Italicized is Kryptonian.
Also, I did not go into depth about Sam's story. It's not super important to the plot, but that whole Reign thing happened a lot sooner than when Sam was in her thirties. She found out about everything in her twenties and she kind of went on a whole "anti-hero" thing until around the time Lena and Kara got married. This was hard af to write.
Thursday
Kara was coming out of the copy room when James cut her off. She released a tired breath and decided to play nice. She would've been home, enjoying a movie day with Lena, but Carter broke his arm. Cat was needed at the hospital, which meant Kara was the emergency plan to keep things moving. She called Bruce and Diana to keep Lena company, and a quick two-hour trip became six hours.
"I thought you were out on picture duty for the day?" Kara asked.
"Yeah, I was. But I passed L-Corp on my way back."
"Of course, you did."
"Do you remember that villain called Reign?" James asked, ignoring her comment.
Kara narrowed her eyes and said, "Yes, why?"
James flipped his camera around to show Kara the screen. On it was a picture of Sam leaving L-Corp from the roof. It was the best shot anyone has gotten of her ever since her Reign days, but it was a damning capture. Ruby was also in the picture, but the girl's head was hidden in Sam's neck. Kara inwardly panicked, knowing that Sam's identity was compromised. There was a reason James was the best in his field. No one else would've noticed Sam, but he was trained to do the exact thing. Years of hanging around Superman taught James that all objects in the sky were worth investigating.
"James-
"She was leaving L-Corp," he interrupted. "That means she knows Lena, and despite what you keep arguing, a Luthor being around a supervillain is not a good thing. Reign terrorized Metropolis for months. She even took down Superman!"
"Okay, first, Reign wasn't a villain," Kara said. "She was helping people, just in a very questionable way. Second, her fight with Superman was his fault. Reign had everything under control that night with the bomber-
"Five people died-
"Because Superman didn't listen to Reign or the police," Kara snapped. "I know what happened, James. I know what the Dailey Planet printed, and in the process, they branded Reign a villain and put her on a watchlist. No one cared that Reign saved more people than she hurt."
"How can you not think this is a big deal? Lena Luthor leaves a woman who murdered people in charge while she vanishes on some personal vacation. That's suspicious as hell!"
"Reign wasn't the paragon of innocence, but she still saved people."
"Yeah, with blood on her hands!"
"I'm not condoning her actions, but don't stand there and tell me you're angry on the victims' behalf. Were you angry when they searched the warehouse after the fact and found almost a hundred children locked in shipping containers? What about the twenty kids shoved in boxes and left to rot outside? Reign saved those children's lives and returned them to their families. She took down a trafficking ring that was operating on both coasts."
James stared at her in disbelief, and he said, "I can't believe you're advocating for murder."
"I'm not advocating for anything," Kara sighed. "What Reign did was wrong, but you can't say she's evil. Plus, she hasn't done anything."
"Yet."
"I'm sorry, James, but that's my final word on the situation. For all we know, she's turned over a new leaf. There's no evidence she's here to do something bad, and I'm not going to uproot her life because of an accusation."
Kara left James in the hallway and headed toward the bullpen. Behind her, James pulled out his phone and walked toward the back stairwell.
Kara ducked into Cat's office and locked the door. She pressed the button to block the windows and ran to the balcony. Focusing on James' voice, she listened to his conversation and who he was speaking to.
"Reign's in National City, and I'm worried she's here for Kara."
"I'll be there soon."
Kara cursed and took out her phone, dialing Sam's direct line.
"Hey, Kar. What's up?"
"Where are you?"
"I just dropped Ruby off with Raven and Jinx, and I figured I'd grab a bite while I'm here. Why?"
"James has a picture of you leaving L-Corp with Ruby. He recognized you and called Kal-El."
Sam huffed and hung up the call. Kara waited patiently, and sure enough, Sam landed on the balcony a few minutes later.
"What about Ruby?"
"The image doesn't show her first. But the safest place for her is with Raven."
Sam ran a hand through her hair and groaned.
"I haven't even done anything," she whined.
"You know Kal-El still sees you as someone who needs to be imprisoned. His morals clash with yours."
"And yours."
"I have my limits," Kara said vaguely.
"Does Lena know?"
"No, but the best place for you is at the penthouse with them."
"I still think Ruby should be with me."
"And if they find you? Would you not rather Ruby be in another city?"
Sam rubbed her face and said, "Ruby is the most important thing in my life, Kara. They cannot get their hands on her."
"They won't, Sam. Raven loves Ruby, and you know she will protect her with her life."
Sam cursed and paced the balcony a few times. She eventually stopped and turned in a quick spin. Kara felt a little sad seeing Sam back in her Reign outfit, the deep purple cape a startling reminder of the two sides of Krypton. The silver lining was the House of El crest behind the Children of Juru symbol, showing their two houses as one instead of enemies. Sam's eyes were red behind her mask, and she rose slowly into the air.
"Will you be alright?"
"Yes. Tell my wife I am activating her protocol."
Sam nodded once, and she took off in the direction of the penthouse. Kara sat down on the couch and put her head in her hands. She blindly dialed Raven's number and waited.
"Hello?"
"Are you alone?"
Raven cleared her throat and said, "I am. Jinx and Ruby are in the kitchen making lunch."
"Look, Reign's cover is blown. This could be an overreaction, but if you don't hear from me by tonight, assume the worst and get Ruby to Gotham to the manor."
"We will."
Kara hung up and made her next call. She dialed Lena's office, and Jess answered.
"Hello, you've reached –
"Jess, it's me," Kara interrupted.
"Oh, hi? Is everything alright?"
"Do you know what the Rao protocol is?"
"Yes, it was one of the first things I learned."
"Good. I'm initiating Rao Protocol level one. Ensure every security guard is fully prepared for the arrival of the DEO and/or Superman. Also, back up all pertinent information to the off-site servers and delete them afterward. Lockdown Lena's office too."
"Yes, ma'am."
"All further contact goes through Miss Prince. Do you have her contact?"
"Yes, and Mr. Wayne's."
"Good. I'll be going off the grid."
Kara hung up without saying goodbye, and she turned off her phone. She removed the sim card and snapped it between her fingers before tossing her phone behind her. Kara went back into Cat's office and sat down behind the desk, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Ruby ate ice cream at the counter with Jinx. She didn't know how people could forget she was half-Kryptonian. When Raven came into the kitchen, she put down her spoon.
"Is my Mom going to be okay?" she asked.
Raven's steps never faltered, and she said, "The plan is to keep you both safe, yes."
"What plan? What happened?" Jinx asked.
"My Mom's cover was blown," Ruby said.
"Shit, that sucks." Raven pinched Jinx on the arm, and Jinx pouted. "I mean, sorry to hear," she said.
"It's okay."
Jinx shifted in her seat, and she asked, "So, I never really got a chance to ask-
"You know how Raven has Rachel?" Ruby interrupted. "That's kind of what Reign is to my Mom. Except Sam isn't an alter ego, and Reign isn't a separate entity."
"I'm confused."
"Reign is Dr. Jekyll, and Sam is Mr. Hyde."
"I think you have that mixed up," Ruby said. "Jekyll was the good guy, and Hyde was the bad guy."
"Well, you get my point," Raven huffed.
"So, Reign's like another personality?"
"Yeah, something like that. Reign was meant to be the leader of a Kryptonian race known as the Worldkillers. She'd been created, birthed, I don't know, by the Children of Juru-
"Like the food?
"No, Juru. Not gyro," Ruby snorted. "The Children of Juru are - so they were essentially witches. They had a polytheistic structure derived from the Juru tribe, who were the first people of Krypton. But they were switched. My Mom and Aunt Kara pray to Rao or believe Rao is the god of all life. These witches believed the true god was Yuda Kal, the dark goddess of life. When it came to Reign, they used a lot of dark magic and combined it with science. It's incredible when you think about it, but it sucks they used it for the wrong reasons. A prophecy predicted how a new world, this world, would be 'cleansed of sin' by my Mom and the two others. Reign would pave the way for Krypton's rebirth once the champion of light was defeated. Which is Aunt Kara."
"How did they give them their powers? As you said, dark magic and science, but what kind?" Raven asked, leaning on the counter.
"They used something called the Harun-El. Aunt Lena calls it Black Kryptonite. The witches used the Black Kryptonite to create Reign. My Mom and the other Worldkillers were put in pods to escape, but something went wrong. My Mom doesn't know how it happened, but her pod was the only one to make it off the planet. She used to tell me all the time about how she knew in her bones that Reign was the last Worldkiller in existence."
"When did you find out about Reign?"
Ruby blew out a long breath and said, "Not until two years ago. I always knew something was off, but Mom never explained it until I started having power surges. She'd always known about Reign. Something happened when my Mom was ten. There was this pod in the barn hidden behind my Mom's old house, and she went inside to be nosy. She found the pod, and a crystal popped out. That's when things got weird, I guess.
"There's this scar on my Mom's thigh of the Children of Juru symbol. She said she was obsessed with it and couldn't stop drawing it. She'd used the crystal to do it. Mom would have these blackouts throughout her teen years and wake up covered in blood or in the woods. But then she got pregnant with me, and she said the blackouts stopped. But when I was eight, I remember Mom waking me up in the middle of the night and driving me to Uncle Jack's house. Next, I'm in some lab, and Aunt Kara's unconscious. Uncle Jack put me in my Mom's arms, and she just started crying. Her knuckles were bruised, and she had blood on her clothes. It was one of the scariest moments of my life."
Ruby looked down and played with her fingers.
"My Mom's not a hero to some people," she said softly. "But she's mine, and I know the people she hurt were bad. One thing Mom never did was lie to me. She told me the truth about what she did and why. That incident in Metropolis wasn't her fault. My Mom was angry because people died that she could've saved, and her temper spiked."
"Does that happen often?" Jinx asked gently.
"No," Ruby said. "Her control over Reign is a lot better than before. I think whatever happened with Aunt Kara changed her. Do you know they disappear on the same day every year? They leave early in the day and come back the next morning, and no one mentions it. Mom said I could go with them when I turned eighteen and had better control over my powers."
"So, you're thinking about becoming a hero?" Raven asked.
"I don't know yet. It's hard being surrounded by superheroes and seeing how they're treated. All my Mom wanted was to help, and it blew up in her face."
"Literally," Jinx quipped.
Ruby laughed and threw her spoon at Jinx.
"Shut up."
Lena stared at her phone, seeing her messages to Kara go undelivered, and she frowned.
"Hey, is everything okay?" Bruce asked, coming into the bedroom. "You've been back here for a minute."
"Kara's not answering her phone," Lena said. "And I don't mean that in a panicky, wife way. Her phone's been disconnected, and I'm worried something's wrong."
"What was the last message you received?"
"The one from Sam, saying Kara was triggering the Rao Protocol. But that means locking down L-Corp. It's nothing serious."
"Lena! Bruce!" Diana shouted.
Bruce and Lena ran out into the main room to find Diana in one corner and Sam in the other. Sam's eyes were blazing, and she was repeatedly flashing between red and brown. Her focus was on the city, and she seemed like she was fighting with herself.
"What's going on?" Bruce asked with his arm stretched in front of Lena just in case.
"I don't know," Diana said.
Lena studied Sam, and her heart fell into her stomach.
"Reign, where is Kara?" she asked.
Kara knew something was off the moment she landed. She didn't get the chance to escape when there was a sharp pain in the side of her neck. Kara lost feeling in her limbs, and she fell into a pair of waiting arms. Kara lost the battle with whatever she'd been injected with and slipped into unconsciousness.
Reign meditated in the middle of the apartment to remain calm while Lena hacked into the DEO. Bruce and Diana were suited and ready to go at any moment, and Lena was fuming. There was nothing in the DEO systems that said Kara was missing. And a Supergirl was flying around National City. But Lena knew her wife's flight patterns, mannerisms, and the imposter pretending to be her was doing a damned good job of fooling everyone but her. It was four p.m., and Kara hadn't been heard from since eleven that morning. There were no texts, calls, or emergency taps on their bracelets. Kara had disappeared, and Lena refused to wait for some bullshit excuse from Alex. She stood up and snatched her purse off the counter.
"Reign, meet us at the DEO."
The Worldkiller was halfway out of the room by the end of the sentence.
Kara kept her eyes closed. She was in a room with Kal-El, James, and Winn. They were waiting on Kara to wake up, and Kara had no intentions to do it. She kept her breathing steady. Whatever they gave her made her feel weird, and she would not trust anything she had to say.
"Why isn't this working?" Kal-El growled.
"Give it a few more minutes," James said. "J'onn thinks Kara's stuck at CatCo, so we have time."
"This feels like a bad idea," Winn said.
"Come on, man. Kara's been acting weird ever since Luthor arrived, and you saw what L-Corp was like when the DEO got there. The only person that knew was Kara, and she gave them the heads-up."
"Maybe because Kara cares about Lena. Why is it a big deal they're friends?"
"Lena might not be Lex, but she grew up the same as him," Kal-El said. "They have the same evil blood running through their veins, and no friendship with a Super will change that. Trust me, I tried. This serum will allow us to get the truth, once and for all."
Winn sighed and gave up. Kara made a mental note to thank him later for speaking on her behalf. Kara heard the door open, and she waited-
"Give me one reason I shouldn't have you three arrested for kidnapping and thrown in the darkest prison known to man and alien," J'onn hissed.
"This was James and Superman's idea," Winn said quickly.
"Winn!"
"I'm not getting fired or arrested or killed because you two can't fucking accept Kara might have friends that aren't any of us," Winn snapped.
Silence followed his words, and J'onn cleared his throat.
"Mr. Schott, you are excused. We will discuss your role in this later."
"Yes, sir."
Winn scampered out of the room, and the door opened wider. The familiar smell of gunpowder and leather reached her nose, and Kara's eyes shot open. She stared at Bruce from behind Kal-El and James' back in relief.
"What are you doing here?" Kal-El asked.
Bruce said nothing, just stood there in his natural, broody silence. Diana came in next, and her emotions were written all over her face. Bruce put his hand on Diana's shoulder, and she clenched her jaw, swallowing whatever she had to say. Reign came in afterward, and her eyes found Kara's.
"Are you well, sister?" Reign asked.
"I am well," Kara answered.
Kal-El's head spun around, and Kara ignored him. She sat up straight with a groan. Kal-El looked between Reign and Kara, and then his eyes fell to Reign's crest.
"You're Kryptonian?" Kal-El exclaimed.
"How else do you think I was able to take you down so easily?" Reign mocked.
Lastly, there was Lena, and Kal-El growled at her. He took one step forward, causing Kara and Bruce to move in unison. Bruce stepped in front of Lena, and Kara slammed her cousin into the wall. The thought of Kal-El hurting Lena tapped into that side of her that she was always afraid of experiencing. The one that blossomed and nurtured in the absence of affection, security, and acceptance from the people she loved. It was the side that grew each night on Krypton when her parents were never home to tuck her in or pray with her. Kara wanted to prove to her cousin that she didn't need him as much as he thought.
But Kara wanted to need Kal-El and depend on him when things got hard because he was all she had left. He was the last she had of home that she understood. Reign was Kryptonian, but she wasn't supposed to exist. She was from the side of the planet that Kara never ventured into, never questioned, and it was a learning process for them both whenever their walls fell. They were sisters, always willing to die for the other, but their relationship was still growing. Kal-El was blood, and Kara had been scared for so long that their connection meant nothing to him. So at that moment, Kara stared into his eyes, and she saw nothing but hatred, disgust, and betrayal. Kal-El wanted Kara to say Lena brainwashed her, and he needed Kara to admit she was being manipulated.
But Kara couldn't and wouldn't say it. She couldn't tell her cousin that Lena was her wife because the man in front of her was no longer Kal-El. He was Clark Kent, hardened and broken from Lex's betrayal, and nothing Kara did or said would change that. Something inside Kara fractured, and her anger bled into grief and anguish.
Kal-El was blood, and he would never be anything more than a stranger. In the face of that realization, everything fell apart. Kara released Kal-El with a whine and stumbled away from him. She clasped her hands over her ears as the world got louder and her head started pounding. Strong arms wrapped around her, and she was gone. Moving at a speed only one person could take. Kara tucked her face into the crook of Reign's neck. Sam and Reign were the same, but they represented different things. Because while Sam was Kara's best friend, Reign was Kara's safe place. Higher and higher they went until they brushed against the atmosphere. Kara welcomed the sudden silence, and she screamed. Her eyes glowed with heat vision, and twin beams shot into the darkness, disappearing into nothing.
Lena inhaled and exhaled as she stood there with the others. Reign and Kara were gone, somewhere only they could go, and Diana and Bruce were in full parent mode. J'onn stood in the background with his arms folded, an unreadable look on his face as he glanced at Lena. James was inching closer and closer to the exit, but J'onn cut him off.
"Are you out of your mind?" Diana hissed. "You tried to attack an innocent human being!"
"There is nothing innocent about her," Clark argued.
"Prove it," Bruce snapped. "Tell me one bad fucking thing Lena Luthor has done, and I will gladly turn her over to you."
Clark went red at the accusation, but he said nothing. Diana twitched, her eyes going up through the ceiling, and Lena wondered what she heard. Lena's heart ached for Kara. She turned to J'onn, and she smiled politely.
"I believe we need to talk," she said.
"Of course, Miss Luthor. We can speak in my office. I assure you it is the most private place in the –
"With all due respect, I would rather you come to mine," Lena interrupted. "What we have to discuss goes beyond government secrets. Wouldn't you agree?"
J'onn's lips twitched, and he inclined his head.
"As you wish."
"Wonderful," Lena said. "I believe Kara and Reign can meet us at L-Corp."
"I will meet you all there," Diana said.
Lena nodded as Diana slipped away. Lena saw Clark gearing up for another comment, but Bruce beat him to it.
"You stay the hell away from my kid, Kryptonian. Or our next fight will be a little more evenly matched."
Lena blushed and looked down, adjusting her shirt out of habit. Bruce had never actively called her his kid before, even in private, so to hear it was a pleasant surprise.
"I've beaten you once, and I'll beat you again," Clark growled, growing into his full height.
"Try me. Because if you come after Lena again, I'll do what Lex never could. Except when I put you down, you'll stay down."
Bruce swept out of the room, and Lena followed him. J'onn walked behind her. James stayed behind with Clark as the three of them made their way through the DEO, and they passed Alex in the process. Lena tensed, but Alex stared at her with guilt and shame. Alex bowed her head, and Lena wondered what that was about.
"I'm not the only one who discovered you and Kara's secret," J'onn whispered.