alex through her entire rant. But the quick way she responded and the tremor of emotion that finally entered her voice proved Alex was starting to crack her emotionless shell.
"Without forcing you to go to game nights. Or come to the bar." Kara finally turned to look at her sister in disbelief.
"There was a burglary."
"THERE'S ALWAYS A BURGLARY." Alex shouted, finally pushed to far by her sisters disregard.
'This ends now.'
"But I have let it slide. Your pity party has gone uninterrupted."
"My pity party?"
"Who are you right now?" Alex kept pushing. She would get a real reaction out of Kara if it killed her. "Kara Danvers doesn't quit." Neither does Supergirl, but she hadn't been acting like either for weeks.
"She quits the things that aren't important." She said, rising from her chair to refill her coffee mug.
"CatCo. is important. You help people there."
"Not like Supergirl does."
"Kara Danvers-"
"KARA DANVERS SUCKS RIGHT NOW." Kara roared.
'FINALLY, something real.' Alex thought as her sister looked her in the eye for the first time since she entered the apartment. At last letting out some of what she had been bottling up for months.
"Supergirl is great. Supergirl saved the world. So if I could choose to be her, why would I ever choose to be the sad girl whose boyfriend was taken from her. I don't like that girl Alex."
'Whose boyfriend was taken from her.' Alex knew they had reached the heart of the issue now.
"Kara," Alex began tentatively. "I know you want to hate him, but Paladin didn't take Mon-El from you."
Kara kept her mouth closed and breathed heavily through her nose for a moment before speaking. "You're right. He didn't take Mon-El from me."
'That's too easy.' Alex thought, before Kara continued a second later.
"He just stole the remote to Lena's lead dispersal device right out of my pocket. And set it off when the Daxamite's opened fire during my fight with Rhea." Kara finally admitted.
"I could ha- I would have done it." She confessed. "But he beat me to it. And he didn't even hesitate. The second Rhea's ships opened fire, he pushed the button. I didn't even know he had taken it from me until I heard the device go off and Mon-El started gasping for breath."
Kara's anger seemed to be cooling the more she talked. Alex just stood by quietly as Kara spoke. She didn't try to interrupt, take Kara's hand to comfort her, she barely even moved. Now that her sister had started talking, she was afraid to do anything that might stop Kara from finally letting this out.
"You know, Clark actually said that he was glad that he was the one who did it. That if he had been in that position, he couldn't have made that choice. But I couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't." Kara admitted. Her tone turning sadder the more she talked. Her emotionless mask broken, her anger released in a quick explosion, and now they were down to her actual grief.
Alex just stood there, looking into her little sister's eyes the whole time. Listening as she at last let her bottled feelings drain out.
"But it doesn't matter. Because he took that choice from me. Just like he has taken the choices of so many others. He's been deciding who gets punished and how, and he needs to be stopped." Kara was back to hiding behind her emotionless mask. Breaking eye contact with Alex, she went back to her computer. "So if you have an update on work I would love to hear it?"
Alex paused for a moment before answering. "Bloodsport has the capability to fire a cloaked nuke at the city." She began to move slowly from around Kara's center island to stand behind where she was seated. "We're thinking that he's going to hit the statue unveiling at the waterfront. J'onn wants everyone there."
"I'll be there."
Kara didn't even turn to look at her as she moved towards the door. Alex stopped before she opened it. "You know Kara Danvers is my favorite person." She began, her throat tight from the feelings she was trying to hold back. "She saved me more times than Supergirl ever could. And I hope that after you catch him, she comes back. Because I don't want to lose my little sister."
No more words are shared as Alex opens the door and departs.
_o0o_
The sun was shining. The wind was bringing in the smell of the ocean. And the sound of all the kids who came out to see the statue dedicated to National Cities greatest hero all combined to make a beautiful day in the city.
He could only hope it would stay that way. Only hope that J'onn was wrong about what Bloodsport had planned for that cloaking device. 'But my instincts say that he's right.' As much as he wished it wasn't so, Bloodsport went through a lot of trouble to sneak on to an army base and steal an alien cloaking device. He had to have some kind of plan for it.
And thats why J'onn and requested that he be here. Invisible of course. He wanted all hands on deck. Even his, though J'onn still wasn't willing to admit he had gone behind his surrogate daughters backs and was working with him.
Lena Luthor was delivering a heartfelt speech as part of the dedication of the new statue. She was just talking about how Supergirl was a friend when the waterfront was suddenly rocked by an explosion.
People began screaming and running for cover from an attack they couldn't see. DEO agents were working frantically to restore order and evacuate the civilians. Then another shockwave hit that almost knocked Paladin off his feet. 'We need to get these people out of here.' That much was obvious. But sense nobody could pinpoint where the attack was coming they were all running in different directions.
It was chaos.
That's when Paladin decided he had been hiding long enough. He lowered the invisibility cloak on his suit. And with his by now familiar burst of silver lightning he began grabbing people and carrying them to a safe distance. Most didn't even realize that they had been saved by a speedster until they stopped running and saw that they were no longer by the water but on the sidewalk between nearby buildings. Those were the lucky ones. The unlucky ones new when they had to stop to vomit on the sidewalk. Traveling by speedster isn't for everybody.
The were making progress. Between Him and the DEO agents, they had gotten the majority of the crowd to a safe distance when another more violent shockwave caused him to stumble and stop. It took him a moment to rise and get his bearings.
"YOU." Looking up, he saw that he had the misfortune of being stopped less than ten feet from Agent Danvers. The look on her face was thunderous. Her hand moved under her coat, most likely to draw her weapon. Whether she was going to try to arrest him or shoot him he would never know. The sound of something passing by overhead caused them all to look up and see Supergirl streak through the sky before diving into the water.
Alex and Maggie ran to the edge nearest to where Kara went under. "She can't breathe underwater."
Alex's declaration had him moving to stand next to them. Not that either of the two women even noticed. They were to busy staring at the water. Waiting for Supergirl to re-emerge. Another shockwave, this time not striking the shore, but detonating a few hundred yards into the ocean was a sign that something may be wrong.
"She's been down there to long." Paladin looked to Alex to see the worried look on her face. She knew that for all her sisters powers she could still drown.
Paladin was surprised when she turned to face him. He wasn't even sure she knew he was here. She paused briefly before asking,"Can you help her?"
He didn't respond verbally. Just turned back to look out to the water before vaulting on top of the railing. He quickly kicked off and sprinted across the water. Rapidly arriving where the last shockwave had originated before he stopped running and took a flying leap diving beneath the water.
The water was freezing he could endure it. It didn't take long to spot Supergirl floating beneath him. Eyes closed, blonde hair fanned out around her, arms and legs limp, she was clearly unconscious. 'Probably knocked out by the last torpedo. Which means she most likely already inhaled some water.' He realized with some panic.
Acting quickly, he swam down to her. Wrapping his right arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Opening the eyes lenses so he could tell if she woke up. He then took a deep breath before he reached up with his other hand and took off his helmet and put it on her. With the runes for the bubblehead charm inside the helmet providing air, the only thing to do was get rid of the water already in her lungs. Placing his hand over the S on her chest, he closed his eyes and pictured the water within her lungs, and vanished it.
But she still wasn't waking up.
'She's been unconscious too long.' He needed to wake her up now. With his hand still hovering over her chest, he cast the waking spell.
'Enervate.'
She didn't wake. Poring more power into his spell he cast it with more force.
'ENERVATE.' Her eyes stayed closed. 'Bloody hell Supergirl don't give up now.' He thought desperately while gathering as much strength as he could for one last attempt. 'People like us aren't lucky enough to go out this peacefully. Not while there are still people who need to be saved. Not while you still have people who love you who still need you. You do not get to die here. NOW. WAKE. UP.'
Not even bothering with the spell he just forced as much magic and intent into her heart as he could.
Her eyes flew open. Grabbing him by the shoulders on reflex, she looked him right in the eyes. A second passed before she shot out of his arms towards the submarine. She was just in time to stop another torpedo from leaving the tube.
He watched as she forced it back into the submarine. Before she flew under it and began to lift it out of the water. Swimming to the surface, he watched as she rose higher and higher. Water cascading off the sub as she held it above her head. His mask still on her head, though he doubted she noticed.
The people on the shore were cheering. Their hero had saved them. No one even noticed when he sped away, his job complete.
_o0o_
Later that night, at every bodies favorite alien bar. They were all thrilled when Kara decided to join them. Winn even looked up from the tablet he was so focused on to give her a hug in greeting.
Drinks were passed around. Kara was celebrating the success of saving hundreds of people, and everybody else was celebrating that and getting Kara to come join them. There was talk about Alex and Maggie's upcoming wedding. Kara thought they made a good choice having pot stickers for hors d'oeuvres. They talked about the wedding shower and how their mom was already going over board with the party games.
Everyone was enjoying themselves.
Eventually the topics turned a little more serious. Like how to connect Morgan Edge to Bloodsport and send them both to jail. Sadly nobody could think of a way. It looked like Edge was going to get away for now. But it would be over an hour before Maggie had the courage to bring up the most interesting subject of the day. "So Kara, what does Paladin look like under the mask?"
Alex had to clamp down on her emotions quickly to stop her shock from showing. She couldn't believe her fiancé could ruin a good night by bringing up the one topic that would piss her sister off. She turned to Kara, almost afraid to see how her face would have closed off.
"Actually I couldn't see his face." Apparently Alex was wrong. Looking at Kara she didn't seem closed off or angry as she looked at each of them in turn. Disappointed maybe, but not at all what Alex was expecting.
"He was above me, and under water. With the light coming down behind him all I could make out was a silhouette." She offered as an explanation. "The most I could see was dark hair and a strong jaw line."
"I wonder what he's going to do without his helmet?" James pondered. Commenting on the black helmet currently being examined by the scientists at the DEO. "Does he have a spare or is he just going to go without one?"
Whether James was trying to change the subject or was honestly curious Alex didn't care. She just jumped on the topic to keep the conversation light. "I suppose it wouldn't matter. He moves to fast for anybody to see his face anyway."
Looking at Kara she could see her set her jaw and straighten her shoulders. Alex was worried. It wasn't the closed off distant Kara that she had been for months, but she was afraid that what her sister said next would be a sign of her going back to it.
"It doesn't matter." She spoke with conviction. "Because mask or no mask we will find him and bring him in."
That wasn't the venomous declaration that she had been expecting and Alex was relieved.
For about ten seconds.
"I'm still not sure about that Kara." J'onn began. "I know you still have problems with him and his methods. But he did save a lot of people at the waterfront today. Yourself included. He may not be a hero but I don't think he is the unfeeling criminal you think he is either."
"He's not a hero—"
"EUREKA." Alex had never been so glad for Winn to interrupt them before. Both Kara and J'onn turned to see what had caused his sudden excitation.
Winn looked up at them like he had just won the lottery. "I did it."
Every one just stared at him waiting for him to continue. It was Maggie who finally gave in to temptation. "Did what Winn?"
Like a stage magician making his big reveal, he just held up his tablet and showed them a map of the city and computer code scrolling across the screen. Nobody understood what he was showing them, but they didn't have to.
"I found where Paladin's been hiding."
_o0o_
Well there you have it, Chapter 3. I hope you guys like it. I'm sorry about how long it took to write. I hope the fact that it is the longest chapter I have ever written for any story can make up for the wait. Now before I go I feel I should clarify some things.
First, if anybody is surprised by the animosity between Kara and Harry let me give you an idea of where I'm going with that. I see them as having some of the same issues with each other that Oliver and Barry had when they first teamed up. Hero meets dark hero and they quarrel over what lines they should and shouldn't cross. They have to learn to work together, eventually.
Second, for those who were hoping to see Harry help with the Daxamite invasion, sorry but I like to leave holes that I can fill in as the story moves forward. I believe filling in the blanks is one of the reasons you guys keep reading ;)
Third, yes I based the design for Harry's suit off of the Black Panther suit. But just the overall design. Its not made of vibranium, it doesn't absorb kinetic energy and there are no cat ears on the helmet. I already have a plan to explain all of its various features and how to introduce them into the story, but you will have to wait until Kara and Alex go to Midvale to find out. I have a completely original story line for that chapter that should answer a lot of questions about Harry's past and how he became Paladin.
Finally, I need your help with something. I know there are multiple references to the Harry Potter series in The Flash and even a few in Arrow but has Winn or anybody in the Supergirl universe made any Harry Potter references. Because I already have a great idea for a character reveal but I need to know if J. K. Rowlings works span the multiverse or if they are limited to earth-1? I can't remember and I don't have the time to bing watch old episodes of Supergirl to look for them. Can you help me out?
On that note I hope you guys liked the chapter and I will try to get the next one out faster. Good morning, good afternoon and good night.